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Challenging times ahead of Indians

Dhoni must be given the leeway to express himself as a leader, writes
Steve Waugh

Challenging times lie ahead of the Indians, and it will be interesting to see how the players, the administrators and the fans respond to this challenge. The Australians are a team that feeds on momentum, and they have some seriously long winning streaks to their credit. They have reached big totals in all three games, and the bowling and fielding has been faultless so far.

All this has happened without their full squad, and without any exceptional innings from players like Ricky Ponting and Adam Gilchrist. Clearly the Indians are up against it, but they must not lose confidence, and must analyse their performance so far.

Unnecessary warning

India’s chief selector has already issued a rather unnecessary warning, stating that nobody should take their place in the side for granted. This is not new information, and if the administrators want to read out the riot act, it is best done behind closed doors, not before the media.

He would have been better advised to have had a quiet word with the player or players concerned, because a public announcement can only put pressure on players.

Whenever India has done poorly as a team, the main reasons have been the running between the wickets and the fielding. These have been problem areas for a very long time, and are hampering the Indians again. They have the batting talent as well as handy bowlers, but if they don’t get the smaller things right, they will lose more games than a team of their ability ought to.

It’s still early days in the series, but if things don’t improve for the Indians, their fans should not judge them too harshly.

The Australians have had a very good record in one-dayers in India for quite some time now. We won the World Cup here in 1987 and won the Champions Trophy in 2006.

In between there has been a series win in 2001 and a tri-series win in 2003 as well. The Indians on the other hand have had indifferent form in one-dayers over the last 12 months, and it’s going to be tough to change that around against the Australians.

There have been some weak links in the bowling as well for India. The fact that the main spinners have not yet taken a wicket is what is allowing the Australians to set themselves up for an onslaught in the slog overs. Harbhajan Singh and Murali Kartik have to change that if their team are to restrict Australia.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be learning quickly that captaining a team is no easy task. He must be given the leeway to express himself as a leader, and he needs a little time to realise the strategy and outlook that suits his team the best.

It took me almost a year to do all that and hopefully Dhoni will get that much time. Right now, he will be thinking of Monday’s game, and the need to stay alive in this series. The Australians look red hot right now, and the Indian captain skipper has a lot to think about.

Gameplan

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