The Roar columnist Ryan O’Connell, in his latest piece, lambasted the BCCI for being arrogant towards Tests in foreign, bouncy lands.
I will go a step further and say that the issue with the board is not restricted to their mentality regarding Tests outside the sub-continent. It is their general attitude towards this format that needs revisiting.
In 2008 when the IPL germinated and later showed signs of success, they had a problem on their hands with respect to the five-day game. Undivided attention to this format had never been their forte but IPL’s emergence pushed it on to the backburner ever so more than usual.
Pressure from Indian fans and to an extent, the ICC, meant that the arrangement with the Test format had to be honoured but playing 60-75 T20 matches in a month and a half of simmering 35-40 degree centigrade heat and nearing cent per cent humidity was always going to give rise to technical deficiencies and fitness issues in the longer run.
Then, a wonderful thing happened.
The works from the previous decades of the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble – to name a few – and the decline of Australia as a cricketing power and the choking tendencies of South Africa fructified into India becoming the number one team in this format.
This glorious past along with a few chance occurrences, had helped mould the present, pushing India to the top of the rankings.
It put the board in a quandary – the whole of India was talking of this new-found number one status and they could barely ignore it.
Never short of using ad hoc strategies to build on their plethora of wealth, the board went for another, ‘horses for courses’ strategy for this latest salable cricket content.
Cashing on this new-found ‘craze’ they organised more Test matches – they used their clout to convert a home ODI series against South Africa into Tests plus ODIs to ensure their continuity at the top.
Then again, a seven-match home ODI series against Australia was reduced to three limited-over games but two Test matches were added to the itinerary (the same two that Virender Sehwag so proudly gloated were won by India at home).
But the moot point was that seeds for this erstwhile present, that saw the rise of India to the top of the rankings, had been sowed in the past – the past which was moulded by a captain called Ganguly, a master scorer Tendulkar, a technician by the name of Dravid and an often unheralded grace VVS Laxman.
A past which did not contain any T20.
Eng’s Principle quotes that the easier it is to do, the harder it is to change.
Cut back to 2008 and it was easier to swing across the line, tonk the bowler over the head or hit through the line on a flatbed in a T20 game. It became progressively harder for them to get that out of their systems when the bigger test came around.
For 2011-12, the period of 2008-2011 was a past and much like before, it sowed the seeds again – but this time of poorer techniques and bad fitness.
If the batsmen imbibed those bad habits, then the bowlers began to break down more easily.
The result of that is now for all to see.
What the players are saying now is a reaction emanating out of plain shock – they wouldn’t have thought that the building was so termite-ridden as to cause a sudden collapse like the one on show in the last eight months or so.
But I am more worried about the response from the Indian board – I do not know whether the board cares much about India’s Test performance, whether away from the confines of the sub-continent or at home.
It reeks of arrogance not of their home Test record but of being in possession of a magic, fund-raising formula called the IPL. It continues to garner their focus of attention, rake in the moolah and that is where the ‘buck’ stops for them. Literally.
There is one point where I will differ from the popular opinion here, that of the pitches in India.
The tracks in India offer no pace and are quite low on bounce but in recent years, there has rarely been a raging turner since the 2004 Wankhede Test between India and Australia. Probably a couple of others against South Africa, but that is about it.
India’s number one spinner in that period, Harbhajan Singh, averages 36 with the ball at home since January 1, 2009 and that is as much to do with the unhelpful tracks as it is to do with his overindulgence in the shorter formats.
Truth be told, the direction in which things are headed in for Indian cricket, the BCCI may need to go back to preparing some spinning venom on home pitches – or a home series defeat is not that distance an eventuality.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
Australian fast bowling great Jason Gillespie has been named head coach of Pakistan's Test team, as the nation overhauls its coaching department ahead of…
Will Jacks got RCB past the 200 target set by Gujarat with four overs to spare.
With Rajasthan needing 25 off 17, both batsmen ended up at the same end but the bowler dropped the throw from his teammate -…
A six-laden, 27-ball 84 from Jake Fraser-McGurk to continue his outrageous debut IPL!
Johnny Bairstow has hit his way back into form with a 45-ball century as he steered his side to a record-breaking win, easily chasing…
It seems franchise cricket has forgotten about the great battle between bat and ball. In fact, this season in the IPL there is no battle at all.
