Srikkanth, Chairman of Selectors Blame Bad Luck, Batting, not Fatigue for England Debacle

At a time when Indian cricket needs to do serious soul searching, the chairman of selectors is asking people to refraining from trying to identify the reason why the Indian cricket team performed so miserably on the tour of England to lose the Test series 3-0 with one Test still to go and thereby, handing over the no.1 Test team title. However, this is precisely the time to not only pin the blame but rectify the problem.

Krishnamachari Srikkanth

Speaking on a couple of interviews since India lost the Edgbaston Test in the same woeful manner that they lost the previous two Tests at Lords and at Trent Bridge, former Indian cricketer turned chairman of selectors, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, refused to look at the fatigue angle as suggested by Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The Indian captain had spoken up after the loss of the first two Tests and blamed the fatigue of playing seven Tests on the trot, although only five Tests have been completed at that point.

Srikkanth, however, differs in his viewpoint from the Indian captain and dismisses the idea of fatigue under the premise that all teams are playing right through the years. However, while the amount of cricket being played is indeed of concern, nowhere can it be debated that India play far less because all Indian cricketers are involved in the IPL that robs them of the otherwise off season.

However, the chairman of selectors is unwilling to entertain the idea that the Indian cricket team has performed as badly as they have in England as a result of fatigue. Instead while Srikkanth had urged that motivation is the need of the hour if India are to avoid a 4-0 whitewash in the India England series, he is also blaming the debacle on India’s batting failure.

Blaming the batsmen for unable to bring their best to the table – India have not been able to post a single innings of 300 and only Rahul Dravid has managed the two centuries in the series thus far, Srikanth feels that India’s batting holds the key to how India perform overall. Given that India do not really boast of a crack outfit when it comes to fielding and their bowling has arguably suffered, the chairman of selectors is of the opinion that since India’s batting failed to get going, everything else has gone downhill for India thereafter.

Srikkanth has blamed luck as to why the top Indian batsmen failed to make more of themselves on the tour of England where everyone, barring Rahul Dravid, must take responsibility for the failure. There was a lot of hype surrounding Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th 100. However, even that had drowned once India started to dim the lights on the possibility of winning the series.

Of serious concern for the Indian cricket establishment was the manner in which the team lost three Tests. Their body language betrayed their lack of readiness to take on a tour of this demand. Their resilience appeared to wear thin as the England team completely outthought them and out performed them on the cricket field.