India vs Australia Test Series: Wounded Aussies need a pause

Australia skipper Pat Cummins during Day Two of the second Test against India at New Delhi last week. Pic/Getty Images

Tuesday was the scheduled final day of the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. By then, skipper Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood had already returned to Australia, the latter ruled out of the rest of the series, and arrangements were being made for veteran opener David Warner to fly back home with his family, the left-hander having possibly played his last Test match.

Little illustrates the disarray in the Aussie camp better than the developments of the last two days. Cummins is slated to come back in time for the third Test in Indore from March 1, but Hazlewood (Achilles) and Warner (fractured elbow) will have to settle for sitting on their couch and hoping their teammates can somehow summon the resolve and fortitude to bounce back from two crushing defeats that have extended their wait to lay their hands back on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

All plans gone awry

Three weeks after landing in Bangalore, gung-ho and confident of pulling off their first series triumph in India since 2004, Australia's best laid plans have been emphatically scuppered. Michael Clarke, the former captain, has slammed the decision not to play a practice game before the Test series. Allan Border, another celebrated ex-skipper, and Matthew Hayden, a behemoth in Indian conditions too, have expressed shock and dismay at the abject capitulation inside three days in both Tests and particularly their stunning collapse on Day Three of the second Test, when they went from 85 for two to 113 all out before one could say Matt Kuhnemann through a series of ill-advised sweeps of different ilk.

A scuffed up pitch in Alur and their version of a faux-Ashwin - Baroda off-spinner Mahesh Pithiya - who travelled with the team until the start of the Delhi Test suggested that the threat, if not fear, of spin had taken deep root in Aussie minds. That has translated itself into addled decision-making with the bat and questionable selection calls, most notably the omission for the first Test of Travis Head.

Also Read: Border Gavaskar Trophy: With Warner yet to recover, Australia have to take big calls for Indore Test

Undoubtedly handicapped

Australia were undoubtedly handicapped by the unavailability for the first half of the series of Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Cameron Green, but there's no gainsaying how they would have fared even in this trio's presence. Unseemly exoduses from the batting crease have been disappointingly routine and done little to augment Australia's reputation as a team that never goes down without a fight.

The week between now and Indore offers a tremendous window for introspection. Both while trying to be patient and attempting to take the fight, recklessly, to R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, the Aussies have courted unmitigated disaster. What do they do now? How do they sing the redemption song?