The Indians performed two unbelievable acts in the space of two weeks. The first one was an individual feat – Viru Sehwag scored 319 in the first innings of the Chennai Test against South Africa. The second one was a team effort – in the first innnings of the second Test in Ahmedabad, the Indian team could not last beyond the 20th over on day one! What a come down for team that gave the Aussies a good run for their money.

The South Africans played well in every department and totally overshadowed their Indian counterparts. Even their batting, which was supposed to be suspect against the Indian spin twins, performed better than the Indian stars. All this contributed to a huge innings win for the Proteas.

India looked tired on the field and their mind seemed to be somewhere else. The BCCI, in their efforts to milk the golden goose that is the Indian team, has filled the schedule with so many tours (overseas and home) that for the next year, they don't seem to have any breathing time at all. Even the one month they had left between this tour and the Sri Lankan visit, is now taken up with the IPL concept.

‘The BCCI, in their efforts to milk the golden goose that is the Indian team, has filled the schedule with so many tours ... they don't seem to have any breathing time at all.’


This means that the players have no time to recuperate. One has to look at the on-field efforts to gauge the fitness levels of the players. Sachin Tendulkar and Anil Kumble are fighting against time to play the Test matches on this tour. These are two of the most committed players of the Indian team – the fact that they are missing matches is a reflection of how badly the schedule has been planned by the BCCI.

India's overseas record is now better than their domestic record. It is so surprising to hear about it, when a few years back it was exactly the opposite. The home tracks do not support the spinners as much as they used to. So, as it is in other countries, the home advantage is no longer present. Players are much more confident of playing the Indians on their own soil.

South Africa have come prepared and that is because they had more time after their series against Bangladesh. They even went to the extent of playing the first drawn Test of the series without any warm-up matches. So much for confidence!

Back to the game – the Indians must start phasing out their senior members in the batting line-up. Wasim Jaffer can play only on featherbeds – that is not good news for him. It is time Gautam Gambhir is brought into the Test eleven. Over the next 6-9 months, Sourav Ganguly first and VVS Laxman next should be replaced by younger stars like Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma. Same time next year, Rahul Dravid and then, after another six months, Tendulkar should be replaced. Of course, all this should be done in consultation with them. But, will the BCCI do it? Going by their past record, I doubt it.