Before you go on to read frustrating to follow Indian cricket team, modern times, please read the earlier version of this story here.
Yes, the subsequent liberalisation brought quite a windfall. TV rights were sold to the highest bidder. Coverage of the game became professional. What the Indian fans saw and were spellbound in Australia, they were able to see the same sort of coverage for Indian games. The Indian board started to realise the enormous potential the game has. In that Bindra and Jagmohan Dalmiya were quite instrumental in raising the stakes of the game in the country. Cricketers were paid more and the first class players too started to receive higher salaries for their efforts. More became professional when previously, working at a bank or at railways while playing Ranji was quite common.
As a result of such a sudden burst of funds and resources, the base expanded and so too the talent from remote regions. Now, it became possible to earn a living out of cricket. Not just at the international level but even at the national level. Aspirations increased and so did the expectations. Needless to say, they were again let down by the team.
Azharuddin and the worst team
The series win in England in 1986 was thought of as a possible breakout but it only proved an one off event. Mohammed Azharuddin took over the team which was probably the worst ever but was labelled as the team of the millennium by the board. Series loss after series loss, outside of India followed. So much so that Indians completely lost all hope of ever seeing their beloved team win anything outside the country. To please the fans, atleast in India, the team became sort of tigers. Number of wins increased and the number of loss decreased. Nevertheless, the Indian fan always longed for wins outside India and most specifically, outside the sub-continent.
Indian fan longed for acceptance
The Indian fan longed for legitimacy. We wanted the team to be respected everywhere. We wanted the team to be recognised and thought of as genuine contenders. More than the team itself, it was the supporter who expected some sort of justification to continue with their support. Afterall, victories at Asian Games, Olympics, Commonwealth and other sporting events were not forthcoming. Cricket was and is the only game in which India is at the least expected to compete and hence for the supporters to convince themselves that the Indian team is indeed worth supporting, it is important that the team wins outside the sub-continent. The supporters wanted to the team to be accepted universally as the best in the world. Especially, from the cynical Brits and Aussies. It was built in the psyche of almost every Indian to look for acceptance.
Alas, the Indian team continued to deceive their supporters. 1991 tour to Australia was a disaster and so was 1999. England tours during the 90s proved to be run-fest for the English team. Graham Gooch helped himself to a triple hundred. Added to the mix came South Africa who proved too good for India right from the beginning. Chastening defeats whenever India visited South Africa. Yet, the Indian supporter persevered. They were hoping against hope that the fortunes will turnaround.
Advent of the new generation of cricketers
Towards the latter half of 1990s with the advent of good batters and with Ganguly’s imaginative captaincy, expectation increased. The 2001 series against Australia boasted the confidence that was battered by match-fixing allegations as well as the resignation of Sachin Tendulkar from captaincy.
Certainly, from now on, the Indian team will do no wrong. Outside wins are just on the horizon. To prove that the Indian team have turned a decisive corner, the subsequent results too pointed to the right direction. Wins in West Indies, England and Australia, though one test apiece, was enough to arouse the sentiments of the Indians. Nevertheless, series wins still eluded but to have drawn a series in Australia when they are in their absolute prime was such a creditable achievement. Now, it was just a matter of time before overseas wins becomes the norm rather than the exception. It did. We won in New Zealand in 2007. Expectations rose. Australia, England and South Africa left to be conquered. Wait SEA, we are on the our way. We are going to hammer you on your own pitches.
2011 arrived and insipid Dhoni
and India went to England as the number one ranked team. Dhoni had all the resources. Experience, world class batters and a decent bowling attack. Sachin was chasing his 100th hundred in international cricket. Zaheer Khan was bowling well. Ashwin wanted to prove himself. England were on a high as well. The series started. Zaheer Khan was waylaid on the very first day and the entire tour disintegrated into chaos. The Indian team were hapless. They were insipid. Indians were like lambs to the slaughter. Dhoni just didn’t know what to do. The tour officially became a farce when R P Singh, who was in America on vacation was called for the 4th test and played immediately. A disastrous 0-4 in England’s favour did everything to shatter the Indian supporter’s expectations.
This shellacking was followed by another in Australia. It was even worse because Australia were a pale shadow of the all-conquering one. Ponting & Hussey who struggled for more than 3 years helped himself to a double hundred and few hundreds. Clarke scored a triple to boot. Absolute nadir was achieved when England managed to win in India. I am sure Indian cricket lost lot of supporters at that point. This was followed by more heart breaks. Lost in South Africa, lost in New Zealand. Another humiliation in England and a further annihiliation in Australia. Four series, all of them where it mattered and all of them lost.
Lack of fight or lack of interest?
It wasn’t just the loss that put off everyone but it was the manner of each loss. Multiple innings defeats, opposition running up huge scores and the Indian batters folding up like a touch me not flower. There was absolutely no fight within the team. They waited for things to happen rather than make them happen. It felt as though the players didn’t care. They didn’t care whether it was a victory or defeat. If the supporters felt cheated, they cannot be faulted. Not once did the team score in excess of 300 in 16 innings.
The players were criticised but it didn’t seem to have any influence. No attempt was made to change the team or change the combination. It is miracle that the Indian team still has fans despite such joke of a performance. Consistently. No captain would have survived such a horror run. Dhoni who wasn’t removed from the captaincy after the previous horror run resigned, longtime overdue.
Only series wins of note
Then followed a whole gamut of series wins. All of them in India. Everyone talked of India being the best. It is hard to defeat this Indian team. Things turned out differently again. Loss in South Africa followed by another massacre in England. The saving grace emerged in the form of India’s first series win in Australia. However, an asterix will always attached to that win because it was achieved against a Warner and more importantly, Smith less Australia. India redeemed that part a couple of years later with another series win.
In over 75 years of playing the game, it was the first time the Indian supporter felt good about the team. Not even when India won the 1983 or 2007 or 2011 World Cups. Series win against a fully fit Australia is by far the hardest in the game. To achieve to consecutive series wins in that nation is unprecedented.
Only time will tell whether India will go on and realise the enormous potential it has and become the greatest team ever to have roamed on the face of the earth.