Melbourne Mess. Sydney Debacle. Perth, A Disaster?

Team India’s much looked forward to tour Down Under has already plummeted horrendous depths. After a decent fight in the Boxing Day test at Melbourne, the team capitulated sadly in Sydney. Melbourne test turned Australia’s way when Australia gained a small, yet sizeable lead of 51 in the first innings after India looked set for a first innings lead when Tendulkar & Dravid were going strong on the second day. From then on, Ponting & Hussey fought hard and so did the tail to set India a healthy 292 to chase. And the Indian batsmen sadly threw in their towels and wound up losing by 122 runs. If this was sad, Sydney would get worse. India choosing to bat first lost their way getting dismissed for 191. Australia, post initial hiccups courtesy Zaheer Khan, put up a mammoth 659 for 4. Skipper Clarke notching up a phenomenal triple ton, Ponting & Hussey got themselves career saving tons. Indian bowlers were listless in Zaheer’s exception. Rookies Yadav & Ashwin were dealt with ease. Ishant was effective in phases but too inconsistent to 
cause discomfort. Indian fielding went from passable to lethargic to disinterested to depressing. When India’s turn came to bat, some fight was expected from the famed batting line up. Gambhir, Tendulkar, Laxman put up some fight, where as Sehwag played like he didn’t care. His shot to get out when India was looking to play out 7 sessions was appalling.  After Tendulkar’s dismissal, India surrendered again. Laxman, Dhoni and Kohli got out in quick succession to push the team into abyss. Ashwin and Zaheer freed their arms and got India to a modest 400 and yet lose by an innings and 68 runs.

Defeat in the first test was thought of as a wake up call to the team and were expected to be much better in Sydney. Australia pacers; Hilfenhaus, Pattinson & Siddle, have stuck to their task brilliantly whilst all Indian batsmen have done is to meekly give in. All the Aussie pacers have done is to pitch it up and let the ball talk. They haven’t got too many wickets with the short ball. It’s the pitched up balls which have caused India all the trouble. Ashwin being India’s second highest run scorer in the series till yet after Tendulkar is a stat indicative of India’s struggles. Dravid, Laxman, Gambhir, Dhoni have got starts but have failed to get going. Dhoni’s captaincy on the other hand has been uninspiring. His finicky ways of handling bowling changes and field placements have often helped India in the shorter versions, but here, it was plain painful. As Ian Chappell pointed out, India bowlers can attribute much of their troubles to their captain Dhoni for the way he handled the field. Shoulders stooped, heads dropped and India began to wait for the declaration than trying to crack the Australian batsmen.

If Melbourne and Sydney wickets were quick, Perth is expected to be rampaging; like the WACA of old. Indian team’s spirits are low. Stalwarts not living up to the hype. Bowling not firing as a unit.  Changes are warranted, but who, how and when are the questions. Gambhir showed intent in the second innings at Sydney. India needs some major inspiration from Sehwag. When he fires at the top order, middle order gets time to play themselves in. I would go for bringing Laxman up the order at no. 3 and drop Dravid down at no 5. Making any radical changes in the team would only bring about more chaos. First thing in the team’s mindset should be to save these two test matches. Avoid the much discussed “whitewash”.