Indian cricket’s horror story

The Kiwis have begun to fly and fly high too! What else can one say after the spectacular performance of the New Zealand cricket team from the land of the Kiwis. The team seemed in a dream world after their sparkling show in India, whitewashing the host with a 3-0 Test series win.  In the process it meted out to India its worst defeat on home soil. The humiliating loss at the Wankhede stadium, where 13 years back India had won a world cup, brought down a proud record which was  the envy of the cricket world. A little over ten days ago the women cricketers from New Zealand had made history by winning the T20 world cup held in Dubai. This was New Zealand cricket’s first ever T20 world cup triumph. Taking a leaf of inspiration, it would seem, from that was the men’s counterpart who after a forgettable and series-losing experience in Sri Lanka bounced back to leave India’s cricket fortunes in tatters in the latter’s home soil. It was a stunning show of self-confidence backed by self-belief that the visitors could come up with to meet this shocker.

Also consider, New Zealand was without its best player, Kane Williamson (on the injury list) and  Tom Latham had just taken charge of the team but the unit hardly showed it lacked strength.  The way Mitchell Santner spun his team to series glory at Pune with his career best haul of 13 wickets must have made many Indian fans recollect some of the glorious spin bowling moments of our own legends. After his sparkling show, Santner did not play in Mumbai and yet New Zealand hardly lacked the spin-bite, thanks to the Mumbai homeboy Ajaz Patel who took over to torment or better still, tease the Indian batsmen to doom. It was a clear case of one team overflowing with confidence and the other, the home team, which just believed it had strength but could come up with nothing other than repeated embarrassments.

So much had happened in this Test series that one failed to understand how this ageing team would figure in the forthcoming full five-Test series in Australia. India is aspiring to be there in the summit clash for the Test championship title but the Kiwis have already done enough dent to the team’s composure on all fronts. Infact as things stand now India had slipped to the second spot to Australia in the World Test Championship standings. Just looking at the way things had gone for skipper Rohit Sharma and the iconic star batsman Virat Kohli is enough to reflect the depth to which India’s Test cricket has plummeted. Both have in this series totalled round 91 or 93 runs respectively and aside from ruining their own Test career statistics, left Indian team’s chances at the world championship perilously close to a collapse. Imagine that moment in Bangalore in the first Test where India was bundled out for 46, its lowest! That was the start of this journey of despair. Two more Tests later now, there are more questions than answers on Indian Test cricket’s future.  The most popular sport in India now, cricket, has never seen this kind of backlash to its reputation but maybe there are better days ahead.

One thing is sure, Indian cricket cannot go any lower than this. It's time to look up and do that at the earliest. New Coach Gautam Gambhir, once a steady batsman himself, could not have bargained for this kind of trouble in hand. India had already lost an ODI series to Sri Lanka under him and now this to add to his misery.  Perhaps what is affecting Test cricket is the approach of the batsmen in the face of tight and spin-filled bowling. Gone are the days when a withering cover drive or a meaty hook or a flashy square cut would trigger non-stop applause from the paying public, the cricket lovers.  Back then there was a certain class in the stroke executions and similarly even defence-play was something that was admired. For, at the end of the day, batting was also about character even as the requirement was for the scoreboard to keep ticking. In short patience, resilience played a big part, which perhaps have become rare. Flash strokes, a slog sweep or a reverse sweep have come in from the limited overs culture and the consequences can be plenty as the Indian batting displayed. How to bring about controlled aggression back into play and also strengthen the batting resolve seem to be the need of the hour.

For sure these are not easy times for the Indian players. Serious introspection and high doses of self-confidence would be the need. But there is no gainsaying this has been a series that truly turned bizarre for India in every way.  For once, a few individual performances somehow do not come to the forefront because in the end defeat was so overwhelming. Sarfraz Khan , Shubman Gill, Rishab Pant  all did click here and there but more than that the bowlers, R. Ashwin, Jadeja and Washington Sundar had some wonder time with the ball.  And yet with all this how the slip went on to become a major slide for India!