India's collapse in Mumbai is disgraceful

By John Cheeran
The way India collapsed on the last day in the Mumbai Test was disgraceful.
Winning the toss and fielding turned out to be the original mistake committed by skipper Rahul Dravid.
It is a pity that mistakes did not stop there.
Sloppy fielding and wayward bowling allowed England to touch 400 in the first innings.
And instead of giving a rousing reply to England, we had stalwarts such as Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar fumbling at the crease.
I will not buy the argument that batting second led to India’s 212-run defeat. There is no point in blaming Dravid for fielding first.
Batting first or second, you got to apply yourselves to the task at hand.
Poor batting was the cause of Indian defeat.
India could not get their first innings right. Conceding a lead of 121 runs in first innings was giving the advantage to the rivals.
And admit it, England has the best pace attack in the world on current form and on a wicket that offered plenty of assistance to seamers it was a test of character and technique for Indian batsmen.
And Indian batsmen have failed that test.
For Tendulkar giving his wicket to off-spinner Shaun Udal in the Indian second innings was shameful indeed.
In Mohali too, the Indian batting was brittle.
It will remain the same if the team management bail out the suspects again.
Mind you, the team management had to leave out VVS Laxman and Mohammad Kaif to accommodate Sehwag and Tendulkar, two players who quite do not deserve a place in the side on the basis of their current form.
I would also like to remind those who are condemning skipper Dravid and coach Greg Chappell that a week ago India had defeated England by nine wickets in Mohali.
The team that played in Mumbai was the same except for Sreesunth replacing Piyush Chawla.
England, after all, is the number two side in Test cricket and showed us why they are rated so.