England are just raking in the misery on the visitors! After a much maligned performance with the bat, India did get their noses in front after a good spell with the ball on the 2nd of the fifth Test match at the Oval.
England are just raking in the misery on the visitors!
After a much maligned performance with the bat, India did get their noses in front after a good spell with the ball on the 2nd of the fifth Test match at the Oval.
England, who are 2-1 up in the five-match series, were 385 for seven at stumps on the second day building on a massive first-innings lead of 237 runs after MS Dhoni’s men were skittled out for mere 148 runs. Despite skipper MS Dhoni’s heroics with the bat (82), none of the famed batting line-up lived up to the potential and calibre that they are known for.
Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara were amongst the ‘flop shows’ at the England series. The duo has not shown patience nor have they learnt from the recurring mistakes as well. Barney Ronay of The Guardian titled his, ‘Virat Kohli the jewel of a No4 whose glitter has gone awol in England.’ He further states that ‘India’s young batting sensation appears to be lacking hunger, focus and interest on a testing tour.’ So true of the English columnist, who might have seen the Indian run-machine coming down as a whimper against the likes of James Anderson and Stuart Broad in this series so far.
Taking the case of India’s number 3, Cheteshwar Pujara, who is touted to be the replacement for Indian icon Rahul Dravid, has been found out on the crease. His defence has been cracked which saw the former being either bowled or trapped leg before on 15 out of 34 instances in his career.
Besides that, the tactics deployed by MS Dhoni in this series, were just out of the ordinary. A leg-gully, bowling a leg-stump line, bowling short etc. were one of the few methods used by the Indian skipper. The likes of Sourav Ganguly and Wasim Akram came down heavily on this tactics and there’s no reason why, India are lagging behind in the series.
So finally the question arises, if this Indian team has no fight left, in what direction are they headed? This England series is well and truly lost (if incase Dhoni’s men prove us wrong) and then there is the Australia series later this year. Seeing the plight of these struggling Indian batsmen on English pitches, the fast and fiery spells of Mitchell Johnson might leave them wounded and collapsed.
MS Dhoni has to ANSWER a lot of questions before they go soul searching (after the ODIs) at home. BCCI and the Indian team management have to sit down and talk about the problems that the latter has been facing. It’s time, truth prevailed and Dhoni knows it very well. If MSD still thinks this side is ‘decent’, well, he should get an eye check-up done!
