Thunder Down Under

WHO SHOULD BE DROPPED???

This is a serious question that the team think tank must answer very quickly. Virender Sehwag must be brought in the XI not because of his form but for his sheer ability to take the attack to the opposition. Now we have seen how well Dravid and Jaffer have prospered opening the innings for India. Two games and their partnership have been in single digits. Rahul Sharad Dravid is a class act. You cannot ignore him so easily and make him sit out given the fact that he lends lot of experience into the team. If Dravid is dropped it will send wrong signals in the team. Dravid is opening the innings for the best of the team and you cannot drop him because he hasn’t performed well today.

But, Dravid is due for some criticism definitely. India faltered very badly because he never rotated the strike. He held the fort so strongly for more than an hour that he did not even think to run. What more, when a wicket has already fallen!!! Dravid looks to completely shell in so that the opponents will not get him that easily. Dravid also forgot that he is playing Australia and quick singles, twos and threes are the need of the hour. Dravid should have understood the importance of the singles when he saw Jaques and Hayden snatch singles so easily by dropping it close to the turf. Having said that, neither Dravid nor Laxman is a good runner between the wickets and there is a huge risk of taking such risky singles against a field that has Symonds and Clarke guarding the offside ever so seriously.

It is very hard to imagine that a team takes its 1st single in the 17th over of the innings. Even Bangladesh would have got few boundaries against Australia. There was no point in Dravid playing such a knock. It would have meant a lot had he capitalized on what hard work he put before that. May be, he was trying to emulate Sanjay Bangar, who played so defensively to negate the swing @ England in Headingley (one of the places where the ball swings viciously). When he got out, India had 25 on the board for the loss of 2 wickets in 25 overs!!

Yuvraj Singh cannot be left out for one bad performance. He can’t be chucked out so easily. But, Yuvraj must also know that all the shuffling in the team batting that is happening around is for him to be placed in the order. If he doesn’t reciprocate well for this help from the captain, then I guess Yuvi will have to sit out, bringing Laxman and Dravid to their regular positions.

So, I feel Sehwag must be brought in place of Jaffer. Jaffer is a class opener. No doubt in it. But he doesn’t make a great partner for Dravid or the other way around as well. With so much pressure against Aussies it becomes doubly difficult for these players to attack. If Sehwag is around, there is always a chance for scoring quick runs. A quick 60-70 partnership is at least needed immediately. Look at what Gayle did to the Proteas yesterday. 66 off 49 balls and whoomph…Windies managed to reach 281-4 at the end of the day. Dravid-Sehwag combination might just work better than Jaffer-Dravid combination. I must also say that we are paying a heavy risk when we get in Sehwag, with the man under tremendous pressure as runs have dried up for him in all forms of the game. But, I feel it’s not that bad a ploy when you know that one of the openers who are currently playing will be removed so easily in the first 5-6 overs.

Also make sure that we are not chip-chopping openers for every test match. With 4 openers in the squad and many failing to grab the opportunity, I somehow feel that we will see 4 different opening partners in 4 test matches.

Now what we need from India is not one but many things –

1. Play positive cricket in the morning tomorrow and show the same hunger on the field as shown on the first day. Make sure you don’t drop your shoulders so easily and so quickly. Australians can capitalize on that when they see you dropping shoulders.
2. We should realize that many of the Aussie wickets were gifts more than anything else. I would rate Jaques and Ponting’s wicket as something unplayable. There were lot of lose shots played and don’t expect them to do it again in a span of 2 days.
3. Make sure that you bowl out Australia quickly. Ideally a score of 150-160 would be the maximum India can afford to give Australia. One of the bowlers must be at his lethal best tomorrow.
4. When India bat again, Opening is the most important key for success (either winning or saving the game). If we falter at the start, don’t be amused to see a great Indian collapse on the 4th day morning.


After all these points, one must always understand that Australians are the bosses here. They are the dictators of the game. At their own den, it becomes even tougher to test them and beat them. As I said earlier, you can’t expect them to play well below opposition’s levels consistently over a period of 5 days.