India's historic problem with mopping up tails

[Texan]

Why do you think our bowlers just can't get rid of tail-end batsmen as effectively as dismissing top order batsmen. This is a particularly bad problem at home where we actually do get through the top order pretty quickly! Your views...

[tweaker]

The team management does not have any plans to dismiss tailenders.We have lost many matches becase of the spirited fightback by tailender.

[cowboysfan]

I sure wish we had Yadav in the team,this series would have much worse for the aussies.

[NareshK]

In our domestic cricket, tail enders dont put up much of a fight and give their wickets away. So our bowlers tend to relax a bit sub consciously when they bowl against tail enders in international cricket and dont bowl the same way as they do against top order batsmen. When they dont give their wicket away and start rotating the strike, they get frustrated easily.

[Ultimate_Game]

Inability to dismiss lower order has been our bane since time immemorial. We had likes of Ian Smith & Hadlee score big 100s when we had kiwis on the mat in 80s, took top order wkts cheaply on countless occasions in 90s, allowed Pak to escape from 26/6 (Kolkatta 99) and 39/6 (Pakistan in 2006) etc. Main reason for that is that we lack bowling firepower. We mostly had one or two gun bowlers and they were already exhausted by the time they took top order out and got no support at all from their colleagues. Couple of out & out pacers would help as well as there's nothing better than likes of Wasim, Waqar, Ambrose, Steyn etc. charging in against the tail.

[fineleg]

Inability to dismiss lower order has been our bane since time immemorial. We had likes of Ian Smith & Hadlee score big 100s when we had kiwis on the mat in 80s' date= took top order wkts cheaply on countless occasions in 90s, allowed Pak to escape from 26/6 (Kolkatta 99) and 39/6 (Pakistan in 2006) etc. Main reason for that is that we lack bowling firepower. We mostly had one or two gun bowlers and they were already exhausted by the time they took top order out and got no support at all from their colleagues. Couple of out & out pacers would help as well as there's nothing better than likes of Wasim, Waqar, Ambrose, Steyn etc. charging in against the tail.

India will never get a Wasim Akram or Waqar/Ambrose or Steyn/Morkel. So, this is the way it will be - they will allow tail to score 60-80 runs more and we can only hope Indian batsmen can compensate for that extra 60-80 It is indeed frustrating that nearly every series, the tail wags big time against India PS: Hadlee is a genuine allrounder and Ian Smith is not a tailender.

[Ultimate_Game]

India will never get a Wasim Akram or Waqar/Ambrose or Steyn/Morkel. So, this is the way it will be - they will allow tail to score 60-80 runs more and we can only hope Indian batsmen can compensate for that extra 60-80 It is indeed frustrating that nearly every series, the tail wags big time against India PS: Hadlee is a genuine allrounder and Ian Smith is not a tailender.

When you have a team tottering at 70 odd for 7 you do expect your bowlers to take out likes of Smith & Hadlee. They weren't bunnies with the bat but hardly the sort of batsmen who will score big 100s against a decent bowling attack. If we don't unearth good bowlers we will continue to be in the same boat.

[adi B]

3 yorkers.simple

[Laaloo]

I sure wish we had Yadav in the team' date='this series would have much worse for the aussies.[/quote'] ++ Yadav would have been very handy in mopping up the tail. Not only India, but a lot of teams these days have a huge problem in mopping up the tail. Remember the pakis with all their phaast bowlers couldnt get peterson out last series :hysterical::hysterical: You need a true fast bowler to mop up the tail.

[vvvslaxman]

Nowadays all teams struggle against tail.. Not just India.

[Sidhoni]

We didn't need a genuinely quick bowler to clean up the tail in this match, spinners should have done it.

[Ultimate_Game]

Nowadays all teams struggle against tail.. Not just India.

But not to the same extent and as consistently as India.

[Crookbond]

In this Test match (in particular), Warne/Reeve in their lunch time analysis told how tailenders are more likely to make runs on this pitch than middle order batsmen.

[Texan]

Nowadays all teams struggle against tail.. Not just India.

Only partially agree. India struggles most against the tail, though it is also true that tail-end batsmen practice batting much more nowadays than in the past and possess decent batting techniques. However, if you look at the series that just got over between India-Australia, you will notice that the Indian tail hardly put up a fight, even when the top order had put lots of runs on the board. In Mohali, for example, Australia was able to quickly mop up our tail using tactics like bowling the ball with a scrambled seam, which means they're thinking about how to get lower skilled batsmen out. With Indian bowlers though, they just tend to relax after the top order is out of the way. Either something is lacking with their thinking or the team management isn't spending enough time on brainstorming about how to address this.

[Texan]

In this Test match (in particular)' date=' Warne/Reeve in their lunch time analysis told how tailenders are more likely to make runs on this pitch than middle order batsmen.[/quote'] But our tail-enders did not make many runs.

[Texan]

took top order wkts cheaply on countless occasions in 90s' date=' allowed Pak to escape from 26/6 (Kolkatta 99) and 39/6 (Pakistan in 2006) etc. [/quote'] These are perfect examples that I still remember. What's worse, we lost both these matches!

[Ultimate_Game]

These are perfect examples that I still remember. What's worse' date=' we lost both these matches![/quote'] Yup. Can you believe that we couldn't finish off the job when we had opponents down for the count. Another example is the Mohali Test against Pak in 2005-06 where we had to take Razzaq or Akmal for an easy win and we couldn't break through the entire day.

[Sooda]

Not sure about historically.. but nowadays Field tends to spread and get defensive as soon as a tailender hits a few lusty blows and then it gradually gets easier for him to score runs. I think its fair to say for top order batsmen MSD generally retains aggressive fields for (a little?) longer, perhaps expecting tailenders to run out of luck/steam and not be good enough to score alot with the bat soon and hence decides to contain runs rather than go for the wicket...given that a lot of them are not mugs with the bat they end up score good runs against us Of course having a good yorker bowler will help, it does not have to be at express pace.

[G_B_]

India have lacked that pacer which can topple over the tail. Thats always been our problem.

[Brainfade]

They just want to make matches more interesting, and prolong them so spectators get their money's worth. Also, their naturally hospitable outlook does not allow them to totally humiliate their "athithis." They just toy around with them a bit, let them regain a tiny bit of their pride before putting the finishing touches on them!