How millions of cricket fans in India wished they suffered from a temporary spell of dementia, following the nightmarish drubbing by the Kiwis in the recent home tour.
Having said that, we must realise that the old order has changed and the new order was due and it is time it happened. Only that, we were not quite ready to see the writing on the wall for all these months.
With the ODI World Cup debacle in 2023, we needed to realise that the Team India management had to pick up new talent from its enormously strong bench which is raring to go.
However, the T20 World Cup happened and our success re-bolstered our faith in the old order and we preferred to stick to the customary lineup and then came the rude shock!
Teams grow from strength to strength and are also pulverised. That’s natural. The earlier the team management realises the truth and stops believing in stop-gap arrangements, it’s better.
After having stuck to the usual line up and having eaten muck… it is now too late for us to have magic and blame games should not be the order of the day.
Rohit’s uncertainty, at least for the first Test against Australia, is made to look like some that happened suddenly! Didn’t Rohit realise it earlier that he needed the break and the team management could have dealt with the matter with much more transparency and dignity.
It was actually a Fox poster on Sunday evening that triggered the controversy and by Sunday night the news was out on all forms of news format that Rohit was almost certain to skip the first Test.
And like always, we “needed” to do victim bashing and we are again at it.
It is somewhat understandable that accolades do come with success and Gambhir had his share as the mentor for the IPL franchises Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders… but then brickbats in India travel faster than superfast trains and Gambhir had his share of the barbs and bristles following the team’s declining fortunes in recent months. In his very first assignment since succeeding Rahul Dravid in the role, India suffered its first bilateral ODI series loss against Sri Lanka since 1997 with a 0-2 loss.
However, India’s victories over Bangladesh at the start of their home season to an extent helped undo the damage.
However, Team India was not ready for the worst to happen and when it occurred… We did what we are best at. Yes. Blame game.
Suddenly, Team India’s competitiveness under Dravid was completely missing and Gambhir had to become the punching bag.
But to pin him down alone and also talk about his demotion is not fair at all.
Those who have been following Team India keenly would vouch for the fact this day was coming. Only that we love to ignore the truth as if ignorance is bliss.
While India’s bowling unit, especially the pace arsenal, had grown over the years and had reached the pinnacle during the ODI World Cup last year, the batting line-up, especially the one which we used to swear upon had become prone to brittleness and had botched our prospects time and time again.
Also, blaming Gambhir for all that has gone wrong is anything but understanding cricket. What about India’s poor decision-making – the call to bat first under overcast conditions in Bengaluru, only to get bowled out for 46. Wasn’t that Rohit’s responsibility. Rohit had taken the toss and had a fair knowledge of the pitch and had a free hand as a captain to take the call. So, in that case why not be critical of his decision and instead just fleecing the coach.
Also, on the field, it’s the captain who takes the call and wasn’t Rohit directly responsible for setting defensive fielding patterns and allowing the Kiwi batters to build pressure on the hosts with a steady run pile up and for which even the legendary Sunil Gavaskar slammed Rohit on air during the Pune Test.
With the current crisis the team is facing, gunning for Gambhir alone would have an adverse impact on the team in general.
It is time for the entire management to realise the pitfalls and select the best team. Names do matter, but let’s put form above it to set the foundation for a future.
The team management is too bogged down with what is going to happen in the World Test Championships rather than building the team for the future. With the current scenario, India doing exceedingly well in Australia and taming the Aussies to a 4-0 score line to be in the reckoning of the WTC perhaps should not be the motive coz in the current context it doesn’t quite seem to be a realistic goal… though nothing can be said in cricket. The idea should be on building a good team which would evolve. Using band-aids and stop gap plugs to achieve myopic goals… would in the long run affect the team both morally and in terms of achievement.
Also, in case Rohit is unavailable, Jasprit Bumrah will have to take over captaincy and in the absence of a sheer pace attack with Mohammed Shami not in the team and Mohammed Siraj not in sync, Bumrah will have an uphill task given the Australian tracks.
Taking all points into consideration, India is in the midst of a whirlpool and the best the team can do is to be together and this is what Gambhir said, “We are not looking at what's going to happen in the World Test Championship, whether we are going to qualify (for the final).”
For cricket lovers, let’s believe that only change is permanent and that India will shine soon again.
(Writer is Senior Journalist and Former Senior Associate Editor, O Heraldo)