It's a new year but it's the same old India - The downslide continues!

India ended its cricket campaign in 2012 on a very sad note (as if 2012 was full of great moments for India), displaying an ordinary batting performance and then being subjected to a crushing defeat by Pakistan. As an Indian fan, what was great to see was Dhoni’s knock. It was simply awesome.

Now the year 2012 is over and we are in the year 2013. The year is new and so were the expectations from Team India. I read somewhere yesterday that there is a superstition in Japan that whatever a person dreams of on new year’s eve, that dream comes true. Many die hard Indian cricket fans would have dreamt of India crushing Pakistan in the 2nd ODI and squaring the series 1-1. But someone has rightly said, that dreams don’t come true until they are channelled in a right and well thought out manner. That’s what happened today as Pakistan thrashed India, and that too in a convincing manner.

Venue: The Eden Gardens, Kolkata. 2nd ODI, India vs Pakistan

India won the toss and put Pakistan into bat. The Indian Team had just one change from the last match, Ravindra Jadeja was brought into the team in place of Rahul (Talented) Sharma; a good move keeping the left arm spin of Jadeja in mind. On paper, India’s bowling was an area of concern, more so than India’s batting. The fear ran true when Hafeez and Jamshed put on 141 for the first wicket. But as soon as Hafeez got out, Pakistan’s downfall started. They lost their last 9 wickets for just 109 runs. Indian bowlers bundled out Pakistan for a competitive 250. The star of Pakistan’s batting was Nasir Jamshed who scored his second consecutive century of the series.

The decision of playing Jadeja came good as he took 3 wickets, giving away only 41 runs. Ishant Sharma was impressive for his 3 for 34. Bowlers bowled well and now it was the batsmen’s turn to come good.

Sehwag nearly ‘played on’ on the very second ball of the Indian chase. Neverthless, with some hits and misses, India reached 40 in 9 overs without the loss of any wicket. A good start keeping in mind the form of Gambhir and Sehwag.

But what followed was somewhat of a replay of India’s batting in first ODI.

Gambhir played on to the stumps from Junaid’s wide, pitched up ball, after scoring just 11 off 25 balls.

In came Kohli and everyone expected some classy strokes from the current premier batsman of India. He somewhat did gave India the moment of joy when he sent Mohammad Irfan’s ball to the backward point boundary with his superb timing. But as it’s said “good things don’t last forever”, same happened with Kohli in the next over. In the midst of a superb spell, Junaid struck with an ordinary ball which was heading down the leg side. Kohli tickled it down the leg side and Kamran Akmal pulled off a stunner, sending Kohli back to the pavilion after scoring just 6 with the scoreboard reading 55 for 2 after 12 overs.

Next to go was the Nawab of Najabgarh (it’s been ages since I have seen Sehwag play a ‘Nawab’ innings), trapped in front of the wicket by the sharp in-swinging ball of Umar Gul. With top three batsmen back in the hut, the responsibility shifted to the shoulders of Yuvraj and Raina. I expected more from Raina than Yuvi as he played a very sorted innings in the last match. With the run rate mounting slowly and steadily, the “out of his depth” Yuvraj, in his attempt to pull a short ball from Gul, edged one to the keeper.

Next to go was Raina, stumped off the bowling of Hafeez. Raina scored a rusty 18 off 42 balls. With 26 overs bowled, half of India’s line up was back in the dressing room, leaving India toiling at 95/5. Ashwin arrived in the middle to join Dhoni. I sometimes feel Ashwin is in the team more for his batting than for his bowling. To me, nowadays, he is a batsman who can roll over his arm when needed by the captain. He didn’t do anything special and soon walked back to pavilion, stumped off the bowling of Shoaib Malik after scoring just 3 runs. Even Malik contributed for Pakistan with the ball.

India – 103/6 after 32 overs.

In next 7 overs, Dhoni and Jadeja stitched a small partnership of 27 runs. Dhoni was looking good, continuing from where he left in Chennai but in a much watchful manner.

Talk of a world class spinner and Saeed Ajmal strikes our mind. No one can keep him out of the equation in any match. He bowled the 40th over and almost ran through the India’s tail, taking 3 wickets in 6 balls. India 132/9 with 40 overs bowled. Pakistan’s win was just a matter of time, in the mean time Dhoni got to his 47th fifty, his 2nd in last 3 matches plus a superb 100 in last ODI. Junaid, a classy young left arm pacer, cleaned up Ishant with a beautiful yorker, with Ishant playing down the wrong line. India bowled out for 165, losing to Pakistan by 85 runs. Ironically, Ishant said sorry to Dhoni for getting out, I wish that the top 5 had also felt sorry.

What to do now? Our batting has failed one more time. The ODI player of the year Virat Kohli was the main stay of Indian batting last year, but he too is failing. While going through the online commentary today I read a quote, by one of the ESPN commentators saying, “Every young Indian player who has been hailed as the next Indian captain has lost form and/or consistency. Even the Master himself was no exception. Can we try naming someone like Rohit Sharma as the next captain, and try to see if the it works the other way round?”

India has lost the series. The third match is just a dead rubber, a match where experiments will be done, promising nothing new to India’s fortune. It might be new year 2013, but the sad story of Indian cricket team is old. Just to sum it up in one sentence ‘ The Sad old story continues!’