India’s much vaunted batsmen once again did not put their hands up when it mattered. Sure, chasing 499 was never going to be easy but to be dismissed twice under 200 runs on a pitch that did not have any devils in it was disappointing, to say the least. Even here if there were some good balls bowled then it would have been understandable but that wasn’t the case as batsman after batsman got out to a casual or a careless shot. Jaffer was the first to waft outside the off-stump without getting into any sort of position and then Dravid after an innings that was probably as hard on him as it was on those watching it, played back to a full length delivery from the part time bowler Andrew Symonds to be leg-before wicket.
Much was expected as usual from Sachin Tendulkar, who is getting great ovations when he walks out to bat but after a few shots he fell to a widish Brett Lee delivery after being bounced off the previous couple to give Australia’s bowlers hope for the rest of the series. Fast bowlers do set up batsmen by bouncing first and then bowling the widish half-volley but this wasn’t even a half volley for Tendulkar to go chasing it. It’s as if having copped flak for not playing his natural game for the last couple of years the little champion has decided that at least in Australia where he is revered more than any other country, apart from India of course, that he is going to go down blazing away. One could have understood Virender Sehwag playing that shot, but not Tendulkar. Since we are on Sehwag hopefully the team management will now realize their folly and pick him for the next Test though it is probably too late now that the first Test is lost.
If Gambhir can be nursed by Delhi by keeping him in the close-in position and not tax his injured shoulder then India could have also done that isn’t it or is there more to it than we are told? Playing with a makeshift opener may work on the sub-continent pitches but not in Australia where there’s certainly more help for the quicker bowlers. Not that there’s any guarantee that Sehwag’s inclusion would have changed the result of the game but it would have sent a signal to the world champs that India will fight fire with fire. With Dhoni batting at number seven, one could have taken a chance with Sehwag at the top of the order and that’s what India should do in the new year Test at Sydney. India will also do well to look at Ganguly being promoted up the order for in both the innings of his 100 th Test match the left-hander batted with an assurance that was heartening. He may not have joined the ranks of those who got a century in their 100th appearance for their country, but both his knocks were full of tenacity and patience, interspersed with silken strokes and worth emulating by the others in the team who are more feted for their batting.
This display doesn’t augur well for the rest of the series because there was really no stage where the batsmen looked comfortable and if that’s the case on this sub-continent type wicket, what will happen in Perth ? One just shudders to think.
