14th Jan' 2012 : Day 2, Perth

There was a hint of fightback by the Indian fielding side, as they clawed back in the game to some extent... though by the end of day's play the batsmen had already frittered away the initiative. 

Resuming at 149 for no loss, Warner & Cowan started from where they had left & runs flowed with ease. However, there was discipline in Indian bowling today & with score at 193, Zaheer forced Warner to nick a rising delivery....it could have been an early & much needed breakthrough but Virat Kohli spilled the chance. Cowan at the other end reached his second 50 of the series, & Australia were looking good for a very big score. 

But India did fight back & commendably....for once the match looked evenly poised. Hard working Umesh Yadav bent his back & got rich rewards, as Zaheer lend excellent support. Cowan was the first to go & after that the brittle Aussie batting line up crumbled slowly but surely. Once Warner got caught out in the deep for a brilliant 180 runs, the rest caved in quite tamely. 10 wickets gone for just 155 runs.....Umesh Yadav picking up a well deserved 5 wicket haul. The 1st innings lead which looked like going beyond 300-400 runs at the end of yesterday, had stopped at 208 runs...... a thin life line for India to claw back in the game. A huge lead certainly, but in the context of the game thus far, India had done well to breathe a comeback. But sadly, that's all the Indian dream could stretch to. The 3rd session of the day, simply decimated any chances that India might have created. 

Coming into bat for the 2nd innings, it was expected that the Indian batting line up will finally live upto the reputation. But it was all pipe dreams.....there was simply no spine....no application......no desire to build. Gambhir, Sehwag, Sachin, Laxman gone....the top order crumbling yet again with a mere 51 runs on board. At the end of days play, Dravid & Kohli were hanging on to dear life, with score at 88 for 4, needing another 120 runs to make Australia bat again. The match certainly out of hands. Its now a matter of time tomorrow. Dravid & Kohli may delay the consequences for a while tomorrow, but I don't see anything else happening, other than an Indian defeat....question is, whether it will be an innings defeat or get Aussies to bat again !!  

So tame & insipid has been the batting in this series, against an inexperienced Aussie attack, that questions would certainly come up on the future capabilities. For certain heads would roll.....Laxman...maybe Dravid too....look like staring at the exit door of their illustrious career........