Winds of Change

 

Match-fixing scandal in 2000, 50 overs World Cup early exit in 2007, and 20 over World cup exit in 2021 are the three events that have changed the course of Indian Cricket History in this Millennium. These three moments have resulted in Winds of change blowing out regimes and marking a total reset in the cricketing fortunes of the Indian team. And these changes are more important than regime changes in 2004 and 2014 in the politics of this cricket-crazy nation of 1.3 billion Also, I would rate the change of captaincy from Ganguly to Dravid or some last years of Kumble captainship till Dhoni took over after his retirement or for that matter phased out change from Dhoni to Kohli as logical continuations which did not result in reset kind of circumstances.

The match-fixing scandal changed Indian Cricket from its worst nightmare of the 90s. India won at home thanks to custom-made pitches before. Overseas it was a sorry tale with a lone person carrying a billion dreams.  The captainship was given to Behala Boy: Ganguly who then was crowned as the price of Calcutta. The winds of change resulted in the Ganguly Wright regime. He created a fighting spirit that brought us rare foreign victory in tests and led us to our first WC Final after 83 Win.  He was spot on with his eye for the talent. He backed Bhajji, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Nehra, Irfan. He gave space to seniors like Sachin, Dravid, Kumble, and VVS. He met eye to eye to Aussies, waved off his shirt on the Lord's Balcony. Apart from his off-field tactics and leadership, his innings in Brisbane was instrumental in belief for overseas wins in Adelaide and later Johannesburg. Before that, we had won at Headingly, Port of Spain, Kandy. All was well except his batting form later.

This winning regime of Ganguly-Wright was disrupted by end of the term for Wright.  The entry of Greg Chappell created a lot of cultural gaps affecting the mind space of seniors as well juniors in the team. Dravid manned team with the same personnel minus Dada plus new stars like MS Dhoni, Raina, Gambhir, Munaf. Dravid continued the winning streak till the WC 07 in WI disaster. We were strong favorites for 2007. But it all changed after that game versus Bangladesh. Dravid took all blame though he continued till the successful England test series. But the winds of change were already blowing.

Enter Dhoni-Kirsten regime. When Sharad Pawar led BCCI decided to make Dhoni Captain for the inaugural  ICC T20 WC many were surprised.  But later it was revealed that Sachin himself had suggested this. Dhoni was junior to Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Bhajji, and a few others. But he had that Midas touch to make the key decisions at some key moments to make a winning impact. He kept things simple and did not create mind issues out of pressure situations. The lack of these skills was later responsible for India’s exit in knockout during the Kohli regime.  Kumble led the team in tests successfully in England and admirably during the Monkey gate series in Australia.  Later after a few years of Kumble's captainship till his retirement, Dhoni took over naturally in all the formats.  He initially led Indian to top test rankings, won many bilateral and triangular trophies in white ball. Though Dhoni won us WC 11 and CT13, apart from these two monumental wins he had a really average captainship. His overseas whitewash series in Eng and Aus were forgotten. The poor show in T20 WCs in 09, 10, and 12 was swept under the carpet. In hindsight what makes Dhoni one of the greatest captains and Kirsten as a great coach was a 50 overs world cup win. Indian Cricket fans still treat 50 over WC as the biggest sovereign trophy. Despite IPL, T20 is India’s weakest format. This is something similar to English soccer despite EPL. People also forget the abrupt mid-series retirement of Dhoni during the Australia test series which paved way for the Virat Shastri regime.

This regime bungled in key selections during ICC WC19 which was really India’s Cup to win after topping the league stage. Indian team won many bilateral series but failed in knockouts in T20WC16, CT 17, and WC19. This regime cannot be blamed for harsh scheduling resulting in the Word Test championship final loss to NZ. Some on-field decisions were also questionable. Despite these failures, Indian Cricket Fans especially die-hard cricket lovers should really respect Virat-Shastri's regime. This team did something extraordinary to win the test series in Australia twice and led an ongoing series in England (which will be completed in 22).   They brought a process-driven approach with a strong fitness focus. Credit should also go to the vision of BCCI to have Dravid coach the A and Under 19 teams. That created a great bench strength that mattered in both these test series wins. For me, the Gabba Victory in 2021 was the second-best moment for Indian Cricket after the 83WC win.

But then things went south with behind the scene issues.  BCCI declared the end of Virat’s captainship along with the end of the term for Shastri. BCCI also did the wrong thing by announcing this before the T20 World Cup.  The Indian team was led by a captain who had no future role. This was the most blatant mistake apart from losses of key tosses. It was a farcical ICC Toss World Cup which was won by Finch by winning two knockout tosses.  Winds of Change made Rohit Captain of the white ball and Rahane will lead in tests versus New Zealand. Dravid as a coach has a task in hand to manage the smooth transition of captainship and manage the right selection for the next challenges: T20 WC in 22, WC in 23, and WTC in two years cycle. Dravid has invested his time with youngsters who have a task cut out to fulfill a billion dreams.