India lost yet another finals to maintain their dubious record and create doubts in the minds of even their die-hard supporters, whether they are ever going to get out of this ‘finals’ syndrome.
If at all they had a good chance to get over the syndrome, it was in this game, for having put up a competitive total of 276, all India needed to do was to grab a few early wickets and put pressure on the Kiwis. It didn’t happen and not just because the New Zealanders batted very well but because the new ball bowlers trying for the extra yard or two of pace seemed to have lost the swing and pitched the ball far too short. Pathan has been the most impressive of the new ball bowlers, though both, Nehra and Agarkar have also had their moments but he was dragging the ball too short and after the mauling he got from the Kiwi captain Fleming in one over, it looked as if he was holding on to the ball a little too long and was tense about releasing it. He is still young in international cricket, so there will be occasions like this where the tension will get to him, as it can to the most experienced of players, but when it happens to a bowler who is the main hope for getting the breakthrough then the rest of the team also gets demoralized quickly.
Lets not take anything away from the New Zealanders, for they batted exceptionally well and the start that they got from the openers, was such a quick one that they could still afford to have a few quiet overs later on in their chase of the Indian total. India’s part-time spinners were the ones who slowed the scoring rate of the New Zealanders with their slow spinners, where they got a bit of turn and more importantly didn’t try to do anything special.
India too were slowed down by the crafty spin of Vettori and what was surprising was that apart from Sehwag, nobody tried to throw him off his line and length and allowed him to bowl the way he wanted to. His two wickets in one over of Sehwag and Dravid, put India on to the back foot and Venugopal Rao being sent ahead of the in-form Dhoni didn’t help at all. In the kind of form Dhoni has been in this Tri Series, he would have relished the prospect of taking on the left-handed spinner. Rao’s promotion meant that India lost momentum and with his wicket, the pressure also increased on Kaif who played a splendid innings and was unlucky to miss out on a century as he ran out of partners.
What the finals showed was that India’s skewered selection policy of not giving Raina an airing in the academic game against Zimbabwe, meant that they had no option but to go in with an out of form and low in confidence batsman like Rao in the finals. It cost them runs and in the end India’s inability to convert the good first 15 overs into a 300 plus total meant that they had given New Zealand the belief that they could chase it without too much problems.
India’s out cricket also was shoddy and but for a couple of fielders. India looks labored in the field and it’s worrying as the World Cup is not too far away. They dropped simple catches and apart from Yuvraj, they don’t have a fielder who can hit the stumps direct when it is needed for a wicket.
Everytime India loses, the fringe players get dropped and are made scapegoats but maybe it’s time to take a realistic look at the contributions of the regulars before the next selection is done. Indian cricket deserves more honesty there if it is going to go ahead and be a force in the game.
