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

Kumble helps India restrict Aussie

As we had hoped, after India got Australia's first three wickets in the space of 30 runs, the Indian bowlers came firing all cylinders and the visitors seem to have restricted Australia to under 350-360. (http://atulsondhi.blogspot.com/2007/12/kumbles-twin-strike-zaheer-chips-in.html)

The 337 for nine could well have remained 337 for two, three or four, but some on-target bowling by Kumble and Zaheer (the pacer took three) kept India in the match. (For more details, please see sites below profile in this blog or this AP report in the Hindu Newspaper http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200712261340.htm)
Make no mistake. Australia still hold the upper hand in this match as India will have to bat fourth on this wicket. And they will have to muster a lead of 100 or 150 to put any kind of pressure on Australia.

The bowlers have done their job. Now everything will depend on how the Indian batsmen negotiate the first session tomorrow, with a makeshift opener in Rahul Dravid. That could well be the most critical session of the match.

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.