A rocky start to the West Indies tour

The Indian tour of the West Indies began on a sour note, with the hosts winning the one day series by a convincing 4-1 margin. Salil Benegal looks at what went wrong and the challenges that lie ahead for this Indian team.

After convincing ODI series wins over Pakistan and England at home, the stage seemed set for India to produce a brace of similar performances and brush aside an even weaker West Indian lineup at home. The tour commenced with a 115 run victory over Jamaica in a warm up game, followed by a 5 wicket win in the opening one-dayer at Sabina Park.

From there, things unraveled, as India faltered in the face of a modest target in the second ODI and fell short by one run. Three more defeats followed as the Indians' game visibly wilted. What had happened to a lineup that could do no wrong on a field a few weeks ago?

The bowling

A highlight of most of India's recent ODI successes has been the new ball bowling of Irfan Pathan. This series began in uncharacteristic fashion for him though, as Pathan opened the series with an over containing several wides and a no-ball. It set the tone for his series, where his stock in-dipper was rarely on the mark, and his waywardness allowed the West Indian openers to get on top of him quite often.

With Pathan off colour, the onus on his new ball partner was increased, but neither Sreesanth nor Munaf Patel was able to carry the burden. Both showed their rawness and inexperience as runs were regularly bled at both ends, with wickets rarely falling. Among the Indian pace attack, only Ajit Agarkar stood up, turning in consistent performances with a sharp pace and control that had plenty wondering why he had been left out of the test squad.

The biggest concern for the side though lay in the middle overs, where against England and Pakistan, the combination of Harbhajan, Powar and the part time spinners had either pulled back high run rates with wickets and tight lines, or capitalised on good new ball spells by strangling the opposition's progress. Neither happened here.

Harbhajan bowled beautifully in spells, often taunting and goading the West Indian top order with some superbly flighted deliveries, but the wickets didn't come. Powar struggled even more, finding his slow, loopy off breaks being countered by bold footwork and stroke play that prevented him from ever settling down in line and length.

The batting

The vaunted batting lineup turned into a three man show for the most part, with only Yuvraj and Mohammad Kaif shining throughout the series and Virender Sehwag finding a measure of form in the last three ODIs. The big issue was the form of Rahul Dravid, who after a sublime hundred in the opening match, struggled at the top of the order.

Dravid has a tendency to get bogged down when off form, and early on in the team's innings, this proved crucial to the side's momentum, or lack of it. His early dismissals saw India unable to take advantage of the early fielding restrictions, and the West Indians took full toll.

It led to an overanxious rush for runs from the middle order, which too often led to India's inability to put runs on the board - time after time, dismissals were self-inflicted either by overaggressive running or belligerent stroke play against disciplined bowling.

The fielding

Fielding so often is a barometer of a side's confidence and form levels: winning teams tend to attack the ball relentlessly and successfully, sides on a losing streak tend to fumble, miss throws and spill catches. Over the course of five games, the Indian fielding veered from one extreme to the other. A sharp fielding display had been key to them edging out the Windies in the first ODI; by the fifth ODI, fielders were spilling catches, fumbling on the boundary and returning wayward throws while Dwayne Bravo gleefully cashed in.

Despite the positive outlook from Rahul Dravid in the press conferences, it's a significant concern that needs to be attended to immediately. Suresh Raina didn't show the same assurance at second slip that he normally does at cover point, but with VVS Laxman and Wasim Jaffer flying in for the tests and more likely candidates for the slip cordon, slip fielding may be less of an issue.

Looking ahead

With the bowlers' current form, the Indian think tank faces a tough conundrum over the selection for the first test. It will be the last played at the Antigua Recreation Ground, something a number of bowlers around the world will be thankful for, as the ARG has a reputation of being a batsman's dream wicket. The option of five bowlers might be strongly considered, but with the batting not firing (despite ominous signs from Virender Sehwag's bat), playing five specialist batsmen against a potential-laden attack will be a major risk.

Anil Kumble's arrival in the West Indies will give the bowling a much needed edge, but the major concern for the side is the new ball attack. Irfan Pathan's ODI performances haven't translated to the longer format of the game, and with three even more inexperienced seamers for support, Pathan will have to shoulder the burden of being a senior paceman in the side.

The arrival of the other two test specialists, VVS Laxman and Wasim Jaffer, should further bolster the Indian batting. While the likes of Suresh Raina and Mohammad Kaif have been earmarked as long term test prospects, none of the youngsters have yet developed the ability to build long innings, an area where Laxman and Jaffer excel. Even then, both Laxman and Jaffer will feel the pressure of being on the fringe of selection. With the likes of Raina and Kaif making cases for places in the side, both will realise the need for a productive series with the bat.

The main focus though will be on Rahul Dravid, whose performances have been talismanic away from home. As the cornerstone of the batting and captain of a fairly young side, all eyes will be on Dravid, particularly when marshalling his team. India has won just one of their last six tests so far this year, and the side has a notably poor record in the West Indies. A series win here could erase all those memories; defeat could see the knives being taken out for the Chappell-Dravid combo, who've already come under fire after the ODI series defeat.

(Salil Benegal is based between Chicago and Singapore, and switches between studying chemistry and freelancing (or trying to) in cricket and travel writing. A strong fan of both the Indian and Australian cricket teams, Salil also maintains a cricket-centric blog at http://www.sbenegal.blogspot.com/)

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