Tactical errors or head in the sand?

Toughness is on the inside; its what you are made of, not what you display; Anyone can walk with a swagger or turn their collar up. John Wright on Rahul Dravid, in his book 'Indian Summers'.

For the second time within three days the 'defending champions' found out that just turning up and swaggering out to the field would not do. They would have had to turn up, swagger AND actually score a run more than the opposition did (or as on Friday, restrict the opposition). While they could not defend 153 on Friday they failed to chase the same number of runs.

There is a tendency (in Indian media and elsewhere) to talk mockingly of the English cricket team - about how the English 'invented' the game and getting beaten by people who learned it from them - and while doing this, people seem to forget that England, for all their obsession with Ashes have been a middle rung team for all these years. While they have not exactly threatened top teams, it is not that they are at the bottom of the pile either (where one finds WI routinely these days). They are a bit like the Indian teams in the Azhar -Sachin reigns. Good on their day. Yesterday was such a day and they had a point to prove to the expats and PIOs who had apparently booed the home team in their own HQ. Is a bigger motivation needed?

England had given considerable thought to yesterday's encounter while it appeared that India were still thinking about Yuvraj's six sixes.

Harsha Bhogle said something about favourites tags and fearlessless. Nasser Hussain cut him short - India were exposed. Period. How that stung! Because it was true.

The tactical errors which have been highlighted by other bloggers have shown where all India went wrong - chasing (when NRR is not yet in the picture), keeping Ojha out, underbowling RP, overbowling Yuvraj & Ishant, glaringly sending up Jadeja (which was the most damning) and so on. The bottomline, most people seem to agree is that the Indian thinking was way too muddled. They seemed to be experimenting after finding themselves between a rock and hard place.

In some ways, the thinking was reactionary. Dropping the best bowler on view (after being hit for a few bby an exceptional Bravo) was not on. Was not Ojha an attacking, wicket taking option. If he does go for a few, it is not fair that he should be jettisoned.

While I had earlier called for the exclusion of Irfan, Ishant has also not lived up to his ability. The fatigue factor, perhaps. In the West Indies encounter and also against Englad, there were too many hit-me balls from Ishant.

The overall line adopted by bowlers also seemed to be too leg-sidish. They pitched too short, which sat up and bowled defensive lines. Doing nothing special, England managed 150 plus. It was their game to lose after that.

David Lloyd called him 'main man' and the 'thoroughbred' and indeed Bhajji turned in a mature spell when it mattered and reined in the score. He cracked, though - 17.6 and 19.6, two wide ones, fired down the leg side, in an attempt to finish the overs well - 10 runs gifted and India never recovered. Granted Yuvraj muffed a simple stop, but after 12 years on the circuit, Bhajji should not have bowled them in the first place down the leg. Toughness is in the inside.

MSD is tough, if he is anything. But today, he missed a chance to become a hero. Even his run-a-ball 20-full-of-bottom-handed-shovelling-dismissed-when-going -for-a-big-hit would have come in handy today from number 4. Instead, watching young Jadeja painfully struggle sapped the morale of the team. Even in the IPL, Jadeja could not quite clear the ropes, although he remained not-out and finished with reasonable strike rates, those were Nayan Mongia type losing cause efforts. Let us not be too critical of the youngster,because forgetting his bowling contributions which pulled back a 170 plus score to 150 plus.

Some points that reflect the team management's thinking.

A) When quizzed about the Jadeja move, MSD gave his reason and added someting like 'even if the run rate touches 8 or 9, myself and Yuvi can do the job'.

Let's get two things straight here.

1.Yuvraj is 10 times the batsman Dhoni is. Dhoni has this tendency to spin out this "myself and Yuvraj" stuff for quite some time. Who is he kidding?

2.Even in the IPL, MSD could not consistently manage those run-rates he is talking about.

B) MSD goes on to say 'we have people like Yusuf and Harbhajan, who can hit the ball' . Yusuf and Harbhajan, in the same bracket. Give me a break. We know Bhajji is a combative cricketer, who usually punches well above his weight when batting. Yusuf is the cleanest hitter in this squad after Yuvraj. Pushing himself ahead of YP, MSD reduced YP to an Afridi like swishing, between wind and water. That India got within to a boundary hit of winning is thanks to Yuvraj, YP and those two outside edged fours from MSD.

Earlier, while talking about Rohit in the opening slot, it appears they considered YP for the role. Wrong on both counts - opening and no 7. The right role to Yusuf could define cose contests, I had said earlier and despite all the tactical errors, short-pitched bowling it boiled down to just that. One or two more deliveries to face for Yusuf Pathan and India would have been in the competition.

It is no fun being proved right in this fashion.