Australia beat India by 337 runs to win the first Test at Melbourne. It is India’s third worst defeat in terms of runs.
Lackluster Batting
Indian batting in both the innings were pathetic. Dravid should have rotated the strike more. Caution is must, but Dravid was over-cautious. It seems that Dravid was not interested in opening the innings. India’s best ODI batsman Yuvraj (at that time and still) was not allowed to bat at No.4 (his suitable position) in 2007 world cup and India lost. India ‘s best batsman at 2003 world cup Sachin was initially asked to bat at No.4 and then reverted to his most comfortable position and India reached the finals. So it is better to bat Dravid at No.3 though he comes often in the first over, mental makeup is different for opening and No.3. That means poor Yuvi have to sit down, since India’s weak link Ganguly is in best form of his life. Karthik should open with Jaffer.
Indian batsmen were not positive except Sachin in the first innings. Lack of match practice also hampered them. Being a professional they should not give that as an excuse. To keep their chances alive in the series they have to raise their game considerably otherwise 4-0 whitewash is inevitable. Indian batsmen need to remember their effort during the last Test series here and must emulate them.
Good Bowling Effort
Indian bowlers did well to restrict rampaging Aussie batsmen below 350 in the first innings. But again showed their true colors in the second innings. Kumble led from the front and produced one of his best bowling effort in the first innings. Zaheer complemented him very well. Spinners did well overall compared to pace bowlers. Indian fielders failed to complement their bowlers by their poor effort. RP Singh has to raise his game. I don’t know whether going with only two pacers is such a wise decision. But it proved successful this time.
Indian team needs to improve in all departments of the game: batting, bowling and fielding. They have to forget this Test match as one bad experience and concentrate on second Test now.
SCORECARD: India vs Australia, I Test at Melbourne, 2007-08
Lackluster Batting
Indian batting in both the innings were pathetic. Dravid should have rotated the strike more. Caution is must, but Dravid was over-cautious. It seems that Dravid was not interested in opening the innings. India’s best ODI batsman Yuvraj (at that time and still) was not allowed to bat at No.4 (his suitable position) in 2007 world cup and India lost. India ‘s best batsman at 2003 world cup Sachin was initially asked to bat at No.4 and then reverted to his most comfortable position and India reached the finals. So it is better to bat Dravid at No.3 though he comes often in the first over, mental makeup is different for opening and No.3. That means poor Yuvi have to sit down, since India’s weak link Ganguly is in best form of his life. Karthik should open with Jaffer.
Indian batsmen were not positive except Sachin in the first innings. Lack of match practice also hampered them. Being a professional they should not give that as an excuse. To keep their chances alive in the series they have to raise their game considerably otherwise 4-0 whitewash is inevitable. Indian batsmen need to remember their effort during the last Test series here and must emulate them.
Good Bowling Effort
Indian bowlers did well to restrict rampaging Aussie batsmen below 350 in the first innings. But again showed their true colors in the second innings. Kumble led from the front and produced one of his best bowling effort in the first innings. Zaheer complemented him very well. Spinners did well overall compared to pace bowlers. Indian fielders failed to complement their bowlers by their poor effort. RP Singh has to raise his game. I don’t know whether going with only two pacers is such a wise decision. But it proved successful this time.
Indian team needs to improve in all departments of the game: batting, bowling and fielding. They have to forget this Test match as one bad experience and concentrate on second Test now.
SCORECARD: India vs Australia, I Test at Melbourne, 2007-08
No comments:
Post a Comment