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South Africa deserves the kudos for their outstanding win on Saturday but India is really not worth the brickbats which it is getting. They did lose a big game but that doesn’t mean that the World Cup is over for them. Dhoni and his boys need to remember, all that is happening around is only for creating hype for TRPs and sales.
I am fascinated to see how people who had almost handed over the trophy to India much before the World Cup had started, are now finding faults in the Indian team at the drop of a hat.
I had stated at the beginning of the tournament that India has as much chance to win the World Cup as the other big teams and I still stand by that. The key to winning the World Cup or reaching the ultimate level for any big side will be playing good cricket on a particular day and India just needs to focus on that.
There is a big game coming up for India against the West Indies. It’s good that the boys have got a chance to go back home for few days before that. It will help them to unwind and mentally settle themselves before they give it one big go for the final goal.
All the team members as well the cricket loving people of the country need to remember that this is not happening for the first time. There have been instances galore when a team has faltered at the start but has ultimately done well to reach the final stage.
In 1983 India would have been almost eliminated had they lost to Zimbabwe. From a dire strait in that match, Kapil Dev’s 175 not only kept them in the hunt but India went on to create history. In 1992 Pakistan bounced back from the jaws of elimination to lift the cup. Similar was the case for Steve Waugh’s Australia in 1999.
In 2003 also, we had a bad start and when people wrote us off we gathered ourselves to storm into the final. So it is nothing new as regards all the noise which is happening surrounding the Indian team.
Many people are finding fault with Dhoni as regards Ashish Nehra bowling the last over. I don’t find a fault in that and had I been there I would have done the same.
People forget but I do remember, Ashish bowled the last over against Pakistan at Karachi some years back in an even tighter situation and brought victory for the team. After Zaheer gave away only four runs in the forty-ninth over Dhoni had every reason to believe that a seamer was more suited to do the job. But he should have used Ashish one more over earlier to get him warmed-up because Nehra doesn’t have the best of physiques to come on strike and fire away.
Firing straight away is also not what our batsmen should have been doing after Sachin and Sehwag had set up such a wonderful platform. You can’t keep such a momentum going all through. With the run-rate already running high the middle-order should have given them some time to settle down and could have gone for the blast at the end.
This needs to be addressed seriously as the collapse has not happened for the first time. Against England we lost seven-wickets for few runs and against South Africa nine-wickets, this time for very few. In the match against the West Indies my advice to Dhoni would be, play on a good strip.
I have watched a few games at Chennai and it seems to be extra dry and all set to provide help to the spinners. If you play on a good strip India is way ahead in all departments to West Indies. But if you are put on a difficult strip and get to bat second, then it could be trouble against Roach and company.
Also, my advice will be to stick to a set team from now on. Generally, Dhoni doesn’t have the habit of chopping and changing too much. If you keep doing that, the players become a bit skeptical.
So from here on Dhoni needs to get his eleven set for the rest of the tournament and it should be in the manner he feels comfortable. Also, Zaheer needs to bowl the forty-eighth and fiftieth over in any situation. That should be it.
—The writer is a former Indian captain.
