India's Tailspin Towards A Crashdive

 

 

Cricket 2014

 

The Indian Tailspin

 

August 16^th 2014

 

457, 391-9d, 295, 342, 330, 178, 152, 161, 148, …

That is the series of Indian scores during this series. It is a steady downward progression and suggests that England may not need many more than 300 to win this match by an innings. India, who looked so imperious for two and a half Tests are, increasingly resembling the unconvinced masochist who can only whimper “please make it stop”. Their surrender in the second innings at the Ageas Bowl seems to have knocked all the fight out of them: since then things have only got worse.

Although England had good bowling conditions and a helpful pitch, India had the same later in the day and, while India were 62-6, England are 62-0 and batting with some assurance. If Robson and Cook can see out the first hour, big runs will be there for the taking. Sam Robson, in particular, has come in for some fearful stick since his century against Sri Lanka and, with Alex Hales making an ever-stronger case to play in all three formats for England, Robson desperately needs a century and will know that there is a strong likelihood that this will be his only innings in this Test in which to hang on to his place. Those who have followed County Cricket for years and, particularly Middlesex, know that as far back as 2011 those who knew him felt that he would be a fine Test player. Despite a century against Sri Lanka, his struggles have been obvious.

For the Caribbean series there is a strong probability that some players will be rested and others tried out. It would be no surprise to see both Hales and Robson competing there for the opening spot in the Ashes and Anderson and Broad rested, with Steve Finn asked to lead the attack along with Woakes, Jordan and Plunkett. Certainly, Jordan and Woakes have done a lot to answer their critics in this game; both are still learning their trade at this level and need the experience. I would be prepared to lay a small bet that Woakes will announce himself with a second innings 5-for in an innings win.

For India, it is hard to know where they can go from here with a series against Australia coming up. After encouraging series in South Africa and New Zealand, this has not been a great confidence-inducer. The batting looks terribly fragile, although lower-order runs have helped to massage the evidence a little – the 10^th wicket partnership brought some respectability to the Indian score here – and the bowling has looked less and less penetrative as the series has progressed. Worse still, when chances have been made, as often as not they have been missed and the lack of DRS has, undoubtedly, hurt India badly. India’s slip cordon has cost the side several hundred runs in dropped chances. As things have started to go wrong, heads have dropped. MS Dhoni has done his job with the bat and, early in the series, showed some inventive captaincy but, now, his unwillingness to move for chances that fly between the ‘keeper and first slip and his increasing immobility have hurt his side as much as Matt Prior’s did.

For England, the series is turning out to be sweet and sour. Players such as Jos Buttler and Liam Plunkett have bedded in as first choices. Ballance has been brilliant and Cook, Bell, Anderson and Broad recovered. Woakes and Jordan are bedding in, but India have been so poor in the last three Tests that it is hard to assess where England are really in their recovery process. However, you can only beat what is in front of you and winning this series 3-1 seemed a long way away after the Lords Test: in fact, after Lords, 3-0 to India looked the most likely result. Those who rubbish the England win will conveniently forget that India came into the series with some confidence, pointing to their last two away series and the betting was on a shared series with five draws. India certainly did not look so poor two months ago, but a rejuvenated England side is making them look very poor indeed.