Destined to Lose

I sensed this quite early, almost three months back , it was more than predictive skills or gut-instincts, but I think that I was able to see the failings and the lacunae's within the Indian team far quickly and clearly. See my July 25, 2004 and October 25, 2004 posts on this blog and also my next post in which I would discuss about this..

Indian team somehow everytime seems to gain two steps and then go one step backward. India was destined to lose this series. Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong.

Here are some reasons why India was unluckier of the two opponents.

Sachin doesn't really make any difference to this Indian team and hasn't really made any since last two three years, but when it comes to this series, India certainly missed him. The pride and the respect that he has earned from the Aussies, and his past exploits against them, the sheer fact that they believe that he is a dangerous opponent was enough, but alas that was the first thing that went wrong. India missed Sachin more than Australia missed Ricky Ponting.

Losing all the tosses was another factor.

The final day of the Chennai test was washed out, I suspect India would have made it, if not for the rain. Sehwag's intent in the three overs that he played at the end of day four and the way he handled McGrath was ominous.

Losing Saurav and Harbhajan for the crucial test in Nagpur was another back-breaker.You gain Sachin, who hasn't really been a match winner in recent times, yet his gain was important from a psychological point of view, but then in the process lose Saurav and Harbhajan was a great blow, indeed.

A green top at Nagpur and the best fast bowler since last one year - Irfan Pathan was also injured.

Some little but largely unspoken factors like Injury to Balaji, who I think would have made lot of difference bowling along with Pathan than Zaheer, who was of course brilliant in Nagpur but was all alone in the fast bowling arena.

I would take up the mistakes made by this India team in the next posting on this blog.