Enough has been discussed about the Sydney Test. Congratulations to Ricky Ponting for winning 16 in a row, to Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman for their memorable innings and to the Indian team for overtaking the Aussies with a massive response in the first innings.

A quick assessment on the series so far. In Melbourne, it was clear that the Indian team collapsed due to lack of match practice. It is crucial for visiting teams to get enough time and practice to become adjusted to the local conditions before meeting the hosts.

The BCCI handled this tour like a visit to Bangladesh or Kenya. The Boxing Day Test literally became a warm-up game for India. In Sydney they rose to their potential, despite poor umpiring decisions. It was unfortunate what happened in the second innings but I'd give credit to the Australian fast bowlers, Brett Lee and Stuart Clark, for penetrating the batting line-up on the last day.

'Indians are brought up playing spin and they fell to part-time bowlers'


Clark's deliveries that dismissed Laxman and Tendulkar were absolute beauties. I would have expected our batsmen, even tail-enders, to have handled part-time spinners Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke with ease. Indians are brought up playing spin and they fell to part-time bowlers. There is always pressure in games of this kind, there is no point brooding over it.

Interestingly, before the series started, I was worried more about the Indian bowling than batting. I took our batting for granted. But the bowlers gave everything and whatever little pressure the Australians suffered came from our bowlers. And Zaheer Khan will miss the rest of the series.

The future for Australian cricket looks bright with great pace-bowling prospects. Once Mitchell Johnson figures out how to bring the odd ball back into the right hander, he is going to be a threat to a lot of batsmen around the world. Clark is awesome and there is no need to say anything about Lee. He has become a class fast bowler.

Other than Matthew Hayden, none of the Aussie batsmen have looked confident even against this weak Indian attack. Symonds has been very lucky with the bat. I would not even consider him for a Test team. He is more suited to limited-overs cricket. I saw the way he batted and the chances he gave before settling down in each innings.

The near future looks bleak for India - Wasim Jaffer needs to adjust his technique quickly, Yuvraj Singh has been struggling in the middle against quality bowling, Rahul Dravid looks like a night-watchman, not having the mental strength to try scoring runs and MS Dhoni has been pathetic with the bat.

In the long run, it would be wiser to request the big three (Sachin, Sourav Ganguly and Laxman) to stay for another five years until enough confidence and exposure is given to the youngsters. Anil Kumble should also continue as captain for another four to five years. The other players must be rotated and tried until they mature. If these senior players retire at the same time, our team will come down to the level of New Zealand or Bangladesh. Only these senior players have been shouldering our batting burden in Tests and ODIs for the past two years.

We do not have such a deep reserve of talent as the Australians. None of our new batsmen have clicked in Australia this time, leaving the burden on the shoulders of the seniors again. We have an inept and bureaucratic board of cricket that lacks creativity and has no dedication to cricket.

This series is now heading for a 3-0 or 4-0 defeat for the Indians. It is better to try hard and see if new players can get exposure against quality bowling and batting so that they can go home with some experience.

The Indian cricket board should sit with the players and ask them what their side of the story is and where they would recommend changes needed to improve the game across the nation. And the board should be run by cricketers - not by politicians.