India's reality check in the face of a perfect storm
The Mount Maunganui defeat has once more underscored the contrast between India's home and away batting
Six balls into India’s chase, clips of that Matt Henry spell from seven years ago started doing the rounds. Someone joked about why Indian broadcasters were displaying the Australian style of scoring. But it wasn’t. India were 0 for 3. References to the 2019 World Cup semi-final were naturally surfacing. Henry, the wrecker on both days, had doubled his wicket tally from Manchester to Mount Maunganui.
Since then, India have beaten New Zealand in another World Cup semi-final. They have also put an end to their ICC trophy drought and have also beaten New Zealand in an ICC final. But the scars just don't go away. Every top-order collapse since seems to have come with an added layer of scrutiny and scepticism. A question over the ability to make it count when it matters most. In a World Cup cycle, that is a pertinent question to ask. And coach Gautam Gambhir's concerns after the game only reaffirm that.
Gambhir's pointed press conference refused to “brush it under the carpet”.
Henry's triple-wicket maiden effectively shattered India's chase beyond repair. Rohit Sharma was squared up. Virat Kohli was cut in half. Shreyas Iyer couldn't put bat on a repeat nip-backer. The wobble seam was making merry, even if Gambhir refused to acknowledge the brouhaha around the delivery type. "I don't get into so much technicality, wobble seam and all that”.
“We create all these things… it’s the batter’s job to negate it”.
Virat Kohli's (in)famous five words - “45 minutes of bad cricket” - remain a lasting memory from the Manchester debacle. In his post-mortem, he felt their shot selection could have been better. Shreyas Iyer, on his ODI captaincy debut, didn't express any such reservations. “No one threw their wicket away,” he insisted. “The way the ball was seaming in and out, you couldn't basically decide from inside that this is how I'm going to play”.
“It was that length where you couldn't go forward, you couldn't go back. So it was that half-half length,” Gambhir also said. “So, we had to be probably more committed towards it, rather than getting stuck on the crease”.
The contrast with the home flatbeds against the West Indies just days earlier couldn't be starker. India crossed 300 in all three games. Gambhir said, “it’s not cricket”. Somewhere between those extremes - and another 45 minutes of bad cricket - lies a more pressing concern: India's ability to absorb a crushing collapse and still find a way to win when it matters most.
The coach didn't try to treat this as a one-off either. Less than a week ago, chasing 134, India had been pushed to the brink by a short-ball ploy, scraping through while seven down via DLS. There were some technical similarities between the two outings: Henry took five of the six wickets in the length and back-of-a-length channel. The surface looked vastly different under lights, but by Gambhir's own admission, there was no abnormal deviation or movement that couldn't be countered. “There are no unplayable deliveries,” he declared, questioning his own batting unit's inability to negotiate the first ten overs in these conditions.
Neither Iyer nor Gambhir offered any tangible solutions, at least not publicly. There was no single theme of concern, but rather an acknowledgment of a poor outing against extraordinary bowling. The common refrain was to “forget this as soon as possible”. But Gambhir also wanted the team to feel the loss. “If you’re not hurting, there’s a problem”.
Now, this wasn't a semi-final-ending collapse; it only pushed a bilateral series to a decider. But the larger concern stems from the proximity of the next World Cup, and the worry that something similar could wreck another campaign in conditions that the head coach still describes as “alien”.
In the second ODI, India were down to 47 for 4 when KL Rahul, widely regarded as a middle-overs stabiliser, dug in, took his time and hauled India over the line. Neither he nor Shubman Gill played the fourth ODI, spending time in a Test camp in Wellington instead. Rahul's composure at No. 5 and No. 6 remains crucial for India, especially with Kohli having moved away from a typical anchor's role. It's hard to say for sure whether Rahul could have single-handedly taken India from 0 for 3 to a successful chase of 334.
India's top ODI run-scorers in SENA countries since 2023 World Cup
Since the last World Cup, India have played just three ODIs in Africa, but such collapses have made the occasional appearance elsewhere too. In Sri Lanka in 2024, they squandered three steady starts to be bowled out for 230, 208 and 138. Last year, they managed just 136/9 in Perth. This year, they crumbled from 178 for 4 to 233 all out in Cardiff.
Team-wise top-six batting numbers in SENA countries (this ODI cycle)
It is the duality of India's ODI batting, at home and away, that would worry them the most. The lack of adaptability certainly bothers Gambhir. There is probably also an element of expectation management, and an acceptance of the other end of the batting spectrum. “In the first 10 overs, you won’t get 70-80. If you get 30/40 for no loss in 10, that is good enough.
“Because in India, the easiest time to bat is in the first 10-15 overs. Here, it’s probably the most difficult time”.
Just one day separates the 244-run humbling from the series decider on Sunday. For the No. 1-ranked team in the world, carrying old wounds and newer worries, it is a chance to move on quickly. This could be an ugly dress rehearsal for a performance India would not want to see repeated. It is also an opportunity for this batting unit to show that it can adapt better to these conditions.
Even through his blunt assessment, Gambhir had a line of positivity to hold on to: “When you have this kind of a day, you want to try and forget, because there is enough quality, there is enough experience as well. And I'm sure the guys will turn up”.
*With stats inputs from Deepu Narayanan
