India to probe Test debacle

NEW DELHI (AFP) - India's cricket chiefs said on Saturday they will review their team's disastrous Test series in England where Mahendra Singh Dhoni's men lost the number one Test ranking. "We will, of course review the performance of the cricketers after the tour and will do what needs to be done," Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Narayanswami Srinivasan said. "But at the moment a tour is going on and a one-day series will follow the Tests. So we should not jump the gun," Srinivasan told the Indian Express newspaper. England, needing to win the four-Test series by a 2-0 margin or better to dethrone India from top spot in the official rankings, raced to a 3-0 lead with a game in hand. The hosts proved their overwhelming superiority over the lacklustre Indians by winning the first Test by 196 runs, the second by 319 runs and the third by a whopping innings and 242 runs on Saturday. Andrew Strauss' men are hot favourites to complete a clean sweep when the final Test starts at the Oval in London on Thursday. Srinivasan said the absence of key players such as Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh at various times during the series due to injuries cost India dearly.

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