Team India like 'faithful husbands'

[1983-2011]

New Delhi: India's effigy sellers are licking their lips at the prospect of booming business as the national cricket team continue to struggle on a shambolic tour of Australia and fans back home lose patience with Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his men. After a thumping defeat in the first Test in Melbourne, India are staring at another humiliating loss in Sydney where the hosts racked up a mammoth 659-4 before declaring their first innings. India have never won a Test series in Australia and a comprehensive defeat this time around is likely to bring fans onto the streets burning effigies and garlanding players' posters with slippers. A series whitewash would not go down well in a country of more than a billion cricket experts. With India on the ropes in the second Test, Dhoni and his team mates are coming in for stinging criticism back home. "Indian batsmen are like faithful husbands, they perform only at home..." model Poonam Pandey quipped on her Twitter page. Pandey's sarcasm pinpointed the grim reality about a team traditionally known as 'poor travellers', a notion Dhoni and his men did little to dispel by surrendering their top test team status in England last year after a 4-0 whitewash. Pandey, a model from Mumbai shot to fame last year after promising to strip should India win the 50-over World Cup, which they eventually did. She however backtracked. Her Twitter page is flooded with requests to do it this time around to help the Indians arrest their slide in Australia. Equally sarcastic was former captain Sunil Gavaskar, who reckoned not much had changed since his playing days when many cricketers revived moribund careers by playing against India. "It has always been the case over the years and it's the same now," Gavaskar told a news channel. "If you want a resurrection of your career, play against India. If you want your highest score, play against India. If you want your best bowling figures, play against India." Australia captain Michael Clarke could vouch for that, having hit a career-best 329 not out before declaring the first innings in Sydney. Dhoni, who guided India to Twenty20 and 50-over World Cup triumphs with his unflappable and proactive leadership, has drawn ire for his defensive captaincy in Australia. "Captain Cool (Dhoni's nickname) sounds okay when the team is doing well but if the team is doing badly, he needs to be a hard captain," Kapil Dev was quoted as saying to a leading newspaper. The former skipper, who led India to 1983 World Cup victory, felt Dhoni alone could do little if his team mates let him down. http://cricketnext.in.com/news/team-india-like-faithful-husbands/62846-13.html :hysterical::hysterical::hysterical:

[Sid]

Sad to see this team becoming a laughing stock :((

[Old guy]

and series isnt even over yet.. not saying it would get better but honestly can it get any worse clarke got 300 lmao

[Karan114]

and series isnt even over yet.. not saying it would get better but honestly can it get any worse clarke got 300 lmao

Never underestimate the depths this Indian team can plumb. So far the top three Australian batsmen haven't scored many runs - maybe in the next game they will score so many that Clarke and Ponting won't even be needed. Who really can predict anything with batsmen who have forgotten how to bat and bowlers incapable of bowling even one line and length for more than a few balls in a row?

[zen]

they deserve all the criticizm .... no reasons to fold up like this so far esp. when the side has some talent and was #1 not so long ago * Bowling is bad = understandable; setting field for bad bowling = ? * Batting can underperform = understandable; batting failing miserably in almost 6 tests abroad = ? * fielding is poor = understandable; not making effort in the field = ? * losing = understandable; not putting up even a fight = ?

[Cricketics]

They are trying to be funny too and they suck at it.