The Australians have ensured with their win at Vadodara that they will not be beaten in the series. India will have to play several notches above themselves to level the series but with their famed batting not clicking, that looks like an insurmountable task. When the batting does well then India have a healthy score for their bowlers to defend but that’s not been the case so far, apart from the game in Chandigarh. If the foundation is not laid for them, the middle order batsmen seem unable to grab the opportunity of playing more overs to score big. The loss of Ganguly and Dravid in the opening over itself and then the early loss of the in-form Yuvraj was a perfect opportunity for Uthappa and Dhoni to play a long innings, but both were undone by Johnson’s extra pace and by the halfway stage of the Indian innings the match was as good as lost.
Johnson has troubled the Indian batsmen since Malaysia last year, where too his pace and swing were a bit too much for the Indian batsmen. He may not release the ball from the highest point as the pace gurus would like, but he makes good use of his height and the strength from his shoulders to get the ball to hurry off the pitch. The slightly round-arm action also helps him to get the ball to curve in nicely into the right-handers’ pads and though he does not always have the delivery that leaves the right-hander, he uses the over-the-wicket angle cleverly to look for the outside edge. Tendulkar played him best by waiting till the ball did its bit and then essaying into the shot. So if the ball swung into him, Tendulkar played it with the full face of the bat to the onside and if it was angled away he opened the face of the bat as he hit it through the covers. Brett Lee was the one he was a bit uncertain against and the late outswingers were probing technique and temperament as well.
On a pitch that was not conducive to pace, the Australians used swing very well to have India rattled. Having lost early wickets, the Indians could not even target Hopes and even Hogg got away with not too many runs taken off him. That Stuart Clark is unable to command a regular place in the team is an indication of what competition is there for a place in the Australian side and why nobody takes his position for granted.
Dhoni beginning the Indian bowling with spin was a good tactic especially as the wicket was showing signs of being dry and dusty but India simply did not have the runs to defend and with no pressure of the asking rate, the Australians strolled to a win with hardly an extra bead of sweat.
A loss like this is extremely demoralizing and the Indians need to take a long hard look at themselves and ask if they could have done better than they have in the series so far. No doubt that they are playing against the world champions, but could they have given them a better fight? If the answer to that is yes, then they need to introspect as to why that hasn’t happened and take immediate corrective measures and if the answer to that is no, then they may as well request BCCI to arrange matches with some other beatable teams.
