So...India exit World Cup 2009

The Indian cricket team are now in England for the Twenty20 World Cup 2009. Yesterday England beat India during a second round of play and bounced India out of the tournament. I visited some of the Cricket forums yesterday and it seems most Indian fans were slamming the Indian players of caving into pressure and making critical mistakes. I am disappointed too but had a feeling that it was going to be a close finish. Let me analyze what went wrong in yesterday's match.

1. Ishant Sharma: The tall, lanky fast bowler had a very good 2008. He had pace, good length and a bit of variation. He took wickets at needed times. However, his performance in Twenty20, the shortest form of Cricket, has been lacking and he leaked runs in the recently concluded Indian Premier League (IPL). It was also clear from the longer formats of the game last year that he had a tendency to be expensive in his first couple of overs before finding the right line and length. That type of bowling just does not work in the shortest format of the game. With RP Singh and Praveen Kumar putting in great performances, especially at the death overs, in IPL 2009, it comes as a big surprise as to why Ishant was retained in the playing XI in the World Cup. Praveen, for instance, can make the new ball swing and England has swinging pitches. He can also slog well. Praveen is also a much better fielder than Ishant...and I have never seen Ishant slide. In yesterday's match, despite leaking runs in his first overs, as I expected he would, Dhoni let Ishant finish his full quota of four overs. RP on the other hand was very economical (4.33) and yet he bowled only three overs. Why?

2. Irfan Pathan: I was expecting Dhoni to make only a single change to the playing XI: bringing in RP or Praveen instead of Ishant. Irfan leaked a lot of runs last year and early this year in New Zealand. But in the IPL last month, he bowled tighter and even won a game for Punjab with the bat. He had been in good stride in this World Cup. Yet he was rested. Why?

3. Pragyan Ojha: The spinner put in a terrific performance during the first round of games. But he leaked a lot of runs against the in-form West Indies and took, I believe, only a single wicket. So if Dhoni was anticipating trying out Raina and Rohit against England, as I was hoping he would, and figured he could do without Ojha for the game against England, well and good. But neither Raina nor Rohit (or Yusuf!) were used yesterday. Jadeja was brought in for Ojha and he took crucial wickets. So should we say that replacing Ojha with Jadeja worked? We will never know if it was a fluke or an act of brilliance by the team management.

4. Yusuf Pathan: Yusuf bowled really well against the West Indies and during the first round of play. He even bowled in the powerplay overs of those games. But he was not used at all yesterday. Instead Yuvraj bowled several overs. Yuvraj bowled well in the IPL. But Yusuf was containing batsmen well and taking wickets in this tournament. Yesterday Yuvraj gave away a lot of runs in his first over. There was still time to have bought in Yusuf to bowl as Yuvraj's first over had been right after the powerplay ended. Yet Yusuf didn't get a single over yesterday. Why?

5. Ravindra Jadeja: Jadeja, like Yusuf, is a big hitter and did a decent job for Jaipur in the IPL. If Irfan Pathan had been retained in the playing XI, Jadeja's batting would not have been needed. And the team still would have been left with two bowlers, Ojha and Irfan, who have so far done well in this tournament. So the pre-match question was: Why was Jadeja brought in? Remember this was a game that needed winning and yet two in-form players, Ojha and Irfan, were replaced. Ok. Let's forget that for the time being. Let's look at something else. With the top-order having succumbed to short balls, who walks in to bat? The really in-form Yuvraj? No. Jadeja. Why?

6. Virender Sehwag: Rohit did a good job opening, except for the short ball fiasco, but he comes nowhere close to putting the fielding team under pressure like only Sehwag can. I hear that the team management just took Sehwag's word that his injury was not serious. Eventually it was found the Sehwag did have a serious injury...serious enough that he was sent home. Would a proper inspection of Sehwag's injury before the tournament in turn properly prepared the rest of the Indian players mentally even though the other teams would have learned that they can now not expect explosive opening batting from India? Dhoni certainly seems to have been upset by the way the entire "Sehwag controversy" has been handled. Perhaps he had anticipated Sehwag to make an appearance down the tournament and based certain decisions earlier in the tournament on that. Or maybe he was just irritated people kept asking him about Sehwag when the Indian cricket board had told him to keep his mouth shut.

Tactical Mistakes

There were two huge tactical mistakes made by India yesterday. The first one was not sending in either Raina or Rohit to bowl. Twenty20 has matured to the point where most teams seem to realize that a bowler's job is all about containment of runs. Just look at Stuart Broad's bowling performance yesterday as opposed to his performance in the World Cup two years ago. He must have been following the IPL. Muralidaran voiced the word "containment" in an interview during the IPL last month. Dhoni himself used Raina very well toward the latter stages of the IPL. But despite seeing Yuvraj, Ishant and Harbhajan leak runs, neither Raina nor Rohit or Yusuf were given an over. You don't wait to see if a bowler will do better in his subsequent overs in a T20 game. You try someone else next as an active measure to put the lid on the batting team. Chennai did that remarkably well during a winning streak of five games in the IPL. Because T20 is all about being on top of the other team at all times. I have heard captains from several of the other teams state the same during this World Cup. Well, India were not on top of England during England's batting all the time.

The second tactical mistake India made was not sending the really in-form Yuvraj in after Raina got out. Actually that was not a mistake. That was a stupid mistake! I guess someone was really fatigued...

Going Forward

1. Short Ball Issue: It is always exciting to watch Rohit and Raina field and bat. They are very good. They don't just slog. They can play a mature inning too as they demonstrated in the IPL. But they need to master the short ball. The short ball issue seems to have been handed down by generations of Indian cricketers. Well, it has to be resolved. Maybe the Ranjit trophy needs to have matches that use a weighted Tennis ball. Whatever. It took the Tendulkars, the Laxmans and the Dravids a long time to get good at playing the short ball. Rohit and Raina are young and have not had much exposure to bouncier pitches. So their performance in the last two matches could be forgiven. I won't hold it against them especially in light of the afore-mentioned tactical mistakes. Gambhir doesn't seem to be in form so his performance issue maybe closer to Dhoni's rather than to Rohit or Raina.

2. Fatigue: No matter what Dhoni says, I feel that the Indian players were a bit fatigued. It was pretty obvious at times. I can't blame them, or anyone else, for playing in the IPL right after that long tour of New Zealand. However, the South Africans played Australia long and hard before the IPL as well. And they have not lost a single match in this World Cup. So is it a question of incorrect playing XI selection or is it a question of fitness or both?

3. Bollywood: Cinema and Cricket are usually the only two main forms of entertainment for many Indians. It was only a matter of time before the two mixed. The two did mix occasionally before but with the introduction of the IPL, many, including my brother, feel that Bollywood is distracting Indian Cricketers. I think that that is true with some Cricketers but not others. And I don't think that any such distracting is significant enough anyway. So in the end, that may be a moot point.