Cricket Tournaments

The heartbreak at Hyderabad will rankle the Indians just as much as the loss in the Chennai Test against Pakistan a decade ago. It was a match India should have won considering they had six wickets in hand and just over 50 to get. But they blew it away rather embarrassingly and the last few minutes of game proved why they do not deserve to be the number one team in the world. The frenetic running between the wickets was absolutely pathetic, and that is to put it mildly; Ravindra Jadeja’s run-out was symptomatic of the Indian effort, if you take out Sachin Tendulkar and the contribution Suresh Raina to an extent.

The defeat will once again raise questions regarding Sachin not being a finisher despite the fact that he scored more than 50 per cent of the runs in the chase. However, it was clearly the younger brigade which let India down. The fact that Raina doesn’t know how to pull has been demonstrated in his dismissals umpteen times, yet he keeps playing that fatal stroke at inopportune moments. And Thursday’s dismissal is one he would not like to remember, but one is sure he won’t be able to forget it soon considering it ended up costing India the match. Time and again, Raina has looked good enough to take India to the finishing line. However, he’s been a failure on most occasions.

Similarly, Jadeja had another great opportunity to become a hero, only to squander it away with some nonsensical play. His charge down the pitch when the ball hadn’t gone anywhere but straight to the fielder was a clear indication that he couldn’t handle the pressure out in the middle. And the Aussies pounced on him and every chance they got to mow down the Indians. Praveen Kumar’s six in the dying moments did give India hope. Unfortunately, the earlier batsmen had just left him with a little too much to achieve.

What hurt India most was there was only one partnership of note, which took them to the doorsteps of victory, but was broken just as the Aussies were beginning to run out of ideas. Virender Sehwag cannot be blamed on this occasion, since he had not option but to go after the bowlers right from the start. However, chasing such a mammoth target, India desperately needed at least two out of Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to fire. That did not happen and if India still got so tantalizingly close to the target, it was only due to Sachin’s efforts. He has to ask himself though whether he needs such stressful times at this stage of his career.

India have now lost two consecutive matches chasing. Remember they came into the series with a strong batting line-up as their strength and have faced what can be termed as an efficient bowling line-up at best considering the number of injured players in the Australian side. This certainly doesn’t augur well for the home side. Their bowling too struggled at Hyderabad, however that had more to do with the pitch. The loss though has to be attributed to a total lack of mental application by the batters, especially towards the end when a cool head would have done the trick.

Despite being massive disadvantaged due to their unending injury problems, Australia have still managed to compete and keep the series alive. At 2-2 going into Hyderabad it is anyone’s series and India will need to pull their socks up and not take the opposition lightly, like they did in Mohali resulting in a disaster. Australia, in the meantime, will also be without all-rounder Moises Henriques, who himself was brought in as cover for James Hopes, and so must have lost faith in process of replacements. Apart from the XI they played at Mohali, they only have two left in the reserves now – Clint McKay and Jon Holland, both of whom are likely to sit out at Hyderabad. Still, the victory in the last match would have boosted their confidence no end.

The Aussie batters have struck form with Shane Watson and Ricky Ponting getting among the runs at the top of the order. In the middle-order, Michael Hussey and Cameron White have been consistency-personified. If anything, they need better support from the lower order. With Henriques out, Adam Voges will be back, and he along with Graham Manou and Mitchell Johnson will be expected to make better contributions.

Bowling wise, Australia discovered a star in the making at Mohali in left-arm quickie Doug Bollinger. He was exceptional with his accuracy and movement and was justly rewarded. Shane Watson and off-spinner Nathan Hauritz also impressed, but the absence of the wicket-taking Peter Siddle will be sorely felt. He was undoubtedly Australia’s best bowler of the series so far. Ben Hilfenhaus, who is likely to take his place, will have a tough task on hand. But he is a competitive cricketer so expect him to come up with the goods. That leaves the Aussies with their biggest worry named Mitchell Johnson.

When Brett Lee was ruled out, Johnson automatically became the pace spearhead of the team. Unfortunately, he has done nothing to justify the position. If anything, he has been off target and been dealt with rather harshly but the Indian batters, Sehwag in particular. But with the lack of arsenal, Australia have no option other than to keep playing him. How Johnson fares in the remainder on the series will have a definitive impact on the final result. The death overs bowling is another area where the Aussie bowlers will have to improve their performance drastically to keep their team’s chances afloat.

The hosts, themselves, have quite a few tribulations of their own. Virender Sehwag has been giving the team rollicking starts, but none of his knocks have gone beyond the description of a cameo. India would be hoping for a big one from him. Ditto with Sachin Tendulkar and the back from injury Gautam Gambhir. If the top three fire, India’s middle-order automatically becomes doubly dangerous as Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni can directly go for the kill instead of rebuilding the innings first. Also, it is about time Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja come up with something substantial.

Before the start of this series, the Indian bowlers were under fire from all quarters. The much-maligned brigade has redeemed itself though, at least for the movement. Ishant Sharma’s rediscovery of himself has been the biggest plus, whereas Praveen Kumar is learning the art of bowling even when there is no swing. Ashish Nehra’s comeback is only getting better and better with every passing game. About Harbhajan Singh, India will have to wait and watch, because even though he is struggling with the ball, he is coming up with good knocks with the willow. It’s no rocket science though that India need Harbhajan the bowler back.

Keeping in mind, Australia’s depleted army of men, India are hugely advantaged. However, they can only utilize the golden opportunity if perform to potential and not get lethargic, like we witnessed at Mohali.

There was little going against India in the fourth ODI at Mohali. They won the toss, got the better of the bowling conditions, restricted Australia to an easily achievable target and even put up an unexpected sparking performance in the field. Yet, they ended up on the losing side. It can only be put down to a complacent effort by their batsmen on a pitch where the ball was coming on to the bat very nicely till the very end. All India needed was a reasonable score from one of their top order batsmen and decent contributions from a couple of the others and they would have cantered home rather easily. Not only have the home side squandered a rare opportunity to go 3-1 up against Australia, they have also given the ‘wounded’ Aussies a new lease of life in the tournament. And we all know how dangerous they can get once they smell blood.

The entire Indian batting line-up needs to be held responsible for the defeat, may be with the exception of Virender Sehwag, who, it seems, has been given the license (or may be he has taken it himself) of going after every delivery. While it has been absolutely entertaining to watch him taking on the bowlers, how the Indians would wish he can carry on a bit longer. It’s not all that difficult for the man. Asking him to change his natural style would only backfire on India; if only he can be slightly judicious in his shot selection in the remainder of the series, Australia’s woes would be compounded to magnanimous proportions. As it is they are struggling to put together a fit XI. The Indians cannot get a better opportunity to put it across the Aussies, something they have failed to do in a long time at home against the world champions.

Sri Lanka recently sent out the message to the veteran Sanath Jayasuriya that his spot in the ODI team is not guaranteed anymore, unless he performs with some degree of consistency. It may be too early, but the same principle must also apply to Sachin Tendulkar. He hasn’t crossed 50 in any of the four ODIs and the poor decision he got at Mohali cannot be considered as an excuse. The Indian team management must ask itself and Sachin the tough put pertinent question – will he still be around when the 2011 World Cup comes. One is not querying Sachin’s commitment, but it has been often proved in recent times that his splitting the Gambhir-Sehwag combo has harmed the team’s chances.

Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja are still young, yet they need to learn sooner rather than later. What is disappointing is that they aren’t really making a concerted effort to dig themselves in when the team needs. Kohli played an expansive stroke before getting set, whereas Jadeja ran himself out needlessly. Suresh Raina has been on the international circuit for a couple of seasons now and he, more than the other youngsters, needs to put his hand up and lead the brigade of the young guns. When he made his comeback last year, he stroked some sparking centuries. Even though against minnows, the tons made one believe that he was ready to climb up the ladder. That though is yet to happen and, like Rohit Sharma, Raina too will face exclusion unless he performs soon.

A lot to improve upon for India as they head into the next game. The hosts would have reclaimed the top spot had they beat the Aussies at Mohali. But considering their disappointing performance, it is clear that they are not yet ready to take over the numero uno slot.

An insipid batting performance by India saw Australia defeat them by 24 runs in the day-night game at Mohali, and in the process levelling the series 2-2. Chasing a modest 251 set by the Aussies, India got off to a stupendous start thanks to Virender Sehwag and his flashing blade. However, once he fell for 30 from 19 balls, the Indians kept losing their wickets at regular intervals, some rather senselessly, and in the end fell way short. This was after a good bowling performance saw the Indians restrict Australia to 250 on a great batting surface.

India began their chase in whirlwind fashion, with Sehwag smashing the first ball of the innings from a struggling Mitchell Johnson through the off-side boundary. And he never looked back after that, cracking six more fours in his 19-ball cameo. But just when he was looking good, he failed to clear the in-field off a Doug Bollinger delivery and gave Australia an opening. With Gautam Gambhir out with a neck injury, youngster Virat Kohli was promoted to number three. Unfortunately for him and the team, he couldn’t make use of the great opportunity, nibbling at one way outside the off-stump and becoming Bollinger’s second victim.

At the other end, a steady Sachin Tendulkar was trying to resurrect the innings. Somewhere down the line though he seemed to have lost focus with the entire hullabaloo over him approaching the 17,000-run landmark. Sachin ended up playing across the line to off-spinner Nathan Hauritz and was adjudged lbw for 40, a dubious decision and one that cost India dearly. The home side could never recover from 94/3. Last match’s heroes MS Dhoni and Yuvraj also failed to do an encore. Yuvraj was caught short of his crease by a direct hit from Ricky Ponting, while Dhoni was somewhat unlucky to be caught down the leg side for 26. Bollinger, though, was not complaining. His third scalp meant India were all but out of the game.

Suresh Raina disappointed yet again and Ravindra Jadeja failed to make use of a good chance to impress the team management. Even though the lower order put up some fight in the form of breezy cameos from Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar, the irreparable damage had already been done.

The Indian batting performance was in stark contrast to their crafty bowling performance earlier in the day. After winning the toss and electing to bowl first, once again due to the dew factor, Ashish Nehra and Praveen Kumar kept things extremely tight. Nehra was soon rewarded with the scalp of Shaun Marsh, who was trapped lbw for 5. Shane Watson, in the company of skipper Ponting, steadied the innings. The Indian bowlers, however, ensured that the duo did not run away with the game. And so when Watson was caught behind off Harbhajan one short of his 50, the game was back on even keel.

For a change, India were sensational in the field, effecting four run-outs. Ponting (52) was sent back by a direct hit by Jadeja from the deep, whereas Nehra got rid of top scorer Cameron White (62), fielding one on his following through and throwing down the stumps at the bowler’s end, with the non-striker out of his crease.

Sadly for India, on a day when they pulled off the unexpected, they failed to do what was expected.