Back to Basics

The 2nd match between India and West Indies was an embarrassing loss for the visiting team, not because of the defeat but the manner in which the Indian team suffered a defeat. You certainly can’t win all the matches and our media and fans are certainly unforgiving when we lose any cricket match. But the way the team applied their cricket basics to the 2nd ODI was appalling. At the toss, the Indian captain, M.S. Dhoni and the rest of the experts certainly misread the pitch to expect to bat first and post a total well above 300. Expectations can be made before the commencement of play, but once the players came onto the pitch, they failed to apply themselves according to the wicket. The batsmen, having a mental target of 300+, did not throw any caution to the seaming and swinging ball. If the players would have applied themselves and had seen the 1st 10-15 overs through, they would have then been able to post a total of around 250-275. A batsman has to play the game according to the conditions and not according to a predetermined goal.