Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, Excuses, Excuses....

There is only one way India knows how to win Test matches. That is to put runs on the board. With that their bowlers until recently, have used it as a pressure element along with their own skill and conditions to claim 20 wickets. 

This year, the runs have dried up. Consequently the losses have piled up. 5 in a row now; against competent opposition.

England was a wake up call. Except no one really woke up.

Analysts, bloggers, players, administrators and commentators have highlighted a myriad of excuses. IPL and World Cup fatigue, tail-end collapses, Dhoni's defensive captaincy, the non-performance of openers, inbility to finish the tail...

...everything but the obvious.

It will be up to Dhoni and Kohli

From 214-6 in their first innings, Australia rallied to 333. India, in contrast, collapsed to 282 from the comfort of 214-4. Clearly, India's lower half of batting didn't pull their weight. Laxman, Kohli and Dhoni being the guilty parties. They were up against a very good pace bowling trio that exploited the conditions well. However, test batsmen are expected to muster up enough runs to keep their team in the hunt. At least one of these three should have scored 30 plus runs.

Ashwin continues to impress everyone. Ponting being the latest. It appears that Harbhajan's test career is effectively over. India's bowling has been extremely good, except for allowing the late rally by Siddle and co in the first innings. Unfortunately, that could be the difference in this test match.

India have yet to get the last two Australian wickets. Dravid's drop might come back to haunt India. Even though, Sehwag feels India can chase anything under 300, history doesn't agree. But this is a great opportunity for India's best batting line-up to re-write history.

Why is Michael Clarke delaying the declaration?

Cricket statisticians the world over and especially Australian ones, have lashed out at Australian captain Michael Clarke for "delaying the declaration" against India in the ongoing Melbourne Test that will now go well into the 4th Day.

India have already done enough to earn an honorable loss at Melbourne,ensuring that the most illustrious batting lineup ever to play the game will once again have failed without inviting any criticism from their extremely satisfied customer base. In a year that Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid routinely failed to help their team cross the 300 mark away from home; the amount of adulation they still hold among Indian fans has product marketers perplexed. Performance, long thought of as an essential for any product to sustain sales in the market, may be "old school" thinking according to market analysts. Finding external factors to hide poor performance may be key. 

Zaheer & Sehwag Deliver

If one makes enough predictions, he is likely to be right. I think I met that threshold. Ashwin and Yadav were key to India finishing Australia quickly. Both bowled much better than their test ages. Ashwin, especially, has been a wise bowler who is an ideal replacement for Kumble. He may or may not end up with as many wickets, but he certainly brings that cerebral element to the game.

Umesh Yadav is all heart. It was nice to see him let it rip. He did get pasted on a few occasions, but it was a blast watching him go. India's bowling has come to this game well prepared. For this, we must compliment Duncan Fletcher. Ishant has been bowling extremely well, although he's been somewhat unlucky not to get wickets.

In Dhoni I trust... (again)

Perhaps its the hurt from past broken promises. 1985-86 certainly. Perhaps it is cricket's adopted truism that beating Australia in Australia is tough. Perhaps it is the step motherly treatment to Tests by India's seniors. Not sure what it is. But something is preventing me from being too optimistic about India's chances in Australia this time around.

As the Tests near, I search for reasons why India will lose. 

My rational mind says that this is indeed India's best chance to beat Australia in Australia but part of being an Indian fan through the late 70s leading up to the 2000s is to know that this is also Ponting's and Hussey's best chance to revive their Test careers and who else other than India to be the willing ally? 

My rational mind tells me that barring 1985-86 this is perhaps the mightiest batting side India has sent to Australia. Winning a Test Match and drawing the rest with even a half decent pace and spin combination, should be doable and more than enough. However, part of being an Indian fan is to know that its been quite a while since India has created an overnight bowling sensation. In Australia's gravest hour, surely India will oblige.