http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mahendra-Singh-Dhoni-c73820 concerned about bowling failure
The abysmal bowling performance by the Indian team in the first test of the three match series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 played at the Supersport Park in Centurion has greatly worried their captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
The wicket-keeper batsman was disappointed by the substandard bowling that leaked runs at nearly 5 runs per over (RPO), as the hosts plundered their way to an imposing first innings total of 620/4 declared. After
their convincing performance, they were not required to bat again despite a great comeback by the Indian batsmen in the second innings.
Dhoni, who has to find a better bowling combination for the second test of the series starting at Durban’s Kingsmead from the Boxing Day, lamented the performance at Centurion and called for a disciplined effort
in the second test.
"You're supposed to either take wickets or not let the opposition score at five runs an over in a Test match," Dhoni said.
"The conditions are difficult out here, it's not like in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 where it's turning and the ball doesn't come on. So you can tie the batsmen down and not let them score at a brisk pace. But over here scoring is quite easy, in the sense once you're set, the
ball comes on nicely and you can score on both sides of the wicket. So that's also an area of concern. Even our scoring-rate, despite us losing wickets, was quite good. So that means, the only way out is to take wickets”.
The distraught captain added that the bowlers had to hit the right line, length on the South African pitches, as the ball travels quickly on the outfield, and thus bad balls are always taken for runs. He conceded
that his bowlers are not express pace and can only rely on discipline and some help from the wicket for success.
Dhoni felt that the wicket had eased off considerably on day two after the tourists were knocked over for 136 runs in the first innings when the ball jagged around significantly under overcast and moist conditions.
"It was difficult because there was not much help from the wicket. Our bowlers are not express quick. They don't generally bowl over 140-plus. They have to be very precise with their line and length. We tried
different fields. We tried to work around their bowling aspects, which, more often than not, will work with a set batsman.
We tried to contain them but it was not successful for a period of time. Another area of worry is the over-rate because we were five-and-a-half overs down at one stage," he said.
Dhoni hopes that his bowling spearhead, Zaheer Khan would return for the Durban test. Zaheer sat out the Centurion one due to a hamstring injury, yet reports from Indian camp indicate that he has recovered well
and will take the field at Kingsmead.
His presence is pivotal to India’s chances as they hope to make a comeback in the three match series; a defeat in the second test is going to cost them the series besides putting additional pressure on their ranking
as the top test team in the world.
The onus is on them to fight back and make the series competitive, many experts of the game have already written them off especially due to the lack of bite in their bowling resources.
However, one plus for India is that they are traditionally slow starters, yet they hit their stride in the second test match of a series and Graeme Smith’s men would certainly be keeping an eye out for that.
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