India were handed a 95-run defeat in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 semi-final the last time they faced Australia in an ODI Down Under © Getty Images
The New Year brings a new challenge for the national cricket team. Having lost to South Africa in both T20Is and ODIs before subsequently brushing them aside in the home Test series, India are already in Australia for a limited-overs series with MS Dhoni at the helm and several exciting young names in the mix. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs Australia 2015-16, 1st ODI at Perth
I was surprised when I learnt that this five-match one-day series starting in Perth from the January 12 is the first bilateral series between the two teams on Australian soil. The teams have been playing each other for over 35 years now, and Australia have visited India several times for bilateral showdowns. Having said that, India have played several multi-team tournaments as well as World Cups in Australia, so while there is some novelty to this two-team face-off Down Under, there will be no extra pressure as such.
There will, however, be plenty of motivation for MS to get his side off to a winning start in the year of the World T20, and what better way to do it than against the defending 50-over World Cup winners, and that too in their own backyard? I feel India are well positioned to make a strong statement of intent in this five-match series — much like the team under Dhoni did in the tri-series in 2008 — and if they play to their potential, India can come back victorious in this series.
I have my reasons for saying this. Australia wears a somewhat unsettled look with the retirement of several key players, and injuries to important bowlers. I sense a certain vulnerability that hasn’t always been part of Australian teams in the past, and if India can find a way to exploit these vulnerabilities early on, then they can get on a winning roll.
The other positive from an Indian standpoint is that majority of players from the touring party were in Australia early last year for the Test series, triangular series as well as the World Cup, which means they know what conditions to expect at this time of the year.
One of the most impressive aspects of India’s surging run at the World Cup was the manner in which the bowlers stood up. There was a clear desire and a game plan to ensure that the onus was on taking wickets. India’s strategising was exceptional and their execution was impeccable as the fast bowlers used the short delivery to wonderful effect in bowling out seven consecutive teams before running into the host nation in the semi-final.
The conditions will dictate what lengths the pacemen need to bowl now, but there is greater experience now that Ishant Sharma is back in the one-day mix. MS would have hoped for Ishant and Mohammed Shami, originally named in the touring party, to strike up an attacking tandem, but a hamstring injury sustained during practice has unfortunately set Shami back by another four or six weeks putting his participation in the World T20 in serious jeopardy.
An unfortunate injury kept Ishant out of the World Cup and he has had to bide his time, but he is a far more mature, rounded and potent bowler these days. His natural back-of-a-length mode will get good response from pitches Down Under. And then there is Umesh Yadav, high on confidence after an excellent show at the Kotla against South Africa and bowling as fast and as accurately as he has ever done. The third spot will be taken either by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Shami’s replacement, or Barinder Sran. Bhuvi has not been in great form recently, but he is a wonderful swing bowler and if the conditions pan out favourably, Bhuvi will be a fairly dangerous proposition. For Sran this series will be a great opportunity to not only showcase his talent but also learn and improve from each and every outing. As a tall left arm seamer he can extract bounce from the wickets in Australia and also use the natural left-armer’s angle to his advantage.
Ravichandran Ashwin has obviously moved into a different league altogether from the time India were in Australia last year, and I am sure MS will be reassured with the knowledge that the bowler he always relies on in tough situations is at the peak of his prowess.
There might appear to be a similarity of sorts to Ravindra Jadeja and Akshar Patel, though Jadeja will be on a huge high after his all-round performance against South Africa on home soil. Those displays came in an entirely different format, but there is nothing better than runs and wickets for confidence, and Jadeja has both of them to show for his recent exploits. Akshar has been there and thereabouts without really creating a niche for himself. Hopefully, Jadeja’s inspirational presence will drive him to recreate himself to perform at the highest level.
It is imperative for India’s bowling group to keep thinking wickets, because otherwise, Australia will hurt them, especially at the death. They will also need to learn from what happened last year, when they persisted with the short ball against the Australians in the semifinal of the World Cup at SCG and played into their hands. The short-ball ploy had worked until then, but the SCG strip called for a different strategy. The relative slowness of the surface allowed Australia’s batsmen to play the horizontal shots that they are adept at with freedom and regularity.
India must have their plans, but they must also be smart enough to adapt and improvise. It will be a test not just of skill but also nous and tactical astuteness. David Warner and Steven Smith are in supreme form and I am sure the Indian think tank has their plans laid out for them in different match conditions and situations
India is a team that relies quite heavily on starts, with both bat and ball. Even though he has struggled a bit in Test cricket, Rohit Sharma in white-ball cricket is a completely different prospect altogether. He made runs against South Africa in both Twenty20 and 50-over cricket, and has happy memories in both the tri-series and the World Cup. For Rohit, it will be imperative not just to score his runs but also pull Shikhar Dhawan up, because Shikhar has been playing much below his potential in recent games. Apart from motivating each other while batting, they must also show greater understanding when calling and responding for runs.
It’s always important to remember your success factors and focus on your strengths. Shikhar can look back with fondness at his World Cup displays, especially his excellent century against South Africa on a pretty lively MCG track. Shikhar didn’t have any great form to speak of going into the World Cup, but he turned things around in inimitable fashion. If he and Rohit can send India underway at the top of the innings, it will be half job done with an indomitable Virat Kohli and masterclass Ajinkya Rahane to follow in the batting line up.
The rule changes over the last few months, which permit an extra fielder outside the 30-yard circle for the last 10 overs, has slightly changed the dynamics of death-overs batting. As South Africa showed in India over the winter, scoring 80-90 runs in the final 10 overs is no longer a given, especially if you can bring the ball into the batsman with pace and from a short of good length, and have three or even four men patrol the leg-side boundary.
Having had a taste of those tactics, India ought to be better prepared this time around because the Australians will have done their homework. One of the ways of offsetting that is to leave the stalls early (say around the 32nd or 33rd over), so that by the time you get into the last 10, you are already riding the crest of the momentum wave. For that, it is imperative that you have wickets in hand, which means the task for Rohit, Shikhar, Kohli and Rahane is pretty straightforward — score reasonably quickly at the start but not lose wickets in a rush. At least one of the top four must bat deep into the innings, till at least the 40th over if not more. Rohit and Kohli have their skills tailor-made for this purpose.
India will definitely miss Suresh Raina. I personally feel he should have been in the team because he has been selfless with extraordinary numbers coming at a quick pace batting late in the innings. In his absence, the role of the finisher has fallen solely on MS Dhoni’s shoulders.
MS himself has not been the same classy power-hitter in recent matches. Apart from the match winning half-century under pressure in Indore against South Africa, he hasn’t been able to destroy the bowling like he used to. Of course, he has done that so many times in many ways, we are less intolerant of his failures than we are of others, but then again, like so many others, MS is a victim of the high standards he has set for himself.
That he is no longer playing one form of the game internationally means things could get a little trickier for him. The last few years of my career, I played only Test cricket and therefore I can tell from my experience that no matter how well prepared you might think you are, it takes a couple of games to get into rhythm. Fortunately, MS has played a few matches for Jharkhand in the Vijay Hazare Trophy and spent time in the middle, and flexed his muscle with a short but sweet assault on Ishant in the quarter-final!
For MS, the batsman, this is a very important tour. In Raina’s absence, a lot of attention will be centred on how Manish Pandey and Gurkeerat Mann shape up. Dhoni the captain will have to nurture these two young talents with care, while Dhoni the batsman must shepherd them towards the end of the innings, especially if he is batting at 6 and one of them is at 5. Both Pandey and Mann had been around for a while, and this is an exciting opportunity for them. They both have time on their side but there are plenty of young batsmen snapping at their heels. To suggest that this is a make-or-break series for them is both unfair and an exaggeration; they can only do their cause more good than harm, given the experienced core group around them on the batting front.
A majority of this squad will also do duty in the Twenty20 international series to follow, so this series is in many ways the platform from which India will kick off their preparations for the World T20. They have the three T20 games in Australia, followed by three matches at home against Sri Lanka and the Asia Cup, to be played as 20-over games, in Bangladesh to gear up for the World T20. A surfeit of limited-overs games then, but why not? This is, after all, the year of the World Cup.
(VVS Laxman, CricketCountry’s Chief Cricket Mentor, remains one of the finest and most elegant batsmen in history. He was part of the iconic Indian middle-order for over a decade and a half and played 134 Tests and 86 ODIs. He tweets at @vvslaxman281)