Indian Batting Needs to Buckle up.

Personally, I never felt that a series victory was possible in hostile conditions of South Africa, considering how inexperienced our batting line-up is. But the way the batsmen meekly surrundered in both the games is a huge disappointment, considering how enormously talented they are.

Batting has been India’s X-factor for generations, and even in the current Indian team, situation is somewhat similar. The lack of quality fastbowlers has hurt India many times, but recently, their failure was overlooked by some incredible batting performances. Recent ODI series against the Aussies at home was a clear example. Australia consistently posted totals above 300, and India, thanks to the top-3, chased most of them with ease. But everyone knew that such low-bounce pitch and somewhat modest fast bowling was not waiting for them in South Africa. The new look Indian batting order was expected to pass the test, but after two ODI’s, it seems they have failed horribly.

Again, the talent of the Indian batsmen was never in question. But what they lacked was application. Let me consider the mode of dismissal of Indian batsmen. Shikhar Dhawan was comfortable, but excessive aggressiveness against quality fast bowling resulted his loss of wicket in both the matches. Rohit Sharma, though wasted a lot of balls in the first match, but looked settled in the second until he was caught off by Amla, thanks to excellent field placement by De-Villers. Virat Kohli too looked comfortable in the first match, but both the times he misjudged the length of the ball. Yuvraj’s misery run continues as he went for a duck in the first ODI, and his replacement in the second, Rahane, was extremely unlucky to be given out for a non-existant edge. And Raina and Dhoni couldn’t do much either, as both the times they were waging lone battles.

Now with the test series coming up, Indian batsmen need to learn from their mistakes. This is a very short yet very significant tour as India would be spending the next 18 months touring other nations, and not to forget the ICC World Cup in Australia in 2015. While India can still savage some pride in the on-going ODI, the batting should stand up against the likes of Steyn in the test, where he will be more vicious than ever.