Hello friends,
So the third test match has also been lost and that too, within 3 days and now the series is over. When the first test was lost and India got bowled out cheaply in the first innings at Sydney, I was foreseeing a whitewash once again like the England tour. But since this time the bowling was doing good, I was hoping that our talented batting would turn things around. But after the 400 they made in the second innings at SCG, the batsmen are back to their old poor displays.
The similarities are quite disturbing between the England debacle and the performance in Australia, particularly the batting. They have not looked like they want to fight and seem to give up too easily. One of the main traits of the team that went to number 1 in tests, was the ability and intention to fight from any situation that was so visible to the viewers. This team looks jaded and simply does not seem to care once they see that things are not going their way. And definitely, the main culprits for this are the seniors - Dravid, Sachin (to a lesser extent), VVS and Sehwag.
At least, I am now beginning to read about phasing out the seniors and forcing them to retire. Like I said in one of my previous posts, if the outcome of this series is that the seniors are done away with and their places taken by our next generation, I would still be happy with the result. For that purpose, I wont mind if India lose in Adelaide as well. But it would be nice to see some fight before the loss, like putting up 350 or 400 runs on the board like they did in SCG in the second innings.
I am not going to review the Perth test match in detail as we all saw what happened and know why it happened. Vinay Kumar was obviously a bad choice like I had mentioned in my previous post. But I admire the other bowlers for sticking to their task and effectively bowling Australia out for 155, after they had put on 214 without loss. This shows that if the batsmen had put their heads down and made around 250 in the first innings, we could have made a match out of this test match. Once again, most of the batsmen got out to similar mistakes that they have been making in all the test matches.
Adelaide has always been a batsmen-friendly surface and also should take spin on the 4th and 5th days, if we last that long :) So Ashwin will come back, unless they want to try Ojha instead of him. Also, it looks like Rohit will play ahead of VVS, which is a good move, if it happens. I am happy that Virat Kohli has somewhat justified the faith shown in him. But he needs to do it again in Adelaide and continue to do it regularly if the management and viewers need to feel relaxed when he is at the crease. One other good thing that has happened, even if not planned, is that Dhoni will not play in Adelaide because of the ban. So it will be nice to see how Sehwag captains the side and whether the approach is markedly different from Dhoni's and if it is, then it will give the selectors an option other than Dhoni for the tests which India desperately need at this time.
I will post after the Adelaide test, but it would be nice to hear the comments from you guys. Lets hope for a good performance in Adelaide from the batsmen, particularly Gambhir, Kohli and Rohit.
Before I end, I want to mention one amazing thing that occurred at the start of the Perth test. My 8-year-old son has been following Indian cricket since the World Cup win and is fairly up-to-date with what is going on. I had been telling him about the Perth wicket and how it helps the bowlers initially and that it is quick, bouncy etc. When I told him India lost the toss and are batting first, he simply said, 'We are dead'. I was shocked and was laughing at the same time because I thought it was the perfect statement considering how poor our batting has been in this series. And sure enough, we were bowled out for 161 before tea on day 1 and never recovered.
Cheers.
The scoreline is sad but not unexpected. The seniors need to go - not as a knee-jerk reaction to this series defeat but because they have nothing left to prove and realistically, this series was their last opportunity to go out on a high. Sachin will of course stick around and get his century in a ODI or a low pressure test match but it will be a hollow victory for him given that he failed in 2 important series.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we need to worry too much about life without the seniors. We will be alright. Young players these days are all very good fielders and this means they will start with 20-25 runs to their name even before they go to bat thanks to runs stopped on the field. A good fielding unit will give confidence and much needed support to the bowlers as well.