I waited for a day to post this so that all the emotion of having watched the match would be drained out and a somewhat unbiased analysis could be done.
First, let us get a few obvious things out of the way. Yes, India's batting let itself down, the eventual score was a good 50 runs short of what was possible at the 40th over. Dhoni, as captain, supposed to be street smart, missed quite a few tricks and paid the price. Graeme Smith must be quietly celebrating and sending a bunch of roses (a la Munnabhai) to all those who called his team chokers (Graeme, if I were you, I would hold off on that till you do this a few more times!).
To start with, Tendulkar and Sehwag laid what could be argued as the perfect platform for the innings. Sehwag hogged much of the strike, however Tendulkar was the one who had a strike-rate of close to 150! The hooked six off Steyn was worth going miles to see and for me was the highlight of the innings. Steyn being Steyn got his revenge later in the innings in a telling reminder of why he is considered the best bowler in the world today. The major change in South Africa's tactics was their reliance on pace in the shape of Steyn and Morkel, probably from the memories of India's recent tour where pace was the medicine which India couldn't handle comfortably through the series. However, it was spin that caused India's downfall. After Sehwag fell, Gambhir could never manage to rotate the strike and Tendulkar started going cold. Peterson and Botha bowled some tight overs and even Francois du Plessis could not be taken for many runs. Somehow a run-rate of over 6 was being maintained, however it was more due to the legacy of the opening stand rather than the first wicket partnership.
The infamous Batting Power-Play
I think team's should just forget that they have something called a batting power-play. After the initial start and reasonable consolidation, India must have been looking at a score of 350+ and with two well set batsmen, it was logical to take the batting power-play early (it was taken before the 40th over, though Shastri on TV made a case for taking it even earlier, immediately after the Bowling Power-Play, which as a tactic would have surprised South Africa and forced them to re-think their strategy). However, the context was more than two well-set batsmen, remember that Tendulkar was going cold from being kept away from the strike and after the formality of completing his 48th (does the man have no limits!) ODI century, he felt the need to accelerate the scoring. Doing so, he fell to an ugly attempted hoick over mid-wicket and next ball Gambhir belatedly realised that he was the one to blame and duly holed out.
Now came the bizarre procession, with the remaining batsmen committing hara-kiri and Dhoni left at the other end wondering when the nightmare would end. It was ironically Ashish Nehra who was at the end of both the batting and bowling innings. The first trick Dhoni missed was in not calling for the power-play much earlier, India could have taken it anytime from the 16th over to the 35th over. At best, India would have scored runs, worst case even if they had lost a couple of wickets, there would have been enough time for the remaining batsmen to not panic. The second was in promoting Yusuf Pathan to no. 4. Yes, we all love to see the big guy hit it out of the park, but given that it is Kohli who has produced the goods at No. 4, it is just wishful thinking to expect Pathan to be an adequate replacement given Pathan's limitations in technique (he can hit the bad and average balls all right, however he has great difficulty in dealing with good balls). This would have been a good time for Yuvraj to justify his selection, however the person supposed to be in the best form (I completely disagree here!), disappointed. I have said this earlier in my blog, I think it is criminal to keep Raina out for Yuvraj and the sooner the Indian think-tank realises it the better for all concerned.
Steyn bowled straight and fast at the death and Morkel too came back strongly after the stick he took in his first spell. India ended up 50 short and more importantly did not use up their 50 overs, a third trick that Dhoni missed (well not that it was entirely his fault, however he could have told the batsmen at the other end to ensure that they played out the 50 overs). An eventual score of 296 did two things, firstly, India would have been shell-shocked at losing 9 wickets so cheaply and South Africa would have been jubilant in feeling that this was eminently gettable, given that they were earlier facing the prospect of chasing 350+.
South Africa's innings
Smith and Amla started cautiously and Zaheer Khan and Nehra were bowling tidily without being threatening. It was all going very well for India, however Amla was scoring a boundary almost every over and the run-rate though not great was not being allowed to mount either. Zaheer Khan duly got Smith out in his second spell, its high time that Smith ironed out this problem with his technique (as the TV commentators never tire of telling us). Now came India's best phase in the bowling innings. Kallis was the one who was reprising Gambhir's role and South Africa would have been very anxious at this stage. The South African worm was way below India's and Amla was now in Tendulkar's shoes. The run-rate was slowly mounting and though Pathan and Yuvraj were taken for runs, Harbhajan Singh was bowling reasonably well. The absence of Chawla (finally!) meant that no one was leaking runs and it was all very satisfactory. With the fall of Kallis and Amla, South Africa were in a spot of bother, however the every reliable AB de Villiers was hitting the ball well and Duminy was giving good support from the other end by running hard. India's fielding was starting to wilt under the pressure when AB gave his wicket away. Now came the key part of the match where the batting power-play was taken. South Africa played sensibly and Duminy reminded everyone that he too was capable of big hits. Even at this stage, India were reasonably in the hunt and it would have been South Africa who were under the greater pressure.
Now came Dhoni's fourth miss and probably the most costly. He under-bowled Harbhajan Singh and ignored Nehra in favour of Munaf Patel. I think Dhoni just completely lost track of who has bowled how many overs and what plan he needed to have for the final 5 overs. Two consecutive overs from Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan were taken for over 15 and it was crunch time. Zaheer Khan had bowled very well till this stage and his penultimate over messed up his bowling figures, though he came back strongly in his last over (but which was the 49th over of the innings!). It was now, 13 to get off the last over which was a toss up between Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. In that situation, Dhoni went with Nehra, a decision which I agree with at that stage, however the mistake had been made earlier. Nehra must be the unluckiest bowler to bowl for India (he seems to have taken over the mantle from Javagal Srinath!), the first ball saw a Chinese cut for four and now the equation went to a more manageable 9 off 5. A ball later, a monster hit for six by Peterson (this came out of nowhere!) meant that it was all over bar the shouting. In the final analysis not bowling Harbhajan earlier, not giving Nehra time to warm up, he came back to bowl the 50th over after manning the outfield for most of the innings, not managing the end from which Zaheer Khan bowled his last over were all serious tactical mistakes by Dhoni. During Zaheer's over it was Tendulkar who was talking to Zaheer whereas Dhoni was sulking behind the wickets. This is not a good sign and the sooner Dhoni recovers from it the better.
Dhoni is still the best bet by far to lead India and he needs to get on with the job at hand rather than prove the world wrong by persisting with Chawla and not playing Ashwin and Raina. India is still alive in the World Cup, however it has a not so easy last outing against the West Indies and depending on the position in which they qualify, they are likely to meet either New Zealand or Sri Lanka (assuming India qualify 2nd or 3rd in the group).
In yesterday's match, Australia got by Kenya, however given that New Zealand had thumped Kenya, the end result would not have satisfied Ponting (yesterday was his best opportunity to play himself back in form, however he could not manage even a 50).
First, let us get a few obvious things out of the way. Yes, India's batting let itself down, the eventual score was a good 50 runs short of what was possible at the 40th over. Dhoni, as captain, supposed to be street smart, missed quite a few tricks and paid the price. Graeme Smith must be quietly celebrating and sending a bunch of roses (a la Munnabhai) to all those who called his team chokers (Graeme, if I were you, I would hold off on that till you do this a few more times!).
To start with, Tendulkar and Sehwag laid what could be argued as the perfect platform for the innings. Sehwag hogged much of the strike, however Tendulkar was the one who had a strike-rate of close to 150! The hooked six off Steyn was worth going miles to see and for me was the highlight of the innings. Steyn being Steyn got his revenge later in the innings in a telling reminder of why he is considered the best bowler in the world today. The major change in South Africa's tactics was their reliance on pace in the shape of Steyn and Morkel, probably from the memories of India's recent tour where pace was the medicine which India couldn't handle comfortably through the series. However, it was spin that caused India's downfall. After Sehwag fell, Gambhir could never manage to rotate the strike and Tendulkar started going cold. Peterson and Botha bowled some tight overs and even Francois du Plessis could not be taken for many runs. Somehow a run-rate of over 6 was being maintained, however it was more due to the legacy of the opening stand rather than the first wicket partnership.
The infamous Batting Power-Play
I think team's should just forget that they have something called a batting power-play. After the initial start and reasonable consolidation, India must have been looking at a score of 350+ and with two well set batsmen, it was logical to take the batting power-play early (it was taken before the 40th over, though Shastri on TV made a case for taking it even earlier, immediately after the Bowling Power-Play, which as a tactic would have surprised South Africa and forced them to re-think their strategy). However, the context was more than two well-set batsmen, remember that Tendulkar was going cold from being kept away from the strike and after the formality of completing his 48th (does the man have no limits!) ODI century, he felt the need to accelerate the scoring. Doing so, he fell to an ugly attempted hoick over mid-wicket and next ball Gambhir belatedly realised that he was the one to blame and duly holed out.
Now came the bizarre procession, with the remaining batsmen committing hara-kiri and Dhoni left at the other end wondering when the nightmare would end. It was ironically Ashish Nehra who was at the end of both the batting and bowling innings. The first trick Dhoni missed was in not calling for the power-play much earlier, India could have taken it anytime from the 16th over to the 35th over. At best, India would have scored runs, worst case even if they had lost a couple of wickets, there would have been enough time for the remaining batsmen to not panic. The second was in promoting Yusuf Pathan to no. 4. Yes, we all love to see the big guy hit it out of the park, but given that it is Kohli who has produced the goods at No. 4, it is just wishful thinking to expect Pathan to be an adequate replacement given Pathan's limitations in technique (he can hit the bad and average balls all right, however he has great difficulty in dealing with good balls). This would have been a good time for Yuvraj to justify his selection, however the person supposed to be in the best form (I completely disagree here!), disappointed. I have said this earlier in my blog, I think it is criminal to keep Raina out for Yuvraj and the sooner the Indian think-tank realises it the better for all concerned.
Steyn bowled straight and fast at the death and Morkel too came back strongly after the stick he took in his first spell. India ended up 50 short and more importantly did not use up their 50 overs, a third trick that Dhoni missed (well not that it was entirely his fault, however he could have told the batsmen at the other end to ensure that they played out the 50 overs). An eventual score of 296 did two things, firstly, India would have been shell-shocked at losing 9 wickets so cheaply and South Africa would have been jubilant in feeling that this was eminently gettable, given that they were earlier facing the prospect of chasing 350+.
South Africa's innings
Smith and Amla started cautiously and Zaheer Khan and Nehra were bowling tidily without being threatening. It was all going very well for India, however Amla was scoring a boundary almost every over and the run-rate though not great was not being allowed to mount either. Zaheer Khan duly got Smith out in his second spell, its high time that Smith ironed out this problem with his technique (as the TV commentators never tire of telling us). Now came India's best phase in the bowling innings. Kallis was the one who was reprising Gambhir's role and South Africa would have been very anxious at this stage. The South African worm was way below India's and Amla was now in Tendulkar's shoes. The run-rate was slowly mounting and though Pathan and Yuvraj were taken for runs, Harbhajan Singh was bowling reasonably well. The absence of Chawla (finally!) meant that no one was leaking runs and it was all very satisfactory. With the fall of Kallis and Amla, South Africa were in a spot of bother, however the every reliable AB de Villiers was hitting the ball well and Duminy was giving good support from the other end by running hard. India's fielding was starting to wilt under the pressure when AB gave his wicket away. Now came the key part of the match where the batting power-play was taken. South Africa played sensibly and Duminy reminded everyone that he too was capable of big hits. Even at this stage, India were reasonably in the hunt and it would have been South Africa who were under the greater pressure.
Now came Dhoni's fourth miss and probably the most costly. He under-bowled Harbhajan Singh and ignored Nehra in favour of Munaf Patel. I think Dhoni just completely lost track of who has bowled how many overs and what plan he needed to have for the final 5 overs. Two consecutive overs from Munaf Patel and Zaheer Khan were taken for over 15 and it was crunch time. Zaheer Khan had bowled very well till this stage and his penultimate over messed up his bowling figures, though he came back strongly in his last over (but which was the 49th over of the innings!). It was now, 13 to get off the last over which was a toss up between Nehra and Harbhajan Singh. In that situation, Dhoni went with Nehra, a decision which I agree with at that stage, however the mistake had been made earlier. Nehra must be the unluckiest bowler to bowl for India (he seems to have taken over the mantle from Javagal Srinath!), the first ball saw a Chinese cut for four and now the equation went to a more manageable 9 off 5. A ball later, a monster hit for six by Peterson (this came out of nowhere!) meant that it was all over bar the shouting. In the final analysis not bowling Harbhajan earlier, not giving Nehra time to warm up, he came back to bowl the 50th over after manning the outfield for most of the innings, not managing the end from which Zaheer Khan bowled his last over were all serious tactical mistakes by Dhoni. During Zaheer's over it was Tendulkar who was talking to Zaheer whereas Dhoni was sulking behind the wickets. This is not a good sign and the sooner Dhoni recovers from it the better.
Dhoni is still the best bet by far to lead India and he needs to get on with the job at hand rather than prove the world wrong by persisting with Chawla and not playing Ashwin and Raina. India is still alive in the World Cup, however it has a not so easy last outing against the West Indies and depending on the position in which they qualify, they are likely to meet either New Zealand or Sri Lanka (assuming India qualify 2nd or 3rd in the group).
In yesterday's match, Australia got by Kenya, however given that New Zealand had thumped Kenya, the end result would not have satisfied Ponting (yesterday was his best opportunity to play himself back in form, however he could not manage even a 50).
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