Former Indian captain, Sourav Ganguly, backs India to bounce back in the four-match series against Australia and expressed that the Men in Blue must have learned a lot from the Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne.
Australia defeated the Men in Blue by a handsome margin of 122 runs in the first match of the series. A number of cricket analysts in India claimed that Mahendra Singh Dhoni and company are going to give a tough time to the Kangaroos but the first Test turned out to be an anti-climax.
India has always been a formidable unit at home, but there are a lot of question marks over their ability to perform abroad. Before India’s tour of England earlier in 2011, the Men in Blue were the number one ranked Test team of the world. However, they were whitewashed by England as the home team snatched the top ranking from India. The Men in Blue failed to beat England even once.
Sourav feels that India had a good chance to dismantle the Aussies in the first Test, but they failed to capitalize on the opportunities. Ganguly urged the Indian team to do their home work before the second Test, hoping that the team will bounce back.
The former Indian captain said, “The Indians will be disappointed with their performance. They were in good positions at various times, but weren't able to give the knockout punch at the right moment. The Indians have some thinking to do, but I can guarantee a better show in Sydney. History suggests with India touring abroad that they play better from the second Test onwards.”
Sourav further added that the performances of Umesh Yadav and Zaheer Khan stand as a big plus for India and the fast bowlers are expected to make an impact in the next three matches of the series.
“They can take a lot of positives from this game, especially in the bowling department. Umesh Yadav was hugely impressive, and what will give a lot of hope to M.S. Dhoni is that Zaheer Khan has come out well”, said Sourav.
