The number 13 proved to be lucky for the Indian cricket team as they snapped the run of five successive losses in ODI cricket with a 13-run win in the inconsequential third ODI against Australia in Canberra on Wednesday (December 2). The win for Virat Kohli doesn’t gloss over the fact that the team have now lost two ODI series in a row – to neighbours New Zealand and Australia.
The two series losses just prove the fact that India have a lot of rebuilding to do on the road to 2023 50-over World Cup.
The series loss to Australia leaves plenty of unanswered question for both skipper Kohli and head coach Ravi Shastri when it comes of the longer of the limited-overs format.
DNA takes a look at some of the reasons why India fumbled badly in the 1-2 series loss to Australia…
Rohit Sharma injury conundrum
India’s ODI vice-captain Rohit Sharma injured his hamstring during IPL 2020 but the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Indian captain Kohli and the head coach Shastri are clearly not on the same page when it comes to injury to the Indian opener.
Kohli announced in the pre-series press conference that he had no clue why Rohit wasn’t on a plane to Australia in spite of leading Mumbai Indians on the field in the last week of the recently-concluded IPL. BCCI belatedly tried to control the situation by claiming that Rohit Sharma had come back to India from Dubai to attend to his ailing father before heading to National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for rehabilitation.
The strict quarantine rules mean that it’s unlikely that Rohit Sharma would be able to attend any of the white ball matches in Australia. His replacement Mayank Agarwal flattered to deceive in the first couple of ODIs as India chased mammoth targets.
Bio bubble hangover
The Covid-19 situation all over the globe means that Indian cricketers headed straight into the Australian bio-bubble from the IPL bubble in the United Arab Emirates. Instead of training and getting acclimatized to the conditions down under, the Indian cricketers had to stay put in their hotel rooms.
The rustiness was on show on the field as the bowlers struggled to hit the right lengths while fielders dropped catches aplenty especially in the first of the two ODIs Sydney. It didn’t help that Aaron Finch, David Warner and Steve Smith were in sizzling touch with the willow and sent the Indian bowlers on a leather hunt.
Batsmen-who-can-bowl or Bowlers-who-can-bat
Team India went in with five specialist bowlers in the first two ODIs. All-rounder Hardik Pandya, who is still recovering from his back injury, played as a specialist batsman and managed to score a couple of 90s in the series. The second one – 92 – was critical in India putting up a defendable total after collapsing to 152/5 in the third ODI in Canberra.
However, Pandya’s injury meant Kohli was always running short of bowling options with Australia deciding to target young Navdeep Saini and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal. There was no excuse for faltering as a bowling attack as Indian sides traditionally, have always adapted to playing with four specialist bowlers with part-timers like Yuvraj Singh, Virendra Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar chipping in.
It is very rare that Indian captains have the luxury of five specialist bowlers at their disposal and Kohli can’t be bemoaning the fact that his specialist batsmen can’t bowl.
Lacklustre captaincy
Kohli’s leadership throughout the series left a lot to be desired. The field placements were uninspiring and his decision to give just a couple of overs with the new ball to Jasprit Bumrah was simply perplexing in the second ODI.
Smith was allowed to jog to back-to-back 62-ball centuries with no fresh ideas or tactics on show from the Indian management. As a batsman too, Kohli faltered as he fell to the accuracy of Josh Hazlewood in all three ODIs.
Kohli managed to score back-to-back half-centuries in the last two ODIs but India required big hundreds from his willow if they wanted to make a fist of run-chases in the first two ODI. The Indian skipper has now ended 2020 without a century to his name in ODIs – his first since 2008, when he made his debut.
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