Humbled at Lord's

The only thing, perhaps, that went India’s way in the Lord’s test was the toss. MSD called correctly and promptly put in the hosts to bat.

After that everything went haywire for the Indians, who just couldn’t get a grip on the game at any stage of the match barring England’s second innings where they let them off the hook, inexplicably, after reducing them to 62/5.

When the World’s No.1 team, win a toss and puts the opposition in, it is expected to be all over them. One would expect the bowlers to make the batsmen hop around, get lots of edges and take a vice like grip on the proceedings. Sadly, none of these happened. While Zaheer did try his best, it still wasn’t good enough and Ishant was all over the place. Dropped catches didn't help their case either.

One would’ve expected Duncan Fletcher (with his knowledge of English conditions) to have oriented the bowlers on the line and length at Lord’s. Either he didn’t share or the bowlers didn’t pay any heed. The results were quite evident.

Does losing Zaheer mean that we gift away the test? Does losing your best bowler mean that the ball would suddenly stop darting around or would the pitch play easy? It seems to be a great excuse for the terrible performance by bowlers in the first innings. They just did not get the length right and when they did, the team threw it away by not continuing Ishant in the second essay.

This also brings us to an very important point from a test cricket point of view. Test matches are set up by batsmen but won by bowlers. You don’t win test matches unless and until you have the bowling attack to take 20 wickets. For quite a long time, the Indian team has been using only four bowlers. While this would help in subcontinent conditions with 2 spinners and Raina helping out, it may not help outside of it. With so much cricket being played round the year, it’s quite normal to see bowlers break down in the middle of a series. Zaheer Khan, in fact has a history of breaking down. If one was to consider Dhoni as a batsman, which he is, then the team goes into a match with 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers. How about 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers? Atleast you give yourself a chance at taking 20 wickets.

This test match presents a strong case for including a bowling all-rounder, who could contribute with the bat but be very effective with the ball. Since Zaheer’s break down, Irfan Pathan’s being trending a lot on social networking sites and must say they’re right. Makes sense to bring him back into the fold. He’s only 26, has the experience and a good 6-7 years of cricket left in him.

Chris Tremlett is the best example for this. Stuart Broad’s injury in the second Ashes test gave him a chance to make it to the final eleven and he took 8 wickets in the third test. Sometimes, all a struggler needs is a chance to prove himself and look where has that taken Chris today!!

If not Irfan then a younger bowler has to be developed to take the place at No.7 behind Dhoni in the batting lineup.

Staying on the bowling front, there are quite a few weapons that a bowler could use. While hitting the right line and length are of prime importance, it is also necessary that the bowlers use variety when things are not going their way. Usage of the bouncer or the yorker, once in a while, does help. There were no toe-crushing yorkers or bouncers bowled by Indian bowlers. In both the innings they were just trying to hit the right length for which they paid a very heavy price. One may attribute this to the plug n’ play model adopted by the BCCI where the team doesn’t get to play tour matches before a test series. But then lack of yorkers or bouncers has been a bane of Indian bowling for far too long. Ishant’s pitch map in the first innings made a very sorry picture, with less than 5% of deliveries hitting the stumps.

The think tank should be very worried that the bowlers haven’t been able to dismiss the English side in either of the innings.

India’s much vaunted batting lineup disappointed, as they were expected to rack up a good score to ensure a draw. Not just that they folded up pretty mildly in the second essay as well to hand England bragging rights for at least 3 days. Cricket is a team game and every member is expected to contribute. Too much emphasis was laid on Sachin’s 100^th ton.

The Board has to carefully plan an important series like this whereby they provide at least two weeks time for the players to settle down in alien conditions to acclimatize themselves. The batting debacle clearly points out that the team can’t be expected to hit the ground running.

Five days of cricket at a historic venue and with the No.1 tag at stake, the Indian team has not played like they belong there. They wilted under pressure allowed England to take charge ensuring they had their backs to the wall in every session.

The Indian team – notorious and habitual slow starters, also have a habit of coming back strong and taking the bull by the horns. Remains to be seen how they do that with no Sehwag and the possibility of Zaheer not bowling, looming large. With Sachin not recovered fully, Gambhir injured and the next test to start in three days time, they’re really up against it. Not sure but one could look at Dravid and Gautam opening with Mukund making way for an extra bowler.

I would still go in for a 2-1 verdict in India’s favor but then the team will have to play like champions and produce an extraordinary display to do so.