INDIA EYE COMEBACK IN SECOND NZ TIE
Trailing in the three-match ODI series vs NZ, India bowlers and fielders will need to step up in Auckland
AUCKLAND: Some of their bowling and fielding frailties exposed in the series opener, India will aim for quick course correction when they take on a resurgent New Zealand in the second ODI here on Saturday.
Flying high after the 5-0 whitewash of New Zealand in the T20 series, India were brought to the ground after the hosts took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series with a four-wicket win in the first ODI.
The Black Caps chased down their highest ever total in ODI cricket at Seddon Park and the toss will be crucial once again at the even shorter Eden Park where the side batting second will have a clear advantage.
New Zealand opted to bat here in both the T20IS, but India chased well in both instances albeit in different circumstances.
India find themselves in a familiar situation after the loss in Hamilton. But the visitors have come from behind against the West Indies and Australia to win their last two ODI series and Virat Kohli’s men will look to do the same here.
Like in Chennai against the West Indies, or in Mumbai against Australia, India’s loss at Hamilton was down to their lack of ability to take wickets in the middle overs.
The opposition batsmen took advantage to hit big and the India attack didn’t have any answers.
In the first ODI, skipper Virat Kohli turned to Jasprit Bumrah every time he went searching for a wicket. This dependency is something India would want to address in their composition.
India’s fielding too will be under the scanner. In each of those losses at Chennai, Mumbai and Hamilton, it was poor despite flashes of individual brilliance.
At the nets, the Men in Blue on Friday had an optional training session.
Navdeep Saini and Shardul Thakur both didn’t just bowl, but also batted in the nets.
Thakur was expensive in his outings at Eden Park during the T20IS, and he didn’t impress in the first ODI either and India could think of replacing him with Saini.
The other contemplation will be about Kedar Jadhav’s role in the side. Selected primarily to bring balance to the playing eleven with his part-time spin, Kohli didn’t give him a single over in Hamilton.
Perhaps it was due to the short boundaries. In that light, bowling
Jadhav at Eden Park makes even less sense. It could merit giving Shivam Dube a go here, or even playing a full-time batsman in Manish Pandey.
Rest of the batting line-up picks itself with the new opening pair of Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw settling in well in their first outing and the team management will hope the duo can add a few more runs than last time.
For New Zealand, a change in personnel has worked wonders after their T20 whitewash.
Stand-in skipper Tom Latham’s batting in the middle worked for them, and Henry Nicholls confirmed he will continue to open the innings with Martin Guptill.
Ross Taylor has been in rampaging form and he will look to continue the good work.
FIELDING A WORRY
India fielding coach R Sridhar refused to blame tight schedules for the “downward curve” despite conceding that hectic travelling is affecting the side’s practice plans.
Sridhar said India’s fielding has at best average in the last four months. He said fatigue could be a contributing factor to losses during this time period, including the one in the first ODI against New Zealand at Hamilton on Wednesday.
“...the West Indies series at home was somewhere we really dropped. We were average, to say the least. But definitely we have not lived to the standards as we did in the world Cup or even in the build-up to the World Cup in the last couple years,” said Sridhar.
He said they have accounted for the downturn in fielding standard by a grading system privy to the support staff. He said the team management keeps a sharp eye on the workloads and practice schedules of all players.
“We keep reminding the players about attention to basic detail...in a T20 game, each fielder has to be his own captain. He need not wait for the captain to move him or the bowler to move him in a certain direction or to a certain position,” he said.
“We try and tell them to think ahead of the game, you as a fielder captain yourself, see which way the breeze is, which way the batsman’s tendencies to hit are, what’s the bowler’s plan and position accordingly.
“So we empower the fielders so that they can become their own captain and they can take decisions on their own because the captain has got too much on his plate at certain times. That’s what we speak about,” he added.
India’s fielding regime has been impacted by the constant travelling on this tour. There was only one full session before the T20 International series whereas the other three sessions have all been optional.
“That’s the nature of the current schedule, we have to take it. We have to play around it but we hardly had a session during the entire T20 schedule. There is not much we can put in in terms of technical work on the ground...,” he pointed out.
“Apart from that, we do have a look at the videos and see what led to an error. It need not always be a technical error every time there is a fumble or a dropped catch. We need to know whether it could be a tactical position error or the mind not being in the right place, so many things that can lead to it,” he explained.