Thoughts after the first test

It feels strange to blog after so many days. So much cricket has been played since I last blogged. India played Australia in Bangalore and managed to draw the test. It was heralded as nothing short of a victory in the print media. But according to me, Australia walked away with more positives in this match. The Indian spin department desperately needs to re-discover the art of taking wickets. If the duo of Harbhajan and Kumble cannot get wickets, they can atleast bowl fewer overs, cant they? Every time the pressure was on the Aussie batsmen, the spinners did their best to take it off. Kumble was a liability in the first test. And I dont see things improving for him in the next three either. Not even in Delhi, his favourite hunting ground. Why? I dont have a logical reason as to why I think Kumble will fail. Just take this as the words of a fan who has hoped time and again for our oldies to perform, and is still waiting, but no longer hopeful. Same story with Harbhajan's bowling. He did manage to outdo Kumble in the wickets department, but was hardly inspiring. His batting was a bonus, though. Helped India get closer to the Aussie total in the first innings. The draw was possible because of his knock, no denying that. Zaheer and Ishant were brilliant. That was the only positive for India in this test.

Coming to the batting, Australia had two centurions. India had none. They had three scores of 50 plus, two of which was from no. 8 and no. 9. That surely tells a tale.

The fab four and the dynamic duo of Harbhajan and Kumble fell way short of all their hype in this test. If only hype translates into performance....

The second test starts in a couple of days time. And I get the feeling that even if we lose this test, a certain individual's record breaking feat will hog the limelight, and the defeat itself will not matter.

Hate to sound like a pessimist here, but the enthusiasm for certain over-rated bunch of players is long gone.