Cricket: Aussies crowing, Indians deathly quiet

NAGPUR - The Indian dressing room was empty after stumps as the hooting and hollering from the Australian shed drifted over the Vidarbha Cricket Association ground.

The deserted scene behind the door marked "India Players" was fitting, because the hosts hadn't really shown up in the first place.

Indian cricket is in disarray, on and off the field.

Not one official from the Board of Control for Cricket in India was at the presentation ceremony after Australia's win in the third test, leading to the unusual sight of Damien Martyn walking up to get his man of the match trophy ... and having to pick it up off the table himself.

Australian captain Adam Gilchrist received the mickey mouse TVS Cup provided by the series sponsors rather than the real deal, the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Indian batting great Sunil Gavaskar is among the many who have slammed officialdom for not preserving the integrity of the proper trophy and former Australian captain Border is known to be less than pleased.

Rather than staying together and trying to regroup ahead of Wednesday's fourth test, the Indian players went their separate ways straight after the match. Sachin Tendulkar, Anil Kumble, Ajit Agarkar, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan left on early flights while their team-mates licked their wounds in Nagpur.

And then there's the on-field debacle of Indian's biggest loss to Australia, by 342 runs, and their first series loss at home to Australia for 35 years.

The bowling was poor apart from paceman Zaheer and a few good moments from spinners Anil Kumble and Murali Kartik.

The batting was hesitant and ineffective apart from Virender Sehwag and a few late slogs from Zaheer.

The less said about wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel the better. He has given new meaning to the term "Iron Gloves".

"We no longer have the right to claim that ours is the best batting lineup in international cricket," said the misfiring Rahul Dravid, whose runs at No 3 have dried up.

"It is the Aussies who are doing far better than the rest. Our strength is batting but we are failing miserably."

India's players were booed and jeered during stages of their lame loss and Patel, who just could not seem to get his keeping together, was copping the brunt of it.

He looked embarrassed at his many fumbles but unfortunately for him, with millions watching on TV, there was nowhere to hide.

Dropping Michael Clarke on single figures in Australia's second innings may have been the nail in Patel's coffin.

He received no encouragement from his team-mates and it was no surprise that he was quickly dropped for the fourth test and replaced by Dinesh Karthik.

- AAP