India kicked off their campaign with a not so convincing win against Bangladesh, also gaining a bonus point on the way.Bangladesh openers set the stadium on fire with their positive batting and stroke-play before Tamim got out to a misplaced stroke off Praveen Kumar's half volley outside off. Instead of looking fresh and rejuvenated, Indian players looked rusty and slack as expected. Nehra showed in the very first over of the game that he utilized the break for anything but improving his fielding. Zaheer's bowling was like lightning in an otherwise gray sky! He started off in a sleepy manner but his next two overs were a pleasure to watch before he returned back to his sleepy ways. Praveen was inconsistent and Nehra was extremely ordinary.The pick of the bowlers was Harbhajan Singh.After the fall of 5th wicket, Dhoni could have gone for the kill by bringing his strike bowlers back but perhaps was afraid of losing the advantage considering the performance of his bowlers earlier! Also, he would have liked to see the performance of part timers though its not much use when a team is five down. Still both, Sehwag and Rohit did a very good job by keeping things tidy and Sehwag hurried through the opposition tail.Jadeja bowled in a situation where he seems to bowl his best and that is when the opposition is looking to rebuild a shaky innings. I would certainly be surprised if he can bowl good consistently when the opposition has an upper hand.Indian bowlers gave away too many extras and need to be more disciplined in their efforts as such mistakes can prove to be fatal against better teams.
Indian fielding was as usual, fumbles littering the innings like garbage on a clean road. Gautam Gambhir looked completely out of sorts before the break, struggling to find even singles. He looked better after-wards but was still beaten outside off many times and was not the Gautam we have become used to watching in the last couple of years.Tamim Iqbal drooped a sitter from Gambhir, otherwise the ride could have been far more tougher for India.Sehwag was unlucky to get out on a poor ball from Mortaza. Kohli and Rohit missed a good opportunity to spend some time in the middle and access the conditions first hand before the important clash with Pakistan. Dhoni, once again, anchored the innings beautifully and saw India through.
There were stages in the match when India had Zaheer and then Sehwag fielding at point. Point is a position reserved for an agile fielder with lightning quick reflexes and not for the likes of Zaheer. Also, India could have attacked a bit more while Harbhajan was bowling;it was surprising not to see a forward short leg in place, considering the number of times bowl went air-borne in that direction.Also, Dhoni could have come at No.4 and spent some more time in the middle as he came from a lay off, though it hardly mattered in the end as Rohit got out first ball! Now, India face Pakistan in their next match of the tournament. A clash between the two neighbors and arch rivals is just like a Cinnamon popcorn mix! Its spicy and you can feel the heat and pressure.Will India miss Sachin and Yuvraj remains to be seen.I think Saurabh Tiwary could be given a chance instead of Jadeja. Surely, Tiwary is a better batsman than him and getting ten overs out of Sehwag,Rohit and Raina should not be much of a problem for Dhoni.
But jadeja is performing very well in the 50-50 format....And he is obviously a good bowler when the comparison comes to sehwag nd rohit.He also batted well in the tri-series in zimbabwe.So i will go with jadeja because saurabh tiwary is in experienced and this is a crucial game.he could have been given a chance in the bangladesh game
ReplyDeleteI think ”Losing an illusion makes you wiser than finding a truth.” On close observation of this very match, one can see the ease with which Bangladesh batsmen picked singles off Jadeja while they were rebuilding their innings, playing off Harbhajan from the other end. 27 runs in 8 overs looks economical but it means opposition did get 3 or 4 runs per over on an average which is the ideal way to go in that situation. Also, his bowling is far less attacking even when the opposition is under pressure, confirmed by the fact that his current bowling average is 42.86 in the 50-50 format. But yes, I agree with you on the point that Saurabh Tiwary could have been given a chance in the match against Bangladesh and most probably, he shall not make it to the playing eleven in the next match though i would certainly like to see him play... :)
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