"Defeat", well, its no longer seen with a sense of pain to Indian cricket.They got used to it. All those people who said with pride "Come to India,we will show who we are" are now struggling to find a place in the squad. Batsmen unable to score runs , even in flat tracks. Spinners clueless,even on home conditions,a captain who quickly becomes defensive on the first sight of things getting awry, Team India have gone from worst to super worst in Test cricket.The reason is simple , eventhough we lack quality batsmen from next generation we are struggling to find bowlers who can pick 20 wickets in a test match.It doesn't matter even a batsmen scores 500, if we can't pick 20 wickets a team cannot win.In fact, we have asked "who is going to replace Sachin,Dravid,laxman,etc.." but how many of us thought have we got a replacement for kumble ? Is there a replacement for Zaheer ? 'No' will be the majority. Over the years, we have only glorified batsmen that we have forgotten the contributions of Javagal Srinath,kumble and our other bowlers. How many of us think those kumble's 619 wickets were as precious Sachin's tons of runs.Did we win only because of the "The Wall" and "God" ?? We were so fortunate to have a few legendary batsmen coming together that our weak bowling affected us only at fewer times.
At this stage, India has every chance of dropping below West Indies,New Zealand and it wont be surprising even if Bangladesh upsets us in a test series. The process has to change at grass roots. Atleast a handful of matches in Domestic tournaments like Ranji trophy , Duleep trophy has to be conducted on green wickets. That is one of the main reasons why we are struggling to find a bowler who can bowl consistently over to 140 kph. Lack of exposure to green wickets is also a reason for our next generation spinners failing to get wickets in England and Australia.Another notorious way that often occurs is rushing in youngsters at the first sight of a worthy performance. Those players survive until they are sorted out.After then, these young players lack the mental toughness to see through that phase. Players need to see through enough seasons to ensure they dont fall out after few months or a year in international cricket.
For me, the biggest surprise is Dhoni becoming unbelievably defensive. The lowest point was during India tour to Australia,when a No.10 and No.11 batsmen were at the crease and Dhoni had a field that had a long-on , long off, deep cover,deep mid wicket ??!! Post 2011 WC, at the very first sight of things not going according to plan, Dhoni goes on to defensive at the quickest. Why?? God knows.Dhoni's s tale captaincy is also a reason for our downfall in test cricket. But again,is there a BETTER player than Dhoni for a captain ? Well, thats itself a big debate. The main contenders like Gambhir and Sehwag are no longer seen as a permanent player in any format. Just when everybody thought Kohli is the next wonder, he is beginnning to have a slump.So who else ? well, no one.
The selectors, not just Srikkanth but the whole lot of others over the years are also to be blamed for not giving a fair run to promising all-rounders.Wait, how many potential all-rounders have they selected ? Well, from the hindsight my gut feeling is that they look at the top 5 run getters and top 5 wkt takers and the job is done. They hardly take a look at those players who fall in between who have taken wickets and scored runs. Many feel that Indians don't have quality all-rounders coming out from the domestic circuits. Well, you may have to change your opinion after seeing through a few player profiles. Players like Abhishek Nayar,JP Yadav, etc deserved an extended run despite their failure in first few ODIs.When players like Rohit Sharma get an unprecendented run for his 'amazing' talent these players deserve too.In my opinion the selectors' decision to ask a blueprint from MS Dhoni on winning the next world cup is ridiculous unless there is some sort of input from BCCI or selectors. A captain can only give an outline, it is the selectors who should have broader details for the domestic players. A captain, that too in today's cricket of hectic shedule will hardly have an idea about the next generation players.
So,is there anything positive for Indian cricket ?? Well, the Indian colts winning U-19 World cup and that too in Australia is definitely a good sign for the future of Indian Cricket.Unkumt Chand,Baba Aparijeeth have already earned a lot of praise for their ability. The recent losses is deinitely a blessing in disguise as it has exposed the weakness and frailities present in the Indian cricket for everyone to see. People like Rahul Dravid,Ganguly,Kumble,etc and other former players should be drafted in the technical committee and consulted for re-building the Indian cricket team. In the mean time, it is a great opportunity for Indian hockey,Football,etc to cash in the Indian cricket's dip in popularity.
