Cricket: Where is Team India Heading?

By Denzil Fernandes

Jan 4: The sad tale of Indian Cricket continues unrivalled and with plenty of questions. Time and time again, Team India is in the gutter playing gutless as well as meaningless cricket. At the end of every match, there are reasons plenty coming from both the Board as well as the cricketers including the helpless captain.

One feels drained and pained to write this script to narrate the poor display by the home team against the visiting Pakistan side. At this point it is but fitting to raise one’s hat and appreciate the fine display by our neighbours from across the border. Pakistan cricket has gone through tough times due to their problems of security at home but have managed to put up a bold front despite this. Almost against all teams, they have shown great resolve to record wins and silence their critics.

They won handsomely in the second One Day International (ODI) at Kolkata beating hosts India by a whopping 85 runs in a match which India required to win to offset the loss in the first ODI in Chennai. But poor Indian skipper Dhoni was left to wage a lone battle after all the so called Indian batsmen had perished without any reason. Set to score a mere 251 runs in their allotted 50 overs to win the match, the Indians cut a sorry figure being bowled out for 165 runs in 48.3 overs. Except captain Dhoni who scored an unbeaten 50 runs, there was not a batsman who could stand at the crease and score the required runs. To make matters worse, Pakistan spinner Ajmal mesmerized the Indians with his unplayable spin.

It has been a miserable period for Indian cricket with such dismal performances which raises the question if the selectors need to be there at all. Since the new selectors came in, the Indians have gone down the table with such consistency. Consistency of poor display by the Indians has been the hallmark of the team.

One is unsure of the future of Indian cricket if there are results which are not in our favour. Each and every team that we have played in the last year or so has won against us with ease and efficiency. One feels sorry for the Indian skipper Dhoni who has waged a lone and unsuccessful battle with no results. All the recognized batsmen have failed to click and one has to find some quick remedies if Team India intends to get into winning ways.

Winning and losing are part and parcel of any contest or game. But failing to win for a long long time does not bode well for a super power of cricket like India. it is time for the selectors to introduce players who have shown promise in the domestic circuit. Forget what these newcomers do, when the tested ones have disappointed there is no problem if the new ones do not deliver the goods. There are so many who have shown promise in the Ranji Trophy matches. It is time for Chairman of Selection Committee Sandeep Patil and his selection committee members to show plenty of guts and introduce new talent. There is no hard feeling since the series is already lost and in the final ODI in Delhi, it would be interesting to see a blend of fresh blood in place of players like Sehwag, Gambhir and the like.

For Pakistan, the Eden Gardens of Kolkata have been the luckiest ground while winning a contest against India for the fourth successive time. The visitors have shown great determination in their mission to conquer the Indians in their own backyard. One needs to congratulate the talented Pakistanis who have literally outplayed India so far and shown that they are a cut above their rivals.

A little pat is due to the Cricket Association of Bengal who invited former cricketers and players of Pakistan and India and felicitated them with souvenirs as a part of their silver jubilee celebration of the ground staging its first ever ODI. Honoured cricketers included the most famous Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Dilip Vengsarkar, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly, V.V.S.Laxman, Gundappa Vishwanath and others from India. From Pakistan there were greats like Wasim Akram, Rameez Raja, Mushtaq Mohammad and others.

Former Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray must be rolling in his grave seeing the meek surrender of the Indians against the Pakistan team. If he was alive today, the tiger in him would have roared in disapproval and probably torn down the boneless Indians for their disgusting and damaging deeds on the cricket field.

Someone somewhere needs to pull the non performing Indians out of their deep slumber and send them permanently into exile !