A loss to Australia followed by a loss to West Indies in the pre-semi-final stage has led India to a curious situation. All but out, and praying for a miracle.
Theoretically, India can still make it to the next stage. What they have to do is win against SL either with a margin of 20 runs if India bats first, or with 14 balls to spare if they chase. And then, pray and pray and pray that Australia win their match against Windies.
The second task is much easier, and something that I am sure everyone in India is already doing. For once, every Indian is praying for an Aussie victory.
It is the first task that makes me worried; the task is not just difficult, it also needs Dhoni to really start rethinking about the team needs. So far, at least in this World Cup, he’s lacked imagination & courage, and has to an extent tried to be defensive rather than attacking. None of these have ever been his hallmarks, and therefore it surprises me. If you want to win, you can’t just try and build a cocoon around yourself and hope to win. You have to get out of your safe zone and try to shake things up a bit, so that you can then take strides towards success. Sadly, Dhoni was too concerned about preventing the team from losing, and therefore couldn’t win.
There are many examples of this. Take for instance the fact that R Vinay Kumar is cooling his heels, when he should have been firing down a few in conditions that favour pace bowling. Take for example the fact that yesterday Windies bowled just 3 overs of spin vis-à-vis India which bowled 12 on a bouncy wicket. Another thing to ponder over this is the fact that given that both Vijay & Gambhir are not clicking (especially Murali), it might be a good idea to bring in Dinesh Karthik, who’s equally good at opening the innings, and pairing him with Gambhir, since both play together in domestic cricket as well. And what about playing either himself or Pathan so low down the order at times, that by the time they try to do something, the task is well beyond them.
I am particularly surprised over Jadeja’s selection for the World Cup. Jadeja might be a find as an all-rounder, but probably for ODIs only – though given his figures in that format, I even doubt that. If his highest in 31 T20 innings is 42, average is 21.96 and his scoring rate is around 7/over, then he’s not the finisher we’re looking for. Also, if we look at his bowling, he gets a wicket after every 30 balls and concedes 37 runs before he gets a wicket, and his economy rate of 7.4 is not bad but not too flattering either. And if we discard his domestic figures in T20s (including IPL) and just look at his international match figures, they are worse than what I just mentioned. So, why will you play Jadeja instead of a specialist bowler or a specialist batsman (if Karthik can be called that)?
It seems that by trying to play safe all the time rather than be inventive, we’ve become too much of a single trick pony, who cannot compete in a horse race. There have been times in the past when I’ve wondered why Dhoni keeps pursuing with something or somebody despite indications that it may not work always (Joginder Sharma being case in point), and I guess the time has come for some fresh thinking to be infused, or we will keep sliding down the slope.
© Shailesh Nigam, Varun Khanna (for respective articles)
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