Excerpts from a diary of a diehard Team India fan

(Below is a sneak peek at a week’s account from the diary of a Team India fanatic)

12th Jan 2012

I hope Team India and Dhoni are getting sleepless nights since last week. Sleepless nights are a good indicator of anxiety and nervousness. After another dive into a bottomless pit called ‘overseas losses’, a bit of nerves is good as it means the team will be focused on the 3rd Test Match between Ind and Aus at Perth starting. Good news that it’s a 0800 am start. At least we would not be losing sleep over India’s performance (Quite literally!).

13th Jan 2012

My Facebook status say’s it all about Day 1 of the Perth Test match

Breaking News! A new virus named ‘ONNA’ (Oh No Not Again!) has reportedly struck Indian cricket fans. Symptoms are hallucinations of same events happening in different test matches, a feeling of being steamrolled by oppositions, exasperation and frustration! BCCI Officials are currently in a clandestine meeting and are rumoured to arrange a 5 match test series against Bangladesh or Zimbabwe to cure the fans

Phew! I think I should stop writing this diary. Maybe it’s bringing bad luck to the team :-(

14th Jan 2010

India Drown Under! Day 2 was all Australia (again)! Sorry guys…Couldn’t hold myself back from writing this entry. Maybe we should have let the team spend some time more on go-karting. They would have been more relaxed on field I guess.

15th Jan 2012

I hope Bill Gates was God. At least we would have had a ‘Shift + Delete’ button (placed under our armpits maybe) to wipe out this test match from my memory forever. What a wretched test match!

India surrendered meekly on Day 3 to lose by Innings and 37 runs. The only good thing about an otherwise somber day for fans is that the test match has ended (finally) and so had the team’s misery (for this test match at least)! Their 7th straight loss overseas with almost the same playing eleven – the situation is quite alarming and demands quite a bit of introspection.

16th Jan 2011

Team India & Dhoni bashing continues on all social networking. In fact it’s trending more than #IHateKapilSibal and #SunnyLeone combined. Post mortem seems to be the agenda for all news channels and newspapers. Tailor made situation for India TV, I must say!

I think that this failure is a collective responsibility. It’s not due to an inexperienced bowling attack or due to Dhoni unable to marshal his resources well or because the Fab four failed simultaneously. The problem is more systemic and intrinsic. We refuse to perform overseas mainly because we are not acclimatized to it!

I know these are difficult times for die hard Indian fans. But we have survived through much more debris. We have stood by the game and the team when the match fixing scandal broke and deprived the game for more than a few fans. I feel proud to be one of the few who witnessed Ganguly’s Salman Khan like shirtless outburst live on TV during the NatWest final (2002,England) when most had switched off their television sets after being 146/5. The 2007 World cup loss was not just a tournament lost badly but the game inIndialost many followers also. But a few like me carried on!

I believe (and I hope) we are at the lowest ebb possible (for the nth time I guess) and the only way out is the ‘way forward’.

Meanwhile Dhoni has been handed a one match ban for slow over rate. Sehwag to lead in the final test. A good day for ICC, I must say, as they could finally achieve what the BCCI couldn’t. Just kidding!

17th Jan 2011

Was thinking today about the changes needed in our system. Already poor ODI turnouts and low IPL TRP’s are indications of cricket fatigue taking its toll on fans. I am afraid that population of ‘once-used-to-like-cricket’ clan will increase further if we continue to witness debacles of this enormity. The administrators (including the state cricket bodies) need to pull up their socks or else the fans will soon desert them for more pastoral fields like soccer, Formula one etc.

I have a few suggestions – some may be far fetched others plain simple but definitely all are aimed at betterment of the game.

• Create a domestic team of the best Ranji performers of each season. Make them play against every team touring to India and domestic tournament winners of each of SA, Aus & Eng. This will give the much needed exposure of sporting wickets to a pool of players that are in contention for the national berth
• Mandate the national team players to play minimum number of Ranji matches in a year. The mere presence of a Tendulkar or a Dravid in the dressing room will be learning in itself. It will help improve the domestic standard of playing.
• Plan a tour itinerary for the U-19 team and expose them to all conditions and oppositions in their embryonic stages. Augurs well for the bench strength also!
• Nominate players to play more county cricket in England. I have no idea why Indian’s have stopped going to England to play for them. It’s a well known fact that county exposure has helped innumerable players be it a Zaheer or Tendulkar or an Ojha.
• Finally reduce number of team in IPL & Champions League to reduce the duration of these tournaments. (No, I am not an IPL-hater nor I object the T20 format. I think IPL had done more good to the Indian domestic players than bad). The only reason being, this will ensure the above points can be incorporated in the busy calendar
• Develop the NCA as a training academy & a means of improvising fast bowlers and not as a rehabilitation centre for injured players (the way it is now!)

Also India plays all tests at home till Nov 2013. Build a phase out plan for these cricketing greats, communicate it to them and utilize their expertise in building the Gen Next test team. Bid the seniors good bye respectably and give them their due credit. Should not be difficult to work out for the selectors!

I am planning to mail these suggestions to Lalit Modi and hope that he tweets about them. I guess that’s the only way BCCI can be made to pay attention to it!

18th Jan 2011

An interesting tweet I read today:

Its teams like Australia that are responsible for the death of test cricket. Finishing off every match within 4 days. Irresponsible!

Gambhir agrees to have let the nation down. Happy realization! Team mates say Laxman is not thinking about retirement as yet. My prediction – Laxman will make a comeback in Adelaide Test. Why? Because History says so! VVS has always performed in a career threatening do or die match.

Final thought for the day…What will happen to Dhoni if Sehwag manages to win the 4th test? He will get SehwhACKED. Poor guy!