below are LINKS to stories posted in January beginning Sydney Test.

Mr Fix It, and Roebuck's Rebuke
Losers in Race Abuse Fiasco
From Gallows to Glory
BE POSTIVE
Pressure is a Privilege
With so many left handers in the Australian side.....
One wishes to see a happy India, not unhappy one o...
What an Indian fan/writer wishes to see by the en...
India were bold, but not bold enough
Possible combinations if India play five bowlers
The timing could not have been worse!
I STILL DO NOT HAVE WORDS TO DESCRIBE THE WIN...
After Bucknor, Benson's experience...
Prey Turns Predator
As Australia begin their reply...
Sehwag's terrible miss on day of Irfan's hits
Do not get despondent, we still lead by a whopping...
India lead the series by eight to seven
India have Australia by the scruff of the neck
The best ever quote on Kumble
A sullen, forlorn Bhajji, whose bunny was stolen a...
How were you dismissed Dad!
As they go into day two, Points India must not los...
Muddai lakh bura chahe to kya hota hai!!!
WHAT I DID followed by WHAT NOT TO EXPECT FROM PER...
What not to expect from Perth's encounter
Kumble, and the essence of Indian spirit
They have come to watch my batting,not your umpiri...
'If India have to get in Sehwag, this is the time'...
India had to chose between dishonour and war
Time to Talk Cricket, and the opening combination
Wisdom prevails as Spirit of Cricket Wins -- ICC r...
Three ways to Save the Tour
Kumble is no angel, but.....
Unusual defence
See the link below on what we anticipated on Day ...
97 per cent in favour of tour being called off!
Were umpires acting under a brief
Bucknor is our man of the Match
The Wheel that squeaks!
What Bucknor Stands for!!!
Team for Perth should have Sehwag, Karthik, Pathan...
As anticipated, India grimly fight to 'live anothe...
India will fight to 'live another day' as Australi...
Yuvraj scoring with Deepika is BAD publicity!
Harbhajan has gone mad!
What did you do Bhajji!
Neutral umpires are fine but...
India leading by THREE HUNDRED RUNS at Sydney!
52 RUNS IN NINE INNINGS! ...
Tremendous run-rate, but honours even
The feminine side of Gilchrist!
Obeservations that VVS made
A hundred worth their weight in Gold
Rerouting Buch's advice.....
Tales of Blind men in Indian Print Media Today
Salim, Aur Tum kuch kar bhi kya sakte the! (Salim,...
Forget about an explosive start from india
A series that ended in five days thanks to outrage...
Sensational Daylight robbery at Sydney....
Aussie Grit; Deaf Bucknor
Prophetic Ponting!
Ridiculous decision on half use of Technology
This Sickening Cricket Addiction!!!!!!
Sehwag Left out of India Team?
Buch's free advice to struggling India
Sehwag-Dravid Combo finds one more supporter

India were bold, but not bold enough

Still they managed to have a good first session courtesy Sehwag, which augurs well as of now.

While opting for a five bowler attack in this do-or-die battle was a bold move, a makeshift opener in Irfan meant they were not bold enough to sacrifice a batsman for an opener in Karthik.

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2008/01/possible-combinations-if-india-play.html

Irfan may have done exceptionally well as nightwatchman at Perth, and in ODIs at number three under Greg, still opening the batting is not his cup of tea. And it was found out very soon. To succeed in Australia, you need reasonably good opening partnerships. Still, 34 runs for the first wicket, mainly courtesy Sehwag, did give India some kind of a launch pad.

However, the bold approach to go with five bowlers means India can feel they have a chance even if they manage a score around 300 on a ground where a team batting first normally scores above 400.

Five bowlers, all of them genuinely proving to be strike-bowlers, do provide more variety and depth to arrest the Aussie momentum at any stage. Just imagine Harbhajan and Ishant bowling in tandem to Ponting. Your bunny, or mine!

One also feels good about Sehwag. Despite Dravid’s failure to get going on one of his favourite grounds, Sehwag's blitz ensured a respectable lunch time score. And his inclusion proved that ‘’it is better late, than never’’. Below are two stories advocating Sehwag’s inclusion before Sydney encounter.

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2008/01/sehwag-left-out-of-india-team.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2008/01/sehwag-dravid-combo-finds-one-more.html

How were you dismissed Dad!

What if his son asks Chris Rogers this question, instead of inquiring, ‘Dad, what your first runs in test cricket were, and how you scored them?

Probably, Rogers will shake his head in disgust, and lament: Leg Before Wicket, and given out wrongly.

And the answer about the first runs would have been a cracking four to the covers, one of the best shots for an opener to help settle his nerves.

How in a matter of three deliveries the whole world of Rogers may have changed upside down. First he shows his class, then he leaves a good one, and then he leaves to India’s delight!

As Gavaskar said, people remember their first runs, be it in Test Cricket, State Cricket, or Club level cricket. But one can bet they will also be remembering their first dismissals, especially if they have been done in by the marginal ones.

But an unfortunate decision for Rogers was also a perfect case of divine justice. Had the benefit of doubt gone to Tendulkar and Dhoni, India would have been looking at at least 100 runs more than the eventual total. Still, they have Australia on the mat as of now, and that augurs good for the test.

Yuvraj scoring with Deepika is BAD publicity!

(Other Day four links below the text are Harbhajan has gone mad! What did you do Bhajji! and Neutral umpires are fine but...)

There were twin pictures in the Times of India today. A relieved Sachin celebrating his 38th ton on the left, and Yuvraj having a quiet, but ‘untimely snapped’ dinner with Deepika. The piece was titled ‘Sachin scores on the field – Yuvi off it – with Deepika’.

By the look of Deepika’s eyes, it appears that she is well aware that she is being snapped and the picture will be widely circulated on phone, net, and could also appear in the print. May be she is well and truly in love (as an inside report quoting the ‘sources close to the family’ says, predicting a marriage in two years). But if she is not (since no family member has said so and one never knows how close the sources are), the publication will not be in vain. It will only do good to her celebrity status!

But spare a thought for poor Yuvraj. This picture will do more damage to him than good. Certainly not the best of publicity for a man going through a very rough patch, and whose place in the Test team looks very very shaky indeed.

One remembers an interview of former Hockey goalkeeper Mir Ranjan Negi with Shekhar Gupta in ‘Walk the Talk’ programme, where he had said that few days after that humiliating 1-7 loss against Pakistan at Asiad, he had gone to take dinner at a Pandara Road Dhaba/Restaurant with few of his team mates. Soon a crowd gathered and criticized them for enjoying themselves even after such a humiliating loss!

Now that was 1982, but things are no different today. Every one accepts that cricketers are very popular with the opposite sex and in one programme, the ever candid Ajay Jadeja even went on to say, in good humour of course, that at times, they are like ‘animals’ on overseas tours.

If you are a good looking successful hunk, you will definitely attract lots of people, and possibly be used by them. But getting snapped when in woeful form will only lead to public outcry.

Moreover, it is not wise to invite the wrath of your ODI and Twenty20 captain! Is it?

Harbhajan has gone mad!

It is the eighth time Harbhajan has trapped the Australian captain and ''he has gone mad.''

This is how a commentator reacted after Harbhajan got Ricky Ponting for the eighth time in his career. Apt words to describe Bhajji's reactions after another tremendous display by the turbanator against the World's premier batsman.

Few over before , After Phil Jacques had lifted Anil Kumble to midwicket boundary to give Australia a sense of relief by getting them in lead (without losing a wicket), things were looking increasingly difficult for India indeed, in terms of winning this match.

Now with two critical wickets fallen, one will hope for India to get few more in the post lunch session. The key will be to get Australia all out before the end of day’s play, otherwise chasing an Australian target of 250-300 on Sunday will put India under pressure again.

Going by the way how Australia continued with their assault even after losing wickets in the first two tests, the only way to stop this team is by taking wickets at the regular intervals and finishing them off.

If Australia survive the day without a major weather interruption, the 60-65 odd overs after lunch time, at a rate of just over four runs, will take them to an additional 250 runs. They lead by 21 at lunch.

Getting them out at the earliest is also important for another reason. India’s fourth innings displays of late have not really been encouraging despite making those 200 odd runs against Pakistan at Delhi.

But then strange things have happened in cricket before. Including the showers which started soon after the umpires signalled lunch, which usually the opposition welcomes, and not this Australian team!

Forget about an explosive start from india

When India start their innings , they will be in a defensive frame of mind, commented Gavaskar just after Australia crossed 400 runs.

That is understandable when you are chasing a total in excess of 400 runs because the first thought will be about saving the test.

Also, as going 0-2 down will curtail your ambition drastically to the thought of just saving the series.

That should be the only strategy available to India right now, and it will be a good one too unless they go ultra-defensive. Now in this test, if India are allowed a look in with nearly 50-70 overs left today, the two teams will still have a possible 320-340 overs left for the last three innings. Australia, one fears, will not be required to face more than 50 in their second essay unless India put up a great total. That would mean negotiating 125 to 150 overs in each innings for India.

That should be a tough job, but it is not impossible by any standards as the wicket is playing very true. Shastri believes that it is easy. In fact, the average second innings score at Sydney is close to 400, and that should give heart to India.

But once again, India will need to score too and not just preserve their wickets. Australians did that beautifully under pressure by trading in singles and twos when boundaries were not coming. India may not be allowed too many boundaries if Ponting's approach, alternating between offense and defense, is any indication.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting morning papers to read what they have to say about the umpiring goof-ups, which allowed Australia to escape from the gallows. Did not Navjot Sidhu say on NDTV that if Sachin is allowed three innings in one innings, he (Sidhu) would bet on him scoring a century every time!

Australia have lost their eighth wicket just now. Hopefully, there will not be any big partnership anymore in this innings.

Aussie Grit; Deaf Bucknor

With a team struggling at 134 for six after electing to bat on the very first day of a test, what do you expect the batsmen to do.

Most of the teams will have their batsmen hanging around for long enough for a good ball to come and snap their resistance!

But not this Australian Side. When Hogg joined Symonds, Australia were tottering at 134 for six. The strike rate at this point of the innings was 64.15.

The duo was expected to just hang around for few overs, even if that meant that scoring rate went for a six. However, the two players kept on scoring as well, at times at will, to muster their 50 run partnership (a four at 49 taking them to 53), in just 64 balls. It was an astounding strikerate of 83 considering the Australian situation. The running between the wickets was exemplary, helping them convert twos into threes.

That is the Australian grit for you. Though they do need a deaf ally in Bucknor from time to time. A man with 'conveniently' waxed ears.

India tried their best, but the Australian tails' aggression paid. What should have been a total around 160-170, could well go past 260-270. A respectable score, considering India should be batting fourth on this track. And also considering what could have been possible without those glaring umpiring errors.

Ridiculous decision on half use of Technology

One of the reasons why the visiting sides find it very difficult to have Australia on the back foot in Australia, is that critical decisions often tend to go in Australia’s favour. Even with neutral umpires. It is soooo tough to get a leg before against a top Australian batsman.

And the problem gets compounded by the fact that technology is not fully used. Had it been, Australia would have been reeling at 45 for three with Ponting following Jaques and Hayden back to pavilion.

A clear caught behind decision was not given by Mark Benson because judging a nick is entirely at the discretion of an on-field umpire. The use of snickometer is simply not on. (there was an attempt over two years back but it was aborted later http://content-www.cricinfo.com/baggygreen/content/story/220887.html)

It is ridiculous. One can understand the failure to judge a leg before decision through Hawkeye, but a nick can clearly be judged from one of the angles in 90 per cent of the cases.

High time to increase the use of technology with so much at stake for both the teams. Just one such decision has the potential to close the series for a visiting side.

Pre match offering
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2008/01/this-sickening-cricket-addiction.html

Sehwag Left out of India Team?

If this report in India Times is correct, and not a part of retaliatory media war by India, then one fears that India are already on the backfoot.

The report says that ''India batsman Virender Sehwag has been left out of the playing eleven whereas Zaheer Khan's fitness might make him sit out as well in the second Test against Australia in Sydney on Wednesday''.

The report adds ''In spite of constant advices by cricket legends, India skipper Anil Kumble chose to opt out Sehwag from playing eleven.''

Blog's take:
The legends included Steve Waugh and Javagal Srinath. Though they had advocated Sehwag-Dravid Combo, Sehwag could have only come in Yuvraj's place, making it Sehwag-Jaffer Combo.

About the team's composition, we will know for sure in few hours from now as last minute changes do happen. But if Sehwag is not there, India will certainly be on the backfoot.

One, India will not have a regular opening pair for the second consecutive time.

Second, Dravid will be forced to play as opener, which makes him vulnerable once again.

Third, Laxman at number three on overseas pitches does not inspire much confidence.

Hopefully, there will be a rethink on Sehwag.

With Zaheer gone, one believes there will not be much difference. After all, the first few wickets in both the innings were taken by the spinners at Melbourne!

Buch's free advice to struggling India

In this era of free advice though columns and blogs, here are a few tips from Former Australian Coach John Buchanan. Below are the suggestions (All in red with our notes in blue) in one of the News Websites on how India can arrest the Australian domination to ensure that the series remains at 1-0 or 1-1 after Sydney.

In an article on an Australian Website, he writes about the key points for India as:

Being able to score runs as well as occupy the crease (Dravid needs to do the first and the rest need to occupy it)

Top four batting must dent the Australian attack (Not just weather it. Unless you take the bull by the horn in Australia, you will not succeed!)

Two or three big partnerships in top six, which means player or players registering 100-plus (Forties and fifties are not going to be enough and the likes of Sachin and Sourav must resist long enough)

Opening bowlers need support from another quick bowler (That would mean playing just one spinner even on a supposedly spin friendly wicket. To get this Australian side out, you may need three good quickies)

When an Australian batting pair begins to dominate, decide quickly on whether they employ wicket taking strategy or a strategy of defence to force an Australian error. (More huddles will be needed to change strategies from time to time as most Australian pair tend to flourish on home grounds)

Most things India by now must be aware of.

Sitaree (Stars) lose their glow!

Media watch on Sunday

If you are a loyal friend, blind admirer, or really (rather real) close relative of an Indian cricketer, reading newspapers today will be as tough and soul-sapping as watching the stars in ‘royal inaction’ yesterday. The papers were full of criticism and advice for the rest of the series.

The Times of India had an interesting one, ‘Sitare Zameen Par’’ where the paper wrote that the ‘’Indian papers, long dazzled by the glitz and glamour of international cricket, showed once more that they do not have the stomach for fight when odds are staked against them.’’

Well, this blog had indicated this very fact during the Pakistan series itself when it criticized the Indian defensive mindset during the third test. Please read the links below

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-end-contest-with-48-overs-to-go.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/imran-criticises-late-declaration.html

So India being defensive is nothing new!

Skipper Kumble now says that it is a collective batting failure and the team needs to find the answers collectively. He wants them to be relaxed and positive.

Well, that should have been the advise before the tour started. One fears it is too late. Batsmen, barring Tendulkar and Ganguly, did look too tense and in negative frame of mind. There was simply too much pressure on Dravid, who did not want to fail as opener, and Yuvraj, perpetually on trial and this time more so as an opener had been sacrificed to accommodate him.

HT had ''Suffocated, India Self-destruct’’. It started with Anil Kumble’s quote as to ‘’I wish I knew what went wrong.’’ He only has to see another article in the same paper where HT analyses whey India failed to stretch Australia at Melbourne. Of course, arguments (the ten reasons) are nothing new and we have been hearing them on TV and Print ever since the tour started, but the writer has compiled and argued them really well. That one page needs to be read by the whole Indian team.

HT also has a quote from Kumble saying ‘’if Veru and Karthik were in great form, we would have thought differently.’’ Come on skipper, even Dravid was not in 'great form' during the Pakistan series and by excluding an opener, Laxman and Dravid were forced to play in unfamiliar positions against a lethal attack. Laxman has not been at number three for very very long time and the strategy was as much counter-productive for him, as for Dravid.

The Indian Express had not much surprise by way of ‘’Early New Year’s Party for Australia as India Crumble.’’ It has a graphics which showed the India’s three worst ever defeats (in runs) had come in last three years, beginning the one at Nagpur in 2004 when Australia had humbled us by 342 runs followed by the one at Karachi in February last year, when Pakistan beat us by 341. And now 337.

Well, we seem to be losing by a mile of late, which shows how fallible we are in the fourth innings. That should be a big matter of concern.

The Hindu’s headline seemed to have been made by tea on the fourth day. Australia victory march continues was simple, a matter of fact statement without too many emotions attached to it.

Viewers who chose not to watch the match on the fourth day and rather went for a fun trip on Saturday, must have felt the same way before giving the telecast a royal ignore.

Related Link
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html

India must make their own statement!

Getting up at four (IST), well an hour before the Indian batsmen undertake an arduous, rather a near impossible, journey for glory at Melbourne, reminds me of the days in the eighties when we would not be able to sleep the whole night in anticipation of a great telecast from Australia.

It used to be a tremendous telecast with crystal clear pictures and mind-blowing action replays considering the telecast standards that prevailed in India at that time. One can still recall with amusement how Srikaanth backed away nonchalantly and fooled everybody after dislodging a bail. He even had the gumption to put it back on. But for those action replays, one would have never known that kind of drama. That the Indian team was almost equal to Australia in mid-eighties also helped the matters a lot.

Coming back to Melbourne, I could not sleep tonight (the whole neighbourhood is still pitch dark), because I still hope that this Indian team can leave Melbourne with a good batting display, a display which may not win them the match, but which will surely be a solid statement for the next three matches.

India will badly need to make a statement with the bat because Ponting, by setting a target of 499 when he could have easily gone for 525-550, made a statement that the Australians were brave enough to be prepared to lose, in order to win. After all, statistically speaking, a strike rate of 47 should be good enough to take India through. Even though no team has lasted hundred overs in this match.

Now the Indians must be brave enough to resist even if they lose some early wickets. As Sunil Gavaskar had said yesterday, they must not think of 180 overs or 499 runs. They must play it ball-by-ball, session-by-session and keep rotating the strike.

They will also do well to remember Steve Waugh’s words at Sydney four years ago. Faced with a daunting Indian first innings score of around 700 and in danger of losing the final test and the series, the about-to-retire skipper had said that Australia will fight till the last man standing. And they managed to escape with a draw!

Surely, a draw is impossible here unless bad weather intervenes, and an Indian defeat looks the most likely outcome, but the visitors must go down with all guns blazing. They will make their own statement this way.

Related Links
http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/if-you-do-not-score-australia-will.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/india-look-doomed.html

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.

Kumble's twin strike, Zaheer chips in with one!

(Very brief summary, details are in sites just below the profile on the right)
It needed Kumble's inspiration to get India back into the match and his googly to Jaques did that. Then he accounted for another Aussie Hussey (leg-before). In between Zaheer got rid of Ponting. From 135 for none, Australia are suddenly looking extremely vulnerable at 165 for three.

Will India do to Australia what Australia did to India at Melbourne four years ago? Leading one-nil in the series four years ago, India had a tremendous start reaching 250 for the loss of just one wicket but then Australia took over, bowling them out for 366 and wrapping up the test eventually.

Why India should aim for the top of the off-stump

Simply because Agarkar successfully did that in Adelaide four years ago and helped India get their first away test win over Australia in over two decades.

‘’It is simple. Just bowl on a good length and try and aim for the top of the off-stump,’’ says Agarkar about his approach in Australia in 2003-04 series.

His advise makes sense because it is easier to get carried away for a pace bowler in Australia. Listening to what he says in the Times of India will do a world of good to Zaheer and company.

Meanwhile, in his column (By Hawkeye/Chivach Sport) in the Hindu, Anil Kumble laments that ‘’Ideally, it would have been great if the weather had been kinder and we had had a good tour game but that was not to be''. He also say ideally India should have had two tour games before the first test to sort out their chinks.

Too late to say this skipper. The Team should have requested the BCCI to take note of this 'thoughtlessly done schedule' even as the itinerary was being planned.

But good preparation or not, India has some good supporters in Gilchrist and Hussey, two of Australia key players who are predicting a good, well-contested series.

Gilchrist believes that India is ‘’not underprepared’’ for the tour, and rather they are ‘’match-hardened’’ after three-four weeks of intense cricket against Pakistan.

Hussey believes it is a ‘huge challenge’ for Australia as India right now have ‘good momentum’ and ‘good form’ going into the contest. Though in a separate story in the Indian Express, he also said that the Australian batsmen had plans ready for each Indian bowler.

Basically, the contest between the Australian bowlers and the Indian batsmen will decide the outcome of the series. Australian batsmen are always expected to score heavily on their pitches so do not expect much from the Indian attack. India batting can't afford to fail once or twice in their eight attempts. That will spell doom.

Dravid is not a Wiseman!

Even as someone named Wise was making Indians aware of what Australian conditions are all about, Dravid showed that he was not a Wise-man by ensuring that the Indians did not completely crumble.

But it may also not have been a Wise thing to resist so dourly as an opener (Dravid was unbeaten on 24 by the 25th over of the innings). It ensures that 'the wall' will open at Melbourne, something which Dravid will never be fully comfortable with at the Test level.

One wonders what is in store when Lee and Tait share the Red cherry at Australia's most hallowed ground on December 26th (if Australia get to bowl first).

(This post is purely in zest. Media watch one is below)

Challenge is enormous!

If you take Australia's record and compare it with India's, challenge is enormous. The story below in IBN Live says that Australia win three out of their every four matches and India win one of their every three matches.

So, in lighter vain, India should be happy with a 1-2 scoreline in favour of Australia just on the basis of their respective performances since year 2000.

http://ibnlive.com/news/aussies-test-record-awesome-india-way-behind/54487-5.html

Meanwhile, here are two links on Print media's assessment on India's chances and Blog's take on that.

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/what-will-india-be-banking-on-in.html

http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/soaring-hopes-and-mission-not.html

Is one bad series enough to dump poor Karthik?

Our contention is that leaving Dinesh Karthik from Australia tour party will be unfair.
Story
He was the toast of the nation after India won the test series in England. In his first six tests since a tremendous comeback as opener against South Africa (A chance he got due to Dhoni’s injury), Dinesh Karthik made big strides, stopped only by the series against Pakistan.

He was the opener the team was looking for. Scores of 63, 38*, 56, 22, 129, 5, 60, 77, 22, 91, 8 in six tests of three away series after resurrection in Cape town had left Karthik with an average of 57 for his 571 runs from 11 innings (one unbeaten knock).

Five sixties and one hundred in away series at a conversion rate of one fifty plus knock per two innings is not every batsman can boast of. It was creditable for a makeshift opener.

But then came the Pakistan series. A total disappointment with Karthik averaging just 13 from his five innings so far (The fifth day play will commence one hour from now).

Can we drop this natural wicketkeeper-cum-makeshift opener just because one series has gone bad for him, even if it happens to be the home series against Pakistan. Give a break. Others in the team have leaner runs against quality opponents before.

Then as keeper Karthik’s value is tremendous. There were 35 byes in 76 extras conceded by India on a track of variable (read low) bounce where Indian bowlers sprayed the ball in all directions but at the wicket! Imagine Dravid in place of Dhoni on this treacherous track for a keeper, trying to hold fort for nearly five sessions.

Selectors will need a cushion against Dhoni’s failure. And will need to recognize Karthik’s value as an opening batsmen in overseas conditions since January 2007. Just one bad series should not be enough to dump him. That will be grave injustice.