Is everything alrite with the Indian Team

India played pretty well under pressure in the last two matches of the Future Cup against the South Africans. Indian team, 1-0 down after the first match, put up some great performances to win the series 2-1. Now the whole India is ecstatic. The team, the spectators and the fans, the media...everyone is going gaga. And they have reasons to do that as this series victory is first against the South Africans away from home. And the fact that it came after the World Cup debacle makes it even more sweet.

I do not want to sound pessimistic but is everything alright with the Indian Team? I do not think so. All the three matches went down to the wire and they could have gone either way. One big problem that I can see is with the batting. Though a couple (Tendulkar and Yuvraj) came up with some good performances with the bat, others were found wanting. (I am not including the performances in the match against Ireland). Against the South African bowling attack, Ganguly and Gambhir struggled with the bat. Ganguly's front foot seemed nailed to the crease where as Gambhir did not apply himself enough.

I believe the biggest problem is with the captaincy. Dravid allowed the South Africans to trot to the target in the first game and in the last game, his bowling changes were not up to the mark. That helped the opposition to build a fighting total. His captaincy is lacking the aggression that is required in such crunch games. Though he scored 70 odd in the first game, his batting is also not what it used to be. He is not giving the full face of the bat to the bowl, instead he is looking to work the ball on the leg side. That is making him look very tentative and is affecting his strike rate too. Moreover, the way he has been getting out is also a concern. He was bowled in the first (there was a time when it was a rarity but now it has become a common phenomenon), he was caught and bowled in the second (he was neither on the front foot nor back foot while playing a rising delivery) and he was run out in a stupid manner in the last. The way he was run out in the last game reminded me of Virendra Sehwag's dismissal in the last game against the Lankans, before the World Cup. On that occassion Sehwag was heavily criticized. I wonder why is the media quiet this time around. This dismissal could have cost us the match.

Having said all that, I agree that Dravid is a great player. Infact, one of the best that India has ever produced. (Its a surprise that he was not included in the "All Time Indian Test Team", which was selected by a few former captains.) It is just that we have an important series against England ahead of us. We will require good form of Dravid the batsman and Dravid the captain in that series. All the best to Dravid and the Indian Team for the series.

For now, let us enjoy the moment of glory!!!