Before you go onto read This Indian team is an embarrassment 2, please read the previous one here.

Prithvi Shaw could have been handy and Ashwin is not a T20 player

I have mentioned Prithvi Shaw. Though I am not a big fan of his batting in Test cricket, it will be worth to give him a fair run in the T20 format. He is naturally aggressive. It is something that India desperately needs at the moment. He will score far too quickly when compared to the tortoise Rahul and the sloth Rohit. The reason he finds himself out of the squad is because of his fitness. No doubt it is an issue but what about the captain himself?

One look at him and you can clearly see that he looks like a rotund watermelon. It is affecting his game seriously. He is late on shots and is unable to bat fluently. Looks like the much touted yo-yo test is not applicable to the captain and for this Rahul Dravid must be solely responsible. He seems to have allowed Rohit to carry on with his poor fitness.

Ashwin. Why was he brought back into the T20 squad? That too, in Australia. There was a reason for Kohli and Shastri not trusting him outside of India. This World Cup proved that they were spot on. 6 wickets in 6 games and an economy rate of more than 8. Ashwin did not justify his inclusion in the team.

Umran Malik

Umran Malik, the fastest current Indian bowler was jettisoned after a couple of games. He may not have control and probably is overreliant on bowling quick which makes him vulnerable because even a thin edge will run to the boundary. However, that does not mean that he must be discarded so quickly. Ofcourse, the door is not shut for him by any means but the bigger grounds of Australia and the pitches with bounce could have just been the catalyst he was looking for. Every team had a bowler who can hit 145KMPH and India was the only team that did not have a single bowler. It shows poor foresight on the part of the selectors as well as Rohit and Dravid.

New team must be picked

It is time some of the players are dropped from the team or told to move on. The next World T20 is in 2024 and the next 2 years must be used to develop a strong and aggressive unit. The likes of Rahul, Rohit, Karthik, Ashwin, Kumar, Shami, Chahal, Pant and even Kohli & Bumrah must be informed straightaway that they are not in the plan of the selectors for the 2024 World Cup. A brand new team with perhaps Hardik Pandya as the captain must be brought up. The team needs bowlers who can bat and batsmen who can bowl. The keeper must be solid enough. Sunil Gavaskar feels that there will a spate of retirements from T20.

“There will be some retirements, you never know. Players will be giving it a lot of thought. There are several players in their mid-30s who will be reconsidering their position in the Indian T20I team,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.

Whether the players retire or otherwise, it is time to bid goodbye to their contribution and move on. Atleast in T20. None of the above have anything more to contribute

What is the point of Rahul Dravid?

Dravid’s CV over the last year and a few months does not inspire any confidence. Lost Test series and ODI series in South Africa. Lost the only Test against England and thereby drew a series that we must have won. Kicked out of the Asia Cup early and now kicked out of the World Cup. Yeah, under him, India won the Test series against New Zealand but in India. Anyway, India somehow managed to draw a Test that they were expected to win. Dravid must put himself under serious introspection.

Rohit’s and Dravid’s partnership was expected to transform the team who were on the cusp of greatness into a truly great side. Win in South Africa and England would have completed series wins in 3 SENA countries that is always hard. Unfortunately, the chance went abegging. Especially, the SA series where India were expected to just show up to win the series and yet, they somehow managed to lose to a side that even the South Africans may not have considered a decent one.

Dravid in his days was a conservative batsman. BCCI will have to think whether such a cricketer will be able to transform T20 cricket which needs ultra-aggressive thinking. If he doesn’t fit the bill, it is better to remove him from the post. It is perhaps time for India to look outside. The time is ripe for call for a foreign coach. Do not go to Laxman. He is not that different from Dravid.

Dravid’s comments after the loss

He refused to accept that the drubbing at the hands of England wasn’t a debacle but only a disappointment. World Cup semi-final. Your team wasn’t able to score runs and the opposition gets that in 16 overs at over 9 an over. They did not lose a single wicket. This was the first ever time a team won by 10 wickets in a World Cup semi. If this was not debacle, what is? Perhaps, Dravid would have felt that this was a debacle if England had managed to win under 10 overs. He continues

“The ball didn’t swing here probably as much as it has in other parts of Australia or in other conditions. Played a little bit into their hands, and class players like that, both Buttler and Hales, I thought their partnership was fantastic today.

“I think they just put the pressure on us, never let that go, and even when our spinners came on on a wicket that we thought we might be able to control the game, they really counterattacked our spinners, as well, and put our spinners under a lot of pressure.”

It was all nothing but just rambling.

Will playing other leagues help?

In the immediate aftermath of the defeat, there were suggestions that allowing Indian players to play in overseas league will help them in the future. Anil Kumble certainly believes that it will.

“I think exposure certainly helps. It certainly helps any cricketer. We have seen that with the kind of development that it has had on Indian cricket. For example, the IPL, where overseas players come in and the kind of changes we’ve had in Indian cricket has certainly helped. And likewise, if you identify the brand of cricket that we are looking at and then identify these key young players who you believe need those exposures, then why not? I think that’s important.”

I am not opposed to allowing Indian players in overseas leagues but that must be restricted to the next rung players. Every franchise will be keen to have a Kohli or Rohit or Pant in their squad but that will only increase the workload on them. They are very important to the Test side and as such we cannot afford to overload them. Some of the IPL performers like Tewatia or Mukesh or Kuldeep Sen can be allowed to participate. Already, the Indian players are playing non-stop throughout the year and franchise cricket around the world will only increase that.

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The Indian cricket pitches

Whenever, a side from one of England, Australia, New Zealand comes to India, the one talking point is about the pitches. There will be lot of editorials on their newspapers stating that a minefield is awaiting their teams during their visit. Every pitch in any Test series will be doctored to suit the Indian spinners or to stump the visitors because of their lack of ability against spin. However, none of them thinks about the poor technique displayed by the visitors against spin. Not the perfect one but a better technique would have ensured that they prevail. Having said that, the Indian cricket pitches will probably have to change. Defeating India in India is one of the most toughest in the cricketing world. Defeating Australia and defeating South Africa are the other tough propositions. I have not included England or New Zealand because both the teams have lost rather a few games more than that is allowed. Over the last 23 years, India have lost less than 10 Tests at home with only 2 series losses. That is an incredible record to boast about. The sheer dominance at home is something no other team could achieve. Accusation against the team Despite that, the talk invariably turns to the pitches. There were lot of accusations on the Indian team that they will not be able to win so many games if the pitches weren’t so spin friendly. A few years ago, in 2015, against South Africa, both the teams, India and South Africa were unable to cross 300 once because the pitches turned square from ball one. The Nagpur pitch for the 3rd Test was rated poor. It left Kohli fuming. “Well, there have been three scores of under 50 runs in South Africa but I haven’t seen any sort of articles on that. Teams have been bundled out under 100 for about six times in South Africa,” he said. “The situation in our country is highlighted a bit too much and that’s a fact. Because the only thing we talk about is the pitch and when we were in South Africa, the only thing we talked about was how badly we played. We are criticised for our techniques but when visitors don’t play well, it’s always the wicket.” It is true what Kohli had said. There are lot of games in Australia and South Africa that have not exceeded 3 days. Especially, in South Africa, the pitches are overly favourable to the fast bowlers. Since South Africa can churn out them by the dozen, they have always prepared pitches that has incredible pace and bounce. They have always maximised the home advantage and particularly against the Asian nations. WTC Points system is another reason Likewise, India is also justified in preparing pitches that does not suit the opposing batsmen. Here I say the opponent’s batsmen is because even the Indians are not that good against spinners any longer. Just look at the number of games the Indians were tied down by spinners in white ball cricket that has prevented them from scoring huge runs or chase down one. The situation is not that better in Tests either. Nowadays, spinning pitches are prepared not because it is comfortable for India but because it is uncomfortable for the opponents. One other factor that warrants results oriented pitches is the WTC points system. It awards 12 points for a win and only 4 for a draw. It places great importance in playing attacking aggressive brand of cricket. WTC points is a significant motivator. Teams need wins to be in contention to play the final. Where does the chances for winning most of the games lie? It is at home where you know the conditions and you know how the pitches will behave. Hence, the need to prepare pitches where you give your team the maximum chance to win. “There is a huge premium on results,” Dravid said before the fourth Test. “You draw a game like Kanpur against New Zealand, where you take nine wickets in the second innings, you draw that game and that sets you back, in a home game. “Every team is getting results at home or are putting in really good performances at home, so there is a premium on results. You get four points for a draw and you get 12 for a win, so there is a premium on that, there’s no question about it.” It is time to return The downside of all this is that the averages and the performances of the batsmen have dropped drastically and the spinners are having inflated strike rates and averages. One will only have to compare the statistics of both Ashwin and Jadeja with their away record. It will clearly establish the fact that these two spinners, ofcourse they are good, are not as great as they are made out to be. Perhaps, the time has come to return to the more batting pitches that helped the Indian batsmen outscore their opponents. The spinners will have to really use their guile and intelligence to pick up wickets rather than just drop the ball and leave the rest to the pitches. There was a period, against England in 2017, where both the teams amassed runs and yet, India won handsomely 4-0. Ashwin & Jadeja still emerged as the highest wicket takers but they had to move out of their comfort zone. The Indian fast bowlers too had long bowling sessions. This was in stark contrast to how Bumrah asked to be left out of the squad in 2020 against England because he hardly had to bowl. Wrapping up the Indian cricket pitches The problem is not the turn but the dust that comes out of the pitch everytime there is an activity. Sri Lankan pitches have also turned but the soil does not come out. India have had similar pitches and it is time to return to that. 2 and 3 day games will kill the game. Let the batsmen be able to bat confidently. For inspiration, India will only have to think about the pitches against England in 2017.

Whenever, a side from one of England, Australia, New Zealand comes to India, the one talking point is about the pitches. There will be lot of editorials on their newspapers

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