The ODI series versus South Africa was an unforeseen
tragedy for team India and coach Rahul Dravid. India lost the series 3-0, and
experts including the Indian coach believes the first and third matches were
lost due to "bad shots." The recent ODI results of the current South
African team hasn’t been enviable. India wasn’t expected to lose the ODI
series, in this manner.
Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli kept India's pursuit
on course in both games, but neither batter was able to turn their
half-centuries into massive knocks. In the absence of Hardik Pandya and
Ravindra Jadeja, the middle and lower-middle order struggled to complete the
task once Dhawan and Kohli were dismissed. But again India need to look into
better options than Hardik Pandya, because of his inability to bowl. India
cannot afford to play Hardik as a pure batsman. India has better options of
pure batsmen.
In one-day internationals, India always start slow,
preserving wickets. "We certainly could perform more in the middle
overs," Dravid remarked when asked if they should tweak the template. We
understand the blueprint, and a major part of that blueprint is determined by
the composition of your team. Some of the players who help us balance the
roster and provide all-around possibilities at Nos. 6, 7, and 8 were
unavailable for selection. When they return, maybe it will give us a bit more
depth, allowing us to play in a somewhat different way.
The Indian spinners were outbowled by their South
African peers throughout the tournament. The Indian spinners are failing to be
a real threat to those foreign batsmen even on the subcontinent pitches. Indian
which boasted of some quality spinners like Bedi, Prasanna, Chandrashekhar and
Kumble in earlier times, now fail to produce such spinners who are feared by
the opposition batsmen.
The team
needed to improve their wicket-taking in the middle overs. In the third ODI,
India attempted something different: their seamers hit the deck more regularly
than they had in the first two games, and they got marginally greater results. During
the middle overs, India will most likely need to strengthen their wicket-taking
alternatives. Spinners assume a significant role in this.
Prior to the tournament, stand-in captain KL Rahul
stated that Venkatesh Iyer will be the squad's sixth bowling option. Iyer, on
the other hand, did not bowl an over in the first ODI, but he did deliver five
in the following before being kept out for the third.
There has also been some debate about Iyer's
batting position, but Dravid stated that the team administration was
"quite explicit with him" about his purpose in the team.
For KKR [in the IPL] and at times for Madhya
Pradesh, he batted towards the top of the order, however he has also batted in
the middle order for MP. The Indian team was hunting for a No. 6 bowler who
could provide a sixth bowling option. Because they had a lot of alternatives at
the top of the order right now, especially when Rohit returns, that was the job
they assigned to him. But Venkatesh Iyer who was selected to the team purely on
the basis of his heroics in the IPL, failed to deliver the goods. India need to
have a better option as an all rounder.
Deepak Chahar's batsmanship in the final ODI was
one of the few bright spots for India in the series. India were 223 for 7 at
one point in their chase of 288, but Chahar, who was playing his first game of
the series, smashed 54 off only 34 balls to get them near. In Sri
Lanka, he had pulled off an identical chase, but India ended four runs short
tonight. Chahar and Shardul Thakur, who played as seam-bowling allrounders and
scored 50* and 40* in the first 2 ODIs, were praised by Dravid. It's wonderful
to have players like Chahar and Shardul, who have shown they can contribute
with the bat in recent games. Players like these, who can impact with the bat
at a lower level, make a huge influence.
Except for Surya's chance in the 3rd ODI,
India's middle order has remained unchanged. Aside from that, they didn't make
any changes to the batting order. The team's management wants to provide them
with a steady run and a sense of stability. When you give people that, you have
to demand performances, and big ones at that, because that's what people expect
when they play at this level for their nation.
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