Forget making history, India's true challenge is to make winning a habit

[JaiRamesh2]

A week old article but decent points on Indian cricket's attitude to rising to challenges.

Forget making history, India's true challenge is to make winning a habit By Pranav Gandhi “It’s a win for the ages.” “It will go down as one of India’s most memorable moments on the cricket field.” “History was made at Lords.” All this and more were said about India’s win at Lords. Comparisons were made to a test win 28 years ago and the country behaved like it had climbed Everest. The problem is once you’ve climbed Everest there is not much you can do to top that. As expected, here we are 10 days later once again questioning the ability of the Indian players to play overseas. The Indian press swings from criticism to worship and back down to condemnation quicker than Shikhar Dhawan gets out- and that is saying a lot. Why was the test match at Lords one of India’s greatest wins? I could not understand the significance of it. The second India won at Lords commentators on television went on about how this test match will talked about for years to come. Now it looks like they may not even talk about it tomorrow. Why was this a moment to remember? India cricket players, from left, captain and wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajinkya Rahane and Shikhar Dhawan observe a minute's silence to commemorate 100 years since the start of World War I. AP Is it because India rarely wins at Lords? That may be true but then again India rarely win on any ground abroad so why was this one especially historical? Is it because India won a test abroad without Ganguly, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman? If so I recommend you have an Alka Seltzer, it may help getting over the hangover of the fab four. So why a 'historical' win? It was a win. A good win, but there was no history created that day. This build up, however, is where the problem occurs. The Indian team and its fans focus so much on history being created that no time is spent on actually looking at using this victory as a stepping stone to greater things. Every win now is deemed as “history” or one of the 'great wins'. There is no sign of humility or rebuilding. The Indian team may still be where it has been since 2011. Winners at home, but if they are asked to use their passports they look like schoolboys. The loss in Southampton might lead to the questions that need to be asked finally coming to light Should Shikhar Dhawan be in the playing eleven? Is Ravindra Jadeja of any value in test cricket? Or is 'Sir Jadeja' just a well-marketed player with an image created in some part by the Indian Captain who himself has a vested interest in Jadeja doing well. Jadeja came in to the team with the promise of having scored multiple triple centuries in First Class cricket. In seventeen test innings he has just one score above fifty. Keep him as a bowler? Why not then play Ashwin? He certainly bats better than Jadeja. What is happening with Virat Kohli? Is he identifying where he is struggling? Who is helping him get through this phase? Is anyone advising or even questioning Dhoni on his Test Captaincy? India always lets one win abroad qualify as redemption for anything that has occurred in the past. Since India beat the West Indies at Sabina Park in 2011 here is what the Indian team has done abroad. Played- 17 tests Lost- 11 tests Drawn- 5 tests Won- 1 test Yet rather than looking at the Lord’s test as a 'step in the right direction' it was called by one and all as historical. If Indian Test cricket wants to redeem itself it needs to look at long term redevelopment and stop romanticizing every win. Realization that the road ahead is long but promising may lead to brighter days. The series is tied 1-1 with two to play. Stay tuned.

[tweaker]

Is there any accountability at all ,all this players have been selected in the ODI series.After performaning badly,why the players have not been dropped.BCCI has invited WI again for home series.This players will performa against a weak team & everbody will forget what happened in England