Big wake-up call for Team India
A date no Indian cricket
lover would forget, as
'Dhoni's Devils' ended a 28 year long wait to lift the
World Cup. Next, the team
sans its seniors did well in
West Indies too. For the
newly crowned world
champions, who were the number one side in Test
cricket too, life seemed just
perfect. Barely four
months later though, it
looks like a different team,
staring at an embarrassing series whitewash against
England.
So one-sided has the
contest been that some
former greats have even
said that this Indian team looks more like a club team
at present, not fit to play
international cricket! How
could things go wrong?
Former Indian
wicketkeeper Kiran More feels, "This is a big wake-
up call for Indian cricket.
We were not at all well
prepared and fitness was
also a major issue. We need
to go back to the drawing board because clearly, the
planning just went
haywire. Unless they get to
play more of Test cricket,
how would they learn to
cope? We lost to a better team."
Former Indian coach
Anshuman Gaekwad
agrees, "When England
beat Australia in Australia,
they went there well in advance, had a camp there
and played enough
practice games. After the
WC our players had to play
in the exhausting IPL, went
to West Indies and then landed in England! Let us
not blame just the players.
Where was the time for
them to acclimatize? They
are not machines! One bad
series doesn't make them bad cricketers and instead
of overreacting, it's time to
focus on the future. Let us
not forget that the same
team has stayed at the top
for two years in Test cricket and brought home
two World Cups in the
recent past (T20 triumph in
2007 and this year's win)."
More than the results, it's
the meek surrender in all the games that have left
fans dismayed. As Vishal
Jadav, a cricket buff, puts
it, "In the recent past, this
team would fight its way
out of difficult situations. This time, there haven't
been any signs of
resistance at all! It's sad."
Agrees Janak Afinwale, a
marketing professional, "It
has looked like a bunch of individuals, not a team."
Explaining the scenario,
sports psychologist Pavan
Choudary says, "The 11
players out on the field
haven't looked in sync with each other. It could be
a case of ego clashes."
Apart from the results,
there is also the worrying
fact of the likes of Sachin
Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid being on
the wrong side of 30. Once
these guys retire, do we
have the resources and
planning in place to remain
in the top tier of cricket playing nations? Warns
Gaekwad, "It would be
difficult to fill those shoes,
and the planning should
start right now. Else, we
could end up like West Indies of the 70s, who
didn't know what hit them
after their greats retired
and hit new lows after
dominating for a decade
and half." Agrees More, "We need to be proactive
and develop a good pool of
fast bowlers and send
youngsters to play county
cricket for exposure."
Well, it's better late than never, what say?
lover would forget, as
'Dhoni's Devils' ended a 28 year long wait to lift the
World Cup. Next, the team
sans its seniors did well in
West Indies too. For the
newly crowned world
champions, who were the number one side in Test
cricket too, life seemed just
perfect. Barely four
months later though, it
looks like a different team,
staring at an embarrassing series whitewash against
England.
So one-sided has the
contest been that some
former greats have even
said that this Indian team looks more like a club team
at present, not fit to play
international cricket! How
could things go wrong?
Former Indian
wicketkeeper Kiran More feels, "This is a big wake-
up call for Indian cricket.
We were not at all well
prepared and fitness was
also a major issue. We need
to go back to the drawing board because clearly, the
planning just went
haywire. Unless they get to
play more of Test cricket,
how would they learn to
cope? We lost to a better team."
Former Indian coach
Anshuman Gaekwad
agrees, "When England
beat Australia in Australia,
they went there well in advance, had a camp there
and played enough
practice games. After the
WC our players had to play
in the exhausting IPL, went
to West Indies and then landed in England! Let us
not blame just the players.
Where was the time for
them to acclimatize? They
are not machines! One bad
series doesn't make them bad cricketers and instead
of overreacting, it's time to
focus on the future. Let us
not forget that the same
team has stayed at the top
for two years in Test cricket and brought home
two World Cups in the
recent past (T20 triumph in
2007 and this year's win)."
More than the results, it's
the meek surrender in all the games that have left
fans dismayed. As Vishal
Jadav, a cricket buff, puts
it, "In the recent past, this
team would fight its way
out of difficult situations. This time, there haven't
been any signs of
resistance at all! It's sad."
Agrees Janak Afinwale, a
marketing professional, "It
has looked like a bunch of individuals, not a team."
Explaining the scenario,
sports psychologist Pavan
Choudary says, "The 11
players out on the field
haven't looked in sync with each other. It could be
a case of ego clashes."
Apart from the results,
there is also the worrying
fact of the likes of Sachin
Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid being on
the wrong side of 30. Once
these guys retire, do we
have the resources and
planning in place to remain
in the top tier of cricket playing nations? Warns
Gaekwad, "It would be
difficult to fill those shoes,
and the planning should
start right now. Else, we
could end up like West Indies of the 70s, who
didn't know what hit them
after their greats retired
and hit new lows after
dominating for a decade
and half." Agrees More, "We need to be proactive
and develop a good pool of
fast bowlers and send
youngsters to play county
cricket for exposure."
Well, it's better late than never, what say?
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