I have kept off from commenting about the Indian Cricket since the start of the tour of Australia, for one reason, and one reason alone.
Let us just consider, ‘Can anyone actually point at what exactly is the reason why Indian Cricket which is so good at home, repeatedly fails in alien, non-subcontinent conditions?’
The answers what everyone will point out would range from silly to obnoxious. And that is the problem! No one is willing to go into the real, underlying causes of the failures, and just point fingers at the selected team, without having the guts to point out the real deficiencies.
And therein lies the problem!
It is not the attitude at the top, when players are in the field, which is the root of the troubles. They are nothing but symptoms of the disease which lies deep underneath.
To my mind, the problem is in the rules under which the Ranji Trophy, its allied trophies are played and the attitude to Indian Premier League (IPL). Let us take the IPL first.
Cricketers from my 13 year old nephew have somehow got into their minds that if they can last and perform good for 20 overs, they can make it to the IPL and be comfortable.
With this comes the attitude and the training to last just a few overs, say about 5 to 10 when batting to hit, slam and steal runs to make a 30 or 50. There is no intention with the budding batsmen to last a 50 or 100 overs at all. Thus they choose to disregard the fine art of playing cricket and try and learn audacious shots, which may prove good in a 20 over game or in a 50 over game even, like Kohli did the other day. But cannot survive in a Test match.
Bowlers too learn to bowl in a ‘spell’ of 2 or 4 overs and do not learn to bowl a consistent 10 or 15 over spell, which is paramount in a Test match.
Even worse is the attitude that within that 12 to 24 ball spell, you’re bound to hit for a few and somehow try to keep it within 5 runs an over. In the bargain, the art of bowling to pick wickets, has disappeared. There is no consistency. I can see no bowler in today’s team who can pick up 2 or 3 wickets consistently in a innings in a test match.
Enough of the Twenty-20 impact. To get down to Ranji Trophy, which is one of the most consistent and rigorous forms of cricket and which should be churning out Test players for India, like bullets from a gun, the less said the better.
The first innings lead concept, where the team which scores most in the first innings wins, if there is no outright result in a Ranji game has turned it into a farce, with teams orienting it towards packing themselves with batsmen who can whup the ball.
By that criteria in itself, we should be churning out batmen like Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman, who should stand us in good stead. But that works only if the opposition has packed itself with good bowlers, who bowl with line, length, accuracy, consistency and ability to pick wickets - in short attacking bowlers.
But attacking bowlers tend to give runs at first. Which the bowling captain doesn’t like and he resorts to or the basically attacking, aggressive bowler learns to become, a run-of-the-mill bowler, who just goes through the motions, without challenging the batsmen. The chief example is Murali Kartik, whom every team seems to shun.
Thus we end up with mediocre bowlers, and when mediocre bowlers are the norm, we would naturally end up with mediocre batsmen, or change even potentially world class batsmen into a mediocre one.
With this glaring fact, which is probably known to the subconscious mind of every cricket lover and surely every cricket administrator and commentator, we would expect to see some corrective measures.
To be fair, there have been some moves. I heard of a rumour that some associations are moving a resolution that players below 23 should not be allowed in IPL. A good decision because there are under-22 tournaments galore in India. So if you don’t prove yourself in under-22 or with the state team in Ranji (or other) Trophy, your chances of IPL is a mirage.
Another is the concrete decision to play Ranji Trophy matches in neutral venues, in the light of home teams preparing pitches which are flat and batsmen friendly.
Of course herein, the BCCI have to take care that such ‘neutral’ venues are themselves neutral. It shouldn’t become another chance for ‘give-and-take’, like how friendlies are allegedly fixed in FIFA or county games are allegedly fixed for positions.
With that in view, I would have expected some drastic overhauling in Ranji Trophy rules. But what do I know. The Saurav Ganguly headed team, instead of going to the basics has chosen to paper over and shore up a straw house. The expert committee has recommended nixing the neutral venues, and has arrived at a convoluted solution to an already flawed system.
Just read this from The Hindu [http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article2904398.ece]:
Is that the solution to better the cricket standards or a method to better resolve the falling standards.
One would have thought the committee would put in their collective minds and endeavour to improve the system - where teams would be encouraged to get opposition out *twice*, and still score *more runs* than them.
Instead the silly solution is to perpetuate the first innings ‘lead”.
God help Indian Cricket!
For sure, none of those sons-of-blessed-mothers intend to!
Let us just consider, ‘Can anyone actually point at what exactly is the reason why Indian Cricket which is so good at home, repeatedly fails in alien, non-subcontinent conditions?’
The answers what everyone will point out would range from silly to obnoxious. And that is the problem! No one is willing to go into the real, underlying causes of the failures, and just point fingers at the selected team, without having the guts to point out the real deficiencies.
And therein lies the problem!
It is not the attitude at the top, when players are in the field, which is the root of the troubles. They are nothing but symptoms of the disease which lies deep underneath.
To my mind, the problem is in the rules under which the Ranji Trophy, its allied trophies are played and the attitude to Indian Premier League (IPL). Let us take the IPL first.
Cricketers from my 13 year old nephew have somehow got into their minds that if they can last and perform good for 20 overs, they can make it to the IPL and be comfortable.
With this comes the attitude and the training to last just a few overs, say about 5 to 10 when batting to hit, slam and steal runs to make a 30 or 50. There is no intention with the budding batsmen to last a 50 or 100 overs at all. Thus they choose to disregard the fine art of playing cricket and try and learn audacious shots, which may prove good in a 20 over game or in a 50 over game even, like Kohli did the other day. But cannot survive in a Test match.
Bowlers too learn to bowl in a ‘spell’ of 2 or 4 overs and do not learn to bowl a consistent 10 or 15 over spell, which is paramount in a Test match.
Even worse is the attitude that within that 12 to 24 ball spell, you’re bound to hit for a few and somehow try to keep it within 5 runs an over. In the bargain, the art of bowling to pick wickets, has disappeared. There is no consistency. I can see no bowler in today’s team who can pick up 2 or 3 wickets consistently in a innings in a test match.
Enough of the Twenty-20 impact. To get down to Ranji Trophy, which is one of the most consistent and rigorous forms of cricket and which should be churning out Test players for India, like bullets from a gun, the less said the better.
The first innings lead concept, where the team which scores most in the first innings wins, if there is no outright result in a Ranji game has turned it into a farce, with teams orienting it towards packing themselves with batsmen who can whup the ball.
By that criteria in itself, we should be churning out batmen like Rahul Dravid or VVS Laxman, who should stand us in good stead. But that works only if the opposition has packed itself with good bowlers, who bowl with line, length, accuracy, consistency and ability to pick wickets - in short attacking bowlers.
But attacking bowlers tend to give runs at first. Which the bowling captain doesn’t like and he resorts to or the basically attacking, aggressive bowler learns to become, a run-of-the-mill bowler, who just goes through the motions, without challenging the batsmen. The chief example is Murali Kartik, whom every team seems to shun.
Thus we end up with mediocre bowlers, and when mediocre bowlers are the norm, we would naturally end up with mediocre batsmen, or change even potentially world class batsmen into a mediocre one.
With this glaring fact, which is probably known to the subconscious mind of every cricket lover and surely every cricket administrator and commentator, we would expect to see some corrective measures.
To be fair, there have been some moves. I heard of a rumour that some associations are moving a resolution that players below 23 should not be allowed in IPL. A good decision because there are under-22 tournaments galore in India. So if you don’t prove yourself in under-22 or with the state team in Ranji (or other) Trophy, your chances of IPL is a mirage.
Another is the concrete decision to play Ranji Trophy matches in neutral venues, in the light of home teams preparing pitches which are flat and batsmen friendly.
Of course herein, the BCCI have to take care that such ‘neutral’ venues are themselves neutral. It shouldn’t become another chance for ‘give-and-take’, like how friendlies are allegedly fixed in FIFA or county games are allegedly fixed for positions.
With that in view, I would have expected some drastic overhauling in Ranji Trophy rules. But what do I know. The Saurav Ganguly headed team, instead of going to the basics has chosen to paper over and shore up a straw house. The expert committee has recommended nixing the neutral venues, and has arrived at a convoluted solution to an already flawed system.
Just read this from The Hindu [http://www.thehindu.com/sport/cricket/article2904398.ece]:
- The Ranji Trophy points system — outright win 5 points; first innings lead 3 points; Loss on first innings 1 point; washout or weather interference with no first innings result 1 point each; innings win or win by 10 wickets 1 bonus point; tie on first innings without outright result 1 point each; tie on both innings 2 points each; outright loss nil point; first innings result not achieved without any weather interference 1 point each.
Is that the solution to better the cricket standards or a method to better resolve the falling standards.
One would have thought the committee would put in their collective minds and endeavour to improve the system - where teams would be encouraged to get opposition out *twice*, and still score *more runs* than them.
Instead the silly solution is to perpetuate the first innings ‘lead”.
God help Indian Cricket!
For sure, none of those sons-of-blessed-mothers intend to!
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