Indian Cricket 2012 – End of an era, humiliation all over the world and the rise of Team 2.0

End of the year 2012 and the Indian cricket fans are now left with Team India 2.0, which is not necessarily an upgrade over the previous one. With the cricketing legends Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman retiring and with no more Sachin in the ODIs, most of the (‘abe nikalo isko’) Indian fans asking for the veteran’s head are expected to be happy (are they?). While the 90’s habit of getting humiliated overseas has returned back, home ground is no more a fort with Team 2.0. On a positive note, this year has seen the rise of new stars in Virat Kohli, Pujara and co. and the win in the ICC Under-19 means hope.

Test Cricket disaster:

It all started early in the year with a 4-0 humiliation by the Aussies in Australia. With what was a last tour for legends Dravid and Laxman (Sachin might just play another one) and an Aussie team in transition, India had the best possible opportunity for their first Test series win in Australia. But the Aussies clearly showed how well they handled the transition and it was quite a disappointing loss for Team India. Wins against the weak Kiwis and a poor West Indies team cannot be accounted for much (no offense).

The biggest disappointment of the year was losing the Test series against England at home. Credit to the England team for brilliant cricket, but Team 2.0 was no where good enough. The last time India lost a Test series at home was to the great Aussie team and it was a hard-fought victory for the then best team in the world. It was the manner of the defeat in the home humiliation against England (so much for the revenge) that has hurt the Indian fans.

End of an era:

It is hard to imagine an Indian Test team without Dravid and Laxman. Sachin’s ODI retirement was controversial to say the least. Mid 2000s was certainly the golden era of Indian Test cricket with a batting line up second to none. Even with a very poor bowling unit (pacers especially), they had managed to beat most teams abroad and everyone at home. Getting bowled frequently and losing the Aussie series might have provoked the retirement of the legends. Sachin Tendulakar scored his 100^th hundred this year and has probably broken a record every game he played. The cricket fans, especially the Indians, cannot thank them enough for all the wonderful memories.

On another note, Zaheer Khan was sacked from the team after the home defeat against England and a comeback at this age is highly improbable. So that might be the end of another legend; the only genuine fast bowler after Javagal Srinath and an unsung hero of Indian cricket.

And they said they can replace them.

The comeback heroes:

The biggest comeback in International cricket award should go to Yuvraj Singh and what a player he has been. Fighting cancer is an achievement in itself but coming back and scoring tons in domestic cricket and playing International cricket is just amazing. While the test comeback has not been that fruitful (in all fairness, it never was), he still remains to be the most valuable player in the shorter forms of the game and one can only salute his bravery.

Cheteshwar Pujara made a (small) comeback to the Test side after his knee surgery replacing ‘The Wall’ and there have been signs that he is an able replacement already. A double hundred and a hundred against England and his amazing temperament and technique remind many of Rahul.

The rise of new stars:

Virat Kohli had an amazing year scoring more than 2000 runs(2^nd in the list of top scorers). The Under-19 World Cup winning captain has all the potential to lead Team 2.0 in the near future. Umesh Yadav shows a lot of promise. Disappointment for Rahane and Manoj Tiwary with lack of opportunities and fans’ disappointment with team selection for too many opportunities to Rohit Sharma and ‘Sir’ Ravindra Jadeja sum up the year.

Another bright spot this year has been winning the ICC Under-19 World Cup this year under the leadership of another Delhi’s Unmukt Chand. This tournament had produced many of the playing 11 for the Indian team in the past and one can hope that the World Cup winning team has players good enough to succeed at the senior level too.

Final thought:

With all that said, it is quite evident that the ‘transition’ was handled very poorly by the Indian management especially in Test cricket. We now have a team with ‘out of form from past 3 years but still want captaincy’ openers, youngsters with minimal experience and defensive, poor performing captain (in Tests). As I mentioned earlier, it the Team 2.0 now and as a fan of Indian Cricket, I have immense belief in the current generation of cricketers and let us hope they justify the ‘rise of Team 2.0’ part of the article’s title.

PS: Mohd. Azharuddin’s life ban was uplifted by the BCCI (some things don’t change). Kapil Dev finally resolves his ‘issues’ with the BCCI. And finally, Dravid’s commentary is much better than the biased Gavasker, Ravi Shastri and the legend Laxman Sivaramakrishan.