What's ailing Indian Cricket?

Six consecutive Test losses abroad for a team that was No. 1 in Tests not so long back. Obviously it is a bit difficult to chew. Sad as it may seem, however much one may wish to write each passing loss as a bad dream to start fresh, the ghosts of defeat come back to haunt again. And some of these losses have come where the team has struggled to take the match to the 5th day!

Perhaps the best batting line up in the world, where the top order has probably the greatest experience than any other team as a whole, currently playing anywhere in the world. This line up has failed consistently to post a 300 in a test match? Sounds ridiculous. The captain, who till not so long back couldn’t have done anything wrong, seems to be not doing anything right of late! The joy of conquering the world in the Limited Overs edition in April, is definitely short lived, if you cannot sustain the performance in the more challenging longer format of the game. So what exactly is ailing the World Champions?

For starters, we have become too heavily dependent on the Laxman, Dravid and Sachin trio with Sehwag to lay the foundation in the recent years. But somewhere down the line, we seem to have missed a trick. We probably have taken too long to realize that they are not going to be around forever. We do not have a second line of players who will step into their shoes when they retire, and that is bound to happen sooner or later. Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli, Gambhir, Rohit who have all been a part of the One Day team for quite some time now, have failed miserably in the longer format. But wait, who is responsible? I wouldn’t blame them entirely. Whenever they have got an opportunity, it has been because some of the big four has been injured or rested! There has never been an assurance that one would get a run for a while to play irrespective of his performance. Someone playing at that level is always under a great amount of pressure! And I think he deserves a good run at it! But then, when you are playing for your country, you need to make the best of every opportunity that comes your way!

Secondly, how often do we play for the team? Have you ever seen Sehwag play as per what the game demands ? Yes, aggression is great, but hey, everyday is not Sunday! Sehwag would have singlehandedly won us a lot of matches, but we have also lost a lot of matches, when he just throws away his wicket, when it is absolutely not required, exposing the middle order! The Indian team is so heavily dependent on Sehwag to chase targets in the 4th innings that the moment he gets out, the team is immediately on the back foot, allowing the opposition to come right on top, even if you are chasing something like a 270! Come on, a great batting line up cannot chase a modest 270 in two and a half sessions??? Sehwag is just an example. Many more can be cited.

Brings me to another point – are we putting the future of Indian cricket at stake by persisting a bit too much with Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar? Yes, their contribution to Indian cricket in the past has been unmatchable. They have been (and are still) the backbone of the side for a long time. But that doesn’t mean you live in the past! You are not going to ask Sunil Gavaskar to play for the country just because he has 10000 Test runs against his name. We are a country, where idols mean more to us than the game. Don’t be surprised if the country celebrates Sachin’s 100th Ton even if India loses that match. Conversely, many would be disappointed about Sachin not reaching to that landmark of an achievement, than about us losing a game. We have made mistakes earlier too. In order to help Kapil Dev break Richard Hadlee’s record, we kept persisting with him for matches together, where towards the end, all he used to get was one or two wickets every match, thereby reducing Kapil Dev of all the glory he had earned in his prime and also directly cut short the careers of upcoming bowlers like Srinath and Prasad.

As a long term strategy, I think we should have an exit plan for the senior players, in the process building a strong bench strength which is sorely missing today! No matter how great a player is, how much he has accomplished individually or for the team, the needs of the team are paramount at any point of time. Honestly, careers spanning more than 10-12 years sound stupid to me! Player management is very important. Talent should be identified at an early age, trained in all aspects, made fit for the big scene, and should enter the picture only when he is fully prepared to take up the challenges. What happens in our context? A couple of good domestic seasons, a great run in the IPL and you are a part of the National Team! Players should come in at the right time and leave at the right time. Identifying this timing is also very important! 20 years at the international level, simply undigestable! Have you ever seen top performing Olympians like say Ian Thorpe or Michael Phelps or Carl Lewis or Marion Jones participating in more than 2 Olympics? At the maximum it is 3!

Yes, you might not have a Sachin Tendulkar or a Rahul Dravid. But cricket is a team game. It doesn’t run by one or two individuals. Indian team played and won even before they arrived at the scene and will play and win even after they leave!

Next comes our over reliance on spin! Our wickets are built to suit spin and we are arguably the best players of spin in the world. Outsiders struggle when they come here against the turning ball. But wait, what happens when we go abroad? We struggle ever more with the swinging and seaming ball, don’t we? What efforts have we taken to counter that? We can atleast simulate conditions at 2-3 locations in the country, which are similar to wickets across the world, bouncy, juicy green tops and make our players get enough practice before embarking on difficult tours. Isn’t difficult at all. Just a little bit of a vision and a will is required to implement it!

Another important aspect of Player Management is to manage the fitness of the players. Consider the Indian team calendar for 2011. January – South Africa, Feb & March – World Cup, April & May – IPL, June & July – West Indies tour, July through September – England Tour, Sept & Oct – Champions League, Oct end – England comes to India, November – West Indians come home, December onwards – Tour of Austraila! With such a heavily packed schedule, injuries were bound to happen as they happened in England. The manner in which replacements were announced every day till the team left for Australia shows the sad state of affairs! There must be a cap on the number of games a player plays every year. X Tests, Y ODIs and Z T20s, with a few practice matches here and there! The pool should be rotated! Every condition requires different skills and talents, and you should only play your best bet in such conditions.

Next, specialists are meant to be specialists. Don’t make an Irfan Pathan out of R Ashwin. Just because he is doing well with the bat, please don’t start promoting him as the all rounder you always wanted! Whatever comes from his bat is an icing on the cake, an addition to the total! But don’t count him in your scheme of things! He is in the team to bowl, let him do that well! It really doesn’t make sense to have Sehwag bowl as many overs as any other front line bowler does!

Finally, the people who run cricket make a lot of difference, if things have to be changed. Certain things like what I have mentioned above, can be conceived, understood and appreciated only by someone who has been close to the game or been a part of it. Politicians at the top would guarantee commercial success no doubt, but we need to take a call on what do we really want out of the game we love the most!

I know I have written a lot of radical things in here, things which are totally different from how they are being done today. A lot of you may completely disagree with me. But think about it with an open mind. We are talking about Indian cricket as a whole, not about any particular player! If we are concerned about how we bounce back to the top, and remain there consistently, we need to do things differently. And this might just be the first step!