But just when his admirers are ready to shrug their shoulders and resign to his mulishness, he pulls out his bag of surprises; the fourth one-dayer here turned out to be one of those afternoons, with the skipper in the mood to shock.
He dropped Shikhar Dhawan (surprise) and Suresh Raina (surprise surprise), handed the India cap to Stuart Binny, brought back Ambati Rayudu and even elected to bat away from the comforts of home, for the first time in 21 opportunities.
The moves caught New Zealand totally unawares; but they recovered quickly enough to bowl parsimoniously at the start and kept their cool in the end for a comfortable seven-wicket victory.
Ross Taylor (112 not out, with 15 boundaries) led the charge towards 278 with Kane Williamson (60) and Brendon McCullum (49 not out). New Zealand have now sealed the series 3-0, with one game tied and one more to go.
With Dhawan consigned to bench-warming duties, Dhoni had to make another swap at the top: Virat Kohli as opener. Not too surprisingly, the move backfired, with the man in form miscuing a pull shot; Ajinkya Rahane, at No. 3, couldn't keep his pull down either and India were already 22 for 2.
They would have been in tatters had Ross Taylor not been in a generous frame of mind: he declined an offering from Rohit Sharma in the first over itself and the grumpy opener hung around, counting his blessings. He took every chance that came his way and, in the company of Rayudu, began a slow, almost painful recovery.
Runs were not easily available as the ball didn't come on to the bat; Kyle Mills and Tim Southee were particularly sharp and restrictive, forcing Rohit to pull out his big shots. He bemoaned his way to 79, showing his class intermittently. A series of dot balls, interspersed by four classy 6s and six 4s marked his comeback knock.
Inevitably, he fell to a loose stroke, nipping fatally at a harmless turner from Williamson; at 142 for 4, India were back in a familiar hole, with the tail back in the spotlight.
Ashwin departed quickly, a victim of his own over-confidence. Dhoni had no choice but to drop anchor; he did that manfully, and goaded Jadeja to a fighting 79. Together, they added 127 in 17 overs, with 100 coming in the last 10 overs.
India needed early wickets to storm ahead in the match: but Ryder and Guptill were on fire again, accumulating 54 in just seven overs, before retreating in successive overs. The arrival of spin boosted their spirits further: Jadeja and Ashwin tied up the scorecard, with Williamson struggling against the left-armer.
It was, however, a matter of time before both settled down: the return of pace opened up the gates. Binny bowled one over, conceded 8 and was sent out to tend to the pasture. Rayudu turned his hand over but in vain. Williamson slowly came into his own, using his feet to get momentum in his strokes.
Taylor, though, was brutal in his assault smashing 15 boundaries; he cut fiercely, pulled disdainfully and hit down the ground as the bowlers tried every trick at their disposal. He brought up his 100 with a rasping cut that sped past point to the ropes.
McCullum completed the last rites, with a six, and in the process regained his destructive touch.
Times View
Virat Kohli has been in top form while batting at No. 3 and Ajinkya Rahane has often opened at various levels of the game. So what did the Indian think-tank do after dropping Shikhar Dhawan? Asked Kohli to open and made Rahane bat at No. 3! There were many other reasons for India's humiliating series defeat - the policy of plunging the team into ODIs without any practice matches being prominent among them - but the illogical batting order highlighted the muddled thinking that is hurting Team India. One can only hope that the team's attempts to experiment do not end up unsettling the one batsman who has emerged as truly world-class in foreign conditions.
0 comments:
Post a Comment