But what of the Indian team ? As a team the records are dismal. Various people have called it a team of paper tigers. A group of chokers who can snatch defeat from the brink of victory.
India has played 387 test matches between 1932 to Nov 2005. And has won only 84 of these, just 21.7% success rate in test matches. On ODI, of the 692 matches India has played between 1974 and Nov 2005, it has only won 292. Look at the last few years , the team was studded with superstars – Tendulkar, Ganguly, Kumble, Dravid …… Yet the records for the past few years is no better.
In any team sports, as well as in cricket – success comes only when the whole team plays as one. No single superstar can play better then a team of talented cricketers playing as one. Over the years the team had developed a total dependence on single super start in the team. In not so recent past, once and again we have seen the team collapsing like nine-pins at the drop of Tendulkar’s wicket.
The over dependence on a single superstar has been a bane for the team. Neither has it helped the individual who has to shoulder the team teams responsibility all alone.
What the team needed was a bunch of match-winners !!!!!!!
Perhaps things are changing, if we are to look at the recent 7 match one day series against Sri Lank during Oct, Nov 2005.
The U-turn in India’s Cricket fortune
India won the ODI series against Sri Lanka 6-1. Each victory was sealed with match winning performances by different team members. India won the first match on the shoulders of Pathan and Tendulkar, while Dhoni powered India to win in the second match. Each successive victory brought out a new match winner in the team. This has never happened to the team India.
At the end of the series the Team India was group of match winners. Each team member doing his role and supporting the others.
Is this the U-turn that one day will make Team India a world beater ?