Can India Turn It Around?

India losing their best team tag after losing to England in England in a humiliating manner and a similar loss against Australia at their home created a lot of questions about the Indian Team. Things turned even worse when India lost to England in India, that too on tracks made for assisting spin. English spinners got more assistance from the tracks than the Indian spinners and the Indian batsmen couldn’t pick the English bowlers, while surprisingly the English batsmen looked more prepared and picked the lanky spinners with ease. This created doubts about the ability of the batsmen and bowlers in Indian tracks. With Australia touring India for four Test matches, every one is expecting the Indian team to come back strong and win the Test series comprehensively.

The Indian opening duo of Sehwag, who is one of the most feared batsmen of all time, and Gambhir, who has the ability to play according to the situation, was one of the reasons for India reaching the world number 1 spot in Test cricket .With this pair being out of form, it created a lot of pressure for the middle order batsmen. India’s loss to England meant the selectors had to drop Gambhir who was not able to reach the three figure mark once in two years. Decision making was not simple for the selectors, knowing the ability of this southpaw, but consistent performances by other young Indian batsman like Vijay, Dhawan and experienced campaigners like Jaffer made the selectors take that decision. With the change of opening pair, Indians are expecting a change in their fortunes. With Vijay always having a great record playing at home, it is expected that India will open with Vijay.

The Indian middle order led by the master Sachin Tendulkar is very young with the likes of Pujara, Kohli and Jadeja all having played less than10 tests. Pujara played a crucial knock in India’s only win in the Test matches against England and Dhoni and Kohli played against their natural game in the fourth Test against England to save India from yet another humiliating defeat. With Sachin scoring an unbeaten century in Irani Trophy, the whole middle order looks to be in good touch. If they carry on the same form, the Indian batting concerns should be solved. With a batsmen like Ajinkya Rahane as backup for the middle order, it’s always a good sign for Indian Cricket. Their should be some experienced campaigner who can anchor the Indian innings with these youngsters.

Mahindra Singh Dhoni, skipper of Indian team, is under the hammer after losing 10 of the last 14 Test matches before this series. There have been many comments about Dhoni’s captaincy being very predictable and bowling changes not being accurate according to the situation and field placements being very defensive. Personally, being in good form could help him to get back to his rhythm of captaincy and win matches for the nation.

For me, the main concern for the Indian team is their spin department with Ashwin, the skipper’s trump card, going for a lot of runs and finding it tough to fill the wickets column. Harbhajan Singh, who is about to play his 100^th Test, is not the same bowler he used to be in the past and Pragyan Ohja, who was the best bowler of India against England, found it very difficult to pick wickets in the domestic circuit. The positives for Indian spin bowling are that Harbhajan bowled a good line and length in the Irani Trophy and got the wickets with his classic off spinner deliveries while Ohja was very consistent in his approach without giving away any lose deliveries. Another import concern would be the number of spin bowlers in the playing eleven. Dhoni is criticized for under utilizing Harbhajan or using him only for containing the batsmen in the Test match against England. So playing two spinners would be ideal, with Ravindra Jadeja who can be handy with his left arm spin. Choosing the two of three should be the issue the coach and skipper discuss about.

The Indian pace attack is very young with the likes of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Ashok Dinda led by Ishant who has just come back from injury recently. With Ishant and Kumar being in good form in the series against Pakistan and England, the skipper could use them to make a good impact with the new ball. The abilities of Kumar to swing the ball both the ways at a brisk pace with the new ball and the abilities of Ishant to extract the extra bounce from the track with his height means this duo can be good even on a flat batting track.