Well, the series is done away with and how. For a team that was unable to put together eleven strong men in the middle won the series by six wickets with a match to spare in Guwahati and maintained their supremacy in ODI cricket.
Yes, Australians indeed showed their resilient character to come back fighting after being 1-2 down after the Delhi game to lead the series 4-2 at the moment.
www.cricforu.com puts forth FIVE key reasons why the Men in Blue gave the country the blues.
Point no 1: One of the main reasons why India lost the series has been the inability of the Indians to clinch games in the crunch situations be in Baroda or in Hyderabad. With nine required off the last over in Baroda, the odds were in favour of India to pull it off and then lost the plot — courtesy a chanceless last over by Peter Siddle who not only gave his side a 1-0 lead but ensured that the tone of the series was set.
Point no 2: Mike Young, fielding coach of the Australian team while speaking to www.cricforu.com clearly mentioned the importance of fielding in the side when he said, “Fielding is an extremely difficult aspect of the game which requires multiple skillsets and functionalities from the players. The most important element of fielding is intent. In the Australian team, we have Ricky Ponting who shows the way for the other players.” As I have always mentioned in my blog, the lesser said about India’s fielding, the better. Please note, it is not that India was fielding supremely well when they were on a winning spree in the last two years. The issue has become more glaring and with no fielding coach in the team at the moment, Krishnamachari Srikkanth & Co. have a big job at hands as Sri Lankans are already in India with their entourage.
Point no 3: For all those who believed that India no more relies on Sachin Tendulkar can all take a hike. That 5 feet five inches legend still shows the way for the rest of his side and its high time India needs players like him and not clones and followers who worship him on the pitch. The issue here is the over-dependence on him from time to time. Even when India won the Compaq Cup, it required Sachin to lead the way with his 44th hundred before Harbhajan Singh finished it off with a five-wicket haul.
Point no 4: For how long are we going to go by big names in the game. Agreed, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh have done supremely well for the team. No questions on that, but do we still persist with someone who scores a brilliant 50-odd in a match and goes without a major contribution for the next 10 matches. Time to give chances to others in the side or else scout for talent in the domestic cricket. Again and again, we tend to comfortably pick up a player who is performing well either in the domestic cricket or in the Indian Premier League but not have him in the playing XI at all. The classical case of this Sudeep Tyagi who has been touring across India with the team without getting a game, even as the bowlers have bled runs in the middle.
Point no 5: The turning point of the series was the run-out of Yuvraj Singh who was hit by a direct-throw from Ricky Ponting to see him short of the crease. Since then, India have always been short. Now, we come to the topic of running between the wickets. The Hyderabad ODI saw the appalling amount of run-outs from the Indian team as from a position of strength they threw the game away. Not just fielding, the running between the wickets requires good amount of skills. It requires good judgement on the part of the two batters and this is something which needs to be worked upon at the nets.
India never has been known for its killer instinct. During the post-match press conference on Sunday, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni mentioned, “The Mohali game followed by the Hyderabad game, we should have won both. In both the matches the Australians took the game away from us. A couple of mistakes we made in the field and we lost the games.” Well, it was surely a couple of mistakes but it has seen them gift away the trophy to the visitors.
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