India look doomed

Got up at Seven for two reasons. Not to spoil my wife’s birthday as early morning noises from Melbourne in Indian winter have the potential to disturb the whole neighbourhood, not to speak of my household. And second, did not wish to wake up at five and see the Indian bowlers carted to all parts of the ground and would rather dream of India bowling out Australia for less than 150 by lunch!

Dream did not happen (it happened four years ago at Adelaide thanks to Agarkar and I should be satisfied), and felt happy that did not miss much, though Indian situation at lunch looks much beyond redemption.

With Australia leading by a good 282 runs with eight wickets in hand and eight sessions remaining, read an article where Tendulkar defended Dravid’s approach and said the match was far from over.

"We were in a good position yesterday. Today (After Dec 27 play) it's not the same for us. But it's part and parcel of the game. We'll continue to fight (in this Test)," said the batsman in that article and added, "It's possible to chase 400 runs on this wicket. The match isn't over yet. We would try to take 10 wickets as early as possible. We would look to break it down session to session."

If it was not just for the consumption of the press, it will be a very good statement of intent. Though I have not seen an Indian team successfully chasing even a 300+ score ever since Sachin Tendulkar debuted. But then, India’s rare series win in England too had come 18 years after his debut, so we can hope that India will make it count.

Second, as of now it looks Australia will end up well above 400. May be around 475-500 by the end of play today, which will leave India with a massive task of surviving the last five-and-a-half to six sessions. If we are lucky, weather will intervene.

As of now, India look doomed. Who had said before the series started that if India have to win the series, they will need to win it 2-1 because Australia will try and win every match, and they will win at least one? I think it was Ian Chappell, but may be I am wrong.