India's five-wicket loss to Bangladesh is perhaps the most horrible and humiliating defeats I have ever seen. We planned badly, batted poorly and there is absolutely no excuse we can fall back on. While Sourav Ganguly played the right shots, the others could not back him up. If Ganguly's and Yuvraj Singh's strategy of settling in and playing across field could work, it's difficult to understand why the others could not follow suit. Which brings me to another significant point - the role of Virendra Sehwag. Now, one cannot blame Sehwag for playing wrong all the time. Maybe he should take a break from One Day cricket and not play at all for some time. But that said, I should reiterate that the way we planned our batting was absolutely ridiculous. India are considered "world's best batting lineup" and are supposed to be great players of spin. And here were Bangaldeshi bowlers, doing nothing out of...

The Antigua Test can easily be described as one of the best Test matches in the recent times. Despite the disappointing draw, I would say that Team India played well, capitalised on their strengths, overcame their weaknesses and put up a good show. However, I feel - and as I have asserted through this match - that Harbhajan Singh was sorely missed. He should have played this match for two very simple reasons. Firstly, Bhajji could have come real handy considering the hereditary weakness of the Windies to succumb under pressure. It has been West Indies' weak point since the days of Clive Llyod. Secondly, during the second half of the Test, a spinner or an off-spinner could have restricted Windies easily as they tend to get nervous under pressure. A batsman playing a wrong shot could have given India an early advantage. However, in the hindsight, I...

It was a very disappointing last-match loss for India. The least everyone expected of the match was a decent fight from a team that was already down in the series. What perhaps went against Team India was the wrong decision on the toss itself. Had I been the skipper, I would never have elected to field first. Having played on the track before, India should have realised that the wicket tends to slow down during the day. The ball was turning and India could have gone ahead, batted and put up a fighting total. That said, it's important to understand that no team can succeed in a match if the top order fails to fire. If a batting side, considered to be one of world's strongest, fails to put up a winning show despite going out with seven batsmen, it just shows the lack of collective confidence. What reflected poorly on Team India...

India's defeat in the Trinidad ODI can be attributed to a highly unplanned batting strategy. I don't know if it could be called an unimaginative gameplan, but it was surely a half-hearted effort. After the quick loss of early wickets, it was up to Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif to stablise the innings. But both of them failed to do it and did not keep the momentum going. This is where Team India is different from Australia. Even if Australians suffer early blows, they not only survive them, but also overcome them. They manage to maintain the tempo and do not lose focus. Indians, on the other hand, crumble like a pack of cards immediately after losing the initial few wickets. They do not know how to get out of the trouble that they create for themselves. Also, Rahul Dravid opening the innings has proved to be...