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India's Cricket World Cup defence in tatters

David Warner could be saved by a team he has never quite seen eye-to-eye with. (AAP Image/David Crosling)
Expert
8th February, 2015
22
1475 Reads

To take a cue from Queen Elizabeth, India has had an Aestas Horribilis.

Since arriving on Australian shores in November India has not won an international fixture.

It lost the four-Test series 2-nil.

The limited-overs team has fared no better, failing to win a match in the triangular one-day series that also featured England.

The defending World Cup champions appear light years away from defending their title.

Another insult was dealt the team yesterday when it was totally outclassed by an Australian side in a World Cup warm-up match at Adelaide Oval.

While the game will not be recorded as an official international fixture, the experience was a humbling one for the Indian team.

David Warner (104 off 83 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (122 off 57 with 11 sixes) led Australia to a commanding 371 before it was bowled out in the 49th over.

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In reply, the Indians were dismissed for 265, one ball into the 46th over, to hand the Australians a 106-run victory.

India utilised eight bowlers in the match with some of their figures making for ugly reading – only Ravi Ashwin (4.8) went for under five runs per over while Mohit Sharma (10.3), Ravi Jadeja (9.5), Axar Patel (9.4) and Mohammed Shami (8.9) were largely toyed with by a rampant batting line-up.

India’s Achilles heel throughout the summer has been its bowling.

Of a possible 80 wickets in the Test series, the bowlers could manage only 60. Since donning the pyjamas things have not improved greatly.

In the three completed matches in the triangular series, they captured 14 of a possible 30 wickets with the worst performance at Brisbane where the side could manage just one against England.

Throughout the tour the Indian bowlers have failed to find any true consistency.

Their inability to build pressure has caused problems in the ODI arena this summer.

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Including yesterday’s match at Adelaide, the Indian bowlers have gone for an average of 5.8 runs per over. That equates to conceding 290 runs across a full 50 overs.

Against the better attacks in the World Cup, that will more often than not be a bridge too far for their batsmen.

And speaking of batsmen, a couple of the big names will be carrying some poor ODI form into the World Cup defence.

Skipper MS Dhoni managed a first-ball duck yesterday on the back of just 70 runs from his three innings in the triangular series.

India’s perpetual one-day talisman Virat Kohli came into the limited overs portion of this tour on the back of an outstanding Test series (692 runs at 86).

However since transitioning to the abbreviated game, he scored just 24 runs in four innings in the triangular series prior to 18 yesterday at Adelaide.

He has to fire to give India any chance of a successful World Cup. So too does Rohit Sharma.

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He is the only man to have scored two double centuries in ODIs with his most recent a world record 264 against Sri Lanka four months ago.

Suresh Raina is no doubt causing his selectors problems as well.

A veteran of 207 ODIs, he scored 51, 1 and 1 in the triangular series followed by nine in yesterday’s warm-up game.

About the only positive to flow from yesterday’s encounter was the 59 scored by Shikhar Dhawan.

After a bleak Test series, that saw him dropped from the side, and a lacklustre triangular series (49 runs at 12) his time in the middle at the Adelaide Oval will be a welcome relief.

Dhoni has stated that his team knows how to play big tournaments.

At this stage India will need a quantum turnaround to retain its title as its recent form has been anything but inspiring.

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On the face of it, consecutive World Cups seems highly improbable.

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