Poll: Should India play 4 fast bowlers in Australia

On a flat pitch, the Australians cruised past India’s total of 309/3 in the opening ODI of the five-match series at the WACA ground in Perth. The skipper lamented a “very bad day” for his spinners after the tourists failed to defend this big total on a docile Perth pitch in the five-wicket defeat to the home side on Tuesday.

Injuries to fast bowlers Mohammed Shami and Mohit Sharma have blunted India’s attack for the five-match series and on the eve of the first contest, Dhoni spoke of the need for someone to step up to the mark if one of his bowlers had an off day. Unfortunately, two of his most dependable bowlers had a miserable day leaving him disappointed.

Dhoni had banked on his frontline spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja using a tight line to prevent the Australian batsmen from scoring freely. However, both spinners were powerless to prevent Steve Smith and George Bailey from hammering hundreds as they stitched together a 242-run stand for the third wicket that took the match out of India’s hands.

The feature of the partnership was the assault on the Indian spinners. The 9 overs from the 17th one witnessed 76 runs as the two batsmen played positive cricket. Ashwin and Jadeja bowled poor lines with no assistance from a batting paradise. Rohit Sharma was surprisingly given an over by Dhoni ahead of the spin-duo but that experiment leaked 11 runs. This was after Umesh Yadav had bowled three tight overs.

India will need to think long and hard about the team composition as playing two spinners on this pitch seemed a wrong move and it ultimately proved that way. Ishant Sharma with his back of the length line would have been a better option since the Indian seamers did well but the skipper later said he was kept out of the squad since he had a finger injury. A look at the spells by the 3 fast bowlers gives a fair indication of what India missed in defending the target.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave 42 runs from 9 overs bowling tight line and lengths. He went under 5 runs per over which was highly commendable on such a surface. Yadav conceded runs at 5.40 from his ten overs bowling at a good clip. The bowler of the day for India was undoubtedly the debutant left-arm pacer Barinder Sran who gave an ideal platform by dismissing both Australian openers cheaply to reduce the hosts to 21-2. His figures read 9.2 overs, 56 runs and 3 wickets as he picked up the Aussie skipper in the last over of the innings.

The spin duo, though, gave 129 runs from 18 overs that ultimately proved the difference. The offie was spanked for 68 off his 9 overs while the left-arm spinner conceded 61 from an equal number of over going wicket-less. Though Ashwin picked up two late wickets, it just delayed the inevitable as the home side was always in command of the run-chase. On a pitch with no spin on offer, the Indian spinners looked clueless while the fast bowlers bowled back of the length and generally kept the batsmen in check.

The visitors could have utilized the seam bowling all-rounder Rishi Dhawan a chance to showcase his skills. On pitches that offer no or little help to bowlers, India has usually struggled. This was evident in the ODI series at home against South Africa. Six batsmen look sufficient on batting pitches and more so against an inexperienced home side attack in this series. What India needs is a better bowling to compete against a strong Australian batting lineup.

The surfaces Down Under will be more or less similar to the one witnessed in Perth and spinners will have their task cut out in every game. A change in the strategy seems to be the need of the hour and we would like to know from fans if the ‘Men in Blue’ should opt for an extra pacer and do away with one spinner.

[interaction id=”56965be494a522de05808e6f”]