Team India is in disarray, hope floats

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Team India may be mentally destroyed after the crushing defeat in Nottingham, but turnarounds are not impossible...

Team India is in disarray, hope floats

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's Team India may be mentally destroyed after the crushing defeat in Nottingham, but turnarounds are not impossible...

This is the time to wish one was a fly on the wall in any of the rooms of the Indian cricket team. Who is saying what to each other after losing two Tests in a row in England is anyone's guess.

When MiD DAY visited the team hotel last afternoon, there was no one from the team hanging around in the lobby. And one is not given any chance to check out any corners of the hotel. "You staying with us, Sir," a security man will ask you, albeit politely.

Testing Times: India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Pic/Getty Images

By the way, the last time India lost two Tests in a row in England was in 1974.

Have the Indian team experienced what it's like to lose two in a row abroad? Yesu00a0-- in Australia during the summer of 2007-08. The team had just ended the controversial Sydney Test and were moving to Perth where Australia's stranglehold on opposition teams were well documented. Sure, the Monkeygate controversy had a role to play in the team being united for the Western Australia Cricket Association ground Test. But the Sydney Test defeat hurt played the leading role, according to senior members of that team which was led by Anil Kumble.

Is Monday's Nottingham Test defeat hurting Team India enough? Cynics will never want to believe it, but let's hope Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team do. Dhoni would have been better off battling the Englishmen on Day Five at Trent Bridge yesterday.

Instead, he walked the streets of Nottingham's Angel Row area for lunch with Praveen Kumar, Suresh Raina and Abhinav Mukund. The team is in disarray, according to a source. Their worries centre around the bowling department.

A former India star was astounded to find players smiling away after the Lord's Test defeat and recalled his days when India lost a Test. "We would be down for days," he said. On the other hand, skipper Dhoni encourages players to enjoy their success and learn from their failures without giving in too lofty expectations. Fair enough.

The positivity around Zaheer Khan's recovery doesn't seem to be coming to the fore. Praveen Kumar, despite his fifer at Lord's, holds no fears for the English batsmen and Ishant Sharma has not reached a stage where he can look dangerous for an extended period of time.

It is learnt that Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh went to Derby for a scan on stomach and hand, respectively. It is only right that the Indian cricket board ensures that only fit players will travel with the team. Hoping for players to be fit for the next battle helps no one except those to thrive on blind optimism.

It will be interesting to see who will make up the playing XI in Friday's two-day game in Northampton. The bowlers require rest. Ditto Dravid who has spent 866 minutes at the crease in the two Tests so far. Don't be surprised if Dhoni runs into bowl with Wridhiman Saha keeping wicket.

Coach Duncan Fletcher must be a worried man. But he probably believes the side game in Northampton will do his dismantled team some good. In 2005, England lost the opening Test at Lord's by 239 runs and there was good enough reason to believe that Australia would roll over them one more time.

In his book Ashes Regainedu00a0-- the Coach's Story, Fletcher wrote at the end of the Lord's Test chapter: "There is not much you can do in the aftermath of such a defeat. I just told the players to go home and forget about it for a couple of days. They needed a break; it had been a draining Test match. There is little point in having a dressing room inquest. I just did not think they are advisable in such circumstances."

England did not lose another Test after that. The Indian team may be mentally destroyed. But turnarounds are not impossible.

Hope floats.