More than the series loss, it’s the way we are managing our cricket that will turn off even diehard fans.
Part-time spinner Ravindra Jadeja opened the bowling with medium-pacer Ishant Sharma at the start of Day Five in the final Test that India desperately needed to win. India played three frontline spinners, dropping the second seamer, but what good is that if they don’t get to bowl at the right time?
It’s another matter that there was so much clay in this wicket that it became well nigh impossible to get anybody out once the life went out of it by the third day. With India needing to level the series, why would the curator produce such a lifeless wicket? It had no bounce or turn and showed no sign of wear and tear even after five days.
Whatever little life it had for bowlers was evident only on the first day, but India let England off the hook after having them down at 139 for five. Why did the highest wicket-taker of the first innings, leg-spinner Piyush Chawla, get to bowl the least number of overs, with even the part-timer Jadeja getting to bowl more than him?
Sachin Tendulkar, occupying the prime position in the batting line-up, has been the worst performer for the last two series at home, but apparently it has been left to him to decide when he will call it a day, despite the commercial interests that would encourage him to carry on as long as he can. Why don’t the selectors just do what’s good for the team, and replace him with another potential Pujara or Kohli?
England simulated Indian conditions at a training camp in Dubai in preparation for this series. Their batting coach Andy Flower was one of the finest players of spin the game has seen. Their bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed was a good leg-spinner for Pakistan and knows every trick about bowling on the sub-continent. And leading the coaching team was former England captain Graham Gooch who swept our spinners to submission in a World Cup semifinal in Mumbai. Is it any wonder the England team played smarter than us?
Our coach Duncan Fletcher was discarded by England after a string of losses following his initial success. Nobody has heard of our bowling coach, and our spinners get no guidance despite our rich spin bowling heritage. Is this the best support that the world’s richest cricket board can give its players?
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