India's fab four need disbanding

Stephen Brenkley, writing in the Independent on Sunday, feels "the final surrender of this greatest of all middle orders in imminent", after their unconvincing performance against Australia in the first innings in Bangalore.

If suggesting to Tendulkar that he might like to consider his options is tantamount to violating a Hindu god, there comes a time in the affairs of man, as W C Fields, that shrewd observer of the human condition, said, when one must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.
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Yet even then there was the faint suspicion that the real glory days were behind them, that reflexes and desire were fading together and that they failed to recognise the slow decline of either. There have been indications since only of deterioration, which did not quite square with the huge expectation before this series, partly fuelled by hype, partly because of Australia's own gentle but discernible downturn, partly because of that recent, eventually tight series between the pair.

Australia's dominance for most of the first Test is a consequence of an intelligent plan skilfully applied, writes Peter Roebuck in the Age. He lauds Mitchell Johnson, who varied his pace and utlised the width of the crease to his advantage while bowling round the wicket to pick up four wickets.

But Mitchell Johnson was the pick of the bunch. His rise through the ranks underscores the Australian methodology. Raw as sushi in his early years, he was gradually brought into the fold and taught to make the most of his blessings. In his days as a plumber's assistant he must have learnt how to turn off numerous taps. Now he stopped the flow of runs and took some critical wickets.