Having lost two back to back matches the Australians were aware that they needed to stop the rot soon. It wouldn’t have been easy for them to have arrived in Brisbane just a day after losing to Sri Lanka, and then next day confronting the Indians who were looking like world champions again.

The old saying catches win matches can also be turned around to say dropped catches cost matches. Zaheer Khan, back in the team, induced Matthew Wade to drive at the second ball of the innings and saw the thick edge being dropped as Rohit Sharma dived in front of Tendulkar.

Sharma is a brilliant fielder and it was just one of those days when the ball slipped out of his grasp, but it allowed Wade who has batted and kept well to forge a useful opening partnership with David Warner. India had gone in with no spinner since Jadeja was not given a single over and used Raina and Sharma as the fifth bowler.

If Jadeja is not going to bowl then there is no point picking him in the eleven because at number seven he cannot do much with the bat. In any case it should be apparent by now that it’s one thing batting and bowling on Indian pitches, but another thing altogether doing so on pitches where there is a little extra pace and bounce.

Jadeja, like a lot of other youngsters in the team, has some way to go before he can deliver as he does in India, but not giving him a single over indicated the lack of confidence in his bowling which has gone for plenty in Australia.

Raina actually did a pretty good job with the ball and Rohit got the wicket of Wade, whom he had reprieved in the first over. Apart from the experienced Zaheer and the crafty Raina, all the bowlers were taken for plenty and with more than 100 runs coming in the last ten overs, Australia had done remarkably well.

More crucially that burst of scoring not only added invaluable runs but would also have lifted the spirits in the dressing room even as Indian heads dropped as they trooped back for the interval.

The pitch at the Gabba always has something for the new ball bowlers and that means that the batsmen, especially the openers need to be just a bit more watchful and apply themselves more than on a flat pitch. A pitch like this is a test of temperament and the willingness to take a few crunches on the hands and the body.

Unfortunately, apart from Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the skipper, and the much maligned Raina, nobody showed the determination to hang in there and while it was an asking rate of nearly six runs an over, there was no need for the tearing hurry shown by some. If anything, the hurry seemed to be back in the comforts of the dressing room.

The limited overs game provides the perfect excuse for players who don’t want to fight it out on a bowler friendly pitch to say that they were trying to hit out because of the asking rate, but even the greatest of one day batsmen have given themselves some time out in the middle before launching into their attacking shots.

With Dhoni banned for a game for a slow over rate, the Indians will have to show more urgency on the field than the tardiness that has been seen, though some of the tardiness to leave the crease would be welcome while batting on such pitches.

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