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Business News/ News / Business Of Life/  Overseas blues return to Indian cricket
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Overseas blues return to Indian cricket

The win at Lord's has been buried by two defeats in India's ongoing Test series in England. Dhoni's team just seems to be repeating history

Dhoni’s defensive mindset may be one reason for the team’s failure in the ongoing Test series. Photo: Jon Super/AP Premium
Dhoni’s defensive mindset may be one reason for the team’s failure in the ongoing Test series. Photo: Jon Super/AP

NEW DELHI :

In Test cricket, India’s abysmal record in overseas conditions is well-documented.

In the past three years though, it has gone from bad to worse. Since that distant 2011 One Day International (ODI) World Cup win, India have played 18 Test matches abroad, winning two, losing 11 and drawing five. India are yet to win a Test series either in Australia or South Africa. There is India’s surprising inability to convert leads: In the 2004 tour of Australia and the 2006 tour of South Africa, India had led 1-0 before capitulating.

This was in stark evidence once again when they failed to hold on to a lead in the current series against England by losing the third Test at Southampton last month, followed by complete humiliation at Old Trafford in Manchester last week. The fifth and last Test, which starts on 15 August at the Oval, will be a crucial opportunity for M.S. Dhoni’s team to reassert themselves and address a chronic problem. A win at the Oval won’t turn the series around now, but they can still save a series defeat.

To accomplish that, they need to fight history. India have won two Test matches in a series only seven times. If you were to shrug off the victories against minnows Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, that number comes down to four. In a remarkable contrast, on home soil India have won two Test matches in a series on 22 occasions and there have been three clean sweeps (4-0 versus Australia in 2013, 3-0 versus Sri Lanka in 1994 and 3-0 versus England in 1993).

Dhoni’s team had raised hopes of an unexpected series win in England when they took a 1-0 lead after winning the Lord’s Test comprehensively. After opting for a marvellously fearless approach of going with five bowlers at Lord’s, India were back to their familiar defensive self when they chose an extra batsman in Rohit Sharma for the Southampton Test. They duly lost.

“It’s an inherently defensive mindset of Indians," says former India player and now commentator Maninder Singh. “Dhoni showed the right intent by not only insisting but also playing five bowlers and they won the first Test. Then, he perhaps thought that if he could manage to draw the remaining three Tests, a series victory was assured, but he forgot that nowadays teams rarely play for a draw and we paid the price," says Singh, who played a pivotal role in India’s last 2-0 win away from the subcontinent almost three decades ago.

It’s not the first time India had the opportunity to extend a lead. Rahul Dravid famously refused to be bold despite a first innings lead of 319 in the Oval Test of 2007; he didn’t ask England to follow on and played an embarrassing 12-run innings in 96 balls to ensure a dull draw which gave India its first series win after a gap of 21 years.

India didn’t go for the kill with five bowlers despite having a 1-0 lead on India’s tour of England in 2007. “Dravid got defensive and it was understandable since we hadn’t won a series for over two decades, so perhaps that move was justified," argues former player Chandu Borde, the cricket manager on that trip.

During the New Zealand tour of 2009, India again failed to convert the 1-0 lead to 2-0. After winning the first Test match in Hamilton, Indians dominated the third Test at Wellington. But partly due to weather and questionable umpiring decisions, and partly a lack of intent and dropped catches, India allowed the hosts an escape route. India were again content with a series win after 41 years and the wild jubilation in the team seemed to suggest that the margin of win hardly mattered to them.

Dhoni could have been forgiven for not being proactive in New Zealand in 2009 but in Dominica in 2011, he came under fire for his pusillanimity. The Indian captain now had company in Duncan Fletcher, a coach who appears to have the same mindset. History will never forget that the Indian Premier League generation of Indian batsmen didn’t show any interest in chasing 86 runs off 90 balls against a moderate West Indian attack, settling for a tame draw.

India didn’t make any effort to convert their 1-0 lead into 2-0 on that Caribbean tour of 2011 either. Dhoni wouldn’t win a Test match abroad for another three years.

“Kapil Dev used to tell us that go for the kill. He didn’t mind losing if India attempted to win a Test rather than opting for a draw," Singh says. “Dhoni is the opposite. For him Stuart Binny is not a wicket-taking bowler, yet he plays him in two matches. Bizarrely, he asks (R.) Ashwin to contain runs from one end when they play abroad rather than encouraging him to go for a wicket."

Experts say skipper Dhoni can win Tests if he chooses to be ‘adventurous and imaginative’ on the field

He is the most successful Indian captain abroad with 11 wins but if you discard six of those (which came against Zimbabwe and Bangladesh), he too is left with just five laudable wins, the same as Dhoni (again, excluding Bangladesh).

Ganguly, though, did not lose as many matches abroad as Dhoni.

The experts, however, have not lost hope despite the reversal in the last two Test matches in England. “Dhoni’s team has the talent and capability to win the last match and can salvage some pride," says Borde. Remember, they are playing five Test matches in a span of 42 days (also a record).

“It (not winning more than a Test) has to change sooner or later," says Singh. “It was refreshing to see an attacking Dhoni as captain in Lord’s but in the very next match the old Dhoni resurfaced. Although Dhoni cannot win this series, he can win one more Test if he chooses to be as adventurous and imaginative as he was at Lord’s."

In the early 2000s, former Australian captain Steve Waugh inculcated a ruthless approach in his team, instilling the culture of winning every Test, and loathing draws (to say nothing of losses). Australia won 16 Tests in a row twice (once under Waugh and once under Ricky Ponting), unprecedented in the history of cricket.

Dhoni may not aim for such daunting feats but a realistic aim of winning at least a couple of Tests abroad in each series can be a fine beginning for a nation which aspires to dominate world cricket not only off the field but on the field as well.

Vimal Kumar is the author of Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century and deputy sports editor with IBN7.

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Published: 13 Aug 2014, 07:41 PM IST
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