“Keep It Simple Silly”
Yes we have lost 4-0 to England. Why ??? The obvious question every body would ask. Few of the reasons I have tried to explain ---
If we have watched the series there was no lack of effort or commitment from the Indian bowlers , they always stayed in the hunt but the English cricket which always gave importance to Test cricket & put hard work paid them good returns. In 2010 Ashes also England Team looked integral, well prepared , & more importantly mentally tough. Apart from the Perth test England team showed their class, grit & literally outplayed Australia in their home soil despite the likes of Peter Siddle, Johnson, Bollinger bowled their heart out. The reason for transformation of the England team who were used to loose 6 out of 5 series they played every year is the preparation, attitude & binding as a team. Apart from the Ian Bell incident there was no nonsense cricket or incident associated with England through out. Their bowlers used the pitch with command , swung the ball with classical English swing & bowled the bouncer when required with fruitful result. At situations when India had upper hand someone like Broad ,Bresnan or swan came with spirited spells & turned the momentum and outcome of the match in England’s favor example second & fourth test of the series. & batting …. After South Africa England team looked with depth in batting as even No. 9 scoring more consistently. Three double centuries in one series that too on friendly pitches shows the class of English batting. Most of the England batsmen played to the delivery, rarely tried to force the shot ( exception being Pieterson who has his own style of playing using the crease according to the bowler.) forcing the bowler to bowl at them, make him tired & score runs.
If we look at India’s struggle in all the four tests we hardly played 90 over, Saving a test match on fifth day looks like mounting Everest. Sachin, Dravid , Laxman are just few steps away from the retirement door & still Yuvraj, Raina , Dhoni Murli Vijay not finding the way to fit in the slots. New players don’t want to come out of the glamour of IPL & Champions league which are played on the dead wicket. Our fast bowlers were not willing to bowl above 135 km/hr mark. We have to nurture at least 6 fast bowlers with long term plan if we are to become a good Test side.
Everybody laughed at Shane Warne when he predicted that England would win the series 3-1. Having played so much matches against England & also in the county cricket Shane Warne ‘s experience & his opinion should not have been neglected.
No tag of star player, No discussion of records, Not relying on single player, not rushing half fit player . Just select 11 good players as per the requirement& condition plan for the day , focus to achieve plan versus actual & carry on. That’s the success story of England’s 24 carat performance.
Most of the time we ignore simple things & try to solve the complex.
Moral of the story :--à “Keep It Simple Silly.
