When Indians don’t have to look far!
Finally, the famed Indians make a come back, into the Indian shores in a day and have understandably faced a lot of flak from the media with each channel and Wednesday’s newspapers headlines too will reflect on this phenomenon. Not the first time that our team has bit the dust and not the last time too. Analysis and post-mortems will not an easy pill to digest.
Where do we go?
For starters, the basic idea of replacing youth with an experienced hand in case of injuries has been a tried and tested formula for many boards. So, when Virender Sehwag was injured, it was thought that someone in the ranks such as Robin Uthappa or Irfan Pathan would have made the cut, considering their prowess not just with the bat but in other aspects of the game. While Uthappa is a brilliant fielder and Irfan is an all-rounder. But the board gave the T20 cap to Murali Vijay who was an opener and was displaying prime form. Going by the logic, Vijay could have been given the cap had it been any other bilateral series, not an ICC World series event. An experienced hand would not have hurt the Indian think-tank.
Again, if IPL form was a yardstick to judge any player’s presence in the team, why was Yuvraj Singh even in the team? Shouldn’t the Indian selectors crack whip on every single (senior and junior) player who has under-performed and if it means dropping a certain player or in other words, give him a break, then so be it.
Any loss or catastrophe requires some soul-searching for a team and Indian side does not have to look far as chess King Vishwanathan Anand made a billion hearts blossom by beating Veseliv Topalov in his own den in Bulgaria and retaining the world title. For someone who is ranked the best in the orb, winning has been a good habit and Indian team needs to unlearn a little by meeting the master and taking a few tips on how to overcome adverse situations.
Mind you, it is not easy winning when you have to travel 40 long hours by the road to reach your destination and playing a championship match will not be easy. Also, it is time for the Indian board to pick horses for the courses.
Time for the Indian team to keep their chin up and come back hard at its critics.