The recent tour of the Australian team to India has been nothing short of a nightmare as far as India were concerned. The fact that Australia have finally appeared victors on their tour to this part of the sub continent in four decades with a 2-1 win speaks for itself.

No miracles were expected with the administration election tussles turning from the frantic to the bizarre and the focus of attention being unnecessarily dragged to the controversial television rights which nearly put the entire Australian tour in jeopardy. That India were in a rut in the one-day version since their long lay-off after a successful tour of Pakistan was well known. But their downright shoddy performance with the bat was simply staggering. The batsmen struggled to get out of the one-day mode and paid the price.

What incensed and put off most Indian fans was the sheer lack of willingness to fight. While the bowlers, especially the spinners, turned up to save India the blushes, the brakes could barely be applied on the downslide of the team. Irfan Pathan may have picked up only two wickets in the two Tests he played, but the fact remains that in his absence, India struggled to put forth one really in-form fast bowler, compared to the three Australian pacemen who troubled the Indians in all four Tests.

How badly the batsmen let down the Indian efforts is evident by the fact that Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, with twenty-seven and twenty-one wickets respectively, took more wickets than Jason Gillespie (20) and Glenn McGrath (14). Murali Karthik was given a late entry but he did return with a fine tally of twelve wickets, just two short of Shane Warne's tally.
 

Damien Martyn overshadowed Michael Clarke for the 'Man of the Series' but that was probably because he persisted as the thorn in the flesh for the Indians time and again. Sadly, the same could not be said of even a single batsman in the Indian camp. Rahul Dravid was but a shadow of himself. V.V.S. Laxman's last innings of sixty-nine runs may have just saved him from a return to a domestic run. Apart from the one century at Chennai, Virender Sehwag failed to stamp his authority. Mohammad Kaif, to a fair extent, redeemed the faith of the selectors and really raised the question as to why his return to the Test arena took as many as three years. The musical chairs with the opening slot undermined Akash Chopra's confidence, and undid Yuvraj Singh's chances of even a middle order berth. The state of denial in Parthiv Patel's case allowed some blatant mishaps to torment the Indians repeatedly. Dinesh Karthik's arrival as India's latest wicketkeeper was late in coming.

Michael Kasprowicz.

But by far the most disappointing aspect of the series was the Indian attitude. The rather defeatist attitude that their countenance betrayed was painful as it dampened what would have been a very enthralling and exhilarating series. They were sluggish to start off and despite the momentary semblances of a comeback, they never really got off the blocks. A possible (and this remains only a possibility) victory at Chennai could have uplifted the Indians.

The contrasting pitches at Nagpur and Mumbai showed both skippers in different lights. Adam Gilchrist ably led the team to a series victory in the absence of the regular skipper, Ricky Ponting. But Ponting's return to the side having recovered from a thumb fracture was met with an unwelcome greeting in a vicious spinning pitch in Mumbai. Losing can be a difficult thought to digest, let alone a terrible reality, especially when the deputy has done a stupendous job in the skipper's absence. So long as teams enjoy the right to home advantage, players have to adapt to the circumstances and situation of the host nation. Admittedly, the Mumbai pitch was a difficult wicket for a Test match, but then, India played on the same pitch and held their nerve just in time to deny the Australians a clean sweep.
 

That Ponting raised a hue and cry after the Test ended is perhaps a lesson Sourav Ganguly would do well to learn. While it is human to express disappointment, Ganguly's rather exaggerated exasperation at the Australian-like bouncy pitch in Nagpur even before a single ball was bowled perhaps caused flutters in the Indian dressing-room and sent confidence-levels soaring in the Australian camp. After all, are not the Indians wanting to develop a more all-round game if they expect to rise to the pinnacle of Test playing nations? The advantage of playing up Sachin Tendulkar's return was undermined. The Indian submission was a foregone conclusion.

Hopefully the unexpected victory, coming back from a disastrous position will have revived some of the confidence that got buried under some really tremendous bowling effort and brilliant batting displays from a formidable opponent. A changed perspective for the positive will reap tremendous rewards for the forthcoming series against the South Africans, who traditionally struggle against spin and are currently coming to terms with their own turbulent waves of success under Graeme Smith.

Change, India must. Complacency or a laid-back approach with wooden feet will hand the South Africans another unprecedented victory akin their previous tour in 1999-00. Given their current situation, it would be the stuff of dreams. India need to snuff them away swiftly to rejuvenate their bruised ego and battered pride.