LESSONS FROM THE MCG


Imagine aiming at a dartboard from a distance of a few inches. Sounds simple, isn’t it? But still you miss it. Dhoni and the boys could well be sharing the same feeling after the MCG debacle. Their dart went astray instead of hitting the bulls-eye, which was right there in front of them.

A little over 47 overs, and it was curtains for the touring side. Chasing 291, one thought India had a chance to create history at Melbourne. But the second-choice Australian pace attack had other plans.  Making good of the conditions, they simply had to pitch the ball in the right areas, and they did just that.

In hindsight, it’s easy to blame the conditions. Agreed, the ball was wobbling a bit, moving viciously off the seam, but that cannot be the reason for what unfolded at the MCG today.

So what exactly went wrong for India?

A prolific side with world-class batsmen was bowled over twice by Australia’s second-choice pace attack. The Indian batsmen were up against a bowling line-up that had a combined experience of just over 55 Tests and less than 200 wickets. Including their first innings collapse, the Indian team had lost 14 wickets for 149 runs. Watching these bowlers, one would now think twice before calling them second-string bowlers.

Due credit must given to their bowling coach Craig McDermott, who always taught them to keep the ball up. One of the fundamentals of pace bowling.  Throughout the Test, the Australian bowlers rarely erred on the wrong side, bowling up, they maintained the right length. They aimed at the stumps more than the body. And this reflected in the scorecard, with seven Indian batsmen being bowled; Dravid thrice alone, if you include his dismissal off a no-ball by Peter Siddle.

Ben Hilfenhaus took seven, Siddle and Pattinson got six each, so there wasn’t much to choose from when it came to choosing the Player of the Test. Pattinson got the nod, though all the Aussie bowlers were impressive. They had pace, swing and seam, pre-requisites of a true pace bowler.

On the batting front, the only batsman who looked good was the master, Tendulkar. He batted for over an hour, middling the ball well. At one point, one had a feeling Dravid and Tendulkar might construct a long partnership, and could well see India home. Dravid was done in by a real ripper by Pattinson, just when we thought he was carrying on from where he had left in the first innings. Laxman and Kohli scored a run between them, thus making the task even more difficult for the Indian skipper. By then, the pendulum had swung in the favour of the hosts. It was a matter of time before the hosts wrapped up the match and went one up.

Watching the Indian batsmen today, one felt, they started off from where they had left in England. So one does think twice before hoping the English summer was an aberration. In fact, I’m afraid, it wasn’t. The chinks in the Indian batting were glaringly apparent. Gambhir still flirting with deliveries way outside the off stump, which he should be leaving alone. Prodding and poking at them; while he may get away with some of those on slow Indian pitches, here in Australia, they fly towards the slip cordon. His loss in form for a long time might just be a cause of worry now for the visitors.

Since the Prince of Kolkata, Ganguly, has abdicated his throne, there’s no one who has done justice to the No.6 spot. Yuvraj and Raina have been tested, and failed to live up to the expectations. And now it’s Kohli’s neck that is on the line. He failed to trouble the scorers today, something the Indian think tank might have to ponder over.

It is a rare event that a first test in Australia gave the Indian side a chance to start with an away win. But the Indian side made a mess of it. R. Ashwin, with 30 runs, was the second highest scorer in the second innings for India, speaks volumes of the shoddy performance they put up at the MCG.

Let’s just hope the Indian team has learnt its lessons from this test match. And the New Year turns the fortunes for them.



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