England vs India 2014: A contrasting tale for both teams

The team celebrating after winning the ODI series

India completed a comprehensive victory in the One Day series against England with a 3-1 margin which is, ironically, an identical score line to England’s win over India in the Test series which just preceded the ODIs. However emphatic the victory margin is, I wonder if this win has really shown whether India are a great one day side or England are just not there when it comes to 50 over format?

Stark contrast in fortunes in different formats

The shorter format surely suits India better and without a doubt they are a better one day outfit compared to England, but what has been perplexing this summer is the manner in which both sides have capitulated in the formats which they are not too fond of - India in Tests and England in ODIs.

Not surprisingly, India did well in the ODIs because their captain is far more comfortable when it comes to leading the team in this format and not to forget that England play a primitive style of one day cricket. A 50-over format suits MS Dhoni’s style of captaincy because he can play a waiting game as there are definite end points in an innings. He can get away with the use of some of his bowlers who don’t really have the ability to break through however they can play a restricting role to perfection.

A classic example is Ravindra Jadeja. His style of bowling is more suited to the one day format, where dot balls create scoreboard pressure on the batsmen and they eventually end up giving away their wicket, whereas that is not the case in Test matches. And when the pitches turn as they did in England during the ODIs, there is no looking back for Dhoni and co. Having said that, all credit to India because it is not easy to bounce back from the kind of hammering they got in the Test matches.

Right combination for the World Cup

This series was very important from India’s perspective because it was the last one day series outside the sub-continent before the squad of fifteen is selected for the World Cup next year. One assumes the same 15 selected for the World Cup will feature in the tri-series in Australia in January 2015. So has India got its combination right for the World Cup which is less than six months away?

Answer to that is, almost! However one is not sure if combination of 2 spinners will work in Australia and New Zealand. It didn’t work when India toured South Africa and New Zealand last year, where Ashwin and Jadeja bowled a combined total of 142 overs and took only 7 wickets between them giving away 776 runs at an economy rate of 5.46 RPO with an appalling strike rate of 121 balls per wicket. Therefore, India would do well to unearth a couple of attacking options in bowling, particularly a wrist spinner and a genuinely quick bowler. For the latter, India has two options in Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron.

They need to be groomed and nurtured, for their ability to bowl at 140 kmph plus is second to none in India at the moment. Moreover, India needs to seriously look at a seam bowling all-rounder to cover all their bases. That could either be Stuart Binny, Rishi Dhawan or a fit and willing Irfan Pathan.

Few areas of concern for India

On the batting front, Virat Kohli was a disappointment with English bowlers exposing some of his technical flaws. But this experience would do Virat a world of good to iron out these chinks much like the 1999 tour of Australia helped Rahul Dravid improve his game. Across both the formats, it was only Ajinkya Rahane and Bhuvneshwar Kumar who were consistent.

Bhuvneshwar was excellent even with the bat in the early part of The test series. Barring these two, there was sporadic brilliance from some of the others like Murali Vijay (in Tests), Suresh Raina, and Ambati Rayudu in the one dayers. Dhoni did his reputation no harm with the bat in both Tests and ODIs, although he was patchy with the gloves in Test matches.

The one day series at home against the West Indies might well decide who India’s permanent no.4 batting option is in this format. With Rahane looking comfortable in the opening slot, he should be persisted with in that position. It leaves Rohit Sharma and Rayudu to fight out for the no. 4 slot and one not forget some of the other contenders in Yuvraj Singh, Manoj Tiwary and Kedar Jadhav. It would all boil down to who is fit and in form, come that selection meeting for the World Cup.

At the moment, though the core of ODI team looks settled, it’s the Test unit, which needs to get its house in order including the skipper who needs to be more aggressive in that format. The tour of Australia will be a test of character for the young Indian players, for how they handle Mitchell Johnson (who is in bone breaking form) will hold the key to their mental make-up in their quest to defend the world title later in the southern summer.