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Do India rely too much on their “Big 3” away from home? | India batting overseas analysis | Why do India struggle overseas?

While the result of the New Zealand vs India first Test at Wellington might not be entirely shocking, the margin of defeat was surprising. Put in to bat first after losing the toss on a pitch which aided seam bowling, India were blown away by the Kiwi pace attack.

Far from perfect, the Indian bowlers did a decent job only for the batting unit to disappoint again. In perfectly decent batting conditions, the Indian batsmen then let their guard down and made a mockery of their second innings.

Despite their issues with clearing up the tail, the bowlers did enough to keep India in the game. However, it is the batting unit which has been disappointing. The team is full of exceptional batsmen talent-wise, but the issue with this batting line-up is that both the openers are very new and so are two of the batsmen in lower-order. That means India is heavily dependent on their three experienced batsmen to do the bulk of the scoring.

Pujara and the ultra-defensive approach

Cheteshwar Pujara had a brilliant tour of Australia in 2018-19. He tired out a prolific Aussie bowling line-up and was the man of the series in a historic win for India

However, apart from that series, there haven’t been many contributions from Pujara except for a couple of occasions. The issue with Pujara at the moment is his extra defensive play, where he often grinds it out for 70-80 balls at a very low strike rate. Now, while this is not an issue when he bats in India (where the ball doesn’t do much off the deck), it can be a bit of worry outside Asia. Helpful decks mean the ball will keep doing something throughout the day and more often than not, you will get a ball which has your name on it.

The extra cautious approach means Pujara doesn’t score much by the time he receives a Jaffa; all his hard work at the crease is undone. When he is in his shell, very often he misses out on bad balls and run-scoring opportunities, which hasn’t been the case whenever he has been successful.

For example, when he scored a truckload of runs in Australia and scored a brilliant hundred at Southampton, one thing which Pujara did really well was he made use of every bad ball and every run-scoring opportunity thrown at him. That, combined with his patience and his ability to respect the conditions very well, proved to be successful for him. But on the evidence of the last few matches, he again seems to be going back in his shell.

Below are numbers from 2018 onwards (outside Asia):

The only notable time his move of going into ultra-defensive mode worked was in Johannesburg where he took more than 50 balls to get off the mark. But, he survived and went on to play a very important knock of 50. If you don’t consider that knock, his strike rate goes way up to 38 – a significant difference.

Rahane and uncountable Starts

Moving onto the next vital cog in the Indian batting line-up: Ajinkya Rahane – a player with significantly better numbers overseas than in India.

In fact, up until India’s tour of Australia in 2014/15, he was India’s best batsman overseas by a mile. And, he had a good tour of Australia among others, and maintained an excellent average of 55 until 2018.

However, it hasn’t quite been the same for him in the second part of his career. His average has dropped way down, as has his conversion rate. In this period, he has crossed the 50 run-mark seven times but has reached triple figures only once. Despite playing almost the similar number of innings as the other two, Rahane has only one hundred to his name while Kohli and Pujara have four hundreds each.

Even though he has played two fewer innings than Pujara, Rahane touched the 25-run mark three times more than Pujara. While his rate of touching that mark is almost similar to Virat, he averages 36 in comparison to Virat’s 45, thanks to numerous numbers of times he threw his start away. While Rahane is a solid player, it’s his failure to be patient and keep his temperament for longer periods of time that has seen his undoing on quite a few occasions.

Clear from the above stats, Rahane’s average score in innings he touched 25 run-mark is 54, pretty average for a player of his talent and looks mediocre when you compare it with other two. Virat averages a reliable 75, way better than Rahane and three less than Pujara’s excellent 78.

Lack of collective effort

No matter how important a player is to team’s fortunes, cricket is a team game. At the end of the day, it’s the collective effort which wins you games. Kohli’s masterful 149 at Edgbaston and charismatic 123 at Perth weren’t enough to get India home. The same applied to Pujara’s determinant 132* at Southampton.

While 25 might not be a great score, it means you have got the start to work with. In 23 innings they played together, there have been only four instances when all three of Pujara, Virat & Rahane have touched the 25-run mark in at least one innings.

These were in four different Tests: Nottingham vs England, Adelaide vs Australia, Melbourne vs Australia & at North Stand vs West Indies. India won all four of these tests.

Their two test wins when all of three didn’t touch 25 were at Johannesburg vs SA and at Kingston vs West Indies. At Johannesburg, Pujara scored a fifty in the first innings and Rahane played a fine inning in the second innings while Virat made invaluable contributions in both the innings. The other win vs West Indies was on the back of a brilliant hundred by Hanuma Vihari and some scintillating fast bowling.

Test at Christchurch

Not helping India’s cause is the lack of consistency shown by two of them in recent times, which results in a lack of collective effort among the Big 3. Yes, batting conditions in the last couple of years haven’t been easy, but it can’t be an excuse given the quality they possess.

In a few hours, the second Test at Christchurch will start. Having already lost the chance to win (another) overseas series, India has a shot at drawing the two-match series. It will not be an easy job by any means.

While Christchurch is known for slowing down with time, it is a no-brainer that India will be welcomed on a green-strip. Batting first or second, India will need to be way more disciplined than they were at Wellington. If any 2 of India’s Big 3 get going, they might just end up leaving NZ all square.

Written by Saurabh Shinde: Twitter: @Boomrah_

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