Woes of the Indian team

Woes of the Indian team

There has been a noticeable decline in the quality of cricket played by the Indian team over the course of the past 18 months. India has bottled up in moments of pressure, failed to capitalize on mistakes and the opposition has swiftly crushed India on such occasions.

Take the case of India’s tour to England- India was well played to win its first series in the old blighty in nearly 15 years. Instead, India got ‘bazballed’ in the face of a resurgent English team. While one could argue that the administrators also played in a crucial in this loss, by postponing the test by one year on account of rising covid cases in the Indian camp in 2021, there lies the fact that India was swept aside by England, despite having enjoyed a massive lead of 145 runs at the half way stage. India, thus squandered the golden opportunity to crush a beleaguered and demoralized English side.

In South Africa, India had the opportunity to conquer the final frontier and stamp its authority as the leading force in Test cricket. India even took the first honours- winning the first test by a mammoth 113 runs. However, they lost the momentum from there onwards, squandering the gains of the first test and eventually handing over the series on a platter to South Africa. They repeatedly scored below par totals and then failed to restrict South Africa to similar scores.

A common element observed in all the above cases is that India has miserably failed to bundle out sides in the 4^th innings. Rather, they have made runs merrily at the expense of the Indian team. The Indian team has often looked toothless and jaded when the chips are down.

India seemed to be a weak and jaded team in the 2022 T20 World Cup. India stuttered against South Africa and barely scraped through against Pakistan and Bangladesh, thanks to individual heroics before being given a reality check by England in the semifinal, where the bowling attack was torn apart. It is evident that if not for individual flashes of brilliance, India would have been eliminated within the group stage itself and suffered a major setback.

The WTC final would have served as a cold turkey moment for the Indian team, which saw a complete routing at the hands of the Australians. It was strikingly reminiscent of the 2003 finale, where the Indians had copped a similar humiliation to Ricky Ponting’s men. Bowlers were worn out, batsmen fell prey and the Indian team collapsed in the heat of the moment

An important point to be considered is that India has been led by as many as seven captains in the last one year. The BCCI has bizarrely opted for resting captain Rohit Sharma for a number of series and deputed others in his stead, including the likes of KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya and Shikhar Dhawan.

With the 2023 ODI World Cup fast approaching, coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma will have to pull their socks and put on their thinking caps. They must calibrate a fresh template for that players step in high-voltage games. There must be a change in mindset with players stepping up during important moments and not crumble under pressure. A positive atmosphere is essential for deliverance of results. The Indian players must appropriate a ‘bazball’ style of play, where there exists no fear of failure.

The management must also keep an eye on the workload of the players and ensure that they are not overexerted in the run-up to the world cup. The Indian team can take solace in the fact that the world cup is being played at home, with the host teams having lifted the cup on three past occasions, starting from 2011 by India itself. India should aim to play all the games leading upto the world cup with a similar squad and give more opportunities for youngsters to show their mettle at the highest level. This will enable the management to earmark roles required to be performed by each player as well as come up with contingency plans.

All in all, India should avoid the mistakes of the 2019 campaign and play positively with a proper set of plans in order to come up trumps in the future.