How lack of depth in the bench is seriously holding back the Indian basketball team

The Cagers showed heart in the recent FIBA Asian Basketball Championships

A lot can be gleaned from the Indian national basketball team’s outing at the recent FIBA Asia Basketball Championships – big men Amjyot and Amritpal were a revelation, captain courageous Vishesh Bhriguvanshi’s stewardship and the fact that India are a rising force in Asian basketball.

Reassuring as these were, the chinks in their armour were pretty conspicuous – the big shoes left behind by Satnam Singh’s that are half full at best, the team’s rudimentary style of play and most of all – the team’s shallow well that was its bench.

Consider this – three of the team’s starting five clocked an average 34.3 minutes per game in a 40 minute match. And two others clocked an average MPG of close to thirty minutes. Multiply that by 9 matches and you have fatigue and injury. The Indian Cagers showed a lot of promise in each game’s opening minutes, matching almost every opponent in scoring.

But the second halves of the matches they lost were antithesis’ of the first. The offense lost steam, the defense had gaping holes and the overall energy that was palpable in the team’s play was missing. It was quite disheartening for fans and players to watch as the effort they had invested in the first half go in vain.

Granted, the team has three stalwarts in Amjyot, Amritpal and Bhriguvanshi who will only get better with time. But one of the marks of a great team is versatility, and sadly the Indian team cannot count that amongst its attributes. Two players – Gurvinder Gill and Aravind Arumugam showed that the bench is not completely toothless. But seven able but tired players against a dozen rested, focussed and more skilled ones will not result in a major title.

Almost every Indian national player has said that a professional basketball league is the need of the hour. It is quite puzzling that a much smaller nation in Bangladesh has a successful professional basketball league, while India does not. What makes it more befuddling is that the sport of basketball is stricken while there has been an advent of professional leagues in other sports like cricket, football, hockey, badminton and tennis.

A professional league will see the emergence of talented players in greater numbers, some of whom will no doubt make it to the national squad, wishfully speaking. It is the difference maker in the life-and-death situatuion of Indian basketball. It is the closest thing to a panacea for what ails the sport in India. From there, it will be a slow journey, but one that has nonetheless been set forth on.

Another worrying fact about the Indian team’s lack in numbers is that it decreases the shelf life of its key players. The team’s average age is 24, and they indubitably physically resilient, given their youth. But with just 3-4 of them doing most of the legwork, injuries are aplenty and one is all it takes to end a career. Unutterable as you’d like it to be, that is exactly the kind of tragic event that could irrecoverably set back Indian basketball in its recent resurgence.

The Sports Ministry and the factions of the Basketball Federation of India need to set aside their power-hunger and self-conceit and focus on the bigger picture – not wasting talent that could make India a big name in the world of basketball. And more importantly, giving the nation’s culture some much needed holistic headway.