5 things India need to do to play well on pacer-friendly wickets

Suresh Raina

Dale Steyn talked big before the ODI series against India, and now has also justified his tall talk with his performances on the pitch. But, the question is, how much of Steyn’s success has been down to his brilliance, and how much has been down to the ineptness of the Indian batsmen to deal with genuine, quality fast bowling? Here is a look at 5 things India’s batsmen need to do to improve their performances on wickets that favour fast bowling, something that they will encounter a lot of in the near future, with tours to New Zealand, England and Australia on the horizon.

1. Take some time in the beginning

Something the Indian batsmen have been guilty of doing in the 2 ODIs in South Africa, is trying to go too hard too early. Shikhar Dhawan has found the transition of going from featherbeds in India to hard, bouncy wickets in South Africa, to be a struggle. In Jo’burg, he threw it away to a Morne Morkel bouncer, after he’d got off to 12 in no time. In Durban, it was even worse, when he flashed at his second delivery to give an easy catch to JP Duminy at point. It was a similar story with Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane in the ODIs.

2. Respect the good deliveries

On the flat wickets in India, which are perfectly good for batting, even the good deliveries can dispatched away to the boundary. But, as many a fast bowler has admitted, the most frustrating sight for a fast bowler, is to see a batsman presenting a dead bat in a solid defensive shot. Somehow, the Indians have not trusted their defence enough in this ODI series. A lot of the dismissals were from the batsmen trying to be too expansive to a delivery that was nowhere near being a bad ball. For the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, for whom this was the first big overseas tour, this will be a huge learning experience, and one which could stand them in proper stead for the sterner tests to follow.

3. Play the short ball better

On too many occasions, India’s batsmen have been softened up by the short deliveries. Suresh Raina has had a problem with them throughout his career, and he dealt with the short stuff rather well on this tour, albeit with a not so convincing technique. But, the likes of Rohit, Dhawan, Yuvraj Singh and Ajinkya Rahane were given some chin music and they came out second best in the fight against South Africa’s pacers. Only MS Dhoni was up to scratch in trying to play the short stuff.

4. Play with a straight bat

Virat Kohli in Durban. Rohit Sharma in Jo’burg. Ajinkya Rahane in Durban. All were guilty of not offering the full face of the bat often enough. And that was enough to bring about their downfall. Closing the face of the bat too early meant that there was more chance of the edge of the bat being taken, and that was duly found by the ruthless Protea pacers. Also, much of Rohit’s problems against Steyn in Jo’burg were down to the fact that he played with an angled bat, meaning there was lesser chance of the ball finding the middle of the bat.

5. Bowl better

For India’s batsmen to have done better in this series, maybe a little bit less pressure of the scoreboard might have helped the batsmen. On helpful conditions, letting the opposition get away to 358 and 280 in the 2 ODIs was nothing short of a cardinal sin. For most of these bowlers, this was their first tour to the Rainbow Nation, and they might have learnt a lot from this tour, but they should have done a lot better, given the conditions, the same conditions under which South Africa’s bowlers thrived.

So, all in all, to do better in these conditions, the Indian batsmen need to show a lot more application, and the bowlers need to back them up, so that they don’t play with the pressure of the scoreboard.