Awaiting overhaul

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to state that this has been a Black Deepavali for cricket fans In India. The hype built and hopes raised over Team India before the ICC World T20 led us to believe skipper Virat Kohli and coach Ravi Shastri would execute a plan to bring the trophy home.

No, instead, it turned out to be a campaign of utter misery, prompting cricket pundits, passionate fans and discerning followers to plunge into a mood of despair. Finally, it was left to the people who love the sport so closely to shake off the anger and celebrate the festival of lights in their own way as there was no point mourning a World Cup campaign which was awful.

The last 18 months have been one of turmoil for humans across the world due to the pandemic. Sports provide the much-needed balm, as one witnessed during the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics. Thus, the outrage from Indian cricket fans was expected after seeing their team getting hammered.

Experts have poured pure vitriol after two massive losses to Pakistan and New Zealand. Beating Afghanistan was no consolation as fans resigned themselves to cheering for good professional cricket produced by the top teams like England and Australia.

Today, people are no longer wondering why Kohli announced well before the start of the World T20 that this would be his last campaign as a leader. For that matter, Ravi Shastri's last assignment as India coach has also been one of utter failure as it is the leaders who are bound to face flak for flop shows. Sadly, amidst all this, there was an unfortunate incident when Md Shami was trolled after the loss to Pakistan.

As a fast bowler who has won India many matches, to ridicule Shami on the basis of religion deserved to be condemned by one and all. This is where Kohli did well to speak up for Shami at a press conference. You can slam a bowler or batsman for poor performance but none should dare indulge in playing the religion card when there has been a poor performance.

So, what really went wrong for India?

This is a question which has been rankling since the day Pakistan gave India a hiding. The jokes and memes on social media have been caustic. If "can't bat, can't bowl, can't field" was one, the other said "As Shastri and Kohli were serving notice period at work, they did not care about the campaign."

All this was said out of sheer frustration by fans of Team India who had been led to believe after the Indian Premier League carnival that the players would be in the best frame of mind and ready to shine once again at the three venues in the United Arab Emirates — Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. It is a fact that the blame for India's poor showing has to be shared by all. And in this list, one cannot exclude even the selection committee, headed by former India fast bowler Chetan Sharma.

The team was announced well on time but to have ignored the star performers of the IPL seems wrong, in hindsight. The way Rituraj Gaekwad, Mohd Siraj and Harhsal Patel were overlooked is being debated now. What also stands out as some kind of a personal vendetta is the issue of initially dropping the richly experienced off spinner Ravichandran Ashwin.

With Kohli as captain and Shastri as coach, it had become obvious Ashwin was not being selected deliberately. If the Test series in England was an indicator of it, final proof came in the World T20. After losing two key matches, including Ashwin against Afghanistan was of no use.

The Ashwin issue needs to be set right. Hopefully, it will happen very soon after the World T20 campaign when there are new men at the helm. At a time when spinners have shown their class in the UAE in the last two weeks, Ashwin has been victimised. For someone with so much variety and so many wickets in his bag, it is about time the new captain and new coach handle him better.

One change is more or less certain with Rahul Dravid being the sole applicant for the head coach job for Team India. The next announcement from the BCCI will be on captaincy, where indications are Rohit Sharma will be the new leader, though he is not getting younger. Perhaps, this would be a good time to groom his deputy, which could be a toss-up between KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant.

A month ago, in the same column, it had been mentioned that the new T20 captain should also be one who leads in the ODIs. That case has been strengthened further as fresh reports suggest Kohli's ODI captaincy may also be over and he could lead only in Test cricket. It makes sense to have one captain for white ball cricket.

The non-stop world of cricket will witness another edition of the ICC World T20 in 2022, another taxing IPL, apart from the regular quota of international cricket. The time has come when the BCCI needs to plan for the future. Domestic cricket, which has often been ignored, needs to be given importance. The resumption of the Syed Mushtaq T20 tournament is a step in the right direction. Ranji Trophy cricket will also resume in winter, which means fresh talents need to be looked at with a macro view.

There are many players in this Indian side — Tests and T20 — who have been playing just on the basis of past performances. The time has also come when players need to be picked for different formats. It is obvious, Hardik Pandya has at least a few Godfathers in Indian cricket, who let him play even when his fitness is suspect.

At the same time, for India's quick bowler Jasprit Bumrah, to talk of fatigue in the Bio Bubble is surprising. If players feel they need rest, then they should have opted out of the IPL, which is nothing but club cricket. Obviously, the players cannot say no to team owners as they are paid big, fat salaries.

The BCCI leaders, Messrs Sourav Ganguly and Jay Shah, along with the new coach and new captain, need to do brainstorming on workload management. The same set of players cannot be flogged in all formats. It will kill them. If one player has spoken of fatigue, there may be many more in Team India who are also not fully fit. At a time when the Bio Bubble has made it tough for many players in different countries, the rotation policy also needs to be thought of judiciously.

Players need counselling. Players need to be taken into confidence. Players need to be treated as humans, not machines. If they have performed below par, let them take a break. Let a stage not come when players have reached a point of total breakdown.

Right after the ICC World T20, New Zealand will be in India for a T20 series and two Tests. One hopes new coach Dravid will use all his acumen in planning for the future. As one who has seen many juniors when he coached the younger sides, he will definitely have a better vision.

There is staleness right now in Indian cricket. And that cannot be camouflaged by talking about what the team did in Australia and England. Mind you, it was not Kohli who led in Australia after the first Test but Ajinkya Rahane. So, it shows there are options available even for leadership on the field.

For India, the leaders in global cricket in financial terms, to not win an ICC Trophy in a long time does hurt. It calls for a two-year plan to set things back in order. The next World T20 and ODI World Cup (in 2023) must be accorded priority. If not, like a hailstorm whistling through the woods leaving behind its trail of destruction, Indian cricket can find itself again in a similar situation.

Views expressed are personal