Barring Kohli & Pujara, Indian batsmen can't play bouncers

[playkid12]

Even Kohli can look out of place with the short stuff at times. There isn't a single batsman in the Indian ODI squad that can play bouncers with authority. In fact, I'd argue that historically, the Indian national cricket team has done awful against bouncers and fast bowling in general.

The reasons are obvious - the pitches in India are not suited to fast bowling, so Indian batsmen get no practice toward it. However, it looks awful when the team you support gets undone by such a simple tactic, especially when you can't give back the stuff since your own bowling is among the worst in the world. Not only that, but the recent home series against England showed that Indian batsmen are weak against good quality spin as well.

Is this new generation of Indian batsmen, excluding Kohli and Pujara, just a bunch of flat track bullies?

Rohit Sharma can't perform outside of the subcontinent. Shikhar Dhawan looked like a deer in headlights in South Africa. Yuvraj Singh has struggled to make an impact ever since his heroics in the WC. Suresh Raina, I already addressed. MSD is a great finisher in ODIs, but he's aging (especially considering that he's captain, keeper, and batsman), and doing quite poorly in Tests. Ravindra Jadeja has also been in a lean patch for a while, and not many Indians would trust him long term with his batting performances alone. He can be handy with the ball though.

That coupled with India's poor bowling.

Ugh, I feel like it's going to be a difficult 4-5 years for Indian cricket. This year should especially be difficult because of the away series.

 

[Aravind.]

Nah India just won champions trophy did you forget it even in test series against SA we showed great fight and we should have won the first test.Kohli,pujara,vijay,rahane are good in dealing short bowling if rohit & dhawan can play like they did in CT will boost our batting.Our bowling is also quite good with zak,shami & ishant firing with umesh,yadav & bhuvi in bench.

 

[surendar]

It is not as worse we were few years back in playing bounce. Thing that we played 10 days in 2 tests in SA soil reflects that. We are definitely not worse compared to the teams like England.

I guess all these frustrations wouldn't have appeared if we had drawn that last day in SA.

 

[vet_m]

Dale Steyn and Co were very kind to Indian Batsmen.

 

[Aalay]

Dale Steyn and Co were very kind to Indian Batsmen.

We have Geoff Boycott on planetcrcket now. How are you doing?

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For someone who does not have a good technique, I think Dhoni plays bouncers very well.

 

[playkid12]

Nah India just won champions trophy did you forget it even in test series against SA we showed great fight and we should have won the first test.Kohli,pujara,vijay,rahane are good in dealing short bowling if rohit & dhawan can play like they did in CT will boost our batting.Our bowling is also quite good with zak,shami & ishant firing with umesh,yadav & bhuvi in bench.

Did you forget the England series? It is early to tell for Rahane but I hope he does well. But honestly, I have given up all hope in Nohit Sharma.

Bowling:
1) Umesh Yadav, that guy has the physique and the skills to be good, but he is really inconsistent for now.
2) Ishant consistently fails. They never drop him.
3) Zaheer doesn't seem to be as good as age seems to have caught up.
4) Bhuvi is a good opening bowler that can't bowl at the depth at all. If the pitch offers no assistance, he becomes a liability.

That being said, I hope the new bowlers picked for NZ and Aussie can put up a fight.

 

[Aravind.]

Did you forget the England series? It is early to tell for Rahane but I hope he does well. But honestly, I have given up all hope in Nohit Sharma.

Bowling:
1) Umesh Yadav, that guy has the physique and the skills to be good, but he is really inconsistent for now.
2) Ishant consistently fails. They never drop him.
3) Zaheer doesn't seem to be as good as age seems to have caught up.
4) Bhuvi is a good opening bowler that can't bowl at the depth at all. If the pitch offers no assistance, he becomes a liability.

That being said, I hope the new bowlers picked for NZ and Aussie can put up a fight.

Did you ever watched zak,shami,ishant bowl in sa series most of the wc heroes who didn't perform in oz & eng are dropped now.

 

[SaiSrini]

This "weakness against bouncers" theory is so overrated. If a batsman keeps getting out to a bouncer for a few matches, people tag him as "weak against bouncers". But if the batsman is not confident against bouncers and yet he doesn't get out against it, the tag doesn't follow him. Its all perception. For e.g., Pujara is not that great when it comes to facing bouncers. But still, he is technically solid and a hugely determined guy and can spend hours evading bouncers and stay in the crease and wait for opportunities to tire bowlers and score runs. Ultimately, that's what is important.

Dhoni and Kohli are authoritative against bouncers and are very good hookers. Pujara and Rahane can evade them and play the 'patience game' with the opposition (its a battle of how long the bowlers can keep bowling bouncers). Its pretty much similar to how our batting in the golden period was. Dravid and Laxman evaded bouncers well and played the patient game. Tendulkar was authoritative for the initial part of his career before he too started playing the patient game (due to age catching up and his game transforming). I think India's batting should be fine in tests. Due to these generation of players growing up watching the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, etc, their source of inspiration is strong enough. Now these players have to stamp their authority for future generations to get inspired from them.

 

[Champagnepapi]

Am I the only one who wants to see Sandeep Sharma in India? Yes he is similar to PK but I find his technique a little more effective and considering his age he can improve further!

 

[deekay]

I would say it was a weak performance by India Batsmen.

 

[vaibhavtewatia]

But still, he is technically solid and a hugely determined guy and can spend hours evading bouncers and stay in the crease and wait for opportunities to tire bowlers and score runs. Ultimately, that's what is important.

Something similar shown by Rahane in the 2nd test. People started writing him off on bouncy pitches, but he was there at the crease and looking to play as long as he could. Not to forget how well Rahane started in England in 2011, and gradually declined the more he was playing at home.

Rohit Sharma can't perform outside of the subcontinent.

Two tests. Thats it? Or the CB series where he got some chances after not being selected in the 4 tests prior to it and management kept giving all the chances to the bigwigs, which is very frustrating for a player.

The guy has looked in good touch this year, why not persist with him atleast till the England tour

 

[playkid12]

Something similar shown by Rahane in the 2nd test. People started writing him off on bouncy pitches, but he was there at the crease and looking to play as long as he could. Not to forget how well Rahane started in England in 2011, and gradually declined the more he was playing at home.


Two tests. Thats it? Or the CB series where he got some chances after not being selected in the 4 tests prior to it and management kept giving all the chances to the bigwigs, which is very frustrating for a player.

The guy has looked in good touch this year, why not persist with him atleast till the England tour

Sorry, I've been saying Rohit Sharma is awful for a very long time. My confidence in him has ran thin for a while. To me, SA was a test to see if he can actually play outside of the subcontinent and dominate finally, but he failed again. Rohit has received many chances. Don't forget the ODI series right before the tests in SA.

I'm not against Rahane. He clearly hasn't received many chances. Rohit Sharma has, though, at least in ODIs.

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This "weakness against bouncers" theory is so overrated. If a batsman keeps getting out to a bouncer for a few matches, people tag him as "weak against bouncers". But if the batsman is not confident against bouncers and yet he doesn't get out against it, the tag doesn't follow him. Its all perception. For e.g., Pujara is not that great when it comes to facing bouncers. But still, he is technically solid and a hugely determined guy and can spend hours evading bouncers and stay in the crease and wait for opportunities to tire bowlers and score runs. Ultimately, that's what is important.

If they're not good at them, they can avoid them. But that is not the case with someone like Raina, who keeps going after them. I personally didn't see many problems with Pujara against the short ball. He evaded them to play safe cricket. I think it's wrong to assume that a defensive tactic means that they have shoddy technique against the short ball. It's just playing the odds.

What I can tell you though is Dhawan got out to a few short balls, which means that he for certain has a problem against the short ball - both mentally and in technique. Mentally because he chooses to still play them.

 

[PrateexitS]

I agree to most of your points, to add on to the players who can play short pitch balls, Ajinkya Rahane showed some great skill and technique against it. He has the potential and temperament and technique to succeed in overseas conditions.

 

[PrateexitS]

1) Umesh Yadav, that guy has the physique and the skills to be good, but he is really inconsistent for now.

Inconsistent? On what basis? He played his last test match almost 1 and 1/2 years back, and after the Champions Trophy where he did quite well (with a 5 wicket haul in the warm-up match against the Aussies) he only played 2 games in South Africa.
It's the inconsistency of him playing in the team, not of his performance.
He's the quickest bowler of India at present, strong and fit lad, can go 145kmph+ on a regular basis, wicket taking bowler, what else do you want? Making him play 1-2 games in long intervals isn't done. He needs to be made part of the playing 11 on a regular basis, then only he'll get better.

 

[Epic]

Seeing posts like this almost makes me wonder if I'm some sort of deluded wishful thinker, because I'm quite confident going into away tours of New Zealand and England.