Honeymoon's over, the kids need help

The honeymoon is over, MS Dhoni now has some home improvement to do. Not only for himself but for his merry boys who went around playing merry cricket for more than two years. Fearless, for they knew no fear. Clear-minded, for they knew no confusion. Cue two first-round exits in world events and a home series loss to a severely depleted Australia and they are not so sure of themselves. The fear of the bouncer is evident, the fear of missing the length against big hitters is bringing the bowlers down, there is confusion when chasing and consternation when Yuvraj Singh is missing. It is time now for the same youngsters to overcome that fear, to sort out the confusion.

The World Twenty20 and Champions Trophy failures weren't catastrophic; they could be put down to injuries, to a stray off day. Against Australia, in home conditions, in front of fanatical crowds and with one opposition player leaving the country almost every day, with ample opportunity to come back in a long series, they lost even before Cyclone Phyan could intervene. It ought to hurt them, a unit wanting to become the best team in the world.

Because it's not merely the losses but the manner in which they lost that will worry them. At 2-1, after winning in Nagpur and Delhi, India went to Mohali with the momentum, Australia with Murphy's Law running the rule in their camp. To add to it, India finally bowled and fielded well, restricting Australia to 250. At that point, even a 6-1 scoreline in India's favour seemed plausible - more so when Virender Sehwag got them off to a flying start and it was all a matter of batting out 50 overs on a flat pitch. Under pressure, the Aussies lifted their game, India's youngsters faltered and they were bowled out with 24 runs and 20 balls to go.

The critics sharpened their knives - Ravi Shastri wrote of mental strength and Sunil Gavaskar saw a lack of application in how India didn't last 50 overs while the run-rate and the pitch were both manageable. Both are generally thrifty when it comes to criticising the Indian team so their words carried greater resonance. And if Mohali was partially India 1990s redux, Hyderabad was the full Monty.

Big, improbable chase. Tick. Sachin Tendulkar plays a solo masterpiece yet makes the chase look easy. Tick. Tendulkar falls with a handful required. Tick. The rest fold tamely. Tick. "This column has lately been questioning the mental strength of this Indian team. It has now received a fresh coat of scepticism," wrote Shastri.

Dhoni, to his credit, didn't hide behind words after Hyderabad. "I don't think it was the talent part," he said. "I think it was the mental part, where you know you can play a big shot and you back yourself to do that. At times you just go through the motions, you don't know if such a shot is needed or no. I think we lost the mental part more than the cricketing aspect."

Dhoni has himself to blame for it too. Over the past two years he has talked about letting his batting line-up play its "natural game". There hasn't been visible pressure on the youngsters to learn how to build an innings, because perhaps they know if they fail Dhoni is there. And Dhoni usually is there. Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma have had a cushy initiation to international cricket. Bouncers in South Africa? No problem, we'll send for Rahul Dravid. Flat pitches? Have fun, you won't be pushed in at No. 3. Result: The fighting, unglamorous innings are missing. Both Raina and Rohit are considered future middle-order mainstays - though Rohit is out of the team right now - and they need to show they don't shy away from gritty efforts.

Sourav Ganguly, who was supposed to be suspect facing the short ball all his career, had specific advice for Raina. He feels the issue is more mental than technical. In Hyderabad Raina top-edged a bouncer, in Guwahati he played back to a full delivery. Ganguly's advice: He just needs to be clear with what he wants to do when a bowler is running in to bowl at 90 miles an hour, and there are bouncers involved.

India will also rue that Sehwag's longest innings in six efforts lasted 31 balls. In a seven-match series, you expect him to win at least one on his own but it was not to be. It is easy to say that what he played was his natural game but what he plays in Tests is also his natural game. What he played in this series would suit Twenty20 more and, apart from Hyderabad, he was never under pressure to go out seeking adventure.

Ashish Nehra brought a sense of purpose to the bowling and was Dhoni's go-to man in the Powerplays but lacked support. Harbhajan Singh slowly turned around a poor start from Mohali, moving off-wards and slowing down his pace. As a unit, going at 5.3 an over through the series was par for the course but Ishant Sharma continues to be a worry.

Through all the high-decibel chatter that is Indian television, one channel stumbled upon something close to the truth. Running a loop of the shots from the Guwahati collapse, it proclaimed that it was not the bowlers who lost the series. The voiceover was stinging in criticism: "Mr Sehwag, will you keep hitting wide ones for sixes, and leave the gate open for incoming deliveries?" "Look, he [Yuvraj] has no shame, he is laughing on his way back." Yuvraj rightfully had a bemused expression on his face after being dismissed in freak manner. Every batsman was panned, some unfairly so, but when it came to Tendulkar, the anchor said, "So after Hyderabad did the other batsmen expect the Little Master to score all the runs again?"

Lazy stuff, yes, but also pointing to the nineties when, more often than not, one man used to be the team. Dhoni's team has worked hard for the last two years to not become such a unit, instead be one that gets the job done, that finishes off matches. He wouldn't want three ordinary series to undo that effort.