Brendon McCullum's triple century highlights selfish attitude

It was a good innings of 302 by Brendon McCullum against India in second innings of Wellington Test match on February 18, 2014. But it was clearly selfish as it was meant to achieve personal goal rather then winning a test match. On a road like cricket pitch captain Brendon McCullum batted and batted, painfully slowly, and made sure that he become the first triple century maker in New Zealand's cricket history. Not for once it looked as if he wanted to win a cricket match. It was a black day for test cricket and such selfish play only harms test cricket.

Brendon McCullum, after Scoring First Triple Ton
For New Zealand vs India

Indian cricket team, although young in both experience and age, played the game in right spirit. Their bowlers tried their heart out on a dead wicket to get their team into winning position. In their cricketing history, New Zealand hasn't won that many test matches, as reflected by their ICC rank of 7, and therefore it was even more embarrassing to see them not playing for winning one more test match. Very rarely triple hundreds ends up on winning sides. Mostly the matches have been drawn in which a batsmen has scored 300 and more runs. Only Virender Sehwag's triple tons, and Mathew Hayden's triple century once, ended up in a win.

New Zealand set India the target of 435 runs in 67 overs, which was never achievable, and test cricket took one of his last breaths once this was done. The scorecard on stumps 5th day looked like this:

Ind vs NZ scorecard, stumps 5th day, Welllington  2nd Test Match

There have been talks of reviving test cricket. One Day Cricket (ODI) and T-20 cricket are giving test cricket run for its money. But what we saw today highlights that test players have become selfish and they don't care much about making a match out of a game. Brendon McCullum might be seen as a hero after today's knock, but test cricket has become even more weaker today and it will be interesting to see for how long it can survive.

What made the matter worst, and making play bowing to watch, was a flat dead track. There was nothing for the spinners even on 5th day of test match. Virat Kohli showed that by making a century easily. Normally it is not that easy for a batsmen to score a hundred on last day of test match on a wearing pitch. This also makes you wonder about the claims of sporting wickets the cricketers of western world talk about. Recently we saw at Johannesburg,  South Africa came close to chase down a target of 458 on last day on another flat wicket. The wickets in India are result wicket, and that's what is needed for test cricket. Help for fast bowlers is OK, but spinning the ball is also an art and there must be assistance in pitches for spinners to show off their art and for batsmen to show us, especially the batsmen from south africa, australia, new zealand, and england; that they can play spin bowling.

All in all it was a disappointing day for test match cricket and the one that a game of cricket, especially the longest form of cricket, can ill afford to have. Hopefully we won't see more such selfish knocks which highlights personal achievements rather than team goals.

McCullum, Watling put New Zealand on top against India's toothless bowling unit, India vs New Zealand

It's sorry state of affairs once again for indian cricket team. It is hard to believe that a team who had their opponent on the mat more than once in a recent past has allowed it to not only recover from precarious position but also to call the shots, and even gave the confidence of winning a test match. Both in Wellington and in Centurion recently, indian young batting side did well to put their team into winning positions but bowlers just don't know how to win matches, it seems.

Focus, concentration, and determination was highlight of
record partnership between McCullum and Watling

That day at centurion it was Ab De Villiers and Faf Du Plessis  who took the game away from India and today it was captain Brendon McCullum and wicket keeper BJ Watling who have hurt india with a record breaking stand worth more than a triple century. While BJ Watling was out to a third new ball, lbw to Mohammed Shami at an individual score of 124, McCullum was nearing an illusive triple century batting on 281 not out at the end of 4th days play.

Once again it has been sorry tale for the indian team,hats off to McCullum and Watling. who played fantastically well but unfortunately indian fielders and bowlers were once again disappointing as they let mccullum and watling off the hook by dropping some catches and inconsistent bowling. Further after getting a 200 plus lead any team would have have put the opposition under tremendous pressure but india did that till they pick up the 5 wickets and after that they went to sleep. I have a bad feeling whenever the pitch doesn't assist bowlers they become more ineffective and inconsistent. Also their fitness level is always questionable. Similarly, the batsmen once they get into double figure score they don't carry on the good work and throw their wickets away. Ajinkya Rahane was so happy after getting his first century at test level that he happily threw his wicket away, it seems.

New Zealand who once lost 4 wickets for 95 runs were leading India by 325 runs with 4 second innings wickets still remaining. The full scorecard at the end of 4th days play looked like this:

Scorecard, India vs New Zealand, 2nd test, day 4 stumps, 2014 welllington

It's not that indian bowlers didn't tried hard to pick the wickets, but their best efforts weren't good enough. This again has highlighted the fact that india's bowling team is perhaps the weakest among the top test cricket playing nations in the world.

Surely, it is frustrating for fans to see their team getting into positions of strength every now and then only to watch it struggling to safe defeat at the end of the match.

While McCullum's efforts need to appreciated, one should also closely look at what this Indian team has made of it's opposition batsman. Since July 2011, there have been 1 triple century, 7 double centuries and 8 more scores of 150+ scored vs this Indian team. The Indian bowling stocks have taken a plunge, and for a true follower of Indian cricket, 200+ scores by opposing batsman doesn't surprise anymore. We can argue forever if this is due to spineless bowling or unimaginative management tactics/captaincy, but the reality seems that opponent batsman will score against India. If India is really serious about it's Test cricket, then there should be a selected set of players who get a chance to play in the county cricket in England and get to fine-tune their batting or bowling skills. This is not in any shape now, and for the foreseeable future. Hardcore Indian cricket fans have nothing else to cheer other than reflect on the glorious days of Indian cricket between 2001 and 2011.

MS Dhoni is being defensive not only in his field settings-He is ultra-defensive even in team selection. Even with this array of dazzling batting talent at his disposal, he never plays 5 bowlers in the starting XI, even when the nation faces a must win Test to avoid a humiliating series loss against the No.8 Test nation. That is what gets my goat.

This is line in the sand moment. Dhoni has to step down before his defensive thinking percolates to the entire team. Bowling attack completely refurbished. We'd rather fail with Varun Aaron , Umesh Yadav and Ishwar Pandey (Pankaj Singh if selectors believe) rather than failing with Unfit Zaheer who can give you one good spell at best and Ishant Sharma - highly dependent on conditions. I doubt whether we have performances outside India even on our agenda !!

Suraj can't tolerate the pathetic bowling performance from india's bowlers any further, and he mince no words when he says: "This is what I was talking about. I was thinking India might be able to bowl out NZ once Brendon gets tired but our bowling attack is so pathetic that we can't even get a tired player out forget about cleaning up the tail. I really hope India slip further down the rankings so that they do not feature in the TOP 3 teams and also that BCCI don't dictate terms. I have no doubts that NZ will fancy their chances tomorrow morning after declaring once Brendon gets to his Triple Century and Neesham gets his Century. And if India's luck is further bad and if there are overcast conditions, then in the end we will have to say in Ravi Shashtri's words, 'Its All Over'."

Shivani Singh, a cricket fan, says: "I am an ardent Indian fan living in NZ and am disappointed in the Indian performance at the same time would like to congratulate NZ esp McCullum and Watling for a great and dogged resistance. However It is sad to see the comments by some so called cricket enthusiasts eg. Atif Masood, there is no need to get nasty mate!! That reeks of jealousy, I'm guessing you're a Pak supporter, a team I admire greatly and no matter how passionately I support India, I will never make comments like that against Pak team, learn from Afridi who rightly said in one of his recent interviews that some Pak cricket supporters need to get over hating Indian Cricket team. Comments like Atif Masood's shift the attention from a great batting performance by NZ! Grow up mate!"

 Meanmwhile MS Dhoni and Indian team found some support when preeti jain said "I really feel ashamed when I see my countrymen making our own team look horrible when they lose.When Aus were 0-7 down the FANS did not say that they were the worst, and now that they have won the ashes & defeated SA they are not over the moon saying Aus is the greatest. SA were downright bulldozed by Johnson.Are their fans calling them No.8? After Dhawan got a ton We were like India will win this by an innings, we will win the 2015 WC. MSD is a good captain and I actually admire him for not calling it quits 2 preserve his own record and expose the inexperienced youngsters. I agree some of the decisions MSD makes as a captain are inexplicable but you have to get behind your team and support them. Those asking for Gambhir probably did not watch the Aus series he just hung his bat outside the off stump and edged to the slips.No disrespect but this team is as good as any. Let us learn to appreciate the opposition and give credit where its due Superb knock by BAZ under pressure."

Is it confidence? Indian bowlers can't produce magic when opposition bating is flying. Indian curators has to prepare 50% 50% wickets which encourage fast bowlers. Its hard to believe out of 2nd largest population they can't generate pacer like Mitcheal Johnson while neighboring country Pakistan is producing tons of pacers. Make good pitches and let fast bowlers to grow.

India need to desperately start a long overdue 'bowling transition' now. And by that I don't mean stop-gap arrangements. The batting order transition is more or less done now. But the bowling attack which once won India matches with the services of Zaheer (younger, pacier, strike bowler version), Harbhajan, and Kumble, is gone for good and yet we don't have a settled bowling lineup. Shami is inexperienced but good, and that's it. And if we keep playing him in every match, we will bowl him into ground like so many others before.

Sandip Patil and Co. showed a lot of guts replacing some of the most celebrated batting icons in India's cricketing history, they need to do the same with this bowling lineup. There are potentially 4-5 young fast bowlers, all with different strengths, waiting in the wings. Unless we magically find three bowlers with skills similar to Steyn, Morkel, Philander, India HAS to play with 4 fast bowlers and Ashwin/Jadeja in overseas conditions.

Brendon McCullum makes India wait for their first test match win in recent times on foreign tour

India began third day of India vs New Zealand, 2nd test day 3 at Wellington in ascendancy and reduced New Zealand to 94-5 before a heroic batting effort from the captain Brendon McCullum deflated the touring bowlers. At the end of day 3 New Zealand were 252 for 5 and the score board looked like this:

India vs New Zealand score card, stumps day3 wellington test match

The morning session was India's thanks to some probing bowling from Zaheer Khan, but since then it has been all Brendon McCullum and BJ Watling. They've put on the highest sixth-wicket partnership for New Zealand in the second innings and have picked up the lead as well. If ever there was a captain's knock, it is what McCullum has played today. Came in with his team three down, battled against his natural instincts and has just willed and withstood everything that's been thrown at him. BJ Watling deserves just as much praise, holding one end up and frustrating India's bowlers.

Brendon McCullum composure was highlight of batting display

It was a sincere effort from Indian bowlers though, on a pitch that is getting flatter and flatter by the day. In fact it has turned into a batting beauty and Indians have to make sure that they don't allow New Zealand to take a huge lead and set India a mammoth target to chase in the fourth innings of the match.

New Zealand's captain Brendon McCullum played a workman like innings mixing caution with aggression and forcing India's captain MS Dhoni to set some unusual fields. 

What must be worrying Indian captain is the inability of his bowlers to take wickets when India is forcing for a victory. Just recently in South Africa, the hosts came very close chasing down a target of more than 450 set by India. In fact after being getting on top in game Indians managed to come close to loose it. India will be aware of that and will need to make sure that they don't get into desperate situation.

Earlier Zaheer Khan managed to pick up couple of wickets with new ball. He has taken 3 wickets in second innings so far after going wicket-less in first innings of the test match.

India could have made things easy for themselves if they hadn't drop quite a few simple catches. The catch dropped by Virat Kohli, not the first one he has dropped, of Brendon McCullum was a sitter and is already proving to be a costly mistake. Despite lapses in the field, Cheteshwar Pujara described India's fielding effort as 'fantastic' in a press conference and said that few mistakes on field are part and parcel of the game. He also credited bowlers for their efforts and praised New Zealand batsmen for putting up brave fight. As per Pujara India is still in dominating position and would look to pick up couple of wickets early at the start of play on 4th day.

Apart from Zaheer, Ravindra Jadeja kept things tight and also picked up 1 wicket.

Cricket fans have always something to say. Lets have a look at reactions on the cricket forum:

Blackholesun says: "Well played New Zealand !

And what a shame for India again. Seems like bowlers are back to their earlier ways. Just look at Johnson, 7 wickets followed by 5 to break the back of the same (more or less) that broked India's back. That is what is called fast bowling. When your bowlers are bowling at 130-135 Km / hr then your line and length needs to be very accurate and you might also need to depend on the pitch to do something

Can't do anything other than waiting for the next day. Hope our bowlers are able to pick up the remaining wickets as soon as possible.
One thing is sure that if this team is going to Australia, we are going to get a big thrashing there."

Rashindu Croos-Dabrera says: "It was refreshing and surprising to see Indians bat so well in their first innings. One thing they got it right, they attacked. That gave them lead and time, which the latter could be the pivotal point in Indians making the victory at last. We ll said that, there is still a big barrier ahead, which could prolong the victory and could even potentially lead to another famous defeat. Dare I must say though, its just one wicket away for Indians coming back, but they will need to make that soon rather than later for their sake and fans sake. Well played though Kiwis to live another day."

Cricketing Stargaer was surprised by the happenings of world cricket, especially the ICC rankings:"What s happening to world cricket? The winter started with South Africa, England & India #1, 2 & 3 in the rankings. England have lost 5-0 to Australia. South Africa are only playing 3 Tests, so can't do any worse than 3-0 and India are making a determined bid to be whitewashed by New Zealand, ranked #8 and a full 35 ranking points behind, which will be a massive rankings hit.

Realistically, India should still win comfortably on the 4th day. New Zealand need to bat nearly through the day and it will only take a single wicket for India to re-establish control. But it is an amazing effort by New Zealand from a lost position and India really are making this hard for themselves."

fair play thinks toss was really crucial, he says: "India is in a good position simply because Dhoni won the lottery on the first day on a green juicy wicket that made even Sharma look like a champion bowler but is wicketless so far in the 2nd innings.

Playing a test match with three specialist bowlers only and the tactics of containing runs in this 2nd innings rather than trying to take wickets is extremely defensive and doesn't really deserve a victory. If India continues with such tactics of trying to pile pressure by going batting heavy and hoping to score big, they will only win overseas sometimes and if they get lucky like this."

Silverbails was obviously angry with Indian bowling effort, as per him: "It looks like this pathetic Indian team are going to do their usual trick of pulling a definite loss from the jaws of a rare overseas victory!! If you drop a player of the sheer grit, determination and class as McCullum twice then you're really asking to get punished, which is exactly what was demonstrated at the Basin today. India don't really look like having the killer instinct in Tests, always letting teams time and again off the hook; having a clear inability to get the tailenders out. This match may go the full distance, depending upon what happens in the first hour of the fourth morning. And, there's even the very real possibility of India losing this one, to go 2 - 0 down. Why persist with Rohit Sharma and Ishant? They should be dropped immediately! ny chance is showing some fighting spirit Dhoni & Co. after quite an abysmal tour? Probably not, but here's hoping...I'm quite expecting a 1 - 0 or a 2- 0 win for the black caps. India should have a look and copy the Aussies." 

Obviously apart from the dropped catches, I believe the fact that we don't have a fourth seam bowling option has come to haunt us! I said this with many other Indian fans before the series started but MSD simply doesn't try to adapt when playing abroad. Even though Jadeja may not have gone for runs & luckily took one wicket, it always will be the seamers who get you the wickets on most of these grounds outside the subcontinent. So when you go in with just three seamers with one who is 35+ in age and they are asked to bowl a lot of overs, they naturally start getting tired & becoming less effective the more they have to bowl when the wicket is not as helpful as it was in the first innings. Very frustrating but just let us hope we get some early wickets in the morning, otherwise the same may emerge as today with NZ building a good lead.

But i wonder why is this panic alarm in Indian camp. I see no reason this match going into draw or India losing it. Be kool and calm, victory is on your doorsteps. this was a good fight back from NZ, but they cant stand for too long. even if they make another 200 runs, the good batting conditions, the strength of indian batting and the enormous time left in the test is on your side. Just be patient and give a time. Could have done better by snatching innings defeat but not be. But here is the consolation, a long waited, away test victory is on its way.Enjoy it!
 

Who is best among Pujara, Rahane, Kohli, Dhawan, and Rohit Sharma

Ajinkya Rahane, one of India's new young batsmen, today put India on top in wellington test against New Zealand with  his maiden test match century. He ended with 118 runs as India took a formidable lead of 246 runs. By the end of second day's play Indian bowlers had already taken 1 New Zealand wicket while the hosts still trail by 222 runs of India's total.

The scorecard at the end of 2nd day's play looked like this:

cricket score, New Zealand Vs Inda, 2nd test 2014 , stumps day 2 Wellington

Ajinkya Rahane played excellent knock and bought up his first test century, again highlighting the confidence the team management has shown in him. He missed a hundred in South Africa.

This is a new Indian team and the way new batsmen have been able to take responsibility is reassuring as far as future of Indian cricket is concerned.

The new talent consists of 5 major batsmen : 1) Cheteshwar Pujara 2) Virat Kohli 3) Shikhar Dhawan 4) Rohit Sharma 5) Ajinkya Rahane. Let us try and rank them based on their recent performance.

Rank #1 : Virat Kohli - First rank goes to Virat Kohli. This youngsters, right from the start of his career, has looked a special talent. He has shown that he can handle experienced test bowlers in their own conditions. His centuries in Australia, and South Africa, and many match winning knocks in ODI cricket are proof of the match winning contribution he has made to the Indian team. His main strength is his positive outlook and his ability to score quickly without playing any rash shots.

Rank#2 : Cheteshwar Pujara - He is in good books of all the X cricketers of India. He looks calm and composed but he is at 2nd place rather than 1 for us. This is because while kohli has shown the ability to dominate matches almost alone and change the complexion of the match single handed, Pujara hasn't shown such ability yet. He is close 2nd to Virat Kohli.

Rank #3 : Shikhar Dhawan - He is new Indian opener and has started to learn his trade recently. He took off with a world record fastest century on debut against Australia at Mohali. After that he struggle a bit against South African bowlers in their on conditions, but has hit back with a century and 98 runs innings in New Zealand. He was sensational in champions trophy held in England last year. Given that he had to face the new ball and that  he has not that much experience behind him, he has done quite well.

Rank#4 : Ajinkya Rahane - This classy batsmen is grabbing the opportunities with both hands. He had to wait long time before he finally get the opportunity to play in starting eleven of indian cricket team. He has shown excellent skills both in South Africa and New Zealand.

Rank#5 Rohit Sharma - He has been projected as the most talented Indian batsmen, mainly by cricketers from Mumbai, but he hasn't shown much of that, especially on foreign tours. He started off well with couple of test centuries. Also he had that double century in one day cricket, a rare feat to say the least. Overall though he needs to improve a lot and show the world what he has got to be called 'most talented'.

I know every one has his own opinion and many of you might not agree with my rankings of players. Never mind, you can always state your ranking by commenting on this cricket forum.

India vs NZ wellington test - Ishant Sharma 6 wickets help India bundles out New Zealand for 192

The move to grow extra inch of grass by New Zealand cricket board, on advice of captain Brendon McCullum, backfired big time as he lost the toss yet again against MS Dhoni the Indian captain. New Zealand batsmen found Indian bowlers, especially Ishant Sharma, too hot to handle and were unable to cope up with the pace and bounce generated from lanky fast bowler. The spell reminded of Ishant Sharma Vs Ponting in Australia.

Ishant Sharma had something to hit back at crictics

This sort of day must open the eyes of people like Mike Hesson who talked of testing Indian batsmen on green surfaces. Now he has to explain how inept his own batsmen were on such a pitch. He also must know that Indian seamers do a fine job when they get some assistance from the pitch. As for Team India, they need to be patient tomorrow during the first hour and then try to build a healthy first innings total. A lead of 100-150 is what is needed if they want to put pressure on NZ. Indian bowlers have delivered and now it is the batsmen who must stand up and put a good price on their wickets to enable Team India achieve the elusive test win.
New Zealand finished with 192 runs in board at the end of first innings, but India we sitting in a commanding position at the end of day's play at 100 runs for loss of just 2 wickets, thanks to brilliant 71 not out from Shikhar Dhawan. Murali Vijay was bit unlucky, again, to got out gloving the ball while leaving it at a personal score of 2. Cheteshwar Pujara tried to hang in there but couldn't handle the swing from Trent Boult and was trapped plumb in front of wickets as he was out LBW (Leg Before Wicket) at the score of 19 runs.

The scorecard, India vs New Zelaland 2nd test match, Wellington at the end of 1st day's play looked like this:

India vs New Zealand, cricket scorecard, stumps 1st day 2nd test 2014
at wellington

Earlier the day belonged to  ever criticized Ishant Sharma who made an immediate impact after Zaheer Khan, the most experienced bowler in current Indian lineup wasted the new ball and again did not manage to pick up a single wicket. His time at international level seems to be over and may be Umesh Yadav must be given a chance to perform.

Ishant Sharma has had a tough time. Critics have been after him as his returns in test cricket haven't been up to the expectations. There has been questions asked of him and his inability to produce spells like he produced at start of his career. Ishant Sharma so far has taken 158 wickets at a high average of  37.63 in 54 test matches. India looked at him as a future spearhead, sometime in past, but he hasn't quite lived up to the expectations. Although it will be only fair to say that he has been wasted by making him play on dead pitches in India and where spinners has more part to play with bowl then the fast men. Also captains haven't even given him opportunity to bowl at lower order batsmen in India. This is a part of reason of high average. Most overs, in India, are bowled by spinners and hence seam bowlers don't have opportunity to pick many wickets. This is quite different from other parts of world. Recently we saw in South Africa, where Dale Steyn wen wicket-less for most part of the match but he ended up with few wickets as the captain allowed him to polish off the tail.

The reactions from cricket fans are always interesting, and lets read some of them.

IndianSRTFan: "Good performance by India. The bowling unit was disciplined and Ishant and Shami have bowled very well. It is easy to overlook Zak's contribution but he didn't allow NZ openers to get away with a brisk start. Though India would dearly love some early wickets from him, his influence on other two bowlers was there too see particularly with him walking up to Shami and Ishant whenever they bowled too many boundary balls.
India has a hidden advantage here (at least in tests). Because it doesn't appear formidable at the first glance, the opposition batsmen are trying to dominate the Indian bowling attack almost from the word go. Indian bowlers have smartly used that to their advantage. In last 5-6 innings this has happened thrice. They are certainly far from consistent but there's a potential for a good pool of 5-6 fast medium bowlers all with different strengths. Batting is strong and with experience and a good varied bowling attack oversees wins will come. But we need to be patient here."

gundapps wasn't impressed with Zaheer Khan and rightly so, he says: "Good day for India - well played. However can't help but think that the Indians could have got NZ all out well below 150 had they included either Pandey or Bhuvi in place of Zaheer (he was quite unimpressive in these most helpful conditions). India might yet rue this selection blunder before they see the last of this Test since the conditions are such it is quite possible they may not get much of a lead in the first innings and will have to bat last."

Even after good bowling day there was bit of indiscipline. To get Kane Williamson out twice on no-balls is not misfortune. It is lack of basic discipline amongs't fast bowlers. Coaches have to stop them from bowling anything close to a no ball in practice if they are to avoid such spurious 'misfortune'.

Kapil Dev bowled only 23 no balls in his entire career in Test matches. That is less than one no ball in 500 deliveries ? 1 no ball every 6 Test matches. This has nothing to do with pace and all to do with discipline. Kapil's 0.18% of no balls is among the best since these were credited to bowlers and therefore records available.

Even Anil Kumble bowled 8 times more no balls than Kapil at 1.53 % and Shane Warne five times more at 1.03% .

Brett Lee bowled 640 no balls while taking 310 test wickets while that terror of a toe crusher from Pakistan, Waqar Younis bowled only 45 while taking 373 !

Richard Hadlee hardly EVER bowled a no ball. What misfortune are we talking about ?

Can India stop loosing streak by winning wellington test match vs New Zealand

In the recent past, India's overseas performance is as worst as it can ever be. Under MS Dhoni, the Indian team is going through its worst phase when it comes to winning test matches abroad. India have now lost more away Tests under Dhoni than any other captain. His win-loss ratio of 0.45, though, is much better than the captain he just went past, Mohammad Azharuddin. Rahul Dravid's 1.25 remains the best away win-loss ratio for an Indian captain.

Can MS Dhoni win one overseas test for India?

Question is when will this humiliation stop for India cricket? Earlier MS Dhoni was excused, as the ageing players nearing their retirement were identified as main reason for India's disappointing performances in England and Australia. Now youngsters have replaced them and have shown bit of improvement, to be fair, especially in batting department. In particular Murali Vijay, Virat Kohli, and Cheteshwar Pujara have shown the stomach for fight and to play out the hostile pace bowling on especially prepared green wickets for Indian batsmen. But bowling hasn't shown any improvement and this is the department that should lift itself if India has to win test matches. Afterall, its 20 wickets that wins you a test match, no matter how well you batted.

In South Africa the performance of batsmen was commendable, especially when one consider that almost all the new batsmen were on their first outing in the rainbow nation and there was huge lack of experience in those conditions. Same could be said about certain bowlers as well, but where India got hurt was the ineffectiveness of experienced bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, and Ravichandran Ashwin. India should have won the Johannesberg test, only if they had some reasonable bowlers. Not many teams get into such position of strength against South Africa, as India did.

The bowlers can take confidence from second innings of first test where they managed to bundle out New Zeland for just over a 100 run mark. Indian batsmen also put up great fight, although they ended up on loosing side with some major decisions not going their way. But they can't complain as they are the ones who are opposing DRS (Decision Review System) which could have saved them against the howlers. Umpires also seem to happy to give players out, on first instance, who are against their friend called DRS.

India will need a good start again from their opening batsmen. As I said before that Murali Vijay is making honest efforts, but he need to play a big inning and score some runs, as that is what matters in the end. India is a statistics mad country when it comes to cricket. Nobody remembers the fight, that opener did well to play off the new ball and took the shine off the ball, but they always talk in number of runs -especially centuries. Shikhar Dhawan, on the other hand, did manage to get monkey of his back a bit by scoring a classy 100. Virat kohli also looked determined, although he got out pulling a long hop. Sunil Gavaskar in his column pointed finger towards Kohli and ask him to take a mature approach rather than macho approach. Although, it looks a bit of overreaction and Virat Kohli is always been targeted for no reason for long time in Indian cricket despite giving some scintillating performances.

The most disappointing performers in indian cricket team are Rohit Sharma and Ajinkya Rahane. Both these players are continued to be promoted as 'talented players' by Mumbai lobby, but haven't shown any of that talent when playing for national team. Even yuvraj singh and VVS laxman, with their talent, were not given as much leeway as these tow have given, when it comes to performances in test match cricket. Obviously, double standards are continued to be practiced in Indian cricket. If India needs to stop the loosing streak and want to have wins rather than defeats against their name, they need to throw out non-performers, and need to back those who are real fighters. Ravindra Jadeja has shown himself to be one such fighter.

India also needs a better captaincy, a better leader. Sometimes it appears that there is too much talent on disposal of MS Dhoni, but to show the world that he has derived some special strategies, he makes the mockery of the game and his resources.

Hopefully India will win the second and final test match against New Zealand and come back with some confidence in hand before the start of Asia Cup.