It does not matter whether Sachin retires or not, It does not matter whether we turn out pitches where the ball turns square or rectangle or rhombus or trapezoid! All I know is that the team suffered two white-wash series defeats away and then won an insignificant test series at home against New Zealand, which is not the world's best squad, and now the revenge series against England is level. Sachin or Sehwag or Dhoni, if you do not perform, you should not be playing- it is as simple as that. I guess it is only in Indian politics and in Indian cricket that poor performance is rewarded with more opportunities to play poorly, based poorly on market conditions or lack of options.
So, is there a lack of options? In a nation of one billion people where Cricket is the only sport that gets any media coverage and adulation worth mentioning, we do not have a replacement for one player, we worship that player like a god and believe he has to play on forever. If not us, then those with an interest in keeping him in the team have a free hand to do that. Let us bury the retirement issue there since he is not the only one not performing, it is just that he is the most important player not performing. It is pathetic that we do not give new players a chance and develop them, but instead throw them on to the T20 field through the IPL and turn them into slog-hitters and artillery operators rather talented snipers. It is high time we consider having different squads for different versions of the game and pay all of them well enough so that they don't have to discard one for the other.
The difference between the a 9 wicket victory and a 10 wicket loss is much less than believable-Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag, Monty Panesar and Kevin Pietersen. Sehwag fired in the first innings of the first test and his quota for the series is done- he is unreliable, if he fires, he fires. If he doesn't, he doesn't. Call it the natural game or obduracy, this guy is good for one thing and one thing only- hit the ball. Whether it works or not is irrelevant. Pujara failed only in the second innings of the second test and the Indian innings collapsed like a pack of cards. Alistair Cook is not being mentioned here because he played really well in all the opportunities he got. Only a fool would call Panesar the best spinner in world cricket, let alone a legend. He comes nowhere near Warne, Muralitharan or Kumble and yet he was able to make the Indian batsmen walk to the pavilion to his tunes. Pietersen definitely is a talented batsman and he has proved his worth time and again even against an Australian squad at its strength.
What this means is that calling our spinners a failure is mere escapism and silly because the only thing that changed in the England batting is one player and if one player- Kevin Pietersen- can have such an impact on the game, then they deserve it and we do not deserve to play the game. But in our look for excuses to hide our ineptitude, we blame our bowlers who did not do well in spite of a designer pitch. Only two English batsmen bucked the trend, but we could find only one in the first innings and only a half in the second innings of the second test. That is where we failed- our batsmen capitulated against a spin attack that cannot be called deadly and nowhere near the best that has visited these shores. Batting is the strength of our team and yet they have suffered repeated failures and have given nothing for our bowlers to defend, it is here that change must happen immediately. Relying on batting alone does not make a great side, but changes in the bowling department must start at the foundations- identifying talent and encouraging it is being done at the MRF pace foundation. But the pitches in India for Ranji Trophy and normal games are as flat as they can come or just turners, where our fast bowlers die a silent, exhausting death.
The unbridled proliferation of T20 is definitely killing of our best talents too. But then, isn't the money more in T20? Is it because we watch T20 more than test matches (a cursory look at the stands will tell the story) that we are being provided with more of what we want and less of what we deserve? If the death knell of test matches and ODI comes, it is not because people are lacking interest across the world- nothing could have matched the intensity and emotion of the Australia- South Africa series with some stubborn and inspirational defiance by South Africa in the 2nd Test and an emotional farewell to Ricky Ponting in a test dominated by the Proteas- it would come in India first because the administrators think we want T20 more than test matches and ODIs. It is partly true, but we do check the scores (quite regularly) even if we do not watch each and every ball, we do flood to the gates when there is something exciting and would do so more if prices were not so steep and facilities better- who would want to sit in the hot sun for 6 hours and have to look at the electronic scoreboard, if there is one, to know what is happening- and we do appreciate and admire valiant efforts and we do keep the cricinfo tab open even when our managers are lurking in the vicinity.
We like test cricket, especially when guts is on display and does not matter whether it is an Indian team or another one showing its character and teach us how to save a test match from the brink of disaster. We would like to watch T20 when we need some excitement but life is not all about excitement and blind slogging as it also has to do with perseverance, pure quality and leadership. We would like to watch our stalwarts retire with dignity, when they have a fight left in them, not go out silently because there is no other alternative. We want our greats to be replaced by those with better talents and skills, those with a hunger for success and the right attitude for the game. We hope a situation arises where a player who has given his all to the team over two decades is not blamed for the entire team's failure.The team should not have to resort to tricks and manipulating the ground conditions for a victory and we don't want to watch the visiting team beat us in spite of these home advantages. We want quality cricket, not quality entertainment and hair gel or shaving creams, we want pitches where bowlers have a chance and batsmen with skill can meet the challenge fairly, we want a team that can hold its head high even in defeat and players who can face the conditions in any part of the world.
So, is there a lack of options? In a nation of one billion people where Cricket is the only sport that gets any media coverage and adulation worth mentioning, we do not have a replacement for one player, we worship that player like a god and believe he has to play on forever. If not us, then those with an interest in keeping him in the team have a free hand to do that. Let us bury the retirement issue there since he is not the only one not performing, it is just that he is the most important player not performing. It is pathetic that we do not give new players a chance and develop them, but instead throw them on to the T20 field through the IPL and turn them into slog-hitters and artillery operators rather talented snipers. It is high time we consider having different squads for different versions of the game and pay all of them well enough so that they don't have to discard one for the other.
The difference between the a 9 wicket victory and a 10 wicket loss is much less than believable-Cheteshwar Pujara, Virender Sehwag, Monty Panesar and Kevin Pietersen. Sehwag fired in the first innings of the first test and his quota for the series is done- he is unreliable, if he fires, he fires. If he doesn't, he doesn't. Call it the natural game or obduracy, this guy is good for one thing and one thing only- hit the ball. Whether it works or not is irrelevant. Pujara failed only in the second innings of the second test and the Indian innings collapsed like a pack of cards. Alistair Cook is not being mentioned here because he played really well in all the opportunities he got. Only a fool would call Panesar the best spinner in world cricket, let alone a legend. He comes nowhere near Warne, Muralitharan or Kumble and yet he was able to make the Indian batsmen walk to the pavilion to his tunes. Pietersen definitely is a talented batsman and he has proved his worth time and again even against an Australian squad at its strength.
What this means is that calling our spinners a failure is mere escapism and silly because the only thing that changed in the England batting is one player and if one player- Kevin Pietersen- can have such an impact on the game, then they deserve it and we do not deserve to play the game. But in our look for excuses to hide our ineptitude, we blame our bowlers who did not do well in spite of a designer pitch. Only two English batsmen bucked the trend, but we could find only one in the first innings and only a half in the second innings of the second test. That is where we failed- our batsmen capitulated against a spin attack that cannot be called deadly and nowhere near the best that has visited these shores. Batting is the strength of our team and yet they have suffered repeated failures and have given nothing for our bowlers to defend, it is here that change must happen immediately. Relying on batting alone does not make a great side, but changes in the bowling department must start at the foundations- identifying talent and encouraging it is being done at the MRF pace foundation. But the pitches in India for Ranji Trophy and normal games are as flat as they can come or just turners, where our fast bowlers die a silent, exhausting death.
The unbridled proliferation of T20 is definitely killing of our best talents too. But then, isn't the money more in T20? Is it because we watch T20 more than test matches (a cursory look at the stands will tell the story) that we are being provided with more of what we want and less of what we deserve? If the death knell of test matches and ODI comes, it is not because people are lacking interest across the world- nothing could have matched the intensity and emotion of the Australia- South Africa series with some stubborn and inspirational defiance by South Africa in the 2nd Test and an emotional farewell to Ricky Ponting in a test dominated by the Proteas- it would come in India first because the administrators think we want T20 more than test matches and ODIs. It is partly true, but we do check the scores (quite regularly) even if we do not watch each and every ball, we do flood to the gates when there is something exciting and would do so more if prices were not so steep and facilities better- who would want to sit in the hot sun for 6 hours and have to look at the electronic scoreboard, if there is one, to know what is happening- and we do appreciate and admire valiant efforts and we do keep the cricinfo tab open even when our managers are lurking in the vicinity.
We like test cricket, especially when guts is on display and does not matter whether it is an Indian team or another one showing its character and teach us how to save a test match from the brink of disaster. We would like to watch T20 when we need some excitement but life is not all about excitement and blind slogging as it also has to do with perseverance, pure quality and leadership. We would like to watch our stalwarts retire with dignity, when they have a fight left in them, not go out silently because there is no other alternative. We want our greats to be replaced by those with better talents and skills, those with a hunger for success and the right attitude for the game. We hope a situation arises where a player who has given his all to the team over two decades is not blamed for the entire team's failure.The team should not have to resort to tricks and manipulating the ground conditions for a victory and we don't want to watch the visiting team beat us in spite of these home advantages. We want quality cricket, not quality entertainment and hair gel or shaving creams, we want pitches where bowlers have a chance and batsmen with skill can meet the challenge fairly, we want a team that can hold its head high even in defeat and players who can face the conditions in any part of the world.
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