January 28, 2012
Indian Cricket and Successive White-washes
India had many great cricketers but not considered a great cricket team for long. With the advent of the spin-trio of Prasanna-Bedi-Chandrasekhar, the team could creat fears for the first time in some great teams. Gavaskar, Viswanath and Kapil Dev took the team to great heights to deserve team India some valid recognition. And then Sachin Tendulkar is a phenomenon for Indian cricket. Dhoni entered the scenario at the right time to win the first 20-20 world cup and the 2011 50-50 world cup. He also earned the team the coveted number one status in test cricket. Great players like Dravid, Sehwag, Lakshman and Zaheer too are also responsible for this status. In 2011, we went to England as the number one cricket team. We were whitewashed by the English men in tests and one day internationals. Then we went to Australia as a formidable team. Australia was a struggling team and considered not formidable. By January 28, 2012 we were whitewashed by the Australians too. In between, England, South Africa and Australia suffered ignominious defeats sometimes with shockingly low scores of fewer than 100. This is a global phenomenon in test cricket now and is attributed to the rising popularity of the shorter versions of the game. 20-20 is a money spinner and 50-50 offers more thrills compared to the 5-day format. In the recent tests against India, Australia did not perform as a great team but for a few individual batting performances. One match was decided just by one Warner’s 20-20 style batting. That needs luck also and luck favors the brave. India never looked brave in the series. Another two batsmen, who decided the fate of the series, were Captain Clarke and veteran Ponting. Interestingly many questioned the wisdom of Ponting’s inclusion in the national team, based on his dismal performance in tests prior to this series. For India, Sehwag did not click, Dravid could not be the wall he used to be, Lakshman was disappointing and Sachin underperformed in batting. In bowling, Zaheer was good but without support at the other end< Ishant was not good enough, Yadav was inexperienced and Ashwin was still learning.
Ours is a poor nation. Unfortunately we pay attention not to poverty of the fellow-beings but to cricketers, film stars and politicians. They all make much more money than they deserve. Easy money through endorsements may ease the motivation of sportsmen at higher level. If our cricketers lose their brand value, it is good for Indian cricket. We are good in chess due to Anand, Tennis due to Paes and Sania, Badminton due to Saina and in many other events due to some performing individuals. In cricket too we are good to that extent only. Keep the cricketers in their right place and perceptive.
England and South Africa were great cricketing nations for some time. West Indies was unparalleled for about 2 decades and Australia was formidable for a longer time. India too held the top position for a brief period. However, performance abroad was always a deterring factor in its quest for supremacy. One possible reason was the lack of sporting pitches in domestic cricket. This was long recognized but comes to the fore only at the time of glaring defeats and then quickly forgotten. It is the same old story for Indians in all fields- enjoying exhaustive analysis without executing any action plan.
If India is great in cricket, so are some other nations. If victory is predetermined for India, play becomes irrelevant. Let us hail our victories and avoid despair in defeats. Sure, our team will bounce back and entertain as usual. But let us concentrate more on our less privileged citizens. For that, we need to concentrate less on the shortcomings of our cricketers and more on the erring politicians, who can frustrate even a determined Anna Hazare camp.
MOCHERLA SRI HARI KRISHNA said,
January 30, 2012 at 12:33 pm
In every game, be it Horse racing, playing cards, even gambling, there is a notion (we can even call it a doctrine I suppose) called ‘beginner’s luck’. If we observe any fresh players doing excellently in their debut, it is merely a beginner’s luck factor only. Such factor is called ‘brave beginning’ which suddenly culminates into dismal performance finally.
A glaring example in this concept is Vinod Kambli, who could have been a peer to the ‘master blaster’ Sachin Tendulkar. Unfortunately, he lost his foothold too early in his career, despite some magnificent and stupendous knocks in the initial days of his international career. But, cricket being a game of uncertainty and full of ups and downs, we need not write off our cricket team or belittle their past glory.
Selecting a few players to represent our country is a mammoth task for our selection committee. In India, there are many deserving aspirants knocking at the doors to enter the arena of International Cricket. Unbiased and cosmopolitan rationale should be introduced while selecting the team. It is possible when they maintain a panel of around 30 players as stand byes, to create a sense of self discipline and fear of being kicked out of the team if any player fails to perform well.
It is also not a bad idea to fix a tenor for each player to hang his shoes, to pave the way for the new talent. High incentives, endorsements, fan fare and huge windfall tend to develop some complacency among some players. It should be made clear that nobody is indispensable and many deserving players are there in the queue. Let them not rest on their laurels and realize their role in hailing the nation’s pride.
Mocherla Sri Hari Krishna
వసుంధర said,
January 30, 2012 at 3:24 pm
very well written. such objective and useful analysis is becoming rare in the media.