India learnt important lessons in S Africa
JOHANNESBURG: Like all good things, India's tour to South Africa also came to an end with the final ODI in Centurion on Sunday. The tour was a huge success in terms of providing quality cricket, keen contests and fan support. Most of the matches - Tests, ODIs and the one T20 game - saw the teams fight all the way in front of full stadiums. The last one-dayer was in danger of proving to be an anti-climax before Yusuf Pathan rescued it with an incredible knock to give the tour a befitting end.
Cricket South Africa is so happy with the way the tour went that CEO Gerald Majola now wants 'icon status' for all India-South Africa series. "All agree that this was one of the most exciting tours in recent history and was filled with competitive and quality cricket throughout by two of the world's top teams. This has proved conclusively that future tours between South Africa and India should be given icon status, with a minimum of four Tests on offer," Majola said.
No end to batting woes
Looking back at the one-day series, India would be hugely disappointed by their batting performance. Skipper MS Dhoni more than once put his finger on this department as the malfunctioning one. The problem began at the top itself after both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir returned home even before the contest began. Sachin Tendulkar joined them after playing the first two games.
M Vijay and Rohit Sharma, the stop-gaps, could never come to terms with the pace and bounce of the pitches. India did not get a decent start in any of the ODIs, the opening partnerships being 3, 21, 4, 1 and 21. Vijay had scores of 1, 16 and 1 while Sharma also did not trouble the scorers much, coming up with 11, 9, 23, 1 and 5, the last three as opener. An unfit Tendulkar was also not at his best in the two games he played. Parthiv Patel, drafted in for the last two ODIs, stroked the ball well but got out while looking good. Thus, for India, it never was 'well begun is half done.'
In this s! cenario, the onus was on the middle order to repair the damage and shore up the innings. No. 3 Virat Kohli and No. 7 Yusuf Pathan were the only ones who could find a way to counter the SA attack, which was led admirably by Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. The rest floundered. Yuvraj Singh was a better bowler than batsman, Suresh Raina had a few starts but that was all and Dhoni was completely off-colour with the willow. The pressure of leading the side on such a tense tour and too much cricket probably took a toll on the captain. But Dhoni will be concerned with the decline in his from, especially in the ODIs where he was No. 1 in the world not too long back.
The Indian middle order was brimming with experience but it did not reflect in the way the challenge was confronted.
Bowlers fare better
Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh shouldered the responsibility of leading the attack with aplomb. Harbhajan, though, lost some of his edge in the last two games and the result were two big totals by the hosts. The tall Munaf got good bounce out of the pitches and finished with 11 wickets, the highest for India. The wily Zaheer mixed it up well and also took care of the death overs. The tour was tough on him from a physical point of view but he manfully carried on.
Dhoni had said that he was more worried about the fitness of his fast bowlers than their form. He would be happy that most of his pacers have managed to see the tour through without major breakdowns. Indian bowling was also helped by the diffidence of South African batsmen who twice staged remarkable slumps in the second and the third ODIs which they lost.
Yusuf, the big positive
Dhoni listed the bowling of part-timers and bowling in the death overs as two of the big positives coming out of the one-day series. But clearly, the biggest was the emergence of Yusuf Pathan as a batsman all teams must fear. His prowess as an awesome hitter of the ball was well known but there were doubts! over hi s ability in foreign climes. The Baroda Bomber dispelled many notions with two electrifying knocks.
The one he played on Sunday was by far the innings of the series. He showed a growing maturity which has added some method to his madness. In Centurion, he often presented a defensive bat even though adrenaline was coursing through his veins. A lost cause was turned into a celebration of pure power hitting, and against bowlers unleashing thunderbolts of their own. Pathan's strike rate for the series, 134.95, when no other batsman from both teams could score at run a ball, tells its own tale. Thankfully, Pathan has settled all debate over his position in the team with his stupendous show here. He has, in fact, forced the think-tank to ponder whether he should be sent higher than No. 7, his normal position.
World Cup pointers
This series was being viewed from the prism of the World Cup which begins next month. It was only normal even though conditions will be different in the subcontinent than what they were in South Africa. But since it was the last international engagement for both team before the mega event, it was expected to serve as useful rehearsal. After Sunday's game, Dhoni was hopeful that the aberrations would be taken care of at the World Cup because conditions would be very different. He would be hoping, more than anything else, that the middle order finds its feet in familiar environment.
Dhoni's optimism is based on simple logic because conditions play a vital role in cricket. India had a disastrous one-day series in New Zealand but, immediately afterwards, went on to make the 2003 World Cup final. Thus, the series loss to South Africa does not alter the World Cup picture too much. But as Dhoni said, the team has learnt many lessons on this tour. Youngsters in the squad would do well to take them to heart.
Cricket South Africa is so happy with the way the tour went that CEO Gerald Majola now wants 'icon status' for all India-South Africa series. "All agree that this was one of the most exciting tours in recent history and was filled with competitive and quality cricket throughout by two of the world's top teams. This has proved conclusively that future tours between South Africa and India should be given icon status, with a minimum of four Tests on offer," Majola said.
No end to batting woes
Looking back at the one-day series, India would be hugely disappointed by their batting performance. Skipper MS Dhoni more than once put his finger on this department as the malfunctioning one. The problem began at the top itself after both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir returned home even before the contest began. Sachin Tendulkar joined them after playing the first two games.
M Vijay and Rohit Sharma, the stop-gaps, could never come to terms with the pace and bounce of the pitches. India did not get a decent start in any of the ODIs, the opening partnerships being 3, 21, 4, 1 and 21. Vijay had scores of 1, 16 and 1 while Sharma also did not trouble the scorers much, coming up with 11, 9, 23, 1 and 5, the last three as opener. An unfit Tendulkar was also not at his best in the two games he played. Parthiv Patel, drafted in for the last two ODIs, stroked the ball well but got out while looking good. Thus, for India, it never was 'well begun is half done.'
In this s! cenario, the onus was on the middle order to repair the damage and shore up the innings. No. 3 Virat Kohli and No. 7 Yusuf Pathan were the only ones who could find a way to counter the SA attack, which was led admirably by Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe. The rest floundered. Yuvraj Singh was a better bowler than batsman, Suresh Raina had a few starts but that was all and Dhoni was completely off-colour with the willow. The pressure of leading the side on such a tense tour and too much cricket probably took a toll on the captain. But Dhoni will be concerned with the decline in his from, especially in the ODIs where he was No. 1 in the world not too long back.
The Indian middle order was brimming with experience but it did not reflect in the way the challenge was confronted.
Bowlers fare better
Zaheer Khan, Munaf Patel and Harbhajan Singh shouldered the responsibility of leading the attack with aplomb. Harbhajan, though, lost some of his edge in the last two games and the result were two big totals by the hosts. The tall Munaf got good bounce out of the pitches and finished with 11 wickets, the highest for India. The wily Zaheer mixed it up well and also took care of the death overs. The tour was tough on him from a physical point of view but he manfully carried on.
Dhoni had said that he was more worried about the fitness of his fast bowlers than their form. He would be happy that most of his pacers have managed to see the tour through without major breakdowns. Indian bowling was also helped by the diffidence of South African batsmen who twice staged remarkable slumps in the second and the third ODIs which they lost.
Yusuf, the big positive
Dhoni listed the bowling of part-timers and bowling in the death overs as two of the big positives coming out of the one-day series. But clearly, the biggest was the emergence of Yusuf Pathan as a batsman all teams must fear. His prowess as an awesome hitter of the ball was well known but there were doubts! over hi s ability in foreign climes. The Baroda Bomber dispelled many notions with two electrifying knocks.
The one he played on Sunday was by far the innings of the series. He showed a growing maturity which has added some method to his madness. In Centurion, he often presented a defensive bat even though adrenaline was coursing through his veins. A lost cause was turned into a celebration of pure power hitting, and against bowlers unleashing thunderbolts of their own. Pathan's strike rate for the series, 134.95, when no other batsman from both teams could score at run a ball, tells its own tale. Thankfully, Pathan has settled all debate over his position in the team with his stupendous show here. He has, in fact, forced the think-tank to ponder whether he should be sent higher than No. 7, his normal position.
World Cup pointers
This series was being viewed from the prism of the World Cup which begins next month. It was only normal even though conditions will be different in the subcontinent than what they were in South Africa. But since it was the last international engagement for both team before the mega event, it was expected to serve as useful rehearsal. After Sunday's game, Dhoni was hopeful that the aberrations would be taken care of at the World Cup because conditions would be very different. He would be hoping, more than anything else, that the middle order finds its feet in familiar environment.
Dhoni's optimism is based on simple logic because conditions play a vital role in cricket. India had a disastrous one-day series in New Zealand but, immediately afterwards, went on to make the 2003 World Cup final. Thus, the series loss to South Africa does not alter the World Cup picture too much. But as Dhoni said, the team has learnt many lessons on this tour. Youngsters in the squad would do well to take them to heart.
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