5 reasons why Indian cricket has lost its track

Two nil down, Down Under: It all seems like a familiar tale. India is under the bus again, struggling to cope with the conditions outside the sub-continent. But the worrying part is that it is happening again. MS Dhoni and Co. were whitewashed in England, blown apart in Australia and thrashed in New Zealand.A rejuvenated side was again sent to England this year, to salvage pride. After scripting a historic victory on the sloping pitch of Lord’s, India crumbled to lose the series 1-3. And the same is happening in Australia now. Keep in mind that we are supposed to defend our World Cup title in two months, in Australia.So what exactly is going wrong? Why are the current ODI World Champions struggling outside home conditions? Here is a look at the factors that are choking Indian cricket from within:

#1 Sentiment and the selection committee

The craze for cricket in India is something unseen in the world of sports, perhaps comparable only to football in South America. I am not exaggerating when I say that cricket is a religion in India. The hustle-bustle of a billion people is silenced when Sachin Tendulkar misfires. The anger is visible in the streets when a critical catch is dropped. The whole country celebrates every victory and berates every loss.

This following line from Harsha Bhogle probably describes Indian cricket the best: “When Sachin plays well, India sleeps well.”

And this very sentiment is affecting our performance. The emotion attached to cricket is so strong that it clouds the selection committee, and that is where the problems begin. We fail to drop non-performing stars. Why? Because they are stars. Indian cricket is corrupted by this Bollywood mentality where players are held as god-like figures, and we are reluctant and scared to drop them from the team.

Yuvraj Singh is a hero and an inspiration and one of the major factors in our World Cup victory in 2011. But that is in 2011. Why did he play the 2014 T20 World Cup? Because he beat cancer? As inspiring as that may be, it should not be a yardstick to measure sporting performance.

Why did it take the BCCI so long to drop the under-performing stars like Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag or even Sachin Tendulkar for that matter? Because we were waiting for Tendulkar to complete a century of centuries? We need to detach sentiment from the sport if India has to return to winning ways. The selection committee needs to be ruthless, and consistency in performance has to be the qualifying criteria to get into the team.

There are 1.2 billion cricket fanatics in this country. We are not short on backup. There is enough talent, so there have to be enough opportunities.

#2 Indian Premier League

Ah! The gleaming, glowing product of Indian cricket. This cash-laden league is the biggest parasite in our system. It is, quite literally, choking us from the inside. And we don’t even realise what is happening because all we can hear is the tinkling of the coins coming from the IPL.

So, what exactly is the IPL doing? It is commercializing cricket to such a level that international cricket is fading out of sight in the dreams and ambitions of our talented youngsters. Cricketers are prioritising the lucrative league over international cricket.

Look at the case of Ishant Sharma. A tall, talented Delhi boy travels with the team to Australia and rattles Ricky Ponting and Co. in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the Commonwealth Bank series in 2008. But after a tiring tour Down Under, instead of resting and recovering, he plays his heart out for Kolkata Knight Riders in the inaugural IPL season, in 2008. He gets burnt out. It’s been six years. Ishant hasn’t found the same pace or rhythm since that year. Thank you, IPL.

Don’t get me wrong, I think that the IPL is a brilliant concept and is churning out and unearthing a lot of talent for us: Shane Warne found Ravindra Jadeja and Chennai Super Kings discovered Ravichandran Ashwin. However, the IPL needs an ICC window and proper planning in order to let international cricket flourish.

#3 T20-fication

T20fication is another IPL product. So captivating and attractive is the IPLthat it has literally revolutionized cricket thinking. Everyone, from the BCCI to the ICC to the players and the fans, wants more of T20. Its fast, its crowd-pulling and there are hot cheerleaders involved. What could go wrong?

Well, as it turns, it could go wrong. With advertising income and television viewership skewed towards T20, the BCCI is more inclined towards setting up limited overs cricket tours. That means less of Test cricket. Moreover, the players find it tough to transit between formats because of the packed calendar.

#4 Retirements

Now, this is a huge factor. Retirement is not a bad thing per se; however, they need to be planned and timed perfectly, both of which we failed to do. Out of the golden generation of the Indian batting, only Sourav Ganguly retired at the right time. Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid all had unnecessarily prolonged careers, and they retired in quick succession. This meant that the youngsters, the likes of Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara, who are supposed to replace them were stuck in the domestic circuit.

And then, in a sudden flurry of retirements, all these youngsters were suddenly thrown into the international circuit. We could neither phase them in nor phase the golden generation out. This made the transition difficult, so much so that we still haven’t found the right batting order.

In contrast, Australia, who faced a similar problem with the retirements of Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Glenn McGrath and the kind, did much better. The baggy greens had already sowed the seeds for the youngsters to grow. Their transition between generations was smoother. David Warner and Mitchell Johnson were phased into the team properly, and early, so that they could take the reins later on. And they did.

#5 Format Specialisation

The possible solution and the biggest problem, Format Specialisation is a gaping and inexplicable loophole in Indian cricket. There is no possible logical explanation to the fact that cricket’s most populous nation has the same eleven people playing all three formats.

Why is MS Dhoni captaining all three formats, despite having a below-par Test record? Why is Bhuvneshwar Kumar playing Tests, ODIs and T20s? Not only is it a strain to the players and an invitation to injury problems, it is also strategically incoherent.

The BCCI is trying to mend its ways in terms of using Cheteshwar Pujara only in Tests, but that’ll change if he has a strong IPL season (see how all problems lead back to the IPL?). Format Specialisation allows you strategic flexibility. England restrict Monty Panesar for sub-continent tours, and Australia and South Africa are clever enough to have different captains for different formats.

India, on the other hand, have an identical line-up for all three formats, and all eleven have to necessarily play the IPL. Welcome aboard, injuries.

BCCI, you have your work cut out.