India’s newly appointed Assistant coach Abhishek Nayar has accepted that there is a need to look into the reason for India’s wobbly batting, which has happened twice in the last two ODIs. India suffered two big batting collapses against Sri Lanka in the first two ODIs costing them a win in the second game, while the first one ended in a tie.
In the fifteenth over, India were cruising at 80 for 1, chasing Sri Lanka’s 230 for 8, until collapsing to 132 for 5. They ended up in a thrilling tie as the lower order proceeded to crash and burn, with India failing to score 1 run out of 14 balls. On Sunday, the second One-Day International (ODI) unfolded in a remarkably unpredictable manner as well, as India collapsed from 116 for 1 to 133 for 5, ultimately falling 32 runs short of Sri Lanka’s 240 for 9.
“We want to go back and understand, and rectify, why it happened twice in a row. The day before yesterday, we were able to stitch partnerships. But today we lost quite a few wickets in a bundle,” Nayar said, following the loss that gave Sri Lanka an unbeatable 1-0 lead in the three-match series.
Nayar even termed India’s defeat as a surprise. Although India has been troubled on spinning tracks in the past and that was the case this time around as well. Jeffrey Vandersay, who replaced the injured Wanindu Hasaranga, spun a web around Indian batters, picking each of the first six wickets to fall.
“Was it a shock? I would say yes, there is a surprise. But you anticipate and understand that in these conditions the game can turn on its head because there is so much spin on offer.
“Even if you look at the last game, it was relatively easy to score against the new ball. As the ball got older, the conditions when batting second got slightly tougher. Sometimes in tough conditions, especially in the 50-over format, this happens,” he added, before tipping his hat to the 34-year-old spinner who finished with figures of 6 for 33 in 10 overs.
“They bowled well – I think Vandersay bowled the ideal length in these conditions. In such conditions, when the ball is turning – and the way Vandersay bowled today, used his finger, and bowled stump to stump – you get these phases when there is assistance from the pitch. I feel today we should give more credit to Sri Lanka.”
“The last two T20 games assisted spin. When we came here and practiced as well, we kind of understood that there will be turn on offer, and there will be help and assistance (for the spinners). It wasn’t a surprise and we had prepared for it,” Nayar opined.
India somewhat altered their batting order, which Nayar revealed was primarily done to keep the left-right combination going. Dube and Axar were promoted up the order at 4 and 5 respectively, ahead of Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul.
“We lost wickets in the middle phase, which means every middle order batter batted where he was supposed to. It was not as if the middle order batted towards the end. When you look at numbers, sometimes in your head it can play games, if you look at it as No 4 or No 5 or No 6… but if you look at the situation of the game, because we lost wickets, everyone batted in the middle-order.”
“So I don’t really feel changes… It is perceived as a change but it’s more a left and right combination, keeping in mind the conditions, keeping in mind that they had an off spinner and a leg spinner. So the thought process was right. But sometimes when you don’t get the result, you kind of question it. But the thinktank and the thought process has been about having the left-right combination so that we can capitalise on the conditions,” Nayar said.
