Australia v India, 4th Test, Adelaide, 24-28 January, 2012

nsareen: Rajiv Shukla Statement to me is the last thing i wanted after this humiliation.

-- : "We admit that their performance has not been up to expectations. But it happens with all the teams. Recently former World champions Sri Lanka were all out for just 47," Shukla told reporters while reacting to India's defeat in the Perth Test by an innings and 37 runs. : Taking an example of the defeat to Sri Lanka's 47 is horrendous, why din't anybody ask him Sri Lanka turned won a match in the same series, India could not, Sangakkara scored a century , no indian has done that. It looks clearly like he and his Team in BCCI is not hurt, these are not words coming out of somebody who is hurt by what has happened, and that to me is pathetic, i wish he pays dearly for the irresponsible comments he has made.

--:"We have also won on foreign soil. No one talked then, and all this controversy has been raked up due to defeats in England and Australia. Taking examples from past to cover the consecutive losses shows the Attitude, it's pathetic to even consider this as an excuse.

--: "The corrective measures will be taken by the team management so that the team does better in the final Test and the triangular series," : What utter non-sense, they f u c kin are so short sighted, just looking to correct the next match and the One-Day Series, this Bas tar d surely cannot represent an Organization, wonder how he reached this position ?????? A leadership teams always looks for the big picture and not the short success.

--:"It is wrong to blame IPL for everything. The Australian players such as David Warner and Shane Watson also play in IPL, how are they performing well? Yes they have done well but this goose doesnt know they represent Australia and not India, Indians do not get to play IPL in non-home conditions , to groom their skills, moreover they have quite a lot of Off Period as opposed to Indians, who play like machines, round the clock.

--:"It is also wrong to say that the players are tired. IPL ended in May and so many series have passed. There is no compulsion on any player to play all matches," he said. yeah surely there is no compulsion, but there isnt any governance or process or discipline or vision for Team India or else these statements would have cost him his job, Cricket Australia can force aussies to not play in IPL / Big Bash and concentrate on a format, why cant these feckers do the same.

From his vantage position beyond mid-on, outside the boundary rope, former Indian batsman and coach Anshuman Gaekwad heard some words that caused some dismay. It was a Deodhar Trophy match, a ball was hit towards him, and the man at midwicket chased it and finally dived. His captain at mid-on could have done this too, but he didn’t. The reason became clear when he admonished his teammate thus: “Are you mad, why are you diving? The IPL is coming, do you want to hurt yourself and miss it?” Gaekwad says, “I said, what the hell man, is this what cricket has come to? I was shocked, all the more so because the two players are in the Indian team now.”

The incident could provide a clue as to why the Indian team hasn’t been having a good time of late. Humiliation in Tests in England and now Australia have soured the ODI World Cup victory. M.S. Dhoni and his men have been criticised for lacking the mettle to handle genuine speedsters, for being insipid, for putting club and money before country. But shouldn’t greater blame accrue to the temptor, the BCCI? For its baby—the Indian Premier League—has transformed the cricketing milieu and mindset, and is slowly strangulating Test cricket.

The IPL has devalued the long form of the game, even in the players’ eyes. “The guys playing only Ranji Trophy are not even thinking about playing in the Duleep Trophy or for India,” says Gaekwad, who was coach of Gujarat until last July. “These young players are getting a fee of `20 lakh from the IPL, they aren’t prepared to give their best in domestic tournaments. They don’t want to get injured, they’re saving themselves for the IPL.”

“Young players don’t want to give their best in domestic cricket, they are saving themselves for the IPL, for its fat fee.”Anshuman Gaekwad, Former Indian player and coach

Not surprising, therefore, that our bench strength looks quite abysmal. The domestic players Outlook talked to blame the Board for their changing priorities. “When the Board itself values the IPL over Ranji or Duleep Trophy, only a fool will blame the players for wishing to make easy money,” says a Delhi player. He makes a dire prediction: the outlook is bleak for long-form cricket. “All the players want is to remain injury free, to be fit for the IPL,” he adds. “Two, the batsmen are becoming less patient. They want to whack a quick 40 off 20-25 balls and be noticed by an IPL team. The cricketing culture has changed dramatically over the last three years.”

This changing culture is impatient of Test cricket. Says the Delhi player, “They’re wondering if they’d be good for T20, whether they’re hitting the ball well, not whether their technique is good.” But “good” perhaps needs to be redefined. What is “good” batting technique—playing for three sessions on a moving pitch against a ball that’s changing its behaviour? Or is it playing 30 balls and hitting 60 runs off it? The answer is easy—the former. But why is the latter more hyped and, crucially, more financially rewarding?

Four months ago, when Indian cricket should have been introspecting for its failures in England, the BCCI had two clear options – one, to bite the bullet, conduct a thoroughly honest review of everything wrong with Indian cricket and introduce correctives to fix the inherent systemic flaws; or two, to remain firmly in denial as if they never happened.

Indubitably, they chose the latter. It was the easier choice – sit back and avoid a redressal of glaring issues staring at Indian cricket today. Also, in that same meeting where the proposal of a review was mooted, the BCCI’s suits discussed the fate of a now-terminated IPL franchise. If you still wonder where their priorities actually lie, your question pretty much has an answer.

The embarrassment of the England series would have been the perfect backdrop to conduct a review, which if happened, would have asked some of the toughest questions facing our administrators – their own failures as those responsible for the game in the country. It would have meant that some of their heads were on the line, and quite possibly, for the first time their authority or incompetence could have been both questioned and addressed (whichever side you’re on). Instead, they chose the easy way out.

tricycle wrote:You know there's a problem with the media when one of Outlook's top stories is cricket.