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As Michael Clarke
left for India in February, he forecast the tour as the most difficult
of his captaincy. He landed back in Sydney on Sunday with that grim
prognostication very much intact, having presided over three consecutive
defeats, a breakdown of team discipline ruled punishable by the
suspension of four players, and the further deterioration of his
troublesome back.
In Clarke's absence from Delhi, the tourists have belatedly found some
semblance of the competitive under the interim leadership of Shane
Watson, showing a visible rise in aggression on the second afternoon.
Clarke watched these events in Singapore between his flights, and said
he hoped the team would salvage a belated reward from the tour with a
closing victory.
Such a result would indicate some progress within the team, but there
are plenty of questions to be asked of a tour that now seems as though
it was doomed before it began due to the players' scant preparation,
faulty skills and jaded attitudes. Answering for the results in a
clipped manner, Clarke conceded the unprecedented events before the
Mohali Test had been a "kick up the backside" for all.
"It certainly made us realise that what we thought were the little
things are quite large in our group and important to our group having
success," Clarke said. "I think the team have responded very well, the
players who were left out have come back really well, and it's good to
see a few of those guys getting opportunities in this Test.
"It was one of the toughest challenges of my career and I'm sure it has
been for the other guys as well. Travelling to India and playing there
is always tough. We knew we were going to face a lot of spin bowling and
we have done. I think we'll learn from that, everybody will walk out of
India as a better player and certainly more well prepared next time we
go there for Test matches."
Better prepared for India perhaps, but the most pressing matter now is
how this series sets up the team for the Ashes. Clarke's own fitness is
clouded after he missed a Test match due to his back problems for the
first time. Clarke also admitted he was still carrying a tender
hamstring from the home summer, and said he would "do as I'm told" by
medical staff in deciding whether or not to return to India for the IPL.
"I'll have scans this week and spend plenty of time with the physio,
fingers crossed it turns out okay," Clarke said. "Sitting down for 12
hours has made it a little bit stiff, but I'm really confident that I'm
in good hands with my physio here in Sydney.
"I'd be silly to make that decision [on the IPL] right now, I think I
need to wait on the results, listen to the experts and then make a plan
from there. I've had my back issues since I was 17 years of age so this
is no different. In regards to my hamstring I hurt it throughout the
Australian summer and it has just lingered on. I haven't had the
opportunity to get that 100% fit due to how much cricket we've had."
Plenty of other questions about the tour remain to be satisfactorily
answered. Clarke said his deputy Watson was not included alongside the
coach Mickey Arthur and the team manager Gavin Dovey in discussions
around the decision to suspend four players in Mohali because "he was
one of the players the decision was getting made on" but was otherwise
steadily involved in decision-making.
Nathan Lyon's handling across the trip has also been wondered at by
many, his omission from the team to play in Hyderabad made to look still
more bizarre by his success as a confident and aggressive off spinner
in Delhi.
"I think it's exciting for him, again to get a little reward at the end
of the tour would be very satisfying for him, and I think for the team
if we could get a win in the last Test would show the hard work we've
put in and the lessons we've learned. It would be lovely to take a
little reward away."
Clarke offered no substantial explanation for his call to limit James
Pattinson to two spells of three overs each on Australia's first bowling
day of the series, despite the young fast bowler ripping out two early
wickets and looking the team's most dangerous bowler by a distance at
arguably its most pivotal point.
"It's just the way it goes, sometimes you bowl 15 overs straight or 21
overs straight like Nathan Lyon yesterday, sometimes you bowl short
spells," Clarke said. "There was no real reason behind that."
Daniel Brettig is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo. He tweets here
Feeds: Daniel Brettig
© ESPN EMEA Ltd.
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