India face moment of truth

So the fabled Final Frontier for the Australians looks certain to crumble.

It was bound to happen at some stage. An unbeaten record has to end sometime or the other. Ask Arsenal.

And yet one cannot help feeling let down that it is happening at this moment, with this Indian team.

This is a team that can arguably lay claim to being India's best. Over the last couple of years it has consistently fielded a reasonably threatening pace attack, a dangerous spin duo, and a batting lineup that experts and fans never tire of proclaiming 'the best in the world'.

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Less than a year ago, this same team, give or take a player or two, had a historic opportunity to stamp its authority on the game as the world's best. A win at Adelaide over the swaggering Aussies had set it up for what would have been India's first series win Down Under.

But it was not to be. Displaying either a sudden attack of nerves or a sheer lack of awareness, the side dropped the very next Text and squandered the chance of a lifetime.

At that time, of course, many of the fans were in a forgiving mood, simply because they, despite their so-called love for and knowledge of the game, had never imagined that India would win a Test in Australia, let alone come away with a 1-1 series draw. So a guy like me, who had thought the team is capable of more, was abused as a perennial complainer and an anti-national, particularly by some hyper-patriotic Indians who love their country so dearly they prefer not to stay in it.

Yet, the team at least must be ruing that missed chance now, as Australia stubbornly refuse to repeat its mistake and take anything for granted, going so far as to play dourly like the 'old enemy' England rather than in the flashy, aggressive style they had patented over the last decade.

It's been 35 years since the Australians last won a Test series in India. This is the only Test-playing country the Roos haven't managed to subjugate for almost two generations.

That proud record is about to come to an end. The pity is that this Indian team could have avoided that black spot, if only it had been alive to the danger.

Of course, if the rains had come in a day earlier in Bangalore, or a day later in Madras, it would have been a different story. If Sachin Tendulkar had been fit from the first Test… If Irfan Pathan and Harbhajan Singh had not pulled out of the Nagpur Test…

The ifs will always be there. But those were matters not within the team's control. The pity is that the team did not quite leverage those things that were within its control. The wicket-keeper's slot, for one. Anyone can see that the boy Parthiv Patel isn't up to it yet. He's played close to a score of Test matches and still cannot collect a regulation ball without fumbling. He probably cost India victory in the Sydney Test in January and he certainly cost India crucial time in the Madras game by missing both Jason Gillespie and Matthew Hayden in the second innings. And yet the team has stood by him in a misplaced understanding of the concept of team spirit, while better 'keepers like Dinesh Karthick wonder when they will get a chance to show what they are capable of.

Or take V V S Laxman's place in the middle order. The man whom the Aussies fear probably as much as Sachin Tendulkar has been woefully out of form for a long time now. Yet, the selection committee and the team management continue to put their faith in him, in the hope that he's just one good knock away from a return to form. Unfortunately, that return to form hasn't looked anywhere close to happening in the last five innings. We can only fervently pray that the sixth is where it will all come together miraculously.

There's been the unnecessary confusion over the second opener's slot as well, but the biggest letdown has come from the man who had over the last year and a half seized the mantle of India's best batsman from Tendulkar. Rahul Dravid had become the hub around which the Indian batting lineup revolved. But the wheel is jammed now.

The paralysis became glaringly evident in the Nagpur Test where, probably because of the weight of captaincy, he reverted to the old Rahul Dravid that everyone hated and had forgotten, and blocked for three hours and 140 deliveries to compile 21 runs.

This performance – on Day 2  of the Test, not Day 5, mind you – coming on the heels of a blistering start from Virender Sehwag, probably did the Australians a bigger favour than the loss of the openers, and helped them get their confidence and rhythm back.

You simply cannot hand the initiative to a champion on a platter and expect that it will not be seized. The frustrating part is that we have seen this happen in the past, but when under pressure we seem to forget our lessons quickly.

The Indians can still draw some solace from the fact that no matter how big a lead the Australians get, they will never enforce the follow-on against this side. But that will be a hollow satisfaction.

The good thing is that the Australians themselves have shown how runs, big runs, can be compiled on this pitch. They have proved that there is no serpent in the grass. They may bat till lunch tomorrow and set a target of over 500. But India need to remember that this is the same ground where, four years ago, Zimbabwe batted out the last two days of a Test match to avert defeat and, in the bargain, scored 503-6. Of course, Andrew Flower, their best batsman ever – Robert Mugabe be damned – put his hand up and scored an unbeaten 232, while Alistair Campbell made a hundred.

That time the Africans had frustrated India. India was leading 1-0 in the series, but the Zimbabweans did not let that overawe them. India had a good bowling attack, but Flower and Campbell did not show them any undue respect.

Will the Indians show the same spirit? Will they face up to Glenn McGrath, Jason Gillespie, Shane Warne and all the rest and spit in their collective eye?

To be honest, they don't deserve to win the Test. But then life isn't always fair.