2011 saw a historic World Cup victory for the Indian cricket
team. Indian cricket fans came out on the streets to celebrate their team’s
victory as their own! Accolades poured in for the team, and deservedly so.
Since then, things have turned sour. In May, India embarked
on a tour of West Indies, which seemed to be stuffed in between the IPL and the
marquee tour of England. Many senior players chose to skip this tour to nurse
their tired bodies and/or to prepare for the England tour. But the England
series that followed was nothing short of a nightmare. India failed to win a
single international match on the tour, and suffered an embarrassing 0-4 defeat in the test matches.
After some heartening home-wins against England and West
Indies, India have now embarked on their 2nd big tour of the year...
to Australia. With the Australian team facing issues of its own, and calls to
axe their veterans, this was seen as India’s
best chance to win a test series in Australia. Sadly, after another defeat
in the 1st test at MCG, cricket fans fear that this tour might turn
out to be another nightmare.
What has caused this sudden fall from grace? Over the last
decade, India had improved their overseas record significantly, with test wins
coming at Headingley (Leeds), Adelaide, Wanderers (Johannesburg), Kingston
(Jamaica), Trent Bridge (Nottingham), Kingsmead (Durban) and above all at the
WACA in Perth.
Then what has gone wrong? The Indian batting line-up boasts
of over 40,000 test runs, more than any other test team ever. However, in the
last 5 overseas tests, this amazing line-up has failed to cross 300 in an innings. In fact, they did so only once
(in 3 tests) in the West Indies. We all realise that test matches are won by
bowlers. But, if the batsmen fail to put up a decent score, even the best of
bowling attacks will have problems defending it.
Here are some of my observations and thoughts on why the
Indian team has not crossed the 300-run mark in 5 consecutive away test
matches. Of course, a lot of credit goes
to the English and Australian bowlers, and they have been very good. But,
Indian batsmen have faced top class fast bowling int he past, and have come up
trumps! So, what’s going wrong of late?
An Unsettled Opening
Pair
Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir have been one of the most
successful opening pairs in recent cricket. Unfortunately, both suffered
injuries during the IPL and skipped the West Indies tour. Both were undercooked
for the England series and failed miserably against some hostile and accurate
seam bowling.
In fact, Sehwag embarrassed himself by grabbing a King Pair
at Edgbaston, his comeback test. He looked uninterested in the home series
against West Indies, until he scored a magical 219 in the ODI at Indore.
However, his run of low scores has not inspired any confidence in Indian fans.
A couple of years ago, Gambhir was on top of the ICC Test
Ratings for batsmen. Sadly, he hasn’t put up a century in 2011, and has shown
serious vulnerability outside the off stump. His form has fallen over the last
year to such an extent that some critics are even calling for his head.
The opening stand is very critical to India’s batting
fortunes. It will be difficult for India to put up a big score without Gambhir’s solidity and a swashbuckling knock from Sehwag to put
pressure back on the Aussie bowlers. They have the skills and experience. This
is the right time to show what they are capable of.
2nd New
Ball worries
It’s not only the 1st new ball that has created
problems for Indian batsmen. The 2nd new ball has had devastating
effects on India’s middle and lower-middle order. Notably, India have not survived 100 overs in a single innings
in the last 5 overseas tests.
In my opinion, the failure
of India’s no.6 and 7 batsmen has been primarily responsible for this. On
quite a few occasions, India found themselves to be 4-5 wickets down at the end
of 80 overs. However, the 2nd
new ball has then triggered or accelerated a batting collapse to leave
India short of the 300 mark.
After Saurav Ganguly’s retirement, India has struggled to
fill the no.6 position. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have failed. Cheteshwar
Pujara is injured. It is now Virat Kohli’s turn to show if he is capable of
succeeding at test cricket. This, coupled with the (overseas) batting failures
of MS Dhoni has exacerbated matters further. Captain Dhoni’s wicket has often
triggered a lower-order batting collapse. The table below throws up an
interesting trend.
Venue
|
Inn.
|
2nd New Ball wk
|
MS Dhoni wk
|
MS Dhoni score
|
Team Score
|
2nd New Ball Collapse
|
Lord's
|
1
|
240-6 (83.4)
|
240-6 (83.4)
|
28 (103)
|
286 (95.5)
|
46-5
|
Lord's
|
2
|
225-6 (85.2)
|
225-6 (85.2)
|
16 (49)
|
261 (96.3)
|
36-5
|
Trent Bridge
|
1
|
267-5 (85.4)
|
273-6 (87.3)
|
5 (9)
|
288 (91.1)
|
21-6
|
Oval
|
2
|
269-7 (83.2)
|
269-7 (83.2)
|
3 (19)
|
283 (91)
|
14-4
|
MCG
|
1
|
245-7 (81.4)
|
245-7 (81.4)
|
6 (8)
|
282 (94.1)
|
37-4
|
As the table above suggests, India have often been in a decent (but by no means strong) position after 80 overs. From here, nos.6 and 7 should take the responsibility to take the score from 250 to 400+. Sadly, our nos.6 and 7 have not been good enough to survive the 2nd new ball and the results are there to see. In fact, MS Dhoni can be classified as a “New Ball Bunny”.
What’s the solution? Surely MS Dhoni is a better batsman
than his recent scores suggest. His frailties against the new ball need not
surprise us. He is a natural stroke-player and if his batting is allowed to
flourish, can change the course of a match.
I would suggest a move for Dhoni to promote himself to no.5, at the expense of VVS Laxman
dropping to no.6. This move may look drastic, but this is the time for our
captain to lead the way himself, much like
he did in the World Cup finals, when he promoted himself ahead of Yuvraj
Singh who was in peak form.
Batting at no.5 will mean Dhoni will get the opportunity to build an innings against a relatively
older ball. He can then take charge as the ball (and bowlers) get worn out,
and make a difference of 30-40 runs before the 2nd new ball is
taken. If he survives beyond 80 overs, he will be in a much better position to
encounter the new ball with 50-60 runs under his belt. Else, the new ball can
be faced by VVS Laxman and Kohli (or
even Ajinkya Rahane who is an opening batsman and can face the new ball with
much more confidence).
Either way, Dhoni’s skills will be much better utilised if
he walks in to bat when the ball is
40-50 overs old. These additional runs and the momentum can prove to be the
difference between a score of 280-290 and 400.
The Bigger Issue
Of course, the above
problems are only symptoms of a much bigger trend. With the overwhelming
importance given to ODI and T20 cricket, batsmen all over the world have become
used to playing on flat pitches, which offer little or no help to the bowlers
(especially seamers).
As a result, when a test match is played on a pitch with
some grass, modern batsmen are found lacking in technique and temperament to
grind out a long innings. It turns out to be a low-scoring affair and one where
‘the men are separated from the boys’. Cricket administrators the world over
need to consider the effect of bang-bang cricket on the quality of test match
batting. But that can be left for another day.
For now, I’d like to
see Dhoni batting at #5.
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