The visiting Australian squad is in turmoil. Vice-captain Shane Watson has flown home, apparently to be with his pregnant wife who is expecting their baby, but he is not eligible for the third Test on disciplinary grounds, so too are three others. Halfway in the series, the team is 0-2 down, and Team India may be headed for a clean sweep.
To drop four players in such circumstances is brave, and the tour committee should be lauded for putting discipline first. The slip on the players’ part seemed mild enough in that they didn’t follow orders to come up with answers to how to improve as a team. The team code was breached, and the players left themselves open to censure.
Sport in general, and cricket particularly, teaches us that the game is greater than the individual. This principle is accepted by both players and authorities, but still it takes a bit to bite the bullet and arrive at such a dramatic step. Of the four dropped, Watson and James Pattinson were central to the Australians’ plans for a recovery.
Once the pride of world cricket who dominated two key formats of the game — Tests and ODIs — for nearly 15 years since the mid-1990s, the Aussies are clearly on the decline. They haven’t done too many things right since losing the Test mace at the end of the last decade. They must know now they have scuttled even the small chance of a strong comeback in the ongoing India series.