South Africa Clean Up A Hapless India 3-0 To Win ODI Series Overcoming A Chahar Charge!
In the first ODI in
Paarl opting to bat first the Proteas put up a huge but attainable total of 296
thanks to two great centuries by skipper Temba Bavuma (110) and Rassie van der
Dussen (129 not out) building a 204-run partnership between them and India
batsmen faltered in the chase. The second ODI at the same venue India batsmen
faltered again opting to bat first managing 287 runs when they looked set to
cross the 300 mark and the South Africa batsmen made mockery of the India
bowlers winning by 7 wickets. While there were 3 SA centuries and many
partnerships up to 204 run India do not have a single century and not a single
100-run partnership.
The greatest irony of
the near-destroyed Team India has been the consistent failure of their famed
spinners on the rather slow pitch of Paarl whereas the SA spinning trio of Keshav
Maharaj, Shamsi and Markram restricted India effectively claiming 4 wickets
between them on each occasion. The inclusion of the out-of-form Yazuvendra
Chahal was an absolute disaster while Ashwin could not go beyond a solitary
wicket. With nothing to lose in the third ODI India tried to make amends and
more irony: they dropped Ashwin instead of Chahal, and included Jayant Yadav
who too failed to impress.
They also brought in
Deepak Chahar and Prasidh Krishna replacing Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Shardul
Thakur, and a clueless Venkatesh Iyer by Suryakumar Yadav. Why Yadav was not
preferred in the first two ODIs and why a rusty Kumar was played remain
mysteries which is natural only to a team playing without a soul. Besides, why
this persistent Pant-obsession that seems to run through the bloodstream of the
BCCI sending him ahead of Shreyas Iyer and even before Yadav in this match. A crunch-hitter
like Pant had better be used as a finisher like MS Dhoni did.
This kind of all-round
failure in all the departments of the game has not been seen often since the
captaincy of Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni and of course, Virat Kohli. Even in
losing matches Team India used to show a great fightback spirit. Whatever be
the reasons, the cricket board killing its own team or Virat totally demoralized
by the sack or the absence of Rohit, Jadeja and Pandya or Rahul not having the
ability to win, a national teal cannot afford to play so tamely in all the
matches in a format where India’s authority has been huge over the years.
Batting collapses of the visitors have been displayed throughout the Test and
the ODI Series; but in the ODI series things were further confounded by India
bowlers neither able to restrict the hosts or to defend a fairly good total.
Talking of the bench strength is futile as long as there is proper selection or
batting line-up. The head coach Rahul Dravid must do something immediately to
prevent his team’s downhill journey before it is too late.
The India Tour of South
Africa-2021-22 finally concludes today which had a rollicking start on the
Boxing Day Test in Centurion, but after that had a prolonged and agonizing end
as far as Indian cricket lovers are concerned, the only thing to remember is the
Chahar innings today. It’s not about losing matches, win and loss being the
part of any game; it’s about giving a tough fight for every contest they play
for the nation. Abject surrender is not what Team India has been known for.
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