5 things that should have never happened to Indian cricket in 2012

Not a great year for Indian cricket

After attaining some incredible heights in the year 2011, including the World Cup Victory, Indian cricket fell to great depths in 2012. 2011 will go down in the history books and in the minds of all the fans as a magical year for Indian cricket and shall always be remembered and cherished with delight. If 2011 will go down in the books of history, so will 2012; but it shall always be remembered as amongst the most plagued times of Indian cricket. As an ardent fan of Indian cricket, one can only wish 2012 had never happened. Here’s a look at the top 5 incidents that should have never occurred in 2012.

5. Asia Cup Debacle: After winning the World Cup in 2011, and having won the Asia Cup a record 5 times, India were natural favourites heading into the tournament. But India failed miserably and failed to make it even to the finals. The only good thing that happened were that Sachin Tendulkar scored his 100^th hundred (and that too couldn’t save India from losing the match) and Virat Kohli showed great promise, playing a couple of stupendous knocks. Teams like Bangladesh, minnows in comparison with the might of Indian cricket, made it to the finals with a controversy-hit Pakistan team lifting the cup.

4. The Test Series whitewash at the hands of Australia: The whitewash at the hands of England was immediately followed up with a whitewash at the hands of the Australians. India didn’t come close to living up to the image and name they had earned for themselves over the past few years. After a certain golden era, we once again saw the Indian batsmen falling prey to some excellent swing and seam bowling, and the opposition toying around with the Indian bowling. The old Indian tag was renewed – Tigers at home, mice abroad!

3. The Test series loss to England in India: England’s tour to India was popularly hailed by the Indian media as the revenge tour. But it just turned out to be a desperate and toothless fight from the Indian cricket team that was convincingly humbled by the English. The first Test concluded with India registering an innings win against England. But what followed seemed a totally different ball game. The English batsmen literally toyed with the Indian attack. The great spinners that India has always been known for was nowhere to be seen. Ashwin and Ojha seemed promising at the start of the series, but on pitches that were tailor made for the Indian cricketers, we saw the English batsmen teaching the Indians how to play on quality spin friendly tracks. The English spinners ripped through the Indian batting line up time and again, and the so-called mighty tigers only had a toothless lame battle to offer.

2. Retirement of The Legends: Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman are undoubtedly two of the greatest legends of Indian cricket. With both Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble having retired earlier, 2012 saw time taking its toll and Indian cricket had to deal with the retirement of two very important players. The retirements of Dravid and Laxman have left voids in Indian cricket that are going to be extremely difficult to fill.

1. Retirement of the God: I assure you, millions of once cricket crazy viewers and fans quit watching cricket once this news was out. If the retirement of the legends was a disaster to Indian cricket, (as also to world cricket), the retirement of the God of cricket was the literal end of the cricketing world for millions and millions of devotees like me. With Sachin Tendulkar retiring from One Day Cricket, cricket can never be the same again.