Team India look for answer and credibility in the middle of match fixing allegations
Ajit Parker
Apr. 19, 2005

India lost the series miserably. The betting market knew very well India would lose especially the last match. India is digging to find what really affected the dignity of Indian cricket. When did politicians decide to call the outcome of Indian Cricket? What did India gain out of Musharraf really?

Of course some will say, match was not fixed, it just happened. Well it is to big a coincidence that the rumor predicted India will lose big time and Pakistan team was looking relaxed before the final One Day International.

No matter what India needs to reengineer the cricket again salvaging the same from wherever.

According to media reports, the day after, Team India is sifting through the debris of an embarrassing home series defeat for clues to what went wrong against Pakistan. There is a lot of anguish, a lot of hurt _ but not too many answers. One thing they are clear about:

They didn’t stop fighting. Ask John Wright why the team gave up in Delhi and the mild-mannered Kiwi raises his voice several decibels.

``Of course they fought hard. A result can sometimes shade effort. Of course this team was fighting, of course this team was giving it all they had. It's easy to write that the team went down without a fight, but that's not the truth.''''

The players, who have dispersed home for a three-month break from the game, are trying to work out what went wrong. The general consensus is that things just didn’t click.

``It just didn’t click for us this season'''', says Harbhajan Singh.

``Time theek nahi chal raha hai.'''' Is it the players?

``This is the same team that reached the World Cup final after 20 years'''', Bhajji points out.

``This team consistently won abroad, played well at home. But this has been the kind of season when either the batting has clicked or the bowling. Never both together.''''

At his press conference on Sunday, stand-in skipper Rahul Dravid admitted that the team hadn’t performed well over 100 overs.

``Our one-day performance has not been good. Not only this one but even for the last few series we haven’t played good one-day cricket and that's something we have to think about.'''' The one good thing is that there's no sense of denial.

``I think we did well in two Tests'''', says a senior player.

``It's the one-dayers where we have really stuffed it up.''''

Much of the fans'''' anger is directed at Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. The players see the point, but only upto a point.

``Of course the form of Ganguly and Tendulkar hurt us, but then there were other batsmen in the team who should have done the job. These two have won India a lot of matches'''', a player said.

The players are upset about the ``lottery system'''' of the matches. Almost every match, they point out, was decided in the first 15 overs. They are, however, unstinting in their praise of the Pakistanis. Especially the two men who hurt them most.

``How do you bowl to Afridi?’’ said one affected bowler.

``If you pitch it outside off, he swings his bat. If we bowl it down the middle, he swings it across to the leg-side for six. Plans don’t work against him.''''

Rana Naved Ul Hasan was another who caught the eye with his exemplary bowling performance. ``No doubt he bowled better than all our bowlers'''', says one of the Indian pacers.

``But then he was fresh. He played one Test and then rested and worked on his bowling for the next couple of weeks.'''' He's quick to admit, though, that it isn’t an excuse.

``We should have bowled to the plan and not on either side of the wicket.''''

His theory, which other bowlers echoed, is this: ``Maybe a bowling coach would have really helped us like Bruce Reid did in Australia. Sometimes you still need someone to tell you to go back to the basics. We could have worked out new strategies.''''

The players are now looking forward to two things: a break from the game, and a return to the game in Sri Lanka. ``No point looking back'''', says Bhajji. ``If we do that we’ll never move forward. We must now plan ahead and find out what went wrong with our performance.'''''''' Is he bullish on the future? `I’m confident that next season things will be different. We will prove once again why we are one of the best teams in the world.''''

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