Indian Cricketing Woes…………………

The least said the better!!!!! The very same cricketers, who seem to take India to its cricketing zenith in the last season, are contributing significantly to the current woes. They were called the “Youth brigade”, who had suddenly brought a refreshing change to the way India played One Day Cricket. We were treated, what I must admit to some great Indian Run Chases, where our batsmen just about ran down mammoth scores. Such was our proficiency in chasing that once considered taboo had suddenly turned into our strength!!!!!

The form took a serious dip, when India toured West Indies. We were trounced by a resurgent Windies team 4-1. It’s a beating that the Indian team has hardly recovered from. We have slumped to defeats of varying nature in the DLF Cup & Champions Trophy. There has been an odd victory here and there, throwing up hope. Windies, who themselves were till recently considered just pushovers in International Cricket have become our nemesis now. What was of concern to me the most was the facts that we were no longer the kings on home ground forget out of India. This was on display in the Champions Trophy, where we struggled and were eliminated in the group phase itself.

Now that DLF Cup and Champions Trophy were done and dusted, I looked at the series in South Africa with a great deal of optimism. The Indian Team of 2001 under the then skipper “Sourav Da” had given good account of themselves. They had batted with great flair, fielded with tigrish zeal and bowled their hearts out too. The team was able to get a few positive results, but overall they were still not there. I feel this tour began, what I thought was the most memorable of cricket journeys for an Indian cricket fan. It culminated with India reaching the World Cup Finals!!!!!

Those were good old days in South Africa. I was wishing for a repeat of those great performances. I knew it was too much to expect of this team, given their recent run of poor form and lack of acclimatization to the South African Pitches. The biggest test that I thought, would be the time required for the batsmen to adapt themselves quicker and bouncier wickets and for the bowlers to find the right length on these pitches. After Dale Steyn ripped the heart out of the Indian batting in a practice match, I knew our batsmen were in for tougher times. I was just making this conclusion, on what would the collective might of Pollock, Nel, Ntini, Kallis & Langerveldt dish out. Surely, they would not give Indian Team juicy half volleys or width outside the off stump!!!!!

The Johannesburg match was a non starter – courtesy rain god. Rain has been a constant companion of the Indian team in the current season. How I wished rain could have been replaced by wins in matches…..

Durban Disaster: Those who follow cricket would know that Johannesburg and Durban have the liveliest of playing surfaces. Johannesburg off late had flattened out quite nicely. It was demonstrated aptly in the mammoth 434 runs chase that South Africans did against World Champions South Africa. India, given the bashing in the practice match decided to go in with 6 specialist batsmen and 4 specialist bowlers. Despite getting early inroads, we just could not finish it off. We got to see one of Kallis’ masterpiece centuries, as SA put up a competitive score of 248. Indian batsmen fell like nine pins for a paltry score of 91. This was indeed a lackluster show by the much vaunted Indian batsmen. They were just blown away by the SA tornado. At the end of the match, we also had to digest the fact that Munaf Patel (arguably India’s best bowler in the last 8 months) had picked up an injury and would not start in the Cape Town ODI. The lone positive out of the match was Zaheer Khan’s incisive early burst. He showed in patches, that the hunger which he once demonstrated was back.

It was time to move on to the Cape of Good Hope – Cape Town – To be continued