INDIA'S DEBACLE - IPL EFFECT?

The ardent supporters of INDIAN CRICKET, who treat cricket as a religion couldn't digest the fact that India slumped from No.1 spot in Test Cricket. A defeat, in general is essayed to many flaws. After briefing all those, the summary is, they lacked proper focus on test cricket, the fighting attitude which was at its summit during world cup.

What is the prime reason? Captain, Players, Coach, Injuries, BCCI, IPL ?

Many critics show propensity to say that Indian cricketers don't possess the technique to counter the seam movement. Men like Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman did prove a point on conditions that don't favor a batsman. So it is a discredit to question their talent and potential.

Though we failed in all departments, it’s the batting that is behind this disastrous campaign which was infected by a virus named IPL. To counter the ball movement soft hands and astute foot-works are needed, which our batsman executed hardly. In T20 cricket, even an edge will fetch a boundary, but test cricket needs strong temperament and technique. It is true that IPL mood has dented the batsman concentration. The Batting failure let down bowlers who did give few moments in the past even with mediocre resources. The fielding is pathetic to say, with lack luster approach. Even the captain cool, DHONI seemed out of focus and totally aloof from his men.

Some elements of the Indian media have trained their ire on Duncan Fletcher, ignoring the fact that he has far less influence on India than England. Credited with a root-and-branch revamp of English cricket, he is unlikely to be given a voice when it comes to Indian itineraries and personnel changes. The Ganguly – Wright combo is fortunate enough to inherit a squad of players approaching their prime. Fletcher has to guide a group whose stalwarts are approaching sunset.

The whole team showed no character or fighting spirit throughout the three Tests. This is the same team that won India the World Cup and has been brilliant in the past three or four years and has always come good whenever the going got tough.

So it's totally down to the IPL, which had led to India's downfall in England. The players have made millions and millions but at the expense of Test cricket. After playing a long IPL tournament most of the senior members of the Indian team got injured and it certainly did affect the team's morale. Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan all played the IPL even though they were tired after the World Cup success and their bodies had already taken their toll.

After playing restless tournament for such a long period, it is very necessary to get back into the test rhythm. But many senior players opted out of the West Indies tour, which would have given enough practice to be back into action. Why don't players opt out of the IPL and be injury free is a million dollar question. The lure of money and constant backing by the board provides a great incentive over commitment to their craft and the country.

The IPL has done great things for Indian cricket in terms of improving infrastructure and giving domestic players a sense of security. But a board that has promoted it relentlessly needs to ensure that its scheduling does not create an impact on the national team's fortune.

The BCCI should realize the fact that IPL is shedding Billions and Billions only at the expense of Indian Cricket. We are not expecting IPL to shut down completely, but it needs to serve as an add on to the Indian cricket, not a point to stress on whenever we fail.

Moreover, time has arrived to seek perfect replacements for batting trio, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman. Though names like Cheteswara Pujara, Suresh Raina, Virat Kohli, Rohit sharma, Ajinkya Rahane are sounding on high pitch, it is impetuous to say they can replace them completely. So its better the team management shows some diligent effort in nurturing them and pave way for a golden future.

INVINCIBLE TO VULNERABLE

The almighty West Indies Lost their charm once the likes of Michael Holding, Joel Garner, Courtney Walsh, Gordon Greenidge, Viv Richards, Garfield Sobers, Desmond Haynes retired. There was a time, and it lasted for decades, when the West Indies cricket bowlers used to send batsmen scurrying around their homes looking for extra padding and protection and to check if their life insurance policies were up to date. There was a time when opposition bowlers tend to stay as 12th man rather than getting brutally hit by them. Each of these men was a truly great cricketer and the reverence they held is monumental. But how times have changed!! Nobody with genuine love for cricket will take any satisfaction from the current plight of the west indies team. But why the West Indian cricket has fallen dramatically is a million dollar question. Its almost 15 years since Australia toppled them to become best side in the world. There are many reasons for this, some of which the west indies cricket board is accountable for. They didn't plan their future properly. When you sit on top of a pedestal you tend to forget or turn a blind eye to a lot of different things. When they were winning, there was a lot of celebrating and pushing out of their chests, rather than thinking how they were going to maintain this run and how were they going to ensure that they continued to produce good cricketers.

Similarly Australian team was pushed down from invincible status after the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn Mcgrath and Shane Warne retired. Starting from mid-90's to 2007 they nearly conquered anything and everything that came in their way. Their Dominance transformed to Arrogance at one stage. But, as the time progressed the decline seems inevitable. One feels that Australian downfall is quite similar to West Indian decline. Both the teams when they were in their respective summit positions failed to churn the youngsters.

Coming to the Indian Perspective, they are holding the No.1 Spot in Tests and have recently won the world cup. It seems impetuous by saying India dominated the rest in this short span. But at least no team is able to overshadow them in terms of rankings. They managed to be unbeatable at home in 2008–11 Period, and they managed to draw a series in South Africa, Win against Sri Lanka, Newzealand and West Indies. The critics refused to applaud their achievements as they failed to sheen any dominance in this regime. On one side Team India is still in its nascent stages of being a true Champion,but the journey seems to be bound with hardships.

The on going test series against England itself proves this point. With the absence of Zaheer Khan, Indian bowling line up is as bad as Bangladesh bowling unit. It is not because we lack potential bowlers, but due to the lack of leadership in bowling department. The Performances of Ishant Sharma and Sree santh with and without Zaheer Khan largely varied. With Sehwag and Gambhir’s absence, the top order looks more fragile, as our batting line up is not much accustomed to these kind of situations. Normally Sachin and Laxman don't focus much on how to bat in the first session of the test match which seems inevitable in this series.

Adding to the agony, Indian Selectors selected Dravid for the ODI series who played his last match in champions trophy 2009. This clearly exploits the Poor planning of Selection committee. Team management should plan for the long run rather than persisting with short term success. In turn retirement announcement drags many accolades. Rather than taking a step backward, the selection panel should have given this chance to some youngster.

Sachin Tendulkar, the man who has given you all that you can wish for is on the edge of his career and so are Dravid and Laxman.   It is intimidating that Indian Cricket might Crumble (atleast in tests) once they retire. We can expect them to play hardly for 2 more years. So INDIA should start churning out the youngsters, with a vision of making them fit for International cricket.

BCCI should take care that cricketers don’t get deviated by glitz, glamor and IPL parties in their nascent stages. The Selectors should inculpate rotation policy by clubbing up the seniors with youngsters so that they don’t feel the burden once these players retire and they   gain a considerable amount of experience to play at the international level by that time. Technically sound players such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma should be encouraged to play more Ranji and first class cricket. Players who are already 30 years old should be used as transition players. In the meantime there is an opportunity to discover young talented batsmen who will prove helpful in the long run.

After all, lets hope Mahendra Singh Dhoni , Duncan Fletcher and co., wont allow INDIA to step down from what we call as “Champion status” which came with lot of sedulous effort and hardwork.

EMACIATED CRICKETING TALENT IN INDIA

How many nations in the world can afford to waste talent like India does because India is having Copious talent in all the segments. Not many people can dissent the fact that BCCI failed to make this into a profitable account. Although we won World Cup recently, secured No.1 Position in Tests, we need to make sure that the talent not getting wasted to ensure the continuity of hegemony in world Cricket on the field.

A brief look at the history would surely deliver some intriguing facts. Sunil Walson, not many people known was a member of 1983 World Cup squad. He did not play a single match before,during and after the world cup. There is no Justification for this ruthless act till date. Laxman Sivarama Krishna, popularly known as a renowned Commentator represented India for 2-3 years and was later expunged for no reason.

Atul Wassan, Vivek Razdan, Salil Ankola, Abey Kuruvilla, T.Kumaran, Debashih mohanty, these are the names of bowlers who  played for India and then lost their way. Who says India don't have potential to produce fast bowlers. They produced, but they failed to nurture them, preserve them from injuries and cricket board didn't give enough opportunities as well and dropped them after one or two failure.

David Johnson, very few cricket lovers do remembered him. He was the India's fastest bowler once and he used to bowl with round arm slinga action much like lasith malinga. He played a few games in 90's but later on labeled as a throw bowler and thrown out of cricket. Cricket administrators didn't even fought for him.

Praveen Amre, disciple of Ramakant archerekar made a dream debut against southafrica where he hit a century. After one failure he was faded away. Do we really miss a SACHIN like batsman???? Mukundh Paramar, yere Gaud were known as run machines of their respective times but never make it to the Indian team. Akash Chopra, Irfan Pathan, Robin Uthappa and the list goes on....

Indian Cricket was never short of talent and will not going to have any paucity in nearby future as well. But we dont have a proper system to Preserve this gem of talents. Our Cricket Board shows more propensity towards money and Selectors are biased to the players of their respective zones. Take an example of Anirudha Srikanth, he hadnt performed well in either Ranjis or IPL, yet he is selected to Emerging Players tourney Because he does have a God Father in the selction committee.

We have many more talents in the likes of C Pujara, A Rahane, V Aron, Ashok Menaria, D Kulkarni, Abhishek Nayar and the list continues. So it is true that India have talent in abundance and its the time to utilize it properly so that we can consistently get players like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavasakar, Zaheer Khan etc.,