India Lost to Bangladesh - Now what

India lost yesterday to the so called minnows i.e Bangladesh team. Any person who watched India and Bangladesh for the first time will be scratching his or her head as to why Bangladesh are called the minnows of cricket and not India after seeing their performance yesterday. And ofcourse just for the records, there was another huge upset yesterday when Pakistan lost to another so called minnow Ireland.
There will be a lot of criticism and post mortem from the highly emotionally and charged Indian cricket fans.

There will be a set of fans saying sack Dravid and make Dada the captain,
Some would say Sachin Tendulkar does not score when most needed,
Some would blame Chappel,
Some would blame the selection committee,
Some astrologers would try to make a name for themselves by saying I predicted India losing to Bangladesh because neptune and pluto were copulating

The reason is simple and straightforward, TEAM INDIA as a whole played badly.
It was not any other reason. A majority of us Indian cricket fans are unfortunately not a fan of TEAM INDIA but fans of individual players in the team. And this has what allowed some of the experienced so called Superstars get away with absolutely abysmal performances, because they know that their fanatic fans will see to it that they are not going to be dropped from the team. I am not saying that we should not like individual players, but what I say is that do not idol worship them and make them Gods or whatever, we should learn to enjoy the positive feedbacks when they do well, but at the same time learn to accept the negative criticism.

Dave Whatmore played this superstar card very well before the beginning of the match, when he made a statement that he hopes that his Bangladeshi players do not get overawed by seeing the Indian superstars. Our players must have taken that seriously and thought that this is going to be a walk in the park, and yes it was because most of our batsmen walked in and walked out immediately.

All said and done, Bangladesh played outstanding cricket, it was refreshing to see their teen brigade bat with so much maturity and responsibly.

Team India is not out of the tournament yet like their other famous counterpart Pakistan, but they have to play as a team and not like a bunch of superstars if they have to go to the next round. Also the Indian cricket fan should pray that Team India does well and not just a Sachin or Saurav or Dravid.

All the best TEAM INDIA.

Sammy

Saurav the Dada or Saurav the batsman...

All of a sudden there is a media frenzy about Saurav and how the tiger is back, which makes up for very good reading. But the same Saurav was taunted and there was a frantic call for his head to roll when he was being a burden on the team. Chappell was commended and appreciated by the same media and fans for calling a spade a spade and dropping Saurav from the team. That was the best thing to happen to Indian cricket, and it was a master stroke by Chappell and Dravid, because that move stirred the dying tiger and revived his hunger.

Let us compare the Saurav of today and the Saurav of couple of months back (I am going to purely stick to his test performance).

Let us analyse his test performance in 2005 and 2006 against two of his best years say 1997 and 1998 (as he has played many tests during those 2 years). This comparison is purely going to be of Saurav the batsman.

Saurav's Test Stats

In 2007, he has played 7 matches, scored four 50's, and averaged 69.40

The stats above clearly shows the huge difference in what Saurav was when he started and then his form later on wained. Even the century he made was against a lowly Zimbabwe team. But earlier he was the worlds best left handed batsman (offside play = God).

It was not that he lost his talent, but that was the phase were he was taking his place for granted, he was in the team when proven performers like Lakshman and Kumble were being dropped or rested (whichever way you prefer to call it). This added to the pressure on Ganguly and his place in the team was questioned. We can accept that he was a good captain, but how long could he have survived just on that, the team looks up for a leader to perform and he was found wanting when it came down to performace. There were many more articles on paper and news channels asking for the axing of Ganguly. In stepped Greg Chappell and Saurav was dropped. The decision was commended by many at that time.

A few months away from cricket was what Saurav needed. A fitter and hungrier Saurav, the Saurav of the 90's is back. His innings in South Africa and his last ODI innings against the Windies has shown that Saurav is back.

Welcome back Saurav, India needs the Saurav of 90's and not the Dada of early 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Thank you Chappell and Dravid, dropping Saurav was a master stroke from both of you. The Bengal tiger has started roaring again.

Just go get the world cup for us Saurav

Sammy