India’s summer struggles

Summer only comes around once a year, but the Indian cricket team had a taste of two within six months and both proved to be unhappy ones.

After four Test defeats in England between July and August last year, they then lost another four in Australia just recently. On both occasions two were by an innings and none of them were really very close contests. It has been a painful experience for the fans to see what was the number one Test team fall and questions, demands and pleas have all been doing the rounds. Should MS Dhoni be stripped of the captaincy? Or booted out of the Test team altogether? What about Virender Sehwag? The famed trio of VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar have also come in for some stick. And do not forget Gautam Gambhir or Ishant Sharma.

Who should stay or go is not within our remit, but what we can do is have a look at the performances of the players during these two big tours that India went on.

Whatever criticisms have been levelled against Dravid during the Australia tour - scoring less than 200 runs, averaging less than 25, having a poor strike rate and being bowled six out of eight times - one cannot forget his single-handed attempt at putting much-needed runs on the board in England. He hit three centuries there, the only Indian to reach triple figures, and was by far and away the best Indian batsman on the Castrol Index.

Tendulkar, too, did not have the worst of times on either tour; he hit two half-centuries each in England and Australia, but could never push on despite getting within sniffing distance of a century. Was it the pressure of that looming 100th international century? It could well have been, and it will be a big concern for India if it persists.

What might really worry India is the lack of form demonstrated by Gambhir and Laxman. The former managed just 102 runs in three Tests in England (an average of 17.00) and did little better in Australia, although he did notch up a fine half-century in Sydney. At least he made it to the top five against the Aussies; in England he was outperformed by both Amit Mishra and Praveen Kumar.

However, what is more of a surprise is the depth of the slump Laxman is in. When he scored just 182 runs in England, his fans could waive that off knowing that he would surely perform Down Under, his favourite place to bat in (he struck four centuries in 11 Tests there prior to this tour, his best ratio in any country). He had hit a century in each of his three previous tours, but could only manage one half-century on this one, garnering a series average of less than 20.

The bowling did not bring any joy for India, either. Zaheer Khan emerged as a tireless bowler and he had a pretty good series. His absence in England, due to injury, was a big blow, and who knows what problems Kumar could have posed the Aussies if he had been fit enough for the recent series. He was excellent in England, the only bowler to have an average of under 30.

Ishant Sharma bowled in both tours and did not get much reward. He could be considered unlucky, beating the edge on many occasions, but that might be the difference between good and great bowlers; the great ones get the edges.

Another disappointment for the Indians was how ineffectual Ravichandran Ashwin was versus Australia. He had a dream Test debut in India against the West Indies, firming up his claim to be India’s top spinner, but he made little headway against the Aussies. He was even outdone by Australia’s Nathan Lyon, a fellow off-spinner, who had a better average, economy rate and strike rate.

Still, he is a young man, just making his way into Test cricket. So is Umesh Yadav and Virat Kohli, and positives were to be found in all three. That is something, perhaps, for Indian fans to take away as they look to the future.