It was the darkest hour for Indian cricket. A team which under an Australian-like aggressive Virat Kohli had become used to strutting its act on the world stage met its comeuppance at the hands of the fierce fighters that Australians are. The Indian batting crumbling for a record-shattering total of 36 at the Adelaide Oval exposed its decades-old Achilles heel, the fast short and rising ball.
Pacers Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins knocking out the entire Indian team between them also helped shatter the miasma of over-confidence that had hovered over the Indians after some of their recent successes in the international contests. Truth be told, Indians don’t have a solid top-order in place as yet, the way not long ago Tendulkar, Ganguly, Dravid, Azharuddin, etc., constituted it for over a decade.
The current team is perennially in the making, with selectors experimenting with Prithvi Shaw, a dud so far, Mayank Agarwal, etc. Aside from Virat Kohli and the pace trio of Bumrah, Shami and Sharma, every other slot in the 11-member side is up for an unending experimentation. Even allowing for the glorious uncertainties of the sport , the humiliating collapse for the lowest ever Indian total of 36 is a warning to the selectors as well. Like the players, they too fail to justify the huge fees they take home for the lousy job they seem to be doing. Their failure to bring a sense of completeness to the Indian eleven is inexcusable.
The publishers permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)