India's bowlers fall short, again

Yesterday, a long-suffering Indian cricket fan tweeted: What is the combination India needs to take 20 wickets?

Of course he meant away from home, and it didn't come across so much as a question as it did a wail and a prayer. And it came on the day of India's finest bowling performance on this tour. But, of course, he knew. Everyone knew. Three consecutive sessions of good bowling? That's like asking Mohammed Shami to resist straying down leg every fourth ball.

Okay, that's harsh. After his customary boundary-an-over spell yesterday morning, Shami delivered two tight spells that helped India win the last two sessions. But while Tests are rarely won with just a couple of decent sessions, they can easily be squandered in one horrible one.

The fifth Australian wicket went down last evening at 216. That brought Brad Haddin to the crease. Haddin had scored 195 runs this year from eight Tests at 15. In Brisbane India had bounced him out twice. The plan was obvious. Umesh Yadav hit him on the shoulder with the first ball. The leg-side trap was set. Forward short-leg, man at 45, and two men catching at the back. India gave Steven Smith a couple of singles to be able to bowl at Haddin. It was legitimate. Haddin was awkward. He ducked. Jumped away to the offside, withdrew to the leg to swish at the ball airily, bore a couple on the body. But he survived, and belted Ashwin for a six over long-off. An absorbing Test match day ended in the balance. A good morning session would tilt it either way.

At Lord's earlier this year, India won a Test in a session of unrelenting short balls from Ishant Sharma. It started with Moeen Ali ducking in to a short ball on the final day. Ishant continued to attack Matt Prior, and as Prior began to putting them away, it was quickly beginning to look a dangerous strategy. But Prior pulled one down the throat of midwicket and, from then on, it became surreal.

Ben Stokes went for a duck, mistiming a pull; Joe Root, who had batted pristinely till then, hit one from the middle of his bat to deep square leg, and Stuart Broad tickled a bouncer down the leg side. From 173 for 5, England had been bounced out for 223, and a high-risk, low-percentage strategy had looked like a stroke of genius. MS Dhoni, rightfully, took the credit. It was he who had taken the risk by setting a field that left Ishant with no other option but to bowl short.

It wasn't unlike getting Joginder Sharma - a friendly trundler at best - to bowl the final over in the World T20 in 2007, his first campaign as captain, to have Misbah-ul-Haq scoop into the lap of fine leg. That, after swinging a full toss for six. Nine times out of ten, Joginder wouldn't have defended six runs off the last four balls. But that day he did.

However, most cricket matches, particularly Tests, are won by sticking to the basic principles. Most quick bowlers get their man behind the wicket on the offside. They do so in Australia, certainly. Off the five that fell on the first day, three were caught by Dhoni, and one at slip. And the first one that fell today, was edged to Dhoni. In between, Australia scored 110 runs. And the morning session alone had cost India 130 runs in 25 overs. The day that had started with promise had been reduced to despair in two hours.

In the first hour, Haddin received only one ball on the good-length spot around off stump, that channel that usually works. Before the Brisbane Test, Haddin had no history of weakness against the short ball. In fact, in the last Ashes, he had played the short ball pretty well. It was just that he was in the middle of a horror run. India were right to attack him with the short ball last evening, but he had looked a far more decisive batsman this morning and it was clear that he was ready to take it on.

The problem with the strategy of trying to get a batsman caught in the deep on the leg side is that when the plan doesn't work, it backfires spectacularly. Only in the last Test, India had squandered a similar advantage by peppering Mitchell Johnson with bouncers even while he was swatting them away. Dhoni defended the tactic by claiming that Johnson had been lucky that quite a few balls had landed safely in outfield. There is a simple reason of course why balls tend to elude fielders in the deep: the gaps are much wider. That's why trying to get people caught in the slips is generally considered a better idea in cricket.

The only bright spot about the bouncer strategy was that it was the only time India seemed to have a wicket-taking plan, even though it had been telegraphed to the batsmen way in advance. After that plan unravelled, the field dispersed: two behind square on the leg side, a deep point, at times a leg slip. There were runs for every stroke, and the only apparent plan was waiting for batsmen to eventually surrender their wickets.

It worked. Johnson charged down the wicket and was stumped. Ryan Harris attempted a big sweep and was lbw. Nathan Lyon slogged across the line and was bowled. And Smith was dismissed in touching distance of a double-hundred while trying to scoop a fast bowler over the wicketkeeper's head.

Once again, the last five wickets had doubled the score against India. Once again a Test had slipped away in one sloppy session in the field. And once again, India look vulnerable in a Test they had the opportunity of keeping under their grasp.

As for the question of what combination it would take to claim 20 wickets in an away Test, the bad news is there's not much left in the bank. India have brought to Australia the best they have in the land. In the last 20 away Tests, they have managed to take 20 wickets only four times, and on three of those occasions they have conceded enough to lose. There is an even scarier stat for India fans: there have been four occasions on which they have managed less than ten wickets in a Test. In 2011 in Sydney, where they play again in a week's time, they took only four. The tour must already feel too long.