ONCE again the Indians capitulated in a pressure cooker situation to lose the series. Have we not seen this before? The Test series in Sri Lanka was an eye-opener in more ways than one. It primarily showed how depleted the Indian team is when it comes to 'performing' talent. While a victory is celebrated with all gusto, a defeat sends the team into gloom. I am afraid this is not the way any team of international repute should react.
I also believe that the 2-1 defeat, proved more than anything else, what I have been repeating - the need for a long term planning. It might sound a little cliched, but a close look at the performance of the Indian team in the Test series will reveal how important the aspect of planning is. The selectors and the team management should have realised by now that unless they adopt a plan for a long term, the fortunes of the team will not improve.
Look at the Lankan team - almost all the players share a passion and a genuine enthusiasm for the game, and they see nothing wrong in flaunting them. Another aspect which is sorely lacking in the Indians is the ability to be consistent day in and day out, which is what separates a mediocre team from a top class one. The Lankan team is sure on the road to achieving bigger things. It is because it has a plan, and works collectively to implement it.
Throughout the Test series, the Lankans displayed grit and tenacity when confronted with tight situations. New players utilised the opportunity and thrived on pressure to amass runs.
The third Test was also a fascinating example of how the Lankan batsmen shouldered the responsibility and made sure that they courted nothing but victory. The example of Hashan Tillekeratne rushes to one's mind. As one who was not among the runs, he should have been under stress coming into the third Test. But he cracked a century. A gritty player, Tillekeratne has many a time, bailed Sri Lanka out of dire straits. A lean patch then followed. When a comeback chance was offered, he just grabbed the opportunity.
Here lies a story for the youngsters of the Indian team and a couple of others too. What we need is consistency, and till we achieve that, we will remain a mediocre team. Moreover, most of the players seemed to sport a defeatist attitude. On the other hand, the Lankans displayed a fierce passion and a burning desire to excel. These are the attributes necessary to succeed in any sport, cricket being no exception.
Despite the overall poor performance of the Indians, credit is due to Zaheer Khan for the way he bowled in the first innings of the second Test at Kandy. Venkatesh Prasad, too excelled. But the Indian bowling attack lacked discipline for the most part.
I am really at a loss to understand why when Muttiah Muralitharan could spin the ball so prodigiously, the Indian bowlers could not. The best way to counter Muralitharan would have been to attack him. This could have unsettled him. Instead, the Indians adopted a defensive posture, and went into a shell. Being good batsmen of spin, the Indians should know better. The Indian openers Sadagopan Ramesh and Shiv Sundar Das did an admirable job, giving a solid start, and I will not blame them for the defeat. Certainly, it was the failure of the middle order, barring the second Test, to get going, which was the primary reason for the series loss.
The series also exposed the lack of all-rounders, and the importance of a wicket-keeper-batsman. As I have said earlier, short term measures are no answers to the current problems. Only farsighted thinking can help the Indian team come out of the morass that it finds itself in.
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