India-South Africa series: 1-2 down, India in a must-win situation in fourth ODI at Chennai today

By Karthik Lakshmanan, Wisden India


The India-South Africa series has been one in which the crowds have constantly been in focus. While the Cuttack crowd made headlines for wrong reasons, the people in Indore made up for it with their innovative way of cheering – flashing torch-lights on their mobile phones in unison. The Rajkot crowd was also in focus ahead of the third One-Day International for potential protests, which fortunately didn’t eventuate.

Against this backdrop, the sight of 12,000 empty seats at the MA Chidambaram Stadium for the fourth ODI on Thursday will be a dampener for fans and players alike. The cricket, though, promises to be as intense as it has been since South Africa set foot on Indian soil.

The series, which South Africa lead 2-1, has lived up to its hype so far, with both teams punching alternately. All the matches so far have followed a similar pattern, with the chasing team losing from comfortable positions.

At the end of it all, the hosts find themselves in a do-or-die situation while South Africa are one win away from their maiden bilateral ODI series win in India. But if India were feeling the pressure, they didn’t show it in their training session on the eve of the game. The lighthearted, customary Team Dhoni v Team Kohli football game — which Team Kohli seemed to win — was followed by an intense net session where all batsmen, including Ambati Rayudu and Gurkeerat Singh Mann, had a bat.

In a way, India find themselves in an unfamiliar position where their bowlers are doing a fair job while the batsmen are struggling a touch. Most of their batsmen have been among the runs: Rohit Sharma has a 150 and a 65, Ajinkya Rahane has two half-centuries, Mahendra Singh Dhoni hit a match-winning unbeaten 92 in Indore, and Virat Kohli showed glimpses of form with a half-century in Rajkot.

But somehow, they have managed to botch up two chases that they seemed to have in the bag. The big concern for India is a rather confused batting order. India seem undecided about the positions of Rahane, Kohli and Dhoni, and although Dhoni defended the constant shuffles by putting it down to giving every batsman the chance to experience batting lower down, the time for experiments is over.

Away from the batting order conundrum, India will also be worried about the number of dot balls they have played and the form of their two left-hand batsmen. There were 48 dot balls in the first 10 overs while Dhoni and Kohli played out 59 dot balls in their 80-run association in Rajkot. Shikhar Dhawan has managed just 59 runs in three matches, while Suresh Raina has only three, including two consecutive ducks. Raina, in particular, has been frustrating, throwing away his wicket at crucial junctures in both the lost chases without getting his eye in. Both batsmen had extended sessions in the nets and India will need them to fire as the series reaches its business end.

The first thing Dhoni did upon arriving at the ground was to have a look at the pitch, and catch up with the curator and the ground staff. The pitch is likely to assist spinners and India will fancy their chances with Amit Mishra, Axar Patel and Harbhajan Singh in good form. S Arvind has replaced Umesh Yadav in the only change in the squad for the last two ODIs, but India are unlikely to change the two-pacer combination of Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma. In what could be a good sign for India for the Test series, R Ashwin, although not in the squad for the remaining ODIs, joined the team and bowled without trouble for more than an hour.

Chennai’s heat – yes, it is hot even in October – will be a factor, but the visitors have already shown their ability to acclimatise to different conditions. Not often does a visiting team start as favourites in a game in India. South Africa, on the verge of making history, find themselves in that exalted position. Doubts over Dhoni’s place in the team were quelled in Indore, but a loss in either of the remaining games could reopen debates about his captaincy.