India need fresh ideas to rejuvenate an ODI team that has failed to adapt to new regulations that call for greater batting depth and hitting power
Sidharth Monga27-Oct-20151:48
‘Indian cricket has to look long-term’ – Dhoni
MS Dhoni’s view on India’s ODI issues
On batting order: “You want to have strength in the middle and lower middle order and at the same time have bowlers who can get you wickets at any point of time in the game… We have made changes in the batting order to see what gives more strength to our batting order, what looks like a good composition when we are chasing. You have to study these things.”
On fast bowlers: “If you see any other Test- or ODI-playing nation, the fast bowlers come and in one or two years they graduate to the next level – they become the strike bowlers or they learn what their strength is and bowl according to that. To some extent, we have not been able to do [that].”
On No. 7: “We have tried Stuart Binny, people have criticised that also but if you talk of allrounders in India, your best seaming allrounder is Stuart Binny, your two best spinning allrounders are Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel. Whether you like it or don’t like it, these are the best we have so we have to make the most out of them.”
ODI cricket, more than other formats, has been India’s pride. Before this year’s World Cup, they were the holders of the World Cup and Champions Trophy. At home they have been near invincible. Before this defeat to South Africa, they had lost only two series out of their last 16 at home. On both occasions – after defeats to Australia in 2009-10 and Pakistan in 2012-13 – they recovered quickly and went on to win the World Cup of 2011 and the Champions Trophy of 2013.After the defeat to Australia, India didn’t change their personnel or plans too much. Zaheer Khan was the main addition to the team that lost to Australia. After Pakistan, India changed their ODI cricket’s grammar. Out went Gautam Gambhir and Yuvraj Singh to herald a clean break from the previous era; in came younger legs, naturalised openers, and everything suddenly fell in place. New matchwinners appeared in R Ashwin and Mohammed Shami, in Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan.After this series defeat, those making decisions have to decide what kind of debacle this is: one where you keep calm and carry on or one where new match-winners and new ideas are needed. The utter helplessness during this series might suggest the latter. The return of Ashwin and Shami from injury, for example, won’t address the problems that have existed for a while now.The biggest of these has been the failure to adjust to constant rule changes. Just when India found out that being forced to attack with five bowlers was the best thing to happen for them, the ICC changed the rules. New regulations that have made hitting in the end more difficult call for more batting depth. More than four years after he ceased being a match-winner, India are still looking for a replacement for Yuvraj Singh. In ODIs, Yuvraj was not just a big hitter, he could play long innings too, unlike Suresh Raina, the closest India have got to replicating Yuvraj. Yuvraj could also be counted upon as a bowler, which for some reason MS Dhoni is not doing as regularly with Raina as he used to.That South Africa’s JP Duminy bowled 21 overs in three matches to Raina’s 14 in five was a huge difference between the sides. In five ODIs in England last year, Raina bowled 25. India kept craving that batsman at No. 7 who would free up the minds and muscles of those batting higher up, but they didn’t ask more of their batsmen. Duminy is not that much better a bowler than Raina. Nor is Farhaan Behardien more deceptive than Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. Sneaking in overs from part-timers used to be MS Dhoni’s forte; with rule changes he seems to lost that touch.It doesn’t help Dhoni that he is not sure of his main bowlers completing their quota. The disturbing trend of their being really good for just one season continues. Bhuvneshwar Kumar has not come back the same bowler after being bowled into the ground in England last year. Who knows what we will get of Shami after he played through pain and injury in the World Cup in Australia? Umesh Yadav has the fitness, but he has not shown he has evolved as a bowler. What Dhoni said of the pace bowlers in Bangladesh might have sounded harsh but is ringing painfully true.The treatment of Ajinkya Rahane, though, is a bit harsh. Rahane would have seen Rohit and Raina get plenty of opportunities before him to cement their places. He, though, is already typecast in a rare case of the captain talking about a player’s limitations in press conferences. This has also brought about a rare instance of the selectors acknowledging the issue. Dhoni is more edgy than ever, criticising pitches and umpires, which he hardly ever did in public. He has never been in such little control of his team or the cricket it plays. And he likes control when he is on the field. During this series his fast bowlers were wayward, Harbhajan Singh and Axar Patel were nothing like Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja at their best, and the batting match-winners didn’t quite complete their jobs.When you walk into a dressing room, you want to look at match-winners. This team only really had two, Rohit and Kohli. Dhawan was out of form, although form hardly applies to him: he just starts scoring runs out of the blue. Bowlers know how to bowl to Dhoni now. They are not scared of him in the one-on-one scenarios of the final overs, where Dhoni has broken down the best of them. He did play what proved to be a match-winning innings, but when he batted India had nothing to lose and with the bat South Africa contributed generously to India’s cause.Rahane still has some way to go before he can be looked at as a reliable match-winner, but he deserves those chances. With current regulations Raina has to be asked to do more with the ball to accommodate someone such as Gurkeerat Singh, a hitter and a bowler of a few overs. ODI cricket might be leaving India behind, in that they don’t have either a jack-in-the-box who can play around with fields or a big hitter they can call upon to hit from ball one. The one man who might be suited for the role wasn’t given a single game in a bumbling line-up.It is rare that an Indian Test team looks more modern than the ODI one, but that is the case now, and it is not all about the captain or the captaincy. It is clear Indian ODI cricket needs regeneration. Their batsmen are too similar, their slow seamers are not fast enough, and their quick seamers are not smart enough. The captain is usually on a hiding to nothing in such scenarios, but this is also when the really good ones pull the side through. Dhoni has done that previously, and he keeps saying whatever he is doing now is with the next World Cup and Champions Trophy in mind, but the regeneration has to start with a question on Dhoni himself: will he be fit and good enough come the next World Cup? It’s a question India didn’t ask with Sachin Tendulkar.