Blunder Down Under!

For once the Aussies would be thankful to the Poms!
Why?
Simple, in mid August 2011, the English knocked the stuffing out of the number one team in the world. England not only thrashed India 4-0, they also extracted all the confidence and fight out of MSD’s men. India tried their best to recover against the West Indies but the ghost of
England boarded the Quantus flight down under.
Defeats don’t hurt, after all it’s just a game and you are bound to lose games but what hurts is the way you lose. The way India has lost, rather surrendered, the last six away tests has left everyone
flabbergasted.
But is Team India such a bad side?
Definitely not…India has got the finest of personnel when it comes to the talent quotient. Our top five batsmen have scored more than even a few test squads put together. We have the most destructive wicketkeeper batsman post Adam Gilchrist era. Our bowling is a little susceptible but the experience of Zaheer Khan coupled with the pace prongs of Ishant and Yadav hould have been a handful.
Then why the World Champs are in such a state?
Confidence is the key word in cricket and Team India efinitely lack it at this stage. Every time a partnership develops or a bowler its a good spell, we are all back to the English Debacle. The famed opening air gets out to bizarre dabs and extravagant drives, the “haloed” middle order looks jittery, even “the Wall” seems to have a gate through it. The number six spot still up the grabs and our Captain Cool has lost his bearings and looks out of sorts. Ashwin looks more equipped with the bat rather than the cherry in hand. The pace attack this time has pace but lacks direction and tenacity and the lesser said about the fielding the better.
These reasons aside, what has hurt the fans the most is the lack of intensity and enthusiasm of the Indian side. The team looks flat and devoid of any aggression. There’s no clapping of hands, no cheering of bowlers and no spark of innovation in Captaincy. The deep mid wicket and deep
square leg are out but for some strange reason the 150kph plus speedsters abstain from bouncing the opponents. When the series started, experts said that this was India’s best chance to win a series down under but I guess with a series of blunders, India has literally gone down and under!
But as a true Blue Indian cricket fan, the heart still says, there’s still a fight back somewhere… May be it would be at Perth where we would get to sing….
"WACA WACA yayyy yayyy….”

2011…from the King to the Midget

2011…from the King to the Midget

The year that brought smiles to the faces of millions, left quite a few wrinkled eyebrows with its departure. The Melbourne test had sent down that same cold shudder that was felt a few months back in England.
The year though kicked off with the World Cup victory that brought an end to a long-awaited Indian dream that had been nurtured for the last two decades. Finally on the 2nd of April, the
yearnings were answered with a six by MS Dhoni over wide long on. The swish of his
flashing blade after the shot will remain as Dhoni's signature forever much like Kapil Dev's catch off Viv Richards in the 1983 final.
But what made India pull the World Cup out of Australia's grasp?
Short answer…Planning. If we carefully look at the series preceding the World Cup, we would see a stream of thought that headed towards picking the correct resources for the high profile
tournament. The resources were smartly chosen and sparingly used. The nucleus of the side seemed nice and tight. The gaping holes in the bowling line up were filled up beautifully by a Munaf Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin and the inclusion of the Kohlis and Rainas perked up the pace on the park. Still, India began the tournament as an unsettled favorite, hiccupping and struggling through their league phase. But it all changed after the first knock out night against the Aussies- India came out mean, lean and committed. The Indian fielders dived and chased the ball to squeeze out the runs and while chasing Yuvraj and Raina kept their cool in front of a large crowd at the Sardar Patel Stadium. After that one knew that India will go all the way.
India's World Cup glory was the result of proper planning and a collective effort from the unheralded Munaf Patel, the phoenix named Yuvraj Singh and from a “wounded” few left with an unfinished business from the Wanderers in 2003.
In the space of the next two months though the table turned and it turned hard. The World Champs of the shorter format and the Numero Uno in tests tasted bitter failure. India was shell shocked during the English Summer where the team failed to win a single game and got whipped 4-0 in both tests and ODIs.
What went wrong?
World Cup and IPL fatigue, not enough warm-up games, injuries, DRS, bad luck…
All of the above but still the real answer is - Planning, more than the English outplaying India, they out planned India. Except a resilient Rahul Dravid and a spirited Praveen Kumar, India look flat and out of steam. The best English batting line up in years took advantage and piled up the runs, handing the English a series victory after 1996. Many questioned India’s Number one status in tests but let me remind you at the beginning of 2011, India gritted out a 1-1 series in South Africa to validate their ranking. But again nothing succeeds like success, and India’s success overseas took a serious beating in England.
Melbourne was supposed to be India’s revival ground. A fit Zaheer Khan, a quick Umesh Yadav and an improved Ishant Sharma held the bowling attack in good stead. The hopes rose after a few rising Umesh bumpers hurled into Ricky Ponting’s helmet and Ed Cowan’s midriff. The hopes rose even higher as Sachin Tendulkar scorched the MCG green with his Upper Cuts and delicious drives but as they say old habits die hard. It all went pear shaped when Peter Siddle found the gap between the Maestro’s bat and pad. The moving ball removed the Indian middle order and polished off the tail. A test that India should have won… lost in three and a half days!
What next?
India might still pick themselves up against Australia, but the summer of 4-0 has unearthed some relevant conclusions. Against quality bowling in trying conditions, there still are vulnerable spots in the batting line-up. The inability of polishing of the tail thus handing good test averages to Broad, Swann, Siddle and Pattinson. Dropping important catches, MS Dhoni’s defensive
captaincy and batting form, Gautam Gambhir’s dismissals and of course losing the key moments in a test match.
2011…thus remains as a significant year for Indian cricket. It’s a year that made us the Kings of the shorter version, also has rung the alarm bells about our abilities in the Longer Format.
I hope someone’s listening….