Bright spots and bothers for Team India from their first warm-up match

Spinning webs on English tracks: On a slow track, when the batsmen had a field day, scoring over 650 runs, the Indian spinners, especially Ashwin and Jadeja, stood out. In an otherwise insipid bowling performance, both of them stood out with an economy rate of less than 6. But their figures don’t do them full justice. Both of them bowled with intent, creating a lot of opportunities, only to be let down by the fielding. With a little more luck and better fielding efforts, both of them could have bagged a couple of wickets. The batsmen were having a tough time reading them and hence finding it difficult to score off them. If they can do this against a sub-continent side that is used to playing spin, they can certainly spell trouble to opposition who are not so comfortable facing a turning ball.

The bothers:

Top-order folds again: With a change in personnel at the top of the order, India went into this match hoping for an auspicious debut for its new opening pair. Dhawan was a little unfortunate to get run-out when he was on 1, as he would have enjoyed the Edgbaston track for his comeback match after his injury. Vijay struggled at the crease, scoring 18 off 30 balls, before finally perishing. Vijay’s dismissal brought Rohit Sharma, who enjoyed a good IPL season, to the crease. And once again he failed to make an impact; showing that neither his success as a batsman or as a captain in the IPL could be translated into success at the international level. Kohli was left alone, yet again, to rebuild with the help of the middle order. India would hope their top-order would pull it together in the second warm-up match, because the home series loss against Pakistan showed them clearly what being too dependent on the middle order can do.

The Indian bowlers did not have much to celebrate as they were taken away for 333 runs with only 3 wickets to show for

It didn’t quite swing the pacers’ way: With India’s most promising pace prospects all fit at the same time, a lot was expected from the pace department. And with the help of assisting tracks in England, the likes of Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Irfan Pathan were expected to rip through the opposition’s batting line-up. Barely four overs into the game, it was clear that the track wasn’t offering a lot; but what was surprising was the lack of intent from the bowlers. They were not willing to try and make things happen. Instead, they looked like they were hoping for the pitch to suddenly start working magic for them. They were wayward in their line and length and despite getting repeatedly punished, did not try to change it. Even Ishant Sharma, who relies on his pace and accuracy, looked out of sorts and got taken for many. Vinay Kumar was the only one who maintained a tight line. He did not leak too many runs in his first spell; but, towards the death, he gave away too many runs, showing again that despite his death-bowler tag, he is not really ready to bowl in the slog-overs. Not all pitches in the tournament can be expected to be bowler-friendly, and if the pace department doesn’t get its act together, South African and Pakistani batting attacks might not be as forgiving as Sri Lanka’s.

A cold day in the field: With the likes of Kohli, Raina, Jadeja in the field, India is one of the better fielding sides in contemporary cricket. Whether it was the cold breeze of Birmingham or the fatigue piled up due to IPL, the fielding on Saturday was sub-par. Dropped catches and misfields not only let the bowlers down, but also did not allow pressure to build on the Sri Lankan batsmen. Dhoni was also very ordinary behind the stumps, missing an easy stumping chance and a catch. This would be one area that Team India would look to work on before taking on South Africa.

Overall, it was a morale boosting win for Team India, but they would definitely have to up their game if they want to make it to the knock-out stages from the formidable looking Group-B.