This is my team and I will always back it. When they lift the world cup I'll celebrate a festival and if they had been the ones skittled for 45 I'd still support them. I'd be disappointed, I'd want changes but I'd still say that this is my team. When Manchester United loses badly we criticise, we condemn, we rant but the rant always has GGMU (Glory Glory Man Utd) in it somewhere. So why not with cricket? Why comments like aajkal match dekhne ka interest nahi raha, kya cricket dekhna re etc?
Because that's what ails Indian cricket. We are an all or none society and that's how we treat our team. There is no place for planning, building or looking at the bigger picture. It's an instant, fast food era and quick fixes are all we want. And it won't work! You can replace all the players with new ones and it won't work because it's the attitude not the players that is the problem.
You cannot replace a Sachin or a Dravid or a VVS or a Sourav or an Anil. They happen once in a while and we were blessed that all of them happened at the same time. But good cricket needs a team not just brilliant individuals and for that we need people who perform the required roles not superstars. We need to lose the attitude that once you break into the team and have a good year your place is fixed in the team. No, it is not!
The last time Indian cricket was in a crisis (2000 match fixing, no captain, new players etc) there came a revolution in Indian cricket. Credit it to Ganguly or not but there was a change in the attitude of Indian cricket. We believed, we fought, we weren't just there to make up the numbers, we gave as good as we got. Players got opportunities and luckily we got some great ones. It amazingly reflected the social attitude of the times too.
But a new attitude has crept in gradually. An attitude again reflective of our society. The attitude of resting on past laurels, of selections based on past or expected performance, and based on emotions rather than objectivity. Coupled with a below par domestic circuit this has left the team in disarray. The poor quality of domestic bowling and pitches is evident from someone like Jadeja scoring that many triple tons or even Amit Mishra scoring a double.
So what is needed is a major shake-up. Getting rid of politicians, of businessmen who look for profits at the expense of the very product they are selling - Indian cricket. Taking difficult decisions that are based on merit not on popular opinion.
A change of coach is imminent. A lot has been said about a prospective coach's nationality which in my opinion is nonsense. Wright and Kirsten weren't Indians. What is needed in an Indian coach is a new vision, an ability to identify and take steps towards that vision coupled with enormous man management skills. We need a horses for courses approach probably! We need to move away from archaic principles based on instinct, gut, and feeling to modern scientific processes based on needs, numbers and current form. There is lot of demand for Ganguly as coach, based more on the hope of him being saviour again, on his past achievements as captain. But is he a good coach? We need a revolutionary not necessarily a rebel.
But most importantly we need us - the fans - to realize that rebuilding takes time and we need to have that patience. We need to stick by our men especially in the bad times, and support them and we need to stop being experts on cricket (unlike this post).
