Tit for tat !

Shardul thakur to Colin De Grandhomme, tries to bowl a yorker but bowls an ankle-high full toss on the pads and Colin whips it away for 4 runs! New Zealand wins and whitewashes India 3-0, this delivery sums up the entire series for India. Going into the series on back of 5-0 whitewash in T20’s very few might have expected this kind of a turnaround by the Kiwis and do you know the last time India were whitewashed In an ODI series was way back in 1997 against west indies (that should make you feel old!) So, what went wrong for India in this series?

1) The Opening Pair:

Absence of Rohit Sharma due to injury made India resort to a new opening pair. Most expected KL to open the innings along with Prithvi Shaw. But, Indian management thought otherwise and chose Mayank Agarwal to open the innings along with Shaw. Both, have proved their mettle in test cricket, Mayank has been in red hot form in the test arena and Prithvi has been rearing to go and get some match time of his own. But, the new opening pair couldn’t live up to the expectations as they averaged only 26.33 in the 3 matches whereas New Zealand opening pair averaged around 94.66 in this series. Prithvi Shaw managed to get starts in all the 3 innings by playing some lusty blows reminding everyone of Virender Sehwag. But, he failed to capitalize on these and threw his wicket away. On the other hand, Mayank Agarwal struggled against New Zealand quicks, apart from his 32 in the 1stODI he was confined to single-digit scores in the rest ODI’s.

2) Virat Kohli:

25......... This is Virat’s average this series.Yes.... you read it right, you might want to look at that number once again, it is 25. Now, this only shows Virat is also human after all and he too can have bad days at the office. We cannot be critical to Kohli but, the standard he set for himself makes us say it has been a disastrous series to him.India has been so dependent on top 3 batting positions and the last time top 3 batters didn’t perform it cost India a Champion trophy, a World Cup final berth and now an overseas series.India lost 7 out of 11 ODI series when Kohli averaged less than 30

3) The Pace attack:

Its funny how things change with time, like Indian bowling attack which has been deemed to be one of the fiercest in the modern-day cricket and a nightmare to mightiest of the batsmen have suddenly become so vulnerable. Jasprit Bumrah who has been the spearhead to Indian Pace attack since the past few years has gone wicket less this series. In fact, since his comeback to ODI side, he has managed to pick only 1 wicket in his last 6 ODI’s. Kuldeep Yadav has come under criticism for his performances this series .

4) The Positives:

Now, not all went bad for India in this ODI series. India has found an answer for their no. 4 troubles (which has been the most debated topic at the tea corners in 2019), Shreyas Iyer with his maiden century and 2 consecutive 50’s has made sure that he owned that position and announced to the world that he is here to stay! Another talking point has been KL Rahul, well most of you think he is better off opening, then please read our article “The Resurgence of KL Rahul”! he has a better average batting down the order than at the top in ODI’s and he has lived up to his reputation and it is also better for the team to let him play down the order because when the regular openers are back, the top positions will be cramped and it is better to make the changes now than change later and fret about it.

So, at the end of T20’s and ODI’s both teams have annihilated each other in respective formats. Now, all eyes are on the longer format of the game, to see who will have the last laugh. New Zealand cannot and will not take India lightly cause India is one of the toughest side to beat in the longer format of the game. And this series is also a test to the No.1 test team. It will be interesting to see how they will fare in overseas condition!

Whereas for people like you and us, its time to set our alarms to witness the magic unfold! Happy watching!