Defeat and victory are like two sides of a coin in sports and are unavoidable.But the average Indian cricket fan is incredulous after the dismal performance leading to a 4-0 series loss,losing the only T20 match and losing the 2nd ODI yesterday ,after the first one being washed out due to rains. Dhoni has conceded 'Nothing went right for us ' after each defeat.Has captain cool's luck run out ? Has IPL taken a toll of the Indian players ? Are the key players over the hill ?India has lost test series with a margin of 3 or more 14 times,earier also .But this time they were the number 1 test ranking team before the 4-0 white wash.So the margin of the defeat is all the more humiliating.The Indian team went in to submission without putting up a fight. That would have made the loss more honourable.It is believed by many experts the downward slide of the Indian test team has started.Indian test team reached the pinnacle on the strength of its strong batting line up and not on its bowling strength.India inched towards the number one slot due to contributions from Ganguly,Kumble,Tendulkar,Dravid and Lakshman in the last 5years.The first named two do not play for India now.The other 3 are on the wrong side of 30's .Unless a worthy second line to replace the veterans are groomed soon,the hope of regaining the number one ranking would just remain a wish list.
The other factor that has contributed to the the team's failures is lack of fitness among key players.Lack of fitness coupled with poor bench strength has resulted in the current poor form of the team.Former Captain Pataudi has rightly said BCCI has no vision and even after the humiliating defeat it would function the same way.This bad performance is due to excessive limited overs cricket.Some argue there were no match preparations before the Test matches .Practically no practice matches were played on English conditions before the Test match started.In contrast former coach Kristen wanted BCCI to send the team in advance to get acclimatised to SA conditions before the last SA tour. No one wants India to win every match it plays.But the opponent team outplaying India in every department of the game does not augur well for Indian cricket.It was a spineless performance against an England team which had no great names. With this England team,greatness was a matter of spirit,a quality that the Indian team was lacking.Former Indian coach Gary Kirsten has said that he is bit surprised on India's poor performance.Kirsten feels that downfall in the hunger to win after winning the World Cup could be a one of the reasons of India’s shameful defeat against England."It's not easy to carry on a run of success. It's hard to reach the top and stay there. They won the World Cup, which was enormous for them, but then they've had a tour of West Indies and some injuries and perhaps the hunger to win games goes down a little," he said.
The injury list of India includes the names of Sehwag, Gambhir,Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan, Ishant Sharma and Sachin Tendulkar.All these players except Rohit got injured last year.But all of them were fit for the IPL 4.I feel Ranatunga is rigth in saying, the BCCI is carried away by the IPL and India's drubbing is due to BCCI.The players also do not want to lose the IPL cash .But when they were called to do the national duty during the west Indies tour,many of them opted for a break due to fatigue.I agree the players need a break and rest. But who is scheduling the tournaments and tours ? BCCI is interested ony in filling its coffers .One Sunil Rajguru has aptly said in the internet that "BCCI is Board of Control of Cricketing Injuries".Pataudi has questioned the attitude of the players for playing the IPL with injuries.Like Ranatunga pataudi also felt the drubbing at England had lot to do with injuries and IPL .MSD has also stressed many times the need for adequate rest for the players.Kumble also said India's poor show was due to "fatigue, mental and physical, lack of culture for fitness ".Former Pak captain Mushtaq Mohamed has also blamed BCCI for too much cricket and Indian players wantng IPL money has shown their lack ofresponsibility.Indian teams former mental conditioning coach Upton opines If a team indulges in playing relentlessly, the players start suffering from "mental fatigue".Upton says "because of too much cricket , suddenly the high-profile Indian players are looking an average bunch."
BCCI has a cup full of woes to address .Will the BCCI wake up and address the issues ?
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