Reality byte: India are a good ODI team, with many ifs and buts

Defeat is a time for introspection, not for breast-beating or witch-hunting; that achieves nothing. The danger is that the agency that should carry out the introspection has been having a shocking couple of weeks with problems over telecast rights, patrons-in-chief, the identity of Australia’s first opponents, the mystery over where they will play and a BJP vs UPA election battle.

So what would a typical introspection of the last two months throw up? The most obvious is that India are a good one-day team when the batsmen are in good form and scoring quickly. Those two often go together. When India’s batsmen put runs on the board, they cover up for inconsistent bowling and strictly average fielding.

India rarely win matches against decent opposition where the bowlers knock the opposition over for 180 and the batsmen get it for the loss of two wickets. India’s best one-day wins in recent times have come when the bowlers conceded 273 against Pakistan in the World Cup, 325 against England in the Natwest Final, 284 against Australia in the VB Series and over 300 against Pakistan in Pakistan.

But when the batsmen are not in great form and India are consequently playing matches where the scores are in the region of 200-220, we lose more often than we win. And the reason is that India cannot defend low scores. For that you need consistent bowling and high quality fielding which make totals of 220 seem like 250 to the side that is chasing.

Even if India get early wickets, like against Pakistan in the oddly named Champions Trophy, there is too much leakage in the system to retain the pressure.

It has long been my theory that good teams play with six bowlers; five that turn their arms over and the fielders collectively acting like the sixth. More wickets are got in one-day cricket out of poor shot making than by great bowling. And therefore teams need to induce poor shot-making.

That can only happen if the easy shots are rendered ineffective. If the dab to cover or the gentle flick to mid-on consistently produce ones, if the shot to deep point invariably gives the batsmen two, they don’t need to try and clear mid-off or play the reverse sweep.

If, on the other hand, the in-field chokes the runs, batsmen will be driven towards the outrageous. That is how fielders generate wickets; by choking the bread-and-butter shots and forcing the batsman towards the exotic. That is why the best one-day teams have at least three brilliant fielders and five excellent ones, two or three who can dive around and four or five who have strong throwing arms and nobody who needs to be hidden in the field.

Till India reach that situation, and under 19 coaches in India are the chief villains, we will remain an inconsistent side that depends on the great skills of the batsmen to win them matches.

Fielding is the easiest skill to master and that is why weak fielding is unforgivable. But India’s bowlers are inconsistent as well.

To have Ajit Agarkar and Ashish Nehra, both capable of being high quality cricketers, in the same side must be a nightmare for the captain because he doesn’t know what to expect. He therefore cannot set the right fields and ends up leaving room for runs in more places than he would like to.

Factor in the reality that India’s batsmen are world class only in certain conditions and there is almost a plea for realism staring at us. Too many things have to be right for India to win. As we know that happens sometimes but to expect it to happen consistently is to be unrealistic.

A team is dependant on the assembly line that produces it. Now, what is happening there? How many votes for the UPA? How many for the BJP?

Can the North recommend a nominee from the East or the West…