It’s been a long time since India won a bilateral ODI series.
After the 2015 World Cup, India lost an ODI series against Bangladesh, South Africa, and Australia.
Under MS dhoni’s captaincy, India has just won against Zimbabwe in the recent past.
So what Has let to This situation for The Men in Blue?
1) Overdependence on Virat Kohli:
Though there are other star players, but this team has become a bit dependant on Virat Kohli. A number of times, we have seen Virat Kohli bail-out India through tough situations. Sure, he’s our best batsman, but it’s not always possible for him to take us across the winning line.
Someone playing well on a particular day has to take up the responsibility of getting a good score or taking India over that winning line.
In the 90s, Sachin used to play these match winning knocks and others just used to hang around with him and if he failed India would end up losing the match more often than not.
I’m afraid that the current Indian team is going down the Same track.
2) Consistently inconsistent performance of other players.
Shikhar Dhawan has been preforming inconsistently for a long time now which led to his replacement in the test Series.
Even in the ODI cricket, he’s not able to give good start adding extra pressure on Virat Kohli.
Rohit Sharma has Always been considered the Talented but Inconsistent one. Thought he had Some good series recently With the bat, but Every now and then he plays a lose shot and throws his wicket at Important Times hampering the Chances of winning the game.
Ajinkya Rahane has always got the Starts but hasn’t been able to convert it into a big or A Match winning performance.
Suresh Raina’s trouble with the Short ball is now Know to the Whole World and he still doesn’t have an answer to that.
Manish Pandey’s a new addition to the side and lacks experience. It will take some time for him settle down.
3) The famous Indian batting collapse.
Decades and Decades have passed But the Indian Team never lost this quality of ours.
Time and time again we have witnessed Indian players perishing one after the other.
Sometimes at the start of the Innings, End of an innings, after a big partnership, During an easy chase and etc.
Who can forget the Semifinal of 1996 World Cup and Sadly we have much more Examples.
Even in the recent series, we have seen our batting collapse like a pack of cards resulting in our loss which could have been a Comfortable win.
4) MS Dhoni
No, I’m not blaming him Completely. But let’s face it, he’s not the Same old dhoni who used to finish games like Before. We all have seen him struggling to get going and the bowlers getting the better of him in these Series.
Also, he’s Strike rate has Dropped and the big ones aren’t Coming Easy for him.
His Decisions have backfired Sometimes and the Gambles didn’t work.
With the age catching up, People have started questioning his Captaincy and his ability to finish games.
He too might be feeling the pressure Only Time will tell How’s things gonna work out for him.
5) Bowlers not getting those early wickets
As we all know India never had a settled bowling line up,Especially the Fast Bowlers.
We haven’t got that wicket taking Bowler who can Provide those early break throughs.
Mohammad Shami looks the best among the current lot and he is someone we can count on but he was hampered with Injuries.
He needs to focus on his Fitness as it is crucial not only for him but for the team as well.
Umesh Yadav has always bowled with a good pace, but at the same time has gone for a lot of runs as well.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar has lost his swing and has gone for a lot of runs.
Bumrah is a great deal for India but still is relatively new. In his short span, he has shown that he can be trusted.
Indian team needs to persist with him. With the Debut of Hardik Pandya, we have to see how he performs in the coming years.
6) Too much pressure on the spinners.
India relies heavily on Spinners to do the job with the likes of Ashwin,Jadeja, and Mishra.
They have done their job quite well restricting the flow of runs and getting those Wickets in Middle overs.
While most of the pitches in India help the spinners, There were times when even the spinners were hammered.
A bad day for any spinner has a huge Impact on the Game.
7) Death Bowling
One of the most Important point resulting in a number of losses of India is the death bowling.
In the last Few Series, We have almost given 80-100 Runs in the last 10 overs.
We didn’t have someone who Could have constantly bowled those Yorkers and Slower balls.
bumrah has the ability,but he alone can’t do much.
The other bowlers need to Improve their Performance and get that ball right in the block hole in the death overs.