IPL8 hangover - why are Aussies doing well?

Apologies for the delay in this post - this was due a while ago. I did analyze the statistics of top batsmen and bowlers in IPL8 and did additional calculations in terms of Rotation Rate and Boundary Ratio for batsmen and a combination of Economy, Strike Rate and Average for bowling.

Batting statistics

The list is dominated by Australians and West Indians followed by South Africans and the lone Black Cap (McCullum). Of course, there are a number of Indians but quite a few of them are not in the reckoning of the national cap (not yet at least). The likes of Gayle, McCullum and Dwayne Smith are good in boundaries but not so great in rotating the strike - no wonder, their teams failed at the last hurdle(s). Similarly, someone like Murali Vijay and Faf Du Plessis do well in rotating the strike but not hitting boundaries.

The batsmen who have done well in both rotation of strike and striking boundaries (more than 60% in both) are the likes of Kieron Pollard, Andre Russell, AB De Viliers, Rohit Sharma, Yusuf Pathan, Parthiv Patel (really!), David Warner. These are the players who are really doing well and have starred for their teams within IPL and have the potential to do well for their team (sadly for Pollard and Russell, they are currently considered for T20 version alone).

Bowling statistics

The bowling charts also show the similar pattern in terms of representations from countries (West Indies and Australians). The bowlers who have done well on all three counts (Economy Rate, Strike Rate, Average) are highlighted from Green to Red (with gradients). The ones in green or color close to it are Moses Henriques and Mitchell Starc, Yajurvendra Chahal, Dwayne Bravo, Lasith Malinga, Harshal Patel. The Indians, again, are not there in the national reckoning just like Henriques. It is surprising to see that despite appearing in both the lists above, Henriques and Russell are not getting the recognition within their teams in the way they deserve to be.

Will this year change this pattern?
With respect to the title, do I need to add anything more?
I would go to the extent of making Australia favorites to win the next World T20

IPL 8 - Match 1 - KKR post tenth win in a row

The KKR bandwagon seems to be rolling with the team clinching their tenth win in a row. While the target was a bit steep, the firepower that KKR has in store enabled the team reach the target in ease.

2015 World Cup - interactive statistics

For those who liked my post on the semifinals that contained insights about the bowlers and batsmen, here is an interactive chart where you can select your own players and countries to see how they performed

Batting Chart

Bowling Chart

Hope you enjoy!

2015 World Cup - India's campaign ends in semis

Hopefully, this is not the image that you want to remember as MS Dhoni's last walk back in a World Cup match. He himself has not ruled out a possible appearance in 2019 but let us see. Dhoni reminded me today of the Bollywood legend, Amitabh Bachchan in 1990's. Why is that?

When Amitabh made his entry into films, he made it big thanks to the combined efforts of directors (Manmohan Singh, Yash Chopra, Prakash Mehra), writers (Salim-Javed) and music directors (RD Burman, Laxmikant-Pyarelal). Hits after hits rained from Amitabh because of this combination. Slowly script-writers split, directors lost their touch, music directors faded away - Amitabh continued to make his impact because of his skill and presence. In the 1990's, things came to such a stage that Amitabh was expected to carry off any role without any backing of script, music or direction. This led to movies which flopped and the halo of Amitabh started vanishing. The legend then went into a self-imposed exile and reappeared in a new avatar to continue his legacy. I wish MSD will also make a comeback in similar vein to take India to new horizons - a supremely fit India that does not fear any team, any where in the world and capable of emulating the 80's Windies and Australians (of the new millennium).

For Indian fans, the campaign came to a screeching halt thanks to one man who terrorized the Indians throughout their stay Down Under - Steve Smith. Without him, Finch would not have been able to settle down without worrying about the run-rate or the state of the match. Without Smith, the Australians would not have been able to build a platform that made the latter batsmen throw their bats around with gay abandon. Steve Smith also contributed to the DRS review of Ajinkya Rahane during Indian innings as well as a catch. What a thorn he has been for the Indians this season?

The Indian bowlers did a good job by picking wickets regularly in the final phase and restricting their target, without being able to replicate their 70/70 performance in the first seven matches. Some of the bad practices that were visible before the World Cup (one poor ball in the over going for a boundary) appeared back. Shami could not make any breakthrough despite a wonderful first spell. Ashwin must have realized how his new style of bowling will get him a lot of wickets as well as plaudits.

On the batting, the Indians continued their trend of not losing a wicket (even if it means scoring slowly) in the first ten overs. Just when they started to accelerate, Dhawan fell and that induced a collapse that needed MSD and Rahane to stem the rot. That passage of play was when the Australians made maximum leverage and tightened the screws on the Indian team. Despite Dhoni's heroics, the end was visible by the 40th over.

2015 World Cup - thoughts on first semifinal

Though I had backed New Zealand to win the match, I thought that South Africa were wronged in this crucial match. How?

1. Rain-rule. Though the match had a reserve day, overs were reduced when there was a rain delay. The rationale was that all efforts would be made to complete the match during the scheduled time. Why then do you have a reserve day, ICC? What might have happened if NZ had to face only 20 overs? The target would have been a par-score for a regular T20 match (we all know how D/L score for T20 is)
2. Revised target. Have a look at the typical run-rates of South Africa in this World Cup - what he says is that in the last five overs, South Africa typically score at 16 runs per over. That means 80 runs in 5 overs. Add 2 more overs at 10 runs per over. Now, add 100 runs to the score of 281 and you will know what would have been the score that South Africa might have achieved. This was very much possible as South Africa had AB De Viliers and JP Duminy at the crease and NZ had Corey Anderson to bowl 3-4 overs more. The mere numbers would have put high pressure on New Zealand. Definitely, they would have crumbled. But, it was not meant to be.

R/o #CWC15 46-50 ov SA 16.05 WI 14.13 NZ 13.45 Au 11.13 Eg 9.63 SL 9.08 In 8.52 Bn 8.43 ------ Zm 7.09 Pk 7.37 Ir 7.57 Sc 7.80 #BingPredicts
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) March 23, 2015

Even though these two points were to the disadvantage of South Africa, they have themselves to blame for the following turning points:

The botched run-out attempt by AB De Viliers during the partnership of Anderson and Elliot. This could have made a difference. I feel that it was because the fielder was such a hyper-energetic personality like ABD, the runout could not happen. He reached the wicket faster than anyone would have - that pace made him trip over the stumps!

The missed catch of Elliot, thanks to JP Duminy crashing into his colleague. Very poor cricket indeed - definitely, JP must have seen that Behardien was in a good position to catch the ball but still JP bumped into him!

Of course, Steyn was injured in the final over and that also hampered his bowling. If I was a South African fan, I would point to many factors during the match. But, there have been none mentioned by their captain or the players. Definitely a great way to accept a close loss in sport, showing that there is much more than just cricket. Good stuff, South Africa!

All photos courtesy Cricinfo Site

2015 World Cup - India ease past Bangladesh

The cricketing world had deemed India to be lucky as they drew Bangladesh in the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup. They had momentarily forgotten the fact that the Indian team was on a winning streak from last World Cup as well as the fact that they had taken 60 wickets in six matches this edition (with the same bowling lineup except a replacement in one match). The Indian team extended the streak by one more match at MCG by a convincing win over their neighbors.

Photo Courtesy: Cricinfo

The openers started steadily, thanks to the profligacy of the opposition captain (Mortaza) who was off-color but did not take himself off the attack. The space given to the openers was good not only for Rohit to settle down but also have a steady run-rate going. Once Shakib and Rubel got together, the pressure started showing on the Indian batsmen. Three wickets fell in no time, more because of the pressure of non-scoring fast enough than the conditions. Rohit was determined to cash in on this opportunity as is his wont against competition below the top Six. 

Raina joined him to put a match-winning partnership for his side. The Indian team is more confident because of the experience in such situations, better skills as well as conditioning. The Bangla team is improving but a long way to go. Raina decided to give the charge from 36th over when the score was 155 for 3. India almost doubled the score at the end thanks to the exploits of Raina, Rohit and a cameo from Sir Jadeja. Dhoni had a rare failure but that did not stop the charge by much.

Even though Bangladesh had a better batting lineup compared to their bowling, the start was shaky. Umesh Yadav had been dominated by his compatriots in this tournament even though he had done a decent job as well (Did you know that he is on top of the list of catches in this tournament?). His speed as well as control was good enough for the Bangla batsmen. They were hurried and he led the way when Shami was hit in the beginning. The haul was poetic justice to the paceman who has come a long way in this tournament. Ashwin too did a great holding job bowling against Mushfiqur Rahim and Shakib but was unlucky not to have any catches. 

Overall, the Indian pace bowlers picked wickets again by the generous use of short ball. Will they continue in same fashion in the semifinal? Probably not. Going by the first quarterfinal, it looks like a pitch of subcontinental type and the Indians will fancy their chances against whoever they play. All parts of the team (fielding, bowling and batting) did their job well - what more did MSD wish for? Dhoni himself caught a couple of great catches to round off the evening. Next is the semifinal at SCG. 

We definitely Wont Give It Back!

2015 World Cup - end of League stage

The eight quarter-finalists have been identified after the lengthy league stages. Though not many surprises in the eight, the league stages did show up some teams in terms of their big-match temperament and endurance in the BIG tournaments. Ireland came close to qualification but fell at the last hurdle. Pakistan took the format as an advantage to become better and finalize their top-selections (non-choice Sarfraz was the MoM in their eventual match). Injuries have hampered all teams but by the time the matches start, everyone should be ready to fire.

How do you then identify the players who did well? Let us look at the bowlers and batsmen - not just the highest run-scorer but also players who performed on all parameters. What are the parameters?

1. In batting, the most important in this format is the strike rate and average. One more parameter that I feel critical is the Rotation-Rate. Check this link for my rationale for the Rotation Rate and how it works.
2. In bowling, the key parameters are Economy Rate, Strike Rate and Average. 

Using these, I have tried to list the players who have scored minimum of 250 runs and taken at least eight wickets. What do the results show?

Batting

1. No surprises to see Glen Maxwell at the top of this list. With a strike-rate close to 200 and rotation-rate more than 85%, he is the clear-cut favorite for the best batsman in this World Cup. He has not scored much because of limited opportunities (other players in the Aussie lineup are to blame). 
2. Sangakkara occupies second place because of the volume of runs at a decent strike rate and rotation rate
3. AB De Villiers and David Miller are the other players to note in terms of these aspects - no surprises there.
4. What should be of concern to the Indian team is Mushfiqur Rahim's presence quite high in this list. His strike rotation seems to be quite good (within the overall Top 10). 
5. On the other hand, Shikhar Dhawan seems to be inclined more on boundaries rather than rotation. 

Bowling

1. Mitchell Starc tops this list due to his wicket-haul as well as low economy rate - clearly the front-runner for the Best Bowler award
2. The Black Caps have four bowlers in the Top 15 while four Indians also appear in this list - main reason for their six victories. The other seven include two Proteas, one West Indian, one Scot, two Australians, one Pakistani.
3. No Bangladesh bowler in this list at all. Is it a show of batting for the Banglas where there is representation from Afghanistan, UAE and Zimbabwe too?
4. Sri Lanka has just one bowler in the top 15 - they must be keen for Herath to come back.

What are your thoughts on these numbers?

World Cup 2015 - Indias home support at Melbourne

One of the factors of India's win over South Africa at Melbourne was the home support it received. Tickets for this match as well as India's clash against Pakistan were the ones to be sold out within hours of release. A sure sign of the Indian fans ability to travel to the greatest cricket holiday destination of 2015 - Australia and New Zealand. New Zealand has been more scenic in the

Image courtesy - Cricket.com.au site

Melbourne, for me, has been a favorite ever since ODI cricket in colored clothing and day-night formats were introduced in the eighties. The awesome feeling of getting up early in the morning to watch the Indian team play against the hosts (even though the result may not be in our favor) is cherished even to this day. It was this image that enticed me to visit the ground for a quick tour during my business visits.

The tour was fascinating to watch and listen to - a far cry from the Indian grounds which do not care much for posterity. The tours are a treat to watch, especially the side-conversations and juicy nuggets that do not get published in any format! Definitely a treat for any cricket fan. Just like MCG, the Lords cricket ground is yet another legendary cricket holiday destination. Another favorite of mine!

Thanks in part to the Information Technology industry and the growing economy of the average Indian fan, cricket holiday destinations are growing and have become more economical to travel. Of all the countries that play cricket at the top-most level, Australia and England top the charts for holiday destinations. India remains the home place for all of us and hence does not qualify as a holiday destination (to keep it simple). Australia, with its great weather and support for cricket, would definitely edge out the more sober-looking England at the top.

Do you agree with me? What are your favorite cricket holiday destinations to visit in your lifetime?

Australia Tour Tri-series - India bow out winless

On Twitter, Statistician Mohandas Menon posted the series where India finished winless since 2011 World Cup

• 2011 in Eng 
• 2013/14 in SA 
• 2013/14 in NZ 
• 2014/15 in Aus

They escaped a whitewash in the test series and another losing streak in the ODI series (thanks to rain) but that was no consolation to a team that has high hopes on retaining the next World Cup.

At Perth, the Indians started well. Their openers did a decent job to see off the dangerous Anderson and managed to score a 80+ partnership with both taking chances but surviving. Dhawan was back to something that resembled form. Rahane, after the initial jitters, settled down to anchor the innings. It was the failures again of Kohli, Raina that hampered India. The batting collapsed from 83-0 to 165-9 before Shami hit out to get 200 on the board.

The Indians seem to be experimenting with the batting positions and getting some answers. Stuart Binny has made Dhoni realize that he is a handy person to have in the lineup. Jadeja was rusty with bat and ball but Axar has proved that he is a good bowler to have in the middle overs. The batting depth is present on paper but that has to be translated to reality. With Ashwin in the squad, the team management must figure out what is the combination to play in the World Cup. What happens to Umesh and Bhuvi? Are they injured? Dhoni's answers in the press conference seems to suggest.

The Indian batsmen dont have a first (or even second) gear - they seem to bat only at the top gears or perish. This was the fashion few years ago when batsmen used to play defensive and rotate the strike over. But, the new generation tend to be aggressive in any situation - that is causing the problems to the Indian batsmen, like this game. No longer are they happy to score at 3-4 runs per over. They are looking at boundaries every over. This will not work - Kohli, Rahane, Rayudu, Jadeja should be told this. Rahane should have gone on and controlled the innings but could not.

The Indians fared better while bowling thanks to the pitch and an accurate bowling attack (except the comeback man Jadeja). Binny made use of the conditions to his favor and picked up wickets to put England  on the backfoot. But, the Indians could not restrict the winning team. Jadeja and some sloppy fielding (by selected fielders) meant that the Indians could not put enough pressure on the duo of Butler and Taylor. Overall, a tour that ended without a win. It can be termed as a success still if the next tour (with more or less the same players) contains few winning moments. Hopefully, the players remember and implement the lessons learnt.

Australia Tour Tri-series - England crush India

Binny came in for Ashwin and injured Rohit Sharma was replaced by Ambati Rayudu for the match against England at Brisbane. The Indians suffered a rare defeat against England on neutral venues - one of the worst defeats. But, Dhoni would say that the process is more important than the result. Here, the process seemed to be clear once again.

Dhoni is putting his boys through a tough test - putting his team in when he could have easily bowled after winning the toss on a helpful surface. Playing against the accurate English bowling on this surface is probably the best practice that he could get his team. Seeing the team performance, Dhoni must have got an idea of who is capable and who is not. I expect to see strategy changes for the World Cup based on this match.

Stuart Binny shone with the bat and then picked a wicket while opening the bowling. If one goes back to the last World Cup Down Under, the likes of Phil Simmons (probably same speed of Binny) did a great job opening the bowling. Binny and Bhuvi opening the bowling is going to be a good option if they can restrict the scoring with the new ball. Shami and Ishant then could bowl first change and make use of any reverse. With the spinners, Axar seems to have proved that he is as good as Jadeja and Ashwin but not in the similar mould while batting.

With two more matches in the tri-series and then maybe couple of warm-up matches, one should  foresee Dhoni tinker  with  more options even at the loss of few matches. Getting to know the strengths  and weaknesses is  probably the most important test now.

Dhoni the unconventional hero

MS Dhoni was always unconventional - when I thought of writing a blog entry about him, there were many thoughts that entered my mind. But, Rahul Dravid's post was just superb, on the spot about what MSD stood for. Hence, I will try to write this post a bit differently.

When Ganguly announced his retirement, he was merely a player. What did MSD do? Watch this video for a timely gesture.

When Anil Kumble announced his, he was taken around for a lap by his team-mates (no, just one man)

Thanks to Times Group for image 

When Sachin Tendulkar's famous last match finished, this was the fitting finale

Thanks to Cricinfo for image

Having done all this, MSD also watched the likes of Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman walk away into the sunset without any fanfare. He was also witness to his friends like Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag fade away from the limelight. 

Would he have scripted a better farewell himself than what he did? Probably not. Taking India to safety on the last day of the Boxing Day test match was the best way for him to say goodbye.

Thanks to Cricinfo for image

His records speak for themselves and there is no comparison for a wicket-keeper who captained his side so well. 

Finally, what did his workload look like? In 2014, he captained his team in nine tests, twelve ODI's and seven T20 internationals. Other than this, he led CSK in 16 T20 matches in the IPL as well as six T20 matches in Champions League. 

It was probably a choice of letting go one of the formats or one of his occupation (wicket-keeping or captaincy). Since he would continue to keep wickets (he is not a good fielder according to himself) as well as captain the side (his CEO would demand it always), one of the format had to give way. And that is exactly what MSD opted.

Australian Tour 2014 3rd test - Kohli makes his name

Virat Kohli was just one of the new brigade before the 2014 Australian tour started. He had a bad series in England where he fared very badly. One of the positives of the hurriedly-organized Sri Lanka ODI series was the return of Kohli's form. But, would he succeed Down Under?

Today, the entire Australian team is baying for his blood. Commentators are talking about his game. The media goes gaga about him. His girlfriend as well as his rival fast bowler get kisses equally. Kohli does not get fazed with the attention his opponents give on the field (lip-service) and off-field (planning his downfall). In the first test of this series, he scored twin centuries proving that captaincy did not affect his game. Despite his failures in the second test, Kohli was the sought-after wicket for the Aussies. After the Melbourne test, his series aggregate was one less than half a thousand runs with one test to play. If Steven Smith is in a league of his own, Kohli is in a similar league.

Picture Courtesy - Cricinfo

The test was not all about Kohli for the Indians - Ajinkya Rahane played an equal role in both innings though he might have scored less with runs and attention from media and opponents. His role in dismantling Mitchell Johnson's aura in this match was equally effective. His pulls and hooks in this match were a treat to watch.

Another player who impressed everyone was Murali Vijay. He may not have scored a century here but he was calm and composed. Vijay was instrumental in getting a good start (even though not in terms of runs) that could be capitalized by Kohli and Rahane. He was unfortunate to get a bad decision in the second innings.

Vijay, Kohli and Rahane will form the fulcrum of the Indian batting in future. Pujara, with all his overseas failures, should be able to make the necessary adjustments to join them. This then will become the new vintage, as MSD called them recently. If only Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and KL Rahul provide them adequate support, the Indian team will have a strong force to reckon with.

With the bowling, the Indian attack (should we call them so?) failed in the first innings to give away yet another 500+ score, As well as capitalizing on the top order weaknesses they could not penetrate the lower order. The bowling was much better on fourth day but the team could pick only nine wickets only. Overall, the bowlers were lacking in consistency - delivering a four-ball every over to release the pressure. Only Ishant and to an extent Ashwin were consistent throughout the match. It seemed like Dhoni missed the accuracy of Bhuvi throughout the match. How hard he must be wishing for an allrounder?

The batting this series has been a contrast - solid in the first innings while scoring 400+ in each test (the first time the Indian team has scored after the great 2003 series) but brittle in the second. They did score 300 in the first test while chasing a difficult target but the meltdown in second test cost them the match and the series. Here, the last day was difficult even though they had only 70 overs to survive (un-Australian decision to play the first session on fifth day) - MSD and Ashwin managed to play out 12 overs and thus get a draw for the first time in 13 tests (last drawn match was in Delhi, October 2008).

Next up is Sydney. The Indian team have an option to play two spinners - bring in Axar Patel in place of woeful Rahul and shore up their bowling to take 20 wickets. Anyway, the batting is being done by the top five players. The bowling will get more teeth and Axar's control might be the one weapon missing in Dhoni's armory. If Bhuvi is fit and available, he will be the person to replace Shami.

England Tour 2014 ODIs - 3-1 it is

The image says it all (though one wonders where Stuart Binny is)...no changes to the side but India lost.

Call it better English play but it was the dead-rubber syndrome if you ask me.

Emotion on players faces (especially those who had played in the test series as well) while champagne bottles are empty!!!

Asia Cup - Bronze for India

If it was an Olympic games, India would have won the bronze medal but alas! It is the Asia Cup and only the winner matters. India is not even in contention for the Cup and that is a fact for the last two editions, not just this one alone.

Once Dhoni pulled out of the competition due to a side strain (no one minded it as he needed good rest before the IPL, sorry the World T20). It was a good chance for all of us to look at Virat Kohli as captain. No one was surprised that the team's performance continued on similar vein despite the change in captaincy.  Of course, the captain can do wonders if his team can also put in the relevant efforts, right?

The Indian team did good in bits and parts but that was not enough against the efficient Lankans or the maverick Pakis. Even with the last wicket standing, India dropped the catch in the Sri Lanka match. Afridi showed that one cannot write him off - not sure if he himself knew what would be the result of the two sixes he hit finally.

One good point for India was that of Amit Mishra. How many times Amit has to prove himself? He showed that he had the tools to make anyone dance to his tune. With couple of hat-tricks to his name in IPL, he must be hoping to be in the playing eleven for the World T20. Definitely, it is a chance for Ashwin to be rested for the shortest version and give chances to Amit.

The fast bowlers continued to bowl and get thrashed - there were signs that the yorkers were coming back into fashion and it was good to see Bhuvi get it consistently right. Shami has to be rested so that he can regain his consistency and accuracy for the English tour.

Raina and Yuvraj will be back for the World T20 and so will Mohit Sharma and Varun Aaron. How many players will actually play in one match of the 15 selected? My guess will be 12 - three will be just by-standers (Binny, Mohit and Varun). Lets hope India gets a bronze in the T20 atleast.

NZ Test series - the aftermath

India did not win the 2nd test match against New Zealand despite staying at a situation where the opposition was more than 140 runs behind with half the team back in the hut. The first two and half days of the test saw the Indian team go ahead so much that the Black Caps had to dig deep to recover and hence after the struggle, the match ended in a draw. It took a world record for NZ to rescue the team and thus win the series. Luckily or unluckily, there was no third test and the Indians had to come back without being able to equalize the series.

There has been articles about MS Dhoni and how he should step down. From all the voices heard, only Rahul Dravid has been sensible in his views and opinions. The others have been more emotional than anything else. If there was a different captain in place during this series, what would he have done with the team that India has? Agreed that MSD did not utilize the services of the fringe players but the ones he chose did well in 2nd innings of first test as well as first innings of 2nd test, didnt they? If Dhoni has to be changed, whom do we have as alternative? Kohli? I dont think so. Virat, for all his talent, still has to mature and learn from the mistakes the team members have been doing so far. He himself is to be blamed for dropping Baz McCullum in the initial phase of the latter's innings - what would have happened if he caught him? Would Neesham still have scored a century?

Let me take all of you back to this page on Cricinfo - this is nothing but the overseas results of the Indian team in 1990s. The team was mostly captained by Azharuddin and Sachin Tendulkar (before the era of Sourav Ganguly) - Azhar was asked to step down mainly because of the match-fixing scandal while Sachin couldn't translate his run-making prowess to captaincy skills. The results were much worse than what it is right now. India lost to Zimbabwe even. This was the time when players like Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made their debut. Of the matches India have lost overseas, eight matches (against Australia and England) came with the best batsmen (of the generation) as well as a bowling attack not too different from today. After the new batsmen have joined ranks, the performance has improved quite well.

The team has drawn one test each in the two series and got into winning positions in two tests. This is the improvement that Dhoni is talking about. If you take into perspective the combined experience of the team (where Dhoni is the senior-most in batting), the progress has been significant. Only if the replacement players were strengthened to give Dhoni better options, things will definitely improve. It is time for the BCCI to start using its fortune and providing more 'A' tours as well as options for these players to shine.

Do you agree? What else is the medicine to India's problems?

NZ ODI Series - India lose comprehensively

India lost the ODI series against the Black Caps without winning a single match (but winning all the tosses). Captain MS Dhoni has been critical of his bowlers mainly - he mentioned that he was not sure of his bowlers for World Cup and so on. But this series was not just the failure of his bowlers; his batsmen failed big time as well and that is why Dhoni mentioned that they will get out of this phase.

Let us look at each ODI and check the performances of both teams in a span of five-over breaks. The number of times New Zealand team scored more than 30 runs in the 5-over span is much more than the Indian team. Now, if you blame the Indian bowlers for the times NZ have hit more than 30, should you not blame the batsmen for scoring lesser times? Why is MSD not looking at this aspect?

First ODI

Second ODI

Third ODI

Fourth ODI

Fifth ODI

Looking at these charts, dont you get a feeling that Dhoni has given preferential treatment towards the batsmen?
Agreed that Kohli and Dhoni did well in the series. Just like the bowlers, batsmen like Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane didnt do well in the chances that they received. Why continue with them then? Why continue with a veteran like Ishant Sharma still?

NZ ODI Series - Revisiting the Rotation Rate

New Zealand won the fourth ODI convincingly as the Indians were not able to set a target high enough. Let us look at the Rotation Rate (a concept that I explained long ago) for the series.


The results are clear enough. Why Williamson and Taylor are the best players from New Zealand team while Dhoni and Kohli are the best from India. Guptill, Rohit Sharma, Ryder, Dhawan, Rahane are clearly struggling (though the first two have scored runs) - obviously reasons why they are not good enough.

It is time the Indian batsmen started looking at rotation once again - this problem was an old one when sub-contintental teams used to focus on boundaries alone and not rotating the strike. In recent times, one thought that teams had started learning it but clearly the Indian team is way behind (with Ryder and Guptill as well).

SAF Tour - performances by the team

India finished the South African tour with a depressing loss in the final test - though the series loss was expected, the manner in which the team went down was not. The two test matches were alive till the last day - something that was beyond any fan's delight!

How did the players perform in the test and ODI series? Who were the heroes and who did not perform? Firstly, the batsmen who lagged behind

1. Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan - both played six innings in both the series included and could not get going at all. Never did they look comfortable (though Dhawan could blame Faf Du Plessis catch for his dismissal in the second test)
2. Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli (ODIs) did not do justice to their talent and reputation during the travel. Yuvraj can claim that he played only one innings but the manner he was dismissed showed that he was not comfortable against pace
3. MS Dhoni (tests) did not do well in test matches, despite being the senior-most batsman in the team. Though his captaincy was at its best, the captain's performance with the bat could have been better in the last innings of the series at least.

Player	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s	Format
Ajinkya Rahane	2	4	1	209	96	69.66	442	47.28	0	2	0	29	2	Tests
Ajinkya Rahane	1	1	0	8	8	8.00	17	47.05	0	0	0	1	0	ODIs
Bhuvneshwar Kumar	1	1	0	0	0	0.00	4	0.00	0	0	1	0	0	ODIs
Cheteshwara Pujara	2	4	0	280	153	70.00	600	46.66	1	1	0	36	0	Tests
Ishant Sharma	2	4	0	9	4	2.25	31	29.03	0	0	1	1	0	Tests
Ishant Sharma	2	1	1	0	0*	-	2	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	ODIs
Murali Vijay	2	4	0	148	97	37.00	375	39.46	0	1	0	25	0	Tests
Mohit Sharma	1	1	1	0	0*	-	5	0.00	0	0	0	0	0	ODIs
Mohammed Shami	2	4	1	6	4	2.00	15	40.00	0	0	1	1	0	Tests
Mohammed Shami	3	2	0	8	8	4.00	18	44.44	0	0	1	0	0	ODIs
MS Dhoni	2	4	0	87	29	21.75	185	47.02	0	0	0	11	0	Tests
MS Dhoni	3	2	0	84	65	42.00	102	82.35	0	1	0	8	1	ODIs
R Ashwin	1	2	1	18	11*	18.00	25	72.00	0	0	0	2	0	Tests
R Ashwin	3	2	0	34	19	17.00	45	75.55	0	0	0	5	0	ODIs
Ravindra Jadeja	1	2	0	8	8	4.00	8	100.00	0	0	1	0	1	Tests
Ravindra Jadeja	3	2	0	55	29	27.50	64	85.93	0	0	0	7	1	ODIs
Rohit Sharma	2	4	0	45	25	11.25	102	44.11	0	0	1	4	1	Tests
Rohit Sharma	3	2	0	37	19	18.50	69	53.62	0	0	0	4	0	ODIs
Shikhar Dhawan	2	4	0	76	29	19.00	184	41.30	0	0	0	9	0	Tests
Shikhar Dhawan	3	2	0	12	12	6.00	15	80.00	0	0	1	3	0	ODIs
Suresh Raina	3	2	0	50	36	25.00	70	71.42	0	0	0	5	0	ODIs
Umesh Yadav	2	1	0	1	1	1.00	5	20.00	0	0	0	0	0	ODIs
Virat Kohli	2	4	0	272	119	68.00	488	55.73	1	1	0	33	0	Tests
Virat Kohli	3	2	0	31	31	15.50	40	77.50	0	0	1	5	0	ODIs
Yuvraj Singh	2	1	0	0	0	0.00	2	0.00	0	0	1	0	0	ODIs
Zaheer Khan	2	4	1	32	29*	10.66	75	42.66	0	0	2	3	2	Tests

The batsmen who did well were no doubt Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane and Murali Vijay in the test series while MSD was the sole contributor in the shorter version.

How did the bowlers fare? Who did well and who did not?

1. Ravindra Jadeja did well in the opportunities he received during the ODIs and tests, making it an interesting headache for Dhoni in future tests. How he will be fitted into the playing eleven is going to be the biggest challenge for the team management, especially with the friendly rivalry of Ashwin.
2. Ishant Sharma's bowling in the two ODIs were the reason he played in the test series. But, his performance in the tests were again back to his usual standard. The team management might be thinking of having him as the head of the bowling pack when Zaheer retires but he is nowhere in the same zone.
3. Shami captured 9 (ODIs) and 6 (tests) during the tour, making him the most valuable bowler from the Indian team. He has improved quite well from his debut and has the ingredients to be one of the forces for Indian cricket.
4. Zaheer did well in the first test but lacked energy in the second when the going got tough. When the pitches do not do well, Zak has a lesser role to play. But, he will be required to guide his younger compatriots for the rest of the year given that the team will be on major tours.

Player	Mat	Inns	Overs	Mdns	Runs	Wickets	BBI	BBM	Ave	Econ	SR	4	5	10	Format
Bhuvneshwar Kumar	1	1	9	0	68	0	-		-	7.55	-	0	0		ODIs
Ishant Sharma	2	4	90	17	313	5	4/79	5/170	62.60	3.47	108		0	0	Tests
Ishant Sharma	2	2	17	1	78	4	4/40		19.50	4.58	25.50	1	0		ODIs
Mohit Sharma	1	1	10	0	82	0	-		-	8.20	-	0	0		ODIs
Mohammed Shami	2	4	75	11	263	6	3/107	5/155	43.83	3.50	75		0	0	Tests
Mohammed Shami	3	3	28	1	185	9	3/48		20.55	6.60	18.60	0	0		ODIs
R Ashwin	1	2	42	5	108	0	-	-	-	2.57	-		0	0	Tests
R Ashwin	3	3	28	0	169	1	1/48		169.00	6.03	168.00	0	0		ODIs
Ravindra Jadeja	1	2	62.2	15	154	6	6/138	6/154	25.66	2.47	62.3		1	0	Tests
Ravindra Jadeja	3	3	24	0	139	1	1/49		139.00	5.79	144.00	0	0		ODIs
Rohit Sharma	2	2	11.4	1	39	0	-	-	-	3.34	-		0	0	Tests
Suresh Raina	3	3	10	0	55	0	-		-	5.50	-	0	0		ODIs
Umesh Yadav	2	2	15	0	102	1	1/57		102.00	6.80	90.00	0	0		ODIs
Virat Kohli	2	1	6	0	18	0	-	-	-	3.00	-		0	0	Tests
Virat Kohli	3	3	8	0	54	1	1/15		54.00	6.75	48.00	0	0		ODIs
Zaheer Khan	2	3	88.3	11	320	7	4/88	5/223	45.71	3.61	75.8		0	0	Tests
Murali Vijay	2	1	1	0	3	0	-	-	-	3.00	-		0	0	Tests
MS Dhoni	2	1	2	0	4	0	-	-	-	2.00	-		0	0	Tests

Bhuvi, Mohit and sadly for India, Ashwin did not do well during their outings. Mohit has already paid for it by losing his place for the NZ tour while Ashwin still gets picked for both versions. Dhoni has found an able bowler during the latter stages - Suresh Raina on recent evidence has done well in this new role. Virat Kohli was another bowler tried out by Dhoni to complete the middle stages. Hopefully, the team will learn from their errors and grow further. The bowling pack needs to fire and provide support to the batsmen for India to win anything outside their backyard.