da fezbet： The real reasons India’s defeat was that the bowlers leaked too many singles in the middle overs

da aposte e ganhe： Sambit Bal in Centurion27-Sep-2009It couldn’t go on for ever, India’s freakish dominance over Pakistan inworld events, and it was no disgrace in losing to a team that was betteron the day. But the match was closer than the scoreline suggests and whileit would be tempting to lay the blame on the three mindless moments whileIndia were batting, the real story was elsewhere.But let’s get the sub-plot out of the way. Gautam Gambhir batted out of hisskin and gave it away. Was he too pumped up for his own good? Did thePakistanis get to him? When the bat was doing all the talk, what insanityto start gesticulating wildly with the handle? And what was he doing chargingdown the wicket for what would have, at best, been a high-risk single when foursand sixes seemed the natural order? And pray, why didn’t he put in a dive?Brain freeze two: In plain disregard of common sense, Virat Kohli, theyoung man who some consider the future of Indian batting, decides to takeon Shahid Afridi and the man on the long-off boundary and lofts the ballstraight to him. India were then 126 for 2 off 21.2 overs.The final act. Rahul Dravid, the last man standing, eases the ball to deepcover and completes a comfortable two. Harbhajan Singh now wants a third.Then he doesn’t. Now Dravid wants it. Harbhajan is now persuaded. But no,the ball is on its way now. Dravid turns back, but it’s too late, and worse he seems to have pulled something while stretching and he crumples to the ground as the Pakistanis gather a few feet away from him to celebrate. A fan runs on to the field with the Pakistani flag. Soon they would be swamping the ground.India lost by 54 runs. But 31 balls were still to be bowled. MS Dhoni put India’s failed chase down to the loss of too many wickets. It was in stark contrast to Pakistan’s calculated, controlled, polished and smooth building of a monumental score.But it was also true that India let them. Imran Nazir and Karman Akmal hadstarted sensationally. But they were gone by the ninth over, and between theeighth and 13th over, only six runs were scored. But once Mohammad Yousufarrived, and India were obliged bring on their part-timers and the fieldspread, runs were impossible to stop.At the press conference, Dhoni started by holding the batsmen, includinghimself, responsible for the defeat. But the questions about the bowlerspersisted, and once Dhoni started on the subject, he was damning and he heldlittle back.”Between the 30th and the 42nd over, we gave away nearly 100 runs. That’s toomany runs when the field is spread. That was tough. I have never seen somany runs scored backward of point. As a captain you can only set thefield, you can’t bowl yourself. I think the Pakistan bowlers exploited theconditions really well. The spinners, the fast bowlers, they bowled in theareas where they had fielders.”Losing the toss was a blessing in disguise. Because when we bowled up, itwas tough for them and they played a few shots in the air. But we werequite consistent in bowling short.”

Dhoni started by holding the batsmen, including himself, responsible for the defeat. But the questions about the bowlers persisted, and once Dhoni started on the subject, he was damning and he held little back

Dhoni admitted his bowlers had been fooled into bowling short by thepractice wickets in Johannesburg, where the balls rose sharply. “Theconditions were different here, and we should have adapted. It’s aboutadaptability and you have to be smart at the international level.”But did he miss a fifth bowler? “At times I felt I was three bowlersshort,” he shot back. There were times, he said, he didn’t know who go toor what fields to set. “Wherever I put a fielder, the ball wentelsewhere.”There was only one period, between the eighth and 13th over, when Ashish Nehraand Ishant Shrama bowled the line and length the pitch demanded. But inthe end only Nehra emerged with credit, and four wickets for his efforts.RP Singh started by bowling too full and was driven for two fours, whichprompted him to bowl too short and be hit for two more. Ishant’s firstball strayed on Younis Khan’s pads and the fourth was short and wide. Onhis return spell, he bowled three crass long hops outside the off stump, all ofwhich were gratefully converted to fours by Shoaib Malik.And Harbhajan – he had a shocker – straying both in line and length,and was deftly and mercilessly toyed around by two batsmen who were notafraid to play against the turn. But even Malik was puzzled that he wasn’tbrought in earlier.Pakistan were 65 for 3 when the Powerplays ended, and instead ofgoing for the kill, Dhoni chose to bring in his part-timers, includingVirat Kohli, and allowed Malik, who couldn’t get even a single away, to then settle down, and Yousuf to get going right from the start. When Harbhajanwas finally introduced, in the 26th over, Pakistan had reached 108.Dhoni had his reasons for holding back his premier bowler. “When you bowlHarbhajan with a part-timer, the batsmen look to score from the other endand play out Harbhajan. We wanted to force the batsmen to play shotsagainst him.”Would he have needed to do that if he had another bowling option?India are not out of the tournament yet. But they have only a day to gathertheir wits and reassess their options. The No.1 rank at the ICC tableflatters them at the moment. Their immediate task is to avoid slipping to No.5 or less in this tournament.