Saturday, January 28, 2012

Time to be tough


Like our victory in 1983, our victory in 2011 was a matter of pride for the nation - well at least on that day. Of course, there were major differences with the main one being India's chances to win the World Cup. In 1983, there was a 1 in 1000 chance of us taking it. Twenty eight years later, the team went in as one of the favourites. India was ranked No 1 in tests, had won a T20 tournament, had drawn an away series in South Africa and had generally played decent cricket.
And then we went and lost 4-0 to both, England and Australia.
But then, that has always been the way India has played its cricket. Whenever you look at the way that we've played, there has been a period of high and then a massive dip. Indian cricket is like a sound wave, if it were to put it metaphorically.
If the BCCI and the players continue to hibernate and
be indisciplined, don't be surprised if you see Bangladesh
holding a trophy like that in an away series in the future
But then, if you look at it, the scenario in Indian cricket has always been the same. Just because we've drawn many away series in the last decade, it does not make us good. We could have won some of them, like the 2003 series in Australia or the 2010-11 series against South Africa. Since 2000, we have won a series in England, two in West Indies and one in New Zealand. I will not count Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan here because Zimbabwe's political turmoil began when we toured them and Pakistan and Bangladesh are within the subcontinent. We still haven't managed to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka for a long time and I don't see that happening for a while either.
People have spoken about the transition happening in Indian cricket. However, this transition has been happening since Ganguly became captain in 2000. It's now 2012 and unless the BCCI takes some rather drastic measures - and I speak about players, wickets, domestic competitions, sending our players abroad to play in Sheffield Shield, Pura Cup or English County, as well as the use of technology, India will soon find itself back where it was in 1990.