It is a total failure of the Indian batting with the exception of the top 2 batsmen and Kumble. In fact Kumble showed the way to bat in this test and yesterday's performance must be surely an eye opener to the likes of Ganguly and Co.
I think it is time for Team India to look ahead, post Ganguly and truly move forward to have a dab at excellence.
This is right on the money. It was inexplicable how the batsmen played! It was horrible!
This captain must go. He always says he has nothing to prove, that he has scored so many centuries and so many runs. By this logic, Sunil Gavaskar and Allen Border would be playing for ever! It is the recent performance that counts and performance of the captain has been simply pathetic over the last year or so. I am just hoping the selectors get some wisdom and strip this burden on the team from captaincy.
Yes, I think we are back to the exact same position when Wright took over as the coach. That's good news for the new coach though, he gets to start on a clean slate :-)
Team India needs to do a bit of soul searching. Drastic changes are required in the team, thus resulting in dropping players such as Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman, who are currently in the team based on their past laurels.
All that was required yesterday was application. Where pakistan cud save the Mohali test with Abdul Razaaq and Kamran Akmal, India cud have well done it after losing Sehwag, by just playing off time. Yep it can be argued that sitting in front of cricinfo/rediff, watching the declining fortunes of India cricket, is easy to talk, but again that is what the best breed of players are selected for. If Team India thinks they want to be atleast # 2 in tests they better start palying like the Aussies.
Last but not the least we need Ravi Shastri out of the commentry box. I have not heard a more negative commentator in my life than this guy.
For the first time in my life I actually wished that india would lose. After seeing the cowardly display, I just could not be on their side! This is just not the way to play! Shame on the team ... apart from kumble and sehwag no one rose to the occassion.
As always Prem Paniker said it best. We were doomed by the big four, by their lack of courage. Sehwag and Gambhir played the right game, and kept Pakistan worried, but once they knew that we were pulling down the shutters, there started to breathe down our neck.
It is an unfortunate send off for John Wright and his years of work in imbibing us with discipline, and belief. Let's hope this was an aberation, and we can build from here.
Your article mentions that Rahul Dravid's average is the second highest after great sir Don. I am not sure what type of records you are refering to, but what I see is he is not even in top 5 let alone 2nd highest.
Here is what cricinfo.com's stats guru has for top 10 averages in the test matches. (Criteria being 20 innings):
Test Career Highest Batting Averages
Based on all matches up to and including Test # 1741: India v Pakistan at Kolkata, 2nd Test, 16/03/2005
