Will India always be mediocre?

[maxpower]

Not sure if he was 'asked' to play this way. I have heard that both Sourav and John Wright never really interfere with Sachin's batting unless he himself wants to talk to them about it. And it is not just Sachin. I have heard that Bennett King didn't talk too much to Lara about his batting and neither does Woolmer to Inzy. I guess great players are left to look after their batting by themselves. Obviously, in certain situations (like when u are looking to declare) instructions can be and are given out to players, including great players, but generally, I guess the coaches and captains leave their better batters to work out their own game plans for their batting.

I dont know if he or any batsmen had specific instructions for the last day. I was refering more to the different positions he's had to play in the last few years in both oneday and tests, and there have been interviews where he or ganguly have mentioned on how sometimes they want sachin to play an anchor or whatnot..point is there are other capable batsmen now who should adapt to whatever situation is presented to them, and let sachin play his natural game. enuff said though. I seriously believe that there is a definite lack of communicatons and proper game planning b/t team, captain and coach. Reminds of old days when Imran would send a 12th man every 30 mins with water and instructions on how to go about to his batsmen in crunch situations.

 

[SJS]

India have always been a mediocre side. Not once in our cricketing history have we CONSISTENTLY performed over an extended period of time in test cricket like this Australian side, current England side for example.

STATEMENT NUMBER 11 : Inconsistency = Mediocrity !!!

 

[Gangster]

I disagree. Whilst looking at the two teams India may seem the choice to win, you have to take into consideration the R factor. The rivalry between the two teams causes such an elevation in the quality of cricket overall, that both sides are so evenly matched, regardless of form leading into the series. I'd call an even split in a 10-game set.

Yeah, rivalries tend to do that. For example, let's look at the fierce England-West Indies rivalry. The West Indies really picked up their game in the home and away series and managed to draw them both against a (on paper) superior England side. Bravo to them.

 

[thierry henry]

imo the Indian side of the last 10 years (maybe of all-time, but I'm sticking with what I know best) has never broken out of the "pack", so to speak. Atm the pack consists of every team except Australia and England- which is not to say that England are anywhere near Australia, but rather that they are clearly second atm- and Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and probably the West Indies. Then you have the rest- NZ, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka- and there has rarely been much between them (with the exception of NZ prior to the late 90s, and quite possibly NZ in a year or two if they keep current form up.) Anyway, my point is that India have never done anything to prove that they have broken clear of the middle rungs in international cricket, and it's been incredibly annoying to hear people (esp. Indians and Australians) going on and on about India in recent years.

Anyone who thinks that India should be clear favourites against Pakistan is badly misled.

 

[Vroomfondel]

imo the Indian side of the last 10 years (maybe of all-time, but I'm sticking with what I know best) has never broken out of the "pack", so to speak. Atm the pack consists of every team except Australia and England- which is not to say that England are anywhere near Australia, but rather that they are clearly second atm- and Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, and probably the West Indies. Then you have the rest- NZ, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka- and there has rarely been much between them (with the exception of NZ prior to the late 90s, and quite possibly NZ in a year or two if they keep current form up.) Anyway, my point is that India have never done anything to prove that they have broken clear of the middle rungs in international cricket, and it's been incredibly annoying to hear people (esp. Indians and Australians) going on and on about India in recent years.

Anyone who thinks that India should be clear favourites against Pakistan is badly misled.

When India had drawn the test series against australia in aus, and then gone on to beat pakistan in pakistan -- odis and tests -- I would have said that there was a certain amount of "seperation" between india and the rest (bar aus and eng).

A lot of us though that this high point was a stepping stone to greatness, but what followed were decidedly poor performances against SA, (even bangladesh), and Aus in India. This "surprise result" against pakistan shouldn't have been a surprise at all -- we had been evaluating the indian team on past performance and not on current form.

 

[SJS]

A lot of us though that this high point was a stepping stone to greatness, but what followed were decidedly poor performances against SA, (even bangladesh), and Aus in India. This "surprise result" against pakistan shouldn't have been a surprise at all -- we had been evaluating the indian team on past performance and not on current form.

Good point.

India's performance since the tour to Pakistan has been patchy at best. In batting, Dravid and Sehwag have been the only ones to have consistently done well. Sachin has picked up but is no where near his best. Laxman has been in a mediocre phase and Ganguly in one of his worst.

In bowling, the upcoming young medium pacers who seemed to be coming into their own first in Australia and then in Pakistan have shown major decline.

Pathan has lost his inswinger and with it his effectiveness. Zaheer is a shadow of the bowler he was a few years ago though in between he picked up for a couple of games. Balaji was hit by injury as well as lack of form though has come back in this series.
Nehra has been nowhere.

So clearly a lot has gone wrong with a side where every one, Sehwag, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Tendulkar and even Chopra performed in Australia and Kumble, Harbhajan(when available), Pathan, Balaji, Nehra and even Agarkar seemed to be close to their best.

Yes this team has lost it so suddenly that it is difficult to see what has gone wrong.

I had mentioned during and after the Pakistan series that things dont seem to be going well and had cited instances from the declaration when Tendulkar was close to a double, to persisting with Patel, Insistence on trying Yuvraj in the opening etc as things that may split this team and the unity may vanish.

I recieved a lot of heckling then but I havent seen anything since then to convince me that this is the same TEAM INDIA of 2003-2004.

There is more wrong with this team than individual form and performances. I hope I am wrong, but if I am not then maybe we are in real serious trouble and persisting with Ganguly as captain may not be such a great idea.

 

[honestbharani]

I have a little theory on that Multan declaration and I never said this anywhere because I wanted to let things slide at that point. If I had said this then, I am sure I would have had very heated reactions. But I think what must have happened (and remember this is a guy who is speculating from his armchair having followed the game on TV) was that Sourav must have told Sachin that he wanted 15 overs at the Pakistan side that evening and therefore, must have asked Sachin to bat positively. And Sachin, as he usually does when he is near a landmark, cut out the airy shots and played a rather defensive game and with the field that was set, he was still getting 4 an over easily with singles. But Sourav, who seems to be a sort of a person who likes to see his commands being obeyed, may have taken exception to that and gotten angry and in a fit of rage, may have just declared on Sachin. I leave it up to you guys to work out who is right and who is wrong if this was indeed what happened, but one point I am fairly certain about is that it must have been Sourav who would have declared. I can swear I saw him say something to Dravid juz before getting up and walking away into the dressing room an over before the declaration. Again, it is all conjecture and arm chair reasoning, but might make for interesting discussion.

 

[Mr Mxyzptlk]

Yeah, rivalries tend to do that. For example, let's look at the fierce England-West Indies rivalry. The West Indies really picked up their game in the home and away series and managed to draw them both against a (on paper) superior England side. Bravo to them.

Sir, the West Indies-England "rivalry" is nothing as compared to that of India-Pakistan. Add that to the fact that the West Indies thrashed England so frequently in past years, that it was about time England did the same, which accounts for my suggestion.

Your pathetic attempts to disprove this argument based on bias against a particular team have been exposed. Please try again, with more sense and less emotion this time.

 

[Swervy]

I disagree. Whilst looking at the two teams India may seem the choice to win, you have to take into consideration the R factor. The rivalry between the two teams causes such an elevation in the quality of cricket overall, that both sides are so evenly matched, regardless of form leading into the series. I'd call an even split in a 10-game set.

fair point..however I would trust the talent of a team a bit more in the long run..and I do think India are a more talented side....Pakistan for me have a ton of talent weaknesses, but make up for it with 'fight'..that can get you through for a short time, but over time, that resolve tends to weaken I think.

 

[neutralguy]

Sir, the West Indies-England "rivalry" is nothing as compared to that of India-Pakistan. Add that to the fact that the West Indies thrashed England so frequently in past years, that it was about time England did the same, which accounts for my suggestion.

Your pathetic attempts to disprove this argument based on bias against a particular team have been exposed. Please try again, with more sense and less emotion this time.

I do fully agree with your comments. England-west indies test matches are the most boring ones offlate, as england end up winning most of matches. Its just like watching another australia match where aussies thrash all the other teams and win.