India and Australia completed the 2nd leg of the 3 leg series with T20. India emerged victorious in the series with 2-1. This was not really a surprise because the Indians were involved in a 60 day IPL tournament and they were much more T20 fit than the Australians. The Indians were infact expected to win both the ODI series and the T20 series but they were able to win only one of them. As expected in T20 cricket, 2 of the 3 games were really high scoring games with scores of both the teams in excess of 175. The first game was much more sedate when compared to T20 standards with India winning with just 160 on the scoreboard.

Success of the series

There were some really good performances with a couple of great performances. There were a couple of belligerent fifties for Matthew Wade. He may have given one more opening option in the T20 format for Australia but age may work against him. Maxwell was at his best in one of the game. Zampa was tidy in the middle overs. As for India, Dhawan, Kohli & Rahul had one fifty each and Chahal bowled a match winning spell in the first T20.

However the biggest success was Ravindra Jadeja whose extraordinary 44 in the first T20 was the ultimate difference between a series won and series lost. Without his innings, India would have finished probably below 140 and Australia would have won easily. For Australia, Swepson was their biggest gain. He bowled tidily and pickup wickets in the middle overs which is very much required in the middle of the innings. Ofcourse, Pandya played a special innings. I will write about Pandya in a separate article.

Failure of the series

There were multiple failures during the series. Though Dhawan & Rahul have a fifty each, Rahul in particular really struggled to score. This is again because he was opening the innings. I have said this before and I will say this again. Rahul must never ever open the innings in any format. His position is in the middle order.

The biggest failure ofcourse was Steven Smith. The Test goliath is proving to be an amateur in the T20 format. He doesn’t seem to understand the shortest format. This is the difference between Kohli & Smith. Kohli has mastered all the formats whereas Smith struggles in T20. He is bound to struggle in next year’s T20 World Cup in India with the pitches being slow.

Inconsistent Indian team selection

The Indian team is the only team in the world that experiments right after the end of one world cup, throughout the time for the next world cup and during the next world cup. The management of Shastri, Kohli and the others seems never to make their mind up. Everyone remembers their quest to fill the number 4 slot in the ODI line-up for the 2019 World Cup. Just when Ambati Rayudu seemed to have filled that slot, the selectors dropped him and the team went into the 2019 World Cup with bits-and-pieces cricketers at the crucial number 4 slot. Pant, Karthik & Shankar all proved to be big failures at that slot.

Now, just a year to the 2021 T20 World Cup, it was Shreyas Iyer in the ODIs at number 4 and now Sanju Samson at that position in T20 with Iyer at 5. Manish Pandey is never thought by the management as someone who can by the solution at the crucial number 4 slot in both T20 and ODI. Why is he not given consistent chances is beyond me.

Struggle against spin in the middle overs

It is a growing worry that Indians, who are renowned players of spin is actually struggling to play spin over the last several years. In the recent T20 and ODI series, Adam Zampa and Mitchell Swepson were able to keep the batsmen quiet throughout the middle overs. A couple of years ago, Lyon took a lot of wickets both in India and Australia. Little known Steve O Keefe won one test in Pune. The Indian batsmen struggle against Swann & Panesar led to the loss of a test series against England a few years ago.

The reason for this is because the Indians, as soon as they start to play for India, they completely forget first class cricket and are not involved in any Ranji game. Ranji will certainly help them play spin well. The board must make it mandatory for every Indian player to play atleast 3-4 Ranji games every year so that the skill to play spin bowling will not be lost and the Indian batsmen will not struggle against that type of spin.

In praise of Natarajan

Natarajan has certainly impressed everyone on his international debut. He bowled brilliantly in all the games. It was impossible to imagine India winning an international limited over series without Bumrah but Natarajan made it possible.

In Kohli’s and Pandya’s words

“Natarajan – special mention to him because in the absence of [Mohammed] Shami and Bumrah, he’s been the guy who has stood up and really delivered under pressure which is outstanding for the fact that he’s playing his first few games at the international level.”

Pandya was even more magnanimous in his praise of Natarajan. He even handed over the player of the series award to Natarajan because he felt Natty deserves it more than Pandya himself.

“Natarajan, you were outstanding this series. To perform brilliantly in difficult conditions on your India debut speaks volumes of your talent and hardwork

You deserve Man of the Series from my side bhai!”

This is indeed high praise. Hopefully, Natarajan will be able to maintain his form and be part of the T20 World Cup squad. I know he is close to 30 but if he could somehow add a few more KMS, he can even be part of the test squad. A left arm fast bowler bowling at 142 – 144, and with the skills that Nataraj has will be an excellent asset to the Indian bowling.

Other articles related to the Australian tour can be read here, here, here, here & here.

Explore More

Australia clearly is the favourite

Australia clearly is the favourite

The Indian team, after the surrender to New Zealand at home, is now in Australia for The Border Gavaskar Trophy. It is worth mentioning that India has somehow, won the

Read More

England managed to keep Ashes alive

The whole of England would have screamed The Ashes is alive, The Ashes is alive, The Ashes is alive. Well, it is indeed alive. England fought back really well and ensured that they live to fight another day. The action at Headingley, the scene of Ben Stokes’s previous exploits, was riveting. The tension was palpable on the face of everyone watching the game. There were multiple heroes for both England and Australia. England will be the more happier of the 2 teams who were fighting for The Ashes. The victory was fashioned not by Stokes but by a bloke who is just in his first year in international cricket and a fast bowler, who should have been in the starting eleven right from Edgbaston. How did England managed to keep Ashes alive? The inclusion of Mark Wood He has got pace. He runs in hard and is not shy of releasing the ball at uncomfortable speeds. That, he wasn’t part of the England team from Edgbaston is for me, an unpardonable oversight unless he was injured. Wood’s pace and movement after pitching clearly unsettled every Australian player. I have been advocating for Wood to be included in every game until the series is decided. Ofcourse, it makes sense to protect such a precious asset but why wouldn’t you want to make use of his services when the series is alive? Does anyone think that without Wood, England would still have won and that too after the infamous Bairstow incident at Lords? I doubt it. Wood was clearly the difference between the 2 sides. Cummins who looked quite comfortable and assured of himself with the bat at Edgbaston and Lords, suddenly turned into a nervous wreck. Not just Cummins, the entire Australian tail was weary of facing upto Wood. They were afraid of getting hit by one of his thunderbolts. For once, Ollie Robinson’s words came true. Johnny Bairstow continues to flounder If only Bairstow had held onto the chances, England by now would have been leading 2-1 and not the otherway around. His keeping is not at all international standard. He misses every regulation nick and yet, he is persisted with for his batting. I am not advocating for Bairstow to be dropped but he must be relieved of his wicket-keeping duties. All the 3 games were won the Australia and England by small margins. As such, England cannot afford anymore largesse. It is another matter if England is short of good keepers but in Foakes, they have a worldclass keeper. Ollie Robinson will definitely not play at Old Trafford. It gives a good chance to bring Foakes back to keep wickets. Bairstow will probably be relieved to concentrate on batting alone. It may even unleash the beast within Bairstow. Let us remember that all those match-winning innings that Bairstow played last year, he wasn’t keeping wickets then. His replacement, Harry Brook, has gone on from strength to strength and cannot be dropped. Stokes has a tricky decision to make. Does he risk Ashes by persisting with Bairstow as the keeper or does he solidify the team with the inclusion of a brilliant wicket-keeper? It will shorten the bowling but Broad, Woakes, Wood, Moeen and if needed Stokes and Root will be able to bowl the necessary overs. If Bairstow continues to keep, probably one more Australian might tell him that “you have just dropped the Ashes” Boycott wants him dropped “England took a calculated gamble and it hasn’t worked,” wrote Boycott. “In three Tests he has dropped catches, missed a stumping and can’t score any runs. It is very sad and outwardly he may show he is upbeat and full of exuberance, but when you fail on the big stage in the full glare of publicity there is nowhere to hide and deep down it affects your confidence. Someone needs to be brave for him and take him out of the limelight. Well, I will not go that far. However, I certainly want him replaced as the keeper. Bairstow can continue as a batsman. Harry Brook showed his quality He has the potential to become one of the best batsmen of his era. He displayed remarkable composure under extreme pressure. Brook curbed his natural instinct to bat aggressively and decisively. The situation called for restraint and accumulation. In the company of Woakes, Brook showed what he is made of. England have really found a worthy successor to Root. Australia need not be disheartened The positives for Australia far outweigh the negatives. The excellent comeback of Mitchell Marsh, who may very well have played a match-winning innings if not for lack of support from the other end. Australia will now be very much unsure as to whom to pick. Whether they will have to go back to Green or do they continue with Marsh? Green has been seen as the future of Australian cricket and in the limited exposure, has not done anything wrong to be dropped. He is an excellent fielder at gully. It will make sense to continue with Green. Australia’s real problem is at the top. David Warner. 17 times he has fallen to Broad. Broad is not going anywhere. He will play the final couple of Tests. As such, he will relish the prospect of bowling to Warner. The only saving grace for Warner is that Australia does not have a reserve opener. Head opened in India but he has been so successful at number 5 that it does not really make any sense to move him up the order. Labuschagne himself is not among the runs and he is unlikely to. It leaves Mitchell Marsh to open the innings. I do not know whether he has opened even in Shield cricket but to do that in an international game needs a lot of courage. This could also be Marsh’s only opportunity to force himself into the side. If asked, I probably suspect that he will agree. Wrapping up England managed to keep Ashes alive It is not all doom and gloom for Australia. The momentum hasn’t shifted. This loss was always on the cards given the pressure on England. It took the brilliant bowling of Wood to unsettle them. They will be better off for this exposure

The whole of England would have screamed The Ashes is alive, The Ashes is alive, The Ashes is alive. Well, it is indeed alive. England fought back really well and

Read More

14 years of Virat Kohli

14 years of Virat Kohli

It is really hard to believe that it has been 14 years since Kohli made his debut. I can still remember his debut against Sri Lanka in one of the

Read More