Dhoni has every right to feel let down by bowlers, fielders

Watching India struggle to take wickets after the first hour at Eden Park, it suddenly became clear why India’s captain MS Dhoni is so insistent on turning tracks when his team plays at home. They simply lack another consistent method for dismissing opposing batsmen.

On this first day of the first Test, they were ably assisted by the Indian fielders, who continued to look a step off the pace, as they did in the ODI series. Murali Vijay, normally a decent slip catcher, grassed a sitter from Kane Williamson when he was on 32. The ball went into his hands and popped straight out.

“Hard hands," said Ian Smith on commentary. A little later Sunil Gavaskar, an excellent slip fielder for India, pointed out that the current lot don’t get low to the ground in anticipation of a catch. That it was not a new observation made it all the more galling.

Williamson was on 32 then. He would not provide another chance until he had made 113 and added over 200 runs with Brendon McCullum to turn 30 for 3 into 251 for 4.

During that partnership Mohammed Shami would amble in from fine leg without noticing McCullum had turned for a second run, leaving Dhoni aggrieved, and Shikhar Dhawan would come forward at short fine leg to take a catch off a top edge only to see the ball sail over his head and land a few paces behind him. Dhawan had earlier dropped Peter Fulton off the first ball of the second over while fielding in the slips. That Fulton did not survive much longer was perhaps the only bit of fortune to favour India.

Ravindra Jadeja and Ajinkya Rahane did take two sharp catches to send back Hamish Rutherford and Ross Taylor, but those were the exceptions that highlighted another underwhelming performance from India in the field.

The bowlers did themselves no favours either. They ran in all day but they ran in aimlessly, like a pack of puppies chasing their own tails. Aside from the first hour when overcast conditions provided some movement and Ishant Sharma somehow had figures of 2 for 4, Zaheer Khan and company appeared to have prepared no plans for the New Zealand batsmen. Or if they had, they failed to execute them, which might be worse.

In general, all three seamers failed to pitch the ball up far enough and with Ishant and Zaheer bowling slower than 130 kph on average, McCullum and Williamson had an easy time of it once the sun came out. Mohammad Shami would have had Williamson’s wicket if Vijay had held on at slip, but overall failed to trouble the batsmen often enough even with his extra pace because there was no consistency of length, line or purpose. When he threw in the bouncer it appeared be more a case of change for change’s sake then a carefully thought out tactic. As a result, the ball disappeared to the boundary far too often.

With the pitch offering no assistance to Ravindra Jadeja, he was picked off for runs at will as both McCullum and Williamson used their feet to good effect, India were reduced to three bowlers when even four was likely to be one short.

Once again India had the upper hand early. Once again they they failed to capitalise, something Dhoni stressed on before the match. On this day, he had every right to feel let down by his team and they will have to raise their game to a level they have rarely shown on this tour if they want tomorrow to be any different.