Ind-WI : Warmup match and Omens

Greg Chappell confirms the earlier reports that Pathan is indeed struggling off the field as well...more due to psychological down caused by bad performances than real tiredness. What I fail to understand is why it happened this way, since he was coming from a highly successful season, especially in ODIs, that saw him touch the top 3 rankings both in bowling and as an allrounder. Surely his confidence can't be dented by a couple of bad games? Because remember, he was struggling already halfway through the series.

And obviously he hasn't picked himself up if reports on the tour match are to be believed - 70 runs in 11 overs is dangerous signs for our test spearhead. I think our test spearheads are jinxed :-) Maybe we should leave the lable with him only, so that Santh or Munaf or whoever comes next are atleast left unscathed.

But seriously, his ordinary bowling does raise the question about the 5 bowler strategy - since this way we're neither getting a bowler out of him, nor do we get a decent enough batsman if his batting also shows signs of being affected, as it partially did in the ODIs. Chappell was non-committal on that question, but he did refuse to blame too much on the hectic schedule or tiredness of the players.

Lets see how the batting is coming around today...Sehwag is gone, as usual...but then he never was the one for lesser occasions - so lets just hope he is atleast gearing up for the bigger one. Laxman, at crease now, and Dhoni can do with some decent time in the middle.