'A Test side that can't even draw games'. The glum look on the face of the teenager who held up the banner at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, at the end of Bangalore's latest defeat, told a story. A forgettable IPL journey so far - Rahul Dravid booed on his homeground, Wasim Jaffer heckled on the boundary line and five defeats in seven matches - became unforgettable for all the wrong reasons on Tuesday with the ouster of Charu Sharma. It's unclear, though, what impact a change of CEO will have because Bangalore's poor form stems from poor cricket-related decisions.
Most didn't give Bangalore much of a chance before the tournament - simply because the side was packed with so many Test specialists - and the prediction has been spot on so far.
"After the first round of auction in Mumbai, a few friends congratulated me on my Test team," Vijay Mallya, the franchise owner, said before the IPL. " I mentioned this to our captain Dravid and he laughed it off and told me that Test cricket is the ultimate test for any cricketer and if a player can do well in that format, then he can do well in all other formats, be it one-day matches or Twenty20."
That theory has been torn apart. Bangalore are yet to settle on an opening combination - at a time other teams are riding on fire-starting partnerships up front; they haven't gelled as a unit and are yet to string together two successive wins. Their two victories have been against two of the weakest sides in the tournament and both were clinched in the final over. Here's a look at some of the key problems:
Little Twenty20 experience
Dravid had hoped his experienced internationals could deliver under pressure but what's actually happened is the converse: their lack of Twenty20 experience is hurting. Jaffer started the tournament without a single Twenty20 game; Dravid and Anil Kumble had only experienced two apiece; and Mark Boucher, the most experienced, could still be termed callow with 16 matches. Compare that to the Rajasthan Royals, who chose Dimitri Mascarenhas (31), Graeme Smith (27) and Shane Watson (17).
"Everyone thinks Twenty20 is hit and miss but experience actually counts for a lot," Jeremy Snape, Rajasthan's mental-conditioning coach, told Cricinfo. "It's tough to react under pressure if you haven't felt the intensity and pressure earlier. That's the reason we chose players who had Twenty20 games under their belt."
Martin Crowe, the director of operations, conceded as much. "Take out Misbah [ul-Haq] and we don't have a specialist Twenty20 player," he told Cricinfo. "We don't have a specialist Twenty20 opener (even Shivnarine Chanderpaul is a converted opener)."
While the team management seethes about the quality of surfaces being provided - "worst in the tournament," thundered one member - the ground staff insist they were under instructions to prepare tracks to assist a side relying on bowling
Several questions need to be asked at this stage. Why was Misbah benched when he was available for games against Rajasthan and the Delhi Daredevils? Why has Chanderpaul got just two games? Why did it take six games to ease out Boucher? And what justifies the excessive faith placed in Jacques Kallis?
No Indian fire-power
One glance at the points table and it's obvious that teams with good Indian contingents are thriving. Rajasthan have unheralded stars stepping up to the plate - Yusuf Pathan and Munaf Patel have proved their value while Swapnil Asnodkar and Siddharth Trivedi have exceeded expectations. Punjab ride on a quality Indian bowling attack - Sreesanth, Irfan Pathan, VRV Singh and Gagandeep Singh backing up Piyush Chawla - while Delhi have struck gold whenever the top three - Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Shikhar Dhawan - have fired.
Barring Praveen Kumar, Bangalore's young Indian players have hardly made any impression. "Both Indian and foreign players seem to be distracted," a member of the contingent told Cricinfo. "Probably the only people who seem to be really hurt by the defeats are Rahul and Anil [Kumble]. Some of the other internationals have simply not shown the josh (spirit) they usually show when they play for their countries. The other thing that is disappointing is that the local players, except for Rahul and Anil of course, have not stood up for the team, when you compare with, say, somebody like Abhishek Nayar for Mumbai. It is really mysterious because the communication between players have been excellent, the meetings and discussions have been of a very high standard."
Opening woes
Six different batsmen (Jaffer, Chanderpaul, Bharat Chipli, Kumar, Virat Kohli, and Dravid himself) have opened in a tournament when wins have been largely based on opening partnerships. "We haven't got that right at all," said Crowe, "but again you need to try out new combinations if the existing one isn't working. You can look at it as a good move or a bad one. But we thought trying out different partnerships will help us settle on a combination."
Misbah-ul-Haq, one of the few Twenty20 specialists in the Bangalore side, was benched for two games when he was available for selection (file photo) © AFP
Pitching it wrong
Take out Brendon McCullum's hell-raising 158 and run-scoring hasn't been easy at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. Dravid's 66 has been the second-highest score and the five games have produced only eight 50-plus scores. While the team management seethes about the quality of surfaces being provided - "worst in the tournament," thundered one member - the ground staff insist they were under instructions to prepare tracks to assist a side relying on bowling. Bangalore's defeat on a belter in Delhi, when the batsmen lost their cool in a tricky chase, shows that the personnel, rather than the surface, needs attention.
Leadership
The top teams are those with innovative captains. Dravid has looked out of place so far - oozing tension rather than calm - and has been caught out by surprises (remember his first ball duck to Shane Watson's bouncer?). Outfielders have looked uncertain at various points - Jaffer wasn't sure whether to stand in the circle or outside during several stages of the Deccan match - and Dravid's bowling changes have back-fired more often than they've come off. He is yet to play a match-winning knock and he's not shown a willingness to stash away his conventional technique and innovate here.
Crowe has been making press conferences lively with his theories ("We're looking to de-humanise the opposition", "You need to play Warne as if he's a straight bowler") but plans have come unstuck so far. Venkatesh Prasad has insisted the young Indians are learning a lot from the foreign players but the sight of B Akhil refusing a single to Kumar (when Kumar simply had to be on strike in the climactic stages of the Chennai match) or Vinay Kumar drifting down the leg side when fine leg had just been brought in (against Rajasthan) reek of an unprofessional approach.
