Team India recorded their lowest ever Test score of 36/9 (with Mohammad Shami retired hurt) in the second innings of the first Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval.
Despite taking a 53-run first innings lead, India coped an embarrassing 8-wicket defeat in the series opener.
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Ahead of the Boxing Day Test, however, batting legend VVS Laxman has said that the "crazy 70-minute passage" in the Adelaide Test should not be the parameter to pass judgments on the current Indian team that has performed well around the world lately.
"What can I say that hasn’t been said of India’s meltdown in Adelaide? Watching the wickets tumble was surreal, each dismissal an action replay of the previous one. But we must not forget that as disappointing as it is for us to watch what unfolded, the players and the entire squad must be hurting badly," Laxman wrote in his column for The Times of India.
Team India had rewritten the history books in their last tour Down Under by winning the Test series 2-1.
While India have started the current series on a disastrous note, Laxman said it should not be forgotten that the tourists were in the ascendancy for most of the six sessions in the game before suffering a freakish batting collapse.
"This freak occurrence should not define these players, who have played and performed enough times in all parts of the world. I am not saying dismiss what happened, but it’s imperative to put it in perspective. India had scrapped for six sessions to get their noses in front, only for a crazy 70-minute passage to undo the good work," he wrote.
Australian pacers, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, ran through the Indian batting line-up in the first session on Day 3 to change the course of the game.
Hazlewood (5 for 8) and Cummins (4 for 21) took all the wickets between them as none of them in the Indian batting line-up managed to touch the double-digit mark.
With three Tests left in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Laxman said there is a lot to play for in the series.
"Only a quarter of the Test series is over. With three matches to go, there is all to play for. Speaking from experience, the team might feel like it’s carrying the weight on its shoulders, but it’s darkest before dawn. This is a true test of the team’s character and mettle, more so with the captain and Mohammad Shami unavailable from here on," he said.
India will also be without the services of regular skipper Virat Kohli in the remainder of the series as he returned home to attend the birth of his first child. On the other hand, Shami has been ruled out of the series with a fractured forearm.
"There is a great chance for new heroes to emerge, for men to put their hand up and rise to the occasion. It’s time to put Adelaide behind and target a fresh beginning," Laxman wrote.
