The Inflection Points

In any trend sheet - things dont just happen. There is always an inflection point - the one thing that seems to trigger off the long trend.

Indian cricket - briefly - rose to great heights. World No.1 in Test Cricket and World Cup Champions. On the back of the ability to fight and fight really hard at that. The fighting spirit was inculcated by Wright and Ganguly no doubt - but the inflection point for the eventual rise to no.1 and champions was Perth.

The events in Sydney had left the team pissed and hurt. They responded in Perth. The fastest pitch, the one pitch where India should have had no chance. They fought hard - typified by Ishant's spell to Punter. The spell that defined the match. What stood out however was not the fact that Ishant had bowled 6 fire-breathing overs to Ricky but the fact that when Sehwag suggested that he bowl one more and Kumble asked "Ek Aur Karega" - inspite of being justified to feel tired and let someone else take up the cudgels, Ishant replied "Haan Karunga". And that "ek aur" delivered the wicket of one of the best players of the short ball in Australia. That team was willing to run itself to the ground to win. Because they fought hard.

And lets make no mistake - the rise to no.1 was not just because we played a fair bit at home - it was because we fought hard outside home. The World Cup saw the same fight and the refusal to give up and thus was the Cup won.

But attitudes change. And that change shows. In West Indies, the World no.1 team refused to chase 86 in 15 overs with 7 wickets in hand and called for a tame draw. It matters not that they might not have won it even if they went for it - but the not trying was a crime. It signalled the start of a flagging intent.

The inflection point for the decline however - was in an ironical life coming full circle style - centred around Ishant Sharma again. We were at Lords - we were under pressure. In the second Inning before lunch Ishant had picked up 3 wickets and was firing hard.There was a chance to blow away England and make a match out of it. There was great amount of interest in how India would fight back after lunch. Ishant should have had the ball in his hand raring to go.

Instead Raina started the session with his slow spinners. The man who after a hard long spell had said yes to "ek aur karega" had now after a 45 minute break refused to attack citing tiredness.

And there in lies the story of a lost spine. The Indian team so willing to fight had in their minds clearly given up long back. If no1 and the World Cup was a direct result of a fighting spirit, 8-0 is a fair and just result of the lack of that very fighting spirit.