CHENNAI: When India return to Old Trafford for the series decider on Sunday, they will be reminded of one of their worst white-ball defeats in recent times. The last time they played a match there, New Zealand beat them in the World Cup semifinal in 2019.
Chasing 240, India, 4/24 after the first 10 overs, lost it in this phase. It's been a bit of a recurring theme for them, really. In some of their most significant white-ball games beginning with the Champions Trophy final against Pakistan in 2017, their batters have tended to lose the contest early doors.
London in 2017 (3/47 after 10 overs chasing 339), the decider against Australia in New Delhi in March 2019 (6/138 chasing 273) and the above-mentioned World Cup semifinal all saw top-order batters dismissed cheaply. While it's perhaps not right to compare, there were similar blow-outs in the T20 World Cup last year. Batting first against Pakistan, they were reduced to 3/31. Against New Zealand, it was even worse: 4/48.
In the five white-ball matches in the ongoing tour, India have found themselves in similar positions twice. No surprise that they have lost both matches. In the last T20I, chasing 216, they were 3/31. In the second ODI on Wednesday, a chase of 247 was considered academic. Yet, the visitors lost their way. 4/31 and out of the contest. Skipper Rohit Sharma, who has incidentally taken part in all of the examples cited above, is mindful.
"It has happened to us on a few occasions," he said during the post-match press conference.
"It is something we want to keep in mind moving forward. We have spoken about it. (...) where we were put under pressure and we lost wickets and we were 20/3 or 40/4, that is where I want the guys to change their mindset. Is there something different that you can do as a batting unit?"
Sharma hinted that one way to address this would be to empower the batters to play freely rather than think about the scoreboard. "(...) try and see if they can be a bit positive and try and take the game on. (...) that is where I think the role of the management comes into play and ask them to play freely and show them what they are trying to do in the middle is absolutely right."
In the four ODIs mentioned above, there is another strand that connects the top-order blowouts. A lower-order rescue act before losing wickets in a heap. In 2017, they went from 6/72 to 152 before losing their last four wickets for six. Against Australia in 2019, 6/132 progressed to 223 before losing their last four for 14. At the World Cup, they lost their last four for 13 after being 6/92 before a 116-run stand.
Likewise, at Lord's on Thursday, they lost their last four wickets for six runs after a 39-run stand for the seventh. Sharma spoke about this too.
"It is also a challenge for us when we lose 5-6 wickets, we need to learn how to score runs lower down the order," he said. "We need to focus on this thing as to how to improve our balance and improve our batting."
Since the beginning of 2017, India's tail (Nos 8, 9, 10 and 11) averages 15.73. That's comfortably below England (21.08), Pakistan (18.91), New Zealand (18.25) and in the same ballpark as South Africa (15.72). What, though, hurts them is the Indian tail takes a longer time to score their runs than five nations that play ODIs at the elite level.
Matches like the one at Lord's are important because it shows India the mirror. Irrespective of what happens in Manchester, they will do well to take lessons for the bigger games over the next 18 months.
Average and Strike Rate (Nos 8-11 from January 1, 2017)
Country Average S/R
Pakistan 18.91 94.86.
England 21.08 94.70.
New Zealand 18.25 91.30.
India 15.73 80.05.
Australia 12.72 85.42.
South Africa 15.72 85.43.