Front Foot Defensive

It was one slower ball that probably changed the course of our fortunes. Dwayne Bravo to a Yuvraj in form and what looked like a brilliantly fought for victory turned into the narrowest of defeats. It was one of those moments. These moments count for a lot in cricket. But that was probably the moment where India slipped - a moment that started to weigh heavy on their confidence and their intent. A 17 match streak ended and doubts crept in. Since then its been downhill.

But before we get into a "abuse-overpaid-players-and-experimenting-coach" mode -lets just for a moment consider what was a purple patch. We had Yuvraj playing the best that he ever had. Dravid was his usual consistent self. Sachin made injury-free guest appearances where he played well. Sehwag fired from time to time, Pathan rocked both with the ball and the bat and Dhoni was well Dhoni.

Now its the same set of players really - almost all out of form and ofcourse out of form players dont win matches. Out of form players with their confidences dented by what seemed to be only a slower ball really dont get around to winning matches easily. Who do we have on the bench? Raina, Mongia and a host of no name no performance players. Lets just accept the fact that wehave no backups - we have no one to bat if any one of our frontline guys go. The option is probably going back to tried and tested old guys. But thats for another day.

However the core set is still the same. In cricket usually if the core set fires, the fringe players derive confidence from the form of the core guys and start supporting the core in-form guys. So perhaps when the moment comes when Sachin Dravid Sehwag Dhoni fire - atleast 2 of them in a match, you got to betthat the fringe guys might chip in with a crucial 20 and maybe we might getback to winning. However we are just that one match away from turningconfidence and forms for the better. Atleast in that case the short term is better.

But the long term is really grim. Even if we do go back to VVS and Dada to bolster the middle order - what next? All these guys are in their 30s and lets face it they wont be playing for long. Do we really have any quality batsmen tore place them?

Supporting India is always an exhiliarating experience. Its more fun if you stick through the thick and thin for no other team with the prominent exception of Pakistan can give the variety of highs and lows of Indian cricket. You win 17 in a row chasing - you lose many on a trot. Indian Cricket for me will always be the rollercoaster ride i look forward to in an entertainment park.