Have Team India burnt their boat before crossing the river...?

New Delhi: The victory at Lord's is already appearing to be deceptive as Team India has been tactically outwitted and exposed as a side that cannot take pressure.The question that is uppermost in everyone's mind now is: Was the Lord's win just a fluke? When Team India embarked on England tour there were apprehensions and doubts over their abilities to win games on foreign soil as their drubbing by South Africa and later by New Zealand were still afresh. Not to forget India's 4-0 defeat by England in 2011 in England tour soon after World Cup victory. Later in the year Team India was on Australia tour where they suffered another 4-0 clean sweep in test series. These apprehensions almost came true at Trent bridge but for heroics of Stuart Binny and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Team India managed to avoid much feared start to their England tour.The flops Shikhar Dhawan, Virat Kohli, to some extent Cheteshwar Pujara and Dhoni, were seen as a temporary phase and fans still hoped they will eventually come good.Under fire from ex English cricketers for displaying poor cricket, England skipper Alastair Cook got what Team Indian batsmen are perceived to be most feared of….a green top suitable for perfume bowling at Lord's.To everyone's surprised Team India not only shocked the connoisseurs of cricket but themselves as well by beating England at Mecca of cricket..that too after long 28 years.As expected there there were celebrations, cheers and beers…….But what one just overlooked amidst tumult the fact that much famed Indian batting line up was still nowhere near their potential. Dhawan looked conscious to save his slot and Kohli buried under the debris of huge expectations.It was Ajinkya Rahane (103) and medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar ( 6/82) in the first inning and than , Murali Vijay (95), Jadeja (68) and Kumar( 52) in the second inning who laid the foundation for a famous victory.Ishant Sharma did the rest by bouncing the English batsmen off their feet. He took seven wickets, not only his best but by it was a best bowling performance by any Indian bowler at Lord's.Well….did we win because we played better cricket or England showed the worst possible batting display…..? The way they handled Ishant's very predictable rising deliveries, it reminds one of West Indies most fearsome four paced bowling attack of 70's invented by Clive Lloyd.Bruised and humiliated England came back or rather one should say allowed to come back in the third test at Southampton which was a cake walk for them. They leveled the series 1-1 by defeating Team India by 266 runs. Team India allowed them to level the series by not looking at some of the senior players performances which were far below their talents or say records. Skipper Dhoni, who also has a mediocre run so far, barring one inning in the first test, persisted with Shikhar Dhawan who kept failing and trusted Kohli who now looks short of self confidence. To be fair to him, he too realized the shattered confidence of his main batsmen and gambled by bringing in an extra batsman Rohit Sharma but even he disappointed. Any batsman in Sharma's place would have been under tremendous pressure after knowing fully well why was he being inducted in to playing eleven. What options Dhoni has now…..? Should Shikhar be dropped and Gautam Gambhir be given a chance…? Yes, he has no other choice but to try him weather he likes him or not. But his major dilemma is Ashwin who doesn't have an impressive overseas record. Even if one goes by the Manchester pitch which supports spin bowling, will England which don't have a quality spinner in their squad, take the risk of removing the grass? Despite Moeen Ali, whom many consider as a club level bowler, taking 6 wickets in third test, the strength of England is their fast bowling attack led by James Anderson. So one can't see any reason why England wold not prefer a green top at Manchester. However if Dhoni chooses to Include him for the fourth test that begins from Thursday, who sits out….? Rohit…..? No…..Pujara….big NO……than who…..? Nobody….the only change he can afford to make is just one and that is play Gautam because Team India have already burnt their boat by giving away the advantage to England who would be obviously on high after win, in the third test.