Team India: Succumb to a crushing defeat

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Team India: Succumb to a crushing defeat

India's first performance in the World Cup was a huge disappointment. Their shameful defeat to Bangladesh shattered the hopes of a million cricket fans and appointed the need for our players to gear up before it is too late

CJ: Ranja

Sun, Mar 18, 2007 00:00:00 IST

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INDIA’S FIRST PERFORMANCE in the World Cup shocked the nation and left thousands of cricket fans bewildered. It was indeed a depressing show that broke a million hearts across the globe. If there was ever a reason to disqualify a side for an awful performance, India has given enough fuel to warrant a change in the rules to accommodate such an alteration!

Congratulations to the Bangladeshis who must bid adieu to the minnow tag after their convincing and clinical victory over India. Welcome to a world of better pay packages and better incentives minus the ridicule that seems to be attached to the minor status. It was a fantastic display of application, pride and guts by Bangladesh. Kudos to the players and their coach for putting up a brilliant display of strategies and skills.

For the sake of preserving my sanity and suppressing my anger, I shall employ brevity to make the following points:

Dravid should learn to read the pitches properly. Maybe he needs a grass course.

Sehwag needs to be dropped. He is a liability who fails to offer much as a batsman. Talking of him being a match-winner is a bit stale now.

Batsmen need to put runs on the board. If the going gets tough, the tough get going to the pavilion. It doesn’t work that way. Batsmen need to demonstrate some application.

Congrats to Ganguly for another well made 50. He has averaged over 60 since his comeback to the Indian team. Maybe some batsmen in the Indian team need to be treated like him when he was dropped. Apparently, it does them good.

Dravid needs to be proactive as a Captain and needs to refrain from clinging onto insipid bowling combinations. In ODI cricket, time and overs are at a premium.

Chappell was an admirable batsman though cheap talk lands you nowhere. We want results when it matters. What good are Coaches and cling-ons if a dashing opening batsman turns into a novice and a promising bowler becomes a batsman? Sehwag and Pathan are testimony of things that have gone from bad to worse.

India doesn’t need excess baggage.

The India v Sri Lanka game could well be sudden death. India is likely to take us through another excruciating experience.

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Posted comments (8)

	What I want to say about our team pertains not so much to their defeat to Bagladesh (who played exceptionally well), but to our team in general.Apart from changing a whole lot of things with our system, the most essential thing we need to change is our selection process. The emphasis should be on selecting individuals who are excellent atheletes, though they maybe a little short on talent. If we continue to take players who are talented but sloppy runners or poor fielders our end is not too far.Twenty years down the road I am afraid the fate of cricket will be the same as hockey if we don't change. And the only reason we enjoy the success we do is because cricket is still far from a global game, the day it goes global we will be canned!! Watching teams like Banladesh and Ireland, that day is not far.
	\| 20 March 2007 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse

	India�s five-wicket loss to Bangladesh is perhaps the most horrible and humiliating defeats I have ever seen.We planned badly, batted poorly and there is absolutely no excuse we can fall back on. While Sourav Ganguly played the right shots, the others could not back him up.If Ganguly�s and Yuvraj Singh�s strategy of settling in and playing across field could work, it�s difficult to understand why the others could not follow suit.Which brings me to another significant point - the role of Virendra Sehwag. Now, one cannot blame Sehwag for playing wrong all the time. Maybe he should take a break from One-Day cricket and not play at all for some time.But having said that, I should reiterate that the way we planned our batting was absolutely ridiculous.India are considered "world�s best batting lineup" and are supposed to be great players of spin. And here were Bangladeshi bowlers, doing nothing out of the ordinary, but simply bowling stump-to-stump.So, if Indians can�t adopt and adapt to the basic bowling, then God save Indian cricket!I would also say that Indian bowlers have a lesson or two to take from the Bangladeshies in this department.Another problem with our strategy was that we were way too careful, too much into the shell. In One-Day cricket, one�s got to keep the scoreboard ticking by putting up runs. That was simply not happening.Also, India miserably failed to rotate the strike - another reason for the slow rate and the ultimate collapse.What happens in such situations is that the pressure mounts up on players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, who then try to go the "bang-slam" way and lose their wickets.One-Day cricket is not about going into the shell or hitting it too hard. It should be a balance between careful and offensive tactics. This is what makes for sensible cricket.For example, Bangladeshi opener Thamim showed how playing too safe doesn�t work. He played a good, solid innings and did all the right things, unlike the famed Indian lineup.
	\| 18 March 2007 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse

hey dude...u just copied Krish Srikkanth's entire article and posted it as if it were ur response! Write ur own stuff man!

Clone | 19 March 2007

	its rage flowing through my viens rather than blood.these shameless creature who are worshipped as demigods did't even gave bangladesh a fight..these money mongering morons dont't deserve to don the tricolors ...they will bring nothing but shame to the tricolor....they dont know what fighting is ....the pestisides in pepsi runs in their viens.....perinnialy waxing their legs getting and edorsing biscuits...hatsoff to bangladesh and Dave Whatemore....he has made tigers out of teenager....what a sight it was ...zaheer khan with egg on his face....he could have rightfullly demanded isha shravani on the tour and hid in her lap when the bangladeshi teenager growled with his bat....sehwag .....less said the better...bishan singh bedi endorsed him over uthapa talking all that crap about class permanent and form temporary ....all that went for a toss as the bangla teen tigers slaped punched kicked and bashed up the indian....really kicked some ass..u saw these morons just strolling around the ground without ne purpose in mind ...munaf patel lookes like a old house wife moving around with a lot of difficulty..dravid was as un-inspired as it gets..dhoni was as good as a female model on a ramp...while these bangla teens flew around like men possesed ....u could just feel the blood ,the heat the purpose..as if saying we told u so!!u err and we would do nothing less than whack u out of the park.....u men.....i will correct my self WOMEN in blue come back and we have some bangles , bindi and petticoat ready for u!!!cowards u r and COWARDS u will remain
	\| 18 March 2007 Reply to Comment \| New Comment \| Report Abuse

Relax!!!!Dude...RELAX!!!Chill ...take it easy...its just one bad day...one bad game...there is still hope...its just an upset.To b honest,Team India had a long break after their warm-ups...and I think tats wat undid India...u cud just see their rustiness out there...its very difficult to get back to basics after a break...and 9 days without a game is quite a long break especially is such a tournament.India is a gud team...who can beat even the world champions...its just tat no one expected wat wud happen yesterday...and bout India not fighting...I think u r wrong there....they did give a fight...or I dont think Bangladesh wud have needed 48.3 overs to chase 191 even f its against India.And I dont think they wanted to lose the match yesterday...u cud see it from their faces and the dejection...come on....spare a thought for the players...support them wen they really need it.Everyday is not a sunday...its a completely different ball game wen u r playin for ur country.Try to be in the players' shoes and try to imagine wats goin on thru them...the expectations of a billion ppl...the tension...the pressure of winning the next 2 games to qualify for the super 8s...the protests back home...ppl...the Indians need our support not our anger.Lets support it wen they really need it...like Dravid said...they cant let the supporters down...they know it and they r tryin their best....its just tat they were beaten by a better team on their day...come on ppl...its not a disgrace to lose to a better team even if its a minnow...its a sport...and it needs to be taken in the rite spirit.Now all tats required is to stand by the team and support them for they need our support.

giftson.mali akkal@gmail. com | 18 March 2007

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