5 reasons why India lost the Gandhi-Mandela ODI series

South Africa beat India 3-2 in the 5-match ODI series that concluded on SundayAs AB de Villiers and the South African team lifted the Freedom Trophy for the ODI series, there was a deathly silence among the Indians. In the past eight hours, they had been battered, crushed and steamrollered with chilling efficiency.After clawing back to level the series two times, the momentum was with India as they went into the 5th ODI. But South Africa put on a show of incredible power-hitting as they obliterated India’s bowling attack, scoring 438-4. With the pitch being flat as a board, the fans expected India to put up a high score, even if they couldn’t chase it down. But even those hopes were dispelled as the visitors bowled with venom, bowling India out for 224 in just 36 overs.MS Dhoni will have to answer a lot of questions in the coming days – his position in the batting order, Suresh Raina’s poor form, the toothless bowling of his seamers and the like. No doubt he will, with his usual straight-faced manner, but he knows he has a real problem on his hands.With the upcoming four-Test series, the focus shifts to Virat Kohli, who must take up the mantle of captaincy and use his limited resources to manage a series win. India’s woeful performance in the ODIs must not extend to the Test level or India will see themselves demolished in three days or less against the rampaging South Africans.Where did India go wrong in the ODI series? What could they have done better? Let’s look at 5 reasons why India lost the ODI series.

#1 Batting order shuffled too much

Rohit and Dhawan’s blazing starts were absent throughout the series, which set the tone for India’s loss

In the five ODI matches, the top 4 was changed no less than three times, the only constant being the openers. Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, and MS Dhoni have shuffled themselves among the middle order, which has led to much confusion among the team, especially while running between the wickets. The Indian batsmen were involved in 6 run outs throughout the series, which shows that the batsmen are not yet used to their partners.

Without a stable middle order, the South African batsmen found it easy to curb the scoring rate and get more wickets in the middle period.

Shikhar Dhawan has shown none of his flair in the series, only scoring a scratchy fifty in the final match. He might pay for his poor form ahead of the Tests, with KL Rahul in contention for his opening spot. Rohit Sharma started the series with a century in the first match but fell off the wagon with low scores throughout.

While his teammates struggled to get the ball off the square, he batted with elegance and ease, often toying with the bowling. But once again, he showed that he was susceptible to playing loose shots and getting out against the run of play. India’s best opening partnership this series was only 42, which played a major role in their loss.

Rahane was perhaps India’s most consistent batsman with three fifties and a 45, but he too got out at crucial moments while trying to up the run rate while MS Dhoni’s inability to hit the big shots at the end of the innings was in full view. With the exception of his 92* in the second ODI, he has been nowhere near his best this series, and he must work towards getting back to form.

#2 Seamers not making an impact

India missed Mohammed Shami as their seamers were taken to the cleaners by the Proteas

The biggest difference between India and South Africa has perhaps been the form of their seamers. While the trio of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada have picked up 27 wickets between them. On the other hand, India’s trio of Mohit Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav managed only 15.

This speaks volumes of India’s seam attack which has been totally inefficient against the raging South Africans. Even on the docile turning tracks of the subcontinent, Dale Steyn and co. managed to extract bounce and movement, taking wickets at regular intervals and putting the brakes on the Indian innings.

Kagiso Rabada, playing his first series in India, has impressed the most, topping the wicket charts with 10 wickets at an average of 24.12. His economy rate of 5.12 is also impressive when the fact that he has bowled consistently in the death to MS Dhoni, who has a reputation of being one of the world’s best finishers, is taken into account.

None of the South African seamers have an economy rate of over 6.00, which shows how good they were. They targeted the Indian batsmen’s ribs, bowling bouncers to keep the run rate in check.

On the other hand, the Indian seamers have completely come apart at the death, leaking runs to AB De Villiers and the others. It was in full display in the 5th ODI as they gave away 144 runs in the last 10 overs, the bulk of them in full tosses and length balls.

Bhuvaneshwar Kumar ended up with the series’ worst economy rate at 7.13. His lowest point came in the 5th ODI when he gave away 106 runs in his 10 overs. Mohit Sharma comes a close second with 6.93, his slower balls being rendered useless by the Proteas. The Indian fast bowlers adopted some baffling tactics, including bowling to Quinton De Kock from around the wickets, where he was able to cut and pull with ease.

They completely wilted under pressure as they gave runs in droves in the final ODI, which tilted the series in South Africa’s favour. A change in India’s bowling seems likely for the next series as Mohammed Shami is due to return from injury. Perhaps a revamp is needed for India’s pace battery and some induction of young blood might do the trick.

#3 Not enough individual centuries

Only Kohli and Rohit made hundreds for India, as opposed to South Africa’s 6 hundreds

South Africa’s series win was based on several notable individual performances by their batsmen who made sure that they converted their good starts to centuries while also putting on big partnerships. On the other hand, the Indian batsmen made a flurry of fifties but failed to make it into a big one. They got out at wrong times, thus exposing the new batsman at critical stages, which made it harder to rotate the strike and pile the runs on.

The South Africans scored 6 individual hundreds among them – 3 by AB De Villiers, 2 by Quinton De Kock and 1 by Faf Du Plessis. India only had two centuries – one each by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. The Indian batsmen showed a tendency to throw their wicket away. This could be seen in the first match, where Ajinkya Rahane got out at the worst possible time, not allowing Virat Kohli the time to settle down and it set about a series of events that led to India losing the match.

It was again on display in the 3rd ODI when MS Dhoni got out with the required run-rate touching 9 and Virat Kohli was left to rotate the strike with the lower-middle order, which again spelt India doom.

Apart from the fighting fifty by MS Dhoni in the 2nd ODI and the breezy knock by Rahane in the 5th ODI, none of the other Indian half-centuries had a big impact on the match. India should have had at least 3 more individual centuries, which would have meant a well-set batsman staying in the middle till the end, which would have helped them cross 300 at least once in the series.

India scored at least 20-30 runs below par in each and every ODI. It was very much evident in the final ODI, where they only lasted 36 overs.

#4 Inability to finish the innings

Both Dhoni and Raina were unable to score quickly

As Mahendra Singh Dhoni confided after the 4th ODI, the new rules have made slogging pretty difficult in the last 10 overs. Virat Kohli provided an alternative to that, stating that the 11-40 overs are the new slog overs and that the batsmen would go for the big shots then, instead of trying to go for big runs in the last 10 overs.

With MS Dhoni not hitting it as cleanly as he would have liked and Suresh Raina woefully out of form, India must look towards increasing their batting run rate which has been incompetent this series.

In the first four matches, India scored 74/4, 82/2, 67/4, 69/5 in the final 10 overs. With the exception of the second match where MS Dhoni shepherded the team to safety, India has been nowhere near South Africa’s level when it comes to batting in the final 10.

Once again, it boils down to batsmen throwing away their wickets at crucial stages, combined with some excellent bowling by the South Africans. Kagiso Rabada has been their key bowler at the death, his pace regularly touching 145 kph. With the new batsmen unable to cope with South Africa’s terrific death bowling, India have been unable to score as many runs as they would have liked in the final 10 overs which made the difference in the first and third ODI.

As Virat Kohli indicated, India must look to accelerate the run rate between overs 10-40 and then look for 2s and 3s in the final 10 if they are to make a par score at the end of the innings. With their two finishers out of touch, there is more pressure on their middle order to keep the runs flowing. Unless the lower middle order contributes to the team score, they will find their positions threatened as the ICC World T20 looms next year.

#5 Poor death bowling

Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma were unable to prevent the flow of runs in the death overs

Once more, the Indian bowlers have found themselves wanting in the death overs. With Mahendra Singh Dhoni opting to use a spin-heavy attack, it meant the exclusion of a third seamer. Due to this, a third of the last 10 overs had to be bowled by spinners which heavily increased South Africa’s run rate.

This also meant that if one of the frontline seamers has a bad day, it meant the spinners had a task for themselves in the death overs, where they have not had much experience. The main culprits have been the seamers, with Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, in particular, going for 347 runs in 5 matches, at almost 70 runs per match. Despite coming in with the reputation of a good death bowler, he was taken apart by the Proteas and his tendency to bowl full tosses also led to his figures being spoilt.

In the five ODIs, India conceded scores of 109, 13 (bowled only 3 overs after 40), 60, 64 and 144. The two big scores which leap out are obviously the first and the last. With the new ICC rules enabling 5 fielders outside the ring, giving away 10 runs an over at the death is unacceptable. With almost all the boundary routes covered, bowlers just cannot give runs at such an alarming rate.

AB De Villiers was the wrecker-in-chief as he scored three centuries in the series, doing the bulk of his scoring in the last 10 overs. He didn’t spare any of the bowlers, hitting them all around the park in his inimitable 360-degree style. He was helped, of course by loose bowling characterised by poor line and length and he made the most of it by crashing deliveries to the boundary.

Going into the T20 World Cup, India will need to address this issue if they wish to put up a good show.