RESURGENCE OF INDIAN CRICKET

In the year 1970-71, when India beat West Indies in West Indies, everyone thought India had the best team at that time but the fact was West Indies was fielding its weakest team. Again in 1970, when India beat England at the oval it was again thought that India had arrived but that was the time when Indian spin was the talk of cricketing world and they ruled for another ten years. Except for two stars in Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev subsequent to the spin era, there was no name mentioning in the Indian team. But the team was performing well at home but was failing miserably overseas.
The late 80’s saw a young Azhar scoring three consecutive centuries against England but the team performance was not much to write about. India was basking in the glory of 1983 world cup triumph but the standard of cricket in India was going downhill. BCCI was worried. It had funds to spare but didn’t know how to raise the standard of cricket. In a collective wisdom in the late 90’s they thought of hiring a foreign coach for the team and thus in 2000 came John Wright of New Zealand as Indian coach and fortunately the stint was for a period of five years.
This was a period when the Dravids and Gangulys were getting their feet in. Srinath was slowly getting into his stride and a host of other fast medium bowlers were waiting in the wing. Anil Kumble was slowly peaking, Sachin was at his best but the team was not winning. John Wright was a worried man.
When the all-conquering team of Aussies led by Steve Waugh landed in Mumbai in 2001, nobody gave India any chance. The scene became gloomier after the India lost the first test in Mumbai within three days. Then came the turning point at Eden gardens, Kolkatta. After being followed on India came back from behind to defeat Australia in one of the greatest turnaround ever. Laxman’s 281 was the talk of the cricket world for many more years to come. The test also saw the emergence of one more world-class spinner in Harbhajan Singh. When everyone thought that the Aussies will bounce back in vengeance, India surprised them with a close victory at Chennai, thus winning the series and also ending the 16 tests unbeaten run of the Australian side.
In the same year, in the One Day Series, India fielded a rookie batsman named Virendra Sehwag who was to become one of the most feared batsman in the next few yew years. With batsmen like Sachin, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly and Sehwag in the line-up Indian batting was considered one of the best in the world. India just wanted a couple of good fast bowlers in the line up to supplement Srinath, fortunately the Zaheer khan’s and the Agarkars and Prasads stepped in at the right time. All said and done India had a bad reputation to erase i.e. tigers at home but chokers abroad. The good work continued and by the time the 2003 world cup came India had a good chance. The build up to the world cup was not the most ideal one. They were beaten handsomely by new Zealand in very alien conditions suiting the fast bowlers of new Zealand. After the initial hiccups India came into their own to reach the finals of the world cup only to be thrashed by the ponting led Australia. Thus the Indian team returned to India with their heads held high. The confidence was sky high as was evident in their next series against Australia in 2004 in Australia. The team almost won the series but finally settled for a one all draw. This was one of the most fiercely competed series, where the strong Australian team was made to fight every inch of their way. This tour saw the emergence of another star in Irfan Pathan. The purple patch continued with the tour to Pakistan after fifteen years. India recorded their first test series victory in Pakistan. They also ended up winning the ODI after trailing the 5 match series 2-1.
Another reason that could be termed as a catalyst for the resurgence of the Indian cricket is the selection committee. Though there have been question raised about the term and the selection of the committee members, there is more transparency in the system since the selectors have been given a fixed period to get the results in. the dropping Ganguly, a bold move in itself was an example of the efficient working of the selection committee. But there have been certain instance that have raised quite a few eyebrows, the selection of VRV Singh, Wasim Jaffer did not go down too well with the public and the former players. As these selectors are doing a voluntary job, there isn’t any incentive for them to prove themselves to anyone. Irfan Pathan’s and Yuvraj Singh’s place in the team for the world cup was an issue that could be handled in a defferent manner. All other players were selected on subject of their fitness but yuvraj just played one twent-20 match to get back into the national team. The ideal situation would be where the national selectors are chosen on by former players and these selectors would be paid their salaries on the basis of how the team performs. Performance based salary system is the way to go.