The problems with Indian cricket.
Politics, Selection, and Batting Collapses. These have become constants in Indian cricket and seem to cause downfalls in performances, resulting in situations such as the 2021 T20 World Cup. Even with recent successes in Australia and England, there are still gaping holes in the background. Here I’m going to try and break down a few of the problems with Indian cricket.
Politics
The BCCI likes to believe that they continue to modernize and move forward in the world of cricket, however, it is evident at every level that this is not true. Indian players are not allowed to play in other leagues around the world. Even though this is T20 cricket, as players are allowed to compete in the County Championship, this is why players struggle when they go abroad. The BCCI doesn't allow their players to play abroad simply so that they don't increase the popularity of other leagues, leading to, in their eyes, ‘the demise of IPL’. Seriously. Rules like this make it very hard to support Indian Cricket as it has swiftly become all about the money.
I miss being able to watch an IPL game without a strategic timeout making Harsh Goenka richer. CEAT sponsorships are plastered on bats, kits, and across the stadium. I do not see why a strategic timeout, a) exists and b) needs to be sponsored. Sixes are sponsored, catches are sponsored and even the powerplay is sponsored. Pretty soon you will hear commentators saying ‘Bumrah with the Limca off-cutter of the day’.
India failed in the T20 World Cup dramatically and they were suddenly no longer favorites but were fighting to finish 3rd ahead of Afghanistan. This leads me to my second point. India lost that World Cup because they lost to Pakistan. This is obvious but what I mean is that after that game, against New Zealand, it didn't feel like the Indians believed they were still in the tournament. But why did they lose to Pakistan? After all, it was 12–0 in World Cup games. The reason they lost is that India refuse to allow Pakistan players into the IPL and they only ever play Pakistan in ICC tournaments. How do they expect to beat the number one T20 team in the world (at that time) when they had not clashed in the format for 5 years.
Selection
I would honestly be the Indian team selector for free. In fact, I would pay to be the Indian selector, as long as it meant that players deserved of a spot, would not be done an injustice. Karun Nair, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Kuldeep Yadav, Shikhar Dhawan, Sanju Samson. The list goes on and on, full of players that had their career snatched from them because they just didn't ‘know’ someone or because of one bad game. The most recent and mind-boggling omission from the team has been Shreyas Iyer and Hanuma Vihari. Before India’s tour, Iyer hit a 100 and 50 on debut and Vihari was India A’s highest scorer (227 runs @ 75.66) in a tour of South Africa weeks before the start of the series. However, India opted with an out of form Rahane and Pujara. Combined they scored 260 runs at an average of 21.67. Anyone could see that the selectors made a glaring mistake. After all this, the craziest thing is that it will happen again because it has happened before. Karun Nair hits 303 against England and gets dropped 3 tests later for Abhinav Mukund who has 17 more test career runs than Nair got in that one innings against England.
Batting Collapses
In all 3 formats, you will see an Indian batting collapse at least every 3 games. It is de ja vu, especially in test cricket. It seems like no matter who or where we play, the same thing happens every time. The openers get set, one of them gets out before 50, Pujara scores low, Kohli and Rahane take turns seeing who can edge a half volley quicker, and then Pant, Jadeja, Ashwin, and Co. are exposed to the new ball. It becomes a race to the pavilion. We have become so reliant on Kohli that even when he fails to perform for 3 years straight, fans are quick to blame anyone but him. Our openers steer the ship and keep us from losing most of our test matches. Whenever our openers fail, the whole system shuts down and our middle order looks like a deer in the headlights versus a new ball. Pujara has become too easy to dismiss as he is way too vulnerable on the pads/inside edge, Kohli allows dot balls to build pressure and feels the need to flash at a wide one and Rahane is also vulnerable outside his off stump but has become a lot less disciplined than Kohli.
Virat Kohli
I have just spoken about his impact but I feel that he is such a major factor in the failures (and successes) in Indian cricket. Kohli has been a great captain in test cricket over the past few years, arguably the best. However, it is having an impact on his batting as ever since Dhoni faded out of Indian cricket, Kohli has struggled with the bat without that backing force of Dhoni. I believe we will see a new Virat Kohli, maybe not as good as the old one, in white-ball cricket now that he is no longer captain. I believe that by relieving Kohli into that ‘Dhoni’ role in test cricket, he will be able to have an impact on decisions but the weight will be lifted off of his shoulders. With Dravid coming in as coach, we have seen a glimpse of a ‘defensive’ Kohli but this may have been up to Pujara not fulfilling that role. If he is not the captain and he is enabled to bat his way because Vihari can play ‘the wall’ role, it will maximize his output for the team. Kohli has only had one real opportunity to break his century ‘fast’ against Australia when he got 74 but was run out by Rahane.
My final point on Kohli’s impact is on his aggression. I am all for his passion and love to see him go up against Paine, Root, and Elgar but when it rubs off on the team and all of a sudden Bumrah is bowling mindless bouncers to the South African tail, costing the team runs, Kohli should realize and calm his troops down. After what England did to them at Lords, allowing Shami to get a 50 by bowling short, they should realize that it is not always effective.
India has had a tough few years with bio-secure bubbles, injuries, and coaching changes but I believe that these changes will allow them to function at a high level:
- Allowing their players to play in abroad leagues.
- Playing more games against Pakistan.
- Throwing politics out the window during selection.
- Dropping Pujara and Rahane.
- Arrange more India A tours to allow the next generation to flourish.
- Drop Kohli as captain and give it to Rohit or Rahul.
And finally:
7. Hire me as a selector.
