Back to winning ways

In a bid to redeem themselves and restore their lost pride, a depleted Indian side sans Sehwag, Raina, Sachin and Zaheer Khan has ventured to the Carribean islands to play four one-day internationals.

India’s form in One Day International cricket was never in question as they have won 16 out of their last 19 ODI’s. However, the shameful super-8 exit in the World T20 championships have raised doubts about the side to be consistently on top of every form of the game. India might win this ODI series 4-0 and those who called for their heads after the T20 world cup would be back worshipping them. The current crop of Indian players have played enough cricket to understand the transitory nature of success and failure.

India might be back to winning ways after the first game in Jamaica. But the problems that forced them out of the World T20, and the weaknesses that have historically haunted them, are far from being rectified.

India has had great success in the 50 over format and they have consistently been winning ODIs around the world. The Indian team, packed with power hitters and quick scorers, has been greatly aided by flat ODI wickets produced around the world. India’s ODI mantra has mostly been to bat first, score quickly in the first power play, keep wickets in hand till the mandatory ball-change, opt for the batting power play after the ball-change, score 300+ runs and restrict the opposition. Since India were presented with batting wickets wherever they went, they kept amassing runs and winning matches, though their bowlers came several times short despite having had a lot of IPL experience.

However, the members of the Indian ODI side have been found wanting whenever an odd bowler-friendly wicket is dished out for an ODI match. After Indian batsmen conquered New Zealand earlier this year in the first four ODI matches, the Indian batting folded in the fifth Auckland ODI, with overcast conditions and a little bit of grass on the wicket doing the damage. In the bowler-friendly and bouncy wickets of South Africa and Australia, and against better bowling opposition, the techniques of Indian batsmen have traditionally been found wanting. It is precisely this weakness that West Indies and England exploited during the World T20 championship and forced India out of the tournament. This problem is not endemic to Indian batsmen. Umar Gul bounced Sri Lanka out in the final at Lords too.

With so much of IPL T20 cricket, these half-baked cricketers have shot into prominence by scoring heavily on batting-friendly wickets. If the pitch were to favour the faster bowlers, none of the members of the current Indian side have the technique and temperament to grind in, get a partnership going and cash in later on. Even Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni, with so much international experience, have previously been exposed on bowler-friendly wickets.

For India to be a lot more consistent, they have to do two important things. They must learn to play short pitch stuff. Second, Indian bowlers have to learn to bowl well at the death. These are two areas where no Indian side has done well in the last decade.

Winning ODI matches on flat wickets might wipe off the recent failings from public memory. But the problem will definitely resurface sometime later unless the weaknesses are ironed out.