Jan. 14: This close to the World Cup, every loss India suffers now is akin to a hole discovered in a ship that is just about to bid adieu to the shore. There’s time for a patch-up, but probably not enough to totally seal it up for good.
How the Indian batsmen plan to tackle the moving ball is a question that will be posed again when they take on South African pace attack Dale Steyn and Co. in the second one-dayer — a day-nighter — at the imposing Wanderers Stadium here on Saturday.
It goes beyond just seeing off the new ball here. Back in October in a one-dayer against Australia at Vizag, India had recovered from 37/2 in the ninth over to chase down a 290-run score. On Wednesday, faced with the same target, India were bowled out for 154. The total on the board at the end of nine overs was 35/2.
South Africa skipper Graeme Smith is adept at rotating his four-man pace attack in the middle overs and in these conditions where lateral movement is on offer the whole day, Indian batsmen face the same challenge whether it in the fifth over or the 35th.
Dhoni has told his team the only way to get the better of the conditions is to face the challenge head on. “In these conditions you cannot be bogged down. I’ve advised the batsmen to try and dominate the bowlers no matter how difficult it is,” he said.
The Bullring has an intimating atmosphere, but given its penchant for high scores in recent matches, the conditions could be a tad easier for the batsmen. Unlike Kingsmead or Newlands merely winning the toss and batting first doesn’t automatically provide an advantage.
Eight of the 18 day-night matches at this venue have been won by teams batting second, with South Africa successfully chasing 280 to beat India in 2001, and then three years later chasing over 300 to defeat the West Indies in a thrilling game that went down to the wire.
But the highveld has been battered with rain over the past week, and there is a 72 per chance of rain on Saturday as well, so banking on the pitch’s flatness may not be the most ideal strategy.
Batting woes aside, bowling at the start tops the list of problem-areas for India and that has been the case for quite some time now. Of India’s current crop of pacers, only Zaheer Khan seems to be able to bowl yorkers consistently.
Take him out of the equation and the rest struggle to soak up the pressure. The onus will be on Sachin Tendulkar again to shepherd the youngsters lower down the order and his wicket will again be of prime importance for the South Afrcians. Despite their near-perfect game at Kingsmead, they too have a few areas for the Indians to exploit. They don’t bat deep like India do and if Johan Botha and Wayne Parnell both fail with the bat, the tail gets too long.
One South African tactic that India would want to pore over is the use of the batting powerplay. AB de Villiers and JP Duminy asked for it in the 27th over of the South African innings, and the next five overs yielded 45 runs.
Saturday would be the final opportunity for fringe players to seal a berth in the World Cup squad. With the selection scheduled on Monday, a good performance late in the series may go to waste.