Right before the start of this England tour, not many people expected India to do well. India didn’t have the history too to show on their side. They have rarely excelled in England, especially in Tests. Even the team which had the lineup filled with all time greats like sachin Tedulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Sehwag, Sourav Ganguly struggled to show consistent winning record in England. So obviously the current team which consists of players who have never had the experience of playing in England was expected to lose the series. But nobody expected them to lose it badly, very badly.
The manner, in which they lost the series, especially after how they played in the first two tests, caused great amount of humiliation to every Indian cricket fan. The major reason, I suspect, is that India was complacent after second test and might have even thought of winning the series from there without losing following tests. If this is true, the very thought itself is a sure shot way to lose the path. The reason why I came to this conclusion is, after second test, rarely did I see any attacking tactic by India. They were happy to play the defensive game while England took on the attacking path. Of course, England was left with no other option but at the same time not many expected India to take off their foot from accelerator so early in the series. There are few areas where we lost the golden opportunity to win in this series.
Spinners too can take wickets & they should be allowed to
In this entire series, as far as my observation goes, Spinners were happy to bowl in defensive lines. They were not asked to bowl in attacking areas. The plan behind this might be, spinners are there only to give sufficient time for the fast bowlers to rest. The wicket taking responsibility rested on fast bowlers. So the think tank might have thought that if we pass through the overs bowled by spinners without conceding much runs, fast bowlers would return and take wickets at regular intervals there by restricting England to a low score. The field settings too suggested the same when jadeja and ashwin were bowling. This strategy failed completely. Quality bowlers take wickets no matter what the conditions are. They might not be able to take five wicket hauls but a couple of handful of wickets will always help the team’s cause. The success rate of Shane Warne, Muralidharan and Kumble in England speaks volumes about this. Team India missed this logic completely. Who knows, what might have happened had Jadeja and Ashwin bowled in attacking areas.
Give respect to part timers too
The fact that Moen Ali took so many wickets in this series speaks a lot more about India’s lack of planning and preparation than the greatness of Ali’s bowling. India’s strategy seemed to attack the part timer and never allow him to settle down. They should have reviewed this strategy of theirs when it backfired in the early stages of the series. No, they didn’t do it and instead continued with it. For a team which is renowned across the globe as the best players of spin bowling, there is nothing more insulting than giving away wickets to a part time spin bowler and that too in not so spin friendly conditions. Moen Ali deserved to be treated with some respect and played with caution. Had India played with some strategy against Ali, the result of one or two tests would have been different. If there is any lesson to be learnt from this experience is to treat every bowler with respect at international level.
Have apt Players in the Squad for different Positions
If we look at the combination of the Indian team, it was all in shambles. They weren’t sure whether to go with 5 bowlers or with an extra batsman. They went with Stuart Binny but didn’t use him much as a bowler. Then decided to go with Rohit Sharma & later with Ashwin. Nothing seemed to have worked for them. Before the start of a big series, every team draws up plans to go with either 7batsman or 5bowlers. Then they try to include the efficient players in the squad who will fit into the things later according to the requirement. That seemed to lacking here. Nobody was sure whether Binny was playing as a batsman or all-rounder or bowler. In the middle of the series, we even heard Dhoni say that they have to review the 5 bowler strategy. That clearly explains that, not much homework was done before the start of the series.
Don’t be afraid to make changes to batting order
Right from the start of the series, Indian batting was in doldrums. Except for Vijay, Rahane and Dhoni every other batsman seemed to struggle against English bowlers. Virat Kohli was expected to perform well but he was the biggest disappointment of the series. Right after first or second test, Dhoni should have realized and decided to send Rahane above the Kohli in the batting order. Even in the long run, Rahane is best suited for no 4 position than Kohli. He has that cool head above his shoulders and a list of long innings in first class cricket to show to his credit. Even Kohli too seemed to have success while batting at no 5. Ever since Kohli moved to no 4 position, his performance isn’t up to the mark. And same applies in the case of Ashwin and Jadeja. Ashwin is technically better batsman than Jadeja on any given day. Jadeja might have triple centuries to his credit to show but anyone who follows and has some knowledge about cricket, knows who the better batsman between two is. No matter what, Ashwin should always bat ahead of Jadeja.
Now that this series has come to an end, India should act smartly and try to bring things back soon. The next big series, Australia, is not far away. Just hope India does way better in Australia than what they did in England. The performance in Australia is going to be even more important because the 2015 world cup is going to be played there. Players should utilize this opportunity well and get accustomed to the conditions. As a Indian cricket fan, we might criticize our team very severely after a bad series but we never stop backing them. All the best Team India.