India's Awful Fielding in Melbourne Encapsulates the Team's Puzzling Identity

Umesh Yadav stood at the top of his mark, ready to commence his second over and the fourth of the game. In his previous over, he'd claimed the prized scalp of David Warner for nought. Australia were one down without a run on the board.

India had arrived in Melbourne's colossal venue and landed the first blow. A big one. Australia, without Michael Clarke and playing a debutant at six, were under pressure. All India needed from Yadav's over was more of the same. 

But this is ESPNCricinfo.com's ball-by-ball text commentary of what happened next:

"

Here's Umesh. Watson on strike

3.1

Yadav to Watson, 1 bye, he is welcomed with a short ball that Dhoni is not able to take cleanly. It bursts through his hands. Allows Australia to get a move on

3.2

Yadav to Rogers, no run, back of length on the stumps, the batsman looks to clip it to the leg side but gets a leading edge down the pitch

3.3

Yadav to Rogers, 2 runs, fuller length delivery, it's pushed through midwicket where KL Rahul slides but is not able to come behind the ball... gives away an extra run.

3.4

Yadav to Rogers, 2 runs, now another misfield at point. This is Shami now. It hits his boots and ricochets away from him

"

Such a sequence may, to some, seem minor and inconsequential. But it wasn't. Not at all. It was diabolical, even if most watching wouldn't have given those four balls two seconds of extra thought. 

MS Dhoni couldn't get it right with the gloves. Lokesh Rahul couldn't get it right with his legs. And Mohammed Shami, well, he couldn't get it right with anything. In the space of four balls, the captain grassed a straightforward take, the debutant misjudged a slide by two metres and the seamer fell on his backside trying to stop a routine ball at point. 

So much for more of the same. India suddenly looked disheveled. And a 115-run partnership followed.

Just over 12 months ago, George Dobell of ESPN Cricinfo, after observing England serve up a horrible exhibition of fielding in Adelaide, wrote that "fielding is the window to the soul of a team." It was a pertinent remark. 

For cricket, despite being a team sport, is largely defined by individual pursuits. There's very little you do as a collective. Fielding is the only team-oriented discipline in the game.

Individuals form their reputations with the bat and ball; team's form their identity in the field. 

Scott Barbour/Getty Images

As such, India's work around the vast expanses of the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday neatly encapsulated this team's puzzling identity. In the Test arena, Dhoni's men are neither here nor there. They've got so many qualities, an abundance of skill and plenty of flair, but there's just as much that is missing.

They squander opportunities. Their focus comes and goes. Their attention to detail, to the little things, is poor. Their successes and failures are pinned solely to talent, not fundamentals.  

There they were, having heaped pressure on Australia through a fine piece of individual skill, releasing the pressure because of an inability to do the basics as a team. And it continued after Yadav's over.

Shikhar Dhawan dropped a chance he should have swallowed at slip.

Ishant Sharma almost conceded a boundary off his knee.

Virat Kohli, normally sharp in the field, was diving over balls, running past them and looking generally sloppy. 

It was India's identity in a nutshell: supremely talented but supremely flawed. 

Interestingly, when Dhoni was quizzed on his team's performances this week after surrendering a 2-0 lead to Australia, he was quick to point out his team's inability to seize upon brief moments. 

"I feel we are playing good cricket ... but there's been spaces where we have not played good cricket," he said, per ABC News. "What we have spoken about is those half-an-hour, 45-minute moments."

But three misfields in four balls didn't occur over 45 minutes. Nor half an hour. India lose games in minutes and split seconds. And it's their fielding that's reflective of that identity.