A dab to third man - The "Gambhir" problem

England 4-0, Australia 4-0 and now New Zealand 4-0.

The first two whitewashes and the last one – India’s record against the Kiwis in T20 internationals.

Yes, India lost yet another T20 against New Zealand. In a game that was hyped as the return of Yuvraj Singh, India forfeited by the slimmest of margins and made a mess of what should have been a “walk in the park”.

There were a few positives though: Yuvraj made a decent comeback, Kohli sparkled once again, Rohit Sharma stayed not out and Irfan Pathan kept swinging them in. On the flip side: Zaheer Khan looked rusty, Ashwin had a rare bad day, MS Dhoni once again left it too late and Gautam Gambhir’s story of soft dismissals continued.

Though India won the inaugural T20 World Cup, they have not been able to master the shortest format. Except Suresh Raina, everyone else seems a little apprehensive about how to go about their job in this mini-version of the game. Even Virat Kohli is yet to find his feet – only two fifties in 11 games isn’t quite Kohli-esque.

One man though had it figured out – Gautam Gambhir. He has been one of India’s prolific scorers since 2007 and arguably the best left-handed batsman since Saurav Ganguly. He is one of the few player who seamlessly fits into all three formats of the game. A big match player, Gambhir has performed time and again in the most important games for India. Be it at the T20 World Cup finals, the 50-over World Cup finals or his match-saving hundred in New Zealand, Gambhir proved to be the most dependable batsman up the order for India.

However, there has been a dip in his performances recently. That’s natural in cricket, but in Gambhir’s case the reason for concern is the mode of his dismissals. When you play international cricket for sometime, a few technical glitches are bound to creep into your game. Whether be it the head falling over or the foot going across, every batsman picks up a few bad habits in this hectic cricket schedule.

It’s not that Gambhir isn’t scoring. He played a couple of delightful knocks in Sri Lanka and even started brilliantly against New Zealand in the test series. But all those crisp and flashy thirties came to abrupt ends thanks to poor shot selection. A dab to third man – a percentage shot for not more than a single has been Gambhir’s nemesis.

It has now become a familiar sight to see him poke at a wide delivery and walk back to the pavilion. When a good delivery knocks you over, you put your head down and acknowledge it but when you throw away your hand by committing the same mistake, it’s frustrating.

It’s just a small adjustment and he can get over it but it’s more a mind thing rather than a technical snag. Since the last IPL win, Gambhir has looked distracted. Whether be it his concentration or lack of focus, Gambhir has not been able to play those long innings for India. Yes, there have been a few cameos and a customary hundred, but the solidity has been missing. He has looked disinterested and detached. Even while fielding, his energy and enthusiasm hasn’t been too motivating.

Gambhir is lucky that his failures don’t quite make the headlines because in tests, we have a Tendulkar to blame and in the ODIs there’s a Kohli to save the day. Even during the whitewashes, we were more focussed on bashing up our Holy Trinity and finding faults in MS Dhoni. In the absence of Sehwag, Gambhir was expected to give India the solid starts but he failed to pile up good opening stands that often led to a collapse in the middle order.

Now, as India go into the T20 World Cup, our biggest worry is not the bowling but the opening batsmen. Sehwag has never been consistent in the limited overs format and has an excuse of “he plays that way”; but Gambhir can’t really offer an explanation for his silly dismissals.

Was losing the vice captaincy a deal breaker? It could well have been.

But as a professional, one is expected to put in a show every time he walks out onto the park. There is no doubt about the quality of the diminutive left hander from Delhi, but his attitude of “I have done enough” seems dangerous. India has struggled to find a proper opener after Sunil Gavaskar and other than Ajinkya Rahane, the future too doesn’t look encouraging. So it’s imperative that Gambhir gets his mind uncluttered and starts being the gutsy player that he was.

If India has to entertain any chances of winning the T20 World Cup again and get back the number one status in tests, Gambhir has to get back to his best. As Gambhir himself said after the IPL win, “A captain is as good as his team….” ; it has to be seen how MS Dhoni finds his way past this “Gambhir” issue!