The West Indians had exposed the Indian top order’s technical inability to cope with fast, accurate short-pitched bowling the other day and the Englishmen exploited it to perfection today bouncing India out of the Twenty20 World Cup.
England came in with the obvious strategy to bounce the Indians and Dhoni’s own response was to promote Jadeja playing his first match of the tournament ahead of the in-form Yuvraj as a pinch-hitter – apparently to ease the pressure off the other star batsmen (Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf). If that was the intention, he should have at least been sent at three ahead of Raina, who was absolutely at sea facing bouncers in the previous match. In the end the pinch-hitter could neither hit out nor get out! When he did eventually get out after scoring 25 off 35 balls in the 14th over, leaving 67 runs to be scored off the last six overs, it was a little too much even for the icy cool Pathan (33 off 17 balls).
Earlier in the day Harbhajan and Jadeja did well to restrict England to 153, particularly after Pietersen (46 off 27 balls) was threatening to lead them to an above par score. But, the Indians conceded too many extras and weren’t sharp in the field. Also, it was baffling to see RP Singh who was most economical bowler on either side not finish his full quota of overs.
Well, this is a reminder that you still need to master the basic cricketing skills to be a successful T20 player. Rohit and Raina – both exceptional talents – need to work out their technical flaws if they are hoping to make it to the next generation Test team. Dhoni, probably needed this break. He has a very talented team at his disposal, he just needs to keep things simple. Hopefully, he will come back - along with some clarity in thinking – rejuvenated.