Prior to Rohit’s immediate tasks on hand in limited overs, I had written his top priorities in test cricket. Please go through that one too.

The main challenge is mental toughness

The Indian white ball cricket is not that settled. Make no mistake. They do have the personnel for the job on hand but for some reason, the team always falls short when it comes to the big games. So many knock-out games under Kohli comes to mind. Despite dominating the league phase, the batsmen get stuck in sand and the bowlers get their radar wrong in the semis and finals. This has cost the team multiple ICC tournaments. Tournaments that they were expected to win. Especially the 2021 T20 World Cup, 2015 Champions Trophy.

They came unstuck on the big day. This is the main challenge that Rohit is faced with. He himself contributed to those shockers. I am not really sure how are the team of Rohit and Dravid going to address this problem. Perhaps a reduction in too much discussion before the knock-out games will probably work. Over analysing the opponents instead of playing to the best of the team’s ability could be the reason.

Too many players at the top of the same mould

India and especially Rohit, Dhawan, Rahul and Kohli have been slow starters. They still seem to be in the 90s mode. Keep the wickets at the top, accumulate in the middle overs and tear the opposition apart in the last 10 overs. They do not seem to have realised that the game has changed is very complexion in 10 years. England who are the trendsetters in this format, are dreaming of score above 500 whereas India is happy with middling scores of 300 in ODIs and around 160 in T20s.

Bats have got heavier and batsmen have become adept at chasing that a runrate of 7 does not fluster them anymore. Rohit must transform the way India bat during the start of the innings. There are sufficient dashers in Rohit himself, Ishan and Dhawan followed by Pant, Surya, Shreyas, Kohli, Jadeja and the rest. This calls for a remarkable mindset transformation. Will Rohit be able to effect that change?

The dreaded middle order

Kohli and Shastri spent a very large part of the tenure in searching for the perfect number 4. Needless to say, the failed miserably in their quest. As luck would have it, Rohit now has a variety of middle order hitters in Shreyas, Rahul & Surya. All of them are capable of staying at the wicket and scoring runs at the sametime. It is for Rohit to choose the proper middle order. I would say Kohli, Surya and Rahul to be the ideal middle order with Shreyas as the backup.

The all-rounder role

Ever since the decline or the lack of interest on the part of Hardik, Indian cricket is struggling to find a late order dasher. Looks like with Venkatesh Iyer, Hooda, Deepak Chahar and Shardul, that problem is likely to be solved. How Rohit uses these players remains to be seen.

The problematic bowling

Bowling is likely to be Rohit’s biggest problem. Except for Bumrah, none of the rest is capable of picking up wickets as well as contain the flow of runs. As a result, the batsmen are always under pressure to score quickly because they do not know how many is too many. Jadeja for all his quick scoring abilities, is not a reliable bowler. If the pitch is flat, Jadeja is likely to go for plenty. Having said that, he walks in on the basis of his hitting capability and his supreme fielding. Kumar has suddenly lost a lot of potency. Perhaps lack of match practice has affected his bowling.

Remember, Ranji trophy wasn’t played last year and as such the fringe players lost out of some much needed game time. The BCCI will do well to send a second Indian team to tour countries like Sri Lanka, West Indies, Bangladesh, Ireland, Zimbabwe for series of ODIs and T20s. This must happen regularly. Last year, a second Indian team participated in a series in Sri Lanka. It proved to be a success. India won the ODI series and could have easily won the T20 series as well if not for mass Covid infection. It will ensure that the players are sufficiently match fit. They can come into the main team incase of an emergency and will be able to perform straightaway.

2022 T20 World Cup

Australian wickets in the T20 World Cup is likely to be flat. As such the bowlers are expected to go for plenty. It needs bowlers with the X factor. Kuldeep and Chahal who formed a potent attack till the 2019 World Cup as back in the squad. They have certainly lost their effectiveness over the last 2 years. When in form, they are a deadly pair. The Australian grounds a fairly huge and spinners will be helpful but they will have to be good. How Rohit is able to inspire the likes of Chahal or Kuldeep or Bishnoi will be interesting to watch.

Conclusion to Rohit’s immediate tasks on hand in limited overs

This country is longing for an ICC trophy over the last 11 years. The Indian fans have had multiple heartbreaks and have placed a lot of faith on the new captain. Primarily because he had won 2 tournaments leading a second string Indian team and has also won multiple IPL trophies. The Indians believe that Rohit has a magic wand. If he can deliver 2 World Cups in the next 2 years, his name will be etched in the annals of Indian cricket forever. Ofcourse, before that he has the all important final test against England. All in all, Rohit has a few golden opportunities to establish himself as the captain who won a series in England and who has won a couple of ICC tournaments.

What do you think are Rohit’s immediate tasks on hand? Do you think Rohit has the necessary tactical acumen to bring home certain ICC trophies?

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Yes India won the Melbourne test but…..

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The Indian cricket pitches

Whenever, a side from one of England, Australia, New Zealand comes to India, the one talking point is about the pitches. There will be lot of editorials on their newspapers stating that a minefield is awaiting their teams during their visit. Every pitch in any Test series will be doctored to suit the Indian spinners or to stump the visitors because of their lack of ability against spin. However, none of them thinks about the poor technique displayed by the visitors against spin. Not the perfect one but a better technique would have ensured that they prevail. Having said that, the Indian cricket pitches will probably have to change. Defeating India in India is one of the most toughest in the cricketing world. Defeating Australia and defeating South Africa are the other tough propositions. I have not included England or New Zealand because both the teams have lost rather a few games more than that is allowed. Over the last 23 years, India have lost less than 10 Tests at home with only 2 series losses. That is an incredible record to boast about. The sheer dominance at home is something no other team could achieve. Accusation against the team Despite that, the talk invariably turns to the pitches. There were lot of accusations on the Indian team that they will not be able to win so many games if the pitches weren’t so spin friendly. A few years ago, in 2015, against South Africa, both the teams, India and South Africa were unable to cross 300 once because the pitches turned square from ball one. The Nagpur pitch for the 3rd Test was rated poor. It left Kohli fuming. “Well, there have been three scores of under 50 runs in South Africa but I haven’t seen any sort of articles on that. Teams have been bundled out under 100 for about six times in South Africa,” he said. “The situation in our country is highlighted a bit too much and that’s a fact. Because the only thing we talk about is the pitch and when we were in South Africa, the only thing we talked about was how badly we played. We are criticised for our techniques but when visitors don’t play well, it’s always the wicket.” It is true what Kohli had said. There are lot of games in Australia and South Africa that have not exceeded 3 days. Especially, in South Africa, the pitches are overly favourable to the fast bowlers. Since South Africa can churn out them by the dozen, they have always prepared pitches that has incredible pace and bounce. They have always maximised the home advantage and particularly against the Asian nations. WTC Points system is another reason Likewise, India is also justified in preparing pitches that does not suit the opposing batsmen. Here I say the opponent’s batsmen is because even the Indians are not that good against spinners any longer. Just look at the number of games the Indians were tied down by spinners in white ball cricket that has prevented them from scoring huge runs or chase down one. The situation is not that better in Tests either. Nowadays, spinning pitches are prepared not because it is comfortable for India but because it is uncomfortable for the opponents. One other factor that warrants results oriented pitches is the WTC points system. It awards 12 points for a win and only 4 for a draw. It places great importance in playing attacking aggressive brand of cricket. WTC points is a significant motivator. Teams need wins to be in contention to play the final. Where does the chances for winning most of the games lie? It is at home where you know the conditions and you know how the pitches will behave. Hence, the need to prepare pitches where you give your team the maximum chance to win. “There is a huge premium on results,” Dravid said before the fourth Test. “You draw a game like Kanpur against New Zealand, where you take nine wickets in the second innings, you draw that game and that sets you back, in a home game. “Every team is getting results at home or are putting in really good performances at home, so there is a premium on results. You get four points for a draw and you get 12 for a win, so there is a premium on that, there’s no question about it.” It is time to return The downside of all this is that the averages and the performances of the batsmen have dropped drastically and the spinners are having inflated strike rates and averages. One will only have to compare the statistics of both Ashwin and Jadeja with their away record. It will clearly establish the fact that these two spinners, ofcourse they are good, are not as great as they are made out to be. Perhaps, the time has come to return to the more batting pitches that helped the Indian batsmen outscore their opponents. The spinners will have to really use their guile and intelligence to pick up wickets rather than just drop the ball and leave the rest to the pitches. There was a period, against England in 2017, where both the teams amassed runs and yet, India won handsomely 4-0. Ashwin & Jadeja still emerged as the highest wicket takers but they had to move out of their comfort zone. The Indian fast bowlers too had long bowling sessions. This was in stark contrast to how Bumrah asked to be left out of the squad in 2020 against England because he hardly had to bowl. Wrapping up the Indian cricket pitches The problem is not the turn but the dust that comes out of the pitch everytime there is an activity. Sri Lankan pitches have also turned but the soil does not come out. India have had similar pitches and it is time to return to that. 2 and 3 day games will kill the game. Let the batsmen be able to bat confidently. For inspiration, India will only have to think about the pitches against England in 2017.

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