Kohli's Well-Oiled India Achieve Series Goals
Nov 17, 2014, 15:36 IST
India's fourth bilateral ODI series win at home by a 5-0 margin should be seen through the lens of the team's defence of the ICC World Cup next year, in specific the roles given to players either just finding their feet in international cricket or returning from injury or filling in for first-choice names.
Make no mistake - Sri Lanka were very poor in the series, their bowlers in particular lining up as fodder for India's batsmen on mostly docile surfaces, and their batsmen, barring Angelo Mathews and to a lesser extent Mahela Jayawardene, massively under-performing. But in a World Cup season it is encouraging to see an experimental Indian side finish the job they started without losing much intensity.
Through the series, Virat Kohli spoke of taking each game of this series as a stepping stone towards the 2015 ICC World Cup, particularly in testing out players in different roles to give them the confidence that they are wholly supported with an eye on next year’s big prize. He spoke of the team taking each match as a knock-out, and of learning to be "ruthless" to close out matches.
Sample the margins of victory: by 169 runs, six wickets with 33 balls remaining, six wickets with 35 balls remaining, 153 runs and three wickets with eight balls on Sunday in Ranchi. Four big wins, fashioned by performances from individuals and collectively against a side that looked disgruntled from the time it departed from Colombo following West Indies' abrupt pull-out. The one match in which the batting didn’t click as a unit, Kohli stepped up with one of his finest centuries in a chase. Where his team-mates failed to be ruthless, Kohli was.
The 26-year-old, leading India in MS Dhoni's absence, did his job well. The decision to take the batting Powerplay in the 24th over during the first ODI proved decisive, for it was in that five-over period that his team took the match away from Sri Lanka. He backed Akshar Patel to bowl during the mandatory and batting Powerplays and this was a huge factor in the series win, and backed his rookie spinner with the right fields. Kohli also ensured Ambati Rayudu a spot at the World Cup by sending him in at No 3 in Ahmedabad, where the 29-year-old scored his maiden ODI century.
Apart from his dynamic captaincy, Kohli also had a solid series with the bat, scoring 277 runs at an average of 69.25 with two fifties and a superb century to almost single-handedly chase 287 in the final game. Kohli's emphatic celebrations at hitting the winning six, with eight balls and three wickets left in Ranchi, and then as he acknowledged the crowd after picking up a stump, were stirring. Such form will, at the very least, send him to Australia with some confidence.
India’s other main batsmen all scored runs, too. Shikhar Dhawan reeled off 283 in three innings before he was rested. Rayudu's four innings at No 3 produced 223 runs while Rohit Sharma's roaring comeback from injury with an astonishing 264 off 173 balls should earn him first dibs as opener alongside Dhawan in the World Cup ahead of Ajinkya Rahane, who after stroking 111 in the series opener trailed off with scores of 8, 31, 28 and 2. The two wicketkeeper-batsmen tested in the series, Wriddhiman Saha for three ODIs and Robin Uthappa for the last two, did not make strong statements to tilt the selectors’ votes either way for the World Cup.
There were personal bests for a few players, of which five look certain for the World Cup. Ishant Sharma beat his previous best returns with 4/34 in Cuttack; Rayudu scored his first ODI century in the second ODI; Akshar (3/40) and Umesh Yadav (4/53) achieved career-best bowling performances in Hyderabad; and Dhawal Kulkarni smoothed over a shoddy outing in that match by taking 4/34 in the Kolkata drubbing. Rohit marked his first ODI in three months by scoring the highest individual innings in ODI history at Eden Gardens.
Rohit's freak innings aside, the big gains were the bowling of Akshar and the fact that Umesh, on the comeback from an injury break, did not break down or pick up a niggle. The rise of 20-year-old allrounder Akshar has been the story of the series. His left-arm spin accounted for 11 wickets in five matches, at an economy rate of 4.61, and it was his bowling in the batting Powerplay all series that was instrumental in India’s 5-0 result. Akshar was unfortunate not be named Man of the Match in Hyderabad, where his 3/11 during the batting Powerplay sealed the series for India.
Akshar controls the percentage shots and that ability resulted in some big wickets, and the manner in which he lands the ball outside off stump to bring out loose shots is a trait that could be very handy in Australia. Twenty20 cricket has forced spinners to experiment and Akshar is one of the best examples of how this can have a positive spin - no pun intended - because he varies his flight and pace without compromising too much on his length. He conceded over 40 just twice - at Eden Gardens where he conceded 51 in 43 balls and in Ranchi, where in the 48th of Sri Lanka's innings, Angelo Mathews swatted three sixes to give Akshar figures of 2/45 from his quota. His only two innings, at either ends of the series, were contrasting efforts that showed the value Akshar brings down the order: a four-ball 14 to get the total past 350 and 17 off 14 balls in match-clinching stand of 57 in 5.2 overs with Kohli.
Umesh was quick and lively in each outing and consistently delivered breakthroughs in his first spell in all four games he played - three times in the first over of Sri Lanka’s innings, getting Kusal Perera each time. He took at least two wickets in each match and finished with ten wickets at an economy of 5.07, and though he still has to work on conceding wides in the death overs, that Umesh hustled and troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen all throughout was encouraging. Considering Ishant injured himself in his return series, having Umesh fit and feisty is crucial to India in Australia.
Ishant did not feature in the series after leaving the field following his four overs in Hyderabad, adding to the injury list that comprises Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma. These are the frontline bowlers India will hope to have available for the World Cup, along with the rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Injuries to Ishant and Aaron - themselves called up in the absence of the injured Shami and Mohit - opened up chances for Kulkarni and Stuart Binny and both were decent without being threatening. Kulkarni does not have the pace to consistently worry batsmen and appears to be easily rattled, while Binny's medium pace does not look like getting him a berth in the World Cup squad considering that pace is a must in Australia and New Zealand. The only player blooded in the series who did not do anything was legspinner Karn Sharma, who is part of the Test squad to play in Australia.
All in all, a good workout for an experimental Indian side in these five ODIs but how much these matches actually matter will only be judged if these players step up in Australia.
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Make no mistake - Sri Lanka were very poor in the series, their bowlers in particular lining up as fodder for India's batsmen on mostly docile surfaces, and their batsmen, barring Angelo Mathews and to a lesser extent Mahela Jayawardene, massively under-performing. But in a World Cup season it is encouraging to see an experimental Indian side finish the job they started without losing much intensity.
Through the series, Virat Kohli spoke of taking each game of this series as a stepping stone towards the 2015 ICC World Cup, particularly in testing out players in different roles to give them the confidence that they are wholly supported with an eye on next year’s big prize. He spoke of the team taking each match as a knock-out, and of learning to be "ruthless" to close out matches.
Sample the margins of victory: by 169 runs, six wickets with 33 balls remaining, six wickets with 35 balls remaining, 153 runs and three wickets with eight balls on Sunday in Ranchi. Four big wins, fashioned by performances from individuals and collectively against a side that looked disgruntled from the time it departed from Colombo following West Indies' abrupt pull-out. The one match in which the batting didn’t click as a unit, Kohli stepped up with one of his finest centuries in a chase. Where his team-mates failed to be ruthless, Kohli was.
The 26-year-old, leading India in MS Dhoni's absence, did his job well. The decision to take the batting Powerplay in the 24th over during the first ODI proved decisive, for it was in that five-over period that his team took the match away from Sri Lanka. He backed Akshar Patel to bowl during the mandatory and batting Powerplays and this was a huge factor in the series win, and backed his rookie spinner with the right fields. Kohli also ensured Ambati Rayudu a spot at the World Cup by sending him in at No 3 in Ahmedabad, where the 29-year-old scored his maiden ODI century.
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India’s other main batsmen all scored runs, too. Shikhar Dhawan reeled off 283 in three innings before he was rested. Rayudu's four innings at No 3 produced 223 runs while Rohit Sharma's roaring comeback from injury with an astonishing 264 off 173 balls should earn him first dibs as opener alongside Dhawan in the World Cup ahead of Ajinkya Rahane, who after stroking 111 in the series opener trailed off with scores of 8, 31, 28 and 2. The two wicketkeeper-batsmen tested in the series, Wriddhiman Saha for three ODIs and Robin Uthappa for the last two, did not make strong statements to tilt the selectors’ votes either way for the World Cup.
There were personal bests for a few players, of which five look certain for the World Cup. Ishant Sharma beat his previous best returns with 4/34 in Cuttack; Rayudu scored his first ODI century in the second ODI; Akshar (3/40) and Umesh Yadav (4/53) achieved career-best bowling performances in Hyderabad; and Dhawal Kulkarni smoothed over a shoddy outing in that match by taking 4/34 in the Kolkata drubbing. Rohit marked his first ODI in three months by scoring the highest individual innings in ODI history at Eden Gardens.
Rohit's freak innings aside, the big gains were the bowling of Akshar and the fact that Umesh, on the comeback from an injury break, did not break down or pick up a niggle. The rise of 20-year-old allrounder Akshar has been the story of the series. His left-arm spin accounted for 11 wickets in five matches, at an economy rate of 4.61, and it was his bowling in the batting Powerplay all series that was instrumental in India’s 5-0 result. Akshar was unfortunate not be named Man of the Match in Hyderabad, where his 3/11 during the batting Powerplay sealed the series for India.
Akshar controls the percentage shots and that ability resulted in some big wickets, and the manner in which he lands the ball outside off stump to bring out loose shots is a trait that could be very handy in Australia. Twenty20 cricket has forced spinners to experiment and Akshar is one of the best examples of how this can have a positive spin - no pun intended - because he varies his flight and pace without compromising too much on his length. He conceded over 40 just twice - at Eden Gardens where he conceded 51 in 43 balls and in Ranchi, where in the 48th of Sri Lanka's innings, Angelo Mathews swatted three sixes to give Akshar figures of 2/45 from his quota. His only two innings, at either ends of the series, were contrasting efforts that showed the value Akshar brings down the order: a four-ball 14 to get the total past 350 and 17 off 14 balls in match-clinching stand of 57 in 5.2 overs with Kohli.
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Akshar made rapid strides in the series, and the fact that Ravindra Jadeja was benched for the Cuttack and Hyderabad ODIs and bowled well after Akshar in Hyderabad is testament to Kohli's line of thought that fringe players need to feel that they belong.Umesh was quick and lively in each outing and consistently delivered breakthroughs in his first spell in all four games he played - three times in the first over of Sri Lanka’s innings, getting Kusal Perera each time. He took at least two wickets in each match and finished with ten wickets at an economy of 5.07, and though he still has to work on conceding wides in the death overs, that Umesh hustled and troubled the Sri Lankan batsmen all throughout was encouraging. Considering Ishant injured himself in his return series, having Umesh fit and feisty is crucial to India in Australia.
Ishant did not feature in the series after leaving the field following his four overs in Hyderabad, adding to the injury list that comprises Varun Aaron, Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma. These are the frontline bowlers India will hope to have available for the World Cup, along with the rested Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Injuries to Ishant and Aaron - themselves called up in the absence of the injured Shami and Mohit - opened up chances for Kulkarni and Stuart Binny and both were decent without being threatening. Kulkarni does not have the pace to consistently worry batsmen and appears to be easily rattled, while Binny's medium pace does not look like getting him a berth in the World Cup squad considering that pace is a must in Australia and New Zealand. The only player blooded in the series who did not do anything was legspinner Karn Sharma, who is part of the Test squad to play in Australia.
All in all, a good workout for an experimental Indian side in these five ODIs but how much these matches actually matter will only be judged if these players step up in Australia.