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.

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The top and middle-order let India down – 3

Ravindra Jadeja Probably the most improved batsman in the world. I will write a separate blog about Jadeja. In this test, he showed why he is preferred to Ashwin though it was never between Jadeja and Ashwin. I have always said that Jadeja plays outside of India as a specialist batsman. Everyone knows that his bowling is non-threatening in English conditions. He may take advantage of a 5th day wearing pitch and that is about it. He paced his innings beautifully. The way he manipulated strike with the tail in the first innings was excellent. If only Pant had stayed with Jadeja, the lead could have been around the 450 mark. Shardul Thakur Shardul Thakur is not an express fast bowler. As such he can never terrorise any batsman with his pace. He is in the team in overseas conditions because he can contribute with the bat. If he fails with the bat and does not keep the economy rate down and provide breakthroughs, it is tough to justify his inclusion. After the enormous partnership between Pant and Jadeja, India needed one more partnership of 50-odd runs to establish authority over England. If only Shardul had stayed with Jadeja at the point, we may have well earned another 60-75 runs. A first innings score of close to 500 would have proved quite challenging but Shardul failed with the bat at the wrong time. Moreover, his bowling was not threatening and he missed an easy sitter of Stokes. Shardul was the star performer earlier in the series and as such this one bad game should not invite condemnation. However, Shardul must realise that he is in the team for his batting as much as he is for his bowling. In hindsight, would Ashwin had been a better choice than Shardul? Maybe may not be. The only reason that I am not able to emphatically say yes is the fact that there is no proof to the contrary. As Manjrekar rightly said, he is yet to take a 5-fer in the countries that matter. With age not on his side, it is anybody’s guess whether he will be able to correct that aberration. Mohammed Shami Shami is a brilliant bowler. We know that. Shami bowls some magic balls. We know that too. Shami makes the batsmen play more often. We know that one as well. Shami is unlucky. That is the problem. He is good and he does bowl lot of excellent deliveries but if they do not fetch frequent wickets, then there is a problem that needs to be identified. A couple of wickets in the second innings just when things started to look dicey for India, would have put the game firmly in India’s grasp. His record in England is a major concern. Just 38 wickets in 13 tests, under 3 per test is not the expected return from the premier fast bowler. It is unfortunate that despite his obvious talent, he has often failed to deliver against the major teams. This is the 3rd consecutive test that India failed to defend and Shami has a lot to contribute towards that dismal record. One good thing about Shami is that he showed maturity while batting in the first innings. He gave adequate support to Jadeja which is good to see. He played the short-balls much better than Shreyas. He will have to work with experts and see where is he going wrong? Does he have to pitch the ball much closer or short? Is the length the problem? Jasprit Bumrah The captain played a blinder and absolutely annihilated Broad. Sadly, it was with the bat. With the ball however, Bumrah once again failed at the crunch. He is quickly becoming the Kohli of bowling. For someone this talented, his match winning feats are less. He is the most protected Indian bowler. He has played all but just 2 of the games outside India. Bumrah is often given a break from tests in India. It makes sense because his action is so irregular that over-bowling may result in an injury but being the bowler the opposition plays cautiously and being the premier Indian bowler, to have failed to defend scores in the last innings on three successive occasions, it really casts a big question mark on his effectiveness. Whether all the pampering, is it really worth? The Edgbaston game was the 5th time in the last 10-12 tests that Bumrah did not raise to the occasion. It includes the WTC finals in conditions that is any fast bowler’s dream. Ofcourse, he picked up 5 wickets in the test but was still unable to break the Root-Bairstow partnership. I have written that he is becoming the Kohli of bowling. Kohli is similar in the sense that when faced with a target to chase, this is about Test cricket only, he is unable to win the game with his bat. He had a couple of opportunities in South Africa in 2017 and a couple more in England in 2017. Bumrah had this one apart from the two tests in South Africa, the WTC finals and the 2nd test in New Zealand. The last one was a long shot because the target was meagre. One thing to note is that he is not the rabbit with the bat anymore. He has certainly improved on that front but it is his bowling that is required. Mohammed Siraj Siraj usually is quite expensive. Even when he is among the wickets, he is expensive but even for him, this test would have been an awakening. He was literally taken apart by both Bairstow and Root. Towards the final stages, the way Bairstow toyed with him in the last over, any bowler would have been ashamed. These are early days and he has shown sufficient skill to become the mainstay but he must also realise that being the 3rd choice bowler, his chances will be limited when India play at home. Conclusion to the top and middle-order let India down This was a golden opportunity for India to win a series in England. Ofcourse, not when they were 98/5 but once a lead of 134 runs was secured, India must have accelerated quickly and must have built an impenetrable position. The negativity of Pujara, Vihari and to an extent Kohli and Jadeja, the recklessness of Pant, the inability of Gill to make a rare opportunity count and the impotence of the bowlers in the final innings meant that India were lucky that they had an upper hand for more than 60% of the game. Remember, we played with one player less because Shreyas is literally a free wicket. By the next time, India go over to England, some of these players would have retired and whether we will get another chance in the foreseeable future, is doubtful.

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