Michael Vaughan, the former England skipper, feels that India it’s the ‘timid mindset’ which is barring them from playing an aggressive brand of cricket. An ineffective start against Australia in the 3rd and final ODI made them look apprehensive against the Aussies.
India however finally got back to winning ways as they defeated Australia by 13 runs in the third and the final ODI in Canberra. However, the top batting-order is struggling as evident in all the three ODIs, which remains the biggest concern for the men-in-blue.
Michael Vaughan: India Are Playing Timidly
India managed more than 300 runs in all the 3 ODIs despite losing the series 2-1. In the 3rd ODI, India were 152/5 before the duo of Hardik Pandya, and Ravindra Jadeja came together at the crease.
An astonishing unbeaten 150-run partnership between all-rounders Hardik Pandya and Ravindra Jadeja took the visitors to a good enough 302-run total. The duo garnered all the praises for their stellar batting prowess but the top-order batsmen, except captain Virat Kohli who scored 2 half-centuries on the trot, found themselves at the receiving end.
“We saw an incredible partnership between Pandya and Jadeja but beyond that is not great deal but I was just wondering back of the mind that they are playing timidly and is getting them into a situation,” said Vaughan on Cricbuzz.
The former English skipper Michael Vaughan stated that the Indian players had got the requisite skills to play aggressively on the field and they need the freedom to do so.
“I just think it’s freedom and culture around dressing room which allows them to do that (play aggressively) and I think, India have the talent in their batsmen and playing with that approach because they’ve got the skill, they’ve got the time, they’ve got the gift. I just wonder if in that culture, in the Indian dressing room, I just wonder it’s a little bit old school. I just wonder it’s a little bit back the innings when we play consistently. They’ve got enough talent to go out for it a little bit early and a bit harder,” said Michael Vaughan.
In the first ODI, Shikhar Dhawan who scored 74 and Hardik Pandya who scored 90 saw them reach 308/8 after reeling at 101/4 in reply to Australia’s 374/6. In the second ODI, Indian top order didn’t score many runs as expected apart from Virat Kohli who scored 89 and KL Rahul who scored 76 to see India scoring 338/9 in reply to Australia’s 389/4.
Michael Vaughan’s Opinion Echoed By Zaheer Khan
Agreeing to Michael Vaughan’s opinion, former Indian 2011 World Cup-winning pacer Zaheer Khan stated that the Indian think tank needs to step up and re-structure the brand of aggressive cricket the team wants to play in against a strong opponent like Australia.
“It’s all about what brand of cricket you want to play? How you going to structure your innings. All those discussions are important when the skeleton needs to be formed. When you look at this team when someone like Rohit Sharma is out, you tend to feel that the winning formula is not defined for any other individual to fill in that particular role,” said Zaheer Khan.
“A conscious effort has to be made by the think tank and the team management to have a set and defined brand of cricket which the team wants to play,” he added.
Rohit Sharma, who is a regular in ODIs, was missed in Australia as he is still nursing the injury suffered during IPL. In his absence, a lot more was expected of likes of Mayank Agarwal and Shreyas Iyer, but they failed to live up to expectations. Hardik Pandya was India’s leading run-scorer with 210 runs averaging 105 while Virat Kohli scored 173 runs averaging 57.67. Shreyas Iyer managed only 59 runs averaging a pathetic 19.67.