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.

292 to win

What an insipid captaincy by 2 times world cup winner MS Dhoni. He just let the tailenders score easy runs through indifferent field settings when 9 down. Last 2 wickets scoring 75 runs with Pattinson getting 32 not out. The fields were spread out, there was no aggression, there were no attempts made to grab those 2 wickets. There were very less yorkers, the captain had lost it. 

Not a very good sign when you are looking to win the first test match of an away tour. Something which has been the Achilles heel in the past and is haunting now too.  Not a good sign when you want to regain the lost no 1 ranking.

Ashvin was the culprit, MS was bigger one and the biggest the fielders who let easy runs, allowed 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and even the tail enders ran 4 runs. 

Attribute it to MS Dhoni's questionable tactics.

292 to win. 

Key players : all batsmen.

For morning session it seemed the Australian team has got 2 captains --MSD and Michael Clarke.  Thanks to Laxman who sent back Hilfenhaus to end the innings.

MCG Test day 3 updates

The Boxing day Test in MCG is at a very interesting stage with the result very likely on day 4 itself. The key lies to the time India spends to take remaining 2 wickets of Australian 2nd innings. Anything over 250 would be a tough proposition given the up and down pitch. Michael Hussey needs to understand that any runs he adds to his overnight 79 would be a waste of time for his team and himself.

He is not anyways going to last beyond the end of this Indian summer, so why waste everyone's time. He and Ponting are now at the stage where one good innings would only delay the inevitable. The best bet for them is to just end the agony and walk into the oblivion.

Their legacy would be remembered as finest cricketers who excelled with great players around and struggled when their team needed them the most.  To see Ponting and Pussey struggle for that one career extending innings is a pain to watch, given the fact that this players were part of once formidable team that conquered the world.

India were equally inept in the batting in the 3rd morning when they could have batted Australia out of the test match with Kohli, Dhoni and Laxman yet to come and edgy, lucky Dravid still on crease. But then Hilfy had some other ideas as he took his first 5-for and redeemed his career after the Ashes low of last year.  Unless it was for valuable 31 runs from IPL Ashvin, the lead of 51 would have been lot more.

Umesh Yadav has been a revelation since the 2nd test match in Kolkata vs WI. It was heartening to see him go over 150 mark and grab 4 wickets in this innings taking his match total to 7. The other bowlers Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma were superb too.

All in all a very good looking pace attack from India and if the batsmen could get it right in the 4th innings and the remaining 2 wickets are drained quickly, the Indians should see themselves in a winning position. And its very crucial for Laxman and Gambhir to score runs. Laxman is playing on his worst Australian venue and the motivation for him should be the 4th innings chase, where he has been the best India batsmen to bat in recent past.

But as usual the pace would be setup by one and only Viru Sehwag, if he gets going and scores some quick runs, India should be on course. And Sachin Tendulkar would want to make his final innings in MCG a memorable one, as would Dravid want it to be. What better than winning on a ground which has been cruel and horrible for the country in past.

Australia memoirs : 1991-92

Time for some digging in the repository for the memories of tours down under. 

And first in this series is 1991-92 tour, the first one I saw live on TV back when i was 12.  The series which saw the arrival of Shane Warne and more than him, arrival of Tendulkar on world scene as a master class batsman. Also the departure of Ravi Shastri, Kris Shrikanth and Dilip Vengsarkar. 

Shastri played just one more test series after that tour, Srikanth ditto and Dilip Vengsarkar retired after this series at 35. He just managed 2 50s, 54 in each of those innings and he was out.

This was also the last tour of Kapil Dev abroad when he succeeded in grabbing wickets. 32(or 34) wickets in 5 tests and reaching 400 wickets milestone in Perth grabbing Mark Taylor was a highlight of the otherwise disappointing series for India. 

This was also the first series for Javagal Srinath, lean and tall fast bowler who would go on to become then 2nd successful fast bowler in India (now upstaged by Zaheer Khan in terms of Test wickets).  Subroto Banerjee was other debutant, but he fell out soon. In the ODIs, the triseries Benson & Hedges world series then, Sourav Ganguly debuted in 2 odd ODIs and then was dumped for 4 years. 

From Australian perspective it was a series of Craig McDermott and Bruce Reid. Indians had no answer to the pace and bounce from this Aussie pacers and the likes of Whiteny and Paul Reiffel who debuted in that series supported the likes of McDermott and Reid aptly. 

Those days, the ODIs were interspersed between the Tests unlike today's age when ODIs / Tests are played in clusters.  It was also the first slice of viewing to the Indian spectators where in they got up early morning 530 AM and watched out those games.  Hearing the likes of Bill Lawry, Richie Benaud, Ian Chappell was a delightful experience. Tony Greig was a good chap then, he hadnt fell in love with Sri Lankan jugglery those days. 

Getting up at 530 AM and watch out the first session of the Test matches before going out to school was a superb experience. That was also the first time Indians saw the high end technology in cricket (colored clothes in ODIs, stump cams and of course pointers used by commentators used for field placings etc). Sunil Gavaskar was the lone commentator from Indian side and of course he was starter in the commentary business then as it was India's first tour to Australia post Gavaskar and with Tendulkar.

Gavaskar is now 62 and Tendulkar is 38, but its hard to believe that there was just a gap of 2 years between former’s retirement and later’s initiation.

That tour lasted for 4 months and by the end of the tour, India had played out 5 Tests, a tri-series in which they won just 4 games and a world cup they exited first round with just 2 wins to credit.  The tests were spanned across 3 months, as opposed to just about a month this time.   India had played out a tie game against West Indies, who were not so weak those days as they are now. Probably it was their first Australian tour sans Vivian Richards who had retired few months earlier, but was still available for the World Cup. At least he thought so, but the selectors didn’t think like him.   That game in Perth, in which India were rolled over for 126 gave the world a bowler in Sachin Tendulkar, who bowled the final over of the game and taking the final wicket of West Indies, thus tying the game. In the wake of famous Hero cup last over against South Africa, this spell or this game for Tendulkar as a bowler is sort of diminished. 

Cant imagine the fact today that there was gap of 24 days between first test in Brisbane and Boxing day test in Melbourne and then again a gap of 20 days between SCG test and the Adelaide Test. India played out a total of 5 first class games amidst the test series, a kind of thing unimaginable in the modern era of IPL, BBL and CLT20.

India were rolled over in the first test in Brisbane by 10 wickets. Australian batting comprised of Geoff Marsh and Mark Taylor as openers, Boon and Border at 3 and 4, Jones and M Waugh at 5 and 6. Healy at 7.  The bowling attack read  Big Merv, Mike Whiteny, Peter Taylor and of course Craig McDermott.

Indian batsmen had no answer to the pace, swing and bounce offered from the Australian fast bowlers who were stronger than the current lot.  Except for Sachin Tendulkar who scored classy hundreds in Perth (114) and Sydney (141), only Azhar (123) and Shastri scored 100s(he scored 206).  Srikanth, Manjrekar, Vengie and More were sheer failures.  Sachin's love for Aussies began on that tour which is ongoing till date and would continue till he retires.  

India lost heavily in 4 Tests in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. The only places where Indians did show some fight was in Sydney, where they were denied victory due to a day being washed out in rain and then in Adelaide where they scored 400 odd in 4th innings, though they lost by 140 runs. They rolled over in Perth and lost the series 0-4.

After the tests were lost, the Indians showed some fight in the B&H world series by beating Australia once and West Indies twice, tying once and then reaching finals. Their show in the world cup was a disaster in the modern era.

Bowling wise, Manoj Prabhakar and Kapil Dev were potent new ball pair, but lack of runs from batsmen crippled the experienced duo. Javagal Srinath emerged from this test series as fastest Indian bowler since Nissar Mohammed and the figures of 18 wickets in 4/ 5 tests proved this fact.

The small matter of the fact was that Shane Warne debuted in Sydney test and was taken up for runs by Tendulkar and Shastri. None expected what was to come from this blonde guy further down the years. He was promptly dropped for the next 2 Tests after returns of 1 for 150 and then he rocked the world starting Lanka tour later in 1992.

The love affair with viewing Australian cricket broadcast began then and is still ongoing.

Next : 1999 Series.

Preview to Boxing day Test

The Boxing Day Test at the MCG is 6 days away and the excitement is slowly building up. The Aussies are hosting a batting boot camp in order to weed out the weaknesses that have been exposed in past 2 years in different countries and against different countries. The Indians are worried about their 2 premier fast bowlers -- would they last the entire tour to give the team its first series win in Australia. So far that worry is a genuine one and the news breaking out of the Indian camp isn't a good one. Ishant Sharma is mysteriously injured and there are no updates on his injury status. He didn't bowl in the first 2 day game more than 5.3 overs and then didn't take the field till day. Not sure if he would be part of the playing XI in Melbourne.

Zaheer Khan was ineffective on day 2 of the tour game in Canberra and he didn't take the field after bowling 10 overs for 41 runs and no wickets. Is he out injured too?

Now if anyone of Zaheer and Ishant Sharma break down before the test leg ends, then it would be clear that BCCI has not learnt anything from the England fiasco. The possible replacements for any of this 2 bowlers are worrisome. Ashok Dinda is being talked as Sharma's replacement as per Ganguly's brave claim he made in media few days back. Now anyone who has seen him bowl in ODIs he has played in 2010 would feel that Dinda is going to be a wrong choice. He leaks runs, doesnt have consistency and lacks wickets taking ability.

So that leaves India with the inexperienced trio of:

1. Umesh Yadav

2. A Mithun

3. Vinay Kumar

The Karnataka lads have been very ineffective in flat tracks back home and since the Aussie wickets would be flat too, not sure if this 2 lads can put some brakes on the runs and on the same hands take wickets too. Genuine contenders to ensure the woeful Australian batsmen get their form back and score runs. Irfan Pathan? Will he help? He might have if he had pace, but the sight of Patel standing upto the stumps in Chennai ODI was a disheartening sign. Though the good signs of the swing being back were visible.

The possible lineup for bowling should all bowlers be fit might look like:

1. Zaheer

2. Ishant

3. Umesh

4. Ashvin

Should Sharma be unfit then

1. Zaheer

2. Umesh

3. Mithun

4. Ashvin

India are going to miss Praveen Kumar heavily down under.

The batting lineup for India looks settled and Rohit Sharma will need to wait few more games to debut in Tests. Kohli with his superb 132 in the tour game and his run up to this series will seal his spot at 6 in the first 2 tests at least.  One man I hope to score runs is Gautam Gambhir. Its being close to 2 years he last scored a Test 100. Australia would be a good place to start getting the 100s again and ensure his evolution as Test batsman is complete (England the only blot shall remain at least for next 2 years).

Australia are having their own worries.  Shauns are injured and one of them wont play, the other one who is their lone consistent bowler over 2 years, wont bowl. David Warner has a dodgy back, Hughes refuses to learn and Ed Cowan has presented a strong case for himself to be selected with that 100 against tourists in Canberra.  Usman Khwaja is still looking for an innings to prove his international class. Hussey and Ponting are on a daily salary basis like a daily waged laborer. Every innings they fail is going to put more pressure on them. Moreso for Ponting, one single failure means that Test could be his last. Good news : he is up against India, he has been amongst runs against them at home and there is no Harbhajan Singh to rattle him even with his sight.

Michael Clarke remains the only batsman consistent and in form and the danger man for India.

Brad Haddin is secured just by the fact that his replacements are injured. Does he put some sense in his ways of getting out or he continues to throw his wicket in irresponsible way remains to be seen. The bowling attack is little worry than the batting.  Pattinson, Siddle, Lyon and Starc might not look threatening on paper but they are untested. Indians have never played this 4 men before, so the visitors could be little unsure of what to expect.

The MCG has not been a happy hunting ground for India. It has lost its last 4 Tests in 1991-92, 1999, 2003 and 2007. As stated before, this remains a best chance for India to win its first test at MCG and of course first series down under. And for some inspiration they just need to look back effort from their tormentors, a year back to the Boxing day of 2010 when Aussies were rolled over for 98.

?score zillions of runs on dead pitches, the opposition is so bored that they simply give their wickats away?.

Mahela Jayawardhene says “we need to play Sri Lankan brand of cricket”.

Tilakratne Dilshan says “we need to play our brand of cricket, we can beat any team in any conditions”.

Perfect bells rang to boost the already demoralized team, short of victories, short of confidence and of course short of their salaries.  They aint paid a single penny from the world cup. Perhaps the Lankan board (or interim committee) have gotten bored of this kind of articles and media statements from the statesmen of Lankan cricket, that they have decided to bar the players from their salaries.

Every test series defeat means some kind of article from Mahela Jaywardhene in the media and that contains usual stuff “We showed character”, “we need to do different”, “challenge is upon us”, “we need to cross finishing line”. And blah blah.

But when it comes to the action in the middle to let the ball and bat talk, this folks smell snake. They collapse, sometimes 7 for 19, sometimes 6 for 24. Yet they show the character.  All articles, this folks articulate “we had one bad session, lost the test in that”.  As if there were no other tests in those series to try win and square the series.

“I'm just highlighting that in six Test matches we fought well and competed”

Yet they won nothing. If they compete well, they win. If they give up, don’t show their character, they lose. That’s what happened to them.

“As it stands now, we've had different batsmen performing at different times. In England, Prasanna Jayawardene got a hundred; Sanga got a hundred right at the end; and Dilshan got a good hundred at Lord's. Against Australia I got a hundred and Angelo Mathews got a hundred. We've had different guys performing individually, but now we need to perform as a unit and get big runs in the first innings of a Test match. The batting unit has to try and take more responsibility, especially the senior guys.”

Everybody in SL gets hundreds, but they are meaningless and more of personal thing, but they don’t win the games for their team in countries outside dead low pitches of SL.

Now even in SL, they aint the supreme kings. They lost to Australia, drew against West Indies. They forgot how to take 20 wikats since their old workhorse retired.  The others Herath, Randiv, Mendis (both Ajantha Watch and Jeevan) aint good enough to run down the opposition to take 20 wickats.

As expected they folded out for 180 in first innings in Centurion, though I feel they got more than what they deserved.  Again a collapse, 6 for 24. They collapse in ODIs, they collapse in Tests. In ODIs they collapse to the likes of Hafeez and Afridi. Says a lot about their character and mentality.

The worst thing. After every drubbing, the Lankan fans on all sorts of forums blame India and IPL for every single loss their team suffers.  Accept the fact that their team isn’t good enough to win anything.  And yes another excuse they always produce is that they are in transit. What transit?

Did they have a mass exodus like Australia had or India would have in few months ? Only Murali retired, but that’s good a year and half back. Vaas was finished years ago, Malinga never played a bunch of Tests in a cluster, the other bowlers were simply not good enough to step in the shoes of the decent bowlers Murali and Vaas were. The batting line up has remained same for years – Dilshan moving up and down, Paravitrana,   Jayawardhene himself. Sangakara, Samaraweera, the other Jayawardhene and of course overrated Angelo Mathews are around since ages. So what kind of transition are they talking about? Even in ODIs they have same lineup almost every series – the likes of Chamara Silva, Kapugedra,  Kandamby,  Karunaratne,  the guy who scored a 100 in England and then was dropped after 2 failures, keep coming in, going out.  

And yes read somewhere the Sri Lankan brand of cricket is

“score zillions of runs on dead pitches, the opposition is so bored that they simply give their wickats away”.

Perfectly summed up!!

Viru's 219 and what it means to Indore

What a player. What a player.

219 is now a  benchmark for a captain's innings and that benchmark would be bettered very few times in the World cricket, at least in ODIs. 

A man who was out first ball duck in Motera scores a double hundred in Indore's Holkar stadium. The man who was best bet to score a 200 in ODI and he took 12 years to get there, but when he got there, he got in style when he cut Pollard for a four to go past his idol's 200*. What a player, if I can chant in Tony Greg style.

Virender Sehwag, the Indian captain for this series and the terrific Delhi opener has scored a 200 in ODIs, which is scored only for 2nd time in history of ODI cricket. And both of those scores of 200+ have come in the state of Madhya Pradesh, not famous for many things. But now its on the world cricket map. Indore is on the world cricket map to have hosted this incredible match which saw highest individual ODI score and highest ODI total for India. 

India's 419 is its highest ODI total ever making it only team to go past 400 4 times. The other teams have either not crossed this mark or at max done it 2 times. 

Virender Sehwag has scored 219 in ODIs as his highest score, 319 in Tests. And he also crossed 8000 runs in ODIs and he is 20 runs away in Tests. Too much for a man who didnt have a good technique and was dismissed as flop star in 1999?

Dilip Vengsarkar almost ruined the career of this incredible batsman in 2007 when he dropped Sehwag from the team to Australia in favor of Boss DK. Thanks to Anil Kumble who got the man back for Perth test and since then its been a revamped Sehwag.  The likes of Sehwag make the game more interesting to watch in the era flooded by T20 bandagwons and for this precise reason and the ODI highs India has seen this year, the ODI cricket must stay on. 

Sehwag makes everything in record book look obsolete and its not long before Sehwag gets a double double hundred in Tests too eclipsing Brian Charles Lara, another cricketing great.

South Africa would be relieved team today passing on the buck to West Indies to leak the highest ODI score.   Both 200 scores have come in MP. Gwalior and now Indore. Indore is now redeemed in the cricketing world and after the 1997 fiasco when a match was abandoned due to bad pitch, the cricket is truly back in the city of Poha Jalebi. 

Indore has had a rich cricketing history in India unfortunately, it didnt get its share of matches or didnt give country many players. CK Naydu, the first Indian captain, Narendra Hirwani, the current selector and famous 16 man are the 2 most famous cricketers from this city besides some domestic giants. And yes Indore is also the city where great Rahul Dravid was born!! But thats it. 

The pathetic Nehru stadium was a blot on Indore and this excellent cricket stadium in the heart of the city makes a grand return of cricket in the city of Indore. Like every other city in the country, the city of Indore has rejoiced on every great cricketing milestone of India and people have congregated in the heart of city -- Rajwada in thousands, lacs waving tricolor and chanting India India. Be it 2011 World cup wins (QF, SF and then final) or 1996 win over Pakistan or Dhaka win in 1998 or Lords 2002, people in this city have always celebrated with rigor and highest enthusiasm. Its not like Mumbai which boos its own heroes or is indifferent to the cricket in the town. Or like the other big centers where the crowd interest is dwindling. 

Holkar stadium today wrote the name of Indore with bright golden letters on world cricket map -- city to host highest ODI score in history of 40 years. And what a pity, I am not around in my own hometown to witness this epic moment in the history of Indian cricket and of course, the history of Indore.

Virender Sehwag well done, we Indoris are proud of you and thank you to redeem our city's cricket and bringing back the glory and respect it always deserved.

Indore ODI

Cricket returns to the Holkar land once again after 3 years. In a new stadium, first day nighter ever in the history of city famous for its eating culture. Called as Mini Mumbai, given the diversity it has in its population and also famed for its poha jalebi world wide, Indore has hosted few ODIs on the older and pathetic Nehru stadium before. I had a chance to watch 3 of those ODIs, Australia playing in all of those,Steve Waugh playing in all of those. 1987 World Cup ODI, Aus vs NZ, 1996 Titan Cup Aus vs SA and 2001 India vs Aus when Tendulkar scored yet another ODI 100 and reached 10000 run milestone.

India goes in the 4th ODI as favorites despite losing the 3rd game which they should not have. And they are 1 win away from taking the series. Previous 2 ODIs on this new ground (Holkar stadium, much apt given the Holkars have ruled this city before Freedom and  the Ranji team has had a glorious past), India beat England twice. Sreesanth took a 6-for in 2006 and Robin Uthappa made best Indian ODI debut then.

India's top order has been sluggish with lack of runs for Sehwag, Gambhir and Patel. Patel has been a disappointment and he is hampering the run flow on the top. Expected to bat longer or provide brisk start, he has failed to provide both. Him batting on top means Gambhir continues to bat at 3, his World Cup slot. He has failed to score much runs at 3. I think he should move back on the top as in the future he would be opening once again with Sehwag, now that we know Tendulkar would not play any ODI in the future.

And so does Sehwag who has been off color with the bat this series.

And so does Suresh Raina who was in prolific form in Ranji, but has no runs in ODIs.

Rohit Sharma is in pristine form, Kohli has got runs, but besides 2 no other batsman is so confident to take the team through.

The bowling attack is confused once again. Umesh Yadav is flying to Australia early, so he isnt playing remaining 2 ODIs.  Vinay Kumar is so flummoxed in the slog overs when hit that he forgets how to bowl yorkers. 99 runs in 2nd ODI and then 73 in last 5 in 3rd one say pitiful figures about this useless lad from Karnataka, once famed for providing 2 of best modern day bowlers to India (Srinath and Kumble).  Irfan Pathan is back for two ODIs and it is heartening to see him back. And if he gets a chance to play and he performs, nothing better than that.

Ideally he should have been on the plane to Australia for tests, but again some cryogenic freeze in Srikanth's non existent brain made a nod to Abhimanyu Mithun ahead of Pathan. Now the pace attack in Australia reads Yadav, Aaron, Mithun, Sharma and provisional Zaheer Khan. So if the latter 2 break down, the 3 inexperienced lads are expected to take 20 wickets for India along side IPL Ashvin 'who cant run sala' and Pragyan Ojha. All of whom test experience hardly adds to 50 tests.

India needs its openers (Sehwag, Gambhir) and Raina to fire immediately and seal the series in Indore, which has been a happy hunting ground for India in last 5 years.

Leaving anything to the 5th ODI would just make things difficult and India wont want to lose a home ODI series in land where it was crowned World Champions 8 months back.