By Denzil Fernandes
Daijiworld Media Network

Jan 28: The Indian cricket team completed their tour of Australia in sensational style with more time saved enabling them to visit historic places, go shopping and enjoy the cinema etc. All the four Tests played in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide ended much before five days with the Australians overpowering India in every department of the game and romping with a clinical 4-0 series win. For India, skipper Dhoni and his boys there cannot be another disaster than losing all the 8 Tests one after another including those played against England last year.

The supremacy of Australia was unquestioned with their bowlers, batsmen and the fielders contributing equally for a glorious recovery after several of their top players retired early last year. Skipper Michael Clarke can be proud that the new recruits have done well which augurs well for their cricket future. After a well deserved rest, the Aussies will be off to the Windies where they are expected to continue their winning ways.

The Indians will have plenty of rest with no Test cricket at least for some months. Whether their stalwarts like Dravid, Laxman, Zaheer, Tendulkar and Zaheer will re think about their Test future is one big question asked by many.

As soon as they make their intentions known, the new kids on the block should be brought in and given their due slot in the Test team. There are question marks on players like Dhoni and Sehwag also but one feels that they will survive the ‘axe’.

For the record, the Indians promptly lost their remaining 4 wickets on the final day of the Adelaide Test within an hour of the start of play. That was one big relief for everyone. With the result clearly written all over, it was just a matter of time being the Indians were wiped out of contention. For the fourth time in the series, the Indians lost by a whopping margin of 298 runs. India were shot out for a low 201 runs in their second innings chasing a target of 500 runs to win.

On the other side, it was but fitting that skipper Clarke was named as the man of the series for his 626 runs in six innings in the Test series which also included his 326 unbeaten runs in the Sydney Test. This apart, his spin got him a prize wicket of Sachin Tendulkar as well. Former captain Ponting was not far behind Clarke with 544 runs scored including a double century knock. Others like Hussey and openers Wariner and Cowan also had a good time with their batting.

In the bowling department, Ben Hilfenhaus was the top bowler with 27 wickets while another speedster Peter Siddle provided solid firepower while taking 23 wickets.
 
For India, there was nothing much to write about. Except for Kohli to a certain extent and unlucky Tendulkar no one else could raise a storm at all. Kohli topped the batting averages with the help of his team’s only century in the final test at Adelaide. After Tendulkar’s last hundred in the World Cup in March last, he has failed to score a century in the last 25 Tests and one day innings he has played. A lot depended on his shoulders for India’s success and with his failure his other ‘senior’ teammates also flopped miserably. It was a classic case of ‘birds of a feather, flop together !’.

With 8 Tests lost in a row to England and Australia respectively, the selectors will have their hands full trying to sort out the problems. There is only Kohli from the current team who will be in India’s plans. He is India’s future along with others like Rohit Sharma, Manoj Tiwary, Pujara, Jadeja, Ajinkya Rahane and it is time that he took care of his general behaviour which will do more harm than good. He has already been fined once on the tour and has also verbally clashed with the opposition. Without doubt, Kohli may one day lead India in the future. But at Adelaide in the second innings Kohli failed in his responsibility of staying at the wicket. Even when he scored his century in the first innings he forgot to take the second run in the excitement of his celebrating his maiden century. Others will have to prove their worth in the side if they have to be considered. Of course, players like Ashwin, and Yadav did their best. The ‘elders’ despite their experience failed totally and at least a couple of them will hang their boots shortly.

The final Adelaide Test should have been earmarked to introduce the highly talented Rohit Sharma in place of Laxman and promising spinner Pragyan Ojha while one of the pace bowlers could have been dropped. But the selectors had other ideas and the results clearly showed in their sad decision. Aussie spinner Nathan Lyon who bowled well proved that the pitch assisted spin at least from day four.

It is a pity that what was expected to be a nail biting series turned to be one sided without exception. The much acclaimed Indian batting had no answer to the pace battery of the young bowlers from Down Under. Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting together scored 1170 runs against the 1160 runs posted together by Sachin, Dravid, Dhoni, Laxman, Sehwag and Gambhir ! Can you beat that ?? Except for Kohli not a single batsman managed a century in the entire series which clearly shows the pathetic state of our batsmen. Tendulkar’s century of centuries now seems to be dithering away !

Skipper Clarke had splendid backing from his players and the entire team performed as one winning side. The win will give a huge boost to the hosts as they continue their re building of the side. Their benchstrength also is unbelievable with so many talented players waiting to be picked. On the contrary, India will now find itself in a limbo with imminent retirement of India’s old horses who are likely to call it a day. If they don’t say quits, they will be probably be shown the door by the selectors. There is no shortage of talent in India. But the new boys have to quickly gel into the side and become a winning unit.

The need of the hour is to face pace on pitches outside India. Inability to tackle the rising ball and to give a good opening start with a big score. That has been the bane of India’s downfall. Promising youngsters should be sent abroad and made to play on these kind of pacy pitches. Unless these areas are taken care of Indian cricket will find it hard to come out of their losing streak. The future does not look good and the bigwigs at the cricket Board have to ensure that they flex their muscles for the betterment of Indian cricket.

This is the time for action and not for some insane statements read from the same old pages of a book by officials who do not know what they are reading !

This is the time to change the future of Indian cricket !