Prasad Bhosekar, London The Indian contingent of the Twenty20 World Cup tournament was down and out much before the tournament began. It was just a matter of time for the inevitable to strike as they were ousted from the tournament at the prestigious Lord’s stadium by an out of form English outfit. Losing to England, and that too by mere three runs was the testimony of the lacklustre performance of the Dhoni army, which always looked out of sync in a startling contrast from what they were in 2007....
What went wrong...? Cricket lovers, analysts, critics and even the ardent fans of the Indian cricket team may perhaps have dozens of reasons...and yes they are all right....Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and many of his team members didn`t play like champions...they played merely for formality....beating lesser mortals like Bangladesh & Ireland wasn`t a big deal...but losing to West Indies and England, and the way matches were lost was something which cannot be digested...both the matches were convincingly won by the opponents...In all the departments, the Indian team was convincingly beaten in the Super 8 stage....
Practice maketh a team perfect...but the Indian team was never keen on practicing....
That`s right…The Indian team was never keen to practice in England and that too in the matches especially....The official line for all the practice sessions was `OPTIONAL.` The practice sessions were labelled as an optional practice session, meaning those who want to practice could come to the ground and those who didn’t care, could enjoy on their own.
Right from Nottingham, many team members didn`t want to practice even in the pleasant English summer...real reasons best known to them...a day before the all-important match against England. The team cancelled its practice session and according to vice-captain Yuvraj Singh, it was all right with his `hamari marzi` attitude that reflected the team’s attitude as well
‘We’ll will do whatever we think is right, whether to go out for a cup of coffee or just go to gym, we will do whatever we think is right’, this was the verbatim of Yuvraj Singh when he was asked why the team was not keen on practicing. The end result- the ordinary running between the wickets, sloppy fielding, careless batting....the list goes on
Why was an inexperienced person like Ravindra Jadeja sent up the order in the crucial England match?
This was the question almost every Indian cricket fan asked who came to Lord`s to watch the India-England match. Analysts and critics will have more questions like why Ravindra Jadeja was sent at a place wherein some other seasoned batsman could have made some difference and the reasoning comes from the fact as to how many balls he played and how much he scored.
The Number 3 SlotCaptain Mahendra Singh Dhoni tried his hand in this slot, but for Super 8 tie, he brought in Suresh Raina, and likewise there were many permutations and combinations in the bowling department which can be under serious scrutiny.
If the game against England was bad, the match against South Africa was the last nail in the coffin.
After the India-England match, much of the steam and interest was lost, but the optimist cricket enthusiast had his last hope, that India will salvage some pride in the last match against South Africa...Alas! The Indian team gave-up more easily than was expected even by a staunch pessimist.
But, what next? At least for Twenty20... This is what the Indian Cricket administration should look into...packed schedules, back to back matches, three formats ( Tests, One-dayers, T20 ) of the game. These are the aspects the BCCI should look into and realise that it`s not only about money, it is also about cricket. A sport that millions follow religiously.
In any game, even in cricket, there are wins and losses, everyone likes the winning part to be consistent and absolutely no one likes losing consistently, especially not when one puts up a spirited fight.
