Is Indian cricket ‘spinning’ away from the craft?

Less than six weeks from winning a heart-stopping thriller of a final at West Indies during the T20 World Cup tournament and barely ten days after blanking the hosts Sri Lanka 3-0 in a bilateral T20 series, Indian cricket team has hit a rare, hitherto unseen rough patch in the ODI format.

What has happened suddenly to this team, which has remained on top in both the formats for a long time now, with no real opposition seen from many opponents, least of all the island cricketers who have been at the receiving end for years together now?

An excerpt from a revealing report on the renowned cricketing website Cricinfo says: ‘This Sri Lanka team, ranked seventh in ODIs, who finished ninth in last year’s World Cup and as such have not qualified for the Champions Trophy, who struggle to get their seam bowlers on the field, and who haven’t made a global-tournament semi-final in 10 years, has asked some serious questions of an India side whose ambitions are world domination.’

Lording over world cricket affairs, owing to its financial clout, with fanatical followers of the game all over the globe and huge monetary deals as sponsorships and bids, Indian cricket is at the pinnacle of the game, both figuratively and otherwise for a decade and more now.

For such a country to sustain its supremacy should not be, ideally an issue. Yet, the Indian cricket team has over the years faltered at the final stage in multinational tournaments after raising hopes of its die-hard fans. Recent examples are the ODI World Cup held at home and the World Test Championship, two times in a row.

Of course, with public memory being short, the recent triumph of the T20 tournament, which is the most popular among the fans all over, must have made them happy that their boys are back to their winning ways. Till the recent crashing defeat at Colombo, where the locals whipped the visitors 2-0.

It is still not clear what the impact of interim coach Sanath Jayasuriya, the tormentor of Indian cricket teams for a long time nearly three decades ago has had on his younger colleagues. For sure, he enjoyed playing against the Indian cricket teams who were off-colour and saw themselves being outplayed during the 1996 World Cup.

He has to be credited for getting a rare bit of glory for the home team by defeating India convincingly in a format after 27 years. Coming on the back of the women’s cricket team also defeating India in the finals of the ACC Women’s Asia Cup, the Lankan cricket fans have good reasons to feel delirious.

What is likely to be an area of concern for the Indian team would be the manner in which their young players, used to hitting and playing aggressively on tame pitches in ‘masala’ matches like IPL, flounder on really testing grounds where the ball does a lot of talking. To see the likes of Virat Kohli, who has had a terrible time in Lanka, face the island spinners like a rookie is surely a revelation. The writing is on the wall, everyone concerned needs to take note of this. Urgently.