Mediocre batting & Pathetic bowling eliminates India !!

India played their elimination round against Aussies in predictable lines. Dravid looked as if he had swallowed castor oil and the body language of the whole team looked as if they had given up long before the toss. Sachin failed for the umpteenth time against Aus (for that matter against anyone when it really counts) and there lies the difference between him and Lara (who played a beauty of an innings against Aussies, mere weeks ago in DLF cup). I will never ever be able to count Sachin as the game’s greatest since he has not been able to come up with a single innings in the last so many years, when the we really wanted him to. Mongia was an ok choice at number 3 but his inability to run the singles made it as a misfit. Viru had numerous chances but once again the timing of his dismissal and RD’s dismissal meant that India will end of some 50 runs short of a winning score. Raina was in such a bad form that he was unable to put bat to ball for as much as 3 full overs and with all that, India’s limping off 249 looked as if they had already given it up.
When the Aussie innings started, none of the bowlers displayed anything close to cerebral in terms of strategy (where were they when Mcgrath bowled that 6 over, ridiculously predictable good length outside the off-stump delivery for a meager 12 runs and of course the usual wicket of Sachin’s). Every one pitched it short and the rest was easy meat for the Aussie line up. Another noticeable feature was the superb running between the wickets; Indians were as usual struggling in that department (with all the big talk of professionalism and a bunch of staff to look after every part of the body, no improvement was visible in anything in Indian players. If anything, they had gone back to good old days of lethargy and apathy).
What next ? Indian cricket is in total shambles. The gaping holes in all department of their game is pretty evident. The coach is obviously under fire but more than that the captain is looking out of place now; with no other candidate around, he will linger on and hopefully things might change but I doubt it since the next tour of SA is equally going to be tough. They will welcome India with pitches like the one where they shredded Pakistan, the other day at Mohali. Indian cricket and its love affair with mediocre displays will continue until there are some fundamental changes brought in and that will obviously be at the game’s basics – like running between the wickets, building partnerships, bowling to a plan and most important,fielding. Till then, the money might alone can not carry India beyond a point.