There are mistakes which Indian Cricket team continue to make in recent years.
1. Not batting good enough to save a test match
2. Not batting aggressively when needed (e.g. to set a target)
3. Failing to finish off the tail
4. Senseless batting of lower-order or tail-enders
Not batting good enough to save a test match
For how many times we saw our batsmen struggling to save a test match.
i)Against South Africa in Durban 2006-07
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/engine/match/249216.html
ii)Against England in Mumbai 2005-06
http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/ENG_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/ENG_IND_T3_18-22MAR2006.html
iii)Against Pakistan in Bangalore 2004-05
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/PAK_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/PAK_IND_T3_24-28MAR2005.html
In all these matches there was no danger in the pitch. Just the players needed to apply themselves, but they failed to do so. Infact in all these matches they had only little to play for; not more than three sessions.
Not batting aggressively when needed
During their second innings in Cape Town after lunch Indian batsmen needed to accelerate their scoring rate. But they played defensively. If Australia were in the same situation they would have set a huge target by playing aggressively. There was no urgency in Indian batting in second innings. There are other instances also where we failed to accelerate our scoring.
Failing to finish off the tail
i)Against South Africa in Durban 2006-07
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/engine/match/249216.html
ii)Against Pakistan in Karachi 2005-06
http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_T3_29JAN-02FEB2006.html
Where are the Yorkers? Slower ones? Munaf Patel castled visiting England batsmen. Zaheer castled Steve Waugh. Irfan Pathan castled Adam Gilchrist. What happened to them? Do they forget how to bowl Yorkers after their first few matches?
Senseless batting of lower-order or tail-enders
We often see our tail-enders playing without common sense. Once in a new moon day they click. Our tail is little long. Remember how Caribbean tail-enders thwarted our bowlers at Antigua. Their tail-enders is the worst. Even they managed to play with determination. But see our lower-order batsmen! Last 5 wickets in first innings of Cape Town Test fell for mere 15 odd runs.
One important fact is we don’t have a good lower-order batsman. Australia had Shane Warne, South Africa have Shaun Pollock, New Zealand have Vettori, Pakistan have Abdul Razzak and Srilanka have Mahroff to play sensibly when their top order fails. Infact they have more than one players of such caliber. They can play aggressively and also defensively when situation demands. We don’t have such players. Of course we have Irfan Pathan but his current bowling form is so poor that he can’t find a place in our team. Let us pray to GOD that he regain his form and compete in coming world cup.
These problems can be addressed if team-management sits and think about it. But we have one perennial problem which team-management cannot solve. That is lack of genuine strike bowlers.
LACK OF GENUINE STRIKE BOWLERS
India historically doesn’t have genuine strike bowlers. No Indian bowler has bowling average below 25. If you see record books, you will know it. Let us see other countries in last thirty years:
Pakistan had Imran Khan (362, 22.81), Wasim Akram (414, 23.62) and Waqar Younis (373, 23.56)
Australia had Dennis Lillie (355, 23.92), Glen McGrath (563, 21.64) and Shane Warne (708, 25.41)
South Africa had Allan Donald (330, 22.25) and Shaun Pollock* (408, 23.18)
New Zealand had Richard Hadlee (431, 22.29) and Shane Bond* (74, 22.10)
Srilanka have Muralidharan* (669, 21.66)
West Indies had Holding (249, 23.68), Joel Garner (259, 20.97), Marshall (376, 20.94), Ambrose (405, 20.99) and Walsh (519, 24.44)
All these bowlers have bowling average about 25 or below. India’s prime bowlers during this period are Kapil Dev (434, 29.64), Javagal Srinath (236, 30.49), Anil Kumble* and Harbhajan Singh*. All these Indian bowlers have average over 27. It is a decent average but not threatening enough. Let us see bowling averages of current Indian bowlers:
Anil Kumble (547, 28.65)
Harbhajan Singh (238, 29.86)
Zaheer Khan (134, 35.76)
Irfan Pathan (91, 30.79)
Ajit Agarkar (58, 47.32)
Ashish Nehra (44, 42.40)
Sreesanth (37, 26.00)
Munaf Patel (25, 29.00)
Murali Karthik (24, 34.16)
Averages of our famous spin quartet
BS Bedi (266, 28.71)
BS Chandrasekhar (242, 29.74)
EAS Prasanna (189, 30.38)
S Venkataraghavan (156, 36.11)
I am waiting for a day we have genuine strike bowler in India. Will it be Munaf? Sreesanth? VRV Singh? Piyush Chawla? or some others?
1. Not batting good enough to save a test match
2. Not batting aggressively when needed (e.g. to set a target)
3. Failing to finish off the tail
4. Senseless batting of lower-order or tail-enders
Not batting good enough to save a test match
For how many times we saw our batsmen struggling to save a test match.
i)Against South Africa in Durban 2006-07
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/engine/match/249216.html
ii)Against England in Mumbai 2005-06
http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/ENG_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/ENG_IND_T3_18-22MAR2006.html
iii)Against Pakistan in Bangalore 2004-05
http://www.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2004-05/PAK_IN_IND/SCORECARDS/PAK_IND_T3_24-28MAR2005.html
In all these matches there was no danger in the pitch. Just the players needed to apply themselves, but they failed to do so. Infact in all these matches they had only little to play for; not more than three sessions.
Not batting aggressively when needed
During their second innings in Cape Town after lunch Indian batsmen needed to accelerate their scoring rate. But they played defensively. If Australia were in the same situation they would have set a huge target by playing aggressively. There was no urgency in Indian batting in second innings. There are other instances also where we failed to accelerate our scoring.
Failing to finish off the tail
i)Against South Africa in Durban 2006-07
http://content-ind.cricinfo.com/rsavind/engine/match/249216.html
ii)Against Pakistan in Karachi 2005-06
http://ind.cricinfo.com/db/ARCHIVE/2005-06/IND_IN_PAK/SCORECARDS/IND_PAK_T3_29JAN-02FEB2006.html
Where are the Yorkers? Slower ones? Munaf Patel castled visiting England batsmen. Zaheer castled Steve Waugh. Irfan Pathan castled Adam Gilchrist. What happened to them? Do they forget how to bowl Yorkers after their first few matches?
Senseless batting of lower-order or tail-enders
We often see our tail-enders playing without common sense. Once in a new moon day they click. Our tail is little long. Remember how Caribbean tail-enders thwarted our bowlers at Antigua. Their tail-enders is the worst. Even they managed to play with determination. But see our lower-order batsmen! Last 5 wickets in first innings of Cape Town Test fell for mere 15 odd runs.
One important fact is we don’t have a good lower-order batsman. Australia had Shane Warne, South Africa have Shaun Pollock, New Zealand have Vettori, Pakistan have Abdul Razzak and Srilanka have Mahroff to play sensibly when their top order fails. Infact they have more than one players of such caliber. They can play aggressively and also defensively when situation demands. We don’t have such players. Of course we have Irfan Pathan but his current bowling form is so poor that he can’t find a place in our team. Let us pray to GOD that he regain his form and compete in coming world cup.
These problems can be addressed if team-management sits and think about it. But we have one perennial problem which team-management cannot solve. That is lack of genuine strike bowlers.
LACK OF GENUINE STRIKE BOWLERS
India historically doesn’t have genuine strike bowlers. No Indian bowler has bowling average below 25. If you see record books, you will know it. Let us see other countries in last thirty years:
Pakistan had Imran Khan (362, 22.81), Wasim Akram (414, 23.62) and Waqar Younis (373, 23.56)
Australia had Dennis Lillie (355, 23.92), Glen McGrath (563, 21.64) and Shane Warne (708, 25.41)
South Africa had Allan Donald (330, 22.25) and Shaun Pollock* (408, 23.18)
New Zealand had Richard Hadlee (431, 22.29) and Shane Bond* (74, 22.10)
Srilanka have Muralidharan* (669, 21.66)
West Indies had Holding (249, 23.68), Joel Garner (259, 20.97), Marshall (376, 20.94), Ambrose (405, 20.99) and Walsh (519, 24.44)
All these bowlers have bowling average about 25 or below. India’s prime bowlers during this period are Kapil Dev (434, 29.64), Javagal Srinath (236, 30.49), Anil Kumble* and Harbhajan Singh*. All these Indian bowlers have average over 27. It is a decent average but not threatening enough. Let us see bowling averages of current Indian bowlers:
Anil Kumble (547, 28.65)
Harbhajan Singh (238, 29.86)
Zaheer Khan (134, 35.76)
Irfan Pathan (91, 30.79)
Ajit Agarkar (58, 47.32)
Ashish Nehra (44, 42.40)
Sreesanth (37, 26.00)
Munaf Patel (25, 29.00)
Murali Karthik (24, 34.16)
Averages of our famous spin quartet
BS Bedi (266, 28.71)
BS Chandrasekhar (242, 29.74)
EAS Prasanna (189, 30.38)
S Venkataraghavan (156, 36.11)
I am waiting for a day we have genuine strike bowler in India. Will it be Munaf? Sreesanth? VRV Singh? Piyush Chawla? or some others?
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