India's batsmen fail South Africa's trial by pace

This was expected. The ball whizzing past the head, the batsmen trying to move out of the way and the edges carrying to the slip fielders. This was expected given the lack of preparation, if India had managed to put up a fight in alien conditions, it would have been a surprise. This was all expected because this lot of batsmen hasn’t really faced the best fast bowlers in tough conditions and when they have, they haven’t mastered the conditions or the opposition. [caption id=“attachment_1271237” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Dale Steyn terrorised Rohit Sharma with his opening spell. AFP[/caption] Dale Steyn ran in and got the ball to shape away from the right-hander from the very first ball. He got the length right and at times, the ball was scything parabolas in the cold Johannesburg air. Poor Rohit Sharma had no answer. In the first over alone, Rohit was beaten thrice. He seemed to walk away and tell himself each time: this was expected. The second over sees no change. Steyn gets the same away shape and Rohit stays patient. But the pressure of the huge total was starting to show. He was getting a little edgy, he had faced 12 balls and he still hadn’t put bat on ball. Lonwabo Tsotsobe, from the other end, wasn’t as accurate. He gave Shikhar Dhawan a few balls in the slot and the Indian opener attacked with relish. But the Steyn versus Rohit battle was a one-way street. As Steyn came in for his third over – the talk wasn’t whether Rohit would score a run – it was simply about whether he would touch bat on ball. A few days back – playing in India, Rohit could do no wrong – now, he seemed so out of sorts that it almost seemed funny… funny to everyone but the Indian team and their supporters. This is a situation that the team has been forced into and without any real practice, this was always going to be an uphill battle. This too was expected. Dhoni has said that they need to play with the hand dealt out to them but in reality, he doesn’t have an option so why complain. In the third over, Rohit finally got bat on ball – no run though. The crowd cheered and Rohit managed a smile. This had not been easy for a man who is in the form of his life. The next ball, a leading edge got him off the mark. Dhawan fell to Morne Morkel’s first ball. It was short and it moved off the seam. The left-hander moved to play the pull, got a top-edge and wicket-keeper de Kock took a good catch running back. Kohli came in next and he was smiling. He had seen Rohit’s struggles from the dressing room and was under no illusions about what was to follow. Morkel produced a nasty snorter in his next over and Kohli edged it too but de Kock dropped a sitter that he would have taken nine times out of ten. At that point, it seemed like Kohli decided that he was going to fight fire with fire. He started off with a wonderful cover drive for four off Steyn in the next over and then punched one straight down the ground. There was risk involved, plenty of it, but Kohli had the right attitude. After 14 overs, India were 59-1 with Kohli on 31 off 32 balls with 5 fours. He seemed to have fought off the initial burst from the South Africans. But then Ryan McLaren got one to move from a good length and Kohli edged it to first slip. The ball deviated a fair bit and he was pretty much forced to play at it. This was a character building exercise if there ever was one. Yuvraj Singh walked in next and lasted just two balls before McLaren got one through his defence. In 17 matches in 2013, the left-hander has managed just 276 runs at an average of 19.71 – surely, a rethink is in order. Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu need to be given chances too. Rohit Sharma (18 off 43 balls) was run out a few balls later and India were in big trouble. It would have got worse if David Miller had managed to hold on to a catch to send back Mahendra Singh Dhoni (who was on 18). He didn’t connect very well and Miller almost seemed surprised that the ball came to him so slowly. India, somehow, managed to make their way past 200 thanks to Dhoni’s fifty but the flaws against the moving ball and the bounce were obvious. The skipper later said that India didn’t use the new ball very well but he seems to have confidence that the batsmen will eventually find a way to cope with the conditions. The BCCI hasn’t given the team any time to make any real impact so they will have to find a way to make best use of whatever little time is available to them. It can’t be easy. The Board might have won the boardroom battle but what good is it if they lose on the field? The second ODI is on Sunday at Durban and the conditions aren’t going to get any easier. If they lose that then they might as well use the third ODI to get some practice for the Test matches. Success on this tour could define the new generation but for now, they just need to find a way to be competitive. The good thing is Dhoni probably knows that better than most.