Time to take bold steps for Team India

Going into the series as the No 1 Test side, India captain MS Dhoni never expected that his world could come crashing down in just a month.

From being hailed as heroes after becoming the top-ranked team in 2009 and winning the World Cup only two months ago, India’s humiliating 4-0 whitewash to Andrew Strauss’s England side has revealed the chinks in the armour.

The injury-hit bowlers may have the excuse of lack of support from the batting line-up, which, too, had its share of unfit players.

However, the seamers failed to put the ball in the right areas consistently. Only Praveen Kumar, with his limited place and extraordinary ability to swing the ball both ways, put up a decent display.

The ageing legends, who have won India many matches and series in the past, have been criticised for their slow reflexes on the field. Only Rahul Dravid put up a face-saving act with three centuries in difficult situations.

With the kind of show that India put up, the need of the hour is to take some bold steps and introduce new methods to save the team, the experts opine.

Former India cricketer Balwinder Singh Sandhu said that having a strong bench should be the focus now. “What happened in England was really disappointing. We have seen this kind of a result after a long time,” he said.

“What we need now is to have a strong pool of players who could replace injured players. The selectors should make them feel that they are wanted and would get a long rope. We need to have good bench strength in batting. We also need three to four good spinners too. Pacers are the other important necessity and around eight of them should be ready at all times,” said Sandhu.

“Our focus should be on the youngsters and we must take some bold steps.”

Sandhu also said that in order to lessen Dhoni’s burden, he should be relieved of captaincy from at least one format.

“We can have two captains. It was a collective failure but having two captains would lighten the burden on Dhoni and a young leg can lead in the shorter version as we don’t have anybody who can lead in the Tests and we can’t go back to our senior players.

Gautam Gambhir is not consistent and is prone to injuries. Otherwise, he could have been a contender,” Sandhu said.

Former Test cricketer Lalchand Rajput echoed Sandhu’s views. “It’s time that we take bold decisions. Two captains can be a new format and that would lessen Dhoni’s burden,” said Rajput.

Former left-arm spinner and erstwhile selector Venkatapathy Raju said that a young leg like a Raina could be given a chance to lead in Twenty20. “Yeah, that can relieve some pressure off Dhoni. But as far as the England series is concerned, it is a collective failure.”

Ravi Shastri urged the BCCI to put in place some tough guidelines to revive Indian cricket. “It was a combination of a lot of factors — injuries, lack of form. But this is a rude wake-up call,” Shastri said.

“Tough guidelines should be in place, and we should have a core group of players for all three formats of the game. You might not always have desirable stories but that’s the way forward. That way, Indian cricket could get back on track in six months,” he said.