Indian Cricket... Someone help!!!

There were days when watching cricket used to be fun. Right through my college days in India, a hostel TV room full of about a 100 guys to about 25 people in the living room of a desi apartment whose occupants were fortunate enough to have a TV set, during my Florida Tech days. It gave me an atmosphere, albeit nowhere close to being in the stadium, but maybe close, urged me to cheer every boundary scored by an Indian batsman or every wicket taken by an Indian bowler, sometimes even compelled me to stand up and dance at an indian victory...

but above all, it gave me something that i totally lack now. It gave me a chance to vent my anger,my frustration, to share my feelings of sorrow, those of utter depression which I inevitably felt in the event of a meek surrender by the 11 best cricketers from a country of millions. I knew there were people around me who shared these feelings, and that somehow made me feel better.

Now as i sit in my room watching the events unfold in South Africa ( India has been whitewashed 4-0 in a ODI series by SA ), all alone, I can only imagine the mood of that distant TV room in India, or that living room in my friends apartment, and I so miss it.

Maybe this is why i am starting this blog, TO CUSS AT THE DEPLORABLE DECLINE OF INDIAN CRICKET!!! well, for the time being at least!!

Rediff ran this article a few days ago:

http://ia.rediff.com/cricket/2006/dec/04rankings.htm

It totally reflects how the team reached heady heights in the 2005 home season, beating Pakistan, Sri Lanka, England and tieing the series with South Africa, only to be brought crashing down as soon as they stepped on foreign soil, getting a pasting from the (lowly???) West Indiies. Since then its been a downward spiral to this day, not something any Indian fan wanted to see with the world cup round the corner.

I have had many discussions with fellow cricket fans as to what might be the reason for this drastic decline. Post "Wright-Ganguly", the "Dravid-Chappell" era promised us success through being flexible. The word experimenting became synonymous with sending Dhoni/Pathan at number three. and while it worked at home, their lack of technique was cruelly exposed on quicker,bouncier wickets. In other words, the experiments started to bomb in Chappell's face, as for Dravid, well he kept on answering with his bat. But there is only so much The Wall could do, and with Sachin's decline imminent, if not already upon us, it was never going to be easy for team India.

Then came the champions trophy, which incidentally was held in India. But by that time, Chappell was running out of ideas, Pathan was failing him, about Sehwag, less said the better and he did not have the courage to send Dhoni up the order. So what happens? Mr. Chappell forgets the basics.


Picture this, India playing Australia in a must win match at Mohali, Sehwag gets some runs at the top(about time), Sachin fails but Dravid and Kaif somehow carry the score to 197 in the 42nd. Kaif gets out to a brute from Lee, Ok, he was looking for runs, and runs is what we needed then, and some quick once at that. runs? quick runs?? slog overs??? hey Mr. Chappell? remember your pinch hitters from previous season? Dhoni? Pathan?? would be useful at this stage of the game i suppose!! Nopes, Chappell pulls of a masterstroke, sends Raina who is struggling for runs, could not put bat to ball, could not rotate the strike, eats up 30 odd valuable deliveries and gets out. Wow!! what was Chappell thinking? what transpires? India stutter to 50 in the last 10, Martyn and Ponting cream the indian bowling and India is out of their home champions trophy.

Well, it is clear that Team India needs a change, and needs it fast. I am not saying replacing Chappell is the solution, not at all. Chappell is one of the greates batsmen of his era and shrewdest of cricketing brains around. But I think its time to punish the culprits, and by this I mean the players themselves. A kick up the backsides of Mr. Sehwag, Kaif and , it pains me to say this, but Mr. Tendulkar will only do them good. Pathan needs to understand that he is a bowler first and batsman later. I am not sure if bringing back Ganguly is going to help or not, but at least there is a change, and hopefully in the right direction.

Something needs to happen, and it needs to happen sooner rather than later. Otherwise I do envision myself having more days like today, when I sit and regret the fact that i stayed up all night to watch what I thought would be a game of cricket. When I envy people who dont follow cricket, to whom it does not matter if India looses. Because to me and hundreds of thousands of die hard cricket followers like me, it matters.