TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

India top-order needs to stick to its batting DNA

by Subramaniam Badrinath • Last updated on

Dhawan needs to quickly start playing percentage cricket and leave out his limited-overs instincts. © AFP

It was all too familiar, the anguish on the face of the Indian captain after the first Test between India and South Africa in Cape Town. 2018 got off to a rather challenging start for an Indian team that's looking to conquer the world and prove why they're No. 1.

What the Indian batsmen faced in Cape Town was something exceptional. Arguably, the best fast bowling attack in world cricket on a helping Newlands track. Even with Dale Steyn missing a significant a portion of the match, the attack was more than a handful for India's batsmen. Any technical flaw that existed was neatly threaded by Philander.

Strangely, though, a couple of technical flaws were manufactured for this series itself. Murali Vijay invariably stands as one of India's most important players given he fronts the batting line-up. On foreign tours, where India often find themselves in challenging conditions, Vijay's ability to see off the new ball and leave deliveries outside the off stump becomes all the more critical.

His technique has found him success so far, so it was strange that he had taken an offstump guard. That almost meant he had to play at most deliveries, taking away strength - the reason for his success on away tours has been his ability to know where the off stump is and letting the balls go outside the off stump. An added shuffle further to the offside meant he became a candidate for LBW, and was even given out once against Vernon Philander, before being reprieved by DRS.

Vijay, along with Cheteshwar Pujara, are key components in this Indian batting line-up which is otherwise filled with stroke makers. It is important for these two to stick to their DNA and play balls or may be time and let the others play around them.

The Philander set up to get rid of Virat Kohli was the most impressive. He outlined, during his post-match conference, that the plan was to bowl around 15 away swingers to Kohli and draw him across, before getting one to swing in and trap him in front. The plan worked like a charm. The ball before Kohli was dismissed, Philander went a little wide of the stumps and bowled outside the offstump. The next delivery, he came back in closer and had the ball coming back in. The movement was just enough to beat Kohli. Philander was so confident that he didn't even bother to turn around to appeal. It was a perfectly planned dismissal, and in a nutshell summed up the kind of skill India would constantly be up against.

The South African seamers seem to have sorted Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma out well. They have definite plans and fields that they are bowling to and it is working well. Morne Morkel gets 40% of his wickets against the left-handers and it's no rocket science that he is going to come at Dhawan from around the stumps with an odd short ball at the throat. Dhawan has to start playing percentage cricket and leave alone the habits like tucking a single away, going for the big square drive boundary etc, which are typical limited-over habits.

One big takeaway for India from Cape Town would be to identify the scoring areas. It was amazing that in such a fast-scoring, albeit low-scoring, Test, the majority of the runs were scored in boundaries. Most of the boundaries came square of the wicket, too. It's quite simple ... there is constant lateral movement and bounce, so the percentage scoring options would be of the horizontal bat shots. We saw just that in the two counter-attacking innings that were played in the Test, by AB de Villiers and Hardik Pandya.

It's vital to be positive on tracks like these. A batsman can be felled by a great delivery anytime and making your time at the crease counts. The Indians looked tentative, especially in the 2nd innings when they up against a small tricky total.

Being the number one team in the world means putting the national flag on foreign soil, and this year is going to pose plenty of challenges as they aim to do that. The result might not always be in their favour, but it is important to put some processes in place - who are the men who are going to consistently do the job outside of home venues, outside of their comfort zones. It is important to identify and back them and most importantly not get carried away by limited-overs form and transcend it into Test cricket.

The Indians have their task cut out and lot to think about before the next Test, on what most likely will be another helping track for the pacers. Technically, mentally and even selection-wise, the right calls will have to be made.

© Cricbuzz

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