ICCWorld Twenty 20: The big tear upfront

Kohli apart, there are a host of issues that the Indian batting needs to tackle

India may well have been out of their home Cup, riding a wave of bewildering incapacities and  battling all sorts of unexpected blues of the bat, had it not been for the incredibly sterling performance by Virat Kohli. With his dazzling show at Mohali, the star batsman saved India's playing 11 from the ignominy of having to hand over the flight tickets for the Mumbai semifinal to the Australians.

The Kohli surge notwithstanding, there is not much that can be tabled as an explanation for the way India has been struggling in every Super 10 match, even to lesser teams like Bangladesh. The grit to fight it out has been good to see but needless on analysis, especially when it has so openly pivoted on a poor opening pair show and a sluggish middle order. Be it Dhawan, Sharma or Raina — none has behaved like an able soldier of a No 1 ranked team in the tournament.

POINTS TO PONDER

Vulnerability to spin: The shadow of early ouster in a format so loved by Dhoni and his mates is a snag that the Indian cricket board would have to tackle, especially that area of growing concern wherein the Indian batting has shown consistent and growing vulnerability to slow and turning wickets, something that has traditionally been its star point.

Nagpur, where the much lionised willow wielders were packed off for a measly 79 by an unassuming Kiwi squad trying out its new spinner Mitchell Santner set the vulnerability talk rolling with experts wondering why this was happening. Post Nagpur, Dhoni said: "On a turning wicket, it's a challenge. When I was playing Test cricket, lot of times people used to question turning wickets, and I always said that it's actually more difficult to score runs on a turning wicket than a seaming track. We have seen that though we have won Test matches, there were quite a few good innings that were scored, two batsmen really scoring big because of which the opposition was put under pressure," he added.

That may be true but for now, it's been proving to be the toughest department to tackle, despite all the humdrum around speculation that the Mohali pitch had been changed on Indian request for a turner.

Opening blues: India, long considered the final frontier to conquer by teams far and wide, is now no longer an alien trap for visitors. And, no amount of IPL bad-mouthing or the familiarity theory can put a fig leaf on the stark truth — that the Indian batting has been scratchy, cussed and inexplicably callow. Why & how, the skipper is yet to fathom but the dry runs by Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan who follow each other out of the ground pretty much in the beginning of the match is something that needs to be tackled before the semi final. There's been a chant for a change at the mouth, to bring in Ajinkya Rahane in place of Dhawan, but knowing Dhoni and his obsession against change, that seems highly unlikely. That despite the fact that the skipper has urged the top guns to step up as over dependence on Kohli is a major faultline that may have a tectonic shift any time.

Listless Raina, struggling Yuvi: It is heartbreaking to see such clean and stylish players of the ball struggling at every delivery, be is short stuff, spin, bouncer or a swing. Raina, who has been the mainstay of the middle and lower middle order for long years is not the same. A lot depends on him, especially when the openers are in the blues, not being able to strike form. The amazing drop of form of Raina and the openers, so suddenly after the Asia Cup, is bewildering. As for Yuvraj, but for a bits and pieces performance, the southpaw has been at the receiving end of balls he has failed to manage, runs he has failed to make.

Bumrah's opening spell blues: Bumrah is the find of the tournament. His death bowling yorkers are stuff for golden chapters. His precision, deceptive bowling action and measured length have held stalwarts of the game at ransom. But the same bowler sprays runs like none when he bowls early in the innings. His 17-run first over in Mohali was crippling. Why he can't stick to his guns outside of death is a point that the team meeting may bring up. 

Source: The Pioneer, 29 March, 2016