Heroes at home but zero elsewhere

The Indian cricket team suffered the most ignominious defeat at the hands of the South Africans during the first test. The retaliatory round in the second inning only served to show that the Indian batter played without match practice and failed to deliver the goods in the first inning.

Perhaps there was nothing in the field or there were no demons when the Indians bowled. What was needed was just one application. If the Indians had played the first inning as well as the second, they would not have lost the game. Such losses are very costly, both in terms of team qualification and in terms of reputation. After all, the Indian team is competing to be number 1 and our team’s performance in the first round left a lot to be desired.

The national selection system should be reviewed. Players on the domestic circuit do not see any quality bowling alley. Bowling attacks and throws are bland causing high scores to be recorded. There should be an international league system where some of the players who are most likely to make the national team train by playing games at venues abroad. Only those who perform well should be taken on tour, otherwise the tour should not go on.

Undakat, a debutante, went without wickets. What was the point of debuting with Undakat when there are other senior bowlers who have a proven track record? There are so many bowlers like Vinay Kumar who have made their debut but have not been given a chance to move on. In fact, the new rookie bowler was far from impressive. Bowlers like Ashish Nehra or Munaf Patel would have filled perfectly in Zaheer khans boots.

Beyond there was no match practice. Ideally, the team should be allowed at least fifteen days of practice on foreign soil before embarking on matches. The last time the Indians were on the road here, the selectors remembered Sourav Ganguly, who made valuable contributions in every test match. In fact, the Indians went ahead and won the first test after spending a torrid moment in practice games.

There were failures in both the selection and the practice of the cricketers. If India has to reign at the top, they better discard all inhibitions when playing with pace and apply more to real-time situations. Otherwise they will all be heroes at home and zeros elsewhere.