Coming to your inbox: A ‘thank you’ card from Oz to us

By Abhilasha Khaitan Look at what we’ve gone and done. We’ve given the Australians a taste of blood. And that can never be good news. It has been a while since it was heard but there it was again, that familiar sound at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) of the team baying like a pack of wolves. India, meanwhile, were doing a pretty good imitation of a flock of timid sheep resigned to being pounced at. How else do you explain the way in which they came out to bat in the fourth innings, the fight gone out of them? They did not look prepared to engage in the long, hard battle that survival demanded. Capitulation was both imminent and ugly. Few would disagree that this was the unkindest cut of all – not that they lost, but the manner in which they seemed to have convinced themselves that this was not a gettable total. Consider who were involved in the chase — two of the world’s top run-getters, the world’s most explosive player, the best batsman against Australia and a captain who knows how to play a skipper’s knock (I do not rate Gautam Gambhir or Virat Kohli as dependable for reasons that make for another column). A fourth innings’ chase is always going to be tough but 292 on a wicket that was still good for batting should not be intimidating to the point of being debilitating. [caption id=“attachment_168387” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A fourth innings’ chase is always going to be tough but 292 on a wicket that was still good for batting should not be intimidating to the point of being debilitating. Getty Images”]  [/caption] However, apart from Sachin Tendulkar — who must be having the worst déjà vu of the 1999-2000 tour where, till VVS Laxman came good in the third Test, he was the only batsman to put up some fight — there was nothing coming from his teammates but poor shot selection and nervous shuffling. Eventually, after witnessing a parade of his trusted comrades, he too fell to a lapse in concentration. But miserable as their effort was, the batsman must bear only a part of the blame. The match started slipping out of India’s hands towards the end of the first innings when they allowed the Aussie tail to wag with full vigour. How can you let a batting side pile on the agony through its lower-order, not once but twice in one match, and still expect to win the match? James Pattinson, Peter Siddle and Ben Hilfenhaus will now consider themselves worthy of an empty allrounder slot – thank you, India, again. So it is that all the skill in the world comes to naught without any application or attitude. On paper we were the better team and we lost. And not just the match, but also the edge we had enjoyed coming into this series. Despite the battering in England, India had an upper hand in terms of the tag of World Champions and the status of the No. 2 ICC Test team. Also, their opponents were lower on confidence and swagger after a string of losses, and suffering a general uncertainty with veterans like Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey struggling to retain their places in the side. But all that changed over four days in Melbourne. With every session, you could see the Australians transforming – there was a spring in the step, energy in their movement and that old cocky smile on their faces. Even an occasional sneer was back. This does not augur well for the rest of the series. Even a below-par Aussie team is dangerous when it is high on confidence as India, who have worked had over the years to ensure an equal status in the power equation between the two sides, have learnt the hard way. They know that you can’t beat Australia on skill alone – you have to fight them with self-assurance. But that little parcel appears to have been left behind at home. There’s enough time between Melbourne and Sydney for a quick Fed-Ex to Australia.