Time to look ahead…

Vaibhav Arora As the dust settles and people come to terms with what looked like the end of the world for a billion cricket fans, who could do nothing but helplessly witness their team bow out of the T20 World Cup even before the semi-final stage, time has come to stop criticizing the players and look ahead at what the future has in store.A lot has been said and written about how and why the curtains fell so early on the defending champions’ campaign and surely a lot of introspection leading up to the debacle is yet to follow. An array of reasons, from IPL burn-out to overconfidence and Sehwag’s absence have been put forward by former players and the team management, but the need of the hour is to meticulously chart the journey ahead for Indian cricket. Not only did Dhoni’s war with the media make things worse for him, but also his innumerable unpardonable tactical errors on the field made him look like a criminal. However, there is one thing that we need to remember, it is the same team and the same skipper, who have led India to some remarkable victories around the world, achieving the impossible, something that had eluded us for decades. There is a lot of cricket coming up before the next edition of the T20 World Cup in the Windies in 2010, starting from the tour of West Indies. A little introspection and a lot of hard work will go a long way to prevent a repeat of this heartbreak exit. T20 cricket, contrary to what was the common perception in its nascent stages, needs a lot of planning and strategising, probably much more than the 50 over game as things happen so fast that even a few bad overs can take the game away from you. During the T20 World Cup in England, India’s young and dynamic T20 team members showed a little bit of nerves and a few areas of concern that need to be worked upon. When this slam bang version of the game first made its appearance on the international circuit, it was thought to be a format just suited for the batsmen, where the bowlers would have very little or no role to play at all. But as more and more of the shortest version of the game is played around the world, the importance of good bowlers has come to the fore. India’s quick bowling has let them down so far in the T20 arena. Ishant Sharma, especially, has been disappointing, considering the fact that he is being looked upon as the next big thing in world cricket after his outstanding performances in Tests and ODIs. While the Indian batting line-up is undoubtedly one of the best in the business, some hostile, short pitched stuff on seamer friendly wickets can make them jump around, as witnessed during the past few days. The importance of the pull and hook assume even greater significance in T20 where dot balls are considered nothing less than an offence. A most surprising aspect of India’s T20 World Cup debacle was the poor fielding, coming from a bunch of athletic youngsters. Indian fielders, who have been extremely good in the past few years, performed far below expectations, dropping sitters and failing to latch on to the simplest of chances. The fielding standards will have to be lifted, `cause in cricket every run saved is a run made, and we must not forget another cliché too: catches win matches! Another reason for India’s below par showing was the inability of the cricket board to handle the injuries sustained by key players like Virender Sehwag, who had to pull out of the tournament abruptly, ripping apart the team’s strategy quite severely. Rohit Sharma did perform reasonably well, but failed to provide the platform in crucial matches; he needs to hone his big-match temperament. Grooming of a third specialist opener is therefore a must do as players are bound to get injured, especially with so much cricket being played. For skipper Dhoni, who was supposed to be blessed with the Midas touch until a few weeks ago, nothing seems to be going right. Not only is the team losing, Mahi’s batting form has also taken a nose dive. The skipper will have to get over his war of words with the media and concentrate on getting the team back to winning ways.