Plenty of work to do for Dhoni & co. in the ongoing one-day series

James Faulkner played a memorable hand in Australia’s win in the 3rd ODI

The ongoing One-day series between India and Australia has been a mixed bag for Dhoni’s devils. The bowling has been abysmal in all the games played so far and batting, which is supposed to be India’s forte, has failed to click consistently and no wonder India find themselves 1-2 down to a young Australian side.

A recap of the 3rd ODI

India actually did superbly to recover themselves from a spot of bother at 76-4 at one stage and from 154-6 in the 32nd over when Ashwin joined Dhoni in the middle and stitched together a 76-run stand in 67 balls for the 7th wicket. After Ashwin’s dismissal in the 43rd over of the Indian innings, Dhoni was given the license to throw the kitchen sink in the death overs and push that total towards the 300-run mark. Thanks to Dhoni’s finishing capabilities and some clueless bowling from Watson and Faulkner, India surged their way to 303-9 at the end of 50 overs and it was a job well done from India’s perspective.

Considering the rich vein of form that Finch and Bailey find themselves in, 303 wasn’t a mammoth total as such and it was always going to require good bowling from the Indian bowlers to win the game. The duo of Finch and Hughes made a steady progress in the power-play overs and took Australia to 64-0 at the end of 10 overs and things seemed to go to plan as far as Australia were concerned.

In the 13th over of Australian innings, Vinay Kumar induced a false shot from Hughes and an Indian turnaround took center-stage. Australian innings fell apart drastically that they took 22.2 overs to reach 150, having been 64-0 at the end of 10 overs and Indian spinners, Jadeja in particular were tightening the screws on Bailey and Voges who were in the middle at that stage of the innings. Needing to go at 9 runs to an over in the last 17 overs, you would have backed the Indian bowling to come out in flying colors but, a quickfire 24 in 16 balls from Haddin just shifted the momentum of the game towards Australia and with Voges still at the crease, you just couldn’t write them off.

Coming to the man who turned the game on its head, Faulkner played one of the defining innings that just underlined bowlers’ fragility due to the new rules, which allow a fielding captain to have only 4 players outside the circle during the non-powerplay overs. Yes, Faulkner’s hitting was precise and mercurial but, pointing the finger on Ishant sharma for the defeat isn’t judicious to say the least because, considering the mindset of most batsmen in world cricket today, 44 runs in 18 balls isn’t a huge task at all. So from that point of view, Ishant didn’t commit a blunder but on another angle, just told you that 304 wasn’t quite the target that you can feel safe with. The series scoreline reads 2-1 in favor of Australia.

Task ahead for Mahi & co.

The Indian selection committee headed by Patil have stuck with the same squad for the remainder of the series against Australia and you got to believe, it was the right decision.

India cannot afford to slip up tomorrow in Dhoni’s den and go 1-3 down in a 7 game series. The surfaces dished out so far have been conducive to Australian bowlers largely and their ‘Hit the deck’ style of bowling has bothered the likes of Raina and Yuvraj, who are an Integral part of Indian middle order. Kohli has been in scintillating touch throughout the One-day series and hopefully he can continue his good work.

Rohit Sharma and Dhawan have to produce good starts on a consistent basis if, India needs to put up big totals on the board batting first or even when chasing big targets, like the one in the 2nd ODI. As Dhoni reiterates time and time again, batting is India’s strength and more nor often it’s India’s batting that wins us games as compared to bowling.

Can’t see any changes to the playing 11 as such. Yes, there can be a couple of places up for debate when that team sheet is handed over to Dhoni and the primary place for debate will be Ishant’s. But, knowing Dhoni and his philosophy in team selections, you got to believe, Ishant will probably get one more bite at the cherry.

Overall, if India can bring their A-game to the fore collectively, there’s no reason why Dhoni’s devils can’t put it past Bailey’s young Australian unit. Even in times of paltry Indian bowling, you got to put the onus on Indian batting to upstage Australia, either while batting first or batting second and that for me, is the “Biggest task ahead for Mahi & co. in the ongoing one-day series”.