India travel back in time

Well it was more like a time warp where everyone went back to the mid and late 90's period of Indian cricket.
You know, those days of shit bowling, comic fielding and Sachin.
Do you even remember the last time Sachin was running down the track against the spinners?
That pull shot wasn't quite like Nairobi 2000 against McGrath but it got most of us going alright.
Those audacious flicks over midwicket and mid on were something most of us had thought he'd dropped for good.
That cover drive off Hilfenhaus had me spilling my tea over the keyboard.
Even though Raina threw it away, I still knew Sachin would take us home, he had to.
And then he played that scoop and the rest just folded up.
I'm normally supportive of the team through wins and losses. But yesterday's loss just left me drained.
India would have had to face embarrassment yesterday if it wasn't for Sachin's innings.
Australia are playing with a pretty much second string side. Going down to them in two straight games is still nothing to be proud of.
To start things off, the bowling just fell apart. What's with gifting Blondie so many short balls?
I've always maintained that Nehra is not the answer to India's fast bowling problems.
Neither is Munaf.
But I'd still keep Nehra in the field for the LOL moments when he is fielding.
In fact, the entire fielding effort was shoddy. Wonder whether Mohali was a fluke after all.

It's a bit difficult to blame the batting.
Sehwag had to play the way he did, given his role in the team and the stiff target.
Voges took a blinder to send Dhoni back.
Raina could have gone for a duck and did get out at the wrongest of times, but some of his hitting did help in maintaining the run rate to get this close.
Harbhajan should never be led to believe that he is an allrounder. Sending him in front of Jadeja was a bit of a blunder.
Ravindra Jadeja should get his ass tied down to the crease to stop him from running himself out every time.
A part of me says Sachin should have really finished it off, the likes of Jadeja aren't too great at handling pressure but it is also true that it was still there to be won when Sachin got out.


One major gripe I have is that one of the best ODI and Test innings of Sachin have come in a losing cause. Y'all remember the Chennai test, right?

With Aus rolling us over with a second string bowling attack, It's any one's guess what a full strength side could have done.