Horrie Is God
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http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/sport/abject-indians-oblivious-to-their-own-failings/story-fnb58rpk-1226256698661
GIDEON HAIGH From: The Australian January 30, 2012 12:00AM
AS a sports writer, you grow accustomed to examining teams under pressure for signs of panic, of disorganisation, of fraying tempers, of dissolving patience.
The eeriest aspect of India's absolute pizzling by Australia this summer was that these routine sights and sounds of defeat were missing. If it is possible to cruise to defeat, MS Dhoni's team did so.
Over 4 tests lost by colossal margins,India made just 1 un-forced change-& that,replacing the handy all-rounder Ravi Ashwin with the 10th rate trundler Vinay Kumar at Perth,was probably a mistake.
Their permanently dysfunctional top 6 remained unaltered in personnel & positions.Long periods passed in the field with little semblance of plan or purpose.
The approach parallels India's last disastrous overseas sojourn,in England,where the only changes to the similarly whitewashed team were occasioned by injury,even if orders were tampered with.Yet in some respects,this is worse.In agreeing to just 5 days of second class cricket at Manuka Oval prior to 4 consecutive Test matches,the Board of Control for Cricket in India made light of Australian conditions,if not their Australian opponents.
India's batsmen certainly arrived confidently,on the basis of run-rich tours in 2003-04 & 2007-08,when Australia's fast bowlers operated at lengths that suited the Indian's partiality to the ball arriving at waist height.
They were caught completely unprepared for the siege that Peter Siddle,Ben Hilfenhaus,Ryan Harris & James Pattinson laid on their front foot techniques,& stuck obdurately to the tried,trusted & failed,as Virender Sewag as good as admitted:"I don't think technically there is a fault."
"Nobody was working on their technical thing because they think they have played enough cricket & they have enough experience & they can handle it."
Only Virat Kholi advanced among the batsmen,handling himself well under the pressure of the first innings at Adelaide Oval;in the second innings,however,he took an unnecessary run to protect an unnecessary night-watchman & became an unnecessary wicket,which somehow summed up the wastefulness of the whole squad.The captain was powerless to inspire,his technique looking shot to pieces.The tail sold itself cheaply & risibly.
The bowlers probably fared just a little better than anticipated,considering that none of them arrived in Australia with much form or fitness to speak of.Ishant Sharma & Umesh Yadav had their moments;Ashwin persevered;Zaheer Khan was guileful with the new ball & resourceful with the old.
They were let down by fielding straight out of Indian cricket's bad old days:it is not an exaggeration to say that in this series Australian fielders patrolled to intercept,Indian fielders rambled to retrieve.
The Indians managed one run out,a flick from silly point,in 629 overs.Few fielders were comfortable diving:some were not even happy running.Their captain was finally a victim of the team's overall lethargy.
Yet if skill was the sole issue around India,the tourists would be no worse than some of the shambolic teams that England sent here in the 1990's,or more recent rabbles from the West Indies & Pakistan.There's no crime in not being good enough;there's actually a certain nobility in sticking to an unavailing task.
But in acute contrast to their last 2 tours,when they were led by imperious Sourav Ganguly & dignified Anil Kumble respectively,the Indian team left local audiences non-plussed.
They dished plenty out on the field then whimpered when this was reciprocated;they kvetched about the pitches as though they should have been permitted to unroll their own;they denied over & again that any changes to their first-choice line-up was advisable,arguing in effect that the selectors were answerable to the players & not vice versa.
They were pampered the length & breadth of the land,to the extent of travelling with their own chef.Yet they seethed about having to wait to meet Australia's prime minister,slurred & bagged off home fans,& excluded even their own well-wishers from practice sessions.
Their media manager belongs to the same administrative school as that infamous English manager of yore,Alan Smith,noted for his signature respone to questions:"No Comment,but don't quote me on that."
To the host broadcaster,India provided squat.To press conferences,which by convention involve senior or successful players,they sent individuals who had taken 0 for 100,who weren't playing,or who spoke little English...but not once Sachin Tendulkar,fast becoming cricket's Harpo Marx,who declined to speak even when a presentation was made to him in Adelaide in gratitude for his career.
Not once did an Indian player profess any pleasure at or enthusiasm for being in Australia where Michael Clarke repeatedly stressed his respect for his opponents,to an almost cloying degree,the Indian's were generally loath to acknowledge their hosts' manifest on-field superiority.Just wait till we get you in India,they leered,like a bully fancying his chances only in a dark alley with a few mates at his back.
What has changed in the 4 years since Kumble's team won many Australian hearts & minds?The most obvious alteration to the landscape is the Indian Premier League,awash with cash,cachet & unearned kudos.As millionaires many times over,no wonder the members of this Indian team feel unaccountable & unassailable.In an environment that worships wealth & exalts the free market,they are the winners.
That they turn into losers on the Test cricket field hardly counts,does it?
Is it any wonder too,that the accent of Indian cricket falls increasingly on individual achievement,rather than collective ambition?
Saturday brings the biggest day of the cricket caleander n India:the IPL auction,when avarice meets vanity & the result is a rain of rupees.It is arguable that this is the scoreboard on which modern cricket accomplishment is truly ascertained.No wonder this team is calm,& radiates such a solid sense of entitlement.It's almost pay day.
Go Gideon!!What a cook!!..Straight for the jugular..:lol:
I wonder if they will publish this in the Indian media??..
The Indians will go home when this belting is over & pretend it never happened..
