Knocked the stuffing out of 'em....

Wednesday’s pasting that the Aussie bowlers received at the hands of the Indian batsman was stuff out of the dreams.

Guys this is Australia, the world champs, yes Lee was out but still, the pitch had bounce, Sachin went for 4, Sehwag for 40 and Yuvi for 20 odd…. but hey… we ended at 354 !!!!

Over the past year and a half Gautam & MS have been the most consistent of Indian batsmen, while Yuvi, Veeru and Sachin have been in and out with injury these two have very consistently done their job. India owes a lot to these two for the fightback yesterday they put up after being at 90 odd for 3 at one stage.

Quite amazingly MS has been under a lot of pressure, people want to have their view about how he has changed his game, how he cant clear the boundary … this is the sort of scrutiny you go through as an Indian cricketer. Imagine a guy who has scored at an average of some 70 odd in the last 45 games with a strike rate of 90+ is under pressure !!!!! That’s life as an Indian cricketer for you !!!! Not just your cricket but people are also most interested in which bike you drive, which commercial you do and when you fail for a game or two it’s the bike or the commercial that is blamed and your commitment is questioned. The Indian fan can be most fickle !!

Anyways coming back to the game the way the Aussie bowlers were treated towards the end of the innings was brutal Raina & MS put the bowling to the sword and it seemed as if the opposition bowling and skipper were on their knees and this is not usual if you have seen the way Australians played over the years.

When they came out to bat they were shell shocked by the bludgeoning they had just received.

Under lights Praveen Kumar does move the ball and he just showed that, but his fielding was appalling to say the least yesterday. Ishant seems to be getting it together and that can only be good news. Having a score of over 350 behind always helps and so I wont look too into the performance of the bowlers.

If anything I still have a complaint with Dhoni in the field when he picked up 3 quick wickets, Dhoni did not go for the kill, he never had slips or fielders in catching positions or inside the circle while Hussey and the middle order batted, allowing easy singles and letting the partnership develop. This is one area where Dhoni has to improve, look to be ruthless and go for the kill and not allow the opposition to breathe easy at any stage. He wont always have 350+ scores to defend !!

However the way the Aussies looked flat and out for almost the entire innings while they were chasing was a sight you rarely see, the Aussies don’t give up, but yesterday they did as soon as India put up that score…

So what if for just one match… we did knock the stuffing out of ‘em… !!