India were not expecting to be 0-2 down in their five-match T20 International series with South Africa, but that is where they are now.
While it would be unfair to say that they have made a total hash of the two matches played so far, some things definitely need a second look, not least the home team’s batting approach. Granted, you need to have runs on the board to create a challenge for the opposition, but surely there has to be scope for improvisation as per the wickets and the pitches available. The match at the Barabati Stadium in Cuttack on Sunday was one such case.
The immediate differences between Barabati and the Feroz Shah Kotla in New Delhi are quite evident. While the Kotla pitch historically has been a sleeping beauty, combined with very small boundaries, Cuttack often throws up challenges for the batters, with some sort of uneven bounce, some movement in the air, thanks to the relative humidity, as well as much longer boundaries.
Needless to say, batting can’t be a “one size fits all” formula. Things need to change as per the situation. Barabati needed one batter to be able to hold one end up while the others sought faster runs. Sadly, this Indian XI does not have that one grafter, and that has been to its detriment.
As always, it is not fair to judge teams by just two matches, but a little change in approach was definitely on the cards, even as the match was on, once the vagaries of the track were witnessed.
The one batter in the side who could have possibly been given the role of the grafter was Shreyas Iyer. For one, he is one of the most technically sound in this XI, and if he wants, he can apply his mind to the job.
But the mantra for Team India seems to be simple — hit everything that moves. Iyer too is getting drawn into this and the results were there for all to see.
Another thing that is missing from the Indian batting philosophy is a little study of the opposition's bowling. A classic example was Rishabh Pant’s dismissal on Sunday.
Keshav Maharaj knew Pant would charge him from the first ball and he smartly sent one down wide of the left-hander’s off stump. Pant, as is his wont often, went for the extravagant slash and was held by the sweeper at the off-side fence.
The problem here is two-fold. For one, Pant’s tendency to go for these wild hoicks is now notorious and every side will try to induce one. The second issue is, while the South Africans knew this would happen, Pant himself, or the Indian batting think-tank, were not equally aware of this possible trap and walked right into it.
What the Indian Premier League has done is that is has made the batters and bowlers familiar with each other’s tendencies. But there are a few who weren’t there in the IPL and surely a second look at the likes of Maharaj, who is a deceptively smart bowler, was merited.
Wayne Parnell is a canny bowler who needs to be looked at closely before any adventures are initiated. After all, it has been a while since the left-armer has seen international action and several of the Indian batters would do well to take a second look before getting into attack mode. But that hasn’t been the case in either game so far.
Also, those who played before have found ways to get past batters. Anrich Nortje had a plan for Ishan Kishan, and it worked.
While bowling, India were right in it till Henirich Klaasen got into the act with his record-breaking endeavour. Klaasen had displayed his liking for Indian spin earlier as well, but that wasn’t a lesson remembered.
When a side is defending just 148 runs, bowlers going at 19 runs an over, or 12.3 or 10.3 basically means that the match is out of your grasp. It can always be attributed to one batter or two coming good for the opposition, but the same didn’t quite apply when the Indians were batting, since adapting to the conditions didn’t quite happen.
In the current cricket calendar, matches come thick and fast and the transition and adjustment times are that much lesser. So, now with a situation where India need to win all three matches to keep the series, a little thought into the batting processes won’t be a bad thing.
Never hurts to have a second look.
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