Problems at top hurt India
Openers have been unable to see off the new ball in South Africa and England
SOUTHAMPTON: If anger or frustration bubbled within, Virat Kohli didn’t show as he spoke about India’s shortcomings at the Ageas Bowl after defeat on Sunday had handed England the Test series 3-1.
The skipper had again been impressive, but India fell short by 60 runs and their bid to level the series vanished.
“We can look at the scoreboard and say we were only 30 runs away or 50 runs away, but we have to recognise that when we are in the midst of the situation, and not later,” he told the media. “We know we have played good cricket, but we cannot say again and again to ourselves that we have competed. “When you come so close, there is an art of crossing the line as well, which we will have to learn.
“We’ve the ability and that is why we are getting close to a result, and we have belief in that ability. But when a pressure situation comes, how we react to it is something we have to work on a bit, something everyone is ready to work on that.”
DEMANDING SEASON
But this is Indian cricket’s season of ambition, all about winning in tough overseas Tests. “Crossing the line”, however, can’t happen until they get off the blocks.
Contribution by Indian openers has been so poor it has brought the top and middle-order under pressure.
The numbers first: in seven Tests starting with South Africa in January, there is no fifty in 28 innings played by openers; the best is 46 by Murali Vijay in 10 innings (five Tests), before he was axed after his pair of ducks at Lord’s.
Shikhar Dhawan was dropped after the first Test in South Africa and England. He was recalled in the third Test at Trent Bridge, where he made 44 in the second innings. In eight innings across the two series, he averages 23.7.
KL Rahul has fared the worst. In nine innings as opener, he has scored 110 runs at an average of just over 12. He has played in six of the Tests. He opened in both innings in four Tests, opened and came in at No 3 in the Johannesburg Test, and at No 3 in the Edgbaston Test. In three innings at No 3, he has scored just 33 at 11 apiece.
It might be difficult for Vijay to make a comeback at 34, while Shikhar Dhawan’s lack of technique against pace and seam movement has been exposed repeatedly.
RAHUL’S WOES
Rahul scored a century in Australia – India’s next destination – in 2014-15. But his confidence is in tatters after poor technique against in-coming deliveries was brutally exposed by James INDIAN OPENERS IN SA & ENGLAND THIS YEAR Series M Runs AVG H.P INSA 3 109 18.16 30 England 4 230 28.75 60 TOTAL 7 339 24.21 60 INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Batsman M Runs
S Dhawan 4 190 Vijay 5 128 Rahul 5 110 Patel 1 16
TOTAL 7 444 Anderson, Stuart Broad and other England seamers. At 26, he may be part of India’s future plans, but the Karnataka batsman who till the 2016-17 season made almost every start count, will be lucky to play in the final Test starting at the Oval on Friday.
In the current series, India openers’ poor run has put pressure on the rest. They have contributed 46 and 19 (Edgbaston), AVG 23.75 12.8 12.22 16 15.85 H.S 44 46 36 16 46 100 In
–
–
100 M
KL
P
-
- Vijay 20/Dhawan 26
50 (13.4 overs); (15.5) Vijay 6/Dhawan 13
19 (5.5 overs); (7.3) Lord’s – lost by innings and 159 runs
Vijay 0/Rahul 8
0 (0.5 overs);
Vijay 0/Rahul 10
0 (2.2 overs); (6.1)
Trent Bridge – won by 203 runs
Dhawan 35/Rahul 23
60 (18.4); (20.6)
Dhawan 44/Rahul 36
60 (11.2); (23.2) Southampton – lost by 60 runs
Dhawan 23/Rahul 19
37 (7.2); (17.5)
Dhawan 17/Rahul 0
4 (3.1); (8.3)
(6.1) 50 In
3
3
50 M
KL
P
-
- 8 and 10 (Lord’s), 58 and 80 (Trent Bridge) and 42 and 17 (Southampton). Thus it comes as no surprise that India built on the good start in the third Test to win by 203 runs. With the series gone, the Indian team management could throw Prithvi Shaw -- U-19 World Cup-winning skipper – into the deep end at Oval and ask the talented 18-year-old to swim and get India off the blocks better.
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