Talking Tactics

With the ball gripping and stopping on the pitch,the Indian batsmen couldnt play their favourite on-the-up strokes with any sort of freedom. But they added to their own misery by refusing to tailor their approach to the conditions. Nearly all the wickets came via shots played too far away from or too far in front of the body Virender Sehwag sliced one to point,Yusuf Pathan pushed too early at Pieter Seelaar,Virat Kohli opened the gates of his castle to a Peter Borren off-cutter.

The singles also dried up of all the batsmen,only Gautam Gambhir managed to keep the strike ticking over. His innings ended fairly early,but he reminded critics of his unique worth to the team a busy approach built on quick feet and manipulative hands.

Gambhir scored 14 singles and played out 10 dot balls. The others struggled to rotate the strike see table. In bigger chases against better bowling the wickets are likely to remain slow through the tournament India will need to fine-tune their tactics and rotate the strike more proactively.