Abject surrender by India at MCG
Grumble, crumble, rumble and stumble—read one of the placards at the massive Melbourne Cricket Ground that aptly signified India’s abject surrender in the first Test against Australia on Thursday. Not for nothing are we termed as poor travellers and for the fourth time in succession, India lost their first Test in an overseas series. Worryingly enough, this is India’s fifth Test loss in as many matches outside India.
Whenever there is a loss, the onus on those who failed to make an impression becomes pronounced. In this case, barring Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid (in the first innings), none of the Indian batsmen had the stomach for fight. It is beyond comprehension as to how Australia managed to score 240 in their second innings when they were 27 for 4 at one stage. More than line and length, it is the body language and the lack of planning on Day Four which left many baffled.
James Pattinson is no Ricky Ponting. But, he put a price on his wicket scoring a brilliant 37, a quality that needs to be thought to the Indian batters. India’s loss on Thursday exposed the shortcomings that has been the talking about right from the tour to England earlier this year. The loss will hurt India even more because the bowling attack was not the best in the world. The likes of James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus and Nathan Lyon would not have given sleepless nights to the Indians, but they inflicted a defeat which was painful and Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s team will have a lot of soul-searching to do before the second Test in Sydney commences on January 2. Amongst the positives (if you can call that), India will be happy with the way Umesh Yadav bowled.
Umesh, nicknamed the Nagpur Express, bowled a teasing line that troubled every Australian batter. Sachin continued to bat well and doubts on him reaching the 100th international ton is only a matter of time as he looked at the crease and more importantly, played with a lot of panache and fluency which has been the hallmark of his batting. As India decides on the playing XI, I expect a few surprises and would definitely want to try a give Rohit Sharma his debut cap.
