Well yet another loss and yet another humiliating defeat! As an Indian and die hard follower of cricket these defeats at home are too much to digest for me and for a matter of fact to any Indian. Starting from the test series in Australia and till this last test in Kolkata one thing is common. It's the attitude of giving up in strenuous situation.
It was during the summer of 2011 when it all started. Indian cricket team studded with stars and with big claims landed at the mecca of cricket, Lords. With great Zaheer Khan being out of the game on the first day ,India suffered a major blow and that was just the start. One after another most of the player got injured and there was a stage when only 11 players were fit in the squad. After a test or two Dhoni said "Whatever bad could happen , have happened", little did he knew worst was yet to come. During this very series India lost their number one crown to England in test. Barring Dravid no one else could even settle their foot firmly on English soil. Misery continued session after session, day after day and end result tells everything .India shamefully lost test series by 4-0, one day series by 5-0.
Then comes the great Australian series for which we all Indians look ahead for. Same paper , Same pen, almost same squad. Story could not be more different . India lost test series 4-0. Mind you, before the series started its been said that "This is the best possible chance India have to defeat Australia on their own soil". Come on man, Do the statements change so drastically? From the "best possible chance" to "worst possible defeats". "The Wall" got demolished several times, Laxman was not "Special" and master blaster gave no "fire works". For rest its better not to even talk about. I must appreciate Kohli for this performances though.
Now something interesting , out of these 8 defeats only once India managed to go above a score of 300 in an innings. Once in 16 innings? Yes. Unbelievable. What hurts me is the margin of these defeats. The way we lost. Without putting in a fight. Accepting the defeats and telling opposition "Thanks for finishing the game early, We have lot of shopping to do".
We all are professionals. What do we do when things do not work out? Of course one puts more and more efforts to get it right. But team India always have other ideas like going for a carting in Australia and taking a long rest after the recent Mumbai test defeat.
In a way IPL and Champion leagues have their contribution as well in these defeats. Players were busy playing IPL 2011 before the England tour and Champions league 2012 before the England tour of India. The patience , determination and class that is required for a test cricket clearly seem to be missing. If above statements looks like a "big statement from a small mouth" go check the shots our dear ones played you will get an answer. The challenging pitches , close in fields, swinging red cherry seem to be too much to handle for all of our great against the charm and pleasure of T20 cricket. Confidence is good , Over confidence kills one easily. Dhoni are you and your team listening?
Alastiar cook prepared in Dubai, Pune and eventually in the warm up games before coming to face the first ball in the series. Compare this preparation with the efforts put by team India.Shane watson pulls himself out of T20 bash to be fit for test cricket. Michael Clark stopped participating in IPL to shape up his test career. Aren't these examples reflects their success in Test cricket? We don't know who is responsible here, BCCI for asking players to come and play IPL, Champions league or Players themselves. But something need to done here.
Also by no means this team is a young team. You will call a team with Sehwag, Gambhir, Sachin, Yuvraj a young team? Clearly no, these folks are playing for ages and these performances from them are totally unacceptable. And what our dear selectors, coaches, leaders are doing? Waiting for Sachin to come and say "I will continue playing till i enjoy this game"?. With all due respect to great Tendulkar, we all understand every good thing one day comes to an end. Dear Sachin you have done lot to Indian cricket but its time to take other responsibilities , Its time to contribute to Indian cricket in some different way.
Criticism can continue and will continue. We understand every one is human and defeats are part of the game. We will accept defeats in a while but do not continue them "for a while".
As the great Ganguly said "My suggestion to Dhoni is do not ask for the turners because if India lose I am sure there will be lot of changes in Indian cricket". Yes Mr Ganguly we understand your statement. Let the changes begin for the betterment of Indian cricket. We will support lot of defeats in the process if it will eventually lead us to reign the cricket in all formats of the game.
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