A real test for Team India

What led to India’s poor outing in the first T20 game against Sri Lanka? Harsha Bhogle throws some light on the loss.

As India ascend to the top of Test cricket, a format they have been accused of neglecting, they continue to slide in T20, a form of the game they seem tailor-made for. They were woeful at Nagpur; the bowling and fielding wasn’t good enough at this level and the batting had a touch of the bizarre.

The shorter the game, the more critical the role of fielding and catching. Truly, the much neglected third arm of the game becomes an almost equal sibling to batting and bowling and India were all over the place. The Castrol Index worm will show you that the turning point of the Sri Lankan innings, indeed of the match, came when Yuvraj put down a sitter of Jayasuriya in the 4th over. He promptly seized the initiative and allowed Sangakkara to play an innings of extraordinary versatility.

Sangakkara is one of modern greats, capable of playing gritty innings in Test cricket but also of carving out run-a-ball 50s and 60s in a 130-140 kind of game. And at Nagpur, he showed he is as good as anyone when it comes to producing a flier. It is further proof that the best can play well in any form of the game.

And India virtually surrendered after Gambhir’s wicket. With 123 to get at 11 an over, India could have paced themselves to about 40 in the next 5 leaving 80 in the last 6. Sri Lanka got those runs when they batted because they had wickets in hand. On that surface, India could have given themselves that option especially as they lost a couple of wickets.

And in any case, you cannot take the field with 8, 9, 10 and 11 incapable of batting. The Castrol Index rewards non-core skills but a team must possess them. No. 8 has to be able to win you a game in the last three overs and no. 9 should be able to hang around.

It could all change in game 2 but India need to look at their composition.