The Part timer conundrum: What's going wrong and what needs to be corrected
Day One of the opening test between India and South Africa at the PCA IS Bindra stadium ended with the visitors having their noses in front, but just about. Captaining the side for the first time at home, Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first but Shikhar Dhawan gave the team a horrendous start, edging a Vernon Philander delivery to first slip in an attempt to cut a ball to the boundary and was caught by Hashim Amla for a duck.
After the early loss, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara steadied the Indian ship for a while until the introduction of Dean Elgar in the 21st over of the innings. The sight of Elgar being handed the ball ahead of a specialist like Imran Tahir did catch a few by surprise, but in the fourth ball of the over he wrapped the latter in front to send him back for 31.
Just a flash in the pan you thought? Not really. The left-arm spinner nabbed Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha and Amit Mishra as well to finish as the pick of the South African bowlers with figures of 8-1-22-4. Who would have thought that with the likes of Dale Steyn, Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada in their attack, their opening batsman would bring about India’s downfall.
This though isn't the first instance when India have fallen prey to a bowler who is less fancied and given away their wickets and eventually end with a lesser score that what they would have.
Where are India going wrong
Over the past year and more, India have encountered some very good opening new ball bowling attacks. In England, they had to counter James Anderson and Stuart Broad. In Australia, they had Ryan Harris, Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc and in this series, there is Steyn, Philander and the ever improving Rabada to handle.
Expectedly, while facing bowlers of such quality you are going to be more circumspect in trying not to fall to them. So when the spinners or the part-timers come on, the Indian batsman have seen an opportunity to get back some of the “lost runs” if I may call it.
Now there is nothing wrong in trying to up the run-rate when a less lethal bowler is introduced, but to try and hit him out of the attack is by no means the right way to go. Any bowler, even if he has very little experience of bowling in domestic cricket, doesn’t like to go for runs and so, he will try and land the ball in right areas.
Rahane’s dismissal was a clear case of that. He was going along in a sedate manner, but Elgar dangled the carrot by providing some air and instead of trying to come forward and defend it, he chose to opt for the inside out shot and was caught at slip.
In England last year, the Indians committed the same mistake with Moeen Ali. Expecting him to be someone they could get easy runs against, they tried to go after him in the initial tests and gave him invaluable wickets which helped him eventually seal a spot in the playing XI in England’s future series.
It was later that they realised their mistake and in the last Test one saw them treat him with some respect.
What should India do?
1.Play according to the merit of the ball, not the bowler
If I have to put this point in one line, it would be “Watch the ball and react rather than the bowler”. To put in a much more broader perspective, India have to treat every ball according to how its bowled, rather than try and mindlessly look to go for quick runs. just because a less threatful bowler is operating.
2.Find a mid path
As I mentioned above, India learnt their lessons late in England last year and there were few phases later in the Test series where they tried to defend a bit more to counter the Ali threat. By doing that, while they were not giving the off-spinner wickets, they were putting too much pressure themselves and eventually were forced to play the expansive shot to break the shackles.
Instead, if the batsman look to milk the singles and twos and score the odd boundary, they would create more headaches for the opposition captain.
3.Understand the loose ball is around the corner.
One of the things that will happen when the non-regular bowlers are operating is that they will not be as accurate as the main bowlers and so, the full toss, the half volley or the bad ball is always in the offing and hence they should remain patient until that point.
The tactic of bringing on a part-timer is something few other teams will employ against the Indians in the future and it is critical that they don't commit the same mistake as they have so far.