Players struggling to deliver, BCCI must take hard look at policies
The limping win in the last Test against Bangladesh on Sunday is symbolic of how Indian men’s cricket has been performing for a while now. The year 2022 doesn’t paint a beautiful picture either. The most revered sport had endured some torrid times and equally disastrous results. The team crashed out of Asia Cup in the group stage and lost the semifinals at the T20 World Cup in Australia. It had a difficult time even in the longest format—Test matches. Out of the seven played, India lost three. Among the four India won, two were at home and two in Bangladesh. Over the last year, they had four captains too. After Virat Kohli stepped down in January, K L Rahul, Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah all have led the side at different times. Rohit, 35, has been made the captain across all formats. However, there is no fixed
vice-captain. Bumrah was the deputy in Tests, Rahul in ODIs and T20Is.
Though India won the first Test in Bangladesh convincingly after losing the ODI series, the manner of their win in the second raised a few questions, especially on team selection and top players’ performances. If not for the heroics of Shreyas Iyer and R Ashwin, the win looked difficult. Rahul needs to perform better, and Kohli, who has had a great T20 World Cup, is struggling in the Tests. Dropping Kuldeep Yadav, who had picked eight wickets, including a five-wicket haul, seemed baffling, especially on a wicket where spinners thrived.
According to Rahul, the team management thought the pitch would help pacers, and Jaydev Unadkat was picked. With the World Test Championships final scheduled next year in July, a big series against Australia in February, and an ODI World Cup at home, India needs to find not just players who would perform but remain injury-free as well. Kuldeep’s is not an isolated situation. The roles of some of the players in the team need to be clarified. What happens to non-performing seniors?
The delay in appointing a new selection committee makes things more complex. The BCCI invited applications to replace the committee led by Chetan Sharma but, intriguingly, has asked four selectors who are to be replaced to continue to watch Ranji Trophy games. With a very tight calendar, the emphasis should be on picking format-specific players; it can include the coach too.