There seem to be multiple problems shown up, once again, and nothing seems to have been learnt by the Indian team management. To begin with, the pace attack needs a reshuffle, and they need to bowl differently. They're all slow, one-paced and getting nothing out of any pitch, and batsmen are taking advantage of it. Coming at 130-135k, with no 140k-and-over deliveres, this attack looks weak. Lack of pace, coupled with lack of yorkers, has weakened them. It still doesn't make sense when Ishant Sharma, the fastest and most productive bowler, is coming in first-change with a field spread out. We often see him get edges that go for four through thirdman.
The much-maligned seam attack still finihsed with seven wickets, and took several at a rush in the chaotic final overs. Nehra, a subject of jokes, finished with respectable figures. The part-timers, however, are the real weakness. We saw them send down over 11 overs wihtout taking a wicket, and a partnership of 206 runs was scored. That allowed the batsmen to settle in nicely, and they came back to smash the pacers. The Indians lack proper middle-overs bowlers, but Dhoni's choices in that phase don't seem to be a solution, and just highlight the problem. They have to have their best bowlers in the middle-overs so that scoring runs becomes tough and wickets fall, as it happened with the Indian batsmen. Talking of part-timers, while Yusuf did his best in the middle, he could have been used in the final ten overs more.
The bowling failures now give away matches, putting the team in situations where the batting can't rescue them. The batsmen just don't seem to have the striking power or momentum to chase big totals regularly. An array of defensive strokes by Dravid, Kohli's attempt to hit a six to get caught and Yusuf playing a loose shot under pressure of the asking rate are proof of it. They hit straight to the fielders, making things easy for a fielding side even weaker than their own, never testing them- Kohli's shot notwithstanding. Singles were not taken, no innovative shots were played and very few shots could go to the fence, let alone into the stands. And what is the problem with RP Singh, Nehra and Ishant? The three looked totally hopeless with the bat, and now present another area of weakness.
Rahul Dravid's batting has become a subject of debate, and that it happens when he scores 73, suggests he's failed on the day. Too many defensive prods, too few singles taken, two run-outs against the run of play and struggles to lift the ball were the characteristic of that innings. At the end of the day, what did he do? He slowed down the scoring rate and innings lost momentum, yet again. At that strike rate, the team would need six Yusuf Pathans in the lineup, and with the hit-or-miss striker misfiring, they were done in.
All in all, Dhoni said that five bowlers were a luxury, so they went in with four. They were struck easily in that soft spot by an apparently shaky batting side, and couldn't recover. The purpose of strengthening the batting was not fulfilled, because of the weakened bowling. His faith in pace over a proper spinner is also questionable- where is the pace in this attack?
