KL Rahul wasn’t so generous in his praise for South Africa’s batsmen. Ruturaj Gaikwad lavished praise on Aiden Markram & Co. The common thread that connected India’s stand-in captain and the team’s No. 4 batsman after the defeat in the second ODI in Raipur on Wednesday was dew.
“Not really a (tough one) given how much dew there is and how difficult it is to bowl in the second innings,” Rahul told the host broadcaster at the post-match presentation. “Thought we did well in the last game. Today, the umpires were nice to change the ball. Toss plays a big role so I’m kicking myself (tongue in cheek).”
India have now lost 20 tosses on the spin, giving short shrift to the Probability Theory. And yes, batting second in dewy conditions gave the Proteas a clear advantage. Even Markram admitted that. But there’s no point brooding over it, for the spin of the coin, the way it will land, is something uncontrollable. The way a team prepares for a game, however, is totally under the team management’s control. Did India miss a trick?
More on that later though, for Gaikwad’s comment at the post-match press conference, too, was about the increased degree of difficulty for the Indian bowlers, thanks to the dew factor. “I think first 10-15 overs we bowled really well but after that there was obviously huge amount of dew and because of that, the spinners were slightly out of the game,” said the centurion. “I think after that, every South African batter, whoever came in, chipped in really well, played really well. So, I think a lot of credit goes to them, they batted really well and hats off to them.”
That dew was a serious impediment to the bowlers, especially spinners, was pretty evident. Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar aren’t big turners of the cricket ball, but Kuldeep Yadav is and he too didn’t get any purchase from the pitch because the ball wasn’t gripping. Dew is always going to be a factor at the majority of the venues in the country during this time of the year and the team management must have pre-empted it. From that perspective, maybe it was remiss of the coaching staff not to have all the bowlers present at the team’s practice session on match eve.
Among the fast bowlers, only Harshit Rana was present. The spinners who turned up, Jadeja and Washington, mostly batted at the nets. Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur doesn’t host international matches frequently. It’s not like Wankhede or Chepauk or Eden Gardens, the venues that offer familiarity to the players. The practice session on the match eve was an optional one alright, but from the bowlers’ point of view, it might have helped them get a little more idea about the conditions if they were there a day prior to the match.
The turnaround time between the first ODI and the second was just two days, and maybe the support staff focused more on the recovery process of the fast bowlers. But even a light session probably would have helped get a better feel of the conditions.
Curious tactic
Prasidh Krishna leaked runs for fun. The seamer dismissed Temba Bavuma and more importantly, Matthew Breetzke, but an economy rate north of 10 eventually proved to be costly. Arshdeep Singh gave away 54 runs and accounted for two wickets in his 10 overs, the best bowling performance in the game. Harshit Rana returned with 1/70 from his 10 overs — pretty okay in a high-scoring affair. Prasidh failed to complement them, giving away 85 runs in 8.2 overs. His tactic looked one-dimensional.
It feels like the Karnataka seamer has been told by the team management that any departure from back-of-a-length, hit-the-deck stuff won’t be acceptable. It’s unlikely that the coach and/or captain would make things so regimented for a bowler, but hypothetically even if they do, ultimately it’s down to the player to assess the conditions, show game awareness and adjust accordingly.
On a greasy surface, the deliveries didn’t stick, and the likes of Breetzke and Dewald Brevis, very good back-foot players, feasted on the friendly offerings. When he bowled full, Prasidh trapped a dangerous-looking Breetzke leg before.
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