Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'The invincibles beaten' that was published in Newsband

The invincibles beaten

The aura of invincibility Indian cricket team built in the limited-over format has vanished. This was the team’s last ODI before the World Cup.

We lost to Australia because of our middle-order woes, lack of fifth bowling option, batsmen’s lack of technique against quality spin bowling, over-reliance on the top-order etc. All these factors gave Australia a well-deserved 3-2 series triumph, its first in India since 2009.

Australia set a target of 273. In response, India folded at 237. The composition of India’s playing XI clearly raised a few eye-brows. Was India playing to win or just experimenting?

This combination had only three specialist batsmen, in addition to a wicketkeeper-batsman, three all-rounders and seven bowling options. When India chased, its vulnerability was evident. Except for Jadhav and Bhuvneshwar, both of whom departed in succession at 223, the Indian batting was disappointing.

Australians really fought well from 0-2 down to 3-2 victory in the series. Really hats off to them. Though Khawaja is the main architect for Australian batting, Peter Handscomb was no less in the innings with Khawaja. The experiment done in Indian team for this ODI had not worked as our allrounders had not fired in batting.

More than losing, it is the attitude which hurts. India failed in all departments of the game. Rohit Sharma has never been a good player of quality wrist spin and he perished.

Invincibility is a myth in a game of glorious uncertainties like cricket and India has learnt it the hard way by squandering a 2-0 lead to lose the five match series 3-2. Inconsistency has been the bane of Indian batsmen and its bowlers too have occasional off days. But the performance of stand in wicket keeper Rishab Pant in the fourth one dayer which India should have won in a canter proves that dispensing with someone as reliable as Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps (with Dhoni unavailable) was a blunder of epic proportions.

Sports and games are something where there will be losers and winners. What the lads should understand that is no team is invincible and there is no target that cannot be achieved. These short formats of cricket is nothing but a gamble. There is no art, no craft, no technical tactics involved. The developments in training has taken a new method. Besides outdoor practice, the indoor study of each and every player, his weaknesses, his strong points, the bowlers’ varieties and his total action analysis should also be done. Losing is part of every gane. Do not fall victims of criticism and mainly do not lose self-confidence. If we notice carefully we will understand that confidence in one’s abilities as an individual and a team is essential. We have seen how newcomer nations have become strong. They play with a free mind, they play to be precise with a don't-care attitude, because the people at home do not have much expectations. In India the press and media has made our country invincible. They call for blood, if the team loses and shower undue praise, if they win. This should change. This will make the members of the team play their game freely and without any fear or fervour. Our team is one of the best teams in the world. Each member of the team should look back at their failures and correct their follies. There is time enough to do this. This team is capable of winning the championship in whichever format it is played.