CricDigs Blogs

India has just started following-on in the second test match against New Zealand. While looking at their batting on the second day this doesn’t come as a real surprise but what is amazing is that this match is one of the few occasions where their man-in-charge, Dhoni, wasn’t present. And just look how the entire unit has just fallen apart. Everything including the captaincy, the fielding, one-dimensional unimaginative bowling and the listless batting performance. This has happened despite the presence of senior pros like Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman in the team. How this happened is a bit baffling. When Sehewag was calling all the wrong shots on the filed, couldn’t the coach and the senior players have intervened?

The pitch is easy to bat on, but not really a 600+ runs sort of a patch. The Indians have been over-confident and this was exemplified by the fact that now reports have started coming saying that the entire squad didn’t have a single net session in the 24 hours preceding the match!! They are trying to compete with South Africa and Australia as the new world champion of the game. However, if this is the way they are going to about doing things then I am really not sure for how long would they be called world championship material.

The most embarrassing aspect for them should be the way all the senior members have just folded-up in the first innings. Tendulkar was very submissive, Dravid played a horrible shot, Bhajji bowled hideously and Sehewag sent a very wrong signal being the emergency skipper by getting out in the way he did. They are trailing by more than 300 runs which is more than a substantial volume of runs. The only way to redemption — bat so long, so good that the Kiwis lose every feasible hope of evening challenging them from here on. Will they be able to do it? Tomorrow we will come to know.