Optimistic despair

It’s been long I have been thinking to put down my thoughts about the current state of Indian cricket, just trying to lend my voice to an already chaotic and noisy environment.

The biggest disappointment watching the ongoing England test series is that even though we have some of the greatest players the game has ever witnessed in our team, the future looks bleak. The dearth of young talent seems apparent in the ongoing series, at least in this form of the game and BCCI need to urgently relook at its strategy to ensure the purity of the game is not lost. None of the young Indian players show the intent to play long innings, maybe it is not what they want to or maybe they are not equipped with the skills, whatever may be the reason, the board must not take it easy and should not allow such kind of attitude germinate within the team. It looks like the players are playing for the audience, which is good, but sometimes when the situation demands and when the format of the game is not the same as the exciting and the thrilling version, one has to drop the anchor and play sensibly.

Certainly the shortest form of the game has garnered many eyeballs and attracted new followers for which the credit must be given to BCCI, not only that but also for showing the world that the sport is commercially viable. But the board must not bask on its past glory and shouldn’t be short sighted to just focus on IPL. It must have a broader vision for the sport as a whole and ensure that the longer version of the game is not lost. More importantly Indian players must not lose their focus because of the glitz of IPL and BCCI has to play a larger role in achieving that. I hope the sanity will return to the Indian cricket board and the players will also take responsibility for not performing the way they did.

A word of advice for the players, indeed you are playing for the audience, not just for the noise they make but also for their claps. I would end this with a phrase which I feel aptly applies to the current state of Indian cricket “What got you here won’t get you there”.