All’s not cool with Dhoni’s men

Watching the Indians succumbing to New Zealand in their warm-up match prior to the beginning of the ICC World Twenty20 was frustrating. Is this the team that will embark on a mission to defend the title? It might sound a bit stretched as of now since we are judging a team on the basis of just one match. But, at times it gives warning signals we need to watch out for.

Just to make you clear in the very first place, this piece is supposed to be a curtain raiser for the tournament slated to begin on June 5. Being an Indian, I would obviously do a preview of the tournament from India’s point of view. So, are MS Dhoni’s men ready to defend the title?

A relaxed and cool Dhoni at the press meet in Mumbai before the team’s departure for England was an assuring sign that his men were not feeling any pressure. But honestly speaking, at times being under no pressure leads to a casual approach that can do you in. What was alarmingly striking in the India vs New Zealand match was the body language of the Indian players, be it in the middle or on the field. Except, Rohit Sharma (who seems to have started from where he ended in the Indian Premier League), Suresh Raina and to some extent, Ravindra Jadeja and Ishant Sharma, none of our boys exhibited the energy that he is synonymous with.

And add to it, the injuries to Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan and the indisposition of Yuvraj Singh (he was down with food poisoning) --- three mainstays of the team. Though, the team management has scoffed at the mysteries around their fitness, but to have three unfit players just before the start of a tournament of such magnitude isn’t good news for the Indian team and its fans. Captain cool though upset, doesn’t want to read too much into the defeat. “I am quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I’m not really worried,” he said after the match. But Dhoni himself knows that a win would have done his team’s confidence a world of good.

Interestingly, experts including Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Wasim Akram and some others have hailed Dhoni’s men as the favourites to win the coveted cup. There have been complaints of fatigue from some quarters with the hectic calendar, and if you go by the body language of the players in the first match, that was very much visible. Though, it might be a bit of an exaggeration, conceding so many runs in the last two overs of the Kiwi innings, was a clear-cut example of tiredness on the parts of Irfan Pathan and R P Singh, two of the most successful bowlers in the second edition of the IPL.

The task will be uphill for India. Yes, we are in an easy group (Bangladesh and Ireland are our opponents) and reaching the next stage wouldn’t be a problem hopefully (if not the 2007 World Cup fiasco in West Indies is repeated when India lost to Bangladesh), but the real challenge will be to face the mighty rivals from then onwards. If we look at the strong contenders, all of them are well equipped. Australia has the likes of Ricky Ponting, Andrew Symonds, Michael Clarke, David Hussey, Shane Watson and Brett Lee who can turn things around anytime.

South Africa boasts names like Graeme Smith, Herschelle Gibbs, Jacques Kallis (they are in splendid form), Yusuf Abdullah, T20 specialists like AB De Villers and Jean-Paul Duminy who are dangerous to say the least. The hungry Pakistanis short of international cricket are a rejuvenated lot with the likes of Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Huq, Shoaib Malik, Umar Gul and others. Though they were humbled by the South Africans in their warm-up match, Akram has high hopes from his countrymen and has constantly been harping on the fact that the runners-up of the 2007 edition, cannot be written off.

England will be missing the services of Andrew Flintoff, but with Paul Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen, Ravi Bopara and Dimitri Mascarenhas, it will be a force to reckon with under home conditions. As for the rest like Sri Lanka, West Indies and New Zealand, they are full of T20 masters who can change the fate of a match at the drop of a hat. Well, all the above-mentioned teams won’t be at the stage after the group matches are over, as some of them are in the same group, but, it certainly won’t be a cakewalk for India.

But why are we being so critical of our team? Isn’t our team strong enough? Of course, it is. On paper and even beyond that, it certainly is the best and I don’t sound biased. Look at our team: Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Ishant, Harbhajan Singh, Rohit Sharma, Raina, Sehwag and others. What else do we need? But there are problems aplenty and certainly tiredness is one of the major factors which have led to the injuries to Sehwag and Zaheer. And the poor form of Gambhir who was hugely successful in the first T20 World Cup is good enough to worry Dhoni more.

The presence of Zaheer is indispensable as Ishant and he have been the spearheads of the Indian bowling attack over the last one year or so. Harbhajan isn’t in good form either as the IPL proved and he has to strike back. In the batting department, it is important for Gambhir-Sehwag to fire as that would make the middle-order’s job easier, but it is imperative for Yuvraj to be consistent. His erratic form at times puts too much of pressure on others.

It will be also interesting to note what combination Dhoni and Indian coach Gary Kirsten go for. After Yuvraj and Sehwag are back, they have to work on the batting line-up and the axe could fall on Yusuf Pathan, with Rohit and Raina in such great form. And to close in on the right combination will also be one of the challenges before the team management.

The rest of the teams have lesser problems and the spirit exemplified by the Kiwis against India is a proof of that. Also, most of them haven’t played the amount of cricket that our boys have. So, we need to watch out for opponents fresher and raring to go. There could however be a line of argument in favour of the Indian team. Some may say that it is too early to make any definitive assessment. It was perhaps a part of strategy not to expose all the cards before the tournament begins. An assessment may be made after all the warm-up matches are over. But that can only be a speculation.

If you are a fan of Indian cricket, you must be cursing yourself for wasting your time behind reading this article that has only negative things to say about our team. Well, to counter it, this is an endeavour to make you face reality. And the reality is: we are not in the best shape now. Having said this, yours truly will be the happiest person, if he is proved wrong when Dhoni lifts the cup on June 21 at Lord’s.

And that will be the perfect reply to this slam job, if at all it is one.