Cup of Woes ...Or Is It ???

Was wondering about the title to this post for quite some time until I settled for the current one...Well as most of you would have guessed it is about the 'Game' we love so much and which is so much an alternative religion for us...Yes India were "shocked" by minnows 'Bangladesh'..."rocked" against first timers 'Bermuda'...and "choked" against competitive SriLanka.

I know it hurts but that is how our World Cup dream went down the drain with fanatic fans
criticising the players for their other sources of income (endorsements to be precise) which has led to their performance levels go down...

But has it ??...If you ask me we never really had a chance even if we had qualified for the semis because we would have anyways got slaughtered by either Australia or South Africa or for that matter New Zealand somewhere down the line...And you would actually agree with me if you have seen the level of Cricket that these teams play and the level we are at...They are simply a different breed...Higher fitness levels, higher fielding standards and even higher improvisation and mental strength...I mean however passionate you are about the game but the fact remains that we are a few years behind what teams like Australia and South Africa are today...

The justification comes from facts and figures...The current South African team believes that they can chase down whatever Australia score and no doubt they have reason to believe that...When you have chased down a mammoth 430 odd against the top team in the world and that too in a final you can actually chase down anything...This post comes at a time when another similar runchase of 377 against Australia is on !!

Similar justification goes for New Zealand whose recent performances against Australia in chasing down 350+ totals is awesome...So that is the level at which Cricket is being played between the top teams in the World and now you might also wonder that we could have actually chased down that 359 against Australia in 2003 final because it was the same Wanderers (Johanesburg) pitch where 430 odd was succesfully chased against the same opposition by a far superior and mentally stronger team than India...Yes I still think 2003 was our best shot at the Cup after 1983.

The bar has been raised and we have remained stagnant...Cricket today is a more mentally and physically demanding game than it used to be ...and sometimes mere talent doesnt matter...If you think logically we may have the talent but we still are mentally weak and our fitness levels are pathetic...And this comes primarily from the fact that we are not natural athletes to compete at such high levels.

If you ask me I would say we need to go back to the grass roots ...Nurture and build a team that is able to compete at the highest level without meekly surrendering to pressure situations...And yes mental strength comes from confidence and belief in yourself and that requires you to be extremly talented as well...So that essentially makes up the ingredients for a highly competitive and ruthless team which we need to become if we want to be still counted as one of the top teams...And that would also require us to be primarily superior to rest of the Asian teams which means the future Indian team should be confident of beating either SriLanka or Pakistan any given day and play more matches against the top teams if we are to look up to being world leaders...

I gave up being an fanatic Indian supporter once we lost the final in 2003 because somewhere down I still beleive we should have won that Cup ...It was our best chance and it has been downhill since then for Indian Cricket with minor success in between against Asian teams...

Coming to the repurcussions of this early exit I would say they are very much obvious
- Rahul Dravid steps down as captain which he should as he is better off it.
- Greg Chappel might lose his job but I hope he doesnt for the good.
- Indian Team to be totally revamped and this might have been the last World Cup for most of the senior players some of whom may well be sacked.
- More importantly huge losses to ICC and West Indian Cricket Board as both the Asian giants (India and Pakistan) are out.

My bet - Try and build a young Team and have Greg Chappel and Co. nurture it from the start...This doesnt mean radical changes in the current composition but yes retain the younger talented legs and build on a good talent pool...The ultimate goal should be to be competitive at the highest level and play more against the top teams rather than celebrating our supremacy in the subcontinent as we falter miserably when faced with real competition.

This may be one of my very crude posts but it reflects some of the stark realities facing Indian Cricket and if we are to survive and ever dream of winning a World Cup again we need to think and act fast.