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VVS Laxman: India’s T20I series win in Australia sets them on course to World T20

The whitewash did not exactly come as a surprise, but what did impress me was the relentless intensity and the ruthlessness with which India closed out matches, says VVS Laxman.

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I had written in my last column that I believed India began favourites to win the T20I series in Australia, and therefore the 3-0 whitewash did not exactly come as a surprise, but what did impress me was the relentless intensity and the ruthlessness with which India closed out matches.

The way I see it, India had four issues to address at the conclusion of the T20 series at home against South Africa in October if they are to mount a strong challenge at ICC World T20 in their own backyard beginning next month. First: The ideal opening combination, and the approach the openers ought to take. Second: To find personnel capable of finishing off an innings, the power-hitters that occupy positions five downwards. Third: To take wickets with new ball and to choke the flow of runs at the death. Fourth: To find the strike force in the middle overs to pick up vital wickets, because nothing puts a brake on the scoring more than the fall of wickets.

In varying degrees answers to all four problem areas have been unearthed, which can only be good news going into a tournament that holds so much significance for the followers of cricket in the country.

Rohit Sharma continued his excellent run of the Australian summer, making the most of good form and refusing to remain content or satisfied. That is only to be expected because Rohit has been around for a long time, has seen the ups and the downs, and therefore knows the importance of cashing in on the ups. Shikhar Dhawan, by contrast, has not had a very good time, but his confidence was on a high after finishing the ODI series strongly, and he has started to piece together the kind of innings that the team expects of him.

There was intent in the manner in which he approached the task. The loose balls were put away but equally important, he was looking for the ones and twos which, no matter the format, are the bread and butter of batting in cricket. Shikhar provides value in being a left-hander, and when he gets going, it means India can realistically expect the left-right combination at the top to do serious damage. Without trying to hit the cover off the ball, Shikhar’s strike-rate in the last two matches was in the 120s and beyond, which is something he is capable of producing on a regular basis.

Virat Kohli, of course, has been in sensational form, and again, I was not surprised that he did not let up at all. He finished the tour with seven half-centuries in eight matches, and he made those runs attractively, without compromising on orthodox classical batting technique. Virat is not one for cute shots and innovations: his approach to batting is conventional, and he showed throughout this tour and especially during the T20 series that you can score at a frenetic pace without resorting to the unorthodox. It was a veritable feast of stroke play, and as a connoisseur as much as being a former India cricketer, it lifted my spirits immensely.

Virat’s maturity, and the maturity of the team, was best exemplified by the calmness the entire batting unit exhibited even under severe pressure. Their chase of 198 in the final T20 match in Sydney was as un-dramatic as you can expect under the circumstances. Virat told me that the team’s approach while having to chase big totals is to keep believing that you can do it, and to keep extending the play deep till the pressure is balanced between the batsman and the bowler. Once it gets to that stage, it is all about who blinks first. MS Dhoni has shown repeatedly in the past that he is not the one to blink, and that’s something that has rubbed off on his team-mates as well.

What also stood out was how India came armed with a plan to tackle whatever Australia threw at them. The mastery of on-side play by Indian batsmen is legendary, therefore Australia’s plans revolved around bowling wide and full outside off-stump. Rohit and Virat found ways of not just countering that line but also mastering the bowling. That shows that a lot of thought has gone into planning by the backroom staff, and a lot of effort has gone in during meaningful net sessions to be fully prepared.

Suresh Raina again demonstrated why he is India’s most valuable Twenty20 player. He understandably looked a little rusty in the first game in Adelaide because he did not have a lot of game-time under his belt, but by the Sydney game, he was back to his best. The manner in which he hunted down the big total was exemplary. In Raina’s batting too, I saw a lot of thought having gone in. Australia tried to tuck him up by bowling short and into his body, making sure he got no room to use his arms and hit through his favoured off-side. By making use of the crease, Raina was still able to score heavily in the arc between mid-wicket and fine-leg. He was put through a stern test, and he came through it with flying colours.

MS was always going to be a different proposition in T20s, because he is doubly dangerous when there is firepower around him, as there was in the shape of Raina, Yuvraj Singh and Hardik Pandya. In the ODIs, India’s hitting power ended with MS at No. 5 or No. 6, so he was also a little conservative. Here, aware that there was considerable depth, he was back to striking the ball with great ferocity in the short time he spent at the crease in the first two matches.

I was also pleased to see MS send out Yuvi to bat in the final T20 with 51 needed from 31 deliveries. Had Yuvi been kept back, there is no gain saying what it would have done for his confidence. You want to feel wanted, you want to be entrusted with responsibility, especially when you are returning to the side after more than a-year-and-a-half. Had MS come out ahead of Yuvi even though the series had been won, it is possible that Yuvi would have felt the captain didn’t have much confidence in him. It was the right decision to promote Yuvi, and though he looked a little out of sorts in the early part, he pulled off two crucial boundary hits in the final over, and Raina then calmly rounded off the run chase. The 3-0 win was remarkable because it was the first time in 130 years that a team had swept a series in Australia, a record MS and his team can be very proud of.

It was always on the cards, with the return of Ashish Nehra, that the bowling would lift itself. Jasprit Bumrah continued to impress, and he is one of those very rare Indian bowlers capable of bowling the yorker at will and directing it perfectly and also at an awkward angle. With more match practice, he will get even better; he is a genuine wicket-taker, and while both he and Ashish went for runs with the new ball which is only to be expected on flat tracks and with field restrictions in place, both of them did take wickets and finish strongly in the end overs, ticking the third box.

Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja exploited the lack of experience in the Australian batting by spinning their web in the middle overs even though they got no assistance from the pitches. Ashwin, of course, is a crafty customer. Jadeja caught the eye with his control and command, as well as his understanding of the nuances of bowling in such an unforgiving format. He is not a big turner of the ball and does not get natural drift because he does not impart as many revolutions on the ball as Ashwin does, but he used the crease and the angles so intelligently that he created artificial drift. His pace was also exemplary as he never gave batsmen the chance to line him up. On more responsive pitches towards the end of the Indian season, he and Ashwin will be a handful for any batting unit. Pandya was a little nervous in the Adelaide game but became better once the nerves settled. He can consistently bowl upwards of 130 kmph and like Bumrah will be a more complete product with more matches under his belt.

The presence of Raina and Yuvi also gave more options in the bowling, which is a great advantage for a captain. Both are spinners who can slow the pace down and quickly get through overs, and a little bit of hustle is never a bad thing.

While India’s catching was a little iffy — sitters put down but a few brilliant ones taken — India comprehensively out-fielded the Australians when it came to ground fielding. It shows how much work has gone into fielding, and how much the team recognises the value of a run saved, because especially in Twenty20 cricket, a run saved is worth at least a run scored, if not more.

Significantly, India’s first phase of preparation for the World T20 could not have gone better. Credit should go to the BCCI for ensuring that the national side plays a string of T20Is in the lead-up to the big tournament because there is nothing like playing together and staying together for morale and confidence within the ranks to improve.

India are scheduled to play three more T20s against Sri Lanka and then go to Bangladesh for the Asia Cup, to be played on the 20-over format for the first time, which means they will play some strong sides in conditions similar to what they will encounter in the World T20. Australia, on the other hand, have embarked on an entirely different preparation that entails both 50-over and Test cricket before they play three T20s in South Africa. Not the right schedule that one would envisage for a team looking to win the one title that is missing from its cupboard, but that is not for us to decide, is it?

(VVS Laxman, CricketCountry’s Chief Cricket Mentor, remains one of the finest and most elegant batsmen in history. He was part of the iconic Indian middle-order for over a decade and a half and played 134 Tests and 86 ODIs. He tweets at @vvslaxman281)

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