Faulty planning pulled India down

Aussies have learned from their past performances and improved, while India has taken a haphazard route to oblivion, writes Ian Chappell.

Why, when the two teams appeared to be so evenly matched only ten months ago has Australia suddenly raced ahead of India in this current series?

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The most obvious reason is the Australians have learned from their past performances and improved their approach while India has taken a haphazard route to oblivion.

There can be no better example of India's muddle-headed approach than their preparation for the third Test.

At a time when the team should have been rejoicing over the return of Sachin Tendulkar all the focus was on the pitch and how skipper Sourav Ganguly was desperately imploring the groundsman to remove the grass.

This ill-conceived plan immediately sent the message to the Australians that there was a major concern in the Indian camp. Boy, haven't the tourists capitalised.

If you want a clue as to the impact of this flawed ploy look at the Australian bowling figures; when all four economy rates are below 2.5 runs per over (and this includes Jason Gillespie who had sixteen taken off his first over) the batting side is not thinking right.