- One cannot fault the die-hard Indian cricket fans feeling hugely let down and disappointed by the way the series unfolded in the recently concluded South African sojourn. Fans were certain the series would establish their team as the all-conquering outfit bulldozing the opposition along the way. No reason to doubt as the present Indian cricket team is endowed with a bunch of tremendously talented world-class cricketers who could be match-winners under any conditions. The incredible series victories in Australia, back-to-back, and England would have provided enough bragging rights to the enthusiasts declaring Team India as the marauding conquistadors.
PC: Wisden Staff
- No wonder, the South Africa Test series was touted as the last frontier to further establish the growing reputation of Team India on the back of successive overseas campaigns. If everything had gone ahead as per the script things would have been cheerful spreading delight amongst the fans. Unfortunately, things started to go downhill soon after Team India registered a facile win in the first test of the three-match Test series. What followed was a spectacular fight-back from the Proteas who went on to not only win the next two Tests but also won the series 2-1. To make matter worse for the beleaguered Team, Indians were blanked out in the subsequent one-day international series 3-0.
- The moot point to ponder over here is what went wrong just over a matter of a couple of weeks rendering the world-beating team into one of the submissive bunch going down without offering even a semblance of a fight. Look not far than the misfiring middle-order batters who could not put enough runs on the board thereby allowing the ever-impressive pace bowlers substantial cushion to go all-out in milking out the opposition batters. The famed middle-order batters failed to rise to the occasion returning with meager scores. Cheteshwara Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Virat Kohli hardly contributed anything worthwhile invariably leading to below-par scores in every Test innings.
PC: Tanishka Tanishka
- Even in the ODIs that followed the Test debacle, the batters repeatedly failed to score substantially even after a decent start. KL Rahul, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli showed some form but not succeeding to capitalize further resulted in defeats in the three-match ODI series too. The Head Coach Rahul Dravid and the selectors have to make decisive moves in the coming months to shore up the Indian team. It makes little cricketing sense to persist with Pujara and Rahane who have been given a very long rope despite repeated failures. Players like Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer should be making it to the Test playing eleven more consistently.
- Opener Mayank Agarwal is not showing enough confidence in overseas conditions. If he fails to up his game, an alternative opener for the Tests should be considered. In the 50-over format, Team India sorely lacks an attacking all-rounder to ensure the balance of the side allowing for a sixth bowler to come into the equation. In the absence of appointed skipper Rohit Sharma in the shorter format, KL Rahul’s captaincy was hardly inspiring lacking in inspiration, energy, planning, out-of-the-box thinking, making things happen rather than wait, and insipid body language to lead the team from the front. The think tank must sit across the table and arrest the palpable slide now.
