At the start of Border-Gavaskar trophy, India was the firm favorites and all were saying they will make the hapless Aussies and win the series in Australia for the first time. After the gap of exactly 2 weeks, we lost a golden opportunity to win a series in Australia. Indians are now fighting for their survival in the series with their back right to the wall on a pacy and bouncy track of WACA.
The three seniors who are almost playing their last series in Australia will be very unhappy. They can’t attain what Kallis and Lara attained in their careers, A Series win in Australia. In that only Sachin has the decent outing in the tests whereas Dravid and Laxman were not at their best (To be mentioned Average). The way to see our test results outside India shows us in a bad and worse to yet to begin. The three senior’s retirement time is not much and since youngsters faltering to deceive has opened a new debate. The Selectors have many things to answer. Is it the right thing to point fingers on the selectors for this heavy defeats or we are missing something?
The questions are:
1.Is India Tiger at home and cat overseas?
2.Are seniors tiring and is it the right time to hang their boots?
3.Are there any good bowlers in India except Zaheer? Are there any backup seamers in place if he gets injured?
4.Are youngsters too much liking IPL rather than the test matches?
5.Youngster’s failure resulting in the Indian loss?
6.Too much of hype around an individual record rather than the team?
7.Is Dhoni is fit to captain Indian Test team? Is anyone feeling he is more of a reactive captain rather than proactive? Aggression is also lesser lot!!
8.Dhoni’s fallback approach is eating into India’s chances of winning test matches and also he is not in form in test matches.
These are the questions which must be answered by players and then by selectors. They knew their strengths and weaknesses and somehow their losing stretch is not yet over. Let us hope for the best and the future of Indian cricket is really not safe.
I must admit one thing here. India is Tiger at home and so we are seeing a difference in their performances. So by my analysis the thing is all are becoming very good at home, in their easier pitches and home advantage they are able to win. But the truth is everyone is poor travelers nowadays. So the standard of test matches is degrading day by day. IPL is one of the things which have a major role in it. Everyone is happy to play for 20 over’s and get paid heavily rather than playing a test and getting good money.
In my view, all should lessen their 20-20 tournaments and enhance their domestic structure and teach them how hard to earn as cricketer. If you can’t play well, you can’t earn. Youngsters are earning easy money and they are not feeling the bad thing about the loss of career and their place is taken for granted by some valuable innings in IPL. When this thing changes only Indian cricket can get the heads on and become a good team worldwide. I can’t say they can be world beaters as WI or Aussies, but they won’t struggle as they are doing now.
correct huh sonna da machi .....Nice blog ....
ReplyDelete@Badri: Thanks :)
ReplyDeleteRavi, To an extent your blaming of IPL cricket isn't right. For the simple reason that the very name you mentioned Jacques Kallis has played every year of IPL. So how is that he is in a position to carry both his bowling form and his batting form into test cricket rather than Indian bowlers and batsmen?
ReplyDeleteI think the question we need to address is whether Brad Haddin's comments - Indian crack up too easily; is true or not. I suspect he hit the nail in the head by making that statement.
For e.g. in England 2011 We competed very well in the first test and were able to drag it until the 5th day where we lost out. In the second test we had England in the ropes with 124/8 and then we lost out to some brilliant counter attacking batting by Broad and Swaney!. Similarly while batting at one point we were doing really well with Dravid and Yuvi making significant scores and that their partnership was really coming good but Broad's hattrick killed us. From then on it was all downhill for the Indians.
Here in Oz similar trend could be seen. So lets not blame T20 cricket for this trend; the answer lies somewhere else. That is for BCCI and the Selectors to identify.
@Prabhu anna: Thanks for the comment.But as you said we are cracking up easily,because in shorter terms we have the EOD at 20 or 50 overs where in test you need to deliver the knockout punch.I find Difference in DHONI in ODI,T-20 and tests. He acts proactively in ODI and T-20, but in tests he waits for opposition to make mistakes which makes real mess. They should go for the kill rather than making opposition make their mistakes. So for haddin words, we are cracking easily iadmit but its certain that aussies would have done the same thing if we were proactive. Both teams are average and india a shot lesser as per my view.
ReplyDelete@ravi: A good one.
ReplyDeleteNeedless to say the blame is on Dhoni's men for their batting failure. As they say well beginning is half a victory which is where India has to focus and concentrate. Gambhir to me is very edgy and has to work on his technique a lot or else he may end up loosing his place. Test Cricket is all about concentration and temperament. All Indian batsmen are capable of delivering it but its more on the mindset of the batsmen that plays a major role in surviving especially in Australia.
ReplyDelete@Kalairaj: Thanks :)
ReplyDelete@Rajaraman: Thanks :) yes all the batsmen are not set and woefully not in form!!!
Vidunga Boss! World cup win panniyachu!
ReplyDeleteOne day la passnga pinnivanga paarunga!!
@tom: Thanks for commenting :) World cup win pannitom correct adukunna 4 varusham asinga padanamnuma??? in ODI and T20 india will fare well i admit...
ReplyDeleteHey Ravi, a very interesting post n very relevant points u've brought out - I agree that the 20-20 culture is taking the focus away from performance.
ReplyDeleteMy 2 cents is that BCCI should be turned into a professional and accountable body; right now, they're just so damn rich n reeking with personal politics that nobody really comes up with professional decisions - compare this with other sporting bodies of the world, where they value the 'play' more than the 'player'.. BCCI should come up with succession planning, performance based pay and focus on the win and the team, rather than on individuals.
Great set of analyses, Ravi :)
Thanks for the Valid comments Raj :) It is great to hear from you :) Yes BCCI should be accountable in whatever they do... and same applies to Players too..
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