Indian Team's old ghost returns to haunt - Death Bowling

Mohit Sharma, who impressed in the World Cup earlier this year, looked out of ideas too

“They say to err is human, but to repeat should be a crime” is the message MSD delivered to the Indians bowlers, who lost the plot again in the ODI series against the upbeat South African side, when they got slaughtered all over the park in the death overs changing the complexion of the games completely. Just when it looked like India could restrict the mighty South African batting to manageable scores, the Indian bowlers decided to test the mettle of the Indian batsmen by allowing South Africa to put up very respectful and defendable scores.

The wheels fell apart for the Indian bowling in all of the ODIs as soon as the South Africans started attacking. It seemed the bowlers lacked a plan, weren’t sure whether to go short, go slow or go full and ultimately went mighty far and painfully long.

Now don’t take anything away from AB and the gang. AB especially, showed that when he is bad he is still very good, as apparently in the 1st ODI, when he was struggling in the middle overs, he still managed to rake up an almost run-a-ball fifty and in the final overs showed that he can be lethal when he is good (the final ODI is a testament to that). With all the shots in the book and plenty more, there wasn’t a delivery he wouldn’t score off.

But the fair guy that he is, I am sure even he would agree that he got a lot of support from the Indian bowlers who showed how nice a host they can be. There was no nasty stuff from Umesh, no deception from Bhuvi, and Binny was more than happy to keep it steady.

But Indians on paper can boast of a pretty decent attack, they’ve got a very skillful new ball bowler, an out and out quick and a champion off spinner. So apparently they should not be getting such brutal beatings with such an alarming regularity. And with the entire arsenal at Dhoni ‘s disposal, the Indian fans often come out of the matches wondering why the bowling is so toothless. I think the answer to the question is self-belief.

The belief that if they get it right, they will get the job done.

Case in point: The young South African Rabada, completely oblivious to the enormity of the task he was entrusted with and the pressure that comes along with it when bowling the last over against arguably the world's best finisher, showed no signs of nerves and backed himself to the hilt bowling fast short ones,

The Indians on the other hand, when up against the AB baby in full flight, were more than quick to change courses with every shot. Umesh, who was getting the ball to tail back in sharply at the death overs, would resort to slower deliveries as soon as he got hit for a boundary instead of making the minor corrections of length and sticking to the plan; or Bhuvi, who instead of relying on his swinging capablities, went for pace and accuracy and in the process served a delicious platter of half volleys and short wide ones.

But as one swallow doesn’t make it a summer I still believe that sooner rather than later the Indian bowlers will hit their stride and get it all together. Whether I am being optimistic or completely delusional only time will decide.