Enough! The huge defeat of the no. 1 Cricket test team at the hands of the English side was enough humiliation for the players already. But think about it, the Indian team lost the match because they didn’t have the will to win? True that the Brits had a seemingly more fierce hunger for a win, but how did they go about it? By practising. Now don’t even start by saying that India had the best and most experienced players in Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman and Harbhajan. Experience is one thing, but you need constant practice to keep yourself upto that level, especially in tests. But where was that practice? And who is culpable for that? The players, who never got the time and chance to acclimatize themselves on foreign soil? No. It’s the board, of course, who truly deserves the blame.
On one hand, BCCI wants to fill their vaults with huge piles of cash, and at the same time wants its players to “switch” between different formats of the game within the matter of days. They even forgot that the Brits were going into the series with a big advantage at their side – home conditions. And given the Indians’ lack of ability to play the swing and short balls, what did the board do to correct that? If it could not arrange for west-like bouncy pitches in India itself (for simulation of foreign conditions), they could, at least, have arranged for more time for the Indian team to practise in England itself before the start of the series. Shame, a real shame that did not happen.
I bet the day when the board starts caring less about the money and more about the true spirit of the game, India will start winning matches, consistently.