In the 10 losses that we have witnessed in the last 18 months Vs Eng and Aus – India had clearly forgotten what the phrase “to put up a fight” meant. Given the abject surrenders we were put through, the hope to win is seriously all gone and all that we hold onto is to see our team fight. Make the opposition earn their win – not hand it on a platter to them.
The batting has been a huge let down – go through the stats and you will realise that in those 10 matches and 20 innings we batted for more than 100 overs only in 3 innings. Which means we did not last more than 3 sessions of batting on 17 occasions and to me that has been a disturbing fact.
Yes bowlers win you matches, we are a rubbish bowling side but given the batting talent the least you expect is that your side will bat 4-5 sessions to give the team a chance to draw the match if not win. We have failed at this miserably.
It’s a tough period for us fans and it is not going to change for another 3-4 years. So we need to take the little moments that will be offered and treasure them for as long as we can.
Today Kohli and Dhoni gave us that moment – India was tottering at 71-4 against England’s 330 in the first innings yesterday and given how our batting has played out – a collapse was just a matter of time. And that collapse did not come in until the last hour today – I felt a bit gutted seeing the score at the end of the day but I thought I needed to reflect on the ‘fight”. Isn’t that what I wanted from my team?
Kohli and Dhoni batted for 90.1 overs for their 202 runs – I’m going to cheer that today.
Yes we collapsed in the last hour – Dhoni went for a needless run, we may well trail Eng tomorrow and Eng may bat us out of the game , our batsmen may fail to save the match and the scoreline may read 3-1. Win,draw or loss in this match – changes will need to be done to the team sooner than later but that discussion is for another day, another post.
But all that matters to me today is that 2 guys put their hands up and showed this team what they had forgotten – resilience, patience, grit and a fight.
Tomorrow I’m going to wake up with a little bit of relief with the realization that this team is getting its memory back. Dada, Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble,Srinath, Sehwag,GG spoilt us in the 2000s with innumerable instances of grit, determination and miracle wins/draws.
Those will take time to repeat with this team – but at least I take solace in the fact that they have taken the first step to “Fight” and not let the opposition have it easy.
Cherish that thought for now!
Agree with you. There is no ignominy in defeat. When Porus lost to Alexander, the latter still treated him like a King simply because Porus fought like a true king, a true warrior! When India went to England they were the reigning no. 1s… but they simply put down their weapons and surrendered abjectly…since then they have not even bothered to pickup the weapons, let alone put up a “semblance” of a fight. The World Cup victory it now appears was the last hurrah for the ageing team and looking at the current inventory of players, we should simply give up playing Test cricket or we will become a laughing stock for the cricketing world… other option is to bring back Gary Kirsten by paying him 10 times more… it will still be pocket change for BCCI!
Unfortunately Gary wanted to leave – this is a tough phase for us fans – anger, hurt , sadness – all valid. The team needs to rebuild and show it can still go down fighting, once that sets in the wins will come
But transition has nothing to do with energy, intensity, commitment, aggression, et al, isn’t it? Australia, England, South Africa have all undergone big transitions in the last decade, but their on field intensity never diminished despite some crushing losses! The team is full of individually brilliant people… am not sure what has gone wrong – motivation? ego clashes? mental exhaustion? BCCI? money? May be a combination of all.
At the end of day, at least show the fan that you tried… is that too much to ask?
Hi Minal, I agree the way you started. Fight is what I as a fan expect. I am happy for Kohli and Dhoni the way they fought. But Dhoni (and even Fletcher) I am afraid has a lot more to do. You cant win matches with defensive fields and mind set right from the start (i under stand if one gets defensive tactically or in a session or two). Problem with Dhoni I feel is that he ain’t interested in Test cricket.
This was by far the most pathetic cricket played by Indians on its home soil. Pathetic batting, bowling and fielding (especially slip catching). Forget everything else, its appalling to see the way Ashwin, Ojha, Sehwag and Zaheer chase the ball in the out field.
Further, I feel if the captain is changed then I don’t think it will take 3-4 years for the team to turn around. By turn around I mean fighting spirit (No 1 rank looks far away though)
Ashutosh,
I agree with your views wholeheartedly – we are now a lethargic disinterested bunch! The selectors should make tough calls now – sack Fletcher, relieve Dhoni from captaincy, drop GG, Viru, Dhoni and try a new bunch. We will fail miserably, we will struggle, but at least we won’t be worse than what we are now!
Tough times up ahead – time to gather all the strength we can and watch!