Ahead of Rajkot ODI

After the 5th ODI, it became clear that anything less than 350 can be chased in India by teams with some decent batting depth. This is nothing new...Patta wickets are there from the day we started playing one day cricket. The reason I feel that the associations go for patta wickets is a tendency to play it safe; if a match is a high scoring match with 4s and 6s raining - no one will blame the pitch (it is another matter that the bowlers' careers will get finished and so are their confidence). I am yet to see a real bowling performance in 2nd inning of a ODI (unless when India bats 2nd and messes up in the usual fashion through some harakiris and run outs) in Indian pitches.

So, just one defeat in A'bad is turning the tables for India? I guess so - hard times are ahead. RD seems to be injured and Shewag is not sharpest pencil in the box. I just read that VRV singh, the tearaway Punjab lad is already declared unfit (can you believe that? who the hell is North zone selector?). That leaves a serviceable 12 for the match at Rajkot. When Dada hit that Duleep 100, Rajkot wicket was bouncy but in 15 days, they have dug it up and made it the old patta where the ball will not rise beyond the boot lace. You are better off with a broom rather than bat in these wickets !! I think GC has lost the plot with his penchant for too much experimentation. I won't be surprised if India gets thrashed soundly at Rajkot since Shewag looks not at all confident.

Looking ahead, against SA, India must go for square turners. SA has one exciting bat Kemp, who is raining 6s in every match. He is the next Zulu and India can not defend sub 300 totals without spinning tracks. I will go to the extent of calling Kumble back since Kartik seems to be timid and seems to have lost his confidence. His batting mess the other day at A'bad, when RD was nearing 100 reflected his poor state of mind. The alternative is try Chawla or Amitab Mishra against SA. The other factor to be borne in mind is that Pollack and Ntini are not exact pushovers (like Dilharo Fernando and Maharoof) and the rest of medium pacers like Nel, Langeveldt are pretty decent and not to forget Kallis will bowl too.