Dump Duncan Fletcher too, not just VVS Laxman

It’s not just the batting that has let India down; the planning, captaincy and selection on this tour have been dismal, and ruined what should have been a much closer contest.

There was no gully for David Warner when he played in the air on the first day at Perth. There was no forward short leg to take the bat-pad chance Ed Cowan offered at the start of the second day, when both batsmen were starting afresh. This has been the pattern right from Melbourne where India had the Aussies on the mat at least thrice, and let them off each time by setting defensive fields, allowing easy singles and leaving catching positions vacant.

That’s not all. We saw Virat Kohli at first slip dropping Warner off Zaheer Khan early on the second day. Kohli is a brilliant fielder but he has no experience of standing at first slip, which is a specialist catching position. Tendulkar stood there on the first day and returned after the dropped catch. No other team lets their slip fielders take a break and relax in the outfield, because it’s heart-breaking for a bowler to get a top order batsman to edge the ball only to see it being dropped because there is no specialist in an important position like first slip.

The handling of the bowlers too has been ordinary. Umesh Yadav bowls at 145 kph, but he was blunted on the first day because he was running into the wind. When he switched ends on the second day and bowled with the wind behind him, he got a five-wicket haul. Ishant Sharma has been hitting 150 kph, which should have given him lots of wickets on this tour if only he had bowled half a metre further up. He just hasn’t been making batsmen play forward often enough, unlike the Aussie bowlers. On these bouncy tracks with a grass cover offering lateral deviation, it’s that prod forward that has mostly been the undoing of batsmen. You might say the bowler should have figured this out for himself, but we have a yound pace bowling unit, apart from Zaheer, and they do need guidance which has obviously been lacking.

That there was no change in the batting lineup for Perth after two comprehensive defeats due to repeated batting failures also shows that captain Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher have been quite passive off the field too. Dhoni seems to have little clue about Test captaincy, seeing how quick he is to position everyone on the boundary as though it’s a one-day game.

He had a great start as a Test captain because it was a period when India played most of their matches at home, where our batsmen pile on the runs on flat, bald wickets, and our spinners winkle the opposition out.

Abroad, his limitations would show up from time to time but it has never been as glaring as it has been in the West Indies, England, and now Down Under. In the Windies, we were too meek to press for victory in the final Test, and in England, we had the same defensive mindset that has hamstrung our bowlers in Australia.

It’s probably no coincidence that this is also the period when Duncan Fletcher has been our coach. Fletcher’s best years are behind him, just like those of our middle order batsmen. His last stint as England coach was a disaster.

The only conclusion one can draw is that, quietly behind the scenes, Gary Kirsten covered up for a lot of Dhoni’s weaknesses with smart ideas and planning. Since we currently have no obvious alternative to Dhoni as captain, the board would do well to provide him with a coach who is as astute and hard-working as Kirsten. Just replacing Laxman - which will probably happen finally in Adelaide - will not help if the think tank itself is hollow. Why does the richest cricket board make do with a has-been coach and a bowling consultant Eric Simmons who has never played a Test match in his life?