Taking the recent performance history of these two teams into account it is markedly visible that the current Hockey team is shining while Cricket team is fading. The Hockey team had been failing to impress in the last few years. Though the team won the 2011 Asian Champions Trophy by defeating Pakistan, it managed to win Silver in 2010 Commonwealth Games. It performed badly and finished 8th in the Hockey World Cup 2010, held in New Delhi. The team had also experienced some major crises as there was so much furore in the Hockey Federation. The problem over appointing a proper and full-time coach had also bottlenecked the team’s preparation. (Australian Michael Jack Nobbs was appointed as India’s Hockey coach for a five-year period after the job was left vacant by Spaniard Jose Brasa in 2011.) Despite all these odds, the team worked hard and gathered momentum; as a result it scripted an entry into the much-respected Olympics.

But the story of the current Indian Cricket team is not as inspiring. The Men in Blue wrote history clinching the 2011 World Cup after a long wait of 28 years. Since then, the team has been performing badly. The history of the team’s performances overseas has been shocking and needs to be looked into. One can easily cite the example of the series played recently against England in 2011 and Australia this year. The team is back against the wall and crumbling over some idiotic reasons. The team has been divided into groups and the senior players’ performances have been questioned. Where Laxman has not been able to produce any significant score, Sachin is still hanging on his hundredth ton. No one can ask Sehwag to change his batting style though he has been failing to impress in both the formats. The appointment of Duncan Fletcher as a coach has not yielded any fruits yet. Thus, with these problems, the Indian team is struggling to post any convincing win in any format, though they are the World Champions.

It’s high time the Indian cricket team realised its mistakes and should do away with infighting. They should know their roles and find the winning formula. And Hockey team should not be complacent and focus on the Olympics.