A fine, long career beckons Manish Pandey

The pulsating final ODI showed just how close this series had been. A 3-2 scoreline (in favour of either side) would have been fairer. Indeed, I venture that with greater mental focus, discipline in tight situations and more ambition, India could have won.

These were the qualities that came to the fore in the last match as India chased down Australia’s massive 331, particularly in Manish Pandey’s brilliant century that took India home in a heart-stopping climax.

Dropped after two matches when he got virtually no opportunity to show his prowess, Pandey made the most of the lucky break that came his way because of injury to Ajinkya Rahane.

He was not cowed down by the occasion or the pressure of the situation as India’s chase seemed to be going off the rails with M.S. Dhoni struggling. Pandey’s got a superb array of strokes and a fine head. He’s also a brilliant fielder. A fine, long career beckons.

Where the series is concerned, there is no disgrace losing to Australia who boast a fantastic record playing at home, not to mention that they were also World Cup winners less than a year back and have been ranked number 1 in the ODI format since.

Just how good the Aussies are can be gauged from the fact that in this series, they missed some of the stellar performers in the World Cup. Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson have retired, Mitchel Starc was injured while David Warner skipped two games to be with his wife at the time of her delivery.

The selectors also adopted a rotation policy, trying out a clutch of young players, giving every one a chance. This could have had an unsettling effect on the side but didn’t.

This shows just how good the bench strength in Australia currently is. Clearly, the Australians are already looking ahead to the 2019 World Cup and building up a team around Steve Smith that can retain the title.

In a sense, the Indian selectors were pursuing a similar policy, but that the series has thrown up more questions than answers will be to their chagrin.

There has been the argument that the Indian selectors have been mixed up and selected players for the T20 series who should have been in the ODI squad (Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Raina and Nehra) and vice versa.

But that argument is specious. Teams must be chosen on form, not past reputation. Yuvraj, Harbhajan and Nehra had performed far better in the T20s than in the 50-over format in domestic cricket.

However, India supporters would be justified in being disappointed at the manner in which the series was lost. Barring one match, the batting topped 300 runs each time. Such high totals should normally help win most matches.

Unfortunately, the Indian bowling flagged under pressure almost every time. The Aussie bowlers too went for plenty, but usually came back strongly in the slog overs, or in getting a breakthrough at an important time.

India’s bowlers were profligate. In no match were the Aussie batsmen under pressure, which made Dhoni’s task as captain excruciating. It didn’t help that his main weapon when the series started, R Ashwin, was clobbered out of the attack in the first two games.

The best tactics, field placings, bowling changes become redundant if the basics accuracy and control are missing. Yet, how does one account for the loss of the fourth match when India collapsed from 277/1 to 323 all out, losing 9 wickets for just 46 runs

That was a horribly thoughtless show by the batsmen, India’s strong suit, which showed that it was not just the bowling which is vulnerable. Add to this the fielding, which often lapsed into mediocrity, and the picture becomes sorrier.

This shows not so much lack of ability as of ambition and focus as mentioned earlier. Winning is a habit, and losing can willy-nilly become one if the players, and specially the captain, are not alert to the danger.

India need to show more consistently that they value the good habit over the bad.