India’s batsmen are just not doing enough to tackle their weakness against the short ball, write espnstar.com’s Rajarshi Gupta.

In the moments of euphoria after India’s win in the first ODI against the West Indies, where a stunning Yuvraj Singh hundred guided MS Dhoni’s men to an unconvincing win, a vital point of concern remained unaddressed.

Indians are susceptible to the shorter ones and in an era of the pocket internet, word spreads fast.

Technical deficiencies do not go away like an ill tide. Agreed. But the least the Indians could have done was show some kind of gravity in the face of such tactics. They were badly found out in England and came under heavy fire and they seemed no better in the second ODI in Kingston last night. The pitch had no evils in it, though there was a bit of movement early on off the air and not so much off the pitch, as has come to be expected on Caribbean tracks.

Karthik prodded, Gambhir looked rash, Sharma could not care less and Ravinder Jadeja, just does not seem to belong there yet. Jerome Taylor and Ravi Rampaul, were made to look like devils steaming in with a white weapon of mass destruction.

It was eventually left to Dhoni and his deputy, Yuvraj to control the massive damage. With three down for eight inside the first three overs, the Indian team was doomed unless the power guns stepped up.

Yuvraj tried to wage a lonely battle, striking at more than a run a ball for his 35 while Dhoni played the “responsible captain’s” role to near perfection but that could never have been enough, not after Yuvi departed.

Yusuf Pathan is the kind of player who can rip an attack apart on his days, more so when he has about 12 overs in the death to cause mayhem, not when he has to keep company and keep rotating the strike. He cannot be blamed and his duck would have hurt the team but such are the gambles of the game.
 
RP Singh taught his colleagues a lesson in patience with his knock. He walked in when India had lost eight wickets for less than 100 runs and walked back, having added 101 runs with his captain, who was unfortunate to perish for 95.

Despite that first match triumph, the pangs of frustration were not easy to miss.

Look at the real issue, skipper

Dhoni cried hoarse over how his bowlers and fielders started to relax after sending back seven of the Windies to the cosy comfort of the dressing room and how costly that could have been for his team, scraped past as they did by 20 runs in the end. The Indian captain would have done well to also take a sneak peak at his batsmen though they amassed 339 runs off their 50 overs on Friday.

A flat track, some unimaginative bowling and sheer lethargy on the field by the West Indians joined forces with Yuvraj’s immaculate stroke-play and Dinesh Karthik’s grit helped the sub-continental giants to a total that seemed almost insurmountable.

Windies cruise to easy win

However, it was the key men who failed that should have given the team the jitters. Gautam Gambhir looked like getting some of his rhythm back before he threw it away and Rohit Sharma left no stone unturned to once again demonstrate his weakness against the short-ball. Both batsmen had their feet glued to their crease and paid the price for not getting under the ball.

There was a lot to introspect between Friday and Sunday but clearly someone somewhere is just not thinking right.

The bowlers, to be honest, have not hit the bull’s eye yet. The batsmen are struggling and Dhoni seems to have got his thinking cap wrong. With an all-rounder like Abhishek Nayar waiting in the wings of the change rooms, maybe it would make sense to give him a look-in. Who knows what new tricks and inspiration he can bring from his kitty.

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