India needs to whip up energy to match Aussies

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So the Indian team have reached Perth. So the Waca pitch is expected to have pace and bounce. So what?
Loads of followers on my twitter timeline (with the ed’s permission, the handle is @cricketwallah) thought I had flipped my lid when I posted this line of argument on Monday morning.

Their counter was simple, and not entirely without merit: if the team had fared so badly in the first two Tests, what chance on the reputedly nastiest pitch in Australia?
I dare say, the Indian dressing room will not be without misgiving either. Question marks surround most — indeed all — the players since there has been no outstanding performer yet in the two Tests.
Of the lot, Sachin Tendulkar has looked the best, but his 226 masterly runs have been overwhelmed by his failure to convert any of the good starts he has had into the elusive 100th century.
The most seriously affected would be the skipper. He’s lost six Tests out of six played overseas since July; and this only a few months after leading India to a memorable triumph in the World Cup. Suddenly the world’s turned upside down for a captain who could not put a foot wrong.
Dhoni must feel like a jaded Harry Houdini who has suddenly lost his extraordinary skills of escape and triumph.
But while I appreciate the deep disappointment at India’s abysmal performance, I’m not inclined to join the vitriol-throwing gang. The game looks very easy on a 20-inch screen, and it is too easily forgotten that Australia have played bloody well. My overview is that Indian cricket’s problem is not much shortage of talent as self-delusion. Being the richest in the world is not necessarily synonymous with the best (the West Indies were hardly a rich board in the 1970s and 80s).
Building a truly great team needs long-term vision, rigorous planning, strong leadership and some luck with the right talent coming together at the same time. Not to mention a robust sports culture too. For instance all of us — fans, administrators, media not exempted — tend to get too preoccupied with records rather than results.
In the present series, I don’t think one can fault the selection. Indeed, over a 3-4 years time frame, India have not done badly either, though the tag of `best’ does seem misplaced. But to rest on past laurels is a cardinal sin. The series is by no means dead. The situation is akin to the previous tour in 2007-8 when India reached Perth two Tests down and with a whitewash looming large on the horizon.
Anil Kumble’s team then rose to the battle with great spunk and fortitude to win on a pitch where they were most likely to lose.
True, hopes of winning a rubber for the first time Down Under have been dashed. Given the pasting received so far on this tour, this may not be easy: turnarounds never are. But they are not impossible either, as the 2007-08 tour series would show, or indeed the quite spectacular recovery by Australia after plummeting to 41 all out against South Africa and losing to unfancied New Zealand at home just a few weeks before this series began.
India need to whip up the energy and motivation to match the Aussies. Give or take a change or two in the playing XI, it is the same players who have to show the gumption and wherewithal to square the series. Team effort is obviously the key, but there is no gainsaying that the onus is on the seniors to provide the lead.