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A tale of missed opportunity

India ended their fourth straight overseas tour without an international win
Last Updated 31 January 2015, 18:54 IST

What’s the common feature in India’s four away tours to England (2011), South Africa (2013), New Zealand (2014) and Australia (2014-15)? Even if you have a passing interest in Indian cricket, it wouldn’t be difficult to guess the answer that the team didn’t manage a single international win in all these four tours.

This is also the first time that India have failed to win a single match on a full-fledged tour of Australia since 1980-81 when they travelled Down Under for their first such bilateral series. After losing the four-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-0 with MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli helming the team in two matches each, India crashed out of the tri-series without registering a win. That they even got amongst points was down to a washout in Sydney.  

Damning as the cold statistics may be, India had plenty of gains in the Test series. Virat Kohli’s emergence as the new leader in Tests, Ajinkya Rahane’s growing stature as a batsman, M Vijay’s increasing consistency at the top, KL Rahul’s century in the Sydney Test, the impressive running between the wickets and the quality ground fielding… The losses, however, once again appear to have outweighed the few gains.  

The two-month gruelling summer can be taxing but to go without a win for such a long period of cricket can be exhausting both mentally and physically. That Dhoni doesn’t want to have anything to do with cricket for the next one week is hardly surprising. “Lock the kitbag. Keep it somewhere you don’t even want to see it, completely switch off from cricket,” Dhoni said after England sent India packing after a three-wicket win here on Saturday.

Despite some positives, four winless series should be a cause for concern but the regularity of such outcomes, perhaps, has left the team immune to any such worries and that was evident in Dhoni’s reply.

“No, I think from the confidence point of view we are quite good,” said Dhoni when asked if such losses leave the team demoralised ahead of an important event like the World Cup. “… Because again, we try to give more emphasis on what needs to be done; proper planning and executing. Also we have been in this situation before.  We know how exactly it feels and how to overcome that feeling. We were able to overcome that in the England series when we came back strongly (in ODIs). It’s something the boys know how to get out of,” he explained.

In the light of Dhoni’s reply, it also needs to be analysed as to how seriously the Indian team took the tri-series. They were unwilling to the point of being adamant in not risking players with niggles while the only pattern to their batting order was that there was no pattern.

Rohit Sharma was left out after the first ODI while Ishant Sharma got just one ODI in which he didn’t have to step on the field. Ravindra Jadeja was summoned only for the last two matches while Virat Kohli batted at both four and three. With no clarity about their combination and fitness of their main players, India’s build up for the defence of their title has been far from ideal.    

India will get a week’s break before they resume their World Cup preparations with a couple of warm-up matches. While the break should help heal niggles that players are carrying, it should also assist them recover from mental fatigue.

There is enough time to reflect over their performance, especially in the tri-series. While an honest introspection will be welcome, India would do well not to brood over their pre-mature exit from the tri-series.

“What you are asking I can’t tell you in the press conference,” replied Dhoni when asked as to how they planned to utilise the break. “It will be handled accordingly. It won’t be handled on the cricket field because I feel a break is more important than coming back and doing some practice. Because we have been here for more than two months so we know the conditions pretty well. What is important right now is a break. Completely switch off from the cricket. Just do a bit of thinking on what needs to be done. I have been in this position quite a few times. We know what needs to be done and ultimately what’s important is for the guys to take that extra responsibility because you just need that spark, that 10-15 minutes and everything falls back into the right place,” he explained.

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(Published 31 January 2015, 18:54 IST)

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