Dravid alone is not responsible for the situation India is in at the end of 3rd day. Indian batting line-up is considered to be one of the strongest. If Dravid failed, others should have performed. This is the hall mark of a top international team. Sachin played an extravagant stroke when India wanted him to bat on and on. Even Ganguly is guilty of the same. And I am not even mentioning Yuvraj and Dhoni who were hopeless.

I know that 499 seems like an impossible target espcially under the circumsatnces, but nothing is to be lost in thinking positive and trying to steadily build an innings. The least India can do is to show some fight and score as many runs as possible rather than assume the worst even before the innings has got underway.

Tendulkar and Ganguly got over half the sides runs. Dravid was batting on the pitch when it was at its best early after the roller while the ball was still hard and coming onto the bat.

I stand by my original critisism of Dravid. His occupation of the crease was when the pitch was at its run scoring best....just a shame he could not score any.

Dravid should take full responsibility. The slow scoring gave away the initiative to Australia.

It would be good to see some fight from the Indian batsmen, even if they lose the test...

Sri Lanka came close chasing down 507 against Aus last month

Cricinfo - 2nd Test: Australia v Sri Lanka at Hobart, Nov 16-20, 2007

This is a different wicket though and getting even that close will be tough


One thing i might add.

Apart from Pathan (12th man) all the Indian left the field today without so much as a grass stain on the knee. Why is this? Is it due to their age? Is it because the Indian grounds are hard and they are not used to diving? Is diving for the ball beneath them? Or are they just lazy?

Either way, if you want to be the best team in the world, you need to be the best fielding side in the world as well.

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I hope the Indian batsmen put up a fight today and bat well.

Despite everything, Dravid holds the key. This innings is extremely important for his confidence and his future at international level.

With 2 full days left, I agree that Dravid does hold the key. If he holds firm at one end and Tendulkar, Laxman & Ganguly make good contributions, India have a chance of getting a bit further than mere "respectability". Maybe they have to think in 50s; score 50 runs first and do it nine more times. Simple.

India are 3/77 and the end is not far. Tendulkar has failed once again when it mattered the most.

India are surrendering without much fight, sadly. Right through the Pakistan series in India when the Indian batsmen were flourishing, I kept on stressing that this is not the right preparation for Australia and that batting against Lee & co. would be very difficult on Australian pitches. Well it is turning out to be true. On top of this false sense of security, the Indian administrators agreed to an itinerary with only one first class match before the 1st test and which was rained off. I am sure if the Indians had played 3-4 first class matches in Australia before the MCG test, things would have been different.

It is going to be very difficult for India to come back into the series after such a heavy loss. The psychological blow would be tremendous. The only positive so far has been the performance of Indian bowlers led by Kumble.