Team India failed unit test

Their first match on this trip, the warm-up against New Zealand, India lost by nine runs, their last game of the campaign, against South Africa, they lost by 12. As a team though, they have taken more steps back in the last two weeks than those numbers suggest.

Of all the hits that MS Dhoni and his team have taken over the fortnight, this one probably hurt the most. Losing to South Africa on a turner (the track was more Kanpur than Trent Bridge), chasing an extremely chaseable 130 at that, definitely ticks the box marked embarrassing.

For the last three days, the Indian camp has been answering questions on what went wrong.

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In a hut, a former Chief Minister's son fasts to chart Independent course

He may not get the votes, but Independent candidate and former Karnataka chief minister JH Patel's son Mahima has certainly managed the attention.

A two hour potholed drive from Davangere, next to a scenic lake in Channagiri, Patel has set up "headquarters" in a ramshackle, hand built thatched hut. And he hasn't ventured out to a single village or to address a single rally. Instead, Patel is on a fast, which will last till the results of the Kamataka Assembly elections are announced.

Though baffling, the engineering graduate's campaign against "buying of votes" has voters and even his opponents' supporters streaming in from villages around to meet the "enlightened" politician.

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