6 mistakes that cost India a semifinal berth

There is an old proverb in Hindi: “galiti tumhari nahin par tum nirdosh bhi nahi”; which, when translated, would be ‘it’s not your mistake but you aren’t innocent either.‘

This proverb would aptly sum up India’s performance in the crucial encounter against the Proteas in which they did manage to win against a quality opponent, but still fell short of making the cut for the last four.

Here are some critical strategic errors that cost India in the end:

Team Selection: Dhoni’s decision of going in with one specialist spinner was baffling. In the previous encounter on the same turf, we saw how Pakistan reaped the dividends for bowling 18 overs of spin. One understands going in with one extra medium pacer against any subcontinent team, like against Pakistan in the last game, but surely against a team like South Africa, a second specialist spinner was the need of the hour.

Sending Rohit at No 4: By the time Rohit came in, we were at the end of 5 overs and the first spell of Steyn and Morkel was over. Under these circumstances, Dhoni could have been the ideal man to get his eye in and then take the attack to the opposition. While Rohit’s ability is never doubted, he hasn’t been in the best of touches in the recent past and that was evident in the way in which he went about scoring runs. Yes, it is not about slogging every single ball but I guess 25 off 27 balls, which included the overs of part timers like Duminy and du Plessis and spinners, was way too slow and it may have costed India around 10-15 runs in the end.

Continuing with Pathan in the 6^th Over: Zaheer and Irfan are bowlers of similar style, the former’s better pedigree notwithstanding. So when Dhoni saw du Plessis bat with the kind of comfort he did against Zaheer in the fifth over (in which he scored 11 runs), it was imperative of Dhoni to make a bowling change at the other end, especially because du Plessis was again on strike. But Dhoni didn’t and Pathan was plundered for fourteen runs that swung the momentum in South Africa’s favour.

Holding back Ashwin till the 10^th over: Once Yuvraj got the prized scalp of De Villers in the 7^th over, India needed to bring on their best bowler and build the pressure on South Africa. Instead, we saw Rohit Sharma getting the nod ahead of Ashwin and the Proteas plundered him for 13 runs. By the time Ashwin was introduced, the partnership was worth 22 runs off 17 balls and they needed 54 runs off 66 balls to knock India out of the competition.

Defensive field setting: When du Plessis was finally dismissed, India still had a remote chance of qualifying. For that, we had to restrict them to 26 or less runs in the remaining 44 balls. Common sense tells us that the only way to do that would be to pick up wickets in a clutter. However, Dhoni continued to have only four men in the ring and watched the Proteas milk away the remaining runs.

Bringing back Zaheer only after India was knocked out: This decision was as inexplicable as the defensive field set. He is India’s best bowler along with Ashwin. He bowled an excellent opening spell where he gave 19 runs in 3 overs and picked up the wicket of Amla. Yet he was not even brought on between the overs 14-17 when India were still in with a bit of a chance. Ironically, when he did come on to bowl in the 18^th over, he conceded just 3 runs and picked up two wickets. But by then, for all practical purposes, the match was over.

The last two factors would especially hurt the Indian fans as it gave a clear indication that Dhoni had already resigned to the fact that India will not qualify for the knock out stages of the tournament and therefore he opted to play for the feel-good win.