As Indian Cricket goes through the ugly postmortems, analyses and general denunciation, at the center of it all is a feeling of bafflement. We all have inside of us a person who is simply bewildered. How quickly can a team go from the highest of the highs, to the lowest of the lows? How can these batting legends be made to look like tentative amateurs? How can one of the best Captains in the world look hapless and completely disinterested?
How can India be so bad!?!
Well, successive defeats and heartless oversees performances seem to be the least of India’s worries. Recent embarrassments oversees have sparked larger discussions, as they should, across the Cricketing world on what Indian Cricket is going through and what lies ahead for them. A summary of what I have heard and read: It’s going through **** and a whole lot of **** awaits in the future.
Dhoni getting banned in Adelaide might be a blessing in disguise. After 7 tough defeats on the trot, it might be a good thing for him to be able to sit out and give his body and mind a bit of a breather. Mentally, it might help in providing a vacuum before the shorter version of the game starts, which he certainly is more comfortable with. Dhoni’s captaincy is under the hammer and inviting much criticism from all over, perhaps for good reason. With him out of the action, media will move on to other prey. Lastly, it is a blessing because I fear the selectors may need to start looking for a replacement to captain the Indian test side at some point in the future. This would be a good time for a dress-rehearsal.
On the other hand, the criticism that Indian selectors are getting has a couple of sides to it. If one thinks about the long term vision of the board, the barb wire is somewhat justified. However, coming into the series reports about India coming in full-strength were almost omnipresent. Nowhere were the selectors damned for picking Sehwag, VVS, Sachin and Dravid! I guess that’s the thing with being 38 years old. When they hit centuries it is hailed as pure class, and when they don’t the criticism is 38 times more. Now, it suddenly is all wrong and the selectors’ fault!
Phasing seniors out is to be a board decision, but when you have men of this stature, boards can find themselves handicapped as well. It all goes unnoticed when times are good. Unfortunately that advantage has been mercilessly washed away.
From the big three, I personally feel that Laxman was approaching the end of his career, but still had a year or two of Test Cricket left in him. That the last two oversees tours are going to speed up the process and put extra pressure on him, is very sad. I don’t think that Laxman will be dropped for the last test to make way for Rohit Sharma. I am not saying that’s the right thing to do, just that it is how the Indian selectors tend to think. With Yuvraj out of the mix for the ODIs, Sharma is a certain pick for the remainder of the tour. Laxman has had a long illustrious career, especially good against the Australians. This is his last test on Australian soil, if not the last test, and at the end of the day, I think he will have earned a last chance at redemption. Sharma in the meanwhile will be left to get his exposure of the Australian soil in the limited version of the game, and wait to debut back home in the near future.
Dravid is most likely going to retire soon as well. And yes, at long last, I fear Sachin might be close to the end of the road as well. Although Ponting’s sudden resurgence provides some impetus for Sachin to continue for some time, but playing at home for two straight years isn’t going to give these veterans much hunger. Hundreds will be scored on flat decks, records created, and Tests will be won and drawn at home, but tours to England and Australia hold a different kind of value for these guys. They have and continue to live in a world where greatness is measured in oversees performances. We can’t imagine seeing these guys play in England, Australia or the World Cup at 41 years of age, and with recent horrendous memories oversees, it seems that a sad goodbye to Cricket is inevitable and close for our batting Gods. They have one final chance at Adelaide to collect a happy parting memory.
Will Australia remember them for a historic fight back, or as Greats that visited as champions once, but were reduced to lesser men on their last tour?
To end where I started, Dhoni provides another, and perhaps the most interesting piece of the conundrum. The man who has been one constant in good times and bad is Dhoni. Players get injured, go out of form or get caught in scandals, but Dhoni has been the cement that held it all together. It was a long time coming, but finally at WACA it hit me out of the blue. Dhoni looked like he had lost his mojo. Whether it is the lack of support from the other 10, or his own short comings as a Captain and a batsman, or the seemingly never ending downfall of Indian Cricket after the World Cup triumph, it is definitely taking its toll and starting to show. He has already talked about retirement decisions for 2015, and if one of the versions has to take the axe before that, we only need one guess to pick the winner.
Personally for me, what has been most disheartening is to see the apparent lack of interest in Dhoni the batsman. He has come out and has almost looked bored. Disinterested. Can’t wait for it to be over. If Dhoni decides to hang his test boots along with the big three, it will be highly interesting to see how Indian Cricket weathers the storm, and rekindle the hopes in Indian fans’ hearts that we might again someday triumph at Lords or the WACA.
For now, it’s effigy burning time back home, field days for the media, criticism storms all over, tough questions…..and at the heart of it all, utter bewilderment.
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