MUMBAI, (Reuters) – More than the snapping of India’s World Cup unbeaten run, India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be worried by the cavalier attitude of his batsman and lack of bowling sting in their defeat by South Africa.
While the co-hosts managed to eke out a thrilling tie against England in Bangalore, they finally wilted under pressure on Saturday in Nagpur as South Africa halted their unbeaten run in the World Cup with a thrilling three-wicket victory.
What will worry Dhoni the most is that their below-par performances have both come against test-playing nations England and South Africa who offer the kind of test they will need to overcome if they are to come through the final on April 2.
The bowlers have received most of the flak so far in the tournament for their insipid performance in the win over Bangladesh and England and the loss to South Africa was no different with India again failing to defend a steep target.
The pacemen, barring the experienced Zaheer Khan, have failed to inspire and the spinners, including Harbhajan Singh, have not been up to the mark either although he played better against Graeme Smith’s men in Nagpur.
The fact that Yuvraj Singh, who was once called a “pie chucker” for his gentle left-arm spin by England’s Kevin Pietersen, is the highest wicket-taker among the 1983 winners’ tweakers says it all.
‘RESTRICT RUNS’
Not that Dhoni has too many options to choose from though, as he admitted on Saturday.
“Unfortunately I don’t think I can change too much in the first 15 overs or the last 20 overs. You play with your best bowlers and they try their best to get wickets,” Dhoni told reporters.
“Ideally, you should restrict runs or pick wickets. In the sub-continent, if you get wickets you can restrict runs. But it’s a tricky one. Everybody is trying their best and hopefully we will do better.”
Batting had given India their bragging rights before the start of the showpiece event but the collapses against England and South Africa have raised quite a few eyebrows as well.
On both occasions, the talent-packed line-up caved in to get bundled out inside the 50 overs after starting off in promising fashion thanks to Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.
While they lost the last seven wickets for 33 runs against England, Saturday saw an unbelievable batting collapse when they lost no less than nine wickets for just 29 runs.
The batsmen were probably overwhelmed by a 45,000-strong partisan crowd who wanted them to go for the boundary every ball after their expectations were rocketed by a rollicking start by openers Tendulkar and Sehwag.
“Singles are the lifeblood of the game but the problem with India is a lot of batsmen are going for the glamour shots,” former India captain Sunil Gavaskar aptly summed up.
Meanwhile, India have fared better than their opponents in taking catches on the field but their ground fielding, barring the young Virat Kohli, has been pedestrian at best.
Teams have targeted the slow-moving Zaheer Khan and Munaf Patel and ensured they steal an extra run every time the ball travels to them.
Those runs have proved crucial and Dhoni could not agree more after their loss against South Africa with two balls to spare that improvement was much needed.
“It was one of the biggest grounds in India. We were tested by their fast running between the wickets and I think some of our fielders got targeted. Fielding was also the difference between the two sides today,” Dhoni said.
India still top Group B with seven points with one more match to play against the West Indies and will, in all probability, comfortably progress to the knock-out phase.
But they will need to find a few answers if they wish to prolong their campaign and get a taste of the renovated Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai come April 2.