Melbourne is history, three Tests to go

Says Zaheer Khan, easier said than done especially when you take into the account that it was due to the batting failure that India lost the Melbourne test. The way Australian Bowlers relentlessly attacked the Indian batsmen with out really giving away an inch , a part timer like Symonds included and it is hard to fathom what plans the Indian batsmen could have coming into this new years test to score against this bowling attack.

Goods news is that, SCG is the Ground where Sachin has done really well averaging a phenomenal 249 and then there is laxman, who scored two his best knocks in his career on this very ground. Also it helps that though India were not able to register a win on this ground they had the better of Australians, last time they played here. Usually the pitch at SCG aids spinners but this time around there has been talk that the newly laid SCG pitch is more lively but it should not really matter as this Indian team has been there on all three of it's previous away tours, and it helps that they got the better of home team in each of those matches. So SCG provides them the best opportunity to hit back at the Aussies and they do have it in them to do just that.

For starters they need to be more aggressive while batting and they just can't allow the Australians to bowl one maiden over after another because all it takes is just one good ball and away you go to the hutch without making much contribution to the team score, you just can't let that happen when you are up against a team like Australia. You need to keep the score board ticking with singles, while putting away any bad balls that come your way which could be as rare as a day going by without Paris Hilton making the news. There has been a talk of going with Sehwag in this match but that has been laid to rest with him being left out of the 13 and it makes sense not to have him play, when it has been more than a year since he last played and it does not help his cause either that he ain't done anything to warrant his place back in the team in the intervening period. One thing that might be giving kumble some headache is Zaheer khan's fitness, news coming out reckon that he might be a doubtful starter with the recurrence of his landing heel problem which made him miss the last test against Pakistan a fortnight back. While we are at it, this time the team physio hits out at the BCCI regarding the facilities back in India for the injured players and also the scheduling of tours as such. If Zaheer khan is not fit, Irfan comes into the team and also Kumble might have him open the batting too, which won't be that bad given that Dravid is not that keen to open.

All this will mean only that much when play gets underway tomorrow. Indians have to field better and bat better compared to their effort in Melbourne, if they want to make it a contest.

First test at MCG

All good things come to an end sooner or later, after doing exceptional well in the last two series, India have been found out by Australia and it comes as a timely reminder to the players that you can't win test matches against top teams with Individual performances, rather you need to have everyone in the team perform and do that consistently. It didn't help the Indians cause either by having just one practice match before going into the first test, which was in the end rained off due to unseasonal rain in Melbourne but if anyone is to be blamed, it has to be the BCCI which for all it's greed has to get it's priorities right. In hindsight had they come a week or two earlier the players would have got an extra game and also could have used the time to acclimatise with the surrounding and get their biological clock going. Heck even Sirils played two tour matches before starting their two match series against Australia earlier in the month. Hope the powers that be learn from this experience and prepare the itineraries in future keeping this in mind.

Well coming to the match itself, I think kumble made a bold decision to go in with Harbhajan instead of a third seamer and it did help that bajji performed in the second innings. Pointing didn't lose any time in opting to bat on winning the toss. I think RP and Zaheer Bowled beautifully in the first hour though were unlucky not to get any wickets and to the credit of the Aussie openers they didn't get bogged down, took some cheeky singles and before you knew they put on 50 runs on the board. It took kumble coming into the attack after lunch to get the first breakthrough and Indians thereafter got wickets at regular intervals with Zaheer again bowling his heart out but this time getting those wickets which eluded him in the first spell. Hayden as is his wont against India bludgeoned his way to another century before falling to a rather soft dismissal of Zaheer's bowling. Then Kumble chipped away at the tail-enders but not before they put on some valuable runs and ended up with a five-fer. To have bowled out Australia for 343 and that too after they put a 100+ partnership for the first wicket is a testament to how well the Indians bowled especially Kumble.

Dravid looked like a fish out of water and it didn't help him either that Jaffer at the other end is not someone really quick between the wickets like Dinesh karthik or someone like Sehwag who takes the initiative from the bowlers by attacking style of batting. What ever the advantage Indians had at the end of Aussie innings was negated by this approach, soon jaffer got out edging a slower ball from lee to gilli. Tendulkar and Laxman for a while looked like repeating their Sydney act from the last tour, before Laxman got a jaffa of a ball from lee, Tendulkar then took the attack to Brad hogg who was making his comeback to test cricket after a four year absence and as has been the case with Tendulkar of late, he got out when he looked good for a big one after making 62, which was the only score of 50+ in the match by an Indian batsmen. At this point the Aussie's got an opening and showed how to make the best of it. Yuvraj and dhoni, both went for a duck, kumble being the only tail-ender putting some price on his wicket. Ganguly did play well for some 40+runs before he was undone by a faster one from brad hogg.

Second time around too Indians did well to restrict the Australian batsmen but they had their task cut out by having a deficit of 150+ runs and from that point on India were never in the game and Australians finished the game with minimum of fuss at the end of day four winning the game comfortably by a margin of 347 runs. Though the margin looks big, India to their credit especially the bowlers did a marvelous job. What irks me more than anything is that Tendulkar, Ganguly & laxman got starts but weren't able to convert those into big scores and the failure of Yuvraj in both the innings, who was accommodated into the team by re-arranging the batting order which had a detrimental effect on the whole composition of the team but i am afraid this is how it is going to pan out for the whole series, sooner Dravid finds his feet the better otherwise I fear the worst. If I were the one choosing the team, would have Yuvraj penciled down as the 12'th man and would go with Dinesh Karthik, who performed in Similar conditions out there in South Africa or even Sehwag for the X-factor that he brings into the team with his style of play.

India has three days to sit down and work things out before the second test starts in SCG. Lets see if they learn from their mistakes or just get blown away by the Aussie juggernaut who are from the looks of it on their way of going to better the record of 16 consecutive wins set by the Steven Waugh's Immortals.

P.S:
Lee and bajji, both went past the 250 wickets mark.
Tendlia now has 8 50's against Australia which is a record he shares with Dravid.
Matthew Hayden now has 6 centuries in the 7 test matches that he played in MCG.
Kumble got his 35'th five-fer in the first innings.
Yuvraj has now patented the most pathetic look a batsmen can have when given out.
Dhoni is on his way of getting billed as a Flat track Bully.