India were lucky to have won the league game against Pakistan. If not for a freak Pandya innings, they would have been humbled. There are no two ways to look at that. India made heavy weather of a moderate chase that it almost scuttled at the end. The second game, Super-4, showed how difficult will it be for India to emerge triumphant this time around. India lost the game with glaring negatives.
Jadeja’s loss just before the game was morale shattering. Jadeja is a multi-talented cricketer. He can bat cautiously and he can also bat aggressively. He can bowl few overs of spin and not to mention that fact that he is a brilliant fielder. The loss of such a cricketer will affect any team. It was no secret that it affected India and going by the team selection, they were clueless how to replace him. Axar Patel is not a patch on Jadeja and there is no proof to show that he would have prevailed with the bat against Pakistan’s fast bowlers. Hence, he wasn’t considered. Understandably so. Deepak Hooda was considered inplace of Jadeja.
Judging by the fact that he wasn’t given a single over, he played as a proper batsman. In that case, what was he doing so late down the order? It was clear that he didn’t have the aggressive game against the faster Pakistan bowlers. He could have batted just after Surya and before Pant.
Pant may now realise the reason he is not considered
Speaking of Pant, it will now be clear for him and for all his supporters, why is he not preferred in T20? Karthik was dropped for no fault of his only to accommodate a left-hander. The side story here is that if the Indian team management is so particular about left-handers, why did they not insist on retaining Ishan Kishan? Be that as it may, Pant has been given several opportunities and every time he plays a foolish shot to get out. He plays the sweep really well but reverse sweep? I do not think that the Indian players try that shot in the nets.
The delivery that he got out called for traditional sweep. It was a googly, right on his pad. If he had swept and in some gap, he could have fetched another boundary having scored one of the previous delivery but not for him. He will always want to try something dramatic and came out the reverse sweep. He was never in control of that shot having stretched far too forward to fetch the ball and lost balance resulting in his tame dismissal.
Pant must realise that the team management gives lot of importance to his batting abilities and that is the reason he is sent at number 4 or 5 constantly. He will have to justify that faith but at the moment, he is woefully falling short.
The Indian openers
The Indian openers gave an unusually flying start. Ofcourse, Rahul took too many deliveries that will not be reflected in his strike rate. Nevertheless, it was a good start having scored 62 in the powerplay but far too often, neither of them goes onto play a long innings. There is no point in playing match winning knock against minnows but against top bowling team, it is important one of the opener plays a long innings. I don’t mean occupy one end. I meant long innings with high strike rate.
Rohit nowadays is content on playing cameos. Perhaps, his game is not suited for the all-out attack. That is the precise reason Rohit and Rahul must be split. With the exit of Jadeja and the lack of another left-handed option, Pant may continue to man the middle order but I would say, make him open the innings with Rohit with Rahul moving down the order where he will be devastating. Do not worry about a left-hander in the middle order. Trust your right handed batsmen to play the opposition spinners effectively.
From hero to villain in one game
For Hardik Pandya, it was all roses a game earlier but now, he proved way too expensive. More than 10 runs an over is expensive by any standards. It could be just one game but India will have to decide whether Pandya can be the 3rd seamer? The selectors have blundered in not picking an extra seamer. Perhaps, in Bumrah and Harshal’s absence, Shami could have been a better choice. Kumar on the otherhand, one will never know what went into his head. He bowled length deliveries of the 19th over. He made life easy for the Pakistani batsmen. Kumar is an excellent exponent of the yorker but for some reason that only he can understand, he didn’t bowl them enough. If only he had given 10 more runs to defend, perhaps Arshdeep would have defended.
Speaking of Arshdeep, it really is unfortunate that he is being targetted for dropping a catch albeit a simple one. It happens in the game. Perhaps, he only mistake he did was to smile after dropping the catch.
The absolutely hopeless tail
Ravi Bishnoi, Arshdeep Singh, Chahal, 3 absolute mugs with the bat. In this day and age, it is hard to believe that there are cricketers who does not know how to hold a bat. No team can afford such a lengthy and useless tail. Rohit and Dravid must address this problem immediately. Chahal can be replaced with Ashwin who will not be worser than Chahal in terms of bowling but can bat better. Fielding-wise, both are in the same league. Arshdeep, is the only seamer to support Kumar, thanks to the wise selectors.
The only bright spot
Kohli seems to be finally getting his old-self back. His innings was pristine against the searing pace of Hasnain and Rauf. Kohli was in his element. It was good to see a champion batsman against ferocious fast bowlers. None of the Pakistan fast bowlers troubled Kohli even a wee bit. Such was his command.
“Today I was making a conscious effort to strike at a higher pace,” he said. “When we lost wickets, there was communication and our plans changed, where I had to bat till the 18th with Hooda. If there were a couple of batters, I would’ve gone with the same tempo and tried to hit more boundaries or sixes. But again, I ended up being in a situation where I had to go deep.”
Wrapping up India lost the game with glaring negatives
Karthik can come in for Hooda. Perhaps, in the absence of good bowlers, it will be wiser for India to pack the team with batsmen so that they can look to score or defend 200.
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