Take a good look at the above photograph. I bet the photo brought a smile in you no matter how disappointed you are with the Indian Team currently. It is hardly 4 months since this incident happened. I can confidently shout anywhere that Dhoni did not win the World Cup 2011 by dumb luck. He has proved his worth by virtue of earlier possessions like World T20 in 2007, Common Wealth Bank Series (2007-08 played at Australia that included best of 3 finals), Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008 and 2010 (both played in India), IPL in 2009 & 2010 and Champions League 2010.
Trust me!!! No captain can win so many trophies on lady luck. I agree he doesn’t have major accomplishments in the test arena especially in the overseas (South Africa 2010 Draw, WI 2011 1-0, England 0-3 already). Again he is still young and left with a long journey ahead. I’m sure this defeat should wrinkle very badly considering India clinched numero uno during his tenure of leadership. To put it simple, as a fan if you and I cannot witness the fall, it is safe to assume the man at the helm of affairs can only be deeply wounded. After all, these are not the kind of scars that one can forget with a gulp of hard liquor.
It is important to note that sheer Captaincy can turn results in ones favor in the short formats. However, in the longest format skill, temperament, technique of every player accounts for the success apart from captaincy. It is practically impossible to hide someone’s weakness and get away in Test Cricket. For instance, when Zaheer went down in the First Test Dhoni shouldered the responsibility with the ball, while Dravid kept wickets. Despite a street smart move it still turned futile. If Harbhajan not getting any wickets and still manage to bowl economical prove worthy in ODI’s, the same is a big handicap in Test Cricket. Basically, what we can get away in the ODI’s and T20’s we cannot get away in Test Cricket. The format is not only a test for players but the fans too in terms of patience. Only if you are true cricket lover you can watch all day all five days. Never mind. I apologize for the gyan.
Usually at the end of a poor series, the blame game starts and few heads roll. It is always interesting to read who is blamed for the turmoil. In this case, the aftermath has put selectors on the scanner. Both East Zone and West Zone selectors Surendra Bhave & Raja Venkat respectively are considered weak links as they hardly played any international cricket. What a fantastic catch that exactly cost us this series? Come on!!! You are supposed to laugh out loud here. Then the chairman of selectors comments “Every leading cricket nation has cramped schedule and India cannot blame it for the poor show”. Finally, Anil Kumble introspected the FTP and found India’s preparation to take on Australia is insufficient. He has already written BCCI to include two more warm up matches ahead of the first test in Australia. I wonder what the administrators will be answering WI who will be on tour at India then. Never mind, WI can be quieted pretty easily. More blame games and introspection are likely to follow which should make it even more interesting.
As a common man, I wish to pardon the mistakes of anyone and everyone involved in this calamity rather prefer to see the road ahead for the next 15 months.
Champions League September 2011
Host England 5 ODI’s in Oct 2011
Host West Indies 3 Tests and 5 ODI’s in Nov 2011
Tour Australia for 4 Tests, 8 – 11 ODI’s during Dec – Feb 2012
Host Pakistan 3 Tests and 5 ODI’s in Mar 2012
IPL May – June 2012
Tour Sri Lanka for 3 Tests in Jul – Aug 2012
Host New Zealand 3 Tests – Sep 2012
Champions League October 2012
Host England 4 Tests, 1 T20 and 7 ODI’s during Nov – Jan 2013
In the above schedule I hardly find a break for players in the next 15 months.
What is the purpose of Tendulkar, Dhoni, Gambir, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virat Kohli playing the Champions League? By all means each of the franchise has 25 or more people in their squad and so losing 2 or 3 players would not matter much. Anyways these players are jaded already and that should actually handicap the franchises ambition of winning the trophy. The players might as well rest at Cavemen Islands to recuperate for the taxing journey ahead.
Next, what is the purpose of playing 5 ODI’s again with England when India already played the same number of ODI’s at England? India could as well use the time to advance the tour of WI and also travel to Australia leisure, schedule more warm up games and prepare well for the series.
If you dig the schedule deeper you can actually work out a effective itinerary.
Finally I’m not sure who will bell the cat for the two months IPL extravaganza?
For the benefit of the Indian cricket I wish the administrators take good look at the real issues. Few years ago we all hated Mohammad Azharuddin for throwing the country in favor of money. How different is the situation now? The administrators has now forced the cricketers to put the national interest behind and imposed the players to choose money for ruins.
For once let the sanity prevail and cricketers be spared.
Bottom line: Time for an Anna Hazare to clean up the Indian Cricket.
Dinesh
Cricket Lover
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