In the wake of India’s poor showing in the T20I series against Ireland and England, the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has called a review meeting to assess the team’s recent performances in the UK and, if necessary, take corrective action. However, legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has cautioned against knee-jerk reactions, urging decision-makers to avoid hasty decisions.
It wasn’t too long ago that India won the T20 World Cup, lifting the trophy for a third time after going unbeaten throughout the tournament. The current side, however, isn’t nearly the same. Suryakumar Yadav is no longer part of the setup, Jasprit Bumrah has been rested after a gruelling IPL campaign, and Hardik Pandya is sidelined with an injury. Newly appointed captain Shreyas Iyer failed to win any of his six matches, prompting critics to question his leadership credentials. In such a situation, Gavaskar believes that taking rushed decisions will only do more harm than good.
“The BCCI is going to do a review of the defeat, and there are rumours that a few heads could roll. That would be an extreme step, for barely four months ago India were the world champions and still are No. 2 in the ICC rankings,” he wrote in a column for Sportstar.
Not a ‘flat-track’ problem
What was particularly worrying was the way India’s batters, who had enjoyed terrific IPL campaigns not too long ago, struggled on surfaces that offered movement, swing and, to an extent, bounce. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Abhishek Sharma and Shreyas Iyer all excelled for their respective franchises, but when it came to batting on overseas pitches, they looked like players with glaring shortcomings. Gavaskar, however, believes the problem lies more with the Indian batters’ technical frailties than with the nature of the wickets.
“There’s been a lot of talk about how playing on flat batting pitches has spoiled the Indian batters. Even on the so-called flat pitches in the IPL, most of the Indian batters struggled against the short ball. That is more of a technical failing. With the weight on the front foot and the back foot locked, there is simply no transfer of weight to deal with a ball climbing towards the face,” he added.
“That said, the short boundaries are also to blame, as many of the sixes hit just about clear the boundary rope and so could be catches elsewhere. This has to be looked at urgently if India is to reclaim the ODI title on the faster, bouncier pitches in South Africa. Every ground in India can have longer boundaries, but is there the will for that? That is the question. We shall soon see.”