Has Team India Squandered its Home Advantage by hosting IPL Periodically?

What you have got right is the stats. They say that, after the IPL we have not done really well. So you have the stats to back you up on that. But I don’t think it’s for the IPL to be blamed if you say we have not done well after IPL?

We are going to have seventh season of IPL in April this year. But the first leg of the tournament will be based in Sharjah, UAE. This is one of the most paid paper view event that takes place every year. With international players from almost all countries except Pakistan (for obvious reasons) for allowed to participate in this event it is a tournament that gets most revenues through advertisements. Yes it is true that we have now been accustomed to seeing this slam-bang tournament and twenty20 format has been a big hit. But have you ever wondered what this tournament has done to Indian cricket.

Earlier when any team used to travel India they always had tough times accumulating to the climate and temperature in this country. But now with most of the international players participating in IPL the temperature and climate aspect has been negated. The most obvious reason for that being players have become quite used to the slowness and lack of bounce in the Indian conditions. They can now practice effectively during their IPL stints and then come back to tour India for a test and one day series. So; while the Indian team was a lion at home and a mere sheep in abroad conditions now it has turned itself into the situation where they are easily tackled in the home conditions. An English team tours India who are not very accustomed to playing spinners lose the first test match badly and then turn things around to win the test series. This is a big blow to the supremacy of Indian cricket especially if the home conditions are concerned.

The greatest of all the things was the manner in which India lost the test series. Guys like Kevin Petiersen, Eoin Morgon, etc. have already taken part in IPL. In fact; due to their IPL exposure they were able to score freely in India. So now the question is whether team India has lost the firm grip that it once had in home conditions. The answer to this lies in the shortest format of the game. With four over spells of bowlers there is hardly anything to do for a bowler especially an Indian bowler as he cannot take wickets. If a guy like Lasith Malinga and Dale Steyn can get wickets at will in India why can’t Indian bowlers. Whenever team India goes abroad they are always questioned whether they have bowlers to take 20 wickets. So the ultimate question is by letting foreign players get exposure of home conditions is the Indian team grooming new talent or ploughing its own grave. The other major question is whether twenty20 is the future of cricket. Are we not going to see test cricket which is considered to be the ultimate test of batsmen and bowlers as the ultimate hurdle for quality batsmen.

My major concern is that with so much of money at stake in twenty20 tournaments when a hitter like Chris Gayle can become a nomad and travel to different countries to represent their twenty20 tournaments are we seeing new brand of cricketers developing? Home advantage used to be a big plus for the home team but now with cricket becoming a global sporting game this home and away format has little importance. I can imagine a situation where the Indian team in the distant future will start losing their home test matches as well.

Once that is done and dusted; the dawn of Indian cricket will not be too far. So the best thing for the Indian team would be to concentrate on their brand of cricket by having home conditions advantage at their disposal. They can always play the twenty20 tournaments but not India. This is a very serious issue which needs to be resolved very quickly. Due to this quick-fix format we have already lot quite a few test series in England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. Even losing the one-day series in these tours was the most disheartening thing especially after being titled as the world champions in the year 2011.

Series	Year	Winner	Margin of Victory
India in Sri Lanka Test Series	2008	Sri Lanka	2-1 (3)
Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India)	2008/09	India	2-0 (4)
England in India Test Series	2008/09	India	1-0 (2)
India in New Zealand Test Series	2008/09	India	1-0 (3)
Sri Lanka in India Test Series	2009/10	India	2-0 (3)
India in Bangladesh Test Series	2009/10	India	2-0 (2)
South Africa in India Test Series	2009/10	drawn	1-1 (2)
India in Sri Lanka Test Series	2010	drawn	1-1 (3)
Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India)	2010/11	India	2-0 (2)
New Zealand in India Test Series	2010/11	India	1-0 (3)
India in South Africa Test Series	2010/11	drawn	1-1 (3)
India in West Indies Test Series	2011	India	1-0 (3)
Pataudi Trophy (India in England)	2011	England	4-0 (4)
West Indies in India Test Series	2011/12	India	2-0 (3)
Border-Gavaskar Trophy (India in Australia)	2011/12	Australia	4-0 (4)
New Zealand in India Test Series	2012	India	2-0 (2)
England in India Test Series	2012/13	England	2-1 (4)
Border-Gavaskar Trophy (Australia in India)	2012/13	India	4-0 (4)
West Indies in India Test Series	2013/14	India	2-0 (2)
India in South Africa Test Series	2013/14	South Africa	1-0 (2)
India in New Zealand Test Series	2013/14	New Zealand	1-0 (2)

I am not against twenty20. It is one of the most entertaining formats which has to be played especially in Olympics. But to make a league match scenario and a tournament of 60 days is a bit too harsh on today’s cricketers. The best thing would be to play the tournament outside India so that the home advantage is not lost and India can at least win their home tournaments.

I know many of you might be against this as you enjoy IPL. Even I, being a cricket enthusiast, am very happy to have the thrill and shrill in 3 hours’ time. But if Indian team does not win any matches in India; it would be a big disappointment for us as fans of Indian cricket. So something has to be foregone in order to make team India the unbeatable force that each and every Indian wants to see. Please share your thoughts and comments with us.

India team without MS Dhoni is just like a knife without sharpness

There was lot of anticipation when Indian team went to Bangladesh for their cricketing stint in the recently concluded Asia Cup. The most happening debate was the leadership skills of Virat Kohli in the absence of MS Dhoni. It has to be note that he was the lone batsman that has shown the temperament of scoring big runs in tours of South Africa and New Zealand. Now that the dismal tours have ended it was the right moment to see whether he can showcase his talent as a captain in the Asian tournament. Lots of new players were there in the set up but the absence of MS Dhoni made a major void to fill. With newcomers coming into the team at the expense of experienced players like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yousuf Pathan it was bad news for the Indian team from the start. But it also gave seasoned campaigners like Dinesh Karthik to make their presence felt before the world cup to be played in New Zealand, Australia.

With two of the five cricketing nations being “minnows”; it was apt for the Indian fans to hope for a win against either Sri Lanka or arch-rivals Pakistan. Lot of things were said about the leadership qualities of Virat Kohli. There is no looking back at Virat Kohli, the batsman. We all know he is the next best thing that has happened in the cricketing fraternity after the retirement of Sachin Tendulkar. He has even been compared to the great Vivian Richards; but his leadership skills were put to laser sword in this tournament. Virat Kohli’s captainship skills are good but can be improved. But he has shown glimpses of turning into a great leader in the two matches that were played against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. It is a completely different matter that he was not able to convert the close matches into victories. But if we look at the changed fielding restrictions after the year 2012 to defend the scores of 264& 245;then to take the opponents to the 50^th over was something to be seen. There were couple of close calls; but in the end the bottom-line is India lost.

But the question is how can Indian team consider this tournament as inconsequential when teams like Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and to an extent Afghanistan are looking at this tournament as a big opportunity to acclimatize in Bangladesh conditions. If MS Dhoni would have been there the scenario would have been a lot better. We all know MS Dhoni is recognized as a world-class finisher in the cricketing fraternity. Some of the matches showed how dearly Indian team missed his services. There were times when the score would have been up by 20-30 runs by his mere presence. Furthermore; there is no question that if he would have been there it would have been a great chance to get much needed match practice before the World T20 to be held in the same country. The advantage with Indian team is that BCCI has all the cards in the meetings with ICC. BCCI gives all the advantage to the Indian team by providing them an opportunity to fare better of their opponents in the same location where World T20 is going to be held.  Now if MS Dhoni decides to rest in this situation it has to be said that the end purpose of participating in this event is foregone. We all know MS Dhoni can turn a match at its head; if he is given an opportunity with the help of his much wanted unorthodox helicopter shot. His leadership skills are also something which India missed in the concluded Asia Cup.

One more thing that was learnt was the fact that Indian bench strength is very weak. These cricketers do not have the passion to succeed at international level. MS Dhoni has at least been able to withhold the opponents in sub-continent conditions. After the disappointing tours of South Africa and New Zealand; it was opportune time for the Indian team to look good. Even if it was in the sub-continent conditions; these are the same conditions where Rohit Sharma showed his prowess by scoring double century against West Indies. With the likes of Yuvraj Singh andSuresh Rainato be a part of World T20; it would be another run feast for Indian cricket team. That is the least an Indian cricket fan can expect. MS Dhoni is one of the coolest captains that we have seen for a long time and hoping against hope the one thing that we are expecting is to turn the tides towards the Indian side in this mega event.

These statistics do not show the importance of MS Dhoni as a finisher. He usually comes at the fag-end of the innings and elegantly finishes off the game with style.

Batting Performance Analysis

	Matches	Innings	N.O.	Runs	HS	Avg.	S/R	100s	50s	4s	6s	Ct
ODI	243	215	64	8,046	183	53.28	89.22	9	54	625	-	224
Tests	82	129	15	4,391	224	38.52	59.85	6	28	475	-	220
Twenty20	43	40	16	772	48	32.17	114.88	-	-	53	-	22
IPL	96	84	25	2244	70	38.03	141.22	-	13	169	89	66

Let me rest my case by saying that Indians had a better chance of winning or at least being in the finals of Asia Cup let alone by his batting prowess. In his leadership; India has won two major world tournaments World T20 in the year 2007 and then World Cup in the year 2011. Let us hope that this time around with his batting skills and leadership prowess; he can turn it around to bring the World T20 this year and World Cup the next year.