South Africa vs India 2013: 5 things that went wrong for India in the ODI series

India vs South Africa

Two ODIs. Two annihilations. Two abject performances. Team India meekly surrendered in the ODI series and has left a lot of unanswered questions about the ability of this young team to perform in alien conditions, and in the face of prolonged good fast bowling. You might say nothing went right for India, but here is a look at 5 major issues that set India back in the ODI series.

1. Not enough preparation time

The series against West Indies was nothing but a waste of time. The tests, in the wake of Sachin Tendulkar‘s retirement, may be justified as a farewell series, but the ODIs were thoroughly unnecessary. Instead of playing 3 pointless ODIs against an average team in familiar conditions, India could have gone to South Africa, and given themselves more time to get acclimatized to the conditions. For any Indian team, it has not been easy adjusting to South African conditions within 4 days of getting there. That lack of time meant a lack of preparedness, which has been evident in both of India’s performances so far.

2. Disappointing New Ball bowling

In South Africa, in conditions that were helpful, to allow the opposition opening partnerships of 152 and 194 is nothing short of a cardinal sin. After the first ODI, it was baffling that MS Dhoni opted to give Umesh Yadav only 2 overs in his opening spell. Yadav didn’t return till the death overs. It was puzzling, because Yadav is someone who can hurry the batsmen with his pace, and could’ve been a genuine threat to de Kock and Amla. Mohammad Shami was impressive, but was a lone warrior as he had zero support from the other end.

3. Death Bowling

For how long have we talked up death bowling as a weakness for India? 135 runs in the last ten, and 84 in the last five overs at Jo’burg which meant 360 had to be chased down, which was 80 to 90 runs above par on that surface. In Durban, when things seemed to be going well, Umesh Yadav conceded 20 runs in the last over, which meant South Africa went into the break with momentum on their side. Getting consistent yorkers in, and deceiving batsmen with variations has never been something the Indian bowlers have excelled at, for a long time now. Unless the death bowling improves, India’s batsmen will always have to score 20 to 30 runs above par.

4. No strong starts with the bat

The backbone to India’s ODI success in 2013 has been Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma providing strong starts up the order, for the likes of Virat Kohli and Dhoni to follow. The success of Kohli, Dhawan and Rohit had masked the woeful performances of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh in the ODIs at home, and it was only a matter of time before this happened. Dhawan was too expansive too early, and that brought about his downfall on both occasions. Dhawan needs to learn to respect the good deliveries, something that is not a necessity on Indian wickets. Rohit was given a thorough working over by Steyn and came out second best, and Kohli got two good balls which cut his stay at the crease short.

5. Inability to play genuine quick bowling

Steyn against Rohit at Jo’burg. The 2 balls that Yuvraj faced in the series. And, in general all the dismissals that India had in the series, were down to hostile fast bowling. Except Dhawan on both occasions, all the other batsmen fell to genuinely good deliveries that would trouble any batsman in world cricket. South Africa made the most out of India’s lack of preparation and their general weakness in tackling pace and bounce, and made it work to their advantage beautifully.

All in all, this was a series in which, next to nothing went right for India.