Is This the Worst Stretch in Indian Cricket History??

[Ultimate_Game]

No, it is bcoz we have not lost Viru, Gambhir, Zak, Bhajji even after last 3-4 years. New players Settling down? Wake up and look around. With so much cricket being played domestically, A tours, leagues, players are expected to perform from their first series. Look at Cowan/ Philander or even Pujara? And numerous players from all teams. Who have we blooded really in last 4 years? Pujara, Kohli & yadav. All have done well. The problem is not with transition. It is with status quo.

Very well put. Unless we get away from this "old boys' club" approach, nothing will change.

[ganeshran]

BTW have you taken your profile pic from this guy - http://www.indiancricketfans.com/member.php?u=3012 :giggle:

Didnt take it from him, he is one of the millions of other devotees of the "Flying Spaghetti Monster". :giggle: May his noodly appendage grace you always. Ramen!

[maniac]

Very well put. Unless we get away from this "old boys' club" approach' date= nothing will change.

Let us not get carried away here.....You can't just blood x1 new players at a time...there is something called transition...on paper the strategy of throwing everything to see what sticks looks good but in the long run will do more harm than good....Yes I still feel the back to back retirements of RD and vvs was handled poorly. It is a topic for another day if one thinks they over-stretched their careers but yes having 2 established players retire back to back no matter what their form is does affect the team.

[ganeshran]

The problem primarily is the lack of talent in the bowling department. Rest all others - poor captaincy by Dhoni, poor form of SRT and Gambo aggravate the problem but the underlying issue is that our bowlers are rank mediocre with no half decent talent on the horizon. We had one of the strongest middle orders in the side till 2010, good enough to mask the bowling problems which were also not that serious till Kumble was in the side. Now with an unsettled middle order full of youngsters and seniors out of form, the batting itself needs a bailout so it can hardly be expected to put up huge totals on the board.

[Ultimate_Game]

Let us not get carried away here.....You can't just blood x1 new players at a time...there is something called transition...on paper the strategy of throwing everything to see what sticks looks good but in the long run will do more harm than good....Yes I still feel the back to back retirements of RD and vvs was handled poorly. It is a topic for another day if one thinks they over-stretched their careers but yes having 2 established players retire back to back no matter what their form is does affect the team.

It's not just Dravid, Laxman & Tendulkar I am referring to. Take the case of Yuvraj & Harbhajan's selections. Pray tell me how is Yuvraj an answer to our batting woes or Harbhajan one of the top 3 spinners in the world? But these guys get picked and in Harbhajan's case he gets picked, puts up cr@ppy performances, gets "injured/sick" and then makes a comeback the next series. We have likes of Rahane, Rohit and Tiwary on the fringes for an eternity but have still to get a Test while Yuvraj is given a slot. In odis & T20s he's an automatic selection but it's clear he's not the answer in Tests. As for Harbhajan how did he even get picked in the 1st place? I would much rather go with Murali Kartik or an up and coming spinner (e.g., Harmeet Singh or any other) than a has been who's only there in the team coz he captains Mumbai Indians and is apparently close to Tendulkar and Dhoni. Look at Harbhajan's performances over the last year and a half in any format and tell me he should have been picked. Transition plan doesn't mean you keep on picking non-performing players just for "experience". If they are not delivering then let the best XI play, even if they are all novices. Did you see how Aussies pummelled India in Aus and they had plenty of newcomers in there. In fact Pattinson made famed Indian batting order his bi@tch. The only explanation i can come up with for so many non-performing players being retained in the team is an existence of an old boys' club.

[Trichromatic]

The problem primarily is the lack of talent in the bowling department. Rest all others - poor captaincy by Dhoni, poor form of SRT and Gambo aggravate the problem but the underlying issue is that our bowlers are rank mediocre with no half decent talent on the horizon. We had one of the strongest middle orders in the side till 2010, good enough to mask the bowling problems which were also not that serious till Kumble was in the side. Now with an unsettled middle order full of youngsters and seniors out of form, the batting itself needs a bailout so it can hardly be expected to put up huge totals on the board.

Bowling was on decline since Kumble's retirement. Zaheer started doing well in few matches he played. Batting also started showing signs with Gambhir, Dravid's form. At the risk getting accused of overrating him, I would say that it's Sachin's form which masked everything in those 2-3 years because focus shifts on him irrespective of his performance. Even if he doesn't perform people, all talk is about him only.

[ganeshran]

Bowling was on decline since Kumble's retirement. Zaheer started doing well in few matches he played. Batting also started showing signs with Gambhir' date=' Dravid's form. At the risk getting accused of overrating him, I would say that it's Sachin's form which masked everything in those 2-3 years because focus shifts on him irrespective of his performance. Even if he doesn't perform people, all talk is about him only.[/quote'] Yup Things started to go downhill after Kumble's retirement but were offset by Zaheer's good form. Bhajji 's performances also started to go downhill after 2009-10 except a few matches here and there.

[Trundler27]

Crap... looks like 3-10 is coming true and the worst stretch continues

[maniac]

Nope seen worse....just that the expectations were lower. We are still a formidable odi team....maybe still the top3 in the world....yes we have been sucking at tests and Odis's but have seen times when we sucked at everything,especially in the 90's

[Yoda-esque]

Nope seen worse....just that the expectations were lower. We are still a formidable odi team....maybe still the top3 in the world....yes we have been sucking at tests and Odis's but have seen times when we sucked at everything,especially in the 90's

:hysterical::hysterical:

[Trundler27]

bump.... i think we should all start guessing when this nightmare stretch might possibly end... if that ever even happens?

[Old guy]

now it is :D while on the other hand pujara is punishing young bowlers and rahane is still warming the benches :hatsoff:

[Raghav_12]

or we can do a SirJaan and support Kenya/Zimbabwe B->

If SirJann was still here, he would have started supporting India by now..:((

[coffee_rules]

1987 (after Pak series loss against Imran Khan) to 1993 was the worst phase imo. After 1987 Gavaskar retired and we toured WI under Vengsarkar. We lost 3-0 in a 4 test series, lost a series in NZ, Eng (Gooch 333 series), Aus. That was the worst slump for India.

[JaFanatic]

:idunno:but surely one of the worst:agree:

[vamos_rafa]

1987 (after Pak series loss against Imran Khan) to 1993 was the worst phase imo. After 1987 Gavaskar retired and we toured WI under Vengsarkar. We lost 3-0 in a 4 test series' date=' lost a series in NZ, Eng (Gooch 333 series), Aus. That was the worst slump for India.[/quote'] But we still drew a test series in Pakistan, didn't we?

[game_changerr]

this stretch will toughen up the volatile indian fans and will make them mentally strong,,,,,and also will teach them the lesson on sportsmanship as you can see public at eden garden allows indian team to loose peacefully as opposed to 1996 semifinal or 1999 test against pak

[vvvslaxman]

In my living memory this gotta be the worst stretch. Back to back abroad white washes. Losing 1-2 to England at home. Now series loss to Pakistan. Asia cup early exit. CB series earl exit. world T20 exit, ODI series white wash in England,. It is not merely the losses.. The manner in which we hammered was telling. INning defeats, huge run margin..

[Raghav_12]

1987 (after Pak series loss against Imran Khan) to 1993 was the worst phase imo. After 1987 Gavaskar retired and we toured WI under Vengsarkar. We lost 3-0 in a 4 test series' date=' lost a series in NZ, Eng (Gooch 333 series), Aus. That was the worst slump for India.[/quote'] In 87 WI toured India and we drew that series - Hirwani series. WI were world beaters by margin. We toured WI but didn't get whitewashed. We drew Pakistan away. We didn't get whitewashed in Aus, in fact was close to winning Sysdney -Sachin 148 test. We played final of CB series. We lost SA series of 4 series by 1-0. What we have seen under Sir Dhoni is unprecedentedly shameful. Nothing comes close.

[NareshK]

bump.... i think we should all start guessing when this nightmare stretch might possibly end... if that ever even happens?

I think it will go on for a while. The bowling lineup is very inexperienced, senior batsmen have retired and some others are doing terribly. New batsmen are coming in and they will take time to settle. Get used to the losses. :hysterical: