It was good while it lasted - special thanks to IPL

[The Outsider]

The number 1 test team for a year and a half - well done to the team and it's players. However, like all good things it must end and thanks to IPL the end has come sooner than expected. Instead of wrapping up the series against WI with a 3-0 margin, we ended up losing 2 points because of IPL. The hangover is carrying on to the England series. By the time the entire team will be fit and attuned to the magnitude of the challenge the series will be gone and quite possibly the number 1 ranking. Even if we manage to cling on to it for now, by the time the West Indies series in India and our away tour to Australia are done we'll be number 3 in the rankings. There is a limit to which the aging batting stars and Zaheer can pull the team through - the edifice is about to crumble pretty soon. There is so little cushioning in the team that any minor slip up will result in a drastic decline in the quality of the team. Be it running down Zaheer into the ground bowling for RCB or whatever his latest team was, or resulting in the delay of surgeries and fitness of Sehwag and Gambhir the blind can keep on praising IPL in the name of the statement of modern India or any other crap which is the latest buzz line, but thanks to IPL India could not sustain their position on the top of the test tier, which is something I appreciated and was proud of. So here is to cowlashing - perhaps one day the India shining crowd will realize what IPL robbed them of when they'll spend the rest of their lives seeing the Indian team somewhere in the middle rung of the test ladder where they have been for decades anyway.

[Rajiv]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[EnterTheVoid]

I really can't understand why the obituaries are written three days into the tour.

[Trichromatic]

I really can't understand why the obituaries are written three days into the tour.

It's not about performance in 3 days of tour, rather it's about condition of a top team just during the start of the tour.

[NareshK]

India can very well come back during this series. They have been doing badly in the first test of all their tours and have bounced back. Not a good habit but nothing suggests they cant do the same here. But I agree overall that it would be very hard for India to remain No.1 for a longer period. Simply because Indian batsmen struggle in overseas conditions and new batsmen coming up will find it hard to do well in Australia, South Africa and England. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman had to go through tough times to get where they are today. Also we lack the fast bowling reserves to pick 20 wickets to win tests. We always depend too heavily on Zaheer and if he gets injured, our attack looks third grade. Let's face it. Zaheer is not going to last very long with his injury problems. So unless, the young talent like Raina, Mukund, Kohli, Pujara, Rohit Sharma really step up and we get a few pacers to fill in for Zaheer, India is going to slip down eventually.

[The Outsider]

I really can't understand why the obituaries are written three days into the tour.

As I said they might be able to pull through this series somehow, but the current India team is an example of the proverb, 'Bakre ki amma aakhir kab tak khair manayegi'. With the kind of planning, attitude, and preparation of the team and our cricket board it's only a matter of time before the lambs are slaughtered.

[maniac]

Middle class housewives,Preppy Teenage kids,the common man who comes home after a gruelling day at the corporate frustrated either from his wannabe firangi brown manager or his sarkari naukri, will want to enjoy a time pass game of cricket with international superstars. This outweighs what most purists want.we are out weighed at altleast a 99:1 ratio.No reasearch to back that number up other than frustration. Infact on this very forum Paul Valathy's name came up for slection in LOI's based on his HEROICS in IPL.Why can't we replace him with Sehwag as he himself is an attacking opener:winky: There are some-few genuinely good movies made in bollywood these but big-budget crap churned out by some of the so called top actors like Akshay Kumar,the Khans etc rakes in more moolah . If anything was good while it lasted it is test cricket and it did well lasting 100 odd years and 2000 games but IPL is the future and our board and is doing a good jon to make it;s future a grand success.

[Sooda]

Its arrogance on part of the board , when it comes to the planning side of things, they assume that a half baked India side can turn up on away tours get smashed in the first test-effectively using it as practice- and go on to win one of the next. They cant rely solely on the natural brilliance of our stars- ageing as they are- preparing well for a series is so vital. I posted elsewhere that it is very embarrassing to be told by the likes of Hussain that were here under cooked and our prep for the series has been 'piecemeal' and to know that he is right.

[IKnowU]

IPL is good scapegoat these days huh?? What were the excuses pre IPL? I cant remember tbh......

[Karan114]

India can very well come back during this series. They have been doing badly in the first test of all their tours and have bounced back. Not a good habit but nothing suggests they cant do the same here. But I agree overall that it would be very hard for India to remain No.1 for a longer period. Simply because Indian batsmen struggle in overseas conditions and new batsmen coming up will find it hard to do well in Australia, South Africa and England. Sachin, Dravid, Laxman had to go through tough times to get where they are today. Also we lack the fast bowling reserves to pick 20 wickets to win tests. We always depend too heavily on Zaheer and if he gets injured, our attack looks third grade. Let's face it. Zaheer is not going to last very long with his injury problems. So unless, the young talent like Raina, Mukund, Kohli, Pujara, Rohit Sharma really step up and we get a few pacers to fill in for Zaheer, India is going to slip down eventually.

That's exactly why we should have been making sure that we got the most out of this genuinely world class group of players we have currently, most of whom will be gone within a year or two. But the BCCI thugs have destroyed even those last couple of potentially good Test years for IPL cash.

[asterix]

iR6oYX1D-0w

[Sidhoni]

We have always been like that during the first test of a tour.:dontknow:

[Sooda]

'Bakre ki amma aakhir kab tak khair manayegi' Lulzers.

[jhakati]

The number 1 test team for a year and a half - well done to the team and it's players. However, like all good things it must end and thanks to IPL the end has come sooner than expected. Instead of wrapping up the series against WI with a 3-0 margin, we ended up losing 2 points because of IPL. The hangover is carrying on to the England series. By the time the entire team will be fit and attuned to the magnitude of the challenge the series will be gone and quite possibly the number 1 ranking. Even if we manage to cling on to it for now, by the time the West Indies series in India and our away tour to Australia are done we'll be number 3 in the rankings. There is a limit to which the aging batting stars and Zaheer can pull the team through - the edifice is about to crumble pretty soon. There is so little cushioning in the team that any minor slip up will result in a drastic decline in the quality of the team. Be it running down Zaheer into the ground bowling for RCB or whatever his latest team was, or resulting in the delay of surgeries and fitness of Sehwag and Gambhir the blind can keep on praising IPL in the name of the statement of modern India or any other crap which is the latest buzz line, but thanks to IPL India could not sustain their position on the top of the test tier, which is something I appreciated and was proud of. So here is to cowlashing - perhaps one day the India shining crowd will realize what IPL robbed them of when they'll spend the rest of their lives seeing the Indian team somewhere in the middle rung of the test ladder where they have been for decades anyway.

the pessimism on this board is pathetic

[Ultimate_Game]

I wouldn't worry about this series just yet as we were in bigger hole in the series against SA late last year and we pulled through. But yeah I hear you - currently we are in a position we are in inspite of BCCI rather than because of it. And the sad part is that just with a little bit of oversight and better planning things would be great and they wouldn't cost that much to the BCCI. For example here are three simple things that can be done that will put us in a much better position... 1. Scheduling - Pretty simple really. Just make sure IPL doesn't start or end within 15 days of a series. No matter what anyone says a 2 month long tourney with continuous travel is bound to have affect the players. 2. Managing contracted and emerging players - This point is based on the assumption that players are the most important asset of the BCCI and need to be managed as such. Before the IPL starts all the centrally contracted players along with a few key emerging/A squad players are monitored by BCCI mandated physicians and in case anyone is deemed to be injured or needing a rest, the player will be asked to pull out of IPL and the player will be paid his IPL contracted fee by BCCI. The advantage is that players will no longer have to hide injuries and the franchises can't get upset with a player as effectively BCCI is asking the player to sit out. Also, the liability for BCCI is not much as even if 3 players with $2 million contract are sitting out, it's a cost of just $6 million to the BCCI which is not much. 3. Planning for marquee series - It's pretty clear that India are poor starters and generally under-perform in the opening match of a series. To prepare better for the same BCCI should identify key series in the FTP and ensure that at least 2 practice games and 2-3 weeks acclimatization period is scheduled in the said country. I am not saying the same needs to be done for every series - only for the key ones which currently are SA, Eng and Aus. For sub-continental, home and other series only 10 days and one practice game are enough (in case of home series not even that). Generally the key away series occur once every year so effort required to plan for it is not that much. E.g., over the last 4 years India would have had to do so against Eng in 2007, SA in 2010, Eng in 2011 and Aus in 2011, i.e. 4 key away series in 4 years which average one per year at max. 4. Emerging/A squad - The real health of a team is reflected in its bench strength and if India wants to dominate world cricket it needs to have decent replacements who can step in without an appreciable drop in performance. To that effect emerging players/A squad players need to be identified and managed just like the national team and every year at least 2 away tours should be arranged for them. E.g., year 1 - Eng and SA, year 2 - Aus and NZ, year 3 - WI and SL etc. This will allow the fringe players to improve and also help BCCI determine which players are worth persisting with. Again, I am sure this wouldn't be a great financial burden for BCCI and I'm sure they will be able to find sponsors for the same. If BCCI can only start with these 4 key items Indian cricket will be in a much better shape. Next step would be to focus on player management in the off season and identifying youngsters at the root level via academies like pace academy, national academy etc.

[panesarv]

Khush chipkali?

[Aaku]

:beee:

[EnterTheVoid]

Champion teams rise from the dead. This team has what it takes.

[Guest Gunner]

Outy strikes again :hail::hail:

[Ultimate_Game]

Champion teams rise from the dead. This team has what it takes.

You missed the point. Of course India has what it takes and that's why we are World Champs and no. 1 in Tests but I think you missed the point made by the OP. He is saying that we can't afford to take for granted that we will keep winning without any planning from BCCI in the future. Sure we have the likes of SRT, Dravid, Laxman and Zak who can bail us out now but for a team to dominate for any length of time you need to plan and prepare for it, which BCCI hasn't done yet. It's similar to how WI were world beaters in 80s and everyone just took the success for granted and see where they are now. As the saying goes "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail". We need to learn from WI debacle and how Aussies are struggling now and needs to have a bigger picture and BCCI as custodian of cricket in India is supposed to do just that but isn't. Case in point - emphasis on IPL at the cost of major Test series.