A couple of days back Sanjay Manjraker tweeted, "by the way did anyone miss DRS in the ind/ aus test series ? I didnt." To this I replied, I am sorry but there is nothing for DRS in a one sided series. DRS is doing great in UAE.
The only thing I can sum-up about Cricket India is that those guys are fond of seeing nothing else but themselves. This has caused them a lot of humiliation in England and Australia. Even after so much the likes of Sanjay Manjraker defending India's stance on BCCI. It makes me a little bit worried that are they really serious about their performance?
Somebody asked me the most famous question of 2012, What is wrong with Team India or Why are they losing again and again? I answered, they have become the dictator of the game and they are so used to live on their own terms and conditions that everytime they face a challenge, they surrenders!
I look back at Indian team's batting performance and few obvious facts that I feel are the prime reason for their debacle in last 8 away tests.
I have tried to make this post slightly graphical to get a better picture of my analysis
Key Points –
* Sehwag missed 2 test matches due to injury
* Gautham Gambhir missed 1 test match due to injury
* Dhoni was penalized from 4th test in Australia due to slow over-rate
Had these injuries/penalty not taken place they would have joined Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman to play all 8 test matches. This would have made 6 of their top 7 order batsmen play and lose all 8 test matches.
* SK Raina, aged 25, was the only Indian player to be punished for poor performance in England. He was replaced by Virat Kohli.
Figure 2: Indian batsmen age and number of matches they played
| Players | Age | Matches Played |
| R Dravid | 39 | 100% |
| S Tendulkar | 39 | 100% |
| VVS Laxman | 37 | 100% |
| G Gambhir | 30 | 87.5% |
| MS Dhoni | 30 | 87.5% |
| Sehwag | 33 | 75%
|
SK Raina | 25 | 50% |
| V Kohli | 23 | 50% |
| A Mukund | 22 | 25% |
| Yuvraj Singh | 30 | 12.5% |
| WP Saha | 27 | 12.5% |
This table makes it clear that age is the most vital selection criteria for Team India. Hopefully, Virat Kohli and SK Raina will be playing 100% away matches after 5-6 years.
Dravid did exceptionally well in England so it is very understandable why he was given a chance in Australia but what about Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Gautham Gambhir, MS Dhoni? Why was Raina the only sufferer?
Surprisingly, Rohit Sharma, aged 24, averages 63.52 in first class cricket has played 72 ODIs and yet he hasn't got a chance in test circuit.
India must learn from Pakistan on how to rely at the youngsters - The way Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq has gelled into the side and started giving vital performances reflects the believe of Pakistani selectors. It was never easy for them to replace the class act like Mohammad Yousuf with someone totally unknown.
I bet there is no good time to get rid of the likes of Sachin, Dravid and VVS but if India has to make a move from hereon then such steps are very much neccessary. Cricket India has become an arrogant figure in the world cricket - its high time they should get back on the ground and act like a normal cricket body and not some sort of dictator.
The DRS certainly didn't give any game changer in the 2 tests. Strauss certainly benefited from doubts created(in 2 innings) and Ajmal got a bad one. so I don't see the excellent :P.
ReplyDeleteRohit Sharma should definitely have been played in the 4th test. As much as I adore Laxman not only for his wrist work but also for his resilience, he will probably be the scapegoat. Gambhir has age on his side but plenty of contenders. with Mukund/Rahane/M Vijay in the wings who knows but he is having a bad patch same as Sehwag(bar the double hundred).
Its just a very subcontinental thing that good players end up playing too long. M. Yousuf would probably jump at a chance to play again. Inzi didnt wanna quit test ckt. Shoaib took drastic measure(which didn't quite come through not blaming Kakmal of course for the NZ mishap)
Wasim probably chose the right milestone for his.
You keep forgetting key variables though: COACH and BOWLERS. Zaheer didnt quite end up being the one man spearhead(murali needed vaas). and Gary Kirsten is a huge miss cuz the strategies just dont look the same.
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