RAHUL DRAVID NOT SET TO RETIRE

"I am definitely nearer the end than the beginning, there is no doubt about that," Dravid told Channel Nine. "I haven't made any decision and there is no need to make any decisions now, we're not playing another Test match for seven to eight months so we'll see how it pans out. At my stage in my career it's always about taking it a series at a time and not looking too far ahead, so we'll see what happens."

Dravid was in bad form during India's 0-4 whitewash in Australia, scoring only 194 runs at an average of 24. His failure came after good performances in his previous two series - 319 runs at an average of 64 against West Indies at home, and 461 runs at an average of 77 in England.

"We haven't done so well abroad over the last couple of series but I'm hopeful that some of the young kids will come through. It might take a bit of time but we'll build up a strong base.

"India needs to be a strong Test-playing nation, there are not too many countries playing cricket and I think if India is competitive in Test cricket it does make a difference."

FUTURE OF INDIAN CRICKET

another whitewash in the hands of the struggling aussies.things dosent seem good for the indian cricket right now so what all could have gone wrong for the indians went horribly wrong so how long will it take for the indian team to recover from the debacle the fab four of the indian team RAHUL DRAVID , SACHIN TENDULKAR , VVS LAXMAN & VIRENDER SEWAGH all faltered with the man who troubled the aussies for a long time a person who became famous because of his memorable knocks against the famed australians struggled the most really rumours are on that he is really going to retire his performances in the tour down under is really horrible with ravichandran ashwin scoring more runs than laxman things does not seem so good for laxman
MY THOUGHT IS  THAT THE SENIORS SHOULD NOT RETIRE AND THEY SHOULD BE USED IN A PHASED MANNER

The batsmen kept failing but kept getting picked and kept batting in the same positions on the top of that. The bowlers lacked the control; Ishant Sharma carried his flaws and misfortune, which might or might not be inter-related, despite a strong and specialised coaching staff; the old men without the runs didn't write off the debts they incurred in the field; the openers were found out, but everybody kept talking of a time in the past when they used to win.

They used to win no doubt but never as comprehensively as they have lost over their last two series. It was a team skating on thin ice, albeit skating exceptionally well until earlier this year, but the ice has given away now. The rescue squad is of the view it will prepare better ice at home.

They can't pinpoint a time when the desperation, the mongrel, left this team. Was it when the seniors passed a certain age - and can cricketers age all of a sudden? Was it when surgeries were postponed so that IPL could be played and Tests missed? Was it when the previous 4-0 whitewash was not even part of the board's recap of the last year at its awards function? Did the World Cup win exhaust them and sate them at the same time? This is all conjecture, and possibly unfair, but the fans are asking themselves these questions.

VVS Laxman remained strangely passive at the crease, and only in Adelaide - a Test he shouldn't have played in the first place - did he move his guard to middle stump to counter the fifth-stump line. Rahul Dravid knew his back foot was not moving across, and he tried his darnedest in the nets to overcome it, but could not manage it. Sachin Tendulkar began the summer gloriously, and still looked the best equipped technically, but that is where it stopped.

INDIA vs AUSTRALIA TEST REPORT

Michael Clarke knew when he won the toss that this Adelaide Oval pitch would be perfect for batting. As the team's No.5, he wasn't expecting to be in before lunch. When he and Ricky Ponting came together in the opening session, Australia were 3 for 84. It wasn't quite precarious, but nor was it secure. By stumps, they were 3 for 335. Clarke and Ponting both had hundreds. It was Australia Day, 48 hours early.

On a day when the temperature hit 37C, the Indians were down on energy and, by stumps, they were down on hope. The series was already lost, but this match was a chance to regain some respect. For a session, it appeared they were going to do that. Of course, if the pitch remains this good, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Co might also fill their boots, but first they'll need to get through Australia.

Already the Ponting-Clarke partnership had swollen to 251, and was reminiscent of their 288-run stand at the SCG earlier this month. That partnership was followed by an even better triple-century stand between Clarke and Michael Hussey. The captain MS Dhoni was unable to find a way to break through that combination, and he might have been glad of his suspension for slow over rates as he watched Sehwag struggle with a similar scenario in Adelaide.

Not that India didn't have their chances. On 36, Clarke chased a wide delivery from Ishant Sharma and edged to where first slip should have been, but Sehwag had the fielder floating at second slip instead. So early in an Adelaide Test it was a strange field setting. Not long after, Sehwag removed the slips entirely. How he intended to find a wicket was anyone's guess.

Shortly before stumps, Ishant again found the edge against Clarke, on 133 at the time, with the second new ball. This time there were two slips in, but VVS Laxman at second could not cling on diving to his right. It would be understandable to be exhausted in mind and body at the end of a long, hot day, but India simply needed every half-chance to be taken.

By the close, Clarke was on 140 and had overtaken Ponting, who flew out of the blocks before settling in throughout the afternoon and went to stumps on 137. It was Ponting's second century of the series, and unless he makes a surprise retirement announcement, he will be on the plane to the West Indies for Australia's next Test tour in April.

It was apparent from the start of his innings that Ponting was in vintage touch. He played three classic Ponting strokes, a punchy straight drive, a searing pull and a back-foot drive through the off side. All were perfectly timed and all ran away to the boundary, and after lunch the runs kept coming with lofts off the spinners, crunchy drives and ones and twos that kept the scoreboard ticking over.

At the other end, Clarke was already catching up, having taken to the offspin of R Ashwin. He brought up his fifty with a lofted boundary over mid-on off Ashwin, and followed with three boundaries in another Ashwin over, all through the off side, as runs flowed easily for the Australians. Clarke's century arrived from his 133rd delivery with a steer to the third-man boundary off Umesh Yadav, who had a horror day and finished with 0 for 87 off 12 overs.

Clarke's innings was all the more impressive given the situation when he came to the crease shortly before lunch. Early in the day's play, Sehwag showed some tactical nous by introducing Ashwin within the first 15 minutes. His intention was to keep a check on David Warner, who had launched Umesh Yadav back over his head for an all-run four in the second over of the game.

Warner was keen to go after the fast men but was more hesitant against the spin, and while it was the Zaheer Khan who trapped Warner lbw for 8, Sehwag's move had ensured Warner stayed quiet. Ashwin added a breakthrough of his own when he pushed a ball through the big gap between bat and pad left by Shaun Marsh, who was anticipating spin and missed a straight one.

The ball clipped his off stump and Marsh was out for 3, continuing his horror series and perhaps giving John Inverarity's selection panel an easy decision when Shane Watson returns from injury. Marsh's Test scores since returning from a back injury now read 0, 3, 0, 11, 3. From either side, only Nathan Lyon is averaging less with the bat than Marsh this series.

After Marsh departed, Ponting and Ed Cowan steadied with a 53-run partnership, both men keen to keep the scoreboard ticking, but a lapse in concentration on 30 ended Cowan's innings. He drove Ashwin straight to short cover and it was a soft dismissal, especially coming as it did within a quarter of an hour of the lunch break, on a pitch promising plenty of runs.

After lunch, Ponting and Clarke showed Cowan what he was missing. And they showed India how hard it would be to finish the Test series with a consolation win.

Royal Challengers Bangalore retain Chris Gayle

Gayle has been retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the next two IPL seasons. The Royal Challengers had rights to Gayle's services after he represented them as a replacement for Dirk Nannes in the previous year. Though the amount he has been signed for is yet undisclosed, it is to be revealed to the IPL authorities and will be deducted from the Royal Challengers' auction purse.

"We are delighted to make Chris Gayle a permanent member of our IPL squad. We are confident that with players like him in our side, we will take the extra step this season, and win our maiden IPL title," Sidhartha Mallya, Director, Royal Challengers Sports Pvt Ltd, said in a release.

"To me, Bangalore has been a home away from home," Gayle said. "I wanted to continue playing for them, and it turned out that they were keen to retain my services."

The IPL trading window closes on Friday, January 20, and the Royal Challengers had the option to either retain Gayle or leave him to be open for auction on February 4. He went unsold at the auction last year and the maximum amount the Royal Challengers could pay him was $650,000, the amount Nannes was bought for. He joined them on a one-year contract and topped the run-charts in the 2011 season. This year, however, he could be bought for a significantly higher amount; the purse each franchise has been allowed is $2 million.

Gayle was in prime form in the IPL last year, playing a crucial role in Royal Challengers' journey to the final. He struck two centuries, three half-centuries, picked up eight wickets - a prize catch for any franchise that had his services for the season to follow. A BCCI official, at the time when Gayle's future was uncertain, told ESPNcricinfo that the Royal Challengers were keen on signing Gayle but would have to shell out a large portion of their purse to convince him. "Bangalore want Gayle because they see the cricketing merit in the decision as he helped them to the final last year," the official had said. "But if they decide to sign a deal with him, they will have to pay big money and if they do that they will be left with nothing much at the auction."

The Mumbai Indians, a richer franchise than the Royal Challengers, were also interested in signing Gayle but Royal Challengers made use of their first rights to his services.

Déjà vu for Sehwag in Adelaide

Certain places, when you go there for a second time, make you look back at what has gone by since the previous time you were there. Sometimes they give you the impression life might have come a full circle. Wonder if he feels his life has come a full circle now. He, though, will want it to be just half the spin.

When Sehwag last came here, he was fighting for his career. The year prior to that, 2007, had been tumultuous. He and India had failed at the World Cup. In a bizarre selection move, he went on to be dropped from the Tests and not ODIs, even though he had been doing well in the longer format. Then, just before Australia, the captain Anil Kumble insisted he wanted Sehwag. By the time India reached Adelaide, Sehwag had played one Test without great results, and was facing what was in essence a last chance. 

. . He reached great heights during that period, and started laying genuine claims to being an all-time great.

Starting 2010 things began to go downhill again for him, but India kept performing well. They drew a series in South Africa, and won the World Cup. After that all the garbage has hit the fan. India have lost seven away Tests in a row, and the golden era of Indian cricket is almost over. Sometime during that period Sehwag delayed a shoulder surgery, played on in the IPL, missed the West Indies tour, and couldn't recover in time for the England trip. That hundred in Adelaide now seems a century ago, and Sehwag's contributions outside the subcontinent have dwindled drastically since then.

From Adelaide to Adelaide he has done nothing outside Asia. He has toured New Zealand, South Africa, England (albeit forced to play through injury during crisis there) and Australia, and doesn't have a single big innings to his name. Every other Indian first-choice top-five batsman has done something over the period. Gautam Gambhir, VVS Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar had fruitful tours of New Zealand and South Africa, and Rahul Dravid scored three centuries in England. Sehwag's lack of runs only got amplified when the middle order began to fail too.

It would be unfair to dismiss Sehwag as a subcontinent bully. In the previous cycle, he did well against the moving ball. His first century, on debut, was against a red-hot South African bowling unit in Bloemfontein. Out of his comfort zone, opening the innings, he scored runs in England and Australia. He scored runs on the New Zealand trip in 2002-03 when most batsmen on either side struggled to lay bat on ball.

The thing with Sehwag, though, is that a great innings is never too far, or it at least seems so. The opposition fears that, and his team picks him because of that. Since Adelaide 2008, though, he has just been a great frontrunner on certain kind of tracks, the utility of which can't be written off.

The usual criticism that he gets away too often with a "that's how he plays" shrug doesn't apply now. For, in Australia he has put his head down, and tried to fight through the early movement. It hasn't worked for him, though, and it has resulted in the dismissals he hates the most: the ones that come when he is defending. At least he has tried to change his game when the situation demanded it.

Perhaps you need better footwork when the bowling is accurate and the ball is moving. The ball he got in the first innings at the WACA, for example, was near unplayable, pitching leg, swinging away late, making him play. Then again, the only way to survive those is to either be lucky in missing them or to move well forward in defence.

Perhaps Sehwag could get away with just the hand-eye coordination when he was younger. Perhaps, in hindsight, he should have been used in the middle order in this series. It is a desperate move - to ask Dravid to open again so Sehwag can be utilised better in the middle order where the ball doesn't move that much - but India have been through times so desperate they could justify any desperation. Not that Dravid would have complained, and at any rate he has been an almost default opener. Strangely, though, this team has lacked the desperation - in the mind and on the field.

At this stage of his career, when he will have to be the link between the era almost over and the one that will take over, Sehwag needs more runs outside the subcontinent. That stands between Sehwag and genuine greatness. Runs inside India over the next two years won't help if he is going to struggle over the year after that, which is almost exclusively made up of cricket in testing conditions away from home. Maybe the next two years is a good time for him to drop into the middle order, something he has always wanted to do, and for India to look for another solid opener, although there are no guarantees the said new opener will be successful overseas.

Ironically, when the time is ripe to debate Sehwag's role in the side, he has come to Adelaide as the captain of the team. He will be an important part of the transition over the next two years, the leader of the batting unit when the big three are gone. The series is gone, a long period of recovery beckons, but there will be no complaints if Sehwag starts it in earnest.

Typical Adelaide track might give India respite

The Adelaide Oval might provide the under-the-pump Indian batting line-up some respite with a typical Adelaide pitch, which is usually good for batting without monsters in it. Four days before the start of the Test, the strip - same as the one used in the Ashes Test that Australia lost on the fifth day - sports an even covering of grass, but it seems dry. More hot days are forecast in the lead-up to the Test, and Adelaide is scorching in the mid-to-late 30s right now.

"The heat will definitely dry the pitch out and it's reasonably dry already," Damien Hough, the Adelaide Oval curator, said. "There'll be a little in it on day one, but Adelaide Oval traditionally is a good batting pitch with a bit of spin on days three, four and five. It will always produce spin later on as the game goes. Normally there will be a little bit of inconsistent bounce on days four and five, so I wouldn't expect anything else."

Hough, though, said the pitch did look greener this year that was because he wanted good carry, and also guard against the dry and hot week in the lead-up to the Test. "We're trying to get a pitch with as much bounce and carry as we can possibly get," he said. "We want something that will settle down well for the batters on days two and three, and variable bounce on days four and five, and something in there for the spinners."

Hough said that didn't have anything to do with early finishes to the previous Tests and the pressure to take the Test into the fifth day. "I have had no such communication," Hough said. "I'm just here to produce a sporting pitch. I'll leave it up to the teams to fight that out."

For all of Adelaide's reputation of being a batsman's paradise, only three Tests have been drawn here since 1990-91. A part of it has to be down to the Australian domination for a majority of this period. The rest, Hough said, could have something to do with the seam movement when the pitch is fresh on day one, and variable bounce towards the end of the match, which has led to many a third-innings collapse. India's only win here came thanks to a third-innings collapse.

DHONI BANNED FROM THE ADELAIDE TEST

 India's captain, has been banned for the Adelaide Test after India were found to be two overs short of the required over-rate in Perth. In Dhoni's absence, Virender Sehwag will captain the side in Adelaide. W Saha, who debuted in Nagpur as a specialist batsman in unusual circumstances against South Africa in 2009-10, is the reserve wicketkeeper on tour.

India sent down 76 overs in 362 minutes in the only innings they bowled in at the WACA ground. There were allowances made for the 10 wickets they took and other interruptions for movement behind sight screen and injury timeouts, but India were still found short.

Dhoni pleaded guilty, and said he was aware of the regulations. He was fined 40% of his match fees, and the rest of the team was docked 20% each. This was India's second over-rate offence in the last 12 months. Dhoni had been on notice after India were found short in Barbados in June-July last year.

The rule regarding the over-rate offences was changed last June. Earlier captains were allowed three such offences within a period of 12 months before they were banned, but in its meeting in Hong Kong the ICC board accepted the ICC cricket committee recommendation that captains of international sides be suspended for a match when found guilty of two such transgressions within 12 months.

India played four fast bowlers in Perth, a tactic which might have eventually pulled their over-rate down.

Australia demolish India by an innings to go up 3-0

Australia's fast bowlers completed an innings-and-37-run destruction of India minutes after lunch on day three of the third Test, snatching the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the most emphatic style imaginable. Ryan Harris split a stubborn stand between Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid before Peter Siddle nicked out MS Dhoni in the shadows of the interval, and Ben Hilfenhaus razed the tail with three wickets in five balls on resumption.

Siddle found Kohli's outside edge to complete proceedings, heralding the start of rich celebrations for the hosts following victory over opponents who never came to terms with the challenges posed by Australia's bowlers and conditions. The performance of the match was by a home batsman however, and it was a measure of the Man-of-the-Match David Warner's 180 that India's batsmen fell short of his individual tally in each innings.

His efforts gave the pace ensemble a chance to squeeze India, and all the bowlers contributed in another strikingly even performance. Harris will bowl far worse and claim five wickets rather than the one he plucked in the second innings, while Siddle and Hilfenhaus maintained their outstanding marriage of pressure and late movement. Mitchell Starc, of course, had made two critical breaks on the second evening.

Dravid and Kohli provided the staunchest Indian batting resistance of the match in a union of 84, but were never completely in control against Harris, who deservedly found a way past Dravid towards the end of an exacting spell. Siddle's dismissal of Dhoni was a familiar sight, the captain's edge snapped up by Ricky Ponting in the cordon.

Kohli's innings was a beacon of hope for India's future, demonstrating strong technique and a stronger mind to cope with Australia's bowling that did not flag in considerable heat. Following up a similarly composed 44 in the first innings, it may warrant a promotion in the batting order for Adelaide.

Resuming at 4 for 88, still 120 short of going into credit, Dravid and Kohli had plenty of testing moments in the opening overs. Harris' first two deliveries of the day did everything but bowl Dravid, angling in and seaming away, while at the other end Hilfenhaus swung the ball tantalisingly away with the help of a south-westerly breeze.

Kohli was the more assured of the batting duo, collecting his runs quietly with ones and twos, reining in his most aggressive tendencies in a struggle for survival against bowling that offered precious little latitude.

Harris, in particular, posed question after question, taking advantage of a crack on a length at the Lillee-Marsh Stand end to bring the ball sharply back into Kohli and Dravid. Dravid was late to react to some subtle inswing, the ball swerving between bat and pad to send leg stump cartwheeling. Dravid shuffled off, bowled five times in six innings during the series.

Dhoni's technique has been found similarly wanting, and once again he would edge tamely into the cordon. Siddle's delivery was full, fast and swinging, and Ponting's hands at second slip were alert and safe. Nevertheless, the dismissal was another grim reflection on the batting of Dhoni, who has always struggled to replicate his subcontinental run-scoring on foreign shores.

Lunch came and went, Kohli still harbouring the desire to reach a century. But Hilfenhaus was not in a mood to countenance charity. Bashing the ball in short of a length, he had Vinay Kumar and Zaheer Khan fencing to Michael Clarke at slip in consecutive balls, and while Ishant Sharma survived the hat-trick delivery, he fended his third straight to Ed Cowan at short leg.

Umesh Yadav survived one ball to give Kohli the strike, but Siddle probed the perfect line and length once more to coax a touch behind and seal a series that has been more lopsided than anyone can have imagined.

Warner's blazing ton destroys India

David Warner smote a magnificently brazen century to rush Australia to 0 for 149 after their quartet of fast bowlers dismantled India for 161 in dishearteningly familiar scenes for the visitors on day one of the third Test at the WACA ground.

In what was the joint fourth-fastest century in Tests, Warner utterly demoralised India in the company of the relatively obdurate but still free-scoring Ed Cowan. Warner was momentarily stopped by a blow to the head from Umesh Yadav, but recovered to clout his next two deliveries to the fence and moved from 95 to 101 with a rasping club over wide long-on from the bowling of the debutant Vinay Kumar. Unbeaten at the close, he did not give a chance.

The match is now streaking away from the tourists, who had placed themselves in a position of peril with another abject batting display. Sent in to bat by Michael Clarke on a pitch promising early movement in addition to its customary bounce and pace, India were 4 for 63 at lunch, and subsided not long after tea to undo the grafting of Virat Kohli and VVS Laxman, who added 68 in the afternoon to momentarily blunt the hosts.

That partnership aside, India once again failed to cope with the swing, seam and disciplined line of the home attack, comprising Ryan Harris, Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle and Mitchell Starc. Upon his dismissal of Laxman, Siddle sank to his haunches, in a sign of how much a hot day in Perth had drained Australia's bowlers despite their regular wickets, and he did not re-emerge after tea.

Hilfenhaus removed Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir at either end of the morning session before helping to round up the tail, while Siddle accounted for Rahul Dravid, bowled for the fourth time in five innings. Harris was sturdy in his first Test appearance since November last year, and had the wicket of Sachin Tendulkar to show for it. Starc nabbed two of the last four wickets.

Warner and Cowan began not long after tea, intent on building their most substantial opening stand together. There were a few nervy moments early as Zaheer Khan gained some early swing, and Cowan edged centimetres short of Tendulkar at first slip.

However Warner was striking the ball crisply, and he was given added impetus when Ishant Sharma chanced a few jibes. Warner responded with fighting words and a flailing bat, in what soon became a rare exhibition of unbridled batting aggression.

He drove Zaheer through mid off, pulled Yadav wide of mid on, and greeted Vinay's entry to Test cricket with the most impudent straight six. Warner would save his most telling blow for Ishant, who delivered a length ball only to watch it sail back over his head and rows back into the crowd.

Cowan was moving along quite swiftly himself, driving and pulling with good sense, and together he and Warner looked the most perfect of contrasts. In the space of 17 overs Warner had sprinted to 80, on what now looked the most friendly of pitches.

Warner's eagerness to attack brought him one moment's discomfort when he was too swiftly through a hook at Yadav and suffered a blow to the side of the head and helmet. After gathering himself and calling for new headgear, he spanked the next two balls to the boundary - there was toughness to go with the terrorising of India's bowlers.

His century duly and deservedly arrived before the close, and a sell-out crowd rose unanimously to salute two hours of awe-inspiring destruction.

India's openers fared very differently. They were confronted by a pitch that looked green but was already beginning to show evidence of cracking, which suggested it was not as moist as it appeared. Nonetheless there was still plenty of swing, seam and bounce on offer to Australia's bowlers, requiring astute judgment of line and length.

Sehwag had been at the centre of plenty of pre-match bluster surrounding his natural method, and the batsman looked tentative in his brief stay. Sehwag only faced four balls, the last of which was a beautifully pitched Hilfenhaus away swinger that flicked the edge and was well held by Ricky Ponting in the cordon.

Dravid walked to the wicket having been bowled in three out of four innings, and played at more than he might otherwise have done to avoid a repeat. He struggled for timing, however, and was so intent on defence that when Siddle delivered a leg side ball of full length, Dravid's unnecessarily conservative posture turned it into a yorker that clattered into middle stump via the pads.

Tendulkar drew applause for a trio of straight drives from Siddle that recalled his sparkling 114 at the ground in 1992, but was not in total command. Harris was rewarded for two unstinting spells before lunch when he seamed one back to pin Tendulkar in front of the stumps.

Next over Hilfenhaus ended Gambhir's stony-faced occupation, whizzing an offcutter across the left-hand batsman to prompt a push away from the body and an edge through to Brad Haddin. Gambhir admonished himself for succumbing to a nick for the fifth time in as many innings, the victim of another intelligent display of full, fast bowling from Australia.

Laxman and Kohli were more or less India's last hope of a substantial total, and their batting in the first hour of the afternoon was suitably grave. Starc, Hilfenhaus, Harris and Siddle continued to bowl well, but neither batsman offered quite so much in the way of probing bats that their predecessors had done. The ball grew older, the pitch settled under the sun, and the batsmen grew a little more comfortable.

The stand was gathering strength and tea was less than 10 minutes away when Siddle made a critical break. Bowling full and swinging wider, he tempted Kohli to press too eagerly forward, and the low chance was held by Warner at point. In Siddle's next over Laxman pushed firmly at a length delivery and offered a catch to Clarke at first slip.

Starc had been threatening to bowl the perfect inswinger for most of the day, and it was Vinay Kumar who received it to be palpably lbw. MS Dhoni played an ordinary stroke at Hilfenhaus to be caught in the slips, though Zaheer's ugly smear at the same bowler was arguably worse. Ishant edged Starc behind to complete what had become a procession - the last six wickets falling for 30.

DROP LAXMAN AND GET ROHIT IN

"I would still drop VVS [Laxman] and get Rohit [Sharma] in for next Test. Makes long-term sense. Give Virat [Kohli] one more Test ... just to be sure he does not belong here. VVS averages 20 in last 12 overseas innings. Even if he gets a good score in next Test, it will not serve India long. Also if Virat, before the tour, was India's next big thing, should he not get more than two Tests on his first stint in Australia?"
Commentator and former India batsman, Sanjay Manjrekar. 

"I think the left-arm spinner [Pragyan Ojha] could come in and do well. He's a good bowler and he's ready, and Ashwin obviously hasn't bowled well. I thought Umesh Yadav bowled very well in Melbourne, so you can't leave him out after one bad Test match, and he had bowled very well previous to that. It was probably just one of those Test matches for him."Former India captain, Sourav Ganguly

"A line-up may look brilliant on paper, but whether it's the best or not depends how it fares on the given day. Retirement is something a player should understand. But if you are not performing and the team isn't winning, your past laurels shouldn't help you retain a berth."
Kapil Dev, former India captain and allrounder

"We can't always think short-term. We need to start building a team as well. Sachin [Tendulkar] still has the class, Rahul [Dravid] is very hard working but I am not sure how long Laxman will be able to continue. You can't phase out all the three seniors at a time. You have to do that gradually. The youngsters will learn only in the company of the seniors."
Anshuman Gaekwad, former India opener and coach

"I would play both Virat and Rohit in Perth. You should let Virat play. He should be given more chances. If you drop him now, he will not enjoy his cricket anymore."
Kiran More, former India wicketkeeper and former selector

"I am sure many in this team now must be fearful of their future. Many don't have the back-foot play to ride over the pace, bounce and movement of these tracks. Nor do they have the patience to let deliveries outside off stump go harmlessly to the keeper ... the visitors need to break the mould in which they presently are trapped. Do they need to go for a change of personnel? They do. Rohit Sharma must be given an opportunity.
Ravi Shastri, commentator and former India allrounder

"The pendulum has shifted. Indian cricket must be bold and be prepared to lose with younger players. Let them learn the ropes. There is no point losing with declining giants."
Maninder Singh, former India offspinner

"The bitter truth is that we don't have new champion players who can take up the mantle. We might have left the best behind. We've been spoilt by success in the past 10-12 years. The big batting guns have long covered up other shortcomings but they are nearing the end. The increased dependence on Tendulkar after more than two decades is a sign of poverty."
Dilip Vengsarkar, former India captain and former chairman of selectors

"If you need to, play Dravid lower down and give the future No. 3 a go, maybe [Cheteshwar] Pujara. Play [Virender] Sehwag lower down if need be. Nothing is set in stone. We not only lack spirit and attitude but also the skill to adjust our technique. Our captain desperately needs ideas too."
Former India opener Chetan Chauhan

India to name limited-overs squad on January 15

The BCCI's selection committee will meet in Chennai on January 15 to pick the squad for the limited-overs leg of the Australia tour. India who are playing two Twenty20s against Australia from February 1, and then a tri-series that also involves Sri Lanka.

In a letter sent to the five national selectors, dated January 7, Sanjay Jagdale, the BCCI secretary, has asked chief selector Krish Srikkanth and his colleagues to assemble in Chennai to pick the squad. The panel is likely to pick a 16-man squad, and allrounder Yuvraj Singh will in all probability return. Yuvraj, who has been convalescing from a lung tumor, said last week that he has 'completely recovered and been training for the last two weeks'.

in 2008, India, under MS Dhoni, had won the Commonwealth Bank Series, which also involved Sri Lanka. They beat Ricky Ponting's Australia 2-0 in the best-of-three finals, played in Sydney and Brisbane. That victory came immediately after India had lost a hard-fought Border-Gavaskar Trophy by a 1-2 margin. This time around, India are already 2-0 down, going into the third Test that begins at the WACA this Friday.

Incidentally, in 2008 the Commonwealth Bank, the sponsor of the tri-series, had decided to discontinue sponsorship. Now it has revived the deal, primarily due to the extra value it fetches in terms of TV rights.

THE PITCH FOR THE PERTH TEST

SWEET CHIN MUSIC AWAITING THE INDIANS
WHERE IS THE PITCH GUYS THE PITCH HAS MORE GRASS THAN THE OUTFIELD MAN WOFF

'It is about putting the team first' - Michael Clarke

Where others saw records or dollar signs, Michael Clarke could only surmise Australia's chances of victory. In declaring on 329 not out after a stand of 334 with Michael Hussey, Clarke gave his side half the match to round up India a second time, and had taken two choice wickets in the form of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid before the close.

Against a nation that has a well-entrenched fascination, even obsession, with individual run-scoring achievements, Clarke's decision drew plenty of post-play questions about why he had not gone on in pursuit of Brian Lara's 400, or even surpassed Don Bradman and Mark Taylor only five runs further on from his tally. But Clarke was adamant that the pursuit of the win came first.

I didn't think about it at all, I didn't have Don Bradman or Mark Taylor's score in my head whatsoever," Clarke said. "It was about trying to get the team to a number, a total I thought would be a good score to make a declaration, then have a crack this afternoon to get a couple of wickets.

"I think it is about putting the team first, that's why we play. What I love most about this game is seeing this team win. I've always been like that as a player and I'll be no different as a captain. If it was best for the team to continue batting I would have continued to bat."

While he stopped short of such records, Clarke could be content with the highest Test score ever made at the SCG, surpassing RE Foster's 287 for England more than a century ago. He said the magnitude of his innings would not sink in until the match ended, preferably in victory for his side.

"I don't think it'll sink in properly until we win the Test match," Clarke said. "That's why we play, that was my goal walking out there today. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked that I've managed to make 300-odd runs in this Test match, but the most important thing for me now is we win the Test.

"That was a big part of the reason for my declaration. I spoke to Huss just before we declared and I really wanted him to make 150, he deserved it, and once he got that I thought now we have a 450-run lead, it is a good time to pull up stumps and try to get a couple of wickets tonight.

"I didn't expect to score 300 in one innings, so the fact I've done that I'm stoked, and [as for] all the other records, I'm happy where I sit to be honest."

Clarke said the most testing aspect of his innings was simply to sustain his energy and concentration over nearly two days of batting. His previous first-class best of 201 not out for New South Wales had receded a long way into the distance by the time he had finished.

"Batting the amount of time for me [was the toughest thing]. I've never batted that long in any form of the game in any team in my career," he said. "Physically I felt pretty good, when I came to the ground I felt pretty fresh, and my body felt in a pretty good position. It's just the mental application and concentration that you need to have."

Clarke's application has if anything been enhanced by the captaincy, and he is now doing great things in the role to earn the respect of his team and the Australian public. The former captain Mark Taylor has said vice-captaincy can be difficult when the leader is a figure a legendary as Allan Border or Ricky Ponting, but Clarke said he had appreciated the apprenticeship, too.

"I've said it a million times and I'll say it again, it's about respect, continuing to earn the public's respect and that's all I've ever wanted," he said. "People are going to dislike me, that's life, the way it is, but the most important thing for me, especially being the Australian captain now, you want your home fans to respect you, so that's all I've ever asked for.

"I enjoyed the vice-captaincy a lot. I thought it was fantastic to sit underneath Ricky and learn as much as I could from him, learn about leadership, learn about captaincy, learn about what it takes off the field to captain Australia. That probably opened my eyes to leadership more than anything else.

"And I've enjoyed this challenge. It's an honour and privilege to captain Australia, there's a lot that goes with it, but I'm enjoying it at the moment. The team having some success obviously makes life a lot easier. We've got a lot of talent out there so that makes my job a lot easier as well."

Hussey's own 150 was put in the shade by Clarke, much as anyone who batted any length of time with Don Bradman had been. But he said he had simply enjoyed the chance to bat alongside Clarke for 334 runs, and to witness the SCG's highest individual tally from the other end.

"I don't really mind [being overshadowed]. I said to Pup out in the middle I was honoured and privileged to witness and be a part of that," Hussey said. "It was a fantastic innings and one I'll remember for a long time, I'm sure Pup will as well, and one that got our team into a very strong position in the Test match, that's what I'll remember about it."

Injured Pattinson out of series

 james pattinson is out of the remainder of the Test series against India after scans revealed the early signs of stress fractures in the metatarsal bone of his left foot.

He has been replaced in the squad for the Perth Test by Mitchell Starc - the only change to the squad that was selected for Sydney. Ryan Harris is favoured to win a recall to the XI after making his own return to fitness.

Pattinson bowled throughout the Sydney Test but complained of pain in his left foot towards the end of the match. Scans revealed the injury, which the team physio Alex Kountouris called an "early stage bone stress injury of the metatarsal bone of the left foot".

"He will be managed carefully over the next few weeks and will not be available for the remainder of the Test series," Kountouris said.

John Inverarity, the national selector, said his panel had already considered resting Pattinson for the WACA Test after he played four Tests in little more than a month since his debut against New Zealand in Brisbane.

"The intention of the National Selection Panel was to rest James from the Perth Test match as this young man has played in four Test matches over a period of just five weeks," Inverarity said. "This intention has become a necessity after post-match scans have revealed James' foot injury."

Pattinson's injury is a serious blow to Australia, given that in those four Tests he has taken 25 wickets at 18.12, while also impressing considerably with the bat. It also continues an unsettling run of injuries for young fast bowlers. Pat Cummins, who made an equally remarkable introduction against South Africa in Johannesburg in November, is missing the entirety of the home Test summer due to a heel injury.

At the other end of the age scale is Harris, who would now appear certain to return to the XI for the Perth Test, after battling a hip problem and then building up his fitness for Test cricket with an intensive training regimen through December.

Before Pattinson's injury was known, Clarke said Harris' recall as part of a pace quartet was a genuine option - he had also flirted with the idea before the Sydney match.

"It is an option, there will certainly be at least four fast bowlers in our squad for Perth, and we'll assess conditions once we get there," Clarke said. "I'm hoping that wicket is similar to what we played on against England last summer, where it's got a lot of pace and bounce and some sideways movement. If that's the case there's an option there [to play four quicks], but I always love to have a spinner in the team, and I continue to say that I think Nathan Lyon is doing a really good job for this team."

Clarke's run as captain has been made far more agreeable by the presence of an effective pace attack, and he said the group's collective ability to place pressure on India's batsmen had been significant to the results so far.

"We have [several] guys who can get a breakthrough, that's one of the most pleasing things for a captain," he said. "You can turn to any one of our bowlers to try and take a wicket, so that makes life easier for me. We're able to build up pressure - at the moment, we're bowling a lot of dot balls, bowling a lot of maidens, we're restricting the scoring and I think that is what's getting us wickets.

"It's not necessarily a one-off delivery that is getting somebody out. Against very good players you have to be able to build up pressure - if you think one-off balls are going to get six or seven of the best batsmen in the world out, you're in for a rude shock. So you need the whole team and the whole bowling attack performing, and that's what we're doing at the moment."

'This phase will make team stronger' - Dhoni

THE INDIAN SKIPPER believes that this challenging period, during which India have slumped to six straight loss in away Tests, will help him and the team as a whole build character. "In sport you are not destined to only win," he said when asked of how difficult it has been to cope with the trough, especially following his early success as captain. "You'll lose at times. You will face difficult times. That improves you as an individual, and as a skipper.

"If everything comes easily to you, then you don't really appreciate the kind of hard work that goes into it [winning]. This is a phase where I think the team will get stronger. Of course it won't reflect in the result right now, but overall it will really help us know [recognise] the importance of winning and what needs to be done to keep the winning phase going."

There is nothing to hide behind now. India came to Australia with fit players, the best 17 available to do the job - Praveen Kumar's absence being an exception - and had time to acclimatise, but they have lost the first two Tests. They competed for three days in the first Test, but were always behind in the game after the first session in Sydney. Dhoni reiterated the obvious fact that both the batting and bowling departments had failed.

"If you see the last two series, including this one in Australia, we didn't score enough," he said. "We didn't put enough runs on the board. Of course, to win Tests taking 20 wickets is very important but also we need to give that cushion of extra runs on the board, so that the bowlers can plan the opposition out.

"It is a bit of a worry, but the good thing is we saw the batsmen score runs in the second innings. Of course it was not good enough to save the Test, but we have seen in the last couple of Tests, everybody has scored at least a fifty. That gives us an indication that we need to convert those [starts] into big innings."

It needs mention here that four of those fifties came in Sydney when pitch had flattened out, and when the bowlers' intensity was obviously down since they had a 468-run lead behind them. If anything was going to save India, it was big hundreds. The big hundreds were all scored by Australia, which has brought Dhoni's captaincy under immense scrutiny. Especially criticised is his almost formulaic spreading of the field in Melbourne, at the first sight of the Australian lower order. Dhoni spoke about it.

"Usually, when you come out of India, there comes a phase where the ball doesn't do much, and there is not much for the bowlers," he said. "That's the time where we need to improve. Not only as a skipper for me, [but] the plans need to be executed really well. Because you have a few fields in mind, if the bowlers stick to that plan and execute well, it looks very good. But once it starts going wrong, it looks very difficult to manage.

"What could have been done is, bowl a line where you attack a particular target, a particular area, so we force the batsman to go through the covers, and invite him for a drive. If he commits a mistake we will have slip fielders to catch him. If it starts to reverse then change the plan a bit, look to have fielders on the leg side, try to bowl as straight as possible. It's about execution also. With more exposure that's what the bowlers must have learned in the last couple of games. We have looked to attack a bit more with Zaheer [Khan] because he is our main wicket-taking bowler. We don't want him to look to contain any batsmen as such."

When told that Zaheer's economy-rate was actually the best among the Indian bowlers, and asked if attacking and taking wickets wasn't the best way to slow the runs down, he said: "You have to back it up with good bowling. He [Zaheer] is someone who bowls very well according to the field. It's something that can't go just one way. You can't have four or five slips throughout the Test match. Ultimately you have to score what the opposition scores too. It's a combination of both. You have to come up with strategies, what works the best. It's a balance between getting wickets and what kind of partnership the opposition is getting. If they score very quickly you may have an attacking field but it will be difficult to get the amount of runs they score."

It's all stacked up against Dhoni the captain, Dhoni the batsman, and his team. The series can't be won. The Border-Gavaskar trophy can technically be retained. Looking at how things stand now, though, avoiding a whitewash will be an achievement. Dhoni said the team needed to take some time off cricket. On that account the team has done well to lose inside four days, giving them extra time away from the cricket.

"They [the players] have got a fair amount of exposure to the Australian bowlers in the last two Test matches," Dhoni said. "What is important is to switch off from the game. You don't really want to overdo it. There may be a few individuals who want to spend a bit more time on the field, but I feel it's always important to switch off from the cricket. That really helps you de-stress a bit, and come back in a positive state of mind. I feel that rather than spending more and more time practising, what we need to do is spend some time off the field with some recreational activity and get some time off cricket."

Kohli fined over gesture to crowd

virat kolhi has been fined 50% of his match fee after he was seen gesturing to the crowd with his middle finger on the second day. The level two charge was laid by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle on the third morning of the SCG Test.

Kohli went to the hearing along with manager Shivlal Yadav. He pleaded guilty, India's media manager GS Walia, said. Walia added that the matter was closed as far as the Indian team was concerned.

India had a long second day in the field, with Australia piling up 366 runs for the loss of one wicket. When Kohli was posted on the boundary, he said he had heard abuse worse than he ever had in his life. He posted on Twitter, "i agree cricketers dont have to retaliate. what when the crowd says the worst things about your mother and sister. the worst ive heard"

Kohli found a sympathiser in Kevin Pietersen, who replied to his tweet thus: "ha ha ha ha ha!!! Welcome to Australia buddy!!" To which Kohli replied: "never heard crap like that. EVER"

Pietersen went on to tell Kohli that the Australian crowds are such that they abuse even their own when they start losing. Kohli began the third day on a more positive Twitter note that said, "New day new beginning! :)"

According to a Cricket Australia spokesperson, since CA has kept keeping such records, the second day of this Test was the first time no spectator was evicted during a Test in Australia. There have been no formal complaints about crowd behaviour.

We need to show some fight - Rahul Dravid

 the former indian skipper has said he expected India to do better in Australia than they did in England, but both their batting and bowling have been disappointing. India lost the first Test of this tour inside four days, and are struggling to save the second. With two days to go in Sydney, they need 354 more to make Australia bat again, with only eight wickets in hand. That leaves the last eight wickets at least five sessions to bat. There is rain around, but on the third day it arrived only well after stumps, and only for about 10 minutes.

Dravid said there was not much to aim at right now, except to bat for a long time. Looking back, though, he admitted they expected a better performance. "It is disappointing," he spoke of the five-match losing streak overseas, which is likely to reach six at the SCG. "Obviously we didn't play well in England. We thought definitely we would play much better here. Things haven't worked here, but still time to go. It is disappointing and we are not happy about it."

A big share of the blame, he said, lay with the batting. "The key for us is to keep them on the field for a long period of time," Dravid said of the Australian bowlers and fielders. "If we can keep their bowlers and fielders on the field for more than 100 overs, then we can put them under pressure and see some of their bowlers wilt. Sadly, in the three innings we have played so far, we haven't been able to do that. They kept us on the field for a long time today. We need to try and do that.

"They are coming in hard, running in hard. After drinks, the last 15 overs they came in really hard. Hopefully, if we are batting after tea tomorrow, that's where their real challenge is. If we can hang in there, play out time, and have them on the field for a long time…"

Dravid has been bowled in three out of four innings but said he wasn't unhappy with his touch. "To be fair, there have been a couple of pretty good balls," he said. "It's not like I have got out, you know, inner-edging. A couple of good balls, a couple of things I could have done differently. I feel I have been batting well, but I am just getting out. Hopefully in the next couple of Tests I will be able to convert one of these starts. I got 60 in the first game, I thought I was batting well in the second innings, till I got a pretty good one."

Dravid admitted his side was against a good attack, but that was no reason for India to sit back. "They have bowled well," he said. "No point saying they have bowled well. We have got look at ourselves and do something about it. They haven't given us loose balls. Even today, even though we were playing solidly, they didn't give us too many loose balls. They have bowled well, they are a good attack, but I believe we should play better as well."

Another disappointment, Dravid said, was how listless India looked on the field. "In the sense, okay in England, we were not always with our best attack. Due to injuries and various other reasons, our bowling attack in England wasn't the best possible attack," he said. "Here we had the best bowling attack we can possibly hope for. Obviously disappointed. Once partnerships develop, and runs go, we need to pull it back and try to control the runs. Having said that it's not easy. Even if we don't take wickets, we have to stop the run flow."

Saving the Test, according to Dravid, was not on the Indian players' minds at the moment. "I don't think we can think about saving this game right now," he said. "We need to go out there and show some fight. And bat as long as we can. Who knows what can happen? We have got quality batsmen who can bat long periods. It's hard to think about two days from now right away. I am sure the guys will go out and fight and do the best they can. And we will take from there."