The future of Indian cricket - Opinion
Prior to the 2000s, India was no more than an above average team in the global circuit because of its inability to deliver the goods away from home. Apart from the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 Cricket World Cup triumph in 1983, there are very few foreign achievements on which the
country can feel proud of.
The situation however, started to ameliorate under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy in the early 2000s, with Rahul Dravid and http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 taking things forward in the coming years.
A run of consistent performances in the longer version of the game, at home and away, made India the world’s number one ranked Test team in 2009. Their performance however, has deteriorated since last year, slipping down the rankings in all formats of the
game.
Two of the country’s best Test batsmen, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772, have called it a day from international sport this year, leaving behind a couple of vacant spots in the batting line-up. It remains to be seen whether the youngster will be able to fill
the void left by the legendary batsmen or not.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Kohli-c2737 looks a class act and no one can question his talent, but Suresh
Raina has always been vulnerable in the white kits. It remains to be seen if the left-hander learns from his past mistakes and occupies his place in the side or not.
Harsha Bhogle, the famous Indian cricket journalist, has slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for its short-sightedness and has urged the authorities to start building a team for the future.
In his recent article for ESPNcricinfo, Bhogle expressed his reservations about the future of Indian cricket. He believes that many senior players will retire from international cricket in a couple of years’ time and the BCCI must start to prepare
the youngsters for the upcoming challenges. The cricket commentator is not happy with the selection committee, headed by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Krishnamachari-Srikkanth-c71750.
"By end 2013, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/V-Sehwag-c2739 and MS Dhoni. It also means that replacement players must start finding their feet around now. Maybe that is for a new set of selectors
to do," he wrote.
Since India’s debacle in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 in the previous season, there has been immense criticism on the senior players for their poor performance and some of the analysts believe that the likes of Tendulkar, Sehwag and Zaheer should also make way
for the youngsters.
Bhogle is of the view that if India wants to regain the title of the best Test team of the globe; the authorities must start planing for the long-run.
He added, "Currently the only people worried about that seem to be columnists! Indian cricket needs the alacrity shown on issues like television rights and franchise defaults to apply in areas like nurturing bowling as well. Without that, the No. 1 spot
will never return."
One thing is for sure that the Men in Blue cannot regain their pride in Test cricket by just doing well in the sub-continent. Instead of preparing slow and low tracks at home to assist their spinners, India has to start making supporting pitches, which will
also train them to do well in countries like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, Australia and England, where fast bowlers decide the fate of a match.
On top of everything, the BCCI has to understand that international cricket should be the priority of every players as well as the management. Some of the legends of the game like http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Michael-Anthony-Holding-c75756 are of the view that the
Indian Premier League is curse for the future of Indian cricket.
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