The road ahead for Indian Cricket.
With great power comes great responsibility, they say. Unfortunately for us Indians, the BCCI couldn’t handle that power. Marred with controversies and conflict of interests in the past couple of years, it’s not a coincidence that the outbreak of these controversies coincided with the rise of IPL. And with the Big 3 ruling the ICC as well, I think cricket is heading the wrong way, management-wise. This is more of an informative article rather than an imperative one.
Coming to the on-the-field part of cricket, if one doesn’t consider India’s tour to Zimbabwe, one can very well say that the Indians have had sufficient rest and leisure time. Come 12th August, the Indians will be back on the field in the whites for a long and interesting season.
The beginning of every season comes with a lot of anticipation, renewed hope and excitement. Also, there’s a curiosity factor regarding the composition of the team. This new season also brings that along with it. Anticipation of how the team will fare on the field, renewed hope keeping in mind that India just lost to Bangladesh in Bangladesh, and excitement of the new Test Captain – Kohli, and how he takes Indian cricket forward.
Talking about the road ahead for Indian cricket, it’s pretty simple. The mantra should be KISS i.e. Keep It Simple Silly. The players shouldn’t be bothered by off-the-field controversies. Focus, grit, determination and skills come into picture and the Indian lads are known to have plenty of that. However, what can backfire for India is the fact that the recent string of performances has not been up to the mark. Take for example the series in Bangladesh. India failed miserably with their complete squad.
What lies in store for the team? They tour Sri Lanka in August until September for 3 TESTS. South Africa visit India for a historical tour in October and this tour lasts for 2 months – a staggering 2 months. Now, the Sri Lanka tour might just be the transition phase, a practice tour if you will. But, great teams have fallen like a broken star by considering a low-key tour unimportant. The Sri Lankan tour is as important as any, especially considering the fact that South Africa’s tour of India consists of 4 Tests, 5 ODIs and 3 T20s.
After the 2 month stay in India, India tour Australia yet another time for 5 ODIs and 3 T20s. Looking at the schedule for India, it’s pretty evident that there is no complete bias over a particular format. There is a proper mix of Tests, ODIs and T20s.
Let’s face it, the most important man among all this is Virat Kohli. Be it any format, any opposition and in any country, he is your key man. If we take a look at statistics of last 3 years, India have fared miserably when Kohli has failed to score runs. Kohli is the man who is going to lead Indian cricket forward for the next 5 years, at least.
Let’s dissect the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka and the dynamics concerning it. There’s certainly no doubt that pitches in Sri Lanka are very dry and hence, a paradise for the spinners. But, mind you, taking wickets is very difficult and if you are a seamer who wants to take wickets, you have to be world class. This brings me to the batting aspect. Dry pitches tend to assist the batsmen who end up scoring a lot of runs. The funny part is that ‘legends’ are made on such pitches. Now, I am going to speculate something which is the most likely thing to happen – Indian batsmen are used to turning pitches and flat pitches. So, the out-of-form batsmen like Rohit Sharma will score heavy amount of runs and in the process, cement their place in the side while the batsmen who really deserve a chance to play won’t even be in contention. Folks, this is the harsh reality of Indian cricket which only me makes me sure of my point of view that Indian cricket is heading the wrong way.
Negativities apart, this is a perfect platform to kick start the season. But, I truly think the true and the first test of Kohli’s captaincy would be when South Africa tour India. Kohli will have to defy the fact South Africa have not lost a test series away from home, that’s right folks, away from home, in the last 9 years. It’ll be interesting to see how that series turns out to be.
Fortunately for the viewers, they will have 1 dose less of the IPL owing to the cancellation of Champions League. I guess, that prompted the BCCI to organise such a long home series. Speaking in terms of cricket, South Africa vs India would be far more intriguing and interesting than CLT20 which features half the IPL teams.
In the end, all one can do is hope for the best and wish that the results turn out in our favour. Just in, Indians are on top in the tour game against the President XI. The Indians will have to emulate this performance against the A team as well. Adios till the next blog!
