More questions than answers from Sri Lanka

I wholeheartedly endorse Dilip Vengsarkar’s statement that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is emerging as a great captain, but I think his belief that the victory over Sri Lanka in the one-day series must rate as one of the finest in Indian cricket history is a bit exaggerated — or premature. Dilip made this statement before the final one-dayer was played. How was he to know India would lose so badly the next day!

Mind you, winning a series against Sri Lanka on their home turf is a big achievement so I am not taking away anything from the achievement of Dhoni’s team. But take way Dhoni — as captain and batsman — and India might have finished this tour dismally, what with the Test series too lost earlier.

In sheer cricketing terms, this was a fantastic series. The Tests were well fought, all three producing results, and the ODIs saw a ding-dong battle too right till the end. But what were the real ‘take-homes’ for India? The Test series was lost, and the ODIs won — but only just. Before the tour began, I remember coach Gary Kirsten saying that India had the potential to be the best side in the world. In the process of this tour, however, that sentiment seemed to be more hype than fact.

There were more questions raised than answered as the tour progressed. In the Tests, for instance, the brittle performance of the middle-order is bound to resonate when the next season begins. The collective failure of Dravid, Ganguly, (to some extent) Laxman and even Tendulkar is not just grist to the mill for academic debate, but a cause for serious concern. If Viru Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir — one treated with disdain, the other a newcomer — had not been in top form, the series would have been lost 0-3.

The future of the Fab Four — as they are euphemistically referred to — is something that will haunt Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly and Laxman as much as the selectors, who will now be paid employees, and therefore more accountable. Advancing years, loss of form and self-doubt all go hand-in-hand, and questions will be asked of these players despite their magnificent records.

The bigger problem, however, is that the GenX of Indian cricket did not exactly cover itself in glory in the ODIs to suggest that the Old Guard is entirely dispensable. The failures of Yuvraj Singh is too glaring to ignore. If he can’t be your consistent match-winner, he must at least be a consistent performer. Rohit Sharma seems to be caught in self-doubt whether he is already Viv Richards, so to speak, or a rookie Indian batsman with terrific potential. As to what are Irfan Pathan’s problems, nobody seems to have a clue.

But for Dhoni’s resolute batting and captaincy (not forgetting the sterling performances from Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Suresh Raina and Virat Kohli) this tour could have been a disaster of sorts. The fact that it hasn’t doesn’t mean that those who run Indian cricket need to be be lulled into complacency. Serious challenges and very hard work lie ahead if India wants to be Tops of the Pops.