Indian Cricket Team should be really worried.
Their batting is in shambles. We always knew that there will be a difficult period of transition when Sachin, Sehwag, Dravid and Laxman calls it a day. But the next generation batsmen had sufficient exposure under them to carry the baton.
Batting has two components - Technique and Temperament. Without the latter, the former is of no use. During the past few years we have seen India backing players who are talented over those who has good temperament. People like? Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu were given a long rope. The surfeit of One Day Cricket, where bowlers have to operate under severe restrictions, and which essentially favour batsmen who can tonk the ball around without much technique gave all these players a sense of overconfidence. The super stardom and the money that went along with being an Indian ODI player lulled them to complacency, and they hardly worked on their technical short comings or temperamental flaws.
Take the case of Suresh Raina. It is known even to a Club bowler that Suresh Raina doesn't like the short ball, and he is very suspect during the early part of the innings. Also his defense is suspect. What has he done about it? Nothing. Steve Waugh had a similar problem during the later phase of his career. He was popping up catches on the leg side if the balls were directed at his ribs. But he worked on it and developed his own technique of just loosening the grip and fending it to fine leg for singles.
Rohit Sharma is exceptionally talented. There is no doubt about it. Just watch him bat when he is in full flow and you will amaze at his technical correctness and the time he has to play the shots, which is the hallmark of a good batsmen. But the number of times he has got out to soft dismissals before either fully set or just when his innings is about to take off is very high to give comfort to the next batsmen padded up.
Less said about Shikhar Dhawan the better. He tries to emulate Sehwag, but Sehwag was a genius. I would rate Sehwag a better batsman than even Sachin. Dhawan has obvious weakness against balls angled across him outside the off stump. One would expect him to work on leaving these balls. But no. He continues to perish the same way innings after innings. Contrast this with Murali Vijay, who has really worked on his game outside the off stump, and is perhaps the most dependable batsmen in India today.
Kohli has issues outside the off stump while Ambati Rayudu, though talented missed his best years serving a ban.
Rahane and Pujara have been not given the kind of support they deserve. They have been kicked up and down the batting order, pushed in and out of the team, to accommodate some of the favourites of the Captain. This has unsettled them.
The sad part of Indian batting is their utter inability to play spin. Of the two completed Tests in Mohali and Nagpur, India struggled to reach 200, and that too only with the help of tail enders. And this against a novice spinner like Harmer, a part time utility spinner like Dean Elger and an erratic leg spinner Imran Tahir, who bowls at least 2 boundary balls per over. Most of the Indian batsmen are walking wickets. A long spell for all of them in domestic cricket is the way forward. Look at how Murali Vijay, Pujara and Jadeja has benefitted from playing Ranji Trophy.
India used to blood youngsters once - Sachin played when he was 16, Kambli and Azhar were barely in their 20s, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was a teenager when he routed West Indies, as was Maninder Singh. But somewhere down the line, we have refused to take a calculated risk and rope in young batsmen into the team. By the time they do make a breakthrough, their attitudes have hardened and they are reluctant to adjust their game. The big money from IPL also serves as a disincentive for them to correct themselves.
Whatever happened to Unmukth Chand, Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Vijay Zol and their ilks? Why don't we give at least a couple of them a decent run? They cant definitely do worse than the tried, tested and failed current crop.
Rahane and Pujara have been not given the kind of support they deserve. They have been kicked up and down the batting order, pushed in and out of the team, to accommodate some of the favourites of the Captain. This has unsettled them.
The sad part of Indian batting is their utter inability to play spin. Of the two completed Tests in Mohali and Nagpur, India struggled to reach 200, and that too only with the help of tail enders. And this against a novice spinner like Harmer, a part time utility spinner like Dean Elger and an erratic leg spinner Imran Tahir, who bowls at least 2 boundary balls per over. Most of the Indian batsmen are walking wickets. A long spell for all of them in domestic cricket is the way forward. Look at how Murali Vijay, Pujara and Jadeja has benefitted from playing Ranji Trophy.
India used to blood youngsters once - Sachin played when he was 16, Kambli and Azhar were barely in their 20s, Laxman Sivaramakrishnan was a teenager when he routed West Indies, as was Maninder Singh. But somewhere down the line, we have refused to take a calculated risk and rope in young batsmen into the team. By the time they do make a breakthrough, their attitudes have hardened and they are reluctant to adjust their game. The big money from IPL also serves as a disincentive for them to correct themselves.
Whatever happened to Unmukth Chand, Mayank Agarwal, Sanju Samson, Vijay Zol and their ilks? Why don't we give at least a couple of them a decent run? They cant definitely do worse than the tried, tested and failed current crop.
