Why is this Indian team not performing?

[Colourful Chaddi]

I am always wondering what is wrong with the current Indian team and their winning record. This team has legends in the batting order with Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid, they also have very good batsmen in Saurav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag and VVS Laxman. India is blessed with world class spinners in Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. Yes we all agree India’s bowlers are not great but each can be devastating on their day. Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ashish Nehra can all be match winners, but why is India still not performing well? Below I have made a list of things I think is stopping India’s success on the field.

Fielding
Indians fielding is pathetic, admit it guys it is ****! Muhammad Kaif and Yuvrag Singh are the only decent fielders in the team but they are no help with the bat. In ODI cricket is crucial to stop the singles and restrict the batsmen, but India are constantly giving singles away, 1 runs become 2 runs, 2 runs become 3 runs and 3 runs become 4 runs because the lazy Indians don’t work harder and bend their backs. Fielding just doesn’t make the score board look good it also helps the morale of the fielding team, I know how it feels when your team members miss-fields and drops catches its no good for the team morale. Greg Chappel must talk to the Indians about this HUGE problem, India must improve in the fielding if they are to be world beaters.

Ego’s
I think all the Indian players have big ego’s which I think is killing the teams morale and morale is most important. The team must be like a unity like a family if they are to be a successful team, look at England, they all look like friends and they all call each other with nicknames like Freddie, lord brokect etc. The Indian players probably call Ganguly the Royal Highness! Look at Zaheer Khan’s performance with Asia XI, he was terrific but why doesn’t he perform like that with the Indian team? I think that it is due to the morality and the unity of the team. I know that when a team-mate is intimidating it is hard for you to perform. Guys have you ever so the Indian team in the field or when they are batting? The chewtiya’s are always swearing at each other, each other’s mother and sister etc. They are never happy, only when they take a wicket are they happy and that is only for the cameras. These guys need a counselling man, they need to know how to be friends and how to communicate with each other without using the word benchought.

Effort
I have supported India more, with a passion I cannot describe. The reason I used to support India with so much passion was the way they used to play, they would never give up and they always showed full effort, look at Kapil Dev who hit 4 consecutive sixes to save the follower-on, my dad still talks of that particular innings till this day. But that has all changed, I am no longer seeing the effort by the Indian players, look at our loss against Pakistan. Pakistan didn't even have their best bowlers and they still beat us because they played their hearts out, they played with full effort, I didn't see any effort by the players. If we look at the 3rd test of the series only Sehwag was playing for the win, the rest of the team played so crap, and put no effort in. when I looked at the world cup 2003 final where Australia and India played for the cup, India were trashed by the Australian batsmen, the score was 359-2 with only Harbhajan taking the wickets, but even with this score I thought India could still win, but I was cruelly mistaken I saw no effort by the Indians to bat well, yes the Australians bowled well but I would have liked to see more effort, there was no effort by the Indians when Tendulkar was dismissed by Glenn Magrath, I was deeply sadden when India lost that final, but I was more sadden that they didn't show that effort I and many India fans were looking for. The Indians need to put in 100% effort if they want to win.

[vvvrulz]

Originally Posted by Waseem Khalifa

Fielding
Indians fielding is pathetic, admit it guys it is ****! Muhammad Kaif and Yuvrag Singh are the only decent fielders in the team but they are no help with the bat.

I think their feilding standards have generally lifted over the years. The likes of Sehwag are more than competant skills wise on the field, I think what they lack is enthusiasm on the field. They seem to be drifting in no mans land and its really up to the skipper to lift them.

Originally Posted by Waseem Khalifa

Ego’s
I think all the Indian players have big ego’s which I think is killing the teams morale and morale is most important. The team must be like a unity like a family if they are to be a successful team The Indian players probably call Ganguly the Royal Highness!

Huge problem, and to be quite frank, I don't think Indian cricket will ever develop unless Ganguly is given the sack. His cricket certainely isn't up to it anymore, almost a free wicket, and he no longer continues to motivate the boys, they all seem like they don't want to be there but for themselves !

Time for a new captain, a fresh state of mind.

Originally Posted by Waseem Khalifa

I didn't see any effort by the players. If we look at the 3rd test of the series only Sehwag was playing for the win, the rest of the team played so crap. The Indians need to put in 100% effort if they want to win.

Couldn't agree more, that was an absolute rubbish performance by every player other than Sehwag on the whole tour. Even he spoke out to the media expressing his disappointment. They are all capable of doing what he can, so why don't they !? Lack of confidence? Courage? I really don't know.

I'll just add a couple more points to Waseem's argument. Firstly a major problem as described by Anand Vasu in a Cricinfo column is the constant rotation of fringe players. Its stupid to bring on a domestic talent, give him a few ODI's against a minnow nation and then give him the boot. Its almost as if theyre just doing it to please the board that theyre giving everyone a chance. This is hardly a chance, its more like your 15 seconds of fame.

The selectors are another problem, they will never sack Ganguly or Yuvraj even, but will constantly give Kumble and Laxman the door. And axeing Balaji !? What on earth is going on. Furthermore the BCCI never seems to make a stand with player issues, it seems its the cricketers who have all the power. Ganguly upturns almost every ban he gets for heavens sake. What kind of discipline is this?

If these matters are not addressed, India will never grow as a cricketing nation. Its as simple as that. They lack discipline, motivation and are basically just too soft. They have all the talent in the world, its about time they learnt to use it.

[Seamer]

I think India focusses on success at home too much. They do not prepare a wide range of wicket types ie fast, seaming spinning, so they are unprepared for tours outside India.
I also think Ganguly is a poor and negative captain. With the talent they have, they really should be challenging for the no1 ranking.

[Colourful Chaddi]

The big problem is the Indian board. Many players don't get the boot because they have sponser'd like pepsi adn sacking them mayu cause in drop of their salary.