India’s dramatic decline in South Africa means the infection could extend beyond a few years.
On December 30 last year, Indian cricket sat on top of the world with a rainbow on its shoulders. They won 2–1 in Australia, took a 2–1 lead in England and won a Test for the first time in Centurion. Sixteen days later, they lost the Test series in South Africa, and went on to lose the ODI series 3–0 in a further eight days.
India’s dramatic decline in South Africa, a team that is very short on the scale of talent and experience, means that the transition – inevitable, harsh, inevitable – would have progressed by a few years. It also means that the game in South Africa has recovered at a faster rate than expected. This is good for the game. Test cricket needs strong teams and strong competition.
What happened with India could also be a good start for the team which had avoided taking some tough decisions after the recent win. The fact that he was forced to move to the final Test and ODI with an inexperienced captain indicated that the officials were unprepared for the transition. Things can happen very quickly in the game. ‘Be prepared’ is a good motto for both the Scout movement and sports officials.
The onus now rests on Rahul Dravid to rebuild the team, and it’s not such a bad thing. Virat Kohli may have gone beyond his reception as captain. Indian cricket needs a period of necessary brainstorming. Dravid is tough without being rash, and was aggressive without being crude during his playing days.
Many under Kohli believed that since India were often arrogant and winning, the two were closely related. After all, Australia was the example, ‘ugly’ and victorious, implying that the latter was a result of the former. This was the age-old confusion between causality and correlation.
The time had come for India to shed its ugly image – which was being magnified with every series – and separate the bad behavior from the success. Whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was aware of this or whether there were actually selectors or not, is difficult to tell. Dravid, a wise man who sees beyond limits, however could not be oblivious to it.
strong figure
A cricket captain is a powerful person. Kohli did a good job with Ravi Shastri as the latter knew when to give up if his captain disagreed with him. Now we can see the beginning of another relationship, in which a coach is the most powerful person on the team.
Bishan Bedi doesn’t have an Indian team in the 1990s, where the coach shoots accurately. Dravid is as diplomatic as Bedi was on the contrary, and that means we are on the cusp of an interesting period in Indian cricket. This also means that the next captain will have to handle the balancing act between BCCI and coach with the same acumen that a coach would between BCCI and captain.
India looked to be a tired team in South Africa and once Kohli quit his job at the top, something went out of the team. Along with the rebellious behavior, necessary aggression also came to an end. The trick is to isolate one while maintaining the other.
It is too early to judge KL Rahul as captain, but the team seemed flat under him, and out of ideas. Perhaps the reasons are all connected – days of cricket, weeks and months spent in the security bubble, injuries to key players including captain-nominee Rohit Sharma and selection ambiguity.
The pandemic demands that all decisions be made with kindness and with a proper understanding of the context. The team deserves sympathy, not condemnation. Once the downward spiral began, it was difficult to stop; This happens often.
India’s next three series in different formats are at home. Their next game is for the fifth Test of the previous series in England in July which was postponed due to the Covid issues. Then there is the World T20 in Australia.
hard choice
Should India use the home chain to give them another tried-and-tested chance or prepare the bloody youth for more difficult battles ahead? It is a difficult choice, but a call for youth to be covered in blood to prepare for future battles. This column has always said that seniors should be given a chance to fail while juniors should be given a chance to succeed. This is generally a good rule to follow. However, choices are often made on the basis of sentimentality.
Defeat is not the end of the world, even if victory has taken India to a new world. Kind of a remarkably old one. A blow was necessary.
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