To the Indian Cricket Fans - The future is not that bleak

A series slipping out again and the Indian onshore bashing continues to roll out its unending series of seasons. Is there a ray of hope? Is there a silver lining? A score line of 4-1 eludes any possibility of any light at the end of the tunnel.

It is so easy to carve out on inference. After all, we as Indians have had “Cricket 101” in the kindergarten grade of our academic syllabus. Most of us are able to notch up the doctorate degree by the time we hit our teens.

It is so easy to criticize. Ruling out our team in any way will be a harsh decision taken out of illusion. It is a virtual reality that we are actually living in.

We did not throw it away. We fought hard. We let the other team struggle to win. Roll back the years – we were never this good 10 years back. Were we? Whatever Ravi Shastri said – “There has not been any Indian team like this in the last 10-15 years back” is actually true.

I will not concur that this is a young team. But? We are not getting galvanized. The opposition is no longer reducing us to a pulp. We are giving them back. 2 of the Test matches were close. Had England chased, the numbers on the board would have definitely changed.

This is not about shielding the mistakes. This is about balancing the perspective. We need to improve in a lot of aspects of the game. The South African tour was an advent of baby steps towards success in Test cricket. I will agree that the steps are very slow. I will also concur that these are in a forward looking direction. We are able to pick 10 wickets in every innings.

At this point of time – it is about the intent. There is no doubt about capability. It is about self-belief. It is about collecting the positives in the bag leaving and out the stressful aspects.

It is crystal clear that in such conditions, 5 or 6 men will not win you a game. Everyone has to contribute. The mindset has to change. It is not about aiming for milestones – 50, 100 or fifer. It is about applying your concepts. It is about being aggressive. One-sided games will rarely happen in these conditions. It is about giving in whatever we have and pouring ourselves.

Cricket in such conditions is like a 4x100 meter relay race. You have to keeping pushing hard until you cross the line.

The recipe is quite simple. We have to mix the ingredients in a balanced and accurate manner. Each ingredient will have its own share of the flavor.

It is about that mindset of making those 30-35 runs for each top order batsman. It is about not throwing away the wicket. It is about patience. It is about starting aggressively at least from one end.

I will also agree that the trial days are nearing an end. We have had enough ground time to reflect upon and improve ourselves. We will expect things to change Down Under.