Will our collective obsession with Indian cricket wither away? As and when our team manages to have a sequence of big wins – which it will, cricket being an unpredictable form of sport – any such question will sound comically preposterous. The reason: no matter how badly our players might have performed till the sudden turnaround, the popularity of Indian cricketers can be only matched by Bollywood stars: an iconic player like Sachin Tendulkar being as big as Shah Rukh Khan. We love them madly, with no criticism attached.
The reality of our preoccupation takes nothing away from the fact that Indian cricket is going through terrible times. Yes, terrible times that can demoralize the most unconditionally passionate among cricket lovers. The team has been mauled in Australia. Should we ignore the odd occasion like the day when Virat Kohli’s rampaging bat annihilated the Sri Lankans, the team has given us very little to write home about.
Ignore: now, that is a very unfair thing to do. But why should we do it? That is since the overall performance of the Indian team can be summarized with a bunch of tired clichés. Most of our batsmen seemed haplessly marooned while endeavoring to deal with short-pitched deliveries in unfriendly conditions overseas. The team didn’t play as a team, and some solo performance or the other wasn’t good enough to take us past the finishing line. The team, in other words, didn’t come across as a well-oiled machine. The result, well, we all know it.
That our Asia Cup team has Virat Kohli as the vice-captain tells a part of the story. True, Kohli is possibly the most important talent that India has produced in recent times. True, he seemed only slightly ruffled while playing at his worst, and brilliant while batting at his best in Australia. But, isn’t he too young to become the vice-captain of the squad? Logic will say, yes, although the fact of the matter is: we don’t have a choice.
Gautam Gambhir is sincere and serious enough. But, while he is a diligent cricketer, he doesn’t have that X factor which Kohli does. He can be expected to score runs when he is playing well. It is, however, very difficult to think of him as someone who will strategize innovatively if asked to lead in Dhoni’s absence. That, Kohli will, although we have no right to get shocked or blame the lad should he make an error or two.
Sachin Tendulkar, in the meantime, continues to chase his dream of getting his hundredth international century. While he cannot be dropped – especially when youngsters like Rohit Sharma and Suresh Raina are giving no reason to make us optimistic – Tendulkar cannot be expected to brutalize any quality opponent with his mercurial batting as was the case earlier. He will get runs, and look far more at ease than most while he is at the crease. But he will win very few matches with his solo performances: that is, till he doesn’t retire.
As a batsman, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni can’t be blamed too much. He has played some decent innings, and even won the odd match when the odds were stacked heavily against India. Yet, Dhoni doesn’t have too many players who constitute the lower order but can support him with acceptable consistency. R Ashwin is, technically, a very capable batsman. But, he cannot be expected to hit the big shots regularly. Irfan Pathan can. But he is unlikely to play two or three good innings on the trot. His brother Yusuf who has made a comeback is a bigger hitter than Irfan. But he is equally inconsistent.
About Indian bowling, the less said, the better. Umesh Yadav had shown quite a bit of promise – as the Australian legend Steve Waugh noted – but he doesn’t find himself in the team because of fitness issues. Zaheer Khan has been rested for the same reason. The two Kumars, Praveen and Vinay, are very hardworking. Since when, however, did mere hard work scare anybody? Ashok Dinda needs more tests; but, from what one has seen of him so far, he is certainly not world class material. The two Pathans and Ashwin will have some good days, but they will have several very bad days too. Our bowling, in short, lacks the sort of quality which can intimidate the opposition consistently.
It is being said that the selectors are readying a team for the future. But doesn’t that mean that we give a guy like Manoj Tiwary an opportunity to wear his pads instead of accommodating Sharma who has been failing time and again? Doesn’t that mean that we work towards our diminishing our weaknesses, which means getting new players, both batsmen and bowlers, and testing them out?
Tough questions, these, but we need to address them as soon as possible. We don’t need to witness a day when we will have a tough time playing Bangladesh, do we?
