India left to lament lapses in the Caribbean

Electric Pooran plays his greatest hits to silence IndiarsquolsquoIndia suffer embarrassing defeat to concede first T20I series loss in two yearsrsquolsquoIndian batters flophelliprsquoThe headlines read as above on a day before the nation celebrates its 77th Independence Day for the Indian cricket fan to fully absorb a dismal abrupt abject end to the Men in Blues pretensions to greatnessAs expected the knives are out reams of analysis will be printed experts will make a million suggestions and scapegoats will be discovered and punished over the coming weeks and monthsShould the surrender be total and it is certainly more than a mere possibility despite Hardik Pandyarsquos brave words at the postmatch conference the stewardship of the Indian cricket team would be on the lineThere are calls for a change in the batting personnel young talent should be blooded no doubt and soon but let us not throw the baby out with the bathwater If not exactly this is almost the same Indian batting lineup that served the team well against New Zealand earlier this yearComing back to Pandya will he or can he continue as T20I skipper The man has immense faith in his leadership abilities Will the Indian selectors let him stay on They are not renowned to be forgiving of wretched capitulation never mind their lessthanlittle role in the current misadventureThe answer my friends is blowing in the Irish wind Can Team India negotiate a small corner thereChamps to chumps best to bust first to worstmdash you just have to take your pick and this aptly describes Indiarsquos spiralling slide in the West Indies T20I series How can a team that a little more than five months ago registered a historic T20I clean sweep against New Zealand fail so miserably as to lose the Twenty20 series without even putting up a fight on SundayAlso ReadTeam Indias Big Three and the inevitability of successionNeedless to say everyonersquos become an expert now From commentators and excricketers to fans everyonersquos coming up with a reason justifying this fall These reasons include fatigue caused by excessive cricket lack of practice little to no acclimatization to the Caribbean conditions excessive T20 exposure and finally complacencyAll the years of IPL training did not help a top order to decide that scoring quickly while the fielders are up is a desirable way to play India meandered to 60 for two in the powerplay before Brandon King starred with an unbeaten 85run knock and Romario Shepherd shone with a fourwicket haul in replySure there can be good bowling up top there can be swing to defuse and deliveries to respect But there also has to be a mindset to attack by default defend by necessity It looks like Rahul Dravid and Pandya went at it the other way aroundAfter all the speculation over the last few days about whether India will clinch the series and what are their chances on the tour it was a fitting end to it all To any person who hasnt seen the series decider it may seem like a close fight but in reality Pandya and Co never looked like winnersWithin 24 hours of producing a batting masterclass on a featherbed the Indian batters save Suryakumar Yadavs scratchy yet effective 61 off 45 balls posted a subpar score of 165 for nine after opting to bat on a used track that had become slower Stressing on the need for lsquobatting depthrsquo Dravid strove hard to implement some damage control after his boys failed to accelerate in the death overs while the Maroon Army overhauled the target with two overs to spareEveryone who came in played slog over cricket and got out No one except Suryakumar made any effort to stay at the crease Just come in blast it out and get outMore than anything I think the team wanted to prove a pointmdashthat these conditions were nothing and they could just start a run rampage in that small ground in LauderhillOn the same track where the Caribbean bowlers put the Indian batters under a tight leash the bowling attack looked horribly out of depth barring Kuldeep Yadav 018 who delivered yet another steady performancePooran and King cleverly decided to play out Kuldeeps spell and attacked others with disdain Yuzvendra Chahal 051 in 4 overs had a forgettable day in office When you do not have enough on the board however you have got to be excellentOn a pitch where strokemaking wasnt an easy proposition Surya had to curb his flair a bit but still had enough firepower in his arsenal to hit four fours and three sixes during his knock In reply Indias nemesis Nicholas Pooran 47 not out off 35 balls looked way more fluent but was overshadowed by opener King as they added 107 runs for the second wicket to put West Indies on course despite three weather related interruptionsNothing should be taken away from West Indies however as they kept their calm while bowling and batting and won it with ease Once they got 60 in the powerplay there was no looking back as they maintained the tempo with most of the Indian bowlers pitching it short giving Pooran ample time to tonk them in the arc between the longon and cow cornerBetween Pooran and King they hit 10 sixes with half a dozen being smashed by the opener However it was the batting that became Indias undoing as they never got the desired momentum during the middle as well as end overs Even Surya was a bit subdued by his own lofty standards because the slowness didnt allow him to play his natural gameIt was a used track where the ball started gripping from the very first over bowled by leftarm spinner Akeal Hosein 224 in 4 overs who made an impact against the Indian batters throughout the series Between him and offspinner Roston Chase 125 in 4 overs they bowled eight overs for just 49 runs taking three wickets in the processYashasvi Jaiswal 5 started with a reverse sweep but Hoseins delivery that stopped and turned with a tad extra bounce forced the batter to offer a simple return catch Shubman Gill 9 was unlucky as he would have survived had he taken a review with TV replays showing that Hoseins arm ball was drifting down the legsideTilak Varma 27 off 18 balls was at his fluent best taking 19 off the final powerplay over bowled by Alzarri Joseph But he also fell prey to the slowness of the track offering Chase a return catch His dismissal did become the turning point as far as Indias downfall was concernedThis was Suryas 15th T20I fifty but it was on the scratchier side despite some glorious strokes including the six off Joseph over longoff to complete his milestone But it didnt help as Sanju Samson 13 off 9 deliveries played a nothing shot without any footwork off Romario Shepherd 431 in 4 overs to put more pressure on SuryaSkipper Hardik Pandya 14 off 18 balls couldnt get off the blocks and wasted too many balls before finally connecting one and then perishing off the very next ball as Shepherd used the slower ones to good effectPandyas problems did have an effect as Surya couldnt provide the final flourish Axar Patel 13 and Mukesh Kumar who hit a final ball boundary pushed India towards a parscore but that wasnt enough in the endUnderperformance at this level will not last forever There are really two options either Indian cricket tires of falling short and turns inward to content itself with domestic riches or it begins an era of winning so routinely that any loss will be an aberration Surely India will take control on the field the same as off Itrsquos just a surprise that it hasnrsquot happened yetVictories have to be savoured no doubt But the pain of defeat has to be remembered and recalled and used to spur the team on and guard against complacencySuccess is a treadmill you have to keep running to stay in the same spot Hardik do you hear me