There’s a lot more to cricket than batting, a lesson Team India often learns when overseas. At home, Test pitches are tweaked to benefit spinners, so India can sustain its effectiveness. A third straight ODI defeat in Australia means Team India has surrendered the five-match series. However, it’s not all doom and gloom as India last week became the top-ranked Test team with South Africa dethroned. Purists must be delighted Virat Kohli’s squad have brought India back to the top in Tests after six years.
They bucked the trend to win a series in Sri Lanka and beat South Africa 3-0 at home, albeit on doctored pitches, to stage a smart comeback in the longer version. New-generation fans, more fixated on limited-overs cricket, might not be too thrilled with the M.S. Dhoni-led limited-overs side as the tiring captain hasn’t won an ODI series since October 2014. A long run of ineffective cricket, at home and abroad in ODIs and T-20s, means something is seriously wrong with Dhoni’s team. Batsmen do keep pounding runs and in individual landmarks like centuries India is far ahead even of Australia, with Rohit Sharma hitting two centuries and Virat Kohli one in the three ODIs. But such feats aren’t backed up with consistently incisive bowling, sharp fielding and quick running between wickets. There’s a lot to do, though the Indian team is ranked the world’s second best. It’s time Dhoni handed charge to Kohli in the short formats too to bring about a radical change in attitude.
