When Dhoni's fear came true

Johannesburg: As soon as Team India, which trounced West Indies both in test and ODIs at home in a friendly conditions, landed here for three game ODI and two game test series, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni said that "getting used to the pace and bounce" in South African conditions will be the biggest challenge for our young side.”Now the question is was Dhoni referring to his top batsmen…? One would guess yes or else there aren't any senior players left in the side after retirement of VVS. Laxman, Rahul Dravid and most recently legend Sachin Tendulkar. Talking about our top batsmen namely Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Yuvraj Singh, if one cares to have a look at these star batsmen, one would notice almost each one of them has some kind of record tucked around his waist. Than how come with so many records behind them , they looked pathetic while facing barrage of perfumed balls (short pitched bouncers that almost kisses batsmen's nose) the other day……?The answer is very simple…..we are not used to fast genuine cricket tracks on this part of the world and "One of the big challenges is to get used to the pace and bounce. If you are just new to the international circuit, then it becomes more of a challenge. The reason being, in India even on the best of wickets you don't get the same pace, or even bowlers who can generate similar pace and bounce. So it makes slightly more difficult for the players who have just made their debut in the international arena," Dhoni told reporters at the pre-match press conference.So is Dhoni suggesting our iconic batsmen will flourish only at their turf…? One agrees or not but lets accept the fact that we, the Indian cricketers have never been comfortable against speedsters.After losing in first ODI by a huge margin Dhoni blamed the Indian bowlers saying they gave away too many runs which put pressure on batsmen. Well its true 300 plus target is always difficult to chase but didn't we chase it at home recently without any problem. Did our bowlers bowl well by conceding 300 plus runs…?We are told by BCCI that those who are in the test squad will reach early here so that they get used to the tracks. Is it so simple…….? Its like expecting a fisherman, who has been using fishing rod all through his life, to use spear like to catch fish…? Can he compete with a tribe who uses spear to catch fish….?Whenever India go abroad (barring Asia) their performance goes down though there are occasions when they surprised even the bitter critics of theirs. The only way we can improve our cricket is to improve the quality of wickets back home because cricket is not only about playing spinners and knee height fast bowling. Abroad the battle essentially is between Indian batsmen and opposition's fast bowlers. In South Africa also it will all depend how they cope up with the likes of Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander.