The Blogosphere is ripe with allegations, accusations and analysis of India’s spectacular defeat to South Africa in the second test. It was India’s worst defeat in some 50 years, and IPL is taking a lot of blame for it. Folks are speculating on a wide range of reasons - From the distractions of the IPL auctions, to the players taking it easy before the big IPL games start to avoid unnecessary injuries. While many of these theories are well reasoned, I am inclined to disagree with them. The IPL had nothing to do with the defeat.
For one, even the South African’s are in the IPL teams, and several of them turned out very good performances for South Africa. And then, there’s the issue of how they played so well last match. No, the real reason for India’s superbly spectacular defeat, in my opinion, is far more simple.
The Indians played bad cricket. Horrible Cricket. And they deserved to lose.
I think we shouldn’t read too much into this kind of defeat. Cricket is exactly the kind of game where you can have great days followed by horrible days, right next to each other. The Indians completely failed as a team, and I would argue that they failed to play as a team in the first Test too, when all the Batsman played for records. It didn’t seem like anyone was going for the win in the first test match. And then, they approached the second test with the trademark Indian overconfidence, “Ha! It’s a flat wicket at our home stadiums. Lets play like a ODI match and score 900 runs!”. And that is what led to the downfall!
No matter what Sehewag says, Test matches can’t be played like a Twenty20 game. Test matches need a different mind set all together, and if you approach it with the wrong frame of mind, then the game is going to eat you up. Tests require a lot more patience, planning and partnerships. The Indians completely ignored this, and got hammered for it. Well, its not all bad. Hopefully they’ve learnt their lesson.
But that’s exactly the good thing about the IPL. No matter which way the game goes, one team will always wins and the good thing is that both teams will be Indian. So India always wins!
For one, even the South African’s are in the IPL teams, and several of them turned out very good performances for South Africa. And then, there’s the issue of how they played so well last match. No, the real reason for India’s superbly spectacular defeat, in my opinion, is far more simple.
The Indians played bad cricket. Horrible Cricket. And they deserved to lose.
I think we shouldn’t read too much into this kind of defeat. Cricket is exactly the kind of game where you can have great days followed by horrible days, right next to each other. The Indians completely failed as a team, and I would argue that they failed to play as a team in the first Test too, when all the Batsman played for records. It didn’t seem like anyone was going for the win in the first test match. And then, they approached the second test with the trademark Indian overconfidence, “Ha! It’s a flat wicket at our home stadiums. Lets play like a ODI match and score 900 runs!”. And that is what led to the downfall!
No matter what Sehewag says, Test matches can’t be played like a Twenty20 game. Test matches need a different mind set all together, and if you approach it with the wrong frame of mind, then the game is going to eat you up. Tests require a lot more patience, planning and partnerships. The Indians completely ignored this, and got hammered for it. Well, its not all bad. Hopefully they’ve learnt their lesson.
But that’s exactly the good thing about the IPL. No matter which way the game goes, one team will always wins and the good thing is that both teams will be Indian. So India always wins!
