With the World Cup being the next competitive tournament that India will play, this series provides us with a few pointers about Team India.
Firstly, the performance of the young Indian top and middle order was pathetic. Kohli apart, no Indian batsmen showed any application in dealing with Steyn, Morkel and Tsotsobe. Raina was the most disappointing of them all as he averaged a lowly 22 in the five matches. Yuvi showed great application in the second ODI but it was just a one-off. Although, the World Cup will be played in more batsmen friendly conditions, these players need to take a leaf out of JP Duminy’s book, who shephered South Africa out of tough situations by curbing down the glory shots and picking the gaps for ones and twos. The return of Sehwag, Tendulkar and Gambhir will be very much welcome as the Indian batting looked hapless throughout the five match series.
But, it was equally encouraging to see the lower middle order perform well. Gary Kirsten’s have been spending some fruitful time with the tail-enders at the nets. Yusuf Pathan has certainly been the most succesfull Indian batsmen scoring a half-century and a century. His latter effort went in vain as he ran out of support from the opposite end.
If Dhoni contniues to play three fast bowlers then Pathan might replace either of Raina or Yuvraj in the playing eleven. His recent performance have strenghtened his case for inclusion.
The death over bowling of India was also sign of encouragement. Zak & Co, varied their lines well and dealt South Africa crucial blows in the final powerplay. The ground fielding has been tidy and the catching commendable. But greater effort in the fielding department needs to be done so that players like Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra need not be hidden in the outfield.
To put in a nutshell, the batting was disappointing while the rest was up to the mark.
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