The Aussie win of their first ICC Champions Trophy tournament yesterday in Mumbai, came as no surprise to me. To say the least, Ricky’s Devils have become very predictable and it no longer excites me to watch them play Cricket. Boring might seem to be an apt phrase to use. The degree of clinical perfection that they have managed to bring in every game has become a matter of discussion in the cricketing corridors of the world. Yesterday’s 8 wicket win, came after a blazing start by the Windies who won the toss and elected to bat first. But some good bowling performances by Nathan Bracken and McGrath restricted them to just 138 in 30.4 overs. What makes them click? Is it the talent or the support staff that’s doing the job? or is it both? we try hard to unlock the code every time. But I beg to ask the managers of our cricketing legacy whether they have a road map ready for the coming months and the ICC world cup. The answer seems obvious to me.
Certainly, I would like to believe that amongst the other South Asian teams, the Indians are a better side to stop the Kangaroo’s hop, given their historic success rate but they aren’t doing well of late. Many a times it’s the psychological edge that proves the winner of the day and we seem to have lost it completely after our 16 match winning streak came to a sad end in the Caribbean tour. In the Champions Trophy, after the Indians won against the English in their first match, I thought they lost their rhythm coming back after a long 11 day holiday. They even failed to exploit the home conditions and looked very edgy in that match against West Indies which we should have won comfortably. After that loss, it was very improbable to defeat the Aussies, given their desperation to win the only trophy missing in their cabinet. Simply put, we don’t look like a team that wants to win anymore. Let’s hope we get our heads back together before the world cup and start winning a few matches. ‘Ooh aah India….Aaya India’ and the Blue Billion Express – such marketing jamboree is worthless if the team continues to downplay the emotions of a nation and keeps losing tournaments. Hope the sponsors are listening and taking notes.