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Duncan Fletcher,
the India coach, said it was difficult for his side to follow-up a
successful World Cup year with the same "intensity", citing India's lack
of home fixtures in the past year as the reason for their poor form,
after the 4-1 ODI series win over Sri Lanka on Saturday. Fletcher has
had a tough first year since taking over from Gary Kirsten after the
2011 World Cup, with the team losing eight consecutive away Tests, four
each to England and Australia.
He said England faced similar problems of relaxing after a successful
phase and that the win would provide India with confidence ahead of home
matches against New Zealand and England.
"It is always difficult after you have had a very successful year like
that when you have won the World Cup," Fletcher said. "I have been
involved with another side [England] that did the same thing and
afterwards, after having had a successful series, to maintain that sort
of intensity is quite difficult because sides tend to sit back a bit.
"One must also consider that since then we have only had one series in
India. We haven't played [much] in India which is where they are very
strong like any side is. I have seen other sides go away from home
lately over the last two-three years and they have all struggled. We
have only had that one series [against West Indies] where we played some
very good cricket in India.
"Beating Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka is very difficult. Not many sides have
been able to do it. Hopefully this gives the side a lot of confidence.
When we get back to India we have some difficult tours coming up and
hopefully we can play the good cricket that we know we can in India."
India closed out games from tight situations in the series, and Fletcher
said that was something they had been working on. For instance, today
Sri Lanka needed 45 from 48 deliveries but Irfan Pathan struck thrice in
two overs to seal the game for India.
"There have been problems on previous away tours [when] we have had the
opposition in trouble and have not been able to make sure that we
maintain the pressure on them and take advantage of that. It is
something we spoke quite a lot about - making sure when we get ourselves
into a situation that we maintain our concentration levels. I think it
is mainly a concentration situation where they think the game is really
in the bag, and with cricket today with batting orders going down all
the way down to No 9 and 10, there is no way you can take your foot off
the pedal until you have bowled a side out. There have been occasions
here where we have had a bit of scare, where the opposition have come
back at us. But it is nice to see that they [Indian team] have held
their nerve and maintained the discipline that we require of them.
"I think it was a very good win from the point of view that we had had a
long break [and there was] some sort of nervousness to see how they
would start the season. Obviously [we were] going to arrive here a
little bit unfit. We have worked on the fitness regime and the results
have proven here. They have played some good cricket."
Fletcher said Rohit Sharma - who made 13 runs in five games in the
series - was in poor form but would come out of it. "People must
consider that he has played well for us in the one-day side before. You
have a look at him when he has batted under pressure for us while
batting second. So it is not a pressure situation. It is like most
cricketers go through a dip in form and suddenly it just hangs in there
and they are put under pressure. I am sure Rohit will come out of that
situation."
Virat Kohli continued his outstanding run since the World Cup with two
more centuries in the series. Fletcher said what was good was that Kohli
had capitalised on his good form.
"Normally players can go through short spells where they do well and
then lose that form but he has maintained it which is very good."
Irfan Pathan took eight wickets, including a five-for today, in the
series at an economy-rate of 5.27 and also performed twice in crucial
situations with the bat. "I think he is a very useful cricketer. He puts
in an all-round contribution. He is very professional on and off the
field. He works hard at his game and he has got the results that he
deserves. I think he has got the potential. We just have got to see him
progress from here and see how he bowls in India and bats in India. He
has done a good job for us at the moment."
Abhishek Purohit is an editorial assistant at ESPNcricinfo
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© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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