Kohli and Yadav the only saving grace of dismal tour

The last rites were delivered pretty quickly and as the mourners gathered around, they wondered how an entity so healthy barely eight months back could succumb so tamely and without even the semblance of a fight.

Yes, in July last year India were the number one team in the world in both formats of the game. They had just won the limited overs ICC World Cup in April after a long gap of 28 years and in the Test rankings, they had been number one since late 2009.

Nobody thus expected the demise to come so quickly but it did and why the symptoms were not noticed and preventive measures taken will no doubt be discussed ad nauseam.

Simple fact

The simple fact is that the Australians, who themselves were not in a great state shook themselves up, rose to the challenge and have taken giant strides to regaining the number one status which they had held proudly for over a decade-and-a-half. They batted brilliantly, bowled with intent and as always, their fielding gave hardly anything away.

If pace and seam did it for the Aussies in the first innings, it was the spin of Nathan Lyon that got the Indians in the second innings. He has a lovely action and loops the ball well and as was seen in the limited opportunities that he had, he gets the ball to spin even on pitches with a fair bit of green on them.

Bowling action

What has been such a pleasant sight is the bowling action of all the Australain bowlers. They all have nice easy run-ups and gather speed as they come to then delivery point and then bowling from close to the stumps, they release the ball with a lovely whippy action that generates pace and bounce.

Though Lyon is a spinner, he too bowls with a nice high action. While he got the ball to turn quite nicely, the wicket with which he ended the Indian innings was an indication of the thought he puts in the bowling. It was a straight through which is such a devastating ball on a pitch where there is turn and if India prepares turning pitches then bowlers like Lyon will not make life easy for the Indian batsmen in India too.

Sliver lining

The only silver lining in Adelaide was the century scored by Virat Kohli. The manner in which this young man has come on in the last couple of years bodes well for India and with this first Test century, he has indicated that he is capable of taking on higher and greater responsibilities up the order.

If he can keep his competitive instincts up without being distracted by all the chatter around him and maintain an equilibrium in triumph he will serve India for a long time.

Apart from Kohli the dying embers have revealed another spark in Umesh Yadav in bowling.

It is around these two that India must look to build a team that will not go down as meekly as this team has done.

— Professional Management Group