The Curse of 99 ?

'Will Sachin get his hundredth 100 today?' How many times has this query of hope resonated everywhere around us in the last 6 months? In fact, not 6 months, it seems an eternity since this chant gained momemtum. Fantasies are a strange thing. They flatter to deceive. Of course, that is why they are just 'fantasies'  in the first place. But the fantasy in question is something which is so near to fruition and yet so far. It is a no-brainer whether Sachin will get his 100th hundred or not. Of course he will. When, is where the fantasies begin! And then the death of one fantasy leads to dreaming another fantasy. First it was the World Cup Final. If India's dream-like World Cup victory at Mumbai was not enough to satiate the Indian Masses, Sachins's 100th 100, in the World Cup Final, that too at his home ground, was such a mouth-watering prospect! The ICC Chief Executive Malcolm Speed had even publicly stated that such a scenario would simply be the icing on the cake. But it was not meant to be that way. So what? India, then the Test No. 1 team, was to tour England (then the 2nd best) in a couple of months time and the next fantasy was Sachin getting his hundred at the mecca of cricket - Lords. Even that dream crashed, along with the Indian Team, in England. Since, then, it has become a routine of sorts to dream wildly of the century of centuries, only to be left high and dry. Surprisingly, since then, Indian Team's performance has been downhill and has touched the nadir on the current Australian Tour. It would seem foolhardy or plain ludicrous to associate Tendulkar not reaching the phenomenal milestone to India's dismal performance wherein they  have lost 7 straight Tests away from home. But if analysed carefully, there indeed seems to be some sort of connection in between these 2 happenings.

Sachin's 100th hundred became a topic of national interest and reached a level of mad frenzy as the England tour inched nearer. 'Sachin, the Lord of Cricket, would get it at Lords in the first test match'. The hype and hoopla surrounding this milestone can divert the most focussed of teams, especially if the team has players who themselves have grown up idolising and are ardent fans of this team member. In addition, India was the top test team, and was expected to win their first test series in England. The pressure showed up in the team's performance. Sachin failed to get his century. The team suffered a collapse. Though initially noone possibly could have  attributed this to sachin not getting his hundred, over time, as the prospect of Sachin getting his milestone loomed ahead of the team in every match, the distraction and the frustration of not getting done with the milestone increased further. Sachin, as has been his wont of getting out in the nervous nineties umpteen number of times, kept on getting out at crucial times as and when he reached near his century. Accept it or not, when the best batsman of your team gets out at such a  crucial time (crucial time of the innings too), and that too again and again, it can have an absolutely demoralising effect on the team. And even if that doesn't , the timing of dismissal of Sachin has been extremely crucial. Most of the times, after Sachin has got out in 70s, 80s or 90s in the past 2 couple of series, the Indian batting has invariably lost the plot. Now remember the few series preceding these, where a Sachin hundred would propel the team to huge totals. This was because there were partnerships that blossomed in Sachin's company which took India to that position. However, slowly and steadily, the entire batting unit has lost the plot to say the least.

It is crucial that Sachin gets his 100th hundred out of the way as early as possible. It will break the shackles that seem to have clasped the master batsman. A change in his attitude can do a sea of change to Team India's fortunes and most probably it will. Meanwhile, the curse of 99 continues to torment the Lord of Cricket & his team....Ohh 100th 100, come fast thee.....

The Real 'Test' of Indian Cricket

So what if all my previous posts have been philosophical or psychological kinda posts? I am here to write what I feel about, and what I am strongly feeling about right now is Cricket which has always been my passion. So here is a shift from the normal 'psychic' things (!) to Indian Cricket (and the doldrums it finds itself in, currently on their Australian Tour)

Indian Test Cricket is definitely on the cusp of a major transformation. And no, I am not talking just about the ageing warriors of our ex-Test No. 1 Team. No doubt, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman are ageing and are at the fag ends of their illustrious careers, but it is not just about them . What about the other players who are supposed to be the future load-bearers of the team? What about Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir who are not performning on the current tour? What about MSD's extended loss of form in Test-Cricket. If this picture isnt gory enough, think of the day when the 3 stalwarts decide to hang up their boots? Do we have young guns ready to take on their mantle? We cant think about a certain someone, can we? And that paints an even scarier picture!

It is high time that young guns-in-waiting, namely Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Cheteshwar Pujara etc. are groomed to take on the mantle of the big 3. And this wouldn't be possible just like that in the current scheme of things. A systematic plan needs to be drawn to ensure the same. Another series whitewash is already looming ahead of the team in Australia, and even if fortunately, it doesn't happen and the team manages to salvage some pride at least, the damage has already been done by the first two losses to warrant a deep introspection and planning for the bleak looking future. Even if BCCI looks at it from the point of view of filling its coffers, then a consecutive series whitewash will tarnish the image of Indian Cricket, the audience interest - which has already fizzled out in recent times thanks to excessive cricket - will dwindle further and most importantly for BCCI, the sponsorships would start tumbling too! Forget the current Australian tour for now, but post that lies the time which is invariably the best for laying out a slow and steady transition phase for the Test Team. Looking at the schedule of Indian Cricket in 2012, here is a plan for ensuring a smooth transition of the Indian Test Team.

The Indian Test Team has 3 Test-Series in 2012 post the current Australian Series. They have an away tour in Sri Lanka followed by home tours of New Zealand and England. The fact that India do not have  a major tour such as an away tour of South Africa presents it an opportunity to let have its future players some test Cricket under their belt in home and slightly alien (read SL) conditions. In the Sri Lanka tour, India must make it a point to rest one out of Sachin, Dravid and Laxman in each test and have both Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bat in each test. Although Sri Lanka in home conditions is definitely a challenge, what better opportunity but to try out the future gen in alien yet not-so-alien conditions? Sri Lanka Tour presents the perfect opportunity to try out these 2 players who currently seem to be the best bet to lead the Indian batting in the days to come. Even in the case that the team loses the first match of the tour, the ploy needs to be stuck to firmly if any measure of the abilities of these 2 players is to be drawn. Success of either or both of these players will surely solve at least a part of the batting puzzle (only a part though)

In the Home tour of New Zealand post the away tour of Srilanka, the same ploy of having 2 of the 3 pros and 2 of the young protegees needs to be stuck with. Herein however, 2 more youngsters may be roped in along with the previous two. In one of the test matches in this series, even 2 instead of 1 senior may be rested to try out the rest. But in any case, all the 4 young turks need to be given at least one game to test their mantle.

Of course, other than Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, the selection of youngsters to be tried out in Test Cricket  will be a major decision to be carefully thought out from domestic performances in the ongoing Ranji Trophy and other tournaments coming up. The retirement of the stalwarts also needs to be phased. However that might be a personal call of the players but surely the players should themselves see to it that they do not retire one after the other in quick succession. The selectors need to talk to the concerned players regarding this.

Post the New Zealand home tour comes the England tour, again at home, and it would not be a bad idea to rest all 3 of the pros in maybe one of the games and give a free hand to the youngsters groomed over the previous 2 series.

Such a succession plan will mean that India will have fairly experienced youngsters the next time they have a gruelling away tour in 2013. That tour could could well might be the last time we will see either Sachin, Dravid or Laxman in action, but it will also be the testing point for the youngsters (groomed at home) to perform away from home under the tutelage of the 3 masters.They may not be immediately successful too, but then they arent currently with so many seniors players as well, so that may not hurt as much. Plus, we will at least have some considerably proven players who would definitively learn from the away tour and be ready to tour on their own in the future.