Is This the Worst Stretch in Indian Cricket History??

[Yoda-esque]

........still not reached rock bottom. I think a positive step is only possible when Srini and his cronies have been given the boot which will very likely not happen in the near future. More dark days predicted for ICF-ers :((

[Trundler27]

just look at how the aussies transitioned for a lesson.... Yes, they did take a few steps back but they never shied away from trying lots of talented youngsters to develop a pool to replace their legendary side of the early 2000s. As a result they didn't get absolutely humiliated and destroyed for any period greater than a series here and there. In between they kept on coming up with stellar performances in all formats. Even in the ongoing series against SL they have tried a new bowler Bird to see how he goes in case he is needed for more important assignments. Would India ever do that if three of their frontline seamers are healthy? Never..... Bird is probably 7th or 8th in their pecking order and yet he gets 2 straight test matches! Same with their batting... they don't hesitate to sit Watson out if required to field a perfect XI for the conditions. I mean we all were ready to face a slight step down in level with a transitioning team but this is beyond abysmal.... this is humiliating to the core. The salt to the wounds is the fact that this b@$turd board and selection comm continues on its merry ways without acknowledging in the least that this team has been a disaster and that they are working on a plan to improve things. So painful for an ICF atm i tell you.

[Marut]

While Australia was in transition, they fared better than India as even their "depleted bowling resources" were better than the best bowling attacks we have ever had. Australia batting was so bad that they got shot out for less than 100 several times, yet they fared much better than India. When Australia got hammered for 40 odd, their bowlers cleaned up SA for 90 odd. But with India, our bowlers rarely seem to be capable of bringing down a good team for less than 300 runs. Since the World Cup, Indian bowlers have conceded 400 and 500+ scores as if it were as easy as sucking a lollipop. This is not the worst stretch in Indian cricket history, but this is the worst Indian team ever, for the last 30 years. No Indian team got thrashed by such big margins without any respite. Birmingham defeat was one of the worst defeats for any team ever, innings and 242 runs, take that. India would need 4 innings to avoid innings defeat in that test match. At Nottingham, too it was one of the worst defeats in history, making two of the worst defeats ever in a row. And this was followed by an innings defeat and a 196 run loss in the first test. India played like they did not deserve the test status. In Austrlia, there was a 122 run defeat, two innings defeats and a third one that was an innings defeat equivalent. The 8 losses were not the issue per se, 6 of them were heavy innings defeats and 2 of them were heavy run defeats. The maginitude of the defeats should have sent the clear message that the decline was there to stay. 4-0, 4-0 over closely fought matches was no cause for alarm, but 4-0 4-0 with six innings defeats (5 of them were big innings defeats in which India would have to bat twice more to avoid innings defeat!) were big alarms.

[cricketman]

I think this stretch of bad form is a case of a really bad hangover from winning the WC. It was the peak of a fantastic run for the team - world number 1 in Tests and kings of ODIs. But if you look closely, you could see this coming from a mile away. We won all of our test matches at home or away against weak opposition like Bangla, NZ, and WI. Even in the world cup, we didn't have a bowling attack that was going to last long - it was comprised of the likes of Ashish Nehra and Munaf Patel for calling out loud. Sure, they got the job done but they will never really quality bowlers and were there in the team just to get through the overs and chip in... just like Suresh Raina or Yuvraj with the ball. Munaf in particular was nothing more than a quick spinner TBH. Now, we are in the rebuilding phase. It is going to take time to come to the top. We need to be patient. But we cannot go about making the same mistakes. We cannot keep using stop gap solutions to our bowling problems. We can't keep going back to the same tried, tested, and failed batsman. I don't know what the answers are...but I just hope the team management has some sort of plan in mind. it doesn't look like they do.

[yoda]

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.

Good post. It takes us forever to drop players once they are set. We must be the only team with a fixed set of non-performers for years together.

[ganeshran]

What is worrying is that there is absolutely no indication of a change in leadership even after such a horrible record - 4-0, 4-0 and 2-1 in three major series. The only teams we beat were NZ and Windies and even they made us sweat as time. Yet Dhoni continues to lead the test team and Srini continues to head BCCI so hacks like Jadeja can continue to be selected.

[vayuu1]

More worrying thing is the denial mode of players and bcci executives, guys like virat saying come to India and we will show u, somebody post this statement and the result after that on his Facebook ,and put some sense in his mind, idiot and send few message to that buffoon srini and curse him.

[wanted_desi]

Yes, Because we have been selecting players who have gone past their prime, india might not be the same strong team, but we can do better if we bring in young blood.

[ganeshran]

More worrying thing is the denial mode of players and bcci executives' date=' guys like [b']virat saying come to India and we will show u, somebody post this statement and the result after that on his Facebook ,and put some sense in his mind, idiot and send few message to that buffoon srini and curse him.

That was Raina IIRC

[vayuu1]

That was Raina IIRC

It was virat to Warner