Blunder Down Under !...

Its little strange for a hostile flat continent known for its great barrier reef, hard wickets, hot temperatures, bush fires, floods, dessert, drought, venomous reptiles, kangaroos, koalas and eucalyptus trees to become the world's thirteenth largest economy with one of the highest per capita income.

There is something intriguing about Australia that makes it triumphant in every sport. Almost every test series, you get to see a new fast bowlers and batsmen who continue the legacy of demolishing visiting teams without any remorse. Australia prides itself on being a sporting nation. Such is the value they put on athletic pursuits that various states squabble over becoming ‘sporting capital of the Australia’. Perhaps it is this competitive and hostile environment that makes them dominate not just in cricket but even in hockey, rugby, swimming, rowing and other sports. No wonder the Australian cricket team celebrates its victories by singing …

“Under the Southern Cross I Stand ,
A sprig of wattle in my hand,
A native of my native land,
Australia you little beauty..” (while singing the word ‘ little’ gets replaced by profanities)

And by now even the despondent Indian team down under must have learnt this song by heart…

Incidentally, there are some similarities between India and Australia. Both these countries are blessed with natural resources and wonderful bio diversity. The traffic keeps left and people act and think ‘right’ - when it comes to democracy. Both these nations have helped England to win the World War. January 26th is an important date for both these nations. Australia celebrates ‘Australia Day’ that commemorates the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 while India celebrates it ‘Republic Day’ to commemorate the date on which the Constitution came into force. Moreover both of them have also been champions in hockey and cricket. There could be many such similarities and yet there are many things - unique and different.

Cricket in the late 70’s - 80’s were dominated by the cavalier and flamboyant West Indies. By early eighties, the Packers Circus ceased to exists and soon the legendary Aussies - Greg Chappell, Lillie, Thompson and Marsh retired. Even Kim Hughes was at the twilight of his career. However the 1986-87 series in India saw the revival of Australian cricket under the leadership of Allan Border who had a daunting task of rebuilding a new team. The world cup win in 1987 at Eden Gardens in Kolkata established the Aussie prowess. Later under Steve Waugh and Ponting’s captaincy, the Aussies continued to remain undisputed champions in all forms of the game for more than a decade.

Since the 90’s every team has strived to excel against Australia. It is not easy to tour down under. The sun is fierce under a southern sky, colours stand bold and the afternoon sun casts deep shadows stretching out to the horizon. Shadows tend to trick the eyes in the harsh Australian sunlight and energy sapping heat...but this is where champions emerged. Such has been their dominance that many teams have crumbled and careers got demolished.

During the 90’s, Indian cricket found itself at the bottom of the pile. It was confounded with match fixing allegations, blatant nepotism, inscrutable power play, and politicians vying for membership within various cricket boards. Amidst this turbulent background, the mantle of captaincy was handed over to the young and brave Sourav Ganguly, who like Border, had a tough task of rebuilding a team that would play with passion and pride.

Ganguly lead from the front and was aptly supported by board president and his team mates in Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Srinath and Prasad. In 2001, Sehwag, Agarkar, Zaheer and Harbhajan joined this gang and the wheels turned full circle. Tendulkar’s defiant knock in the first test in Mumbai set the stage but it was Laxman and Dravid’s epic partnership of 376 runs in Kolkata that set the ball rolling. This team went on to create history and shattered Steve Waugh’s dream of winning the final frontier. Coincidentally, the Aussie denouement started at the same venue where they had won the World Cup in 1987.

The tour to Australia in 2003- 4 instilled the belief that India can again win matches overseas. But later under Ricky Ponting’s captaincy, Australia regained their pole position and convincingly defeated India in the world cup final in South Africa. However it was in 2007 under Kumble’s captaincy and with his immortal comments on the infamous monkey gate episode at Sydney that made India stamp its authority on world cricket. It took us more than twenty years to level the series in Australia and the manner in which the Indian team played was seen to be believed.

Kumble retired and Dravid became the new leader. Under his captaincy India won the series in West Indies and in England. The search for new captain, lead to the arrival of a certain M.S Dhoni. Dhoni represented the new generation – carefree, flamboyant, stylish, talented, articulate and hard hitting wicket keeper batsman. Under his leadership the team ranked no 1 in all formats of cricket.

Dhoni must have realized that like captaincy, the Midas spell and the rankings do come with a shelf life. Barring the Melbourne test, India could not create nor did they seize any opportunity to bounce back in any tests. It’s been only 10 months since India won the world cup and already we have lost our number one ranking by loosing seven tests on a trot and the chances of loosing in Adelaide looks inevitable. Before every test, expectations grew and like Tendulkar’s 100th international ton collapsed. Even the stock markets appear predictable these days. Despite their several tours, it is indeed disheartening that Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman would never again be able to win together a test series in Australia. There is feeling of resentment everywhere. The players look disorientated, hapless and their response to media hides any semblance of sanity. Gautam Gambhir whose batting defines grit made startling comments about preparing ‘rank turners’ for visiting teams and making pitches conducive to home team. Undoubtedly these comments are not just ill timed but prevaricates the truth and clearly reflect the frustrations of Indian players. Instead of focusing on preparing pitches that helps our batsmen to play on bouncy track, Indian players want us to think regressively. It’s not just Gambhir but even during Sydney test, Virat Kohli and Ishant Sharma passed similar comments to Warner. Instead of involving in verbal banter, its time some of these young players understand, improve their technique and make their bat and ball do the talking.

Remember Dravid once said,” The media lacks perspective” and everyday they are blatantly sensationalizing purported rift and dissent in team. Such innuendoes not only vitiate the atmosphere, but demoralize the players and create misunderstandings. This could only create fissures and suspicions within the team. Such news bytes make the diagnosis appear simple but the cure impossible. India lost because they never played like true champions. The players have vehemently denied the existence of any dissent and even conflict. If at all there exists any difference then it lies in the way the Indians are playing their cricket.

Come to think of, the fall from grace in cricket is merely symptomatic of a much greater issue and almost every senior player resonates with this notion. Former players are not loosing any opportunity of remonstration and are eagerly washing dirty linen in public.

Ideally with a strong batting line up, there isnt any need for Virat Kohli or even the talented Rohit Sharma to be in the playing eleven or for that matter to get a chance to bat. Ideally they must arrive at the crease when the when the scores read 250 or 300 for 4. But Indian captains have always being defensive with a 7- 4 combinations. Its time Dhoni bats up, making way for a fifth bowler. He just has to take a leaf out of Gilchrist or Sanghakara’s batting.

The struggling Australian batsmen have made our bowlers look pedestrian for their lack of discipline, consistency and ability to take 20 wickets. Our fielders are unfit and lethargic. Barring T-20, Ashwin hasn’t made any impact in other domestic tournaments. It will take a while for him to leave his mark as a bowler in test cricket. Ishant is unable to take wickets and lacks swing. Zaheer is exceptional but like other seniors is equally lethargic on field. Umesh Yadav looks promising but it is ridiculous to expect him to run down the opposition single handedly. Instead of playing in IPL, the young pacers should learn from Zaheer and get some exposure in county cricket.

The only batsman who looked confident and compact is Tendulkar but even his runs couldn’t save us from defeat. Instead of castigating Virat Kohli and Laxman for not performing, we must also evaluate the performances of our opening pair and other senior players. As luck would have it, Kohli’s century in Adelaide symbolizes his arrival in Test arena. Barring the first innings of Perth, there is no doubt that Laxman has faltered and so have the other team members. Laxman’s selection has never been very smooth and when Ganguly made his come back in Nagpur, Laxman had to play at number 6.

Often cricket tends to portray the state of a nation. Before 1989, the Indian economy was governed with socialist philosophy, license Raj and the meagre 3- 4% Hindu rate of growth. With the balance of payment crisis in 1989-91, India under the leadership of P.V. Narsimha Rao along with the then Finance Minister Manmohan Singh took the correct step of liberalization, privatization and globalization. It was the same time when Tendulkar made his debut and with his scintillating performances spread the game across small towns and villages. Since the time Tendulkar made his debut, the results have been staggering- excluding the Adelaide test, India has played 203 tests with 69 wins and 57 defeats.

It’s a strange coincidence that Manmohan Singh who is now our Prime Minister is grappling with sputtering economic growth, rampant corruption, rising inflation, interest rates and fiscal deficit. Strangely even Tendulkar with his impeccable records is facing problems in playing a match winning knock or even scoring his 100th international Ton!

The selection committee that included India’s top batsmen in 90’s deserves due credit. Young Ganguly and Dravid were able to push Vengsarkar, Manjrekar, Amre, and Azhar out of the team despite being good performers. The time has now come to take hard decisions and induct new talent. The young talent may initially fail but under a good experienced captain and coach the Indian team will be able to bounce back quickly. The next overseas tour is in 2014 and therefore for the next couple of years, the senior players should be picked on rotation so as to mentor the youngsters.

Dravid and Tendulkar would be perfect for this role. More than half of India’s population is below 25 years and since their infancy, haven’t seen an Indian team without Tendulkar. For them and even for the remaining older generation, it will be daunting to imagine a team without Tendulkar. And watching a test match without Dravid is as good as conceding the series even before the coin is tossed. If it was not for their stellar performance, India wouldn’t have become a super power in world cricket. Playing in rotation would also help Indian fans to come to terms with reality and subtly help the senior players to have a graceful exit, which they richly deserve.

Its time we learn from the Australians and avoid procrastination. Their selectors are professionals, passionate, objective and at times even ruthless. The bowlers who get picked must consistently swing and bowl fast. Their bench strengths boast of fearless and talented batsmen keeping even the stalwarts on their toes. Regardless of their age and aura, their players have to work on their fitness and respect tradition. Australian captains have lead from the front and play an attacking game. Aussies relentlessly strives to win and unlike their opponents do not wait for the opponents to lose it.

There is a dire need to emulate these qualities in Indian cricket. This can happen if the selectors start the cleanout and rebuilding process. Consistently high performing players in domestic tournaments (exclude IPL) should get exclusively picked to play in India ‘A’ and test team. Earlier players came to state teams through University and local tournaments. In recent years the trend has changed. Maybe there is a need to induct a separate Ranji Team for all University players. IPL performers can become part of T20 or one day team matches but the number of IPL matches and limited over’s tournament should get drastically reduced. Players must realise whether junior or senior, retention in the National Team should be an honour that requires constant performance to hold onto, not a right.

Immediately after the ignominious loss at Sydney, BCCI announced their favourite IPL tournament schedule. Like our politicians, nothing changes in Indian cricket. Many years ago, Harsha Bhogle had commented that, “It is always the best administered, rather than the best coached, team that wins matches. Good administrators create systems that allow players to do well.” Not surprising that the worst administered sides hail from the subcontinent. Indian cricket needs a reality check; but the selectors seem to be still snoozing.