Dhoni does not see a reason to panic yet and believes the pressure on the lower middle order in the last two matches would make them better prepared to handle tight situations in the knock-out stages. -Photo by AFP
NEW DELHI: It may sound nitpicking about an unbeaten team on top of their group and with one foot already in the World Cup quarter-finals but India clearly lack the aura of the West Indian or Australian champions of the past.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni is not interested in the aesthetics as long as India keep winning but the reality is those wins, some hard-earned, were against Bangladesh, Ireland and the Netherlands, none of which are in the title race.
India had their lone Group B test of might against England and it took a magical Zaheer Khan over to salvage a tie in that Bangalore run feast.India toiled to beat Ireland and Netherlands and both matches could not gloss over their bowling limitations.
The pace bowlers have not really been able to make early regular inroads, thus making life doubly difficult for the spinners who have been fighting their own battle to get their mojo back.Apart from Zaheer, the pace attack looked toothless, while frontline spinners Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla are either struggling for success or profusely bleeding runs.
Harbhajan’s lack of success — two scalps from four matches — is particularly perplexing, considering his vast experience.The otherwise feisty off-spinner seems content containing the rival batsmen, while part-time spinner Yuvraj Singh has helped himself to a sackful of wickets.Dhoni believes Yuvraj owes part of his success to Harbhajan, who keeps it tight at the other end.“With the opposition team happy to just block Harbhajan out, I think it’s tough for him to get wickets,” he said.
“Harbhajan has been bowling well, so they have to score runs off some other bowlers. Maybe that’s the reason they are going after Yuvraj and he is getting the wickets. They have to hunt in pack and that’s important.“He reacts to aggressive cricket in a different way. When the opposition is not playing aggressive cricket, maybe he also lays down but it won’t be the case when you play bigger sides who would look to go after him… you will see a different Harbhajan against stronger sides.”
Dhoni seems to have similar unshakable trust in Chawla’s ability even though lanky off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin seems to be a better choice than the baby-faced leg-spinner who has proved to be expensive.“I felt Piyush needed it (exposure against the Dutch) more than Ashwin because he’s under pressure. You want your bowlers to be in a very good mental state in the second half of the tournament when you play the best teams,” said Dhoni.“Of course we need to give Ashwin a chance. He deserves a place and he will feature in one of the matches. I know he is mentally tough and always up for a challenge.”
The famed batting line-up, possibly the most dangerous on paper, is not without its frailties, something evident from their collapse from 69 for no loss to 99-4 before Yuvraj steered them home.Dhoni does not see a reason to panic yet and believes the pressure on the lower middle order in the last two matches would make them better prepared to handle tight situations in the knock-out stages.His robust optimism notwithstanding, India will have a lot to ponder before they face South Africa (Saturday) and West Indies (March 20) when the going may not be easy.While the wins suggest India know how to get over the line, their laboured performance so far suggests they do not have the aura of the West Indies team in the 1970s or the Australians two decades later.
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