India might be a power house of batting, we might have the Kohlis and the double-hundred Sharmas and the new-found-off-stump-line Ashwin. But what we don't have is a player who will fight it out in hard times.
I mean, every team has a crisis man. There used to be a time when you could name each player in a team who would be known for something like this...Eg. Virender Sehwag for India, Mahela Jayawardene for Sri Lanka, Moin Khan for Pakistan, Ian Healy for Australia, Jacques Kallis for South Africa. But that era seems to be gone.
Now when times are tough, teams tend to crack. Experts blame it on the T20 era. I think that's bullshit.
You need to be mentally tough and an amazing self-belief, which is not based on how the pitch is behaving or who is bowling at what speed!
Now, it looks like all teams are going through that phase when they just don't have an answer for it.
Ashwin at times has done for India with both bat and ball, Rahane too, but yet somehow they don't inspire the kind of confidence needed at such times.
Take the second T20 for instance, 67 for 5 quickly became 69 for 7. Three wickets in the space of a few deliveries.
Most teams of the early 2000s or even late 90s would have some player who would be ready to fight. Even Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) would have done something. Not today, he just isn't in the right frame of mind. He knows it's over and he's just going through the motion, much similar to how Indian fielders would be when Australia would be 300/2 in a Test. You know the wickets won't come...they will have to hand it to you!
Anyway, coming back, what India lacks is a crisis man!
Unless we have a 200+ total in a T20 or a 350+ in an ODI, we are never sure if we will win.
Try to remember the last time we won a low-scoring game?? I can't think of any!!
That scares me...this generation is just not ready to fight it out, they want it all easy. There isn't one player who will lift the spirit of this entire team.
Even the commentators believed that a Ravi Shastri can motivate them!! And I was like...WTF!! Why do you need a 50-year old trying to ignite passion and tell you to get up and do something.
I would expect someone like a Kohli/Dhoni doing something like this. Saying stuff like, 'come on guys, let's get'em!!
I mean, every team has a crisis man. There used to be a time when you could name each player in a team who would be known for something like this...Eg. Virender Sehwag for India, Mahela Jayawardene for Sri Lanka, Moin Khan for Pakistan, Ian Healy for Australia, Jacques Kallis for South Africa. But that era seems to be gone.
Now when times are tough, teams tend to crack. Experts blame it on the T20 era. I think that's bullshit.
You need to be mentally tough and an amazing self-belief, which is not based on how the pitch is behaving or who is bowling at what speed!
Now, it looks like all teams are going through that phase when they just don't have an answer for it.
Ashwin at times has done for India with both bat and ball, Rahane too, but yet somehow they don't inspire the kind of confidence needed at such times.
Take the second T20 for instance, 67 for 5 quickly became 69 for 7. Three wickets in the space of a few deliveries.
Most teams of the early 2000s or even late 90s would have some player who would be ready to fight. Even Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh) would have done something. Not today, he just isn't in the right frame of mind. He knows it's over and he's just going through the motion, much similar to how Indian fielders would be when Australia would be 300/2 in a Test. You know the wickets won't come...they will have to hand it to you!
Anyway, coming back, what India lacks is a crisis man!
Unless we have a 200+ total in a T20 or a 350+ in an ODI, we are never sure if we will win.
Try to remember the last time we won a low-scoring game?? I can't think of any!!
That scares me...this generation is just not ready to fight it out, they want it all easy. There isn't one player who will lift the spirit of this entire team.
Even the commentators believed that a Ravi Shastri can motivate them!! And I was like...WTF!! Why do you need a 50-year old trying to ignite passion and tell you to get up and do something.
I would expect someone like a Kohli/Dhoni doing something like this. Saying stuff like, 'come on guys, let's get'em!!
