VINAY KUMAR PRAYING FOR A DIFFERENT SCRIPT THAN M VIJAY

After India's performance yesterday, I was left speechless. I can understand having a bad game... but players learn from their mistakes even in a bad game. On the other hand, in yesterday's game against Australia, India never seemed to want to learn.

The spinners kept pitching it short, and the pacers on length. And the batsmen... well, I wouldn't blame them. They are just not good enough against good fast bowling.

When Sehwag had problems against the short balls climbing onto his chest, he found a way out. He developed the tuck behind square for a single, and when in mood, he used the make-some-room-and-hit-over-square-on-the-off-side. This has not happenned with the other guys in the team. Their inadequacies against the short balls were exploited during the last Twenty20 World Cup... and nothing seems to have changed since.

When his franchisee was looking at elimination even before the semi-finals stage in the IPL, MS Dhoni came up with a strong innings to propel his side ahead and eventually to the title.

But it's a completely different ball game here at the Caribbean islands. He is not at Dharamsala or Chennai... but far away at Barbados. He is not playing in his CSK yellow, he is in the Indian deep blue. And bowling to him will not be a well-payed-but-not-so-motivated Irfan Pathan, but some highly-motivated-and-vastly-talented quickies like Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Lasith Malinga.

It's high time that Indian players and selectors understand that country-v-country cricket is extremely different from the IPL. Murali Vijay gained entry into the team due to his IPL performance... and he flopped. Now, Umesh Yadav has gained an entry into the side. I hope he does not meet the same fate as Murali Vijay, though he is unlikely to feature in the playing 11.

The player who will be sensing that opportunity is not too far away is the young medium pacer R Vinay Kumar, who can atleast claim that his selection into the squad was not purely on his IPL performance, but also on the basis of his performance in the domestic season.

Time of reckoning for the young man!