India's batting struggles down to extreme conditions

[rkt.india]

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In five Tests in South Africa and England this year, India's fast bowlers have collectively taken 69 wickets at an average of 24.75. All five frontline quicks India have played - Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav - average below 26across the two tours, and have strike rates of less than 50.

 

These are rare and spectacular numbers. We need to go back 12 years - to 2006 - for the last year in which India's quicks averaged less than 30 as a collective in Australia, England, New Zealand and South Africa, and go back another decade, to 1996, for the next-most-recent instance. It doesn't happen often.

 

Why then is no one heralding the birth of a new fast-bowling power in world cricket? In one word, context. India's fast bowlers have achieved these numbers in conditions unusually loaded in their favour.

 

Ishant's average across these two tours, 23.20, is on a different planet to his career average of 35.32. He's an improved bowler now, sure, but not that far improved. He doesn't bowl rank bad balls, but he still bowls spells where he's a foot too short and a foot too wide of off stump to really test top batsmen. Shami can look deadly when he lands the ball in the fourth-stump channel with seam bolt upright, but he still bowls spells interspersed with long-hops and leg-stump half-volleys.

 

In the same conditions where Ishant has averaged 23.20 and Shami 21.61, should it surprise India at all that their batsmen have struggled terribly? That too against two of the world's best fast-bowling attacks in their own backyards?

 

Think back to the first Test of this cycle, in Cape Town, and the first session of the second morning. India, three down early, played that session about as well as they could have, losing just the one wicket in green, seaming conditions against a four-man pace attack comparable to the best of West Indies' fast-bowling packs from the 1980s: Vernon Philander, Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Kagiso Rabada.

 

Only 48 runs came in that session of 25 overs, and it was hard to tell how Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma, who batted through the bulk of it, could have scored any more. Over after over, both did most things right - they played with a straight bat and soft hands, and were vigilant outside off stump - but even so, it seemed a matter of time before an unplayable ball or a small error of judgment would arrive. The conditions increased the frequency of the former and magnified the consequences of the latter.

 

Pretty much every innings India have batted in on these two tours has been similar, give or take a couple of degrees of difficulty. The cumulative effect on this batting line-up cannot be overstated. Form can be self-perpetuating, whether it's good form as in the case of Virat Kohli or bad as in the case of every other India batsman. You can trust in your methods, as Pujara has done, soaking up pressure and avoiding any risk whatsoever, and average 14.75. Or you can change your game and go after balls you might ordinarily leave, as Ajinkya Rahane has done, and average 17.50.

 

Before the series began, Pujara's form was a major concern, with the No. 3 having endured a terrible season with Yorkshire. "I feel he is one innings away [from a big score]," India coach Ravi Shastri said, when asked about this. "He needs to spend time at the crease. If he gets one 60-70 under his belt, he will be a different player altogether."

 

A player being "one innings away" from regaining form is one of cricket's oldest cliches, but it's also true - a good score calms the mind, fills you with confidence, and gets your footwork and bat-swing back in rhythm. That one innings, however, is exceedingly difficult to come by in conditions like those at Edgbaston or the damp, overcast second day at Lord's, where, according to CricViz's data, the ball swung and seamed twice as much as the global average.

 

In such conditions, with play constantly interrupted by rain, and against one of the masters of swing and seam in James Anderson, 107 was just about par as a first-innings total. With a bit more luck and a couple of instances of better judgment - Pujara's run-out in particular - they might have stretched it to 150.

 

In extremely bowler-friendly conditions, the margin between failure and success can be that small. Go back to India's only win on this cycle of tours, and M Vijay's second-innings masterclass on a Johannesburg pitch of shockingly inconsistent bounce. It yielded him all of 25 runs. Imagine batting with utmost vigilance for more than three hours, leaving painstakingly outside off stump, taking a battering from rising balls, and ending up with just 25.

 

 

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/24389028/india-batting-struggles-england-extreme-conditions

[CG]

Off course Conditions have been bowling friendly In SA With Below 300 Scores.We Have Ourselves to Blame Dropping Philander Cost Us the first Test in SA And Curran At Edgbaston.Costly Mistakes at Pivotal Moments.

[nevada]

India should stop preparing so called "sporting" pitches at home and prepare spinning tracks to destroy and embarrass the opposition, like SL did recently. No more bending over backwards to please gora teams and pathetic attempts to show that their home wins happened in "fair" conditions. Before embarking on an overseas tour, how about a couple of India XI vs Rest of India 5 day games in India itself on super green pitches? Instead of crying about the host country giving flat pitches for practice but juicy wickets in tests, why not prepare solidly at home itself?

 

[Lannister]

33 minutes ago, nevada said:

India should stop preparing so called "sporting" pitches at home and prepare spinning tracks to destroy and embarrass the opposition, like SL did recently. No more bending over backwards to please gora teams and pathetic attempts to show that their home wins happened in "fair" conditions. Before embarking on an overseas tour, how about a couple of India XI vs Rest of India 5 day games in India itself on super green pitches? Instead of crying about the host country giving flat pitches for practice but juicy wickets in tests, why not prepare solidly at home itself?

 

We need to develop our fast bowlers too. So a good mix of rank turners and green pitches should be the ideal combination for our home season test series.

[Lannister]

Batting was always going to be tough on those wickets. We have the capable bowlers to restrict the opposition for similar scores or even less but for some reason we are are hesitating to field 5 specialist bowlers. We don't need Pandya in Test cricket.