It is strange, but not unusual that the reviews on the Indian cricket team start flooding in after the Men in Blue have lost a particularly important match. And it is certainly quite vexing that the people who rate this product and the negative reviews on it have a tendency of always sticking to their rating.
So, in these turbulent times, let us discover what is lacking within the Indian cricket team.
For one, whatever anyone tells me, however many statistics people can try and shoot at me, I can shoot those statistics right back at you to tell you that the individuals of the Indian team is not lacking in capability. However, cricket matches aren’t won by individuals; they’re won by teams.
Which is exactly what failed to happen in the last series.
Individuals weren’t stormed when they dropped one catch – then another. They weren’t penalised when they let one ball run to the boundary ropes – followed by many more. They weren’t angered at when they broke a perfectly poised partnership, which had quite the ability to be match winning, by playing a wild shot and gifting their wicket. They weren’t exactly reprimanded when they overstepped the bowling crease – time and time again. And neither were they told off when they continuously wasted deliveries on very talented batsman, by bowling a line and length that is more suited towards school cricket.
As it happens usually, not all the bowlers are in shape for the day’s play. Only the bowlers who are having shining days are seen putting a 110% of effort on the field. However, the poise of the others become sluggish after a while, and a lack of effort becomes imprinted in their body languages. That is unpardonable. At this time perhaps the Indian coach should promote a little something called ”Constant vigilance!”
Losing heart in the middle of the match is appalling, and definitely uncalled for. And the same goes for dependence upon one man. Again, individual batsmen don’t win matches, partnerships do. Why Saurav couldn’t play that way, why Sachin didn’t do this, why Rahul didn’t do that; that attitude has to be dropped. Instead work towards building healthy partnerships, test out opening pairs, preferably with the left-right hand combo, and also players who bat mutually well together. Proceed from thereon, down the order, ensuring pretty much that at no point should a well-settled batsman be forced to rashly lose his wicket, because he has a lack of partners. That should also apply to the tail enders, who should be better trained to bat.
A few days ago, in the second test of the Ashes, Australia required 102 runs to win, with 8 wickets down. They ended up losing the test by only 2 runs. That is the kind of commitment we need from our bowlers, namely tail enders. That is the positive attitude we require on the field at all times.
People have become enraged about a little confrontation between Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra, which took place in the Premadasa, on the day of the finals. That shouldn’t bother anyone. When people play together in a team, they tend to get close-knit and often, with increased familiarity, feel that another player needs a bit of talking to and don’t stop themselves from carrying that thought into action. It is a situation that is perfectly justified. People, who claim that India’s players hold a large degree of animosity towards each other, can again look to past situations where this same team has been publicly supportive of each other. One incident that is still vivid in memory is the Natwest Finals, where Saurav was heavily reprimanded for taking off his shirt in full-range camera view, and where relatively junior players like Yuvraj Singh, were asked to give statements on their captain. None of the statements were negative, rather all were supportive of the captain, and I don’t think that it was just a co-incidence, or a politically motivated move shrewdly planned and carried out by Ganguly and Dalmiya.
We can try out and blame everyone in the Indian cricket world, starting from the coach, the individual players, the heat, the rains, the pitch, the umpires, but in the end, if the players’ attitude on the field doesn’t change, the performance of the team is unlikely to.