Has Indian cricket achieved its peak?

[zen]

Over the years, we have seen that once teams peak, they can struggle to reach new heights and at best, work to remain in the status quo (there can be exceptions which will be mentioned later below). 

 

Focusing on cricket from the 1970s onwards: 

 

• WI peaked in the 1970s-80s. Worked to maintain a status quo in the 90s, while showing flashes of its past glory occasionally esp. in LOIs in the later decades.
• NZ & Pak peaked in the 1980s. From then on worked to maintain the status quo. Though NZ, currently, is shaping up well to play close to its peak (helped in part by talent import). 
• SL peaked in the 1990s. Maintained status quo for the next two decades and now is hoping to be competitive. 
• Aus & SA peaked in the 1990s-00s. Worked to remain in status quo since then. SA though faced a talent exodus so it is a unique case. And remarkably, SA is still able to produce great talent. 
• India peaked in the 2000s-10s (say the Dhoni era). Now is looking to more or less maintain that level. 
• An exception is Eng, which has reinvented its cricket. 

 

At this point, it appears as if India will be able to play close to its peak cricket at least in the near future due to a) resources including an abundance of players, and b) a relative decline in interest in cricket in other major countries impacting their talent pool. To reach a new height, India will probably need to reinvent its cricket. 

 

Discuss. 

 

 

 

[lamellavig]

Indian cricket has to advocate for lookism, i.e. select only the most handsome players. I'm not kidding, this will help Indian cricket accumulate soft power, more than its' current 'hard power'. 

[Vijy]

4 hours ago, zen said:

Over the years, we have seen that once teams peak, they can struggle to reach new heights and at best, work to remain in the status quo (there can be exceptions which will be mentioned later below). 

 

Focusing on cricket from the 1970s onwards: 

 

• WI peaked in the 1970s-80s. Worked to maintain a status quo in the 90s, while showing flashes of its past glory occasionally esp. in LOIs in the later decades.
• NZ & Pak peaked in the 1980s. From then on worked to maintain the status quo. Though NZ, currently, is shaping up well to play close to its peak (helped in part by talent import). 
• SL peaked in the 1990s. Maintained status quo for the next two decades and now is hoping to be competitive. 
• Aus & SA peaked in the 1990s-00s. Worked to remain in status quo since then. SA though faced a talent exodus so it is a unique case. And remarkably, SA is still able to produce great talent. 
• India peaked in the 2000s-10s (say the Dhoni era). Now is looking to more or less maintain that level. 
• An exception is Eng, which has reinvented its cricket. 

 

At this point, it appears as if India will be able to play close to its peak cricket at least in the near future due to a) resources including an abundance of players, and b) a relative decline in interest in cricket in other major countries impacting their talent pool. To reach a new height, India will probably need to reinvent its cricket. 

 

Discuss. 

 

 

 

Eng has had multiple peaks in tests, even looking at post-war period. in the 50s, in the early 70s, and briefly in the 2010s.... and currently now.

[zen]

6 hours ago, Vijy said:

Eng has had multiple peaks in tests, even looking at post-war period. in the 50s, in the early 70s, and briefly in the 2010s.... and currently now.

Yeah, Eng was pretty strong in various periods. Earlier even Aus had the Invincibles of Bradman.

 

Though I am focused on the 1970 and onward period. Peak is where a team played its best cricket over a relatively long period for e.g. WI from mid to late 70s to late 80s, and then more or less played a little below its peak in early to mid 90s. Aus in 2000s (began to gain momentum in the 90s), etc. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by zen

[Throwaib_Chuckter]

4 hours ago, lamellavig said:

Indian cricket has to advocate for lookism, i.e. select only the most handsome players. I'm not kidding, this will help Indian cricket accumulate soft power, more than its' current 'hard power'. 

Chuckte Raho
TC

[wanted_desi]

I don't see us winning anything away in coming years.

[Insidious]

Indian cricket is doomed. Thanks to senior culture. As long as senior culture is present, there is no hope. Phasing out of veterans like Rahul Dravid, sourav ganguly from Indian team enable us to win World Cup 2011. Similarly, phasing out Gambhir, Sehwag from Indian team enable us to win champions Trophy in 2013. 

Dhoni had guts to kick out stalwarts like Sehwag, Gambhir for betterment of Indian team. I don't see such guts in current Team management. When your captain is already 35/36, not performing consistently and is prone to injury every now & then, how can expect you team to win anything. More humiliation is awaited for this team.

[rollingstoned]

No i think we have yet to scale even higher peaks, higher than that 2007-2011 period imo where we win multiple ICC trophies and away series at SENA nations while playing an aggressive brand of cricket. We should aim for it at the very least since we were not that far away from it during Kohli's reign imo. 

Edited March 22, 2023 by rollingstoned

[Number]

Won't say so. We will keep producing talent to be a top team like Australia still remains a top team. 

Just that this BCCI's pampered generation of Kohli, Rohit, Jaddu, KL, Ashwin etc have let us down very badly at ICC events. They are a choker generation which cannot handle pressure.