2014 - A year to forget for Indian Test cricket

[The Realist]

With three Test series losses and a record that reads as Tests played – 9, Won – 1, Lost – 6, Drawn – 2, it was anything but great. Add to it the fact that India’s Test ranking slipped down from No.2 to No.6 (only above New Zealand, West Indies, Bangladesh & Zimbabwe) and the year slowly starts sounding like dismal. In social media lingo, the only event which would get likes or shares would be the victory against England at Lord’s (which happened after a gap of 28 years). Transition Phase In the team’s defence, the 3 Test tours were all difficult and the team was still in a transition phase. It was trying to find replacements for the once-famed middle-order – ‘The Fab Four’. The bowling too did not have a settled look. It was also the first year in a long time when the Indian dressing room was without the last surviving member of the fab four: Sachin Tendulkar. For a team which has historically been known as poor travellers, all this was too much to cope up with. The year had begun not too badly for the Indians. The team lost a close contest in the first Test match against New Zealand and managed a draw in the second. After the New Zealand series came the much-awaited tour of England. Here again, the start was not disappointing. After a draw in the first match, India pulled off a brilliant victory at Lord’s. The script for a “great year” seemed to be going in the right direction. But the loss at Lord’s was too much to take for England, and they bounced back soon. In no time, India lost three consecutive matches by huge margins and with that the series. The next Test assignment was Down Under in Australia, and it began well when India almost managed to chase down 360 odd runs in the fourth innings in Adelaide. But then we lost the next Test match and barely managed to hold on to a draw in the third. Bowling remains a concern So, was it just a case of lost opportunities or has the Indian team performed really poorly in Tests throughout the year? I am sorry to say that it has been a case of poor performance only with few instances of individual brilliance. In many of the matches, the batting has collapsed which has led to losses, but the bowling also has been ineffective for most parts to say the least. Cricket experts always say that it is the bowlers who win you Test matches and the harsh reality is that India does not have bowlers who can take 20 wickets consistently. India’s match winner at Lord’s and their most experienced bowler currently, Ishant Sharma, has been good only in patches and there is no one else to lead the attack. Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav have shown some promise, but they are very new to the Test arena. Once considered the land of spinners, India is failing to find quality spinners who can perform outside the subcontinent. Ravichandran Ashwin’s performance outside home is currently miles short of what one would expect from the lead spin bowler. The road ahead As I write this piece, news has come in that Indian captain MS Dhoni has announced his retirement from Test cricket, and he will be replaced by Virat Kohli. Kohli has shown promise in the few matches that he has led. So I hope that this change brings in some good results. Come the 4th Test against Australia at Sydney, his captaincy will be severely tested without doubt. His own good form will be a factor which will work in his favour. But apart from that, there is a laundry list of worries. Batting is not that much a worry with promising players like Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteswar Pujara & Murali Vijay. It is the bowling department that Kohli has to sort out. With a comeback path looking difficult for old war horses like Zaheer Khan & Harbhajan Singh, it will be up to him to either fine tune the Shamis and Yadavs of the world or find some new talent from domestic cricket. http://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/2014-a-year-to-forget-for-india-tests

[BeautifulGame]

Not really . Have found good replacements for most of our retired greats .Rahane Kohli and Vijay all look great and Pujara and Dhawan considering the circumstances . Have assembled a decent seam attack with real pace .Which With experience have the potential to become very good Have finally got a young captain which most wanted . Yeah results wise we sucked but with the transition we have done very well to put solid foundations for future .

[ThePhenomenal1]

next few years will be better with new management and captain. we have a good, solid team.

[bowl_out]

The results were bad, but the process was good :cantstop: Batting looks solid - at least 4 reliable batsmen... Need to find 2 more... We have arguably the best bowlers from the domestic pool. Need to be trained to be more consistent... Will happen with time

[Sachin=GOD]

It ended on a rather pleasant note with M$D retiring from Tests.

[Texan]

It has been the same story since 2011. But, this year at least we have found 3 batsmen who could serve the team for a long time to come. On the flip side, bowling is perhaps at its worst phase ever.

[ThePhenomenal1]

pretty simple, we have to BOWL WITH DISCIPLINE. Our current lot are wicket takers, its a mentality along with skill and they have it. They just don't execute very often. More work on this, and india will win overseas.

[moniker]

It felt like a slow, dragging, pointless movie that looked like going nowhere, but finished with a breathtaking climax.

[tweaker]

The main problems with this team was some certain failures ie Dhawan,Rohit,Ishant Jadeja were given a long rope.We have lost so many test matches,but this players have managed to score some runs so they can't be dropped.If Yadav,Aaron were selected from the SA series we would had a good experienced attack.If Rishi Dhawan was selected instead of Binny,we would had a good allrounder who could have batted at no 8 & bowled as the 5 th bowler.

[Vijy]

I'd have to say that I don't share the optimism of all the previous posters. Kohli has plenty of chinks that he needs to iron out, both as a batsman and as a captain. In fact, I don't think he'll ever become a capable player on hardcore seaming pitches. Vijay and Rahane have been real positives though. Dhawan, Rohit and Pujara are all FTBs to varying degrees. More worrying is our bowling attack. Except on a pitch like Lords our seamers are pretty useless. Ishant has improved mildly but he's still pretty poor. Umesh Yadav has been, and will continue to be, a genuine wicket taker. Aaron and Shami are quite poor, even though the former can improve. Bhuvi will be a threat when conditions assist him. Our spin reserves are utterly bare... SL have Herath, Pakistan have Shah, Babar and Ajmal, and even Bangladesh have Shakib and I reckon that they are all better than Ashwin, Jaddu and co. Apart from winning in home conditions, I don't think we'll be seeing a turnaround in our overseas fortunes for a long, long time.