Cricket is to India as Baseball is to America. It is the fave pass time of the Indians. The Indian Cricket team has been subjected to a lot of criticisms in the past two years and rightfully so. The two words which can describe the Indian Cricket team are ’’ Failed Geniuses’’ .
The Indian team is so full of talent and seems to be the strongest team on paper, but fails more rather than succeed. They have lost eight consecutive finals ! The only real victory being the Test Series victory against the Aussies at home.
Let me tell you what I think are the factors dodging Indian cricket team especially the ODI side are the following
1) The Media - Saurav Ganguly is a great leader. He tries to be aggressive on the field and sledge the oppostion. He tries to intimidate them. This is what the media does - Steve waugh does the above mentioned things, it is strategy and brilliance and if Ganguly does that , it is arrogance and the media ridicules him. The Indian media has to grow up and give him a break.
2) The fielding - Indians are the most sloppiest fielders in the game. If South Africa saves 30 runs by its fielding then India gives 30 runs by its fielding. I don’t mean that we hace to all be like Gibbs or Rhodes, but atleast get all the catches and the run outs. Hit the stumps once in a while. Try more of sliding and diving.
3) Fitness Level - The Indians should try and raise the level of fitness. They look fit but are really not fit. We come on having fast bowlers getting some injury or the other. We have not had a team with all the major players playing in the past 2 years. Look at Agarkar, no offence meant, but does he look like a fast bowler ?. If he puts on more weight , I think he can become more fast and pacy.
4) Lack Of Aggression - Barring Ganguly and the recent crop of pace bowlers, no one has the aggression in them. Sachin does not need the aggression. No one dare ’pick on’ him. Did you notice that Andre Nel never stared back at Sachin. Anyways, the Indians act on the field as they are on a Picnic. All smiling faces. Get aggressive !Sledge the hell out of the opponents. There is no need to smile as they are not playing to make friends, but to win ! Have you ever seen Srinath stare back at a batsmen.
5) Selection - The selection board is run by fools. How can they keep Dravid in the ODI squad. He is a very good Test player no doubt but he is not ODI stuff. Now you may argue to that he has scored as many runs as ganguly or Sachin but how many of them have mattered at the end of tha day. They can get someone more useful in the one day squad. They are also very reluctant to experiment with new players.
6) Dependence on the openers - Saurav or Sachin fails, the rest of the team fails. As simple as that!
The Indian team has to improve really. Just let me tell you what my kind of indian ODI will look like.
Saurav Ganguly
Sachin Tendulkar
Sehwag
Laxman
Sodhi
Das
Harbhajan Singh
Kumble
Zaheer Khan
AgaRkar
Nehra
So then please comment!!!