On 9th, one of my friend's Facebook status read, “when was the last time, India lost by an Innings”. Indian team has never been consistently good, but recently we have been doing well as we had most of our matches in Asia or against minnows. It was way back in 2008, it’s a lot of time looking at the cricketing standards of the Indian Cricket Team. With the loss of this match, India’s position also dropped from the premier rankings chart in Test Cricket. The position should have dropped couple of ranks.
India aspires, oh sorry, they claim to be world class team. But the manner in which our team despises the whole theory. Recently they played against Bangladesh, they could have learnt something from them. Bangladesh had pushed such a fine struggle to save themselves from the misery, they didn’t allow Indian team to win by an innings. Sehwag and Gambhir came to crease in second innings for scoring three runs to win the second test match.
Suddenly everybody got up and started searching for VVS Laxman. I hope, Laxman denies to play at this time or may not be physically fit. Indian Team does not deserve a class player like Laxman. Especially in the absence of anyone responsible, who can stand shoulder to shoulder with him? Indian team is probably practicing for IPL starting March 12, 2010.
Dhoni and his boys need to be fed some theory classes. Test cricket is real cricket as Paresh Rawal said in the movie, Cheeni Kum. Five grueling days, which test your technique, your stamina, your endurance, your perseverance. Test Cricket is deeply and heavily dependent on bowlers. To win a test match, one side needs to take 20 wickets. Where have we got the expertise to claim twenty wickets? Except Zaheer, there are no regular or second graders in fast bowling. Ishant Sharma with tag of Rs. 4 Crore is not able to strike anything, Sreesanth is generally busy with his Malayalam film stars. How long can we tread saddling on Zaheer’s back? Unfortunately, he is also looking tired and wired. Harbhajan Singh, the only spinner is down and out. He has probably lost everything to 20-20 cricket. 20-20 leaves no scope or room for any temperament or technique to develop. He seriously needs to undergo some reconditioning pertaining to his bowling. For a second spinner, we are in testing stage, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha play in alternative, so after six months or perhaps one year, one will be playing more matches over the other. The problem as one of the cricket experts said, bowlers try to bowl as many dot bowls as possible. Unfortunately, not only bowlers but the game as the whole is victim of 20-20 (more on that sometime later).
Coming back to our world class batsmen, as batting is thought to be India’s pote. Yuvraj Singh, even after becoming ODI vice-captain had difficulty in securing a place in test cricket. I am not saying they are not good. Our batting line-up is truly good, they can really score runs but we need to stick to the wicket in a test cricket, which the young generation is faltering in the past. Sourav Ganguly has been forced to retire, Rahul Dravid is injured, Laxman, selectors are searching for him, Tendulkar, I reserve my comments. Rest do we have any batsman in the country, who can pose some trouble or make the winning difficult for the other team even if we are playing without bowlers. Australia in Australia were biting their nails, that’s what Rahul and Laxman ran havoc on their bowling attack and still won the match.
We have not conditioned or seasoned batsman to protect our honour. The manner in which we fielded and Dhoni and his likes gave away their wicket to South Africa is truly a sad disappointment. Maybe Test Cricket is not that enjoyable, as Dhoni always says, enjoy the game guys. The same wicket, the same day, SA can strike 10 wickets and we are cherishing the two wickets. In four days, they strike twenty wickets and we are slumbered into our sad oblivion with only six wickets.
You need to fire, not to win but to make the other team work to defeat you. Winning is not important. More important factor is how we approach winning or losing. Indians has conceded the defeat on the first day itself when we got out in 60 overs. Perhaps if they could have just stretched the match for the five day and a charitable target, would have been much better.
Even South Africa is expecting to play with at least international standards as AB de Villiers quoted, “It is going to be a great challenge here at the Eden Gardens. I'm pretty sure India will come back with a big fight”. We don’t require match winners but match savers. Coz in the end, I’d say “MEANS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE END”.
India aspires, oh sorry, they claim to be world class team. But the manner in which our team despises the whole theory. Recently they played against Bangladesh, they could have learnt something from them. Bangladesh had pushed such a fine struggle to save themselves from the misery, they didn’t allow Indian team to win by an innings. Sehwag and Gambhir came to crease in second innings for scoring three runs to win the second test match.
Dhoni and his boys need to be fed some theory classes. Test cricket is real cricket as Paresh Rawal said in the movie, Cheeni Kum. Five grueling days, which test your technique, your stamina, your endurance, your perseverance. Test Cricket is deeply and heavily dependent on bowlers. To win a test match, one side needs to take 20 wickets. Where have we got the expertise to claim twenty wickets? Except Zaheer, there are no regular or second graders in fast bowling. Ishant Sharma with tag of Rs. 4 Crore is not able to strike anything, Sreesanth is generally busy with his Malayalam film stars. How long can we tread saddling on Zaheer’s back? Unfortunately, he is also looking tired and wired. Harbhajan Singh, the only spinner is down and out. He has probably lost everything to 20-20 cricket. 20-20 leaves no scope or room for any temperament or technique to develop. He seriously needs to undergo some reconditioning pertaining to his bowling. For a second spinner, we are in testing stage, Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha play in alternative, so after six months or perhaps one year, one will be playing more matches over the other. The problem as one of the cricket experts said, bowlers try to bowl as many dot bowls as possible. Unfortunately, not only bowlers but the game as the whole is victim of 20-20 (more on that sometime later).
Coming back to our world class batsmen, as batting is thought to be India’s pote. Yuvraj Singh, even after becoming ODI vice-captain had difficulty in securing a place in test cricket. I am not saying they are not good. Our batting line-up is truly good, they can really score runs but we need to stick to the wicket in a test cricket, which the young generation is faltering in the past. Sourav Ganguly has been forced to retire, Rahul Dravid is injured, Laxman, selectors are searching for him, Tendulkar, I reserve my comments. Rest do we have any batsman in the country, who can pose some trouble or make the winning difficult for the other team even if we are playing without bowlers. Australia in Australia were biting their nails, that’s what Rahul and Laxman ran havoc on their bowling attack and still won the match.
We have not conditioned or seasoned batsman to protect our honour. The manner in which we fielded and Dhoni and his likes gave away their wicket to South Africa is truly a sad disappointment. Maybe Test Cricket is not that enjoyable, as Dhoni always says, enjoy the game guys. The same wicket, the same day, SA can strike 10 wickets and we are cherishing the two wickets. In four days, they strike twenty wickets and we are slumbered into our sad oblivion with only six wickets.
You need to fire, not to win but to make the other team work to defeat you. Winning is not important. More important factor is how we approach winning or losing. Indians has conceded the defeat on the first day itself when we got out in 60 overs. Perhaps if they could have just stretched the match for the five day and a charitable target, would have been much better.
Even South Africa is expecting to play with at least international standards as AB de Villiers quoted, “It is going to be a great challenge here at the Eden Gardens. I'm pretty sure India will come back with a big fight”. We don’t require match winners but match savers. Coz in the end, I’d say “MEANS IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN THE END”.
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