Happy New Year!

Since the ODI World Cup victory MS Dhoni has come to be associated with a lot of first-evers of a kind he isn’t used to. Under him India has lost it’s first ever series at home in years, lost nine out of the last ten tests and some such. Now, that India has lost the mother of all battles, the sentiment attached to every India-Pakistan tie, would the selectors finally give him the axe?

The loss at Eden Gardens in the second ODI against Pakistan isn’t shocking or even surprising. Imagine you have 15 players to make the playing 11. Try every combination possible and you’d know that the basic composition of the team can’t change beyond a level and so wouldn’t it be stupid to think that picking or dropping a few players make all the difference. The fabled Indian batting line-up has been failing consistently and barring T-20 no other version seems to make these players perform. Our bowling isn’t anything to write home about but it becomes more pedestrian when the batting line-up can’t match a score under 300.

Watching the all-round performance of the team in both tests and ODIs it’s abundantly clear that this sorry state can’t be blamed on bad form. It’s the temperament of the players that is ensuring that they don’t put in their bets every time they go out there. Also the captain’s responsibility extends beyond the players and if the captain can be lauded for inspiring victories then the he must be accountable for the regular losses. One of the main reasons for this attitude on MS Dhoni’s part could be the lack of personal goals. MSD was always more keen on ODIs and T20s so every time he plays in white you see a marked difference. The time the team was doing well was when the seniors consisting of stalwarts like Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly were around. These were men who valued tests more than anything and since they have left Dhoni is leading a bunch of players who, left to their better judgment, can’t really think beyond the ball the are facing. Even after a decade a Virender Sehwag stops from applying himself in the name of natural ability and Gautam Gambhir, a one time serious threat to Dhoni, can’t get over being ill treated by selectors.

Two overseas series where they got a drubbing of their lives, consistent under performance and now a loss to arch rivals Pakistan…what does it say about the present state of Indian cricket? Well, the players simply tell themselves T20 is the future and guess what when you have a Board that puts economics ahead of everything else can we really blame the players? This is a wake call not because the loss to Australia in Australia and to England in England as well as at home was big enough. Rather if an Indian team doesn’t have it them anymore to evoke passion against Pakistan then the Board would really be worried.

 The article was originally appeared in Buzz in Town