Not too long ago, India's Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was lifting the World Cup in Mumbai surrounded by a bunch of players that were on a high and rightly so, as they has just won an ODI Match against Srilanka to become the World One Day Champions. It was a great moment in India's Cricketing history as they had won the World Cup after 28 years.
The Cricketing Gurus around the proud nation termed it as the greatest Indian team in the history, as it had a great blend of experience and youth plus they a had a very calm and efficient captain who had the skills to lead and guide this bunch of diverse players. However, in less than one year, all the Gurus are taking thier words back as the self proclaimed "World's Great Cricketing Nation" has been humiliated in England and Australia in the presence of all the Legends in the team.
Immediately after the triumphant World Cup Campaign, the players got involved in the Indian Premier League and because of the attractive prize money on offer in the IPL, the players showed more interest and enthusiasm, in the famous league. However in the middle of 2011, team India reached England to play a tough series of 4 test matches, 5 one day internationals and one T20.
It was marked as one of the biggest series of 2011 as both the teams were equally balanced and in form, however team India was not able to live upto the expectations associated with it, and lost all the matches to the home side on that tour. Batting masters Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman were unable to perform to thier potential and hence the batting lineup of India which is considered to be the best in the world, flopped at every encounter. Poor display and losing every game of the tour raised many question marks on team India's standing and thier potential abroad however a home series win against England in ODI'S and another successful home series against West Indies restored some pride and positivity among the team and billions around the country.
Next stop for team India was down under, in the most eagerly awaited series of the year as both India and Australia are fierce competitors and great cricketing rivals and after what happened in the 2007-08 series, it was expected that another enthralling series is about to played which will not only be famous for on the field performances but also for off the field dramas. But once again, the men in Blue displayed a thumb down performance and lost the test series 4-0.
Another white wash, and none of the 4 matches displayed any effort or dedication from team India to win, they looked out of order, individual brilliance also lacked from some of the top class players like Tendulkar and Dravid. In fact, Rahul Dravid, who is considered to be a Batsman possessed with the best defensive techniques and hence nicknamed "The Wall" looks all at sea against the Aussie bowling and was bowled in almost every inning of the test series. Little master not even showed little sign of form and he too managed only a handful of runs, leaving far behind the possibility of a 100th international hundred.
VVS Laxman who is by far the best Indian Batsman against Australia in Australia also failed to impress as he also showed a shocking batting display. Opening duo of Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag too were unable to provide the impressive batting platforms for the middle order for which they are famous. Only Virat Kohli managed to score some runs for the visitors including an century, and showed way to the seniors about how to bat and score runs. Because of these poor performances, the Indian media and former players have slammed the team in particular the trio of Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar. But more than criticizing the media and management should look at the possible reasons for these back to back defeats.
Team India has always lacked a good bowling unit. They always have one or two good bowlers but as a bowling unit, they always look an incomplete picture. Zaheer Khan has been the team's best bowler for quite some time now, but he has lacked a good bowling partner with the new cherry. Umesh Yadav looked impressive in bits, but failed to deliver whenever Dhoni expected from him.
Ishant Sharma announced himself exactly 4 years ago in Australia and troubled the likes of Ponting, Hayden and Clarke during that series. However in his next series in Australia, he looked pretty ordinary and never performed. R Ashwin only looked a bit better as he was most trusted by the captain on numerous occasions. The management made a tactical error of not including Irfan Pathan in the team in any of the tests, Irfan would have been a good choice because of his experience and ability to swing the ball.
India's gigantic batting lineup has many loopholes which were constantly exploited by the Aussie fast bowlers and because of that some of the matches were completed in less than 3 days.
There is also a speculation that the team is split into two groups, one is in favor of MS Dhoni to remain as Captain of the team and the other wants Virender Sehwag to take command of the team, whatever the reality is, it is worse for Indian Cricket and thier fans.
No doubt team India is a great contributor to the game of cricket and they have players that have got a variety to offer to the world of cricket, however the latest performances of the team in series played abroad suggest that the team is in some kind of disorder and the board should concentrate on solving internal issues rather than interfering in ICC and its relationship with other cricketing boards.
GeoSuper