Focus on India's batting in the Paarl sequel

There are two perspectives to review India’s defeat in the first ODI. The first is the failure of the set batters – Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli - to seal the deal. The second is the middle-order failing to do the heavy lifting “yet again”. It is important to align oneself to one of the perspectives for proper diagnosis. Though neither of them is the absolute truth or is completely false.

Let us tackle the obvious one first. In the 2019 World Cup, Indian batters hit a total of seven centuries in nine games. The openers scored all of these. And at number three, Kohli averaged 55.4. No other team had a more settled and threatening top-order. The top three contributed in almost every game and India finished at the pole position on the league table. But then, the campaign culminated with a top-order collapse in the semi-final that exposed the undercooked and mismanaged middle-order. 

Now, looking at the bigger picture, if India are to avoid such a situation again, the obvious thing to do is to have the middle-order face pressure situation as many times as possible before a need for them to lift the team arises at a crucial juncture in 2023. In that regard, it was for the benefit of the team that Dhawan and Kohli could not finish the job in the first ODI. However, it will be false to say that the middle-order failed “yet again”.

Since after the 2019 World, Indian batters from positions four to seven have played with a rate better than their contemporaries in any of the top-10 nations. They have averaged second only to those from New Zealand.

If we look at the last four ODI series before the current one, only once did India have their regular opening pair of Dhawan and Rohit Sharma. It was against England in March in 2021 that India won 2-1. Neither Dhawan nor Rohit was available against New Zealand in February 2020 (India lost 3-0) and Rohit missed the ODIs against Australia in November 2021 (India lost 2-1) and against Sri Lanka in July 2021 (India won 2-1).

In the absence of the regular opening batters a solid start has been a rarity. India’s middle-order stepped up with Shreyas Iyer scoring a century in New Zealand while KL Rahul doing so in Australia in addition to one in New Zealand. However, India suffered heavy defeats in both the series because unlike in the World Cup, the top-order failed to contribute. But, there was more than enough calibre shown by the middle-order which was not fruitful without a solid foundation.

Things were different in the first ODI. Dhawan and Kohli laid a solid foundation and India were cruising. Dhawan did not expect the ball to turn as much as it did and Kohli got out to a shot that is not natural to him but he seems to be developing as an option to improve his rate of scoring against spin. While one of the perspectives pin India’s defeat to these two not seeing them through, 140-odd needed with 21-plus overs to go and seven wickets in hand, was not as difficult a chase as the batters that followed made it seem. 

Dhawan did point out that the pitch was not easy for the incoming batters. But, who is to say that in a do-or-die match in the next World Cup, India will not lose a top-order wicket against the run of play on a slightly tricky wicket, leaving the middle-order to polish off the remaining 40-50% runs. It was heartening to hear Dhawan accepting that there will be such losses along the way while the team refines itself for the bigger picture. Maybe India will be better prepared with a few glitches in these bilateral encounters enroute to an ICC event. 

The unsung Protea

South Africa had a dismal 2019 World Cup. The biggest positive to come out was the emergence of Rassie van der Dussen. Since that tournament, he has been among the most prolific run-getters in the format. He was also South Africa’s leading run-scorer in the recent T20 World Cup.

His first ODI ton, a 134-ball 121, against Pakistan in Centurion last year ended in heartbreak after a last-ball finish. But, his sublime 129 in the first ODI against India was the gulf the visitors failed to sail over. His sweep shots to spin neutralized India’s strengths while his strike rate of 127.6 against pace ensured Temba Bavuma’s rather sedate century did not affect the momentum of the innings. “Generally, the wicket is quite slow here. I tried reverse sweeps, a few of them came off, got off to a flyer” is how he summarized his approach. This was also a product of a conscious upskilling of their game against spin undertaken since The Proteas travelled to Sri Lanka in 2021.

Probable XIs

Same venue and no injury concerns increase the likelihood of neither side making any changes to their XI. This is truer for South Africa given their convincing win in what Bavuma described as a “complete performance”.

Just a day’s gap might make India think about Jasprit Bumrah’s workload. Though, a must-win game might sway them towards the contrary. While there might be no change in the XI, it must by now be clear that despite having no Test centuries against his name, Shardul Thakur is definitely a better all-round batter than Ravichandran Ashwin who has been one spot too high at seven throughout the tour. 

India: Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul (c), Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Rishabh Pant (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Shardul Thakur, Ravichandran Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah/Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

South Africa: Janneman Malan, Quinton de Kock (wk), Aiden Markram, Temba Bavuma (c), Rassie van der Dussen, David Miller, Andile Phehlukwayo, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi