The system is flawed

India has been decimated in the last two Tests in England. Various theories are being promulgated. Players are being singled out. The captain is under the scanner, but don’t get unduly perturbed, for this is something we have seen numerous times.

Such responses have been fine-tuned to perfection by the babus of the BCCI over the years, so that now this mindset has become accepted by players as well as all cricket-loving Indians. This mindset is simple: blame the players, not the system.

If someone tells me that players have not given their best in England or that these games have been fixed, then he needs to get his head examined. The fact is that the players have given their everything, moreover the series is in England where players who fix matches are jailed. If I am right and it’s not the players, what else could it be?

The answer is not rocket science. It’s apparent that the players are just not good enough to play Test cricket. Our boys were outplayed by an off-spinner in the third Test and by the seamers in the fourth. They are kings on good batting tracks but are not technically equipped to handle challenging wickets. And that’s the sad reality.

Apart from tailor-made batting wickets in India to suit the superstars and the sponsors who need a batsman to spend more time at the wicket, the curse inflicting our batsmen is the fact that batting in India has moved from side-on to chest-on, from top hand to bottom hand and the backlift has moved from regular to expansive.

Good batting wickets do not challenge these changes and over time such instincts have become technique.

T20 has forced Indian batsmen to open their stance. This helps them score runs on both sides of the wicket, much needed in the short format of the game. T20 has also made them more expansive with the backlift. This helps put more force into the stroke whilst making it easier to square-cut, pull and hook.

The tight bottom hand is the final curse of the T20. Use of a tight bottom hand imparts more force, that’s simple physics, and gives the batsman the extra time to bring his bat down. Add to this the incredible power of the bats themselves and we have a recipe where, when it all adds up, even mishits clear the field.

Recipe for disaster

This is fine when one is playing T20 cricket where the focus is on stopping runs and not getting wickets, the field is set defensively and one can get away with edges through slips. Use the same technique in a Test and it’s a recipe for disaster — it’s a mess as is apparent in England.

In Test cricket the batsman can rest assured that the opposition is going to bowl at least 70 per cent of the deliveries at his weakness. Every one of the above points mentioned has become a gaping flaw under English conditions and the hosts have used this against us with great success.

While on the subject of backlift, I would like to clarify the following to my detractors. Batting is nothing but an instinctive reaction to a stimulus — in this instance a ball is delivered at various angles, speeds and rotations to fox this very instinct. If anyone tells you that the backlift is not important but only how it comes down is important, then dump him as a coach and find someone who can think.

The backlift is one of the most important ingredients of batting, including the arc of descent. The Australians and West Indians in general have a higher backlift that starts from around third-fourth slip. If you lift the bat in this direction then all you need to do is swing down in a natural way to play down on the square-cut. Pulls and hooks are also natural shots arising out of such a natural down swing.

In order to play through the ‘V’ on the off-side, especially on challenging tracks where you don’t have the time to take the bat all the way to fine-leg in order to bring it down straight, you are pushed into playing inside out.

Exposed

On the true, albeit fast tracks of the West Indies and Australia the batsmen make merry, but on seaming tracks where the ball jinks at the very last moment, they get exposed.

Those who lift the bat straighter, to, say, second or first slip, find it much easier to play straight and in the ‘V’ on both sides of the wicket on all batting conditions but they have a problem with the square-cut.

Here the bat has to move to gully before it starts its descent. On slow and seaming wickets this adjustment can be made with comparative ease, but on fast tracks this becomes a disadvantage.

It’s not the batsmen’s fault if they do not have the proper technique in England. It’s the fault of the system for not teaching them the proper skills required to ensure that they perform with consistency at the highest of levels all over the world.

The curse of our cricket no longer rests with the players so please do not blame them. It rests with a system corrupted by power and scandals where cricket has been sacrificed to meet the greedy demands of some member associations hell-bent on ensuring that the allocated funds are spent without much thought about the game.

Isn’t it a fact that no matter what the media says, or the cricket loving public feels, Indian cricket’s internal protection network ensures that the juggernaut rolls on and on without a care to the needs of our floundering Test cricket? Sadly as long as the money is coming, all is hunky dory.

India immediately needs a ‘Think Tank’ that is non-partisan and sits far from the maddening crowd throwing up questions and solutions at both the professional players and their coaches including the amateur set of board members. We need to separate T20 and Test cricket in India and I pray that the Government will take up an alternative cricket system to deliver this. Let the BCCI handle T20 and 50-over cricket and let the Government handle Test cricket.

( Saad Bin Jung is a former first-class cricketer )