Three things we learned from India's performances in the Asia Cup

India’s Asia Cup campaign can best be summed up as a mixed bag. They could have won all four of their games but came up empty against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in crunch situations, costing them a place in the final. With that in mind, here are three thoughts about India’s performances in this tournament. 1. India clearly missed MS Dhoni, the batsmen The decline of Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina’s loss of form meant India had no replacement for Dhoni’s intelligent power hitting at the end of the innings. Dinesh Karthik failed to seize his chances, batting like a teenager with attention deficit disorder. Ajinkya Rahane and Ambati Rayudu showed flashes of solidity, but their strike-rates of 72 and 67 do not promise the sort of boundary-clearing heroics Dhoni specialises in. And as much as Ravindra Jadeja has improved, he is still not equipped to finish games on his own. [caption id=“attachment_1422363” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Amit Mishra and Virat Kohli made a good combination. AFP[/caption] It hurt especially when India batted first in the games against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Dhoni happens to average 54.08 with a strike-rate of 95.08 when put in to bat, both numbers being better than his overall career averages. Dhoni is 32 and given his dual role as the team’s wicket-keeper, already has a lot of miles on him. When he finally decides to call time on his career, India will have a hard time filling the hole he leaves behind. 2. India’s fielding is costing them matches Shambolic is the best way to describe India’s fielding at the moment. When they won the 2013 Champions Trophy, India were rightly hailed as the best fielding side in the tournament. The drop in standards is hard to understand since these are mostly the same players. The ground fielding is often sloppy and the catching, especially in the slips, is execrable. Against Afghanistan it was captain Virat Kohli who was the major culprit, putting won two chances, one of which hit the middle of his chest. All Kohli could do was grimace as he lay on the ground. It didn’t matter against Afghanistan, but a missed stumping when Kumara Sangakkara was on 30 cost India the match against Sri Lanka. The general sloppiness also points to a lack of discipline, which needs to change. The moment that best summed up India’s fielding struggles came in the first match, when Rayudu and Mohammed Shami collided while going for the same catch. Somehow Shami held on but Sunil Gavaskar made the point on commentary that nobody shouted mine. You learn to do that in school cricket and there is no excuse for an international player forgetting to do so. To add injury to insult, Shami ended up having to leave the field too after the collision. 3. Amit Mishra just might be India’s best spinner When Mishra finally got a game, he spun webs around Pakistan’s batsmen, who are not exactly mugs with the bat, to finish with 2 for 28. Despite the small boundaries, Mishra was happy to give the ball air and got it to rip off the pitch even when Ashwin and Jadeja struggled to get any turn whatsoever. He was helped by Kohli’s captaincy, which is about getting wickets first and stopping runs second, and was therefore able to bowl with the freedom that comes from knowing he won’t be taken off if he gets tonked a time or two. It helped that the slow nature of the wickets suited his bowling, but on this evidence, Mishra is a better option than Aswhin or Jadeja in the middle-overs and should be playing limited-overs cricket for India in the subcontinent at least. (It was also good to see Kohli stop handing the ball to Rayudu. How and why Rayudu became India’s preferred part-time bowler is a question to be put to Duncan Fletcher and company, though answers are unlikely to be forthcoming).