After the dismal performance in the current series against England, all the critics of Indian Cricket are out of the closet. Some blamed the team selection, some blamed the shot selection, some blamed it on cricket over dose.
But the fact remains that India simply lost to a better team who were better prepared for this series. While on the other side India were riding high on World 2011 Victory and of course the mental & fatigue of the BCCI cash cow 'IPL'. As Ganguly said "You cannot just turn up and win Test series against good sides."
For the South African series, 5 players were sent to South Africa to get acclimatised to the conditions, but only one practice match as part of preparation for the England series simply shows the seriousness with which Indian team took this series.
On December 6, 2009, millions of Indians were united in celebration as their team had ascended to the top of the ICC test rankings. But the with it came the responsibility to retain it.
West Indies were the undisputed king from 1975-76 to 1994-95, winning 72 and losing 21 of the 149 Tests it played. Australia, from 1995 to 2009, won 107 and lost 32 of the 166 Tests. Australia were officially ranked for eight long years, ever since the Test championship was introduced in 2001.
But India, since it became No 1, has played 23 Tests, winning 11 and losing six. In this period India has not played a series in Australia & New Zealand. While in South Africa we managed to draw the series(1-1) and against no.7 ranked West Indies, we managed to win the series 1-0 where the no.1 ranked team didn't even try chasing when the team required 86 of 90 balls. While against England we are starting at the White wash. Is this the sheer dominance that a no.1 team is suppose to exhibit?
When West Indies & Australia dominated the arena, they were merciless, brutal and other teams literally feared them. But for India, we are always the underdogs.
Apart from our famed batting line-up, our Fast bowlers sans Zaheer looks listless. We are called the country of spinners but Harbhajan despite repetitively failing to impress continues hold his position in the side. Forget about the dream of a fast bowling all-rounder and a genuine quick bowler. Apart from this even if one player is injured we always have excuse that we didn't have our complete team.
Amidst all these BCCI would assert their dominance in their cricketing world using the power of Money. All of us know that technology is not fool proof but it aids in better decision making. But for reasons known to BCCI we don't use it. And people say that money doesn't speak.
About the no.1 ranking I am sure BCCI will arrange a couple of series with Sri lanka & Bangladesh for India to retain it.
I am not against Indian Cricket just because they lost one series, but it is the way they played.
To be a Champion you have to have that might, which simply is missing whether we remain no.1 or not. We will never create the awe the mighty West Indies or the ruthless Australian team had.
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