India hit back, level the series 2-2

It has been a few years since I updated my blog. I have to admit that there have been no exciting games either (barring the World Cup earlier this year), the overall performance by Team India has pretty mediocre, the players we all loved to watch have retired (incidentally two of my favorites retired in the past 2 weeks) and I have got busy with my life (all this is relative to the period between 2009-2011 when I was really active with my blog). But we are in the middle of an exciting ODI series against a World-class team and so; I thought this was a good time to stage a comeback.

Now about today’s match: Even before the match began, I had the feeling that Team India cannot disappoint its fans so easily. A victory for South Africa today would have meant that the series was decided and that there was pretty much nothing to play for in the next ODI. That would look pretty bad for a team that is a “force” in the limited overs cricket, and so India played their “A” game today and made sure that we have a mouth watering contest to look for in a couple of days’ time (To the media – please do not quote me out of context and report that I have said that the match was fixed J).

MS Dhoni won the toss and not surprisingly opted to bat first. No team has been able to chase successfully in the series so far and the trend continued. Rohit Sharma (when I started my blog which was a good 6.5 years ago, I had not thought that Rohit would be someone that I would really like to watch) and Shikhar Dhawan (who is having a miserable series so far) opened the innings for India but the opening stand was rather short lived. India was two down pretty early on in the innings (35/2 in the 8^th over) and a somewhat familiar batting performance looked on cards (no really big partnerships and limping to a 250 odd total) but that was not the case. Kohli arrived at the crease like a man on a mission and the ever-dependable Rahane gave him good company. The duo punished anything that was loose and the running between the wickets was quick and prompt. As a result, India soon marched to a position from where they could put pressure on the bowlers instead of being forced to play a subdued game. Injuries to Morkel and Duminy did not help SA’s case either but you have to remember that India is not playing with their #1 spinner either, so in some sense it has evened out.

Rahane departed much against the run of play (139/3 in the 26^th over) and that brought Suresh Raina to the crease. Again, a good move by Dhoni to send an out-of-form batsman earlier in the innings; let him settle down a bit and then go berserk towards the end. Raina struggled to time the ball initially but the fluency of Kohli made things easier for him and eventually he got going. Kohli got to his century in style (was that a tribute to Sehwag?) and it was wonderful innings – not too many boundaries to show off but that makes it even more special. He was willing to grind it out and make uneasy runs for the team when it needed the most from its #1 batsman. Kohli was also going through a rather lean phase and this century marks his return to the form, this also makes things interesting for the upcoming test series. Raina made a useful quick 50 before departing and his return to form is another useful outcome of the game. Questions have been asked about his place and his utility even though I have always believed that Raina is a must for India in limited overs cricket. Dhoni came in and tried a few strokes, none of which materialized. Kohli was also suffering from cramps and he struggled through the last 5 overs of Indian innings, nevertheless him staying at the crease was still better than letting some one as inexperienced as Axar Patel come to bat and not knowing what to do really. SA pulled back things magnificently towards the last 5 overs of (they conceded something like 18 runs in the last 4 overs) and the final score on the board was definitely underwhelming but without any doubt very competitive.

This is not for the first time though that India has managed to end up with a total that seems atleast 20 runs short if not more given their progress during the 35-45 overs. The first two games of the World Cup (India vs Pak and India vs South Africa) very pretty much the same in this regard when India did really well during the middle overs and looked all set for a 350ish total but fell well short. While it is indeed a cause of concern and facebook has been filled with posts regarding how Dhoni has lost his mojo and how he should contemplate retirement etc., isn’t it really interesting that India has managed to win all the three games that I have been talking about? This of course is not a reason to justify the lack of a late flourish at the end of innings, it is just a fact that tells us how good India has been at times when they have even made up for the absence of this very vital end-of-innings-acceleration.

A total of 300 was always going to be challenging and if SA were to really give India a worry (which they did, courtesy of the superman AB DeVilliers), keeping wickets intact as well as keeping the run rate manageable was going to be the key (Isn’t it stating the obvious? Of course it is, everyone does that – Sunil Gavaskar, Harsha Bhogle, LSRK J), that did not happen though. Mohit Sharma snapped Amla early on in the innings (he has not the set the series on fire but I am pretty sure and worried at the same time that he will more than make up for it in the test series), and I must admit that Mohit Sharma is a very useful bowler, every time I see him I am impressed (well, the only times I have seen him are the World Cup games). What is disappointing at the same time though is, why does he not push himself to become a great fast bowler? With age and form on his side, he should be going all out and be THE fast bowler that India needs (we have had enough of Praveens and Munafs and Balajis and Gonys, we need a Srinath or a Zaheer). Anyways, the other opener, Quinton de Kock began in his usual fashion and while it seems that his love affair with the Indian bowling would continue, that was not to be. Bhajji got rid of him with a delivery that is an off-spinner’s delight – turn, bounce and THE EDGE snapped in slips. Seeing the opposition two down for 60 odd while chasing 300 is always a happy feeling (Games like Natwest final 2002 do not take place with a high frequency). It got worse for SA as Faf du and Miller did not contribute much either and then it was left for the superhuman AB DeVilliers. There is probably no pitch or bowling unit that can stop him for scoring freely and the innings he played today was a testimony to the same. However, the absence of partnerships did really hurt SA and with wickets falling at the other end, it was only a matter of time before he would be induced to play a false stroke, which he duly did but not before scoring a magnificent hundred (which was deservingly applauded by Kohli later). The bowling was pretty good and expectedly; the spinners did the bulk of the damage before Bhuvan wrapped it up with 3 wickets (which made him look a better bowler). Mohit Sharma bowled a controlled line and the trio of Axar, Bhajji and Mishra played the subcontinent spinners role to perfection – dry the runs and induce false strokes. Bhajji in particular was a joy to watch (he always is when he gets going) and it does look like that he is back (I hope he does not fall out of favour soon).

Overall, it was good game of cricket and now the stage is set for the final showdown – the decider that takes place in Mumbai on Sunday and it will be one contest that we all look forward to. May be the best team win before the TEST series begins.

Score card (courtesy: CricBuzz)