There has recently been a lot of articles venerating Virat Kohl for his fine individual performances against Australia, but these articles miss the point of team sport.
The point is cricket is a team game and the aim is to win. And with this Indian side it’s same old, same old, so much hooplar and veneration of individuals in a team that has a dismal record of making it count when it really needs to count and has yet again failed to fire in Australia.
I’m not trying to be deliberately rude because essentially this criticism is born out of frustration. Maybe Indian fans out there can help me work it out, do they really give a rats toss if Kholi, or Dravid, Tendulkar or Gavaskar, act like a cricketing god, come to earth to play beautiful, imperious innings after innings if his team loses match after match after match?
And it’s not just the losing. Once upon a time you could forgive this as India were essentially a rubbish team with a couple of brilliant individuals, but that was decades ago. I still remember after that epic series in India in 2001 saying to many friends: “just wait, in 10 years time India will be unbeatable home or away”.
Instead what we’re left with is the same old story, as if time has stood still. As if all the brashness, innovation and promise of modern India, in economic, social and political terms, has yet to infuse its way into the cricket side.
I must confess I am simply bemused as to why still India have yet to win a series in Australia or South Africa…
And this bemusement is not born of a forlorn hope in times of trouble, it is exactly because Indian cricket for a long time has been a place of great hope. Where an embarrassment of riches and wave after wave of sublimely talented players would translate into an all-conquering side of the stature of the 1980s West Indies or 2000s Australians.
But… well, it just hasn’t happened, and I’m getting tired of defending the same old stereotypes. Don’t get me wrong Kohli is amazing, by far and away the best batsman to watch in this series, easily the most gifted, almost ridiculously so.
Its just that I’ve seen and heard it all before: it was the same with Tendulkar, Gavaskar, Dravid… India got thrashed then too.
Perhaps the best case in point I can remember was the 2003-04 series in Australia, where Australia were without both Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and ripe for the picking. Remember, India 1-0 up, Boxing Day in Melbourne, Virender Sehwag scores 195 smashing the ball to all parts of the ground. India were 4/311 when Sehwag fell at the end of day one and collapsed to finish all out for 366. Australia went on to rout the Indians in this Test and draw the series at one win apiece.
An Indian friend of mine still considers this series one of Indian crickets greatest moments. Really? A 1-1 draw when you should have buried Australia? So for me, and apologies again as this is no disrespect to Kohli himself, it’s like these sort of articles and the veneration of the media the Indian media in particular, are a cop-out, a sort of diversion from the real story, like saying ‘hey, we might get smashed as team but we’ve got the best individual players’.
I strongly believe that all those myths of national character and conditions, you know about Australia’s weather, open spaces, working class ethic, toughness etc, are just more bull-dust. It simply comes down to hard work and team ethic.
The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Another illustration to finish with, that may explain where I’m coming from. Sure Australians remember and venerate Bradman, but they remember and venerate the great team he led to England in 1948 even more.
In contrast, I read an article at the start of the series by a well-know Indian journalist about how India no longer lives in Australia’s cricketing shadows. That is probably true when it comes to pride and attitude,just one look at Kohli’s demeanour on pitch tells you that.
But it really misses the point, India will only move out of Australia’s cricketing shadows when they beat, sorry thrash, Australia in Australia. And that is all the really needs to be said. I’m still waiting for India’s 1948. Otherwise Kohli is just another hero in a hopeless side.
frisky
Guest
The Indian team seems to be developing some grit. They held out Australia on the last day, especially in the last hour of the tour on a difficult pitch. In the past, they would have folded.
Bob Sims
Guest
Kohli's self-obsession is clearly on display for all to see, but I question whether this will continue to hinder the team's development. This is patently a team on the rise, despite their 2-0 series loss and the lack of a couple of players in key positions. Rewind several decades and Australia had a similar captain - his name was Bradman. His self-obsession didn't stand in the way of Australia's progress at that time.
ChrisT
Guest
You're obviously going to take that to the grave Cadfael and I suspect you may have been part of the crowd predicting a blood bath pre-series. Disappointed as you may be, it's no reason to deny some excellent batting from the Indians. Well worth two draws.
Simoc
Guest
Tests really aren't that important to any nations peoples outside NZ, Australia , England. They are long boring affairs, a blast from the past, suited to those countries players and ex cricketers who can't get a job outside the game and for the old and retired people who have nothing better to do. That is why the commentators talk it up so much. It needs to be talked up.
Chris H
Guest
Haha. That was fun to read.
JMW
Guest
Well said author. They are a hopeless side. I'm so pleased to see our hands back on Border's trophy!
Dan
Guest
"I must confess I am simply bemused as to why still India have yet to win a series in Australia or South Africa…" Today was a perfect example of why India can't; they were give an entire day to try and score a very achievable target of 349 - a target Australia had set in less than one session by scoring 251 runs at a near T20 pace. What did India do? They came out and blocked all day... it was pathetic and for the life of me I just can't work out what a team gets out of losing 2-0. How is that terribly different to 3-0? The series wasn't on the line, so they literally had nothing to lose, and could have come out and just had a solid crack at winning the match with some aggressive play, but instead meekly decided they'd rather play for quite literally nothing. In the end all they achieved was providing a moral victory for Australia, a team that managed to score virtually the same number of runs achieved by India in a full day's play in just a couple hours and losing less wickets in the process.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
I expected this team to get done. I did expect the previous team with Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Zaheer to finally win a series here but they fell to pieces. The current team can go home with 2 losses and 2 draws, the ndraws thanks to some woeful Australian fielding.
Cadfael
Roar Guru
They haven't disintegrated because the Australians put down so many catches. Had they held half of the the series would have been 4-0.
Doc79
Roar Rookie
I hardly believe that kohli is a leader that can galvanise the Indians to go with him. Whatever happened to the brash but promising sikhar dharwan? Not enough room for two egos in the team I guess.
Matt
Roar Rookie
They need to change the record - again they have a deep and talented batting lineup, but that counts for nothing when there is no settled bowling unit (Ashwin aside - surely after dropping him in the first test they learned his value), no tactical nous and a lack of positive leadership. I do see the link between their deification of batsmen and their inability to dominate as a unit. To convert being competitive to winning you need to do everything else right as well, but they will continue to write romantic poetry about Gavaskar, Tendulkar and Kohli rather than figure out why they are not the number 1 team in the world.
Andy_Roo
Roar Guru
Why shouldn't people worship an individual within a team if that individual is supremely talented. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Allan Border was worshipped in a losing team for a long time and I'm sure there are many other examples. Sure it's a team sport but everybody needs a hero or two. This Indian team has gone pretty close to winning a couple of tests this series and Kholi has definitely not been a one man band. Rahane and Vijay have had good series and Rahul, Dhawan, Pujara and Rohit have shown glimpses of their form and talent. Ashwin has bowled reasonably even though expensive and Shami has shown potential. All in all I think there are plenty of positives for India from this tour, not least their new attitude. Talk them up, not down.
Rob JM
Guest
India Bowls in Australia like Australia bats in India! Even our golden era team only managed to win one series. What I liked about this indian team is they haven't disintegrated like in the past. Yes our terrible catching has helped them, but we are lucky to get away with both of those wins (although we could have gone for another in Melb!)
1st Ball Duck
Guest
Their bowling attack outside India is about as effective as a cat flap in an elephant house, haven't had a really good quick since Kapil Dev retired 20 years ago.