Indian team is not playing this series like champions and the Englishmen are hungry for success. You can draw that conclusion if you look at the progress of the second test match. A champion side is expected to make amends fast and bounce back with vengeance. I hate to say that the current team is not counting as a champion side on that criterion. I would have expected eleven fresh players ready to settle the score and win the second game convincingly. Instead what they showed was a total lack of penetration and the ability to force a quick end. It was a case of missed opportunities.
On the first day after having England on the mat at 8-124, we should have bowled them out under 175-200. Instead we let the tail wag and bring some respectability to the score. Then on Day 2, when Dravid yet again showed his class and ensured that the Indian response was good; we frittered away the solid start in the end. From 5-267, we collapsed in a heap for a paltry 288. There we lost an opportunity to build a lead of at least 150 plus to put some pressure.
Second innings was a completely different story. The bowling attack looked very pedestrian and with Harbhajan going out with injury (political injury ahead of being dropped I think), the work load on the three seamers was heavy. England plundered us to all parts of the ground and even Tim Bresnan looked like he will score a quick century. By the time Indians came off the field, I think they had lost the fight in their mind. And England were all charged up sighting a clean victory. The result was a predictable collapse worse than one had imagined. At one stage, the 42 all out looked under threat.
So even if we go on to win the next two matches on the trot and square the series, I think the damage is already done. I don’t think we can win even one game going forward. Because there are no reserves worth a mention and the team looks jaded. The captain too seems to have lost his magic touch and is looking bereft of ideas. His field placements, his bowling changes were pedestrian. MSD needs to wake up.
A lot of credit should also go to the English team and coach Flower. They prepare well and they play with intensity. That is why they have beaten the Australians regularly. They have a very good squad with a good reserves pool. Hence the worthy winners.
Here is my Report card for the Indian team:
On the first day after having England on the mat at 8-124, we should have bowled them out under 175-200. Instead we let the tail wag and bring some respectability to the score. Then on Day 2, when Dravid yet again showed his class and ensured that the Indian response was good; we frittered away the solid start in the end. From 5-267, we collapsed in a heap for a paltry 288. There we lost an opportunity to build a lead of at least 150 plus to put some pressure.
Second innings was a completely different story. The bowling attack looked very pedestrian and with Harbhajan going out with injury (political injury ahead of being dropped I think), the work load on the three seamers was heavy. England plundered us to all parts of the ground and even Tim Bresnan looked like he will score a quick century. By the time Indians came off the field, I think they had lost the fight in their mind. And England were all charged up sighting a clean victory. The result was a predictable collapse worse than one had imagined. At one stage, the 42 all out looked under threat.
So even if we go on to win the next two matches on the trot and square the series, I think the damage is already done. I don’t think we can win even one game going forward. Because there are no reserves worth a mention and the team looks jaded. The captain too seems to have lost his magic touch and is looking bereft of ideas. His field placements, his bowling changes were pedestrian. MSD needs to wake up.
A lot of credit should also go to the English team and coach Flower. They prepare well and they play with intensity. That is why they have beaten the Australians regularly. They have a very good squad with a good reserves pool. Hence the worthy winners.
Here is my Report card for the Indian team:
- Abhinav Mukund : 3/10 Not a test class opener.
- Rahul Dravid: 8/10 The lone star.
- VVS Laxman: 5/10 Technique and poetry still good.
- Sachin Tendulkar: 3/10 Looks a pale shadow of himself.
- Suresh Raina: 2/10 Short pitched balls.
- Yuvraj Singh: 5/10 Only one game so far.
- MS Dhoni: 1/10 Poor captaincy, poorer batting.
- Harbhajan Singh: 1/10 Is he a bowler? Should have been dropped long back.
- Praveen Kumar: 5/10 Workhorse, bowled his heart out.
- Ishant Sharma: 4/10 Good in short spells.
- Sreesanth: 4/10 Which one woke up today?
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