After the Melbourne Test Debacle

It feels great to write after a long hiatus. The reasons for my silence are plenty but lack of critical thoughts is not one of them!

Here we are after another miserable Indian loss to Australia, the feeling is quite familiar. What went wrong, where do we go from here? The questions are many but with very few answers. Lets try to see what happened on and off the cricket field these 4 days.

The first test at Melbourne had a perfect setting for the 'in-form' Indian team to click. The weather and pitch resembled a typical Indian condition (of course without the smog). Kumble picked his 'best XI' opening with Dravid at the expense of Dinesh Karthik to accommodate Yuvraj in the middle order (as requested by the Indian media). Australians batted well supported by some ordinary umpiring by the over-rated Billy Bowden and 'I-am-an-elite panel-umpire-'cause-I-am-British' Mark Benson. Soon Zaheer and Kumble led a suffocating bowling attack that left the Aussies 5 down for 240. Andrew Symonds looked very shaky and should have been dismissed immediately had Dhoni reacted in time to a leg side catch (its high time the statisticians kept a track of dropped catches by fielders). Luckily for India it wasn't a costly drop. Aussies were soon down 8 wickets for 294. Soon Mitchel Johnson was dismissed by Kumble after Yuvraj took an acrobatic bat-pad catch only to see Benson unmoved (Mr. Benson should have been deaf and blind for a moment to miss that). In my opinion this was the first turning point of the match which had begun to swing India's way. The last 2 wickets added a vital 50 odd runs backed by some spineless bowling (RP Singh was pretty ordinary). Despite that restricting the Aussies to less than 350 seemed to a good win. Now all India had to do was to score in excess of 650 (which they had done in the 2 tests prior to this one in similar conditions). That was easier said (in this case, typed) than done. Jaffer failed yet again (his average away from the sub-continent is pretty bad - averaging less than 31 in both the SA and England tours). Dravid seemed very low on confidence and was not taking singles. Having Laxman on the other end made it more difficult for Dravid to take singles. Soon he was put out of his misery. Laxman (the-Australian-tormentor) was sent back after his typical 'I-will-play-for-my spot-on-the-team' innings. Sachin and Saurav looked very good for a while and brought out the true limitations of the Australian attack. Unlike previous Australian attacks, this one waited for the batsmen to make mistakes and the Indians obliged. Sachin's dismissal was unfortunate, he seemed well on his way to a century (rather a 90)! This was another crucial point in the game. Dhoni and Yuvraj seemed consumed by the occasion after all playing at MCG for the first time could be pretty intimidating. Interestingly there are a few unlucky (not to be selected to the 'Senior' team) India-A players who have played in the MCG as a part of the youth and A-team tours. Kumble and Saurav batted well, until Hogg produced the ball of the match to dismiss Saurav (Zaheer's wicket of Ponting was another great delivery). That started the procession and India was soon dismissed.

The Aussies began the second innings in a positive manner - going for runs. Luckily for India Bhajji struck (again cementing his place in the 'spin-friendly' Sydney test). Ponting failed yet again - its been difficult for him to score runs especially without Steve Bucknor officiating. Everyone else contributed to set India a stiff target close to 500 runs. When Dravid came out bat, it seemed like he wanted to defend his way to a draw. And we all know that is a recipe for disaster. Barring Saurav, the famed Indian batting wilted in the heat and pressure. Soon the game was lost well within 4 days giving the Indians an additional day to rest.

It is unfortunate that India does not have a batsman like Sangakkara who almost led a single handled target chase of 500 + against the Aussies (Sri Lanka feel short by 94 runs after Sangakkara was sent back due to poor umpiring). The only players who did well in the first test were Kumble, Saurav, Sachin, and Zaheer. Wasim Jaffer doesn't seem to be suited to play away from India, Dravid is terribly out of form, Yuvy is still vain, Dhoni seemed low on confidence, Bhajji was ordinary and unimaginative, and RP Singh was too wayward. Unfortunately the squad doesn't have a Murali Karthik or another good spinner - probably Shewag could be drafted as a spinner for the SCG game. Irfan Pathan would probably play instead of RP Singh to provide additional batting depth. The squad doesn't have any good reserve batsman. Badrinath could have provided Kumble an additional in-form batting alternative to a woefully out-of-form middle order.

In conclusion, here is what I think Kumble will pick for the second test: Wasim, Viru, Laxman, Sachin, Saurav, Yuvraj, MS, Irfan, Anil, Bhajji, and Zaheer. I personally think that Viru is a wrong choice and will be a big failure (Lee would dismiss him in 2 overs). Dinesh Karthik would be a better choice for opener (given who the Indians have in the squad).

And my prediction... another humiliating Indian loss. I hope that the team will play with passion and prove my prediction wrong.