Indian cricket in need of ODI revival
AGENCIES
AGENCIES, MUMBAI: ODI cricket, more than other formats, has been Indias pride. Before this years World Cup, they were the holders of the World Cup and Champions Trophy.
At home they have been near invincible. Before this defeat to South Africa, they had lost only two series out of their last 16 at home. On both occasions - after defeats to Australia in 2009-10 and Pakistan in 2012-13 - they recovered quickly and went on to win the World Cup of 2011 and the Champions Trophy of 2013.
After the defeat to Australia, India didnt change their personnel or plans too much. Zaheer Khan was the main addition to the team that lost to Australia. After Pakistan, India changed their ODI crickets grammar.
Out went Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to herald a clean break from the previous era; in came younger legs, naturalised openers, and everything suddenly fell in place. New matchwinners appeared in R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami, in Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.
After this series defeat, those making decisions have to decide what kind of debacle this is: one where you keep calm and carry on or one where new match-winners and new ideas are needed. The utter helplessness during this series might suggest the latter. The return of Ashwin and Shami from injury, for example, wont address the problems that have existed for a while now.
The biggest of these has been the failure to adjust to constant rule changes. Just when India found out that being forced to attack with five bowlers was the best thing to happen for them, the ICC changed the rules. New regulations that have made hitting in the end more difficult call for more batting depth. More than four years after he ceased being a match-winner, India are still looking for a replacement for Yuvraj Singh. In ODIs, Yuvraj was not just a big hitter, he could play long innings too, unlike Suresh Raina, the closest India have got to replicating Yuvraj. Yuvraj could also be counted upon as a bowler, which for some reason MS Dhoni is not doing as regularly with Raina as he used to.
That South Africas JP Duminy bowled 21 overs in three matches to Rainas 14 in five was a huge difference between the sides. In five ODIs in England last year, Raina bowled 25. India kept craving that batsman at No. 7 who would free up the minds and muscles of those batting higher up, but they didnt ask more of their batsmen. Duminy is not that much better a bowler than Raina. Nor is Farhaan Behardien more deceptive than Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Sneaking in overs from part-timers used to be MS Dhonis forte; with rule changes he seems to lost that touch.
It doesnt help Dhoni that he is not sure of his main bowlers completing their quota. The disturbing trend of their being really good for just one season continues. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not come back the same bowler after being bowled into the ground in England last year. Who knows what we will get of Shami after he played through pain and injury in the World Cup in Australia? Umesh Yadav has the fitness, but he has not shown he has evolved as a bowler. What Dhoni said of the pace bowlers in Bangladesh might have sounded harsh but is ringing painfully true.
The treatment of Ajinkya Rahane, though, is a bit harsh. Rahane would have seen Rohit and Raina get plenty of opportunities before him to cement their places. He, though, is already typecast in a rare case of the captain talking about a players limitations in press conferences. This has also brought about a rare instance of the selectors acknowledging the issue. Dhoni is more edgy than ever, criticising pitches and umpires, which he hardly ever did in public. He has never been in such little control of his team or the cricket it plays. And he likes control when he is on the field. During this series his fast bowlers were wayward, Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel were nothing like Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja at their best, and the batting match-winners didnt quite complete their jobs.
When you walk into a dressing room, you want to look at match-winners. This team only really had two, Rohit and Kohli. Dhawan was out of form, although form hardly applies to him: he just starts scoring runs out of the blue. Bowlers know how to bowl to Dhoni now. They are not scared of him in the one-on-one scenarios of the final overs, where Dhoni has broken down the best of them. He did play what proved to be a match-winning innings, but when he batted India had nothing to lose and with the bat South Africa contributed generously to Indias cause.
