Bye Bye Rank ONE

[Texy]

why do we even bother playing test matches in SL ......all flat dead pitches.... We're losing this test match easily -- even more depleted w/o Yuvraj and Gambhir

[achilles]

Vijay should take an eternity to get to 3 figures and Raina might be bounced out. Rahul, Paaji & VVS doing bulk of the scoring. What a perfect 2nd Test!

[Serani]

Atleast you should folow 10 years of Indian cricket before making BS posts.

Oh dear, im only 18 and tbh when I was 8 I didnt watch cricket, not even england. This thread is about Indias rank number 1 and I have followed their progress through the rankings to where they are now. I think making comments on Indian cricket is what is supposed to happen on a cricket forum?

[cowboysfan]

i am not worried about this this series or the loss of our no 1 status.if people are freaking out over this then wait till dravid and vvs retire.the **** will hit the fan when the likes of Raina and rohit try to emulate them and fail.whether we like it or not the transition phase has began.

[SJS50]

i am not worried about this this series or the loss of our no 1 status.if people are freaking out over this then wait till dravid and vvs retire.the **** will hit the fan when the likes of Raina and rohit try to emulate them and fail.whether we like it or not the transition phase has began.

Absolutely spot on ! (Why did you forget Sachin?) Indian cricket's darkest days are ahead. The only silver lining is the stocks of those who challenged us are not overflowing either. But we are in for a mediocre time unless some amazing turn around takes place. Otherwise India might decide to dump Test cricket in any case since we dont have people who know how to play it anyway :-(

[ZodiaC]

i am not worried about this this series or the loss of our no 1 status.if people are freaking out over this then wait till dravid and vvs retire.the **** will hit the fan when the likes of Raina and rohit try to emulate them and fail.whether we like it or not the transition phase has began.

Exactly.. Maybe 1 or maximum 2 more years.. Then what? :mad: Pathetic bowling, fragile middle order. Oh gosh, that'd be like poyz minus their bowling. Another Windies? :((

[Sid]

Exactly.. Maybe 1 or maximum 2 more years.. Then what? :mad: Pathetic bowling, fragile middle order. Oh gosh, that'd be like poyz minus their bowling. Another Windies? :((

i also fear that we are going the same route:((

[bihutoli]

Bye bye rank 1, hello rank 4!

[Serani]

Exactly.. Maybe 1 or maximum 2 more years.. Then what? :mad: Pathetic bowling, fragile middle order. Oh gosh, that'd be like poyz minus their bowling. Another Windies? :((

Not another Windies, India have never reached the level of the Windies team of 70's and 80's and will never fall so low as they have been for the past 10 years.

[CSK Fan]

Oh dear, im only 18 and tbh when I was 8 I didnt watch cricket, not even england. This thread is about Indias rank number 1 and I have followed their progress through the rankings to where they are now. I think making comments on Indian cricket is what is supposed to happen on a cricket forum?

forget them. We need more diverse views from people from multiple countries. It becomes really boring if all we get is posters saying how great India is

[bihutoli]

forget them. We need more diverse views from people from multiple countries. It becomes really boring if all we get is posters saying how great India is

True that!

[Tapioca]

Absolutely spot on ! (Why did you forget Sachin?) Indian cricket's darkest days are ahead. The only silver lining is the stocks of those who challenged us are not overflowing either. But we are in for a mediocre time unless some amazing turn around takes place. Otherwise India might decide to dump Test cricket in any case since we dont have people who know how to play it anyway :-(

Take out the 2000s, and our cricket was dull most of the time, wasn't it ? As someone whose first three seasons of cricket watching was between 1984 and 1987, I am amazed that I did not quit cricket straightaway. When 75 overs and 150 runs a day were typical in India, and we rarely won anything abroad. But for Tendulkar, the 1990s were pretty boring too. What has been happening recently is the exception, not the rule.

[SJS50]

Take out the 2000s, and our cricket was dull most of the time, wasn't it ? As someone whose first three seasons of cricket watching was between 1984 and 1987, I am amazed that I did not quit cricket straightaway. When 75 overs and 150 runs a day were typical in India, and we rarely won anything abroad. But for Tendulkar, the 1990s were pretty boring too. What has been happening recently is the exception, not the rule.

Well you should have seen Indian cricket being resurrected from the mid to late sixties first by the aggressive and smart captaincy of Pataudi and then with the coming of Gavaskar along with Vishwanath, Vengsarkar, Mohinder and then kapil in 1978 to augment our spinners who were mesmerising (there is no other word). If our batting in the sixties had been what it became latter, those spinners would have won us many games. Still they managed to win us our first oversees series (NZland), our first series win in England and West Indies (1971). Unfortunately Kapil's career did not really co-incide with the era of our great spinners (except at the *** end of one and the start of the other) and then Tendulkar Dravid, Ganguly Laxman and company flowered after Kapil was gone but we did have Kumble. For any country to have a truly world beating Test side, you need at least two great bowlers (and another good one) and a decent batting strong at the top (openers). We never had this. Openers were always a problem both in batting as well as in bowling. The only time we had two or more great bowlers bowling in tandem at the peak of their powers was when the three spinners were playing but the batting was miserable and till Gavaskar came, no openers. The last decade and a half has been good because the fabulous four have had long careers that have more or les coincided. This has given us a prolonged solidity in batting that ensured we would not lose many games. Add to that the coming of Sehwag in the last decade and we have an absolutely world class batting side comparable with the best in the history of the game. In Kumble we had a great bowler for most of this period. Unfortunately we did not have another, Srinath first and Harbhajan later can only be classified in the "good' category. Its the same problem with Sri Lanka. Murali was great but Vaas was just good. Thats never enough. You need a Lillee and Thomson +++, Lindwall and Miller +++, Mcgrath and Warne +++, Donald and Pollock +++, even O'Rielly and Grimmett+++ to dominate the scene. If you have the riches of West Indies of the 80's or of Pakistan with Imran, Waqar, Wasim and Qadir you have a fabulous attack but 2 is a must. Today we have seen the end of the career of our last great bowler (Kumble). I do not remember India being without at least one great bowler from the time I have been watching cricket over the last half a century. That isn't enough but not even one ! We are going to find it increasingly difficult to win Test matches (getting 20 wickets) except on really helpful tracks, getting the best of the toss and/or against much weaker batting. Come 2012 and we could be withouyt Sachin, Rahul and VVS. If Sehwag too goes as he might, we will not just have no fire power to win Tests, we wont have the line of defense (batting) to save them. Thats why I said "darkest" Thats how it looks as of this point in time. It may change and we could have the miracle of a Kapil, a Sachin or a Dravid and a gavaskar appearing on the horizon but just now it looks bleak. When new stars, promising greatness do not appear on the horizon for a few years, it becomes very troubling. I had written a few years ago abouty Australia's impending decline as a world power and gave my reasons for it. They were then undisputed number one side int he world with no contender close by. Everyone said this was humbug. Well the day arrived and we can see how the lack of replenishing of your top stocks on a continuous basis can damage even the best of sides. India is in a worst position for we have never had a great domestic circle in recent years. When all those spinners, Gavaskar, kapil etc were playing all Test players played all first class games. The young FC cricketers were exposed to the best. Even as a senior level league cricketer in Deljhi I played against literally a hundred of first class cricketers (more perhaps) and a maybe 20 Test cricketers. This improved the standards of the leagues tremendously. Now you dont see the test cricketers even in Ranji finals. We are in trouble and just shouting from the roof tops about our greatness is going to do us as little as talking of our thousands of years old cultural background has done precious little for our backward classes. Waking up and smelling the coffee is not a sign of lack of patriotism. Blind beating of drums is for it is misplaced. West Indies thought they were invincible and refused to take corrective measures when the signs were there and see what happened. Our time for action is now.

[King Tendulkar]

^This has to be the biggest over reaction to one defeat in the history of sport. Darkest hour!!!! Do me a favour this is actually the greatest golden period of indian cricket. And a man of your age who has been following the misery of the indian team pre 90s I am suprised. Either that or your memory has gone. We have been superb in the last 10 years. And in the last 2 or 3 years we have been maintaing this brilliance which means we are THE NUMBER 1 TEAM. We are the number 1 team and this is our darkest hour?? Go Figure?? We have the best opening pair in world cricket and they will be around for years. We have god who I predict will play for another 5 years min. And we have rockstar Dhoni. We have a galaxy of young batters knocking the door down who are all excellent fielders. To condemn all these young batters when they have hardly played is ridiculous. Yes we need more pacers that is our weakness but in every other department we are loaded and will surely continue our success. The gloom and doom after 1 defeat when we were clearly under cooked is madness. These pitches are so flat is crazy. We will get 700 in this innings

[SJS50]

Again you miss the point which is easy to do if you read in everything what you have pre decided. India is number one9for now) in the world rankings in Tests and doing pretty well in ODI's so this is NOT the darkest hour for now. My words are for what one can see coming. Read the post again in that context and you might - just might - be able to see what I am saying. The reaction of the Australians to my writing that Australia would not be number one and would struggle to get back there in a few years time met with similar derision particularly from the Aussie fans of CW. I am not surprised at your reaction. People do not see what's coming if the present has been comfortable. Thats the sad part of it. Do an excdercise for yourself. List out the finest Indian batsmen and bowlers. Put them on an excel sheet in the order of the years of debut and you will be able to see the frequency with which they appear every two to five years. Then look at what has happened to our batting stocks in the last couple of decades and you will see we have had a drying up of middle order batsmen of real class. Add to that the woes of our bowling as of now and what you can foresee in the near future. Then be honest to yourself and see what is coming. The use of the words, "darkest hour" seems harsh and overhyped, perhaps it is but that is because it DOES NOT refer to the strength of the Indian team as of today. It refers to what seems to be in the offing in just a couple of years or so. Make an Indian Test side for 2013 and see how it compares with a side of 2003, 1993, 1983 and ask yourself (leave me out of it) how it looks. I have no reason to run down the Indian team. I am as patriotic as any Indian fan and trust me more passionate about Indian cricket than anyone you ever met. I just dont believe in tom-tomming we are the greatest when I can see what is happening. And I can. A miracle can still happen but thats not what you wait for. Thats not what you can pin your hopes on. I rest my case. Goodnight :-) PS OIh by the way, I never said we will lose this Test match. So I do not know what you are trying to probve when you say India will score 700. I am with you. They probably will. I wrote so almost before their innings started. You should be able to find it if you try :-) But thats hardly the point. What is the point then ? Oh forget it :-)

[cowboysfan]

DSR -its not as rosy as you make out to be.over the next year we have slowly bring in new batsmen who can eventually replace the four.none of them have impressed me so far.the bowling woes is on a different level.we dont have any spinner to even backup bhajji let alone replace him.the cupboard for the pacers is bare and there is no light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the mismanagement of resources by BCCI.

[King Tendulkar]

The interest in cricket is to great in India. We will produce players over and over agian, especially in batting dept. The need for express pacers is there. But apart from that the future is superb. Rohit Sharma for one will have people drooling in a few years.

[King Tendulkar]

In the last few years Gambhir has come in and frankly has done better then sachin/dravid and co during that period. That gives you a glimpse and I was about the only one begging for his inclusion. Sharma is a 50 plus batter. He is pure class. Kohli looks solid and will do well as well. They are both superb fileders. I also really rate Vijay and feel he is the real deal as we. There you go middle order sorted. Whats all the fuss about!!:--D You guys are over panicking. Only Tendulkar is irreplacable

[asterix]

Sadly, we are missing the point..Spin department..It's gone to dogs...

[King Tendulkar]

DSR -its not as rosy as you make out to be.over the next year we have slowly bring in new batsmen who can eventually replace the four.none of them have impressed me so far.the bowling woes is on a different level.we dont have any spinner to even backup bhajji let alone replace him.the cupboard for the pacers is bare and there is no light at the end of the tunnel thanks to the mismanagement of resources by BCCI.

Agree pacer dept is worrying, but frankly its been like that for last 10 years but still we are no 1 and winning loads of tests. We will continue to plie on big scores so even with our mediocre pacers score board pressure will contiune to work its magic like it has for last 10 years. Bhaji is decent so am not worried there:--D Batters is no probs. We have loads ready to go imo. They only need 1 year in team and they will then start to deliver big team. STOP PANICKING AFTER ONE DEFEAT