Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007

[King]

First up there are several reasons why we like cricket in general and Indian cricket in particular. Most of us here are not going to give up on the team despite their recent run of failures. However disappointing it is quite impossible to keep away from following cricket. There are so many different factors that determine the result such as physical strength, mental strength, skills, weather conditions, playing as a team, right personnel et al. Indian team has faltered in more areas than one that determine the winners in the end. The bad umpiring that follows them everywhere isn't helping them either. Indian cricket gets so much support despite the results, is because of the faith its followers have in "THEIR" team. The "THEIR TEAM" means quite a bit for the Indians. It represents their culture, creed, race and so much more. I'm not surprised people are so fanatic with their support to the Indian team. Despite knowing they are not the best in the business they still support them unconditional simply because it is an "INDIAN" team. Sure they get upset but in the end they still want to revel in the glory whenever that happens. This team has some past heroes like Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, VVS, Ganguly, Sehwag, Kumble, Dhoni that have given immense pleasure in the past. People are hoping they will come good and when that happens the faith will be reposed again as if there had never been anything wrong with this team ever. I am thinking things have changed fair bit in this Indian team since the last year or so and am going to keep my hopes for this year quite realistic. I'm happy I was not a Pakistan or England supporter in 2006 as they suffered immensely. It must have been a pretty depressing year for those two teams considering how Indian supporters have reacted recently. I will not run to the lounge to watch Tendulkar the minute he arrives at the crease (I've been doing this for years now). I won't sit watching Rahul Dravid non stop for days and admiring his mental skills. I won't wait in anticipation to watch that silken touch, rubber wrist Laxman take the bowlers to cleaners. I won't give up everything that I'm doing and upset my daily chores to be there to watch that aggressive Sehwag taking apart the best in the world in no time. Let me tell you what I'm going to do. I'm now going to wait to watch Sreesanth run in hard and give a piece of his mind to the opponents. I will want to watch the now hungry Zaheer swing the ball both ways and trouble the oppenents. I will watch Anil Kumble peg away as he has in the past and console myself here are guys that will do their best on any given day. I will hope and watch Munaf, Harbhajan, Karthik, Dhoni put in their best effort whenever they will get a chance to play. One thing is for certain these fellas will not have defeat on thier minds. These guys look like they want to win and are doing hard work. They deserve to be lauded and be encouraged as much as possible. Clearly I see there is a shift in the pattern in Indian cricket. The batters aren't the ones to steal the show anymore. They are showing they are mere mortals and in fact suffer brain farts more often than the hard working bowlers that run in day in day out. Gone should be the days when every run the batters scored is looked up in awe while the bowlers hardly get a mention. For once the bowlers deserve to be patted on the back and be told to continue their good job while the batters should get the hard end of the stick. Although these are not the best times for India, there has been worst times before. World cup '99 and its after math springs to mind. The match fixing in 2000 was one of the worst phases. 2005 was also not one of the best years in Indian cricket. I don't have huge hopes for India but in the immediate ODIs that are to follow (4 ODIs against WI and 4 ODIs against SL) I expect this team is win at least 2 ODIs against West Indies and 2 ODIs against SL given they are playing at home. Also the fact that WI and SL are inform ODI teams I wouldn't expect Indians to win a lot. World Cup is still couple of months away and for now I would like to take one game at a time as a supporter. I think if I had looked at similarly I don't reckon I would have been disappointed at the test series loss to South Africa but would have reverred in the first test win

[Rajiv]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 World Cup = 64 Days to go Nice read Ravi, soemthing drastic has to happen in 07

[Inside_edge]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 I am sure they r gonna rock in home series to raise your hope and just when you think, things are under control you will be in for another round of shock :wall:

[mad_max]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 Nice article....One thing i'm hoping to see is Pathan coming back to form. Coming back to his bowling form...man what would i give to see him bowl that beautiful line and swing.

[beetle]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 I 'll be happy if most major batsmen come back to form.....our bowlers maintain the form ....and there is marked improvement in fielding.

[head coach]

Tendulkar and Dravid may consider saying good bye If India doesnt win this years world cup then I would imagine Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Gangully retiring from Cricket before end of 2008.

[beetle]

Re: Tendulkar and Dravid may consider saying good bye

If India doesnt win this years world cup then I would imagine Tendulkar' date=' Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Gangully retiring from Cricket before end of 2008.[/quote'] very unrealistic expectation...... not based on ground reality.

[head coach]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 Radhika, we'll see another set of bright players comeup during this period. If India lose in a series after world cup there is good chance that captaincy will be handed over to some one like Yuvaraj or Schewag (barring the fact that he is out of form now)

[beetle]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 If sehwag comes back to form...along with dravid 's form...more than half of dravids problems will be solved HC..... After his recent dip ...i don't see sehwag becoming a captain in the near future..... As for yuvi....he is too much of a "one70 here and there rest of the time low score player" . If and when dravid goes as a captain(as a player i don't see a team India without him for next 3-4 yrs)....i would rather have the likes of dhoni or dinesh as captain.

[beetle]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 by unrealistic...i meant your expectation of winning the world cup....

[Predator_05]

Re: Tendulkar and Dravid may consider saying good bye

If India doesnt win this years world cup then I would imagine Tendulkar' date=' Dravid, Laxman, Kumble, Gangully retiring from Cricket before end of 2008.[/quote'] India can't afford to hang on to this group of players for much longer. World Cup win or not, a few of them definitely have to go. I feel genuinely concerned about India's future. Several years have passed since '03 and India have found nobody to replace the big guns. Expect to see this team go into free-fall.

[beetle]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 But we don't have the talent! :hic:

[Lurker]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 Ravi, I would like a change in the mindset of Indian players when they play domestic cricket. There is a reason why Indian players do not seem like giving 100% when they play for India. And the reason is they do not do the same when they play for their states(or zones). Can you imagine a player who does not have pride in playing for Bombay suddenly develop pride when they play for India? It just does not work that way. So long as Indian domestic cricket is treated second-class where only the dropped players perform to get back we are doomed. Its a cliche these days to suggest we should take a leaf out of Australia but these is one area where I certainly want Indians to learn from Aussies. Every Australia cricketer has played it tough at domestic level, be it Pura Cup or Ford Cup, sledging their mates, many times skippers. At the end of such games you have tough as nail cricketers, sometime so many that there is an embarassment of riches(remember the time when in an International competition Australia played Australia A in the finals!). My wish for 2007 is to see Sachin Tendulkar, Agarkar, Zaheer Khan fighting it out tooth and nail in zonal game against Dravid, Sreesanth, Kumble. No quarters given, none asked. Good post by the way. Thanks for writing. xxxx

[head coach]

WC not very unrealistic! Players are aware about the lucrative deals that await them if they win WC or atleast reach finals. In a one day game 1 or 2 good showing with bat or bowl and decent fielding can turn the game. Modi/shah/board will put enormous pressure for results because we are expecting heavy returns from this game. India needs a recovered Yuvaraj, a flamboyant batting from dhoni, back in form pathan and a lead by example act from dravid to see good results in WC. are we asking for more?

[beetle]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007 So you mean everything clicks together? ...at the same time? hmmmmwhen did that happen last time...hmmmm Not since mr.murphy became God!

[head coach]

Re: Your realistic hopes for Indian cricket year 2007

So you mean everything clicks together? ...at the same time? hmmmmwhen did that happen last time...hmmmm Not since mr.murphy became God!

1. Pakistan Tour 2. Three home tours SA tour, Pak tour and SL tour. Agree that all three opponents are lot better now and we have gone down but we still have 60 days to brush up and get our acts together. Thinking positive is lot better than the other way pal! If things happen your way and India lose then I would prefer to see the above heavy weights say good bye to cricket... take it easy!