Faltering Even Before Beginning ...

How long can you go, when you keep 'Faltering Even Before Beginning'...?

Well, that's the question which has been cropping up my mind since a long time now. But, from the time Sachin Tendulkar announced his retirement from ODIs in an bizarre manner, things look even more obscure. Lets have a look at few statistics before we dig deeper in the issues...

Pakistan in India ODI Series

• 1st ODI : 1-17 (Sehwag), 2-17 (Gambhir)
• 2nd ODI : 1-42 (Gambhir), 3-59 (Sehwag)
• 3rd ODI : 1-19 (Rahane), 2-29 (Gambhir)

England in India ODI Series

• 1st ODI : 1-96 (Rahane), 2-102 (Gambhir)
• 2nd ODI : 1-18 (Gambhir), 2-18 (Rahane)
• 3rd ODI : 1-11 (Rahane), 2-78 (Gambhir)

The above statistics indicate how tentative our opening stands have been. Whether it be Sehwag & Gambhir or Gambhir & Rahane, they have been quite inconsistent. Lets not be too judgmental about Rahane yet, as the young lad is still quite new to the arena, but Gambhir & Sehwag have continuously failed to deliver. Be it in the test matches or in ODIs, they've just failed to deliver. So, how much has this affected our Team's performance?

In two words, "A lot". Yes, a team which has been banking quite heavily on it's batting arsenal has been put into a catch 22 quite often. Ironically, the openers have been consistently inconsistent and the middle order has been put under extreme pressure situations, game after game.

Lets look at how our openers have fared in last 8 Test matches. (4 home & 4 away)

Last 8 Test Matches: 

England in India Test Series

1st Test : 1-134 (Gambhir), 2-224 (Sehwag) / 1-57 (Sehwag) (Gambhir did not bat in the 2nd innings)

2nd Test : 1-4 (Gambhir), 2-52 (Sehwag) / 1-30 (Sehwag), 10-142 (Gambhir)

3rd Test : 1-47 (Sehwag), 3-117 (Gambhir) / 1-86 (Sehwag), 3-103 (Gambhir)

4th Test : 1-1 (Sehwag), 4-71 (Gambhir) / Did not bat in the 2nd innings

India in Australia Test Series

1st Test : 1-22 (Sehwag), 2-97 (Gambhir) / 1-17 (Sehwag), 2-39 (Gambhir)

2nd Test : 1-0 (Gambhir), 3-55 (Sehwag) / 1-18 (Sehwag), 3-168 (Gambhir)

3rd Test : 1-4 (Sehwag), 4-63 (Gambhir) / 1-24 (Gambhir), 2-25 (Sehwag)

4th Test : 1-26 (Sehwag), 4-87 (Gambhir) / 1-14 (Gambhir), 2-80 (Sehwag)

The above statistics talk about two things, i) The openers have hardly managed to give the team a solid platform & ii) Neither of those openers have managed to bat long enough. Therefore, the failure isn't limited to their partnerships, but also accounts as an individual failure. This ain't no rocket-science. Every cricket fanatic in this country would give you a piece of advice on this. But, are our selectors made of some different soil..?

Things are pretty clear, 'Our team ain't doing any good since we lifted that WC in '11. Kohli has been the promising young go-getter, but off late he's been going through a not-so-fruitful patch.Gambhir, not performing. Sehwag, failing time and again. MSD, been doing good in ODIs, but miserable in Test Matches. Raina, Yuvraj have not been so impressive as well. Jadeja is something, nobody has understood yet, so is the case of Rohit Sharma. Rahane & Manoj Tiwary have not got enough chances. Sachin Tendulkar, well, what wrong did this poor guy did to go through such an unfair treatment. His last 2 ODIs have yielded 166 runs, with one century & a half-century. He has been one of the most fittest, passionate & prolific cricketer the game has ever seen. So why the hell could someone think of pushing him for retirement? What possible reasons?

1) "On the basis of *Form*?" - If so, then at least half-a-dozen deserve to hang-up their boots.

2) "On the basis of *Giving chance to youngster*?" - Which youngster?

3) "On the basis of *WC preparations*?" - Really?

4) "On the basis of *Age*?" - How does it really matter, if he is still fitter than many of the players we have?

The man we miss watching in the blues.

I simply fail to understand the logic of Indian Selectors & the case of Sachin's retirement. At a time when we are struggling, our openers are not delivering, we needed someone of the caliber of Sachin Tendulkar to stand up and show us the way, rather than pushing him to the wall. This was the time to stand united & back our team. We required logical decisions, rather than getting bullied by the pressure put by media or some of the ex-cricketers.

On one end, we drop Sehwag & on other end, we keep playing Gambhir, Sharma. Every decision from the selection committee is bewildering each of us. We need to find a solid opening batting pair now. If the current ones are failing to accumulate runs of flats decks under home conditions, then what should be expected from them on seaming wickets outside the sub-continent. Even the thought scares me. This Indian cricket team needs a long-term solution, not a quick-fix. And the work should begin, right away.

Currently positioned at No.1 in ODIs, we have two simple choices, either we enjoy our short-term numero uno status or we just get into the roots of the problems, and work towards a team which plays like number one. I can continue dwelling upon many more issues, maybe, some other day.

Hoping & wishing the very best to our Indian Cricket Team.