Every match the Indians have played has opened a can of worms. They may have been a batsman short in two matches, but 7 batsmen don't win matches- runs, the mandatory 10 wickets and top quality fielding do.
Ganguly is an instinctive captain, but his instincts have often led to many a defeat. His methods are useless in a team short of great players, especially bowlers, and he needs to talk to all his bowlers and some former captains who have led their teams to victories as fielding sides, to learn something. In fact, a talk with Anil Kumble and Rahul Dravid will help a lot.
Pace bowling is not a strength- it is a weakness in this Indian team. The way Balaji bowled in the tournament, there is absolutely no point in going in with three seamers, who lack pace, and cannot do much on these flat wickets. Balaji should be kept out of action in the Asia Cup and get his line and length right for the Holland tri-series, the Natwest Challenge and the Champions Trophy. He has to improve his batting a lot- there's no way he will last in the team as a specialist bowler. The only pace bowlers who have ever got the job done are Irfan Pathan, who should be the team's main strike bowler, and Nehra, who has performed reasonably well, without support from the field. Irfan can continue as he is, but Nehra should concentrate on line and length.
The spinners have bowled a lot better than the seamers- they showed more discipline, intelligence, maturity and patience, only to be weakened by bad field settings, pathetic fielding support and a batting side in form. Kumble is NOT a mediocre medium-pacer, but a key bowler in this team, with good figures of 2/49. He has over 300 wickets, and is still the most potent bowler in this team, but the kind of fields he gets defy logic. He's being used as a restrictive bowler, which reduces the team's chances of taking wickets. There have to be more fielders in catching positions when there is a new batsman in the middle.
Tendulkar's success with the ball may be helpful for the team, but it is also rather disturbing. Is this what the frontline bowlers have done? Tendulkar may be an intelligent bowler, but not good enough to bowl more than 3 overs. Those overs he bowls may either be top stuff, or just plain rubbish. One of the batsmen has to bowl as many as 7 overs in every match, so that he is in action a lot longer, so chances of inconsistency are reduced. The 'lottery' overs plan must be scrapped, if they have to win a tournament.
Fielding is an issue, with the best fielders struggling. None of the direct hits are hitting the stumps. Nobody is backing up. Throws from the deep are weak. Misfields are as common as crows at the stadium. Only one fielder has really tried to stand up for the team, and that is Kaif, whose batting is not good enough to keep him in the team. Ganguly must do something, but bu there's not much a player who can't bend to pick up a ball without giving an easy singe can do to improve the fielding of top notch fielders, even as captain. John Wright may have problems, but mild speeches are not working. He needs to put the team through the wringer, something which Dean Jones would have done, as coach.
Sehwag's fielding was woeful, and so is his batting in the Asia Cup. He's not playing his natural game- he needs to go for the boundaries right away. If not in fours, he has to pinch quick singles within the 30-yard line, and the same applies to all the batsmen, from first strike opener to number 11. He should not try to spend too much time in the middle to build an innings- it will work against the interests of the team. They need Sehwag in big-hitting form. Shoaib Malik's promotion to #3 may have worked for the Pakistanis, with that blistering innings which is missing from an Indian blade, but Ganguly's form against pacers is still suspect, so he must go down to #6 and do what he can do best- hit the spinners for big runs. Dravid is perhaps the only player in good form, but you can't win matches with one batsman all the time.
Yuvraj is getting out once too often at the wrong time, playing a needless shot, which makes his selection as an opener in Tests strange. He is a better batsman against the seamers, whom he can hit for a lot of runs, but he has his problems against the spinners. Kaif may have gota few runs at 7, but not enough when needed, so he too needs to step up.
Pathan is batting like a true top-6 batsman and deserves the #7 position, or even that of the opener, so that he can hit fours and sixes freely. The Indians need a big-hitter like Gilchrist, Gayle, Flintoff or Cairns, and he is the right man. Harbhajan has alot of talent as a batsman, but he is not doing any justice to it by playing reckless shots. His approach is good, but not right for that stage.
Where do they go from here? If the current plans are continued, they may as well go back home early- they're not even looking to win the tournament, but looking to survive, which is not the way to play. The plan of playing for a point was apalling- they would get it anyway. Instead, they should have looked to score at least 270-280 and still play for a win. Rather than worry too much for 5 points, they should look to smash the Lankans out of contention and get back into the winning habit, so that they are ready to win the Asia Cup.
They should play 2 seamers and 2 spinners, with Ganguly playing as a third seamer in the first 15 overs. Pathan should get his full 10 overs, with attacking fields at the start of the innings. Nehra should just bowl straight. Kumble and Harbhajan must bowl together. Sehwag must get 7 overs, while Tendulkar gets at least 3. When a new batsman comes in, there should be more fielders in catching positions. It does ot matter who bowls; the fielding should be very sharp.
Runs have to be scored between the wickets more often- at least 50% of the runs should be within the 30-yard circle. More 3's should be scored. This will not only getruns, but also put pressure on the fielders, resulting in mistakes. Against Murali, they must step out and put bat to ball, since it has worked for the Australians. Against the seamers, they must look for 110 runs in the first 15 overs, so that they can play more carefully in the middle overs without losing track of the run rate. They have to look to win, by a big margin.
