Indian cricket is at a critical juncture. The innings defeat in Perth — the seventh successive Test loss overseas, caused by another failure of the batting in the face of consistent, quality bowling — was an illustration of how far the former World No.1 has fallen. It was not just that India was stripped of its crown in England; the abjectness of the performances in these seven Tests has made people wonder how on earth the honour was earned in the first place. That is an unfair view. In the decade since the turn of the millennium, India under Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, and M.S. Dhoni added another string to its bow. Traditionally very difficult to beat at home, India began to travel assuredly. Series wins in Pakistan, the West Indies, England, and New Zealand materialised; there were also defining drawn series in Australia and South Africa, the first to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, the second to hold on to the No.1 ranking. India began 2011 with a Caribbean win, but gloom descended thereafter. Unlike in England, where injuries mitigated the dejection of defeat slightly, there has been no place to turn to for comfort in Australia. For the current squad is India's best at the moment; the critical mass, the great batsmen and the bowling spearhead, hasn't changed greatly from the team that had success abroad in the previous decade.
This, however, isn't a time for panic. Annihilation can be dispiriting, but it cleanses the mind, creates space for renewal. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case with the BCCI, judging from the tenor of the Board's awards ceremony in Chennai (where there was no reference to the 4-0 drubbing in England) and other indications. When England suffered a clean sweep in Australia, it commissioned the Schofield Report; when Australia then lost the Ashes at home, it put in place the Argus Review. There was systemic change, envisioned and executed by passionate, intelligent, thoughtful people. Thus far the reaction of India's cricket administration has been near-sighted. India got to No.1 because a group of extraordinarily skilled, singularly determined cricketers rose above the system. But dominance was always going to be beyond them; it required the next generation, developed in a world-class structure and transitioned seamlessly into Test cricket. But the BCCI wasn't proactive. Several long-term issues remain as a result. The most important is the quality of pitches domestic cricket is played on, for this has the most direct influence on bowlers and batsmen. The very structure of domestic cricket and the priorities in scheduling the three formats also need rethinking. In the short term, a transition needs planning. It will be a test of the Board's intent and intelligence, and a portent of India's cricket future.
Keywords: India's tour of Australia
Well presented at the right time. We should not see only the result of
the show, but also find the cause of it and the best thing is
to nip in the bud. Nobody dared to intervene when the commercialization of Indian Cricket was taking place.
Suddenly No.1 Test side is looking like a club side.Its not playing at the international level.Aussies on the other were inconsistent and going through a lean patch after loss to England.their resurrection began when they levelled series with South Africa.They barely managed against NZ at home.But India was supposed to pose a bigger and stronger challenge.But that was not to be.India has bitten the DUST at Melbounr,Sydney and Perth.Indian batting has failed collectively and has failed to support bowlers with enough runs on the board.They are barely reaching 150 odd runs.Its really pathetic state.
The priorities of indian captain Dhoni lay in One Day and T-20 .He is unable to do justice to test cricket.He lacks assurance as a leader in test cricket as Indian side is consistently losing test maches within 3 days.Overkill of One Day and T-20 cricket is taking its toll.BCCI is blind and has no VISION for Indian cricket. Sachin Tendulkar is not helping the cause with his SELFISH display.
Long rope for Dhoni has exhausted with the 7 consecutive defeats. He cannot be supported forever. He himself should have steped down from leading India in test matches. India is a cricket worshipping nation. It's believers won't tolerate a 7 time consecutively defeated god.
We should have made pitches like in australia and england,If we wish to win there.
Two captian theory is always useful for two different forms of cricket,M.S. is purly a kind of one day material,and these kind of failures are just indicating that there is a need of change...BCCI must look into it.
Slowly going up and gradually coming down are processes that happen to most teams in sports. Cricketers are humans and prone to have their ups and downs. We need to have a vast pool of bowlers, batters, fielders and wicket-keepers so that we don't burden the same players to perform day in and day out. In a country of over a billion inhabitants we should be able to have top quality teams that can take on any team on the planet.
BCCI would put up a Review board ONLY if there is a serious impact on Revenue generated by Cricket. They already made that Move by having Sachin for One day Series as per Cricket Australia's Request. BCCI is confident as One series WIN in India or Big Score by one of the stars will bring back the fans and also big sponsors.
By the way is there any one Decision maker in BCCI who has adequate Cricket Knowledge and take decisions for Cricket improvement rather than minting money from it.
Even after 100 years of cricketing, BCCI has not made a bouncing
practicing pitch for our players. Umesh Yadav is a hope of tomorrow if
he is given good coaching. But Dhoni appears to be having some aversion
in making use of him for the reason known to him only. Dhoni is a good
captain so far luck favours him. He has not proved it with his talents
so far.
No amount of criticism or humiliation is going to change the BCCI's attitude or our player's attitude. In sport , as in life , attitude is everything. Attitude is the difference between success and failure. As long as BCCI is happy making money from IPL and doesn't care about the indian team's performance, on a consistent basis on the world stage , we will keep facing these defeats more often. I won't be surprised if india stops playing test matches in future. Indian public are to be blamed for this situation we are in now. If they stop treating our players as DEMI-GODS , and stop watching the matches involving india, most of the problems in indian cricket would be solved. But i do not see that happening in the near future. I have no sympathies for indian board, its players and its public and the reason for that is their attitude. They deserve many more such humiliating drubbings.
India’s performance leaves a lot to be desired. It is not the defeat that’s hurting but the manner in which they lost, i.e., to say the least, appalling. Firstly, they let the home team off the hook when they had them on the mat. Time and again, they have shown the lack of killer instinct, a characteristic distinct of a team billing to be numero uno. The abject surrender, which the edit rightly points out, raises questions over India’s reign at the top for close to 20 months. All this means it’s time for introspection and, if need be, testing out bench resources. It will also be a defining moment for BCCI because this phase will determine whether they are ready to take tough decisions or they go ahead with their ‘safety first’ policy. Sri Lanka in their backyard and New Zealand at home, which will be India’s next two assignments, will give a fair idea of BCCI’s transition plan for team’s future.
The best way to deal this is to make the ranji trophy happen in some other country like Australia or England. BCCI can even setup training facilities abroad -I guess it does have enough resources for this exercise.
Rightly pointed they fail to retain their number uno position after losing in England and that monster still hunting our team in Australia also. Its quit tought to beat any team on their own soil but the present Australia team is no so strong compare to couple of years back and filled with all newers expect Pointing and one or two others. We had solid batting line up with internationally recognized batsmen through their stellign performance that has been demonstrated in their so far career. Why out team fail to retaliate at least in the third test after surrender to first two and senior players missed in reading and wrongly understood the opponent players in facing ball and bat. Instead of receiving criticisim, sarcastic dialogues from Medias and people of country players should review their bad shots and worst bowling and fielding that cast them to accept defeat after defeat. They had an chance to paly fourth test at least defeat the host team by innings to get back their glory or bur
Planning for the transition is an important step to stop this downward slope. This is unfortunately missing, as has been rightly pointed out in your Editorial. Rajeev shukla was commenting in a news channel, that we cannot simply ask people to retire based on failure in one series.In our country, cricket has become a big business venture rather than a sport. Politicians and businessmen run the game while senior cricketers are cooling their heels in the commentary box.When Compare it with Viv Richards or Brian Lara.they had quit the game in their prime. They never cared about centuries or records. For them what mattered was win.The trio proved their mettle overseas against greats.Age is catching up with them as could be seen by pathetic clean bowling of DraVID.
Dhoni is not for test cricket and purely a one day player.
Dinesh karthik should replace him. Gauti should be made the captain with Virat as his deputy.Raina should be made the captain for One dayers .
There is no doubt that Indian cricket needs certain reforms. This is time that people start focussing more on the game than money. No doubt IPLs are good entertainment for people. But, when it starts affecting the performance of our team outside the country, there is a serious need to rethink over the credibility of IPLs. The performance of team at Australia clearly showed the morale of our batsmen. There was a clear dip in confidence of the batsmen which could be made out from the way they were batting. I feel that these international series are just a formality now-a-days and cricketers are more into money making from the Ipl's. Anyway's we can hope for better performance from Indians as we are the Champs.
The article very well stresses the point of systematic change of the system in order to avoid further defeats overseas.As Dhoni rightly said during his interview that phasing out the seniors is a process not an event.The defeats have shown glimpes of Indian future if nothing is done at the earliest.However,what was shocking to see that the Trio of Sachin ,Dravid and Laxman,who overpowered the greats of Mcgrath,Lee,Donald and Warne is falling like pack of cards to likes of Anderson, Broad,Bresnan in England and Siddle,Pattinson and Hilfenhaus in Australia.Is this the End ?
There is need to connect the dots of indian cricket if BCCI wants to look at the matter in holistic manner, next generation should be groomed keeping a broader vision in mind, also same is the matter with the infrastructure of indian domestic cricket.
Team India's performance was consistent, as we lost in england, won against indies at home and again loosing against aussies.Also, the moral of team can be gauged on the manner if its captain talks about him retirement plane in between the match.All these dots should be connected with the help of all stakeholders.
A bunch of talented/record holding individuals cannot make the winning note always but for some time, but a team spirit can only and always ensure it and it is evident that why Windies, Ozs dominated the No 1 status for almost / more than a decade, which India achieved but failed to retain. Changing of flat tracts into live pitches and conducting first class matches frequently in our country will only make our players dare to face the pace bowling outside the sub - continent, (eg., Haryana - Rajasthan recent Ranji trophy match)
There is no hope for improvement in our country as long as BCCI is
headed by politicians and business tycoons. The debacle was bound to
happen because of the dip in form of experienced players and
inexperience of young players. Its high time BCCI made a serious
introspection of the game structure in our country.
The advent of IPL, T20 and other formats of cricket among the Indian
team have compounded the matter. It has only spoiled the very edifice
of the game. It has given too much of cricket and money to our players.
It has ruined the prospects of players. Too much of cricket among the
players needs to be discouraged. Selecting non-performing old woods
should be thought twice before selecting the team. They should be
dropeed and new blood should be incorporated.
Just after the defeat in the 2nd Test, Australia released the squad for the 3rd match, whereas BCCI released the IPL V schedule. This sums it up all. Dhoni if requires the much needed rest, why don't he omit IPL? Is he under compulsion by the big bosses of BCCI?
Indian test team achived consistency in one thing in their consecutive matches: loss. Really, it is ignominous. It compels one to think that our test team consists of plyers, who are 'hors de combat.' The paramount reason for the pulverisation of the team in foreign soil, as you rightly say, emanteas from the fact that our team has to encounter fast pitches there. A team obviously at a winning streak in the home ground, presnts an unpredictble spectacle of humiliating failures in alien pitches. There is abundant cricket talent in the country. We should abjure from giving undue importance to the preparation of the conventional pitches promoting spin bowling. Also, the selectors should recognise the genuine players and encourage them. They should not fall a victim to external pulls and pressures in this respeact. Imporatntly, all is not that well in the realm of the BCCI.
The editorial rightly infuses hope in the minds of Indian cricket lovers who are dissolutioned over the recent pathetic performance of our players in the land of Kangaroo. Physiology has its own characteristics. Hard work and practice make the human muscle stronger to shine in sport. But excessive exertion beyond level,will have its toll too. Cricket cannot transcend and stretch the tenets of physiology either. Commercialism and the media glare have transformed this wonderful game entertaining crores,into the one where 24 hours a day is inadequate. When BCCI,the richest sports body sounds the beugle more frequently unmindful of optimum physical energy, our players have to gasp, that ultimately ends up with such setbacks. The suggestions thrown in the editorial are sure to yield dividend if Board is serious in its implementation.
If cricket is a game what you say that a review, analysis is required. If cricket is a business always spinning money no need for anything excepting to organise more and more matches, with more and more countries drawn into the net.
Cricket administration? One blind man leading a group of blinds. Are the office bearers aware of the teams' failures? Players play, admistrators get the players to play. Was there any preparations done before this series? What is Satchin Ton dulkar playing for? Not for team I feel.
The match played at Perth is interesting from the point of both teams. India scored above 160 runs in both innings losing all the 10 wichets, both times.Australia scored 214 for no loss but they lost 10 wickets for only 155 runs.The opening partnership is only a freak and that would never happen again.Australia itself has to look at this angle and plan the changes in the team for their own future.
Both England and Australia have studiously done their home work to expose the Indian batting's weakness against the moving ball and also the short rising ball. Fast bowlers on either side have exposed this weakness of the Indian batsmen whenever they have come for a fresh spell nipping in the bud many a promising partnership. Much as Rahul Dravid has been eulogised for his copy book approach there has been for long a chink in his armour exposing him to the incoming ball and the number of times he has been castled is ample testimony. Sachin Tendulkar too has been a victim to the applause of the legion of passionate followers and been guilty of playing across the line or trying to play the cut once too often after playing one glorious on drive or cover drive which have all spelt doom to his further progress in building an innings. Laxman over whose wrist work flicking the ball to the onside experts have waxed eloquent has been a victim of his lethargic foot work. Time to look ahead.
Very well said Hindu! It is not the time for panic but for some creative introspection and strategic thinking. What is truly wonderful about real cricket is its great tradition, sportsmanship, fairplay and a tru test of character and skill. A test match played over 5 days, between two good cricketing teams is a sheer delight. Who can take anything away from the fantastic win in Calcutta, when India beat Australia, trailing by an innings. The grit and tenacity of Laxman and Dravid was wonderful to watch. The trio of Tendulkar,Dravid and Laxman have done their part. Indian cricket needs new blood, new ideas, better pitches and better training. Last , but not least, India should seriously rethink the IPL mela!
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