The Indian bowling at MCG for the fi rst three days matched the Australian bowlers in every aspect with Zaheer and Umesh able to swing better than their counterpart but their cleaning up the tail was miserable which allowed the Aussies to claim honours.

However Dhoni was less convincing when he claimed bowling tail early is not an issue. He said the bowlers needed to fi nd a way to run through the tail as well.

"It [Australia's lower-order contribution] didn't defl ate us," he said. "It's something we need to keep an eye on. Even in the fi rst innings their lower order put decent runs on the board. In games like these, both he innings together, if the amount of runs goes to 90 or 100 for the tail, it's a big amount of runs to chase. We need to come up with ways to get the tailenders out."

Indian team are always been very generous to the India allows opposition tail to wag too much tailenders. Polishing of the tail was an art perfected by the two Pakistan pacemen, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis who were clinical and ruthless for Pakistan when it came to rattling the lower order of top sides.

Raw pace is a great asset when it comes to numbers nine, ten and jack and that is what India have always lacked. The absence of genuine express fast bowlers has been hurting India and is partly responsible for the lower order resistance by their opposition. But India's problem in dismissing the tailenders may not be just because of Dhoni's negative tactics.

One must also realise that after Anil Kumble's retirement India are struggling to find a bowler who can polish off the tail on a regular basis.

In this series, Dhoni was unimaginative in the fi eld placing for the tailenders which made Tom Moody to comment "I can't understand how they can give easy singles to number 10 and 11" and Ian Chappell summed up by saying "This is absolutely a blueprint on how to lose a Test match. "Dhoni seems to be getting nowhere in this issue.

In the year 2011, Indian bowlers have struggled against number 10 and 11 in the Tests. In fact of the top 7 totals by the last two batsmen in 2011, four have come against India. England tailenders had added 97 runs in Nottingham, while South Africa tail added 79 in Cape Town.

West Indies wagged their tail as well in Kingston and added 74 runs. 74 runs that Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon and James Pattinson scored batting at number 10 and 11 in Melbourne is the latest addition to that list.

The other side of the coin is how Indian tailenders fare against opposition. The fi rst Test in Melbourne will be remembered for the abject capitulation of the Indian lower order batting and also the tactics used by the Australian fast bowlers who peppered the Indian tail-enders with short-pitched deliveries.

Clarke said, "I love the aggression of our fast bowlers. I love the way they served it up to the Indian tail-enders during our strong victory in Melbourne”.

The response in Sydney was once again a meek surrender with India losing the last 4 wickets in the fi rst innings for a meagre 14 runs. India could have drawn the series in 2008 if not, Michael Clarke, of all the bowlers, bowling the penultimate over, took the last three Indian wickets in one over.