The "endangered" Tigers
Our recent series against South Africa has laid bare the weaknesses of the Tigers like an open book like it had on numerous previous occasions. Are we taking lessons from it?
Our batting does not complement our bowling. We lack a sound opening pair, and have a meek middle order. No amount of extraordinary bowling or brilliant fielding can ever make up for such a lapse. If you do not have a total, what do you protect? We had a wicket tailored to our needs, and yet we floundered. The crack is so obvious, it's literally screaming at us. I am no expert I leave it up to our pundits to read the writing on the wall. I can only hope they are literate enough to read it.
Our captain, otherwise an acclaimed batting genius, has been performing poorly since being made the captain. Is he under pressure? Is the burden of captaincy and the expectations of the nation curbing his natural flow with the bat? Is this the “Sachin Tendulkar Syndrome”? We all know what happened to Tendulkar's batting when he took over as captain, why he resigned, and how well he performed after that.
We are being branded as a one day side which can “upset” any team on a “good day”.
Unfortunately, those days are few and far between which is testament to the fact that we lack consistency. We should be a team which can “beat” any team “any day” and strive to achieve that goal.
Test cricket? One could write volume after volume on that till our national library is overflowing, and literally bursting at its seams.
If we cannot act soon, we will be hunted down in the killing fields of cricket and eventually perish in the wilderness as a forgotten species.
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