...and think. That's the core of this mail from Dinesh Nambisan, which I figured I'd quote in full on here.

Wow, I'm quite stunned after reading all the regular news sites on cricket almost 2 days after the loss.

We Indian supporters are very very fickle, and I'm guessing the media is also riding along with the sentiments. I'm guessing your mailbox is overflowing with ex-pressions of anguish from Indian supporters in all corners of the globe (I usually use my anti-depression medication of popping in the WC2003 India-Pak match DVD and watch Tendulkar bat :-), but not this time).

After sleeping over and introspecting, I honestly don't think the situation is as bad as it looks, and there are several positives that came out of all this:


* You made the point that running three quarters of a marathon doesn't quite cut it anymore, fair enough. While there is definitely a long way to ago, I think we also need to acknowledge that we also have come a long way. Not too long ago our team would fold up their tents in the first quarter of the marathon itself. Little bit of intimidation and pressure, and we would roll over and play dead nicely; so at least we are fighting back more often than not.


* The Ganguly fiasco and now the agitation on whether SRT needs to be dropped has had the inadvertent effect on registering one thing crystal clear in the minds of the otherwise hero-worshipping
supporters: What a player did last year or earlier remains just that, players need to be selected purely on form and merit, reputations don't matter anymore.

I would expect to see a lot more of these "brutal" decisions being taken, and I would expect to see lesser outcry among the Indian supporters when it happens. All in all, good for the team and the cause from the long term point of view.

* Another side benefit of the above issue: we are now recognizing that batsmen specialize in a particular spot for a good reason, while some flexibility is good we cannot afford to shift batting orders to accommodate a player because it disrupts the team balance. When a Chappell argues for a particular player at a particular position, the intent is for better team balance and not for keeping another particular player out.

I would give a lot of credit to Ganguly for playing the way he did (even if he threw it away in the end), but I would argue that an Agarkar or a specialist opener would've been more useful in this match; just like all the reports now say (with the benefit of hindsight).

Earlier reports were that Chappell preferred Agarkar to Ganguly, now check out Rahul Banerji's latest on www.asianage.com where he claims Chappell wanted someone else to open in the second innings and save Dravid for later, but RD refused. Sometimes trying to become a martyr is pointless.


* The clear recognition of the fact that we lack quality fast bowling is becoming more apparent (yeah, yeah, I know we've been hollering for good fast bowlers for ages, but there was that brief period in between where we thought we had plenty of talent in Zaheer, Nehra, Agarkar, Pathan and Balaji) not just from the bowling attack point of view, but from the point of view of what it does to our batsmen as well.

When the likes of Tendulkar, VVS and Sehwag get bowled through the gates multiple times with balls that have a wee bit of movement, it goes to show that they have forgotten the basics of playing the moving ball, and mostly because of the lack of practice against quality fast bowling and because they are using to playing on docile pitches where you simply need to plonk the front foot down and hit through the line. Yep, that very old issue of "sporting wickets" that has been flogged to death with zero results till date.

Also, I think the fitness aspect has been sort of missed in the media; I, for one, thought (and I think you mentioned it too) that the lack of pace and back-bending from our trio was more due to fatigue (or laziness?) than anything else.

* Regarding the SRT question, I think this is the defining moment with either of the likely outcomes being positive for the Indian team overall. Either he shakes off his mental issues and comes out with guns blazing (he does need a little bit of luck, he has been a bit unlucky lately), or he thinks he can no longer do it (being a supporter, I would disagree, but I'll save that for late) and walks off gracefully into the sunset.

* Ultimately, it is just bad execution in 2-3 sessions for us that lost 1 match out of 3; and on engineered pitches. I wouldn't spend too much tears on it. Just like I wouldn't rush to declare our team far superior if we win comprehensively against the Pakis on a crumbling wicket in India.

In the next few matches, this team will likely show which way it is headed. Either the team can crumble and the chemistry will be gone (in which case we will need a serious overhaul anyway), or this will bring them together and they will deliver much better results, and I'm hoping for the latter.