Reasons for India’s Poor Performance in England

What are the reasons behind India’s poor performance in ongoing Test series? Is it because of IPL? Is it because of poor injury management? Is it because of lack of professionalism displayed by players, selectors & board? Is it because of genuine lack of bench strength? Is it because of poor vision by selectors?

Well, IPL immediately after the World Cup did not give Team India time to either rejoice their triumph or given some space to refresh their mind. A long World Cup would have taken heavy toll on the player’s physical and mental energies. I would like to remind the comments of Paddy Upton, Team India’s former mental conditioning coach, for poor performance of Team India. Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer Khan carrying niggles aggravated their injuries. They should have made a strong decision and stayed away from this year’s IPL.

I never seen Michael Hussey, McGrath, Steyn or Kallis playing straightaway into an International match after coming from injury layoff. They ensure their match fitness by playing atleast two or three first-class matches. Then only they make themselves available for selections. But see the likes of Gambhir, Sehwag and Zaheer Khan playing for India without any proper warm-up matches. This shows clear lack of professionalism from Indian Cricketers, especially the gen next. I would request Indian players to ape the professionalism of Aussies not their on-field antics.

Selectors and Team management does not seems to know who their next set of best players are. Badrinath should be playing ahead of Raina and Kohli at No.6. But he was not given enough chance to prove his worth. Munaf should be playing ahead of inconsistent Sreesanth. Why no proper backup opener was not included in the squad for tough tour like this with fitness conditions of regular openers? It actually forced Dravid and Laxman to bat out of their usual positions and affected stability of the whole batting order.

Why selectors are playing musical chairs with Ishant, Munaf, Mithun, RP Singh, Sreesanth and others? I can understand selector’s dilemma and desperation. But they should have identified group of fast bowlers by now and groomed them.

How long Harbhajan will be persisted with despite his continuous mediocre performances with the ball? There has been another musical chair going on among spinners. Identify the spinners and groom them.

Will BCCI, Selectors and coaches work in a coordinating manner to monitor and manage the workload and fitness level of players? Are selectors listening to physios and coaches suggestions on fitness program for individual players?

Will BCCI display proper care and diligence so that tours to countries like Australia, NewZealand, South Africa and England have enough warm-up matches planned before the start of the Test series?