Hyderabad: Thumping wins in the One-Day and T20 contests which erupted from a brownie blow in the last round of the lost Test series have put a spring in Team India’s steps. The Tigers have turned Springboks after the recent South Africa tour and found a new leap of faith. In the last 25 years, India have won only four One-Dayers in a bilateral series in South Africa. This time around, they bagged five out of six matches. South Africa won just two of the nine games in the limited over series, both rain-affected.
Fielding coach R. Sridhar says it’s the belief that kept the Blues charged. “After the second Test we did a lot of homework in the one week off we got. We discovered we had won 9 out of the 21 sessions with South Africa winning 11 and the other being a draw. We lost the two Tests but knew we were in positions to win both of them, so that belief never went down. And then, in the third Test at Johannesburg, Virat made a courageous decision to bat first — I don’t think anyone would’ve done that. To win the toss and bat on that surface was a great decision, the game changer,” he told this newspaper on Wednesday. India won that match to pull one back as they went 1-2 down in the Test series but took the momentum into the limited overs series that followed. “Once we got ahead, South Africa were under severe pressure,” Sridhar pointed out.
“The physically as well as mentally gruelling series was all about Kohli’s batting and our bowling. Virat led the team from the front. It is difficult for any international cricketer to match his intensity in the field. Steve Waugh said recently that Virat should tone it down, but I think that is his USP, to keep it right up there till the last ball. We need that Virat in-your-face factor,” Sridhar said. However, there is a balance. “For every Virat we have an Ajinkya (Rahane) and a Cheteshwar Pujara who are quiet in their demeanour and complement the captain very well.”
Sridhar picked out a few players who were outstanding. “Hardik Pandya is always thinking ahead of the game. He is learning very, very fast from Virat, MS (Dhoni) and others around him. The advantage of Hardik is that he is three-dimensional — if he misses out on batting, he’ll bowl a brilliant spell. If his bowling fails, he’ll affect a match-turning run-out like he did thrice in the series. Since he’s got bowling and fielding to back him, he goes to bat with a lot of freedom, so also in the other two departments. That works wonders for him. He’s a brilliant cricketer to have — what an athlete!”
Pacer Jasprit Bumrah was a revelation, according to Sridhar. “Even the South Africans didn’t expect us to play him in the first Test. They were planning for Bhuvi (seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar), Shami and Ishant (Sharma). But all of a sudden there was Boom-rah and his first wicket was AB de Villiers, bowled. After that there was no looking back for him. The best compliment he got was at the end of the One-Day series. As both teams were mingling in the dressing room, Hashim (Amla) came up to him and said: ‘I waited for a half-volley for three Tests and six One-Dayers but never got one.’ That was 12 innings!”
“Bumrah also had Quinton’s (de Kock) number. He was hitting him on the glove, getting him caught behind, getting him in the slips,” Sridhar said. “Bhuvi was the silent assassin. And the kind of innings he played in the Johannesburg Test where he scored 30 in each innings was simply superb. I would say each 30 was an 80 on that difficult wicket which had cracks, bounce, was seaming... oh! The fast bowlers pitched in, which is what Virat wanted — in Test matches, the fast bowlers’ batting plays a vital role while their fielding is crucial in the one-dayers, he had said ahead of a practice session,” the 47-year-old revealed.
Spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are next on Sridhar’s best list. “Kul-Cha ran amok. Between them, they got 33 of the 51 wickets to fall in the ODIs, which is massive. To do that on pitches that were good for fast bowling is heartening. The Proteas just couldn’t pick them and resembled rabbits caught in headlights,” the former Hyderabad left-arm spinner said. Sridhar is also pleased with the team’s fielding. “We outfielded South Africa in the series, didn’t put a foot wrong barring a couple of dropped catches in one of the one-dayers. The athleticism in the field was far, far better than the opposition, who are known for their athletic ability,” he said. Surprise. “The main contributors in the field were the fast bowlers — Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar and Pandya. Generally, your fast bowlers are taking breaks at fine-leg or deep square leg. The catch that Bhuvi took on the boundary to end Hashim Amla’s innings in the Johannesburg one-dayer was fabulous... the way Bumrah ran 30 metres to his right to take a tumbling catch at third man in the Centurion ODI and Pandya running out Amla in the game at Port Elizabeth was heartening. Bumrah fielded 89 balls in six one-dayers and didn’t fumble once — he didn’t concede one extra run. His fielding workload was next only to Virat, who mans the high-traffic zones,” Sridhar explained.
Now, the series in England will be different ball game. “The ball will wobble. Overall I’m happy, especially with the white ball. With the red one, slip catching is a challenge. We are improving though. We’ve got more methods to train now and are making our practice sessions harder,” Sridhar said.
