Lord Jadeja and Sir Vinay Kumar are now Millionaires

Ravinder Jadeja and R Vinay Kumar, the two most hated Indian players, are now also most highly paid IPL players. More than Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni himself. More than the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. More than likes of Zaheer Khan and Irfan or Yousuf Pathan.

Life set for both this guys. Jadeja, as expected nabbed by MS Dhoni's CSK. Pune Warriors not taking part in auctions, serious fun for CSK.  Now he would be undroppable, immovable,  non-performing player for India. Who knows he might even make a Test debut soon.

R Vinay Kumar based on some hidden talent, which noone except Kris Srikanth and now Vijay Mallaya have seen, rode to a million dollar booty. If this big money really inspires him to put up a credible show on the field, is a million dollar question. The answer is known. NO. There is no talent, there is no variation, no pace in the guy. Yet he is amongst rich players of IPL.

There is no cricketing rationale or logic behind the high auction price for this 2 players who at the best are very ordinary and unbankable players. Yet their bank balance is all set to grow fat and fat. The patience of already frustrated fans would go more thinner and thinner to see this jokers  get chances ahead of more deserving Irfan Pathan and Umesh Yadav.  Why Umesh Yadav didnt play T20s is a mystery, but that's expected when you have Chennai Pooper Kinks boss and Brand ambassador heading Indian cricket.

Lord Jadeja all set to grab riches in Indian cricket

First win down under, thanks to soop star Ravinder Jadeja would now mean he would continue to play at 7 in ODIs and would also grab a million dollar IPL contract. From what is reported in media, CSK are gunning for him and then if he does make it to CSK, then he would be a fake Tamilian and then the rest shall be taken care by N Srinivasan, K Srikanth and well of course MS Dhoni.

Majjani life Jadeja bawa

Dhoni running short of ideas

MS Dhoni is so defensive and insipid in his captaincy that a newcomer as captain beat him in field placings and tactical acumen in the first T20I yesterday. Pity what a stage MSD has reached in his captaincy within a year of winning the world cup. If that was a peak, then certainly the descend to the bottom has begun and begun very fast. And perhaps that's why he has been making some real weird statements like.

We wanted to play Rahul Sharma bcos he has done in IPL.

We wanted to play Ravinder Jadeja cos he gives the balance to the team.

Wonder what influence Duncan Fletcher is bringing to the team. 

 

Australian tour going England way

The Australia tour is turning out the England way. The maiden win is elusive and the pattern of defeats is disheartening from the fact that the Indian team is just not showing up the fight or desire to fight. The excuses are readymade and put up after every debacle. Rain in T20 defeat, the pitch in first 3 Tests and lack of fight in the 4th one. Seniors were the scapegoat for the Tests whitewash, who’d be the scapegoat for the T20I whitewash, which is a game away.

The new folks have arrived, the likes of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and of course Lord Ravinder Jadeja, the next IPL multi-millionaire.  A lot of noise was made on why Rohit Sharma was not played in Tests especially in Adelaide when Lax was having disaster of time in the middle. He was supposed to be the god sent savior to the losing Indian side. Unfortunately he didn’t have any magical wand that could have turned the defeatist attitude, lack of fight to a winning one. He lasted a ball and was bowled to the daddy of international cricket,  Brad Hogg first ball.

The selection of the playing XI was ridiculous:

• No Zaheer Khan or Irfan Pathan in the playing XI. The seamers who played were Praveen Kumar and Vinay Kumar. One was returning from injury lay-off, the second one was exposed in Test in Adelaide, yet somehow he continues to find a place in XI.  He bowled decent enough, but not good enough to justify his continued selection in the team. No pace, no variation, no skills. Vinay Kumar for you,  the reason that seems he is in the team is just cos of South Indian lobby that now (Chennai, to be precise) rules Indian cricket.

• Ravinder Jadeja at 7.  He is deemed to be a person who gives the team as balance. Balance as in a bowling allrounder or batting allrounder?  He concedes 23 runs in 2 overs, he makes 7 runs and saves a few. Saving and making still fall short of conceding. So where is the balance?  He cannot contribute when needed and often plays when all is lost (like he did in England T20).  MS Dhoni is in awe of him and that is harming the team.

• R Ashvin.  Supposedly new age bowler who can bowl anytime, the bowler who can do no wrong. He proved his worth for CSK in IPL and CLT20, but when it came for impact on international stage, he froze. He continued bowling full tosses and down the leg side. Easy meat for someone like David Warner to display their switch hit skills.  The only reason he still plays every game and Harbhajan doesn’t is he is from Chennai and represents Chennai Super Kinks whose captain, owner and brand ambassador occupy strong posts in Indian board.

• Virender Sehwag is fast turning out to be a flat track bully. I hate to say this, as I still feel he is a great, but he has done his reputation no justice on this tour.

• Gautam Gambhir and Kohli would probably rue the way they got out and their dismissals gave Australia an opening that was match winning in the final context of the game.

• And MSD, the man who once could do nothing wrong, now can do nothing right.  He has been stubborn, defensive, defeatist and strangely passive and switched off from the proceedings. When Ashvin got hit for runs in 2nd over, he still found himself bowling 3rd over in trot.  Ashvin completed his quota before 10th over was bowled and that suggests the blind faith of MS in him and also a glaring proof of being stubborn and close to experimenting.  Rahul Sharma was introduced late in the attack and he did impress in bits and pieces.

• Part time spinners might work in India, but not in Australia.  And there were plenty of them. When the runs were scored, there was no pace around to put some brakes and get some wickets. Only options available were Raina or Jadeja or Sharma who might grab wickets in India, but would be hit for runs elsewhere.  I don’t get the fascination for part timers for Indian captains off late.  Ganguly did use part timers but they had some quality – Yuvraj, Sachin and Sehwag then did use to take wickets and break partnerships. Jadeja actually gifts away runs, easy runs to the opposition. He might have got few wickets against England, but then who wouldn’t against England? They are such pitiful spin players. And based of that success, he finds himself part of every limited overs team India puts up.

The patience is long running thin and unless there is a drastic change in the mindset of the captain and the team, the fans would be forced to switch off  from watching the games. I spoilt my night yesterday sacrificing 5 hours of sleep to watch the flop show of the team who once was world champion in this format.

What an irony, the team of country that hosts the richest T20 league in the world, doesn’t have players who can combine as a team and win games consistently.  The top 7 of this team or top  8 are star players for their respective franchisees in IPL, but in the Indian team they are zilch contributors.  That makes the fans pose questions on the mindset and attitude of this players – do they really want to play for India to win or just turn up and grab their booty from BCCI and not bother to show up a fight.

I think the latter one is fast turning out to be a reality and unless addressed soon, the IPL would become a monster who would be hated more than it is loved.

BCCI isnt serious about the Test defeats

If you have a look at Mr Srini, the BCCI chief, comments then you’d probably bite your own head or hit it on the wall bang bang. That gives you how much seriously the board has taken the disasters of England and Australia.  Yes, India are not the bad team, as the results show in this 2 tours, but there is something that needs to be fixed. Either that’s the mindset that’s suddenly deteriorated or it’s the quality that’s gone begging.  Or it’s the coach regime that’s plotted the downfall more than anything else.

The media has been equally negative, and so have been the ex-players like Bapu Nadkarni or Kirti Azad or even Kiran More. This players were no good in their playing days, played negative all their careers and today they are echoing the thought that Tendulkar should retire. So much for 22 years of international cricket the man played for India.

The headlines in ToI or NDTV say “Another green pitch awaits India”. Cricinfo reads “dry pitch could help under the pump Indian batting lineup”. Who’s more reliable?  Perhaps cricinfo.  The media hasn’t played less role than the ex-players in forming a negative opinion against the beleaguered cricketers who are being hammered down under.  The next venue is Adelaide, where India hasn’t lost in last 2 series, or rather last 13 years. So much for the historic facts.

The board is busy in arranging logistics  for the IPL-5 and Srikanth’s Tamil Nadu are in Ranji final after hammering Mumbai in the semis. But the defending champions are edging them out of the tournament race by being ultra-slow in their batting. 2/404 in 180 overs is heinous.  But if Tamil Nadu wins the trophy, again the likes of Boss DK, Vijay, Mukund, Dabrinath and L Balaji would find their way to the Indian team on the name of fresh blood and injury replacements. But if Rajasthan win again, then there won’t be any players from Rajasthan finding their way to the Indian team.  Zimply because Srikanth is head of selection committee, which has been unaccountable for the 7 defeats overseas.

Whose heads is going to roll after the test leg of this tour is completed?  The ODIs are expected to be little bit more successful than the tests cos the team is world champion in this format. And it has won the previously held tri-series in that country with exact same combination of teams participating then and now.   MS Dhoni might find his aura back after ODI success (read few wins, if not tournament), the selection committee would then hold its head high “See, we selected this team”. Certainly it wont be the case of “Oh, we also selected the teams that lost 4-0 (or 3-1 or 3-0) in both England or Australia. “ And as Bishen Bedi perhaps for first time said something right in ages “Every test team would be forgotten once IPL starts”. But if there wont be any viewership for IPL, then where would the unaccounted for selection committee head and officials who have hefty share in IPL franchisees find rest in? 

N Srinivasan and Kris Srikanth are the 2 biggest culprits to have landed the Indian cricket in such a pitiful state.   They probably take more solace in the fact that they are part of the team that has won past 2 IPLs and one CLT20. But they fail to understand they also hold the biggest posts in the board that manages the national cricket team. The statements from this 2 buffoons is good enough to reveal the fool hardiness with which this folks have taken the defeats.

The road ahead

With great disappointment and disgust here is my take on the reasons why India lost so miserably in the 3 test matches so far.

Opening Pair is silent

Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir are best bet when it comes to open the innings in any format for India. This pair has been excellent in Test matches across all conditions barring Australia. This was an acid test for the duo and they have failed miserably in this tour. Not technically for Sehwag, because he doesn’t have much of it, but in mental thought process. Something which is surprising given his exploits in Australia over past 2 tours. Gambhir was expected to have come full circle on this tour, but he has failed to live upto those expectations.  Sehwag and Gambhir haven’t fired together or in solo attempt, which makes the task of ageing middle order a bit tough, something which has happened consistently in this tour. Barring the first innings in MCG, Sehwag hasn’t fired. Gambhir has showed some fight in last 3 innings, but that doesn’t redeem of 3 aghast failures in first 3 innings on this tour.

The reason why India was so successful in 2003-04 in Australia was the start Sehwag and Chopra provided. Chopra didn’t make more than 48 in any innings, but he played out the dangerous span of 15-20 overs from Gillespie, Brad Williams and company.  That Australian team was far superior to the one which beat India blue on this tour.

Sehwag and Gambhir are the best bet to continue opening for India in long run, since they are not supposed to tour for another year or so outside subcontinent, they would need to find their mojo back very soon. The replacements for them, the TN implants don’t look promising either.

Ageing Middle Order

When your middle order is past the prime, the usability date, such failures are long due. And sadly India did not learn through the mistakes of England tour.  No one expected India to lose 0-4 in England and so badly in Australia. Perhaps this was the best chance for India to beat Australia first time in Australia. Instead they ran to their worst defeat in Australia in 13 years.  Dravid,Tendulkar and Laxman are ageing stalwarts and they look no good to extend their career beyond this tour. Tendulkar has been under severe pressure for that elusive 100th century from the media and perhaps that has got to him. As a result the team has suffered. He has been the best batsman on this tour and every time he has walked on the crease, he has looked assured in the start only to grow nervous in the end of the innings. He is going to be 39 in April and perhaps he is the only man who looks to play a few more series at home before he calls it a day.

Dravid has been in superb form in 2011 with 5 hundreds and topping the run charts, but he has been back to 1999 form on this tour. Worst, his defence has been breached. He finds unique ways to get bowled and that is a sign for you to go.  Its time for the fans and selectors to say thank you to the great man and move on. It’s a disgrace for fans, his loyal fans over the years to see him get bowled, given the fact he has been THE WALL and one of the most complete Test batsmen of the history, something very rare this era.  He has made few runs, but they are not enough and they are not the premium that would extend his golden career beyond this tour.   He has to sign off post Adelaide and since he is already 39, he would be remembered to have retired still at top (little lower than that though).

Laxman has to be dropped from the team after the Perth test. He was expected to make runs against his favorite opposition, but he has struggled miserably. Silken Hyderabadi should read the writing on the wall and should announce his retirement immediately. He hasn’t been dropped in ages and if he is dropped for Adelaide, then it would be a blot on his career. Again, a time to say thank you to Laxman for his contribution to the Indian Test arena in past 16 years.

Until England tour, we believed that the golden generation of Indian cricket has turned around the way it plays cricket in away series, but last 2 tours have diminished that notion, that belief which was installed by this very men in 2000s under the lion hearted Sourav Ganguly.  It would now take perhaps another decade or so (less the better) to turn around from this moment of darkness in Test arena.

Defensive Captaincy

MS Dhoni, the ODI captain and MS Dhoni, the Test captain.  Two different personalities, split personalities may be.  MS Dhoni in limited overs is a different batsmen and captain altogether than what he is in Tests. The morning of MCG test, day 4 was the turn around for Indian team which pushed the team to the darkness it find itself in. And the culprit has to be Dhoni himself. Spreading out the field to 10 and 11 is aghast. When you have the last pair of an insecure batting lineup on the crease, you’d rather look for wiping out the tail and have less target to chase than what was actually. But those visuals implant a permanent memory in Indian fans that the captaincy from the world cup winning captain was insipid and timid. The timid captaincy in England and Australia have cost 7 tests on the trot.

Way ahead

The winds of change have to start blowing and the replacements for Dravid and Laxman have to be handy.  Kohli has promised a lot and he should be persisted despite uneven scores in Australia. He is a prodigy and he has to be preserved from the evils of IPL to ensure he is transformed to a complete international batsman in all formats of game.   There is a lot of young talent coming through. Rohit Sharma is certain to debut sooner than later and along side Suresh Raina, provided he cures his short ball weakness, the middle order for Indian Test team should be good, if not as formidable as in 2000s at least for few seasons. It took a few years for the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Ganguly to blossom into the batsmen they were. And similar chances have to be provided to the next generation of Indian cricket.  The good news is there is a lot of young talent that is shining. Ajinkya Rahane,  Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, Ashok Menaria,  Manish Pandey etc are few very good prospects in the pipeline that should find their spots in the Indian team very soon. It’s the dawn of the new era in Indian cricket and it has to be ensured the evil clutches of easy money of IPL doesn’t hamper the transition from golden batting to the new gen batting.

The IPL has to be toned down and one more moderate or flop viewership would ensure that this monster is grounded, if not buried totally.

The ODI team looks well set and the transition from the oldies to the new gen was almost smooth. Sure, there were few hiccups in between, but the victories came more than defeats and the ODIs ahead do look promising and they evoke some kind of hope after the doom of the tests.

May be a different captain for ODIs and Tests could be a theme to follow just like 2007-08 or what South Africa follows, or England follows (they go to a maddening extreme with one captain per format).  MS Dhoni has looked clueless in Tests in batting and captaincy. May be the one test ban might serve as a deterrent for him and he could arrest the slide.  He looks top notch in ODIs, but he has to catch up on the Test front. And if he is making way for another captain, then may be somebody young as Virat Kohli could be an option, but that would be too soon for him for now. Once he finds his mojo in Tests too, he wont make a bad captain. And the need of the hour for India’s test team is to play aggressive cricket, something they did over past 2 tours in Australia.  And they need an aggressive captain for that.

Coaching regime

The coaching regime has to undergo a change and 7 tests is good enough to judge the resume of Duncan Fletcher. To me, he seems the biggest culprit for the disasters.   Something which Gary Kirsten did in 2 years, it didn’t take even a year for Fletcher to demolish all the good work done by Kirsten and of course John Wright. So for sure he needs to be shown the door.  5-0 for England in 2006-07 laid the foundation for their success running into 2011 and similar whitewash for India (England and probable Australian) should lead to a change in coaching regime and a new coach has to be found out.  May be likes of Wasim Akram could be a good option to start with for the bowling department and hire somebody for batting too, as the transition begins. Something which Justin Langer does for Australia.

Duncan Fletcher has escaped the media attention and the buck has to stop at this man, the culprit to sow seeds of disaster by making the team negative and defensive.

The signs were visible in 3rd test in West Indies when India decided to close the shop with 86 runs to get in 15 overs and 7 wickets in hand. In modern T20 era, this is a cheap target and then even though Laxman, Dravid were at crease, the runs should have been gotten. For me that was the turning point when the team stopped belief. And the same set of batsmen performed credibly in South Africa, almost winning the series. And sooner, one tour later, the technique and attitude of the same batsmen were found deficient. Hard to believe. More to do with the external advice coming from the so called coaches.  India struggled to bowl out weaker Windies team in Windies in 2nd and 3rd test and as a result 3-0 became 1-0 and then the famous cold act of R Ashvin which ensured India let go of whitewashing a team again in the return tour.

And not to cite the numerous occasions, which were encountered in England where some defensive and inexplicable tactics led to a 0-4 rout.

Hard decisions bestow,  some culling to follow and probably more than anything else, the mental belief and attitude of winning and aggression needs to return for the remainder of the tour and the next series India plays at home against England and then Australia should dawn the new age and a scoreline of 3-0 and 4-0 should be aimed at least in home.

In hope of a comeback

The prospects of 4-0 on Australian tour are bright and perhaps that is a sad story for Indian cricket. At this point of time, it seems that this team under MS Dhoni has basically undone all the hard work taken under Saurav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. Whats more saddening fact is that the culprits are the same stalwarts of the past. The same heroes who scripted epic innings in past 2 tours have been the culprits in the 2 tests now.  VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid. When this 3 names come into the mind, the innings of 167, 178, 270, 195, 151, 93* on those golden test matches of the past 3 series come into picture. And when you see this heroes struggle on this tour to a substandard Australian team which is nowhere near to the mighty teams of 1999 or 2003-04 or even 2007-08, it pinches you even more.

Sydney has now come to be associated with painful bunch of memories for an average Indian cricket fan.

Sydney 2008 and Sydney 2012.

Two extremes. The former reminds us of ugly incidents on the field and the remarkable statesmanship displayed by then captain Anil Kumble who gave the memorable statement “Only one team was playing with the spirits of the game”. And the latter, reminds of the meek struggle India showed on day 1 of the first test match of 2012. Much contrast even if you roll back an year to Capetown, which India almost won in South Africa.

In 2008, the monkeygate propelled India to a famous win in Perth and this time it’s the talks of another 4-0 rout that could possibly propel India to a magical turnaround.

The worst feeling associated with this losses is the fact that you know your team isn’t that bad, it is made out to look from the media of both countries. The failing stars are the same people who have scripted infinite comebacks and have changed the perception of Indian cricket worldwide in past decade.  When you know your team isn’t that bad, then its causing you even more agony and pain. So much so that you want to switch off totally from cricket. For  me its been a total off thing. I deleted all apps from my gadgets which read “CRICKET”, turned off all those sites which reminded me of the painful defeats in MCG and SCG.

The MCG test was in the hands till day 4 morning when some strange defensive tactics from MS Dhoni gifted the momentum to Australia and they are too good to let it slip from their grabs.

India needs to do a few things different from what they have been doing in this 2 test matches and most of those things are in the mental thought process. The Indians are too experienced to not let the turnaround come into their mind.  Defensive attitude has to be buried and the days of Dadagiri have to be remembered.  Sourav Ganguly’s presence is the most critical thing that’s needed now and nobody other than the legend himself can do a pep talk kinda thing to the boys and then the results would be up for everybody to see.

He himself has said “Get rid of the cobwebs and play fearless cricket”. That had been the mantra behind those memorable victories India has secured in past 12 years or so. The time has come to relive that attitude and get rid of any defensive crap Duncan Fletcher might be bringing from his English experience. Also it’s a time to rethink to have Fletcher as coach. Is he really worthy and is he really bringing any value to the table?

May be a change in the bowling department could do wonders. Getting rid of Ashvin who has been ineffective should be replaced by Pragyan Ojha.   0/157 is a stark reminder to him that Test cricket is not always fairytale and his honeymoon period is over.

And for a change try batting 2nd on a wicket if you win the toss. Let the opposition bat first who are also suspect against quality fast bowling and India does have quality in that. When Australia came out to bat on day 2 and 3 of Sydney test, the pitch was totally flat and had India batted on those days, they would have scored the same runs as Australia did. The batsmen did show some glimpse of return to form in 2nd innings and that should be the founding stone for the possible comeback.

Its time to rally behind the team, not disown it.

And I am going to watch the Test match on willow.tv through You Tube hopefully awaiting that magical moment that could script a remarkable comeback from the cornered tigers.

SL !!!!

13 for 6 to 24 for 7 and now 35 for 8.

That looks like a pitiful score SL used to heap on the minnows in the haydays of Vaas and Murali. Poor them, they are undergoing the same hammering now.

Wonderful.

Cant stop laughing out loud.

Go bundle them out below 54. Revenge would then be extracted for that pathetic Sharjah night 12 years back.

Where are those talks of character and stuff now ?

PS : I logged onto cricinfo after 2 weeks reading out a superb jab on SL cricketer names on FakingNews.

SCG Test dos and donts for India

Glenn McGrath really sucks. 

A look at his famous habit of predictions suggest that he has been failing miserably in past 2 years. He predicted 5-0 whitewashes for England twice in 2009 and then in 2010-11. 

Both times Aussies lost the series. 

He has predicted 2 things for this series:

1. India would lose 4-0

2. Tendulkar wont score 100th ton in SCG this time.

The onus is now on the Indians  to prove this predictions wrong. The time has come up for the famed batting order to step up and deliver. They havent crossed 300 once in last 5 away tests and if they dont do it this time the chance of squaring test series is lost. 

This part of world, you got to score runs. And India has capable batsmen of doing it.  The time has come to the glorious batsmen to fire and prove the critics wrong. 

The bowling isnt a weak link, but the batting is.  India has capable bowlers who would run through the opposite batting lineup, but its the batsmen who are unable to put up fighting totals.  2 of 6 have to bat long and long. Score runs as they did in 2003-04.

And yes MS Dhoni needs to shut up and find ways to wipe out the tail. This habit is now sucking and leading to a habit of losing Tests from winning positions. From position, India was on day 2 in MCG, there was no business losing the test.

He has to deliver through bat and through captaincy -- aggressive at that.

If India does most of the above things right and the weather is right, then we are going to have a favorable result.

MCG defeat dissection

So the away woes continue. 5th straight loss. 5th straight batting failure in a test match. None would have expected a team at 3/214 chasing 333 in first innings on day 2 close to lose the test match day and half later.  But India always exceeds expectations. They lose when none expects them to and they win when none expects them to. This has been a close knit team for almost a decade. The batting names have remained same more or less same. The spots 1, 3, 4, 5 have been fixed for 10 years now barring injuries and other reasons, but  they were undone by some quality pace bowling by inexperienced Australian fast bowlers. The attitude of the Indian players on day 4 throughout was questionable. The players seem resigned, the shoulders were dropped, the field was open and spread out to a no 9 and 11. Cmon, you don’t expect to give easy singles to tail enders. No sign of attack, no sign of keeping up pressure on the tailenders was visible from the world cup winning, IPL winning captain MS Dhoni.

He has to own up this defeat. His captaincy on 4th morning was the worst, worse than Shahid Afridi or even a Dilshan (who won a test in SA).

He didn’t attack the jack and 10, he allowed easy singles and allowed the target to cross 250 when it was no business chasing more than 240 at the max.   Perhaps the time has come now to see that the ageing legends quit and allow the fresh blood to sneak in. And the culling must start through VVS Laxman. He is supposed to be 4th innings champion, but yesterday he was abject. Scores of 2 and 1 are too bad for a player like him when he is taking on his favorite team. Hell with the history and ground stats for him. Why did not he take up the responsibility to guide the chase.

And same questions need to be asked to Virender Sehwag, why did he cut the ball when the trap was laid out for him through some imaginative captaincy from Clark.  He just gifted his wicket away to the Aussies and that moment, the victory for them was sealed. Losing to an under rated team is frustrating, if this loss came in 2003 or 2007 then we would have been able to digest this, but hell the Australian team in transition with no big name firing has defeated a stalwart studded team. The lineup where top 5 has plateful of runs, but cannot stitch partnerships together to win a damn test match, they had no business losing.

Gambhir has been successful in almost all conditions, but he has failed in England and now that’s carrying in Australia too. He has been a dogged character, not the one easily to give up. He has seen the frustration of being dropped and had even thought of giving up the game at one point, then why is he not so considerate enough to play a dirty innings to get some runs. Don’t poke outside off stump, this is a test match, not a T20 and you are not captaining KKR, but opening for India in a country where they are yet to win a test series in 64 years.  Scorelines of 2 and 13 don’t do justice to this man and his temperament.

Ditto 68 and 7 don’t work well for Sehwag.  He has been successful in MCG before and very famously.  195 on day 1 of that test match in 2003 was a glorious innings and now both the men from Delhi would go in 2012 with no Test centuries to their name. They are not able to provide the fiery starts they are famous to provide.   They have to own up and start producing runs freely. And that’s very critical for Indian batting to click. That gives the likes of Dravid and Laxman – the slow workhorses time to play their own game. 

Kohli has been a failure here, but again early days for him. First major away tour for him and he should be given another chance in the Sydney Test.

MS Dhoni has to look up to his Test batting, he has been falling too frequently to soft dismissals and low scores. Yesterday he scored just 23, but he leaked far too many runs in the morning session.  It would have been nice if he would have shown the captaincy skills he has been famed for past 4 years.  If you leak runs through unimaginative captaincy to the tail enders, then at least exceed that amount by scoring runs, when you are a batsman of capability and over  8500 international runs, then some responsibility has to lie on your shoulders too.

IPL Ashvin, who has replaced Harbhajan Singh should first learn how to bowl in a test match and moreso to a tailender in a situation when its do or die. He came on pretty late in the attack yesterday, but he just bowled ordinarily with no attempt to grab the wicket. Happy containing? Not that either. He leaked 9 runs in one of his overs with short dolleys and poor bowling. Even when he batted in first innings, he continued giving strike to no 11 on 2nd or 3rd bowl of the over of firing Hilfenhaus or Pattinson. What was the motive ?  The aim was to cut short the lead as much as possible, good that Yadav did not fall and showed decent character to block out the balls. But this is something IPL Ashvin will have to learn. May be a quick word or 2 with Anil Kumble would be good on how to bowl Yorkers to tail enders.  He is the attacking spinner in Tests after having replaced out of form Bhajji, but if continues to play the same role as Bhajji did, then let Pragyan Ojha come in.

Throw this lad out of the team if he continues to make elementary mistakes.

All is still not lost. Before its too late work on the mindset first. Come out all attacking, take 20 wickets as soon as you can. Australian batting is fragile and prone to collapse any time. 4/27 to 240 was an unforgivable crime. And it shouldn’t be repeated.

Don’t leak too many runs to the tailenders and block runs. Play SL brand of cricket if possible to dry out the runs.  Set 7-2 field like you did in Nagpur 2008. Who has stopped you?  And have batsmen take up some responsibility.

New year, new test match, hopefully new mindset. All is not lost yet. But if they don’t improve in Sydney, then all would be lost and the legends would not like to sign off with a defeat in the test series, but with a  series win. How much hungry the legends are, that remains to be seen.