Experimentation and Captaincy Woes lead to India’s Rout in South Africa

Indian Cricket team landed on South African shores buoyed by their success in England and Australia series.

While there was off-field drama over captaincy issues, the team was expected to win against a South African team which is in a rebuilding stage.

It was proven to be an arduous task as India was defeated 2-1 in the Test series and routed 3-0 in the ODIs.

There was so much hullabaloo over new management and captaincy change but the on-field Indian team continued to play the same outdated style of Cricket which has prevented them from winning any of the world titles in recent years.

After under-performing in the Tests, the personnel change for the ODIs was aimed at bringing fresh energy to the dwindling fortunes of the team.

The absence of Rohit Sharma, the new ODI Captain, hurt the team’s balance and made the Captaincy debate even more complicated.

K.L.Rahul, the new In-charge of the ODI team looked out of sorts and bereft of ideas when the momentum was with the opposition. Moreover, ex-Captain, Virat Kohli lacked his usual enthusiastic and infectious energy throughout the series.

Even the team selection was puzzling as India picked Venkatesh Iyer as an allrounder only to make him bowl just 5 overs in the two matches he played.

He has been touted as a big hitter but he could not prove his prowess at all, batting well below his IPL strike rate.

Then there is the curious case of Bhuvneshwar Kumar who has remained injured most of the last few years but continues to get picked for his control and swing.

Both these skills have not been on the show for a while now and Kumar would be thanking his stars if he is picked in the next assignment at home against the West Indies. Selection absurdities don’t end here.

Surya Kumar’s exclusion from the first couple of ODIs also raised eyebrows as he has been given the role to stabilize the middle order in the crucial mid-overs without compromising on the run rate.

India played with just 5 batsmen and 3 ‘potential’ all-rounders. The playing style of the team also made fans pull their hair out.

The cricketing world has moved on to an aggressive style where capitalizing on the first ten overs with the bat and then carrying that momentum to make scores of over 300 plus is almost the norm.

India meanwhile, prefers to build their innings on the back of their star players in the top 3 and then try an onslaught, if possible, at the back end of the innings.

This has been a recurring and acknowledged problem by the team management but one that has not been rectified at all.

The new Indian Head Coach, Rahul Dravid talked about this dilemma and added that lack of partnerships hurt India’s chances.

The other worry Dravid pointed out was the lack of wicket taking thrust in the middle overs by Indian bowlers.

It was striking that nobody from the Indian side could notch up a century in the 3 ODIs, but given India’s bowling limitations, the South Africans scored three! Experts also feel that off field issues might have had a deep impact on the team’s performance.

The Kohli-BCCI battle of nerves has been an unstated but open secret in recent months. The departure of Ravi Shastri has left Kohli a bit lonely and cornered.

Tensions in relations with BCCI honchos have hastened Virat’s decision to move away from captaincy which has left the Indian team rather rudderless.

With Rohit Sharma absent and battling fitness concerns, India needs Kohli to support Rohit’s deputy with his captaincy experience and his batting for the upcoming series.

For that, the strain between him and BCCI needs to be ironed out. The next ODI World Cup is in India in 2023 and there are huge expectations from the team.

Last time when the World Cup was held in the country in 2011, M.S.Dhoni’s men made it memorable by lifting the trophy.

The South Africa ODI series might be looked at as one of numerous experimentations but the new leadership of Rohit Dravid will know that if there is to be any chance of India’s success in 2023 World Cup, then the team needs to move away into a fresh mind set and take a leaf out of English team’s book of aggressive play.

Sadly, till now, despite the big changes at the captain-coach level, the playing style of the team remains unchanged, doing justice to the proverb, “the more things change, the more they remain the same!”

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY THE AUTHOR ARE PERSONA