SHUT THE MOUTH PLEASE! ! !. Review on Indian Oil Cup Tri-Series 2005

This mouthshut is for some of the great Indian public and some of the great Indian players. India again lost a final despite coming very close to an undeserving victory. There are several reasons which led to this demolition and which could have been avoided easily. Sri Lanka played exceptionally well as they always play on their home turf but could have been outplayed had the Indians improvised a bit on their weaknesses. There are comments still echoing in my ears dropped from here and there, in small and large numbers on the possible reasons behind this loss. Someone said Dravid’s captaincy was horrible, someone cried what are these five bowlers doing in the team? But the fact is that these comments are more from the heart than from the mind. Indian public invest lot of their time in watching these great games. So these comments are just blustering of their angers which calm down slowly in 1 day or so. Had India won the match, the entire scenario would have been different. Me myself invest my precious time in these unprofitable ventures. So my personal viewpoints are also there but more from the mind than from the heart. Apart from playing badly the possible reasons, I believe, behind this saga of losing finals are:1) Over-reactions/aggresiveness: How dare Harbhajan shouted (and also abused) on Ashish Nehra that he should not be fielding so deep on the bowling of a spinner. What followed next is the same abuse from Nehra. Why does the players always loose their cool after getting hammered from the opposition? In this respect Sri Lanka always showed “ KYA KOOL HAI HUM”. That was, I believe, one of the main reasons behind Sri Lanka's victory in the final. There are several instances when Indian players spend their frustration on their own mates. This affects their bowling and fielding too. These are not at all justifiable. They also over-react sometimes when they bowl a good delivery. Zaheer Khan, Pathan and Harbhajan have this tendency of commenting to the batsman after each good delivery. They should learn something from Nehra in this case. These are petty things but have its importance also. 2) Absence of strategies: India never do their homework properly. They just come on the field thinking that they have to give their best. Arrey bhai, this is international cricket. You can’t win without planning some strategies. Infact it’s the responsibility of mainly coach and captain to prepare the same. For instance, in this final India were knowing that Dhoni is an inexperienced batsman, he will not be able to play Murali and Chandana. When Sehwag got out, instead of sending Dravid who can play spinners very well, Dhoni or Pathan could have been sent at that point of time. That would have make a major difference. Also when you are playing five bowlers, you need to utilise them in the best possible way. In this context, I think, dravid was a bit failure. Fielding should be set according to the bowling and vice-versa. In case of Jayasuriya, there should be a fielder in deep mid-wicket position everytime but this is done only after he has played some of the delicious shots there. So I don’t think playing five bowlers was wrong, they were not used in the right way.3) Slow running: I don’t think India will ever improve in this aspect. Particularly Ganguly and Laxman! They do not feel the need of taking an extra run. No no. Ganguly feel always when it comes off his bat. He is very much concerned of his runs. In this final only when Ashoka Desilva mistakenly (as he always) gave a four runs bye which was actually off the bat of Ganguly and missed by Sangakkara, Ganguly immediately pointed to both the umpires about the same. If Sangakkara would have hold that catch, I wonder what would be the ganguly’s facial expression? Having said that, Indians are also very careless in completing their run. This is a problem with Sehwag and Dravid also. Many times they do not put their bat on the crease after completing taking a run. In the last world cup final only, Mr. Sehwag succumbed to this disease. And in case of Ganguly and Laxman, I think, I have to count. These are very acute problems and need to be reviewed as soon as possible.4) Lack of Professionalism: India need to learn this from Australia. Indian team management is very much kind or you can say sympathetic to their players. Till today I could not understand what Parthiv Patel was doing in the team for so long years. There are many players in the team who take their place granted after playing 2 or three great innings. I am not saying that they should be sacked immediately. Our domestic cricket should be structured in a way so that after getting chance in the international cricket players would be playing with a great deal of confidence and they would be knowing what consistency means. Recently only Zaheer khan was given more preference than Balaji for the sole reason that he is more experienced than him. I do not remember Balaji playing badly in any of the past series but Zaheer’s performance was simply pathetic. They need to be a bit harsh on their players so that they learn the importance of a place in the national team. In this context I would also like to say that in the recent going ashes series Australia is also not doing right by playing Hayden and Gillespie. Gillespie should not at all be preferred above Kasprowicz. Having said that, strict rules should also be laid down in the domestic cricket for the bowlers and fielders too. Bowlers should be made to pay a fine if they cross a certain no. of no balls and wides. In case of fielders, missing a certain no. of catches should be the norm. This may seem to be a bit harsh but you have to do these all in order to be competent. That’s what professionalism means and that’s what India need. Indian players have lots of talent in them. Their playing techniques are far better than other teams’ players. Problem is that they become over-complacent most of the time. And for that, I think, you need to put emphasis on all the above things.Now it’s your time to open your mouth. Your time starts now.