'India's chances of winning Australia series over'

The ongoing rubber against Australia was seen as India's best chance of winning a series Down Under, but former captain Sunil Gavaskar said that the visitors should forget about such a possibility after the humiliating loss in the first Test in Melbourne.

India witnessed yet another poor start to an overseas tour after their famed batting line-up flopped to succumb to an embarrasing 122-run loss against Australia in the series opener on Thursday.

Asked whether the defeat has virtually ended India's chances of winning the four-match series, Gavaskar responded in the affirmative.

"Yes, I think so (about India not winning the series). I will be happy to be proven wrong but I don't see that happening," he told NDTV.

"In both the innings here we failed to cross the 300-run mark, especially in the second innings here the pitch was good for batting.

"In England we managed to reach 300 only once despite our batsmen having 30,000-40,000 runs behind them. The alarm bells are ringing very loudly," the legendary batsman added.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni might be facing criticism from all quarters for his defensive captaincy off late, but Gavaskar extended some support to the beleaguered India skipper.

"Captains need help because they are under pressure everytime. They need help from the vice-captain and I don't think Dhoni is getting that help," Gavaskar said.

"(I feel) everybody is in their own cocoon (in the Indian team) and that's where Dhoni needs to have more interaction (with the players)."