Cricket Tournaments

The Proteas clinching a one-day series win against West Indies should come as a surprise to anyone. After all, they have lost a one-dayer to West Indies just once in the previous 15 battles between the two sides. However, following the debacle in the T20 World Cup, it was paramount for both teams to get back to that winning feeling as quickly as possible.

And, so while too much can’t be read into the triumph, the South Africans should use the confidence gained as a stepping stone towards building a winning combination for the 2011 World Cup in the sub-continent. There are still two more games to go in the series, and a 5-0 whitewash ala the Hansie Cronje days would do the side no harm at all.

Despite not being at their best, South Africa have still easily managed to outplay the Caribbeans. Batting has proved to be South Africa’s strength in the series, and even when it failed in the third ODI, the bowlers stood up to seal the series for their team. With the willow, Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers have been particularly impressive.

And, it has been mainly due to the duo’s efforts that the Proteas now find themselves in such an impregnable position. AB has been having a golden run in one-day cricket of late, and South Africa would be desperately hoping that it lasts a lot longer, and even against much-stronger teams.

Like de Villiers, Amla also is going through a purple patch. He was always a good Test match player, but now that he has found his bears in the 50-over version as well, South Africa can afford to look beyond Herschelle Gibbs, who form has consistently petered away with age.

While these have been the chief positives in the batting department to come out from the series so far, a couple of worries still remain. None bigger than that of their skipper Graeme Smith, whose form remains wretched. He has got a number of starts lately, but hasn’t been able to convert most.

And, his ability to pick up injuries freakishly has been haunting him and the side rather frequently. Smith would dearly love to put the bad memories behind him, and start afresh from the fourth one-dayer. With the series in the bag, South Africa will get a chance to experiment. And, so the likes of Loots Bosman, Alviro Petersen and David Miller should get a chance to remind the selectors of their presence as the World Cup nears.

Shifting focus to South Africa’s bowling, Morne Morkel has been the stand-out performer, putting West Indies on the back foot with his pace and aggression. It was his bowling effort that was significantly responsible in the Proteas defending a meagre total in the third one-dayer.

Dale Steyn has remained pacy as ever and has been keeping the batsman on their toes. South Africa’s tactics have also been well-thought out. Kieron Pollard hasn’t been allowed to free his strong arms. Darren Sammy did manage to flay the Proteas attack in one game, but their bowlers came back well to restrict him in the next encounter, indicating they had learnt their lessons quickly.

With two games left, South Africa now need to go for the kill. Yes, as aforementioned, they are bound to experiment. However, it shouldn’t be at the cost of the game. A fine balance needs to the struck between the two, so that the momentum gained via the hat-trick of wins is not interrupted.

There are plenty of lessons for India to learn from the debacle at Nagpur, none bigger than the fact that they shouldn’t pick unfit players in the side no matter how big a player is. As we all saw, there was talk that VVS Laxman could be drafted in at the last moment if fit.

However, it wasn’t to be and, as sheer bad luck would have it, stand by Rohit Sharma also twisted his ankle, moments before the game. It didn’t cost India the Test, but must have surely dented their psyche severely, as they had no option but to pick Wriddhiman Saha as the seventh batsman. India’s plans completely went for a toss and their performance in the Test reflected it.

Except for the initial half an hour, when Zaheer Khan struck two deadly blows, the Indian bowling look completely insipid. Nothing should be taken away from Hashim Amla, who batted brilliantly as well as Jacques Kallis, who proved that there is still enough fire in his belly to fight tough battles. However, there are no two ways about it that India could and should have definitely done better.

The bowling has been a worry for quite a while now for India and the signs are hardly encouraging. Zaheer Khan is the only quality bowler around, and he too is approaching the dangerous mid-30s. Ishant Sharma may have done well against Bangladesh, but against a quality opponent like South Africa, he was back to his insipid worst. The change in action hasn’t made an inch of difference. Ishant has to do some real soul-searching.

There was a time in Indian cricket was spinners used to run through the best of opponents at home. But, since the retirement of Anil Kumble things have definitely changed, and how. Everyone now seems tired of pointing out that Harbhajan Singh is not the same bowler he was in 2001. He has lost the zip and nip that made him such a force to reckon with.

One can of course give him the benefit of doubt saying, he bowled on the first two days of the Test when the pitch was at its best. However, the fact of the matter remains that such performances have become far too common for comfort from India’s point of view. Unfortunately, he is still the best spinner we have on offer. Speaking of Amit Mishra, he had an impressive debut against Australia, but has done precious little since. The leggie needs to prove sooner rather than later that it wasn’t a one-off.

Despite the disastrous batting performance, one would do well not to read too much into it. Gautam Gambhir’s failure was long overdue. Virender Sehwag could not carry on to make a big hundred and Sachin Tendulkar’s ton wasn’t enough. Also, one cannot replace legends like Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman overnight. The duo has led the Indian fight back on innumerable occasions and was sorely missed. Even so the youngsters need to be given some time to settle down into the scheme of things.

Amidst all the calamitous happenings, there were a few positives. Debutants S Badrinath and Saha did show some spunk, which augurs well for the future. Murali Vijay looked good, but yet again fell in his nervous 30s. At the end of the day, India may have lost embarrassingly, but it wasn’t a bad result considering the long-term targets of the team, as they unwittingly got a peek into the future.