Despondent India seek revival in ODIs

Despondent India seek revival in ODIs

Chester-le-Street: It's not the ideal situation for India to display their World Champion's tag. They have been given a battering they hadn't got in Test matches in years, and although three wins on the trot in practice matches had given them some hope to resurrect their otherwise withering English tour, their loss in the lone Twenty20 on Wednesday left them in the same precarious situation they have found themselves in for the last two months.
Such a situation wouldn't have crossed the minds of most serious of Team India critics over the last few years. But the five-match ODI series is an opportunity to not only restore the lost pride but also end an otherwise dismal tour on a high. But, is everything rosy as far as India is concerned to challenge a marauding England in the series starting at Chester-le-Street from Saturday?
Dilemma between Patel and Rahane
The team management will have a tricky decision to make on Saturday as to who should open the batting with Sachin Tendulkar. Parthiv Patel, though not a regular opener, has performed well in the chances he got in the tour games. Each time he made it sure that the visitors hit the ground running from the outset.
But Ajinkya Rahane, the 23-year-old Mumbai batsman, looked a class apart in his Twenty20 debut just few days back. He not only scored runs at a brisk pace but played some mesmersing strokes, both off pace and spin.
And when most of the Indian batsmen were found wanting against the short-pitched stuff by the English seamers during the Test series, Rahane's handling of balls hurled at his throat must have given a lot of heart to his struggling teammates.
Middle order woes
Yuvraj Singh, the most important cog in India's middle-order wheel, is missing from the scene, and the result of his absence was quite visible in the T20 in Manchester.
After getting a solid start from Rahane and Rahul Dravid, the Indian middle order crumbled, not once but twice, and committed the cardinal sin of getting out without playing their full quota of 20 overs.
And though Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have always promised a lot, time has come for them to make it count, especially for Rohit, who had a decent run with the bat on the Caribbean tour. Suresh Raina will also have to make sure that he contributes more often with the bat.
Five bowlers or four?
India's 7-4 strategy (seven batsmen and four bowlers) paid rich dividends in the World Cup as the sub-continent pitches were more conducive to spin and even the part-timers like Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan did well.
Yuvraj's left-arm spin had given them a worthy fifth bowling option which was used to its best by MS Dhoni.But the absence of the 29-year-old Punjab player and the contrasting English conditions warrant better planning as far as the team's bowling is concerned.
The four spots - three medium pacers and a spinner - will most likely be taken by Praveen Kumar, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar and R Ashwin. So it's the fifth bowling option that is up for deliberation against the formidable English batting.
And though the dibbly-dobbly gentle medium pace of Virat Kohli got the prized wicket of Kevin Pietersen at Old Trafford, its efficiency in the 50-over format is under considerable doubt.
And persisting with the off-spinning options of Raina and Rohit will be like playing with fire in the seaming and swinging conditions.
So will India take a gamble to include either Ravindra Jadeja, the 22-year-old Saurashtra player who gives his captain a slow left-arm orthodox option, with capability of hitting some lusty blows lower down the batting order, or Amit Mishra by dropping one batsman?
It seems too big a risk and has always been avoided by Dhoni and Co. But tough times call for tough measures and taking this big decision could be the sort of recipe visitors need to cook English curry.
Probable Elevens:
India: Parthiv Patel/Ajinkya Rahane, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma/Ravindra Jadeja/Amit Mishra, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, R Ashwin, Munaf Patel, Vinay Kumar, Praveen Kumar
England: Alastair Cook (capt), Craig Kieswetter, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Ben Stokes, Samit Patel, Tim Bresnan, Jade Dernbach, Stuart Broad, Graeme Swann.