Why is the Indian cricket team continuously losing knockout matches?
(South African Sports Journalist on Temba Bavuma’s Future, Rugby World Champion Captain Siya Kolisi’s Tactics, and Why Athletes Stretch Their Careers)
For the past 10 years, there has been much talk about how the Indian team keeps losing in knockouts and what the reasons are. There are lots of assumptions and facts out there, and we see every analyst having their own opinion about this. In a country of a billion cricket fans, this is expected, but it is a serious concern for a cricketing nation. Is it because Indian players prioritize IPL over national duty? Or is it the mental baggage of not crossing the finishing line or not performing when it matters most?
In search of answers, I have interviewed a lot of people around the globe. Everyone comes up with their facts; some say lack of preparation causes the damage, while others say not playing domestic tournaments is the issue. Recently, I did a podcast with an Australian sports podcaster, and he mentioned to me that international players not playing for their domestic side is not new. For instance, Pat Cummins made his debut in Test matches in 2011, and in 2017, he played in the Sheffield Shield for the first time in six years. His last match was in the 2011 final against Tasmania, which means there is nothing new because of the hectic schedule playing three formats and expecting them to play for their domestic side is difficult.
Coming to the IPL, blaming it is not going to solve the problem. There have been a lot of errors in selections which we saw as viewers from the 2014 T20 loss against Sri Lanka in the finals to now. Let’s jump to 2011 when India won the World Cup after 28 years. The 2011 Indian team that won the World Cup is not the same in every match. MS Dhoni is experimenting with their players in almost every match. Players like Ravichandran Ashwin, who was new, have been sidelined because they had frontline spinners like Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh, and as a part-timer, Suresh Raina. They were all there to give an extra 5–6 overs if required.
In my opinion, the issue with the current Indian lineup is the lack of batters who can also bowl. The current Indian team needs all-rounders, we cannot just rely on Hardik Pandya and Shivam Dube. Recently, I had a conversation with a sports scientist who gave me a nice insight about fast bowling. He said as an all-rounder, especially as a fast bowler all-rounder, it is difficult to play with the same consistency as they are more prone to injury. There is no hidden truth that fast bowlers can only bowl fast if they play fewer matches; otherwise, they could become more prone to injuries because fast bowling mechanics are unnatural to our bodies.
On the other hand, all-rounder spin bowlers, which we had in the past such as Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina, were there to give you extra overs and at the same time bowl with control economy and bat at number 4 or 5, which opens up the wide possibility to finish the game. In the current Indian team that plays regularly, we don’t have many players like that apart from Ravindra Jadeja, whose batting has improved but still, we can’t rely much on his finishing touches consistently. What he offers you is aggressive batting, not consistency which we had in the face of Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh.
Apart from this theory, I don’t think a lot of changes India needs to do because India has a bunch of talented players who can on their days single-handedly win the game for India. The only thing India should look at is to bring in a lot of new all-rounder spin bowlers. Apart from selection errors, one more thing which as a viewer we can see there is a bit of mental baggage. Let’s take the example of South Africa, “Always the Bride but never the bride”.
They always had those players in the past, but they failed to perform when it was important. From 1992 since their readmission, there is no doubt how brilliantly they play in group stages, but suddenly there is a bit of stiffness we see in the Proteas unit when they jump in knockout, and this is exactly what India is going through. Sometimes teams like Australia give you lessons from 2003 Ricky Ponting’s innings against India, 2007 Adam Gilchrist’s innings against Sri Lanka, and then Travis Head this year. Sometimes playing freely is a double-edged sword, but most of the time playing freely “sensibly” will help you to reach the target that you are aiming for. I am sure Team India will look into this and start making changes for the benefit.