By Abhay Vajpayee

India's cricket Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, otherwise a spirited and talented man, had to acknowledge that we could have won against South Africa, March 12. Yes, India could have not only won but could have set up a huge score, and then got the South Africans out without any trouble.

That did not happen because after a splendid start (267 for 1 with Tendulkar's century, Sehwag's 73 and Gambhir's 69) the other eight batsmen contributed only 28 runs. The reasons: batting order was surprisingly and unnecessarily changed, fielding lapses were glaring, and bowling, especially two of the last three overs, very generous for the opposing batsmen. And overall, captaincy was flawed in batting, in batting order, field placing and handling the bowlers for the final overs.

The result was South Africa won by three runs with two balls remaining. Sachin Tendulkar's heroic century gone in vain, the splendid start of no avail and India could not pull off the big win. A disappointing performance at the end.

It was a miserable collapse after the first three batsmen had put on 267 runs and other eight failing miserably. Even after all that, and a couple of fielding lapses, India could have clinched the victory, but the last two of the three overs cost India. The two bowlers Munaf Patel and Ashish Nehra along with their Captain Dhoni earned much flak. Dhoni had remained unbeaten at 12 runs. What a record! A run fest was missing, leadership qualities never seen.

The last eight batsmen were in so much hurry to get back to the pavilion that they did not give enough time to Tendulkar to get a leisurely shower after his splendid century (his 51st in ODIs). The Master batted brilliantly and scored his runs in 101 balls. Sehwag was terrific as usual and Gambhir too chipped in with 69 runs. At that stage India was 267 for 1 wicket.

After the first two wickets were gone, Dhoni changed the batting order unnecessarily and promoted a solid hitter like Yusuf Pathan to number four (who got out without scoring; he is very good down the order) and dependable batsman like Virat Kohli at seven who also failed miserably. Both Yuvraj Singh and Dhoni himself could add only 12 each. Yuvraj also contributed to fielding lapse, also Gambhir on two occasions. Four batsmen could not score a single run. That's not World Cup class.

The most pathetic was Dhoni's choice of bowlers at the fag end. With just three overs remaining and 31 runs required by South Africa for a win, Dhoni, instead of asking the Indian spearhead Zaheer Khan to bowl gave the ball to Munaf Patel, and the bowler was promptly hit for 14 in that over. When Zaheer came to bowl the penultimate over he conceded only four runs.

The last over was crucial and the South Africans were still short by a dozen runs to tie and 13 to win. The right choice should have been the star spinner and the most experienced and economical bowler Harbhajan for the last over. Shockingly Dhoni gave the ball to Ashish Nehra who had not taken a single wicket and had given about 50 runs without taking a single wicket in 8 overs.

Dhoni's vital blunder cost India the match. Harbhajan who still had one over left and had already taken three wickets. He might have taken another wicket or at least could have contained the batsmen. But that was not to be and Nehra gave away more than required runs in his first four balls - four, six, two and a four. India lost it.

As another commentator wrote: Dissecting a defeat isn't easy but not if you are talking about the Indian setback against South Africa in Nagpur. Rarely does a range of errors assume such proportions in a One-Day match and become the difference between victory and defeat. Batting, bowling, fielding and leadership, everything went awry after a start loaded with positives before a question mark surfaced over India's chances of making it to the quarter-finals.

It's easy to tell that India's shoddy showing in the batting power play was a precursor to what was to unfold. But what went wrong? Batsmen came in and went with such absurdity that sanity went for a toss. Perhaps things were building up to it as India did not exactly kick on after the fabulous partnership between Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar till about the 41st over. But then the other batsmen came in, tried to hit the ball without getting their eye in and the result was there for all to see.

More alarming was the way India lost the last five wickets. Even after losing four wickets in a rush of madness, they never thought that one more wicket would sink the team deeper into despair. Nine wickets for 29 runs in less than 10 overs was inexplicable.

Zaheer Khan bowled his heart out but significant success with the new ball continued to elude India. The opening bowlers didn't beat the bat often enough to sow doubts in the minds of batsmen for whom it was just a matter of seeing off that period.

The spinners bring up the second front of worry. Unable to take wickets against the weaker sides and failing to check the run flow against the big guns - is this what India's biggest strength on paper has to offer? On a pitch that got slow and offered turn, the slow bowlers were expected to tighten the screws when it mattered. But they failed.
Fielding was forgettable. Crucial catches were dropped by Yuvraj Singh and Gambhir, the latter's let off leading to a six by Johan Botha off the next ball. And in the penultimate over, substitute Suresh Raina fumbled with a run out chance of Robin Peterson, who then hammered 16 in the final over by Ashish Nehra to clinch victory.

Soumya Bhattacharya in the Hindustan Times, after watching India vs SA, asks five questions:

What more can one say about Sachin? We know the answer to this one: Nothing, really. Just for the record: One shy of a hundred international hundreds, he played an innings of controlled aggression, and phenomenal strokeplay. If the first half was more scintillating than the second (the first fifty came from 33 balls, and the remaining 61 runs from 68), you can't ask for more from a man who opened the innings and was out with the score at 267 in the 39th over.

Why was Kohli not No 4, and why was Pathan not held back? India's constant shuffling of the order is baffling. Kohli hasn't had a proper bat after his century on World Cup debut against Bangladesh. He isn't a finisher; Pathan is. Things might have been different had Yusuf and Dhoni played the final four overs.

When will India sort out the biz of the batting Powerplay? Several teams have struggled with it, but India - as contenders for the title - really don't have much more time to sort this out. Thirty runs came from the Powerplay overs and four wickets were lost. Should the Powerplay have been taken when Tendulkar and Sehwag or Tendulkar and Gambhir had been batting?

Will India continue to bowl and field as they did? The fielding had purpose and energy for the first time in the World Cup. Zaheer Khan continues to excel (the penultimate over of the SA innings, in which he gave away only four runs, was a textbook lesson on how to bowl at the death). Harbhajan looked to take wickets and was sharp in his fielding (the run out he pulled off in the 44th over was smart). The debate about whether he ought to have bowled the final over is unlikely to go away. The fielding lost intensity near the end: SA were allowed, time and again, to get easy twos; Gambhir and the usually reliable Yuvraj too, dropped catches.

What on earth was that Bollywood tamasha during the break? As if the cliché-ridden commentary from former players weren't bad enough... Movie stars mouthed worse clichés during the break to flog a film. I mean... Really.

And from Chennai (Tamil Nadu, India) comes this:

Right from the time the World Cup squad was selected, the selectors and skipper MS Dhoni were not sharing the same thought process. With the group stage almost done and dusted, the rift has only increased.

It's understood that Dhoni's "stubbornness" regarding team selection hasn't gone down too well either with the BCCI bosses or with the selectors. And now, with just a couple of days to go for the crucial game against West Indies at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth met Dhoni & Co at the team hotel and it's understood that a few harsh words were spoken and the team management was asked to have a closer look at the playing XI. Dhoni has been extremely stubborn on the issue of playing with Piyush Chawla as the second spinner and the selection committee thinks that "it's time R Ashwin is given a chance."

A couple of days back, two selectors had a talk with Dhoni and he was clearly told that "Chawla has got enough chances" and that Ashwin should be in the playing XI. But the Skipper was not ready to budge, even though there are senior members in the team who believe that the TN offie should get his chance.

Chika (Srikkanth), despite his stature, has never interfered with the playing XI, but now that things have gone too far, there was no other alternative for the Chairman but to have a talk with the team management. He clearly communicated the displeasure of the selectors but finally left it to the Captain to take his call.

BCCI Secretary N Srinivasan was also present at the talks between the Chairman of selectors and the Captain. Later, Chika caught up with the other members of the team. The Chairman had a long conversation with coach Gary Kirsten and later with the bowlers. As the media swarmed around him for a sound byte, he refused for the time being. "We will have a talk after India win the West Indies game," Chika said trying his best to deflate the tension.

Meanwhile, Suresh Raina has been given indications from the team management that he will play the game on March 20. The left-hander has mentioned to his close friends that he is making mental preparations to play the game.

Ashwin vs Piyush

What works in favor of Ashwin: His ability to bowl in the Powerplays. The off-spinner is known to contain the batsmen.
Has done well in the Chennai, which is home turf for him. He is a useful bat also.

What not for Chawla: Hasn't been able to contain batsmen or take wickets. Is under immense pressure to perform.