Yes, India’s woeful showing in overseas Tests needs to be addressed but let us not incite passion in doing so. It is critical that we remain collected as we sit down to find solutions to some problems that the Indian team is so obviously facing now. It is important not to become a part of the cacophony that follows each such defeat.

Let us remember that when the team was picked and when some cricketers left for Australia before the rest of the side to acclamatise themselves with the conditions Down Under, without exception, everyone said that this Indian side had the best chance to win a series in Australia.

Sadly, the team management did not respond to some signs that became obvious in the first two Tests in Melbourne and Sydney. For instance, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag’s inability to provide the team with a good start should have made the tour selectors seek options. VVS Laxman’s failures called for a harsh decision, too.

It may be a good idea to have Ajinkya Rahane or Rahul Dravid open the innings in Adelaide with Gambhir so that Sehwag can bat at No. 5. It will allow not only Sehwag the chance to play an attacking innings after the ball loses its shine but also be the first steps towards building a middle-order that is capable of taking over from giants like Dravid and Laxman.

It is important to let the likes of Rahane and Rohit Sharma gain the experience of playing Test cricket in Australia. Together with Virat Kohli, it can be expected that they will figure in Test cricket for some years now. It may not be the ideal situation for India to have few players with the experience of playing in Australia when it travels there next.

Of course, there has been some stinging criticism of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy, particularly with respect to his field placing. It does appear to his critics that he can’t seem to do anything right at the moment. I am not among those who believe that he has dipped as a tactician. It is just that his batsmen have let him down big time.

How can he be held responsible if the opening batsmen have been unable to accomplish the primary task of seeing the new ball through? How can he be responsible if experienced batsmen like Dravid and Laxman have been done in by late swing that the Australian fast bowlers have obtained?

Let us not get carried away by all the criticism by former players and others on our TV channels. Yes, as fans of Indian cricket, we are hurt, upset and angered by the dismal showing in Australia – in the wake of the disaster in England – but let us not get despondent and start castigating everything about the team and about Indian cricket.

Let me point out to those leading the lament on TV channels now that they have not devoted even two minutes of their time to talk about our top performers in Ranji Trophy, Rajasthan’s Robin Bist (885 runs) and Madhya Pradesh’s TP Sudhindra (40 wickets). Unless all of India – and I include the fans, media and former India cricketers in this – respects the Ranji Trophy again, we can be sure that its fortunes in Test cricket will sink to an all-time low.

And yes, even if Indians are an emotional and sensitive race, let us learn to remain calm at all times and not allow ourselves to be victims of herd mentality. It is time to let our minds overrule our hearts, embrace hope and remain confident that a system that threw up players of the calibre of Dravid and Laxman, Sehwag and Gambhir, Kohli and Dhoni will help us find solutions to the present set of problems too.

For instance, Mahendra Dhoni’s captaincy – be it his decision (in conjuction with fellow selectors) to retain Suresh Raina in the XI ahead of Yusuf Pathan, consequent to Virender Sehwag’s return or the bowling changes that he rung in – was top notch. The team’s fielding – so often criticised – was rung above the usual.

Zaheer Khan’s response to his captain’s call for wickets or R Ashwin’s nerveless bowling in Powerplay, Sachin Tendulkar’s intensity at the start of the run-chase, Gautam Gambhir’s sheer will power to contribute to the team’s cause despite obvious sluggishness and Raina’s maturity during his match-winning stand with Yuvraj Singh are all more cases in point.

Yet, no team can be satisfied with the old philosophy that said ‘You are as good as your last performance.’ That has to be tweaked to the present times when a team is only as good as its preparation and its current performance.

Yes, it is time to move on – not just for the Indian team as it travels to Mohali but also for fans and critics. The nature of competition in the knockout stage is such that it severely punishes teams every time for playing below par. And the converse is not always true: sides are not often rewarded for raising the bar.

The biggest challenge for the Indian team, therefore, as it prepares to take on Pakistan in its next high-voltage game is to take its collective mind off that amazing effort against Australia and move on. If the squad lingers for long in the afterglow of a fine victory in Motera, its preparations for Mohali can be affected.

I remember how, in 1996, three days after an emotionally-charged game against Pakistan in Bangalore, India capitulated in the semifinal to Sri Lanka at the Eden Gardens in Calcutta. A lot of reasons have been attributed to that loss but I have always suspected that the team was not able to recoup its emotional energy quickly enough.

Yet, I also recall how in the span of three days India beat Australia 2-0 in the best-of-three finals of the Commonwealth Bank Series in 2008. It tells me that the modern Indian teams have evolved and can handle the task of recharging the emotional batteries quite well.

If collective will of the goodly crowd could have resulted in a few goals, India would have won by a handsome margin but in the end, the match was a testimony to the famed Australian traits of grit and resilience as well as its players’ ability to actualise their coach’s plans. A 5-2 verdict in favour of the Australians seemed a fair result for the efforts that the teams showcased.

Even if the world acknowledges England as the most improved side in the past couple of years, Australia was not expected to lose its opening game against that team. Its goal-scoring skills seemed to have deserted the team from Down Under in that match but on Tuesday, it found the target often enough to peg India back.

Early on, India did not have the kind of speed that the Koreans showed in their game against Germany on Monday. That mean the counterattacks from the penalty corners lacked the bite needed to be effective against the superbly fit Australians. The short passing that the Indians tried was also of no avail as the Australian midfield and defence tackled remarkably well.

India was, of course, hamstrung by the fact that it could have only four players on the bench after spearhead Shivendra Singh’s suspension for two matches. Coach Jose Brasa’s worst fears came true and when he sought fresh pairs of legs to send in, he did not have many options. And his players also came up short when having to find ways past the seemingly impregnable defence.

This was not a night on which you could fault the Indians too much. For, you could see a great sense of purpose and method in Australia’s marauding approach to the match. They simply did not let the Indians play their game and kept scoring at frequent intervals to ensure that they would pick up full points from this contest.

Even the staunchest of Indian supporters – and there were celebrities and diehards, Olympic legends and school kids in the stands – will concede that it was Australia’s redemption night. It was a bit of a shame that India had to come off an emotionally and physically draining victory over Pakistan and run into a squad that was hurt by having lost to England.

This piece was written for www.stick2hockey.com

Set to coincide with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith’s visit to the Indian Capital, the decision to institute a trophy to honour two legends – Ajitpal Singh and Ric Charlesworth – this decision is reminiscent of the ping pong diplomacy route that the United States and China took to achieve a thaw in their relationship back in the 70s.

There have always been calls round the world to keep politics away from sports but world leaders — statesmen and politicians alike – have found it a convenient platform to further diplomatic moves through sport. It is hard not to recall some such instances, not the least being Pakistan President Gen. Zia-ul-Haq’s trip to Jaipur for a cricket Test match in 1987.

Then in 1996 when Australia and the West Indies withdrew from their World Cup cricket matches in Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan got together to field a joint side in a friendly game against the home side to show the world that it was safe to travel to the tear-drop island in Indian Ocean.

I remember watching the telecast of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 match between India and Pakistan in Centurion Park and the attempt by the two captains, Sourav Ganguly and Waqar Younis, to remind their fans that this was but a game of cricket and not to see it as proxy war as has become the norm.

Back in 2004, India’s Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee told the cricket team before it left for Pakistan that it was important not only to win at the sport but also to win hearts in Pakistan. The camaraderie that existed on that tour is firmly embedded on the minds of all those privileged to be on that tour, with 8000 Indian fans sitting alongside their Pakistani counterparts.

There is no doubt that sport has the power to facilitate healing of fractured societies. And Australia has taken the initiative to institute a trophy to honour two legends, one the captain of the Indian team that won the World Cup hockey in 1975 and an Australian who was a member of the 1986 side that won the World Cup and has been a successful coach too.

Charlesworth, who is here as Australia coach, saw his team being at the receiving end during its game against England – not just because it lost 2-3 but also because the crowd, steadily building up for India’s match against Pakistan that followed, was lined up against it.  Clearly, the fans were making a gentle statement about the attacks against a number of Indians in Australia.

This piece was written for www.stick2hockey.com