Spark
Global Moderator
Cricinfo put up a stat saying that roughly a quarter of balls Ashwin and Jadeja bowled conceded a single or two this series - this obviously being way way higher than what we'd come to expect from them (this is what I was referring to more generally when I said the bowling had underperformed). A large part of that is the crap fields Rohit set at times and also scoreboard pressure but they're highly experienced cricketers who have actually had to defend small totals regularly in the past few years, so the most important factor in that respect is still just plain old accuracy: they were just mildly off, not in terms of bowling lots of long hops, but just not quite as precise and consistent as we'd come to expect, which allowed NZ to milk singles around the ground (which is obviously very difficult to set a field to as captain) and made NZ's life so much easier than I was expecting.I wont blame our bowling too much except for the fact that they seemed to deviate from bowling good balls consistently to trying to produce the magic balls every over. Given the scores we put up batting, its understandable but given their experience and expertise, its not excusable. I wish GG and Rohit sit down and have a honest conversation on how they want this side to move forward. Under Rohit, every time we have been in close positions, its obvious the team seems to have the weight of the world on their shoulders. We got a bit lucky in the T20 WC finals but its obvious we need someone who can ease that pressure to them somewhat and also be stern when needed. Feel this is where Shaz and Virat were at their best and what we miss most right now. I wont still write off Gambhir based on one series when he is so new to this role, but its obvious Rohit's captaincy was always vastly vastly overrated in our circles, even in this forum. Hopefully, he cools down and has a rethink on how he handles situations and comes up with some gameplans that actually make sense than just give away easy singles to your best bowlers on tracks where they are getting assistance.