India Throw their Wickets and Throw the Super 8 T 20 World Cup match against Australia
I’ve always admired Dhoni for his winning attitude,his leadership,his astute captaincy and aggression and calm temperament…he commands respect
Dhoni’s inexplicable Captaincy and Game Approach
But yesterday was an aberration….. I was simply angry with Dhoni’s captaincy and approach in their first Super 8 Match against Australia,which they lost… It was not the real Dhoni out there!….. this is why
- India wins the Toss and inexplicably, Dhoni elects to chase… even Australian Captain Michael Clarke voiced this post match
- On a bouncy and pacey wicket, Dhoni got two spinners into the attack in the first six overs when there are field restrictions…. he simply did not read the wicket
- Dhoni continues with spinner Jadeja… Jadeja was ‘jadoed’ for 19 in his first over and 19 in his second… Watson smashed three consecutive sixes and then Warner repeated this !
- Dhoni simply did not muster the team together… there was lack of a thought process and application… Batsman after Batsman threw their wicket getting aggressive too quickly before settling down… All that was required was to play out the first few overs peacefully and adapt to the initial bounce and pace of the pitch that was an advantage to the Fast bowlers with the new hard ball….. Dhoni needed to remind and convey this to the players in real time… he lost this right as he himself holed out early, ironically to a spinner, when he should have shown temperament and settled in first as our full top order had caved in before India even reached 50!
- Dhoni’s post match explanation was that we dd not get a good batting start and Watson and Warner took the game away from us by aggressive hitting !… come on Dhoni ! our batting strength is right down to No 10…no offense to Nehra intended ! ….. every batsman that followed capitulated like the openers did…being prematurely aggressive and trying to hit their way out of trouble before settling down and adapting to pitch conditions offering pace and bounce with the new ball and this was being exploited by the Aussie pacers!… as Harbhajan Singh stated just after the Aussie Innings that 185 was gettable on this wicket…. only our batsmen were in a real hurry to get it ! when pacing their innings would have been the ideal strategy given the early advantage of pace and bounce being exploited with the new ball by the Aussie Pace attack
- Dhoni did not acknowledge in his post match media talk the fantastic batting contribution of Rohit Sharma… I hope it’s not developed into a Dhoni v/s Sharma situation…. This is not good for Indian Cricket
Rohit Sharma comes to India’s rescue
Our Batsman in great form,Rohit Sharma was never played in the first three matches and thankfully got his chance against Australia… he smashed an unbeated 79 in India’s final total of 135… at one stage we were 50 for 7!…. now try and drop him,Dhoni!….Commentator,Ian Chappell even commented as to how Rohit Sharma has been badly treated by Indian Selectors despite being the most talented of the emerging players…Ravi Shastri retorted that Talent is not enough and Rohit needs to perform !… come on Ravi, this guy is deliberately not being selected.. how can he perform !… and believe me, everytime he’s batting, I love watching him… he’s classy, fearless, confident, hits beautifully all round the wicket and powerfully too…. and more important can clear the field at will !… An Imperative Skill for T 20….. and Ravi, post match you were on one of the TV News Channels and I was quite amused to hear you do a u-turn on Rohit Sharma…” I’ve always said…..” is how you started when praising Rohit Sharma…. Ravi, you’ve got sound cricketing knowledge… just try and be a little unbiased and less presumptious
Not taking anything away from Australia’s fabulous performance
This is not to take away the credit from a fabulous all round performance by the Aussies…. Clearly Australian opening batsmen Watson and Warner ‘sixed’ us out and their opening pace attack of Shaun Tait and Dirk Nannes ‘bounced’ and ‘paced’ and ‘yorked’ us out …. but we let them !…. Man of the Match, Warner smashed 72 in 40 odd balls and took a stunning catch
India threw their wickets and by this the match !
I was watching the match with my son… and at the outset was predicting from the start how our batsmen will refuse to apply their mind and settle down before getting aggressive…. this will result in them getting out to skiers having been beaten by pace and bounce