Of Experience and Judgment

With an average combined experience of 123 games per player, India can hardly take refuge in lack of experience as an explanation for their dismal show in South Africa.  But if Virender Sehwag’s post-match comments are to be believed, India’s most recent walloping at Port Elizabeth is due to the side’s “inexperience” and the resulting “pressure” that they have had to contend with.

Quite frankly, such excuses are unacceptable at the highest level of the game, and it is unlikely that Viru will find too many buyers for his argument. But what makes the statement even more bizarre is the fact that it was not the “inexperienced” members who lost the game for India – it’s the much-celebrated “seniors”, Sehwag included, who let their team down.

A quick glance through the scorecard shows that of the 163 runs that India eked out, only 48 came from the six more experienced (over 100 ODIs) players, including a significant contribution of 11 runs from Zaheer Khan at number 9. The remainder was notched up by the so-called “inexperienced” lot. Also, for the record, top scorer Irfan Pathan (47* in 55 balls, 4×4, 2×6) is only 22 years old and into just his third year of international cricket, while the lowest scorer Sachin Tendulkar (1 in 3 balls) is 33 and has been on the scene for 17 years.

I suppose it isn’t entirely surprising to find a careless comment like this coming from Sehwag, given that poor judgment and recklessness seem to characterize everything in his cricket nowadays. Fortunately, now that he has been vacated from the vice-captain position for the test series, we will be subjected to his displays of injudiciousness only on the field and not off it.

Outrage

After India’s annihilation at the hands of Australia in the Champions Trophy at Mohali, I was quite sure that this match would stay at the top of India’s list of most abject cricketing surrenders for some time to come. As it turns out, that was an overly optimistic expectation – the Men in Blue proved that new depths could be reached as early as the next time they stepped out on a cricket field. Ninety-one runs was all that they managed between them on a lively Kingsmead track, as India crashed to a humiliating 157 run defeat to South Africa in the first one-day international.

Predictably, the next morning’s papers devoted many column-centimetres to despondent first-pagers and editorials that mourned the demise of Indian cricket. Two days after the event, the articles have moved to the sports section, but the misery and exasperation are still intact. The news channels are yet to complete their gory post-mortems, which typically involve an irate ex-cricketer commenting on a host of depressing statistics that confirm that Indian cricket is indeed in the doldrums. The more adventurous channels have also taken to some fancy detective work, as they hunt for India’s leading cricketing ‘mujrim’. The anger has spilled over to Parliament as well, with Agriculture Minister (and BCCI chief) Sharad Pawar being taken to task by his friends in the opposition, over the wretched state of Indian cricket. Gears have changed from despair to fury. Clearly, we’re a nation outraged.

Outraged.

Are we really outraged? What if this same side wins the next match at Cape Town, where the flatter track should definitely be more to our liking? What if they go on to win the series? Will we still be outraged that we continue to be the most ill-equipped team in the world against genuine pace on bouncy wickets? Will we still argue that more quick and lively pitches should replace the dustbowls that we currently play domestic cricket on? Will we still ask why India’s itinerary over the last couple of years has not seen the side visit Australia, New Zealand, South Africa or England? Will we still question why Mohammad Kaif is forever a ‘junior’ member of the side who persistently needs to be shielded from top-class attacks? Will we still wonder why Ramesh Powar does not find a place in this squad despite some gutsy performances in the limited opportunities he has received? Will we still want to know why Munaf Patel has ‘developed’ from India’s quickest bowler ever, to a slow medium pacer who doesn’t challenge the speed gun any more? Will we still demand that Sharad Pawar and his BCCI cronies start delivering on the professionalization promise they made when they took office?

The answer is: we will not. We will stop questioning – and start rejoicing. We will start talking about a ‘renaissance’ in Indian cricket like we did a few months ago when India was on a winning roll. We will once again allow individual flashes of brilliance to blind us to the fact that, in a team sport, collective effort is the only route to sustained excellence. We will overlook India’s depleted bench strength, which is symptomatic of an archaic domestic cricket system that fosters mediocrity. We will start believing that the fourteen men we pick to represent us on the international stage are capable of rising above a rotten administration that cannot see beyond filling its coffers.

All this, of course, only till the next thundering defeat occurs. We will then be outraged all over again and start asking the same uncomfortable questions we are asking today. And as always, those who should be answering these questions won’t bother. Because they know that we are like weary travelers in a hot desert – not bothered about reaching the river as long as we keep getting a few drops of water to quench our thirst.

Blasts from the Past

Selected cricket articles I’ve written, some of which have been published on Sify Sports

• Cautious Optimism, the need of the hour – November 22, 2005
• Of Coaches and Administrators – May 21, 2005
• Battle Won … War Still Open – March 23, 2005
• 2004 – A Disappointing Year for Indian Cricket – January 27, 2005
• Indians on the Threshold of Greatness – January 13, 2004

Hope to have a lot more to say in the weeks and months to come, on Drinks Break!