The famous Aussie win in Edgbaston notwithstanding, the Ashes opener was also a defining statement for the detractors who strongly believe that Test cricket is on its way to a resounding decline. The first test in Birmingham was a great advertisement for Test cricket, and watching the top 2 test teams battling it out on the 22 yard strip was an absolute delight to watch.
But this also takes me to the more important questions and the contextual disasters around India’s failure in crucial test matches (home and abroad). If we are beating our chest for outplaying the Aussies last year on potential minefields in the Border – Gavaskar trophy, then I am sorry but we really need to look at the benchmarks we are setting for ourselves and more importantly how prepared we are for crucial test matches against the more dominant teams (England, Australia and South Africa).
That also leads us to a very significant question – how strategically does BCCI view our test commitments against the more lucrative IPL and T-20 agenda. I agree the money is nice for everyone but how does that benefit India when we are not capable of picking a quality side who can win important and elusive ICC events against the top teams? Where is the bench? It appears that our key players are now waiting for their swan-song to play out in a gorgeous send off while we aren’t very sure about who is going to lead us for the next 10 years. Moreover, do we have the vision to see how the Indian Cricket team pans out in the next decade or so beyond the cash cows like IPL and other T-20 assignments. Even ODIs these days has taken a backseat, which is obviously bad news for the 4-year World Cups which has been ICC/BCCI’s flagship event since the early 90s.
The WTC final defeat and the hapless manner in which we lost, not to mention the massive failure of our top batters was shameful and unacceptable. It also clearly sent the message that how unprepared we were for the tournament and the more attractive IPL was clearly everyone’s priority (this includes the board, the selectors and the players). It appears that country has indeed been relegated to secondary status while Franchise cricket, the T-20 mania and the subsequent money has become paramount. There really needs to be a balance between these formats if we really value performance at the top level.
I am not trying to demean the shorter format but by the looks of it, it is obviously affecting our core value system and it appears that is slowly taking the sheen away from the most valuable format in the history of the game.
@Lifeoholic 