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 |
2008
|
Sri Lanka
|
2-1 (3)
|
|
2008/09
|
India
|
2-0 (4)
|
|
2008/09
|
India
|
1-0 (2)
|
|
2008/09
|
India
|
1-0 (3)
|
|
2009/10
|
India
|
2-0 (3)
|
|
2009/10
|
India
|
2-0 (2)
|
|
2009/10
|
drawn
|
1-1 (2)
|
|
2010
|
drawn
|
1-1 (3)
|
|
2010/11
|
India
|
2-0 (2)
|
|
2010/11
|
India
|
1-0 (3)
|
|
2010/11
|
drawn
|
1-1 (3)
|
|
2011
|
India
|
1-0 (3)
|
|
2011
|
England
|
4-0 (4)
|
|
2011/12
|
India
|
2-0 (3)
|
|
2011/12
|
Australia
|
4-0 (4)
|
|
2012
|
India
|
2-0 (2)
|
|
2012/13
|
England
|
2-1 (4)
|
|
2012/13
|
India
|
4-0 (4)
|
|
2013/14
|
India
|
2-0 (2)
|
|
2013/14
|
South Africa
|
1-0 (2)
|
|
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.
Wow nice post thanks for sharing information.
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