An elephant has 2 sets of teeth – one for eating and the other to show the world – old Indian proverb.

True, a cricket match cannot be won by the sentiments of the billion plus Indians who are, in themselves, the greatest experts of the game! It still remains a mystery as to why a man who has conceded over 160 runs in less than 30 overs while grabbing 4 wickets at an average of 40 to some of the weakest cricketing nations is still an integral part of this Indian cricket team. Yes, it is Piyush Chawla. I am one of those who was, and still is, screaming hoarse about the inclusion of arguably the weakest link in the bowling line-up that has been put up to face some of the strongest sides. It is even more disconcerting when the wise men seem to turn a blind eye to this man’s repeated failures! Every talk show before and after the match results in many exponents predicting that Chawla is clearly on his way out, or atleast requires to do much more to play another game in this World Cup! But, alas, all these have fallen on deaf ears, and the think tank insists
 on playing match after match, where even the ‘minnowest of the minnows’ dare to take on the team that is ‘Numero Uno’ in one day cricket. But Chawla has done something very special! With his poor performance in each match, what he has done is to take away all the media glare from an extremely lacklustre Harbhajan, who is surprisingly touted as India’s number one off spinner! True, Bhajji has been a great performer for India over the past decade, but does it put him above question? Is the role of a spinner in the Indian cricket team to curtail the flow of runs or to run through the opposition’s batting line up? For a tournament of this stature and in this country, I would say it’s the latter. Which brings us to the question of the tournament – is Chawla being retained to protect Bhajji? Or is the confidence in him justified as ‘just a temporary drop in form’?

An elephant has 2 sets of teeth – one for eating and the other to show the world – old Indian proverb!

A strategic blooper and the way forward!

While most of us are wise in hindsight, the strategy behind going in with 7 batsmen
and 4 bowlers was unclear to all. It is plain logic to think that if your top six batsmen
are not able to put up a good total for you, how much value the seventh one can add
remains debatable. Still, the Indian think tank went ahead, and on a batting paradise at
Bangalore, ended up wasting a perfectly good opportunity to pocket 2 points. India had
lost just 3 wickets till the end of the 46th over – does the team still expect the 7th batsman
to contribute in this scenario? If so, what is the expectation? True, the side folded up with
a ball to spare by going from 3-305 to 10-338. But, that was possibly due to the large
number of batsmen in the line-up with each one thinking that someone else would take
charge if he got out. Something that would have been avoided had the team retained only
6 batsmen.

One day cricket is about restriction, restricting the opposition to as less a total as possible.
This, in turn, means that you must have atleast 2-3 thinking bowlers in your line up to
ensure optimisation. Another question one would ask is why was a rookie like Chawla
given a go-ahead of other alternatives like Sreesanth or Ashwin. His line and length left
much to be desired and he appeared hassled at all times. A pitch of this nature requires
bowlers to outthink the opposition, something which was lacking in all Indian bowlers.
Relatively, the English batsmen outthought and outplayed the lackadaisical bowling
attack for most part of the game till faltering at the very end. Not by some special
bowling, but by some poor shot selection.

True, all is not lost! But it will be, if the game plan is of this nature. A better solution
would be to go in with a 6-5 combination, which will definitely lend more balance to the
team. It would be a good option to play Ashwin in place of Harbhajan/ Yusuf and Suresh
Raina in place of Yuvraj/ Kohli in the match against Ireland to see how they cope up
with the big occasion. The bench strength of this team is great on paper and we must test
them on the field. Else, team India will continue to snatch such defeats from the jaws of
victories!