India - Down and Under - Post 1st Test

Well...looks like my predictions are correct. India always performs horribly in the 1st test of an away series. The Melbourne test was no different.

The low par bowling lineup somehow managed to dismiss Aus for less than 350. This has rarely happens to Aus in Aus, since visiting teams are usually chasing the leather until Aus are 550+ or so.

First of all, I felt India went with a bad bowling attack and a decent batting lineup. Usually 2 fast bowlers and 2 spinners are not the right lineup except may be at Sydney. Bhajji is bowling such a negative length these days that he is not effective for tests at all. Tossing the ball up more and beating the batsmen in flight is a better way to take wickets. He was wicketless in the 1st innings and somehow was lucky to pick up 3 in the second innings. Another fast bowler (Ishant) in his place would have been been a better choice.

RP Singh bowled average and it might be worth it to have a look at Irfan since he can bat as well. After the 1st test in England, RP hasn't performed that well. He took 7 wickets in the 1st test, 3 in the second and just 2 in the last test against England. So thats an "OK" performance overall considering that English swinging conditions helped him a lot.

My bowling line up for the 2nd test is: Zaheer, Irfan, Kumble, Ishant or Bhajji. Bhajji only if its really a big time spinning track. If we need a second spinner Sachin can bowl good leg breaks and I feel Aus might not pick his variations. He was underbowled big time in the 1st test.

Moving on to the batting now. There were no positives from the match. Except Sachin in the 1st innings and Ganguly in both the innings none of them showed any stomach for fight. They caved in so badly - our so called big 4....so called awesome batting lineup...Why are these tigers performing only on paper and not on the field....esp abroad against good teams ?

Dravid opened just to accomodate Yuvraj in the lineup. And both of them failed. The fact that both our openers - Dravid and Jaffer are in the same mould paved way for our failure. Both of them couldn't get going. Dravid was horrible. What on earth was he doing ? Sleeping or what ? Dravid is mentally down. You win by scoring runs not by staying on the pitch. The openers let the Aus bowlers bowl at them and allowed them to set attacking fields.

In the last 12 months (Dec 2006 to Dec 2007) - Dravid has scored 655 runs at an average of 31.19. Take away his only century (of 129) against Bangladesh this year and it becomes 526 runs at average of 26.3...and that too without any match winning innings. That is really poor statistics from a top order player. Are the selectors listening ? Is it time he was dropped from the Test Team as well ?

There has to be a change in the batting order. Either the current openers should score fast if Kumble decides to retain the same batting order. If not, then Sehwag should come back as opener. In that case Yuvi might lose out. So be it. The gamble is worth it. It can't be worse from here on. Kumble has to do something quick, else 1-0 will quickly be 2-0 and that will effectively shut India out of the series.

Sehwag might just help us provide some momentum to our batting. He is a gamble no doubt. Its worth it. He can double up as a bowler as well. Sometimes Sehwag flights more than Bhajji. And he is more than a useful offspinner in tests.

You have to beat Aus by getting on the top of them. Aggression is a must to defeat them. Until that happens, I might have to change my prediction from 2:1 to 3:0 or even 4:0.