At Hyderabad they were comprehensively beaten by south Africa, who displayed a thoroughly professional approach and were vastly superior in all aspects of the game, particularly in their brilliant fielding.
The match against Australia at India's happy hunting ground, the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore, was somewhat more even. India, who looked to be comfortable winners after getting the Australians out for an eminently gettable target, were staring down the gun barrel after Tendulkar's dismissal. The fighting Aussies refused to give in, and with the Indian middle order in tatters, it looked like a replay of the innumerable occasions in the past when India have stumbled in the chase.
The two local lads from Bangalore, Anil Kumble and a not totally fit Javagal Srinath, however batted gallantly and believed in themselves without letting the tense atmosphere of playing on their home turf bother them. If it had not been for those two, India would have yet again given away a match that should never have been allowed to reach that stage.
What then have we learnt from these two one dayers? It is quite obvious that we still have to find the right kind of batting and bowling balance. Somasunder, the specialist opener, has a long way to go and is not quite ready for this league of cricket.
Of this squad, Ganguly is perhaps the most organised player in the team against the moving ball and it makes sense if he is asked to open the batting with Tendulkar. The in-form Pankaj Dharmani should come in for Mongia in the one-dayers, thus beefing up the number seven spot. Mongia is starting to look a bit jaded and, given the long tour programme India has ahead of it, a little rest should do him a world of good. As I have said before, the need of a genuine all-rounder in the team, batting at number six or seven and being able to bowl his full quota of overs, is a prime need at the moment for Indian cricket.
The standard of umpiring in the last three one day internationals was far from satisfactory - in fact, at times it was positively embarassing, watching the silly mistakes they made out in the middle.
Probably nowhere in the world, except in India, does the quota system and regional considerations dictate the selection of umpires. With cricketers-turned-umpires such as S Venkatraghavan, Jayaprakash, Maninder Singh and Raghuram Bhatt to name just a few good umpires, where lies the need to have sub-standard ones officiating in such an important one day series?
Also, what is the point of a third umpire if - as happened in Bangalore - he cannot be reached when his judgement is required? It is ridiculous that this facility could not be availed of simply because of a dearth of walkie-talkies. One hopes that the BCCI will take umpire's role more seriously, as they play a crucial role in the match. The quota system should be done away with, and only the very best umpires used for all interna- tional matches.
The Indian cricket board has suddenly woken up and decided that all players selected for the country will have to go in for fitness tests. The question is, how is one going to judge a player's fitness? What yardsticks are going to be employed? Will a cricketer's fitness now be judged after seeing if he can do the 100 metres dash in 10.5 seconds, or will he have to do 50 laps of the ground to prove he is fit?
My point here is that the board, rather than make statements about fitness tests and such, should first ensure that an unfit player does not get picked in the 14. Javagal Srinath, India's best seam bowler in years, should have been allowed to rest his injured shoulder. Instead, he was picked for the one dayers even though it was quite obvious that he was not fit in both the matches India played - against South Africa in Hyderabad and Australia in Bangalore.
By not giving India's best bowler a chance to recover his fitness, the selectors have taken the risk of causing permanent damage - and even an aggravation of the injury could prove crucial, given that after these ODIs, India has a Test series against South Africa, followed by tours of the Proteas and the Caribbean to follow. Srinath would be vital to the team's chances in the longer game, while a Ganesh or an Ankola would have served the turn in the ODIs here and allowed our premier pace bowler time to recover.
Another point - since fitness is being discussed, what exactly is Dr Ali Irani's role in Indian cricket? Time and again, a cricketer who has been declared fit by Dr Irani ends up playing at only 60 to 80 per cent fitness. It is an open secret that the roly-poly doctor's real role in the side is to look after the players' personal needs, and to help the manager with ticketing, tour organisation and such. What Indian cricket needs now is a professional physiotherapist who will not get bullied by either the players or the authorities, and who will do his job rather than be a glorified kit-boy, which is pretty much what Irani is.
The Indian board will do well if it emulates the Australians and the South Africans, bringing in professionalism into the side and management both and making that the team's motto.