The rot started during the when the Kiwis toured in 2010. There the batting collapsed time and again, against a mediocre attack, at home, and each time was hauled out by, of all people, Harbhajan Singh.
Its been about, I think, 17 test matches, home and away including that series. How many of the top line Indian batsmen, other than Rahul Dravid, and including M S Dhoni, have got hundreds in Test matches. How many have scored 150 scores (Daddy hundreds - as the English terms them). How many 200 scores have been scored ? Eight of those tests have been played against the Kiwis or the Windies. Even against these teams, leaving out the Kolkata test last November, the batting has not really clicked.
A test team needs at least one guy to get a 150 score, preferably in the first innings of a test match. If two other batsmen get 75 scores, it can land up with a score of 400 quite easily. Then they can try and force a win, or at least think of drawing the match. Very few teams have lost after getting a 400 score in the first innings unless they have batted pathetically in the second.
Otherwise, the team will always will be playing catch up, and against a top side, they will invariably get punished.
Perhaps the key to this lies in what Sunil Gavaskar said a few days back - that the art of batting in a test match does not lie in just knowing which ball to play or hit, it also lies in knowing which ball to leave. He should know.
Srikkanth is making nonsense statements as usual. Have we ever heard anything insightful from him? He throws words like he used to throw his bat at every delivery in his playing days. Why he chosen as chief selector belies understanding... Way to go Srikkanth "our batting didn't click..." Everyone knows it didn't click. The question is why it didn't click? You got any answers Chief Selector?
Re: Srikkanth
by sauron on Jan 08, 2012 07:32 PM
He doesnt and he is not willing to find out also.IF he finds out the truth he may have to concede that many of the batting greats of India are not actual greats but paper tigers.If this truth is divulged people may not come in droves to IPL and the business called Indian cricket may have lesser revenue and that is the key purpose for cricket in India.Not to honor the county but to makle more money by surrounding paper tigers with hype
Re: Srikkanth
by Face Dude on Jan 08, 2012 10:38 PM
Srikanth cannot answer since he has not performed himself at the test cricket as much and has ever justified his selection in the team for over 9 years.. his one day records were carried forward to tests and he royally enjoyed his stint in test matches just by scoring a few quick runs in onedays. Now many in Indian team are exactly like that - "smashing batsmen." but not stuff internally like Gavaskar or even Chauhan. when it comes to staying at the wicket....!
IPL is the main culprit for the poor performance of our batsmen in overseas seaming & bouncing wickets. Even the bowlers have not learnt to maintain line & length which is so very important in test matches. Therefore even in bowler friendly pitches also they struggle and the opposition score easily.
Today, even an aging Ponting can score a century in difficult conditions because the bowlers are wayward and indisciplined whereas the likes of Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Gambhir all fail because the Aussie bowlers are disciplined and focussed.
Remove IPL, bring back good test match batsmen or India should stop playing test matches abroad.
Re: IPL is the main culprit
by kumar kn on Jan 08, 2012 06:35 PM
With all the money with BCCI, why can't we prepare a few bouncy pitches similar to ones in Australia,England and SA and get our players to practise and play a few matches before they go abroad?
Re: IPL is the main culprit
by Face Dude on Jan 09, 2012 06:23 AM
I agree and this calls for a change in strategy of selecting batsmen
we have to separate One day and T20 team from test team. There cannot be players playing in both the formats at the same time. It is apparent how the Indians got out in second innings when one big wicket fell. Two or three wickets fell quickly due to rash shots. Also lapse in concentration after putting up a decent total is also due to the perils of one day cricket. Whats the need for laxman to score quickly on day 4? Tendulkar got out to a mediocre delivery mainly because of lack of concentration... In test cricket its the temperament - like sunny gavaskar possessed - thats crucial. Tendulkar is in that mould and so is Dravid, but mixing up one days and test cricket just kills their ability to focus... so much seems lacking when there a quality bowling attack has to be faced for a sustained period of time (i.e without any time limits..)
This has been an issue since the days of Srikkanth who scored quick runs in one dayers only to repeatedly fail in test matches... because test match requires greater skills and technique on a sustained basis.. which poor srikkanth did not have in good measure..
Now INdian team has so many srikkanth's in the form of sehwag, kohli, raina, gambhir, vvs, sachin etc... this translation of performance from one form to the other is the root cause of our batsmen failing repeatedly on quality tracks
How the opponents do.. thats probably because they also have go
For the poor performance Dhoni must be criticised he took wrong dicision in Sydney to bat first Firstly he could’t read pitch and took bating after wining toss and throw his batting to face seam conditions.secondly he failed to take a big lead at melbourn in first inning as top order performed well Dhoni has got already credit for winning WC-2011 but don’t forget another player played well in final Gauti. Dhoni has to take positively and should agree with his mistake.
Re: Poor captancy
by rajkamal dubey on Jan 08, 2012 05:33 PM
absolutely....he is a free rider who takes advantage of other's performance...dhoni is an absolute non performer....was also riding his luck all along
"We lost because we did not bat,bowl and field well and Australia played better than us" -Srikkanth. I am so happy to know now the truth as to why we lost.Thanks Srikkanth for enlighting us.
Separate One day and T20 team from test team. There cannot be players playing in both the formats at the same time. It is apparent how the Indians got out in second innings when one big wicket fell. Two or three wickets fell successively due to rash shots. Also lapse in concentration after putting up a decent total is also due to the perils of one day cricket. Whats the need for laxman to score quickly on day 4? Tendulkar got out to a mediocre delivery mainly because of lack of concentration... In test cricket its the temperament - like sunny gavaskar possessed - thats crucial. Tendulkar is in that mould and so is Dravid, but mixing up one days and test cricket just kills their ability to focus... so much seems lacking when there a quality bowling attack has to be faced for a sustained period of time (i.e without any time limits..)
This has been an issue since the days of Srikkanth who scored quick runs in one dayers only to repeatedly fail in test matches... because test match requires greater skills and technique on a sustained basis.. which poor srikkanth did not have in good measure..
Now INdian team has so many srikkanth's in the form of sehwag, kohli, raina, gambhir, vvs, sachin etc... this translation of performance from one form to the other is the root cause of our batsmen failing repeatedly on quality tracks and quality bo How the opponents do.. thats probably because they also have good bowling attack and another area which is lacking for India. Any ideas?
Re: Re: curse
by mohammed akhter on Jan 08, 2012 03:54 PM
sarcastic joke boss.but certainly irfan should be in team along with ojha,ashwin,zaheer and umesh.irfan and ashwin will be alrounder,so kohli can be droped as he is not scoring.
Re: Re: Re: curse
by mohammed akhter on Jan 08, 2012 04:02 PM
abhinav mukund should be in to open with gambhir,sehwag should bat at 5.time for top three to make way for youngstars.possibly rohit,manoj tiwary,ashok maneria.
