Batting Conundrum

Even as I type this, Team India has limped to 65/4 in the 22nd over of 2nd ODI, chasing a mammoth 275 by SA, possible mainly due to the bludgeon by the name of Justin Kemp. More on Kemp’s innings some time else. It would not take rocket science to predict the result of this match as well and though miracles have known to happen before, I don’t think it can deviate from the problem facing the Indian Cricket Team right now. Before it becomes too late, for Dravid and Chappell. Our batting has been woeful, since the West Indies tour, in the ODI variety of the game.

The current scenario in SA can very well be blamed for one simple fact. Bounce is something we have never been good at, and we will continue to struggle till we learn to play on all types of wickets at Domestic level. Mohali is just one exception. It offers a nice pace and bounce to the quicker variety of bowlers, but, is the only one in the country to do so. We could possibly do with at least one such venue every zone to try and counter this problem. Obviously, as the age old adage goes, “easier said than done”. We have had a truck load of pitch committees which have been formed (and dispersed), but none of them have been able to come up with real solutions. Possibly, the solutions that they have come up with have not been implemented. Either ways, Indian Cricket is the loser. There are two things to be noted here, a. it is very difficult to change the basic nature of the soil and b. there should not be a major over haul of the pitch conditions, such that, we lose out on our basic strength, i.e. spin bowling.

Coming back to the discussion, it may seem all easy for the Team India to lay the blame on the strange pitches of Africa, but what then the question that begs to be answered is, what happened at the Champions Trophy? Too slow for their liking? Hadn’t had too much match practice? But then, wasn’t this supposed to be one of the most vaunted batting line ups of all times, which boasts of the Sehwags, Tendulkars, Yuvrajs and the Dravids? So, essentially, we cannot bat too well on pitches which offer more-than-necessary bounce to the bowlers, and we struggle to play our shots on pitches which get slower and lower as the game progresses (like the ones witnessed at the CT). What we probably need is a pitch on which the Aussies and the South Africans scored their 400s at Jo’burg, a couple of huge scores, the media hails the performance of the batsmen, the viewing public relaxes a bit, and the pressure is off the Indian Batsmen!

But jokes apart, I think it is high time that we recognize that Team India may have a decent batting line up, but that is it. We are just that. Decent. Nothing more. Period. And taking it forward, it essentially means that Team India should stop gloating about their “awesome” batting line up, realize that being the best on paper and actually being good are two different things al together and should rather stick to the basics and not unnecessarily experiment (could not help bring this point up!). Apart from this, I think the Chairman of the Selectors, Mr. Dilip Vengsarkar has hit the nail on the head when he said that the Bench Strength of the Indian Team is a cause for worry. Personally, a good performance in the World Cup is what all the fans would hope for, but the World Cup is just one of the destinations, of the long journey of making India one of best in the world (if not the best). And that means, that it is high time we stopped shielding behind the “we are building a Team for the WC” line, and start scoring runs, and winning more matches.

Nothing against Greg Chappell, but, the performance needs to be the only basis to judge his performance, and not the De Bono hats, or the mountain climbing, and definitely not the statement, “The process is equally important”!


Our Team Scores in the last 14 matches. Just 1 score of above 300, and at least 5 of below 200. The important thing to be noted here is that the field restrictions for these matches last for 20 overs.

Vs WI 1st ODI – 254/5 in 50
Vs WI 2nd ODI – 197 all out in 50
Vs WI 3rd ODI – 245/9 in 50
Vs WI 4th ODI – 217/7 in 50
Vs WI 5th ODI – 236 all out in 50
Vs WI DLF Cup – 309/5 in 50
Vs Australia DLF Cup – 35/5 in 8
Vs WI DLF Cup – 162 all out in 40
Vs Australia DLF Cup – 195 all out in 50
Vs England CT – 126/6 in 30
Vs WI CT – 223/9 in 50
Vs Australia CT – 249/8 in 50
Vs SA 1st ODI – 91 all out

Over to Mr. Dravid and Mr. Chappell