Over reliance on the Indian spinners could prove suicidal for MS Dhoni and Team India

Team India have a couple of issues to address

Victories can often overshadow the realities of your shortcomings and ineptness. When Team India plays at home and anywhere within the sub-continent, they cruise to victories more often than not, and look to be a quality side that can demolish any opponent on a given day.

Albeit Team India faltered remarkably in South Africa and New Zealand, the two back to back home series’ wins against Australia and West Indies gave you a glimpse of where Team India could be exposed.

George Bailey’s side deployed a strategy of going after the Indian spinners, who were by far the most reliable customers as far as Dhoni was concerned, and once the Aussies managed to put pressure on Ashwin and Jadeja, the Indian bowling unit struggled to come up with the answers. And had it not been for an impressive series for Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan and MS Dhoni, Australia could well have walked over the Indians and won the series comfortably.

So, if I was Dhoni, the alarm bells started ringing for me right at the culmination of series against Australia, but then, we don’t delve into other things so long as we’re winning and probably Team India was no different in this regard.

The English side under Alistair Cook came to India in 2012, and beat Team India in their own game, which was batting. Alistair Cook had a jaw-dropping series with the bat and as captain, and he single-handedly thwarted Ashwin, Ojha and Harbhajan from causing any major problems.

The surfaces were prepared to assist spinners and overwhelmingly at that, but it was the duo of Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar, who made optimum use of whatever there was on offer for them. Ashwin and Ojha were lethal to start off with, but in the second innings of the first Test match at the Motera, Cook resisted the Indian spinners from running through his side for the second consecutive time in the series. And although Cook’s tenacious effort went in vain, it gave England a dose of confidence from where they blossomed to a sumptuous 2-1 series win, which was totally shocking.

So the bottom line is that, if any side in world cricket can get after the Indian spinners, there’s no reason why Team India cannot be rattled. Yes, Team India has always boasted of a colossal batting line-up, but when the Indian spinners in particular come under the cosh, it’s not beyond any side to come up victorious against the current Indian side. Mind you, not everyday can you chase scores in excess of 300 in ODIs, irrespective of how many fielders that are allowed outside the 30-yard circle.

The tours of South Africa and New Zealand went on to reiterate the same fact of the Indian spinners (Ravindra Jadeja) being thwarted, which in turn increased the burden on an always talked about Indian batting line-up that proved inept to get the job done when it mattered the most in Durban in the 2nd Test of the series, and in both the Test matches in New Zealand.

It’s high time that MS Dhoni addressed this issue and came up with a solution that sees his spinners do a decent job, and not rely heavily on his batsmen. Asking New Zealand to bat 3 straight times in the series after winning the toss was perhaps a move that backfired, and a move that was an indicator of the amount of pressure the Indian batsmen were put under.

Some serious issues to ponder over for Dhoni ahead of the world title defence in less than 12 months and the tours of England and Australia in 2014!