India has finished the 52-day long England tour without a single victory and cricket experts have already started verbal autopsy of shameful defeat.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is also not untouched with the heat.
In this series, the board has set up a special committee to consider Team India’s humiliating and devastating tour of England.
The decision to form a review committee was taken under the chairmanship of new BCCI President N Srinivasan. The board has appointed Mohinder Amarnath and Anil Kumble for this job.
India’s England tour in 2011 is one of the most unsuccessful series in recent years. The ‘Men in Blue’ lost the No.1 Test crown after 0-4 defeat. The visitors also lost only T20 game and the World Champions tasted dust in the five-match ODI series too.
The so many hues and cries was obvious because the embarrassing England tour came just few months after India became the ICC Cricket World Cup Champion in April 2011.
Injury of several key players could not be held responsible alone. The series has given opportunity to prove its bench strength in the absence of senior players. Nonetheless, it has surfaced the loopholes in the selection process and exposed the bench strengths too.
The BCCI has also decided to reconsider the appointment of Duncan Fletcher as a Team India’s coach after Garry Kirsten stepped down to serve national duty. The Team, who became No.1 in Test cricket in 2009 and won the ICC World Cup in 2011 under eligible coach Kirsten, how it became so miserable in just few months? BCCI roped in Fletcher before the series as he had having experience of coaching English team and he might be proved helpful for visitors to read the strength and weakness of England team.
Without any doubts, Fletcher has been utterly failed to execute his responsibility as a coach during the entire tour. Neither he succeeded in forming a good strategy nor did he advise skipper MS Dhoni to pick up a good team.
Some of cricket pundits are also blaming too much cricket engagements of players. But BCCI president rubbished this claim, saying no player is being forced to play. Srinivasan said that Board always considers rest pleas of every cricketer if he feels to take.
Well, the reason behind the England defeat will be revealed by Amarnath and Kumble when they will come out with their findings.
Despite of several speculations over India’s poor show, the stage is once again set for the Twenty20 show in India.
Several regular members of Team India, including skipper MS Dhoni will take part in the Twent20 extravaganza. Just after the end of England tour, Indian cricketers are geared up for the slam-bang stuff.
Here BCCI’s claim that it gives players proper freedom to take rest feels just a drama. In the last two decades, the Board\\\’s focus has been on revenues and not so much the welfare of the cricketers.
Look at the injuries of senior players like, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. They are becoming victims of hectic schedule and facing threat of burn out.
No doubt, few players have been rested for the ongoing series, but even before they can begin to enjoy some free-time, it is time to repack the bags for the long haul to the South Africa tour in December-March 2012.
The constant pressure and intense cricket has also been posing threat for the young guns of Indian cricket. The board will have to review its strategy. Of course, BCCI has been paying hefty amount but in the long run, fatigue is bound to affect their game.
Srinivasan’s claim to regain the top position in the Test cricket cannot be fulfilled if players are being asked to play so huge number of T20 games in IPL and Champions League along with international tour and series.