By Brian Thomas
Go for Gold.
Many cricket lovers will define the whitewash India suffered at the hands of New Zealand, and that too in their own backyard as a Ripley’s believe it or not scenario.
Indian Media, prior to the Kiwi visit, penned down that the Black caps will be the whipping boys of India before their 5 Test series against Australia this summer.
I suppose they came to that conclusion after the Sri Lankans dished out a whitewash to the Black Caps in Sri Lanka prior to their tour of India
The media was also encouraged by the remarks Ravi Sharstri made that Sri Lanka was hopeless and would not stand a chance to play in the ICC Test Match finals next year at Lords. He backed India, who led the points table before the Kiwi tour.
The big debate is India taking red ball cricket with a pinch of salt. Their batters are the best against any spin attack in the world. They struggled against the Kiwis Spin attack in their own backyard and to lose a Test series 3-nil is too bitter a pill to swallow.
I remember my fellow journalist Pelham Juriansz , stating when India was dominating T 20 cricket through their lucrative IPL, that India might struggle against the red ball because T 20 batting virus can creep into their Willow and can have a major impact on their footwork against the red ball format which is the real test in Cricket.
White ball cricket is a flash in the pan, and his views seem Gospel because watching India bat was a nightmare to an Indian fan.
Many think media hype, lucrative pay packets , Bollywood tape of hero worship on their players with huge sums of money paid to their leading Cricketers by respective franchise owners could be a part of the decline. We cannot rule out that possibility.
India have had a few problems in recent times. They lost a one-day series to Sri Lanka. Indian Women’s team lost the Asia cup after being favourites, their lasses were knocked out in the World Cup T 20 multi Nation tournament in the league stage in UAE, and still surprisingly the men’s team was placed last in the Hong-Kong Sixes.
King Kohli and Rohit Sharma are they taking a nosedive with age and eye sight taking its toll.
Two of the world’s leading batters Virat Kholi and Babar Azam have been on a steady decline, their statistics in recent performances has the tale recorded in bold figures.
India will not have an easy time Down Under this summer. The mighty Aussies have a score to settle with the rich boys of Indian Cricket.
The biased Indian Cricket commentators are not doing Indian Cricket any favour, they are over hyping their players to keep the BCCI happy. They are singing for their supper all of them. Jasprit Bumrah, who actually learnt the decisive art of toe crusher from Lasith Malinga, might breakdown due to his heavy load in both national and franchise cricket.
India, with so much of abundant talent and resources, today, are like spoilt kids, too many toys in the play pan, don’t know what toy to play with. Selectors can’t get the proper combination in the park. Too many players to choose from.
Sadly, the average Indian supporter are hero worshipers of Bollywood stars and National Cricketers. The latest is a leading franchise owner who has been tagged as the Goddess of Prosperity.
Bollywood stars are human, players are human, I am not too sure about fame getting into the heads of Bollywood stars, however, fame into the heads of players will result in more whitewash results in their own backyard.
Finally, Congratulations to Pakistan winning the home series against England. They too learnt from their neighbours Sri Lanka spin to win.