Cricket in the subcontinent lately

Cricket has been quite depressing lately both on and off the field.

Be it India losing to the Srilankan minnows playing without the mighty Murali but still being able to bundle out the long battling line up of India in no time (if the new kid in the block Mithun could hit a score close to 50, the batting line up could be called long I guess).

Or be it the most disappointing moment for a billion cricket followers (especially Sehwag followers), when Sehwag was denied of a century that he actually completed with all honesty (not to mention about the dishonest Suraj aka run and Dive into the sea bowler).

Or the spot fixing scam that has hit the already deep in trouble Pakistan cricket.

And of course I am not getting into the post IPL fights and controversies going on between the Governing council and the ‘main hoon Don’ Modi. Cos the moment one starts talking about the IPL fiasco the debate could go on for years (just like modi sent a 15000 page reply! that can’t be read in a decade I guess) without any result.

First things first, though India reached the finals of the tri series (with newzeland and srilanka), each one of us was very sure that India did not deserve the place in the finals but luck I shall call it, that it did make it to the final but as it was supposed to end, it did! India lost shamefully. The batting performance of the team was not just below par, it was plain simple pathetic. Except for ‘THE’ Sehwag who after quite some time has come into form in ODI’s, the rest of the team seemed to be playing cricket in their colonies, playing lousy shots trying to while away time with nothing else to do. There’s no doubt that we had the best team on field that we could have had (I know we can keep arguing on whom we could have included or excluded) as each member in the playing eleven had a considerable experience playing international cricket, so no doubt about their abilities but execution was something that looked alien to them. I don’t deem it important to comment much on the Indian bowling as that has never been something as interesting to talk about, it always has been the weakest area of the Indian team in the last few years (once a bowler does well in a series, the next thing that happens to him is injury and we don’t see him for months together or he just loses his natural good skill as he’s too flattered with the hype and money he gets to his share).

As I see it, cricket in India may soon lose its charm in the near future as team India continues to perform miserably, accusing the board of tight schedules at times and other things at other times, never getting to the core  problem which is inconsistency and lack of focus. With the world cup coming up, a first round exit would be the first of these shockers that we may have to face apart from the retirement of the Master Blaster and probably two other maestros of Indian batting The Wall and Mr. Elegance (VVS if u dint get it at once). The lesser I speak about the fall of Indian cricket at this moment; the better it would be for me! ;)

It’s not a bit exciting to even think of the condition Pakistan cricket is in today. They can’t play the game against any cricketing country on their own field (I doubt if they get to do it themselves at all?) That’s just the tiniest of the problems for them at this moment. Not to forget the recent banning of ‘a lot’ of senior players for various periods in different cases and then revoking the ban on some of them and getting them back to the team instantly and just to mention, the drug abuse of two leading bowlers a few years back was like just not enough. Pakistan cricket looks nothing more than a comedy show on the television, every day you switch the television on, it reaches a new high in getting into trouble. The spot fixing report is told to be just a mole in the mountain.

In the last one year or so they have had at least 4 captains representing the national team in different tournaments and formats, with infighting being one of the major reasons of the teams’ problems. No one now wants to play cricket with them, English players in someway or the other are showing their disinterest in playing any further cricket against them in the near future at least (not to forget the world cup is just a few months away!). And as a result of the recent spot fixing allegations, a few player sponsors have immediately indicated their fear of not being in a position to sponsor these players anymore keeping in mind their own brand values. A situation where all the major sponsors call off their sponsorship deals with Pakistan cricket is not a very callous prediction to make I believe. If that happens, I don’t see Pakistan cricket getting back on its feet on the cricket field, not to forget there might be much more that could still happen to Pakistan cricket in the coming days keeping in mind how PCB is dealing with ICC lately.

Nothing is exciting talking about cricket in the Indian subcontinent at the moment, just hoping that the Champions League brings some excitement back to the otherwise gloomy outlook towards cricket.

Today’s Favorite Line – Only those who seek shall find

Today’s Favorite Song – Man Lafanga (Lafangey Parindey)