The humiliating defeat of the Indian Cricket team by losing the five- match test series 1-3 to England reminds me of the statement given by former Indian Captain Sourav Ganguly “This Indian team can’t win on foreign soil.” On England tour, the Dhoni boys have proved him right.
After the sensational win at Lord’s, the humiliating defeat in rest of the matches have exposed the weakness in team India’s armoury. Indian team collapsed after Lord’s win and was nowhere in the remaining test matches.
 Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys have “embarrassed” the country with their “jelly-like” resistance in the Test series against England and even suggested that those not interested in playing longer-format should quit the Test team. —Sunil Gavaskar |
The problem is not only with Test matches: the Indian team has failed to deliver in one day matches too in the past 2 years after they won the World Cup 2011 title.
Indian team known for its finest batting gave disgraceful performance during England tour. Indian batsmen failed to apply themselves in English conditions: Openers and middle order failed to perform and the fielding was horrendous.
Experts are raising fingers on both Dhoni’s captaincy and the expertise of Coach Duncan Fletcher after the defeat.
Fletcher who was appointed as Indian Coach in June 2011 has lost five of the six series outside the subcontinent under his stewardship. It is said, the biggest problem with Fletcher is that he is not a communicative man and doesn’t communicate so much with the team players.
The pitches in England were made for the pacers; the hosts exploited the conditions to their effect, but India was unable to pick up and reflected they had not learnt the necessary lessons from past. What has happened is not of much concern, but the real concern is how India would perform during ICC World Cup 2015.
With exactly six months to go until the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 begins, Indian team is suffering from a poor phase with back to back worst performances on foreign soil.
World Cup 2015 is going to be held in Australia and New Zealand and the condition in both the countries is very similar to England. By looking at the present performance of Indian team, everybody is worried about how India will save the title?
There have also been calls to ask Dhoni to step down, as he has been criticised for being overtly defensive as captain. But we should not forget that it was Dhoni only who made India No.1 in ICC ranking and bagged Twenty-20 World Cup and ICC World Cup 2011 for India. To ask him to step down is not the solution, infact, considering the preparations required for World Cup 2015 in mind, he is crucial for the team.
Meanwhile, Ravi Shastri has been appointed as director of Team India followed by Sanjay Bangar and Bharat Arun as assistant during the ODI series in England.
It’s time Indian think tank goes to the root of the issue of the mysterious capitulation on foreign soil and rectify it. Fletcher and Indian team might have given their all for India, but it just doesn't seem good enough. The time has come to think, plan and perform better to defend world title.
-Nishant Kumar 'Azad'
