India’s Cricketing Woes: A Deep Dive into the BGT & New Zealand Debacle

India’s cricketing contrasts are stark: a powerhouse at home yet vulnerable in challenging conditions. The recent losses are a reminder that success requires not just talent but humility, preparation, and adaptability. India’s recent cricketing struggles have spotlighted long-standing issues, ranging from batting inconsistencies to questionable strategies. While the Indian cricket juggernaut has often been celebrated for its dominance, particularly on home soil, recent results have raised serious concerns about the team’s direction. 1-3 outcome in Australia is far from surprising; any astute cricket lover who closely followed the New Zealand series could have seen this coming.

Tactical Failures

Pat Cummins and the Australian team have been successful against India's lineup, it's a testament to their strategic planning and effective execution. One of the most debated aspects of India’s performance was their team selection. The Indian think tank's decision to field 5-6 bowlers on paper, despite having only two effective bowlers, highlights a tactical misstep. The injury to the main bowler exacerbates the problem, leaving the team with limited options.

The Lower-Order Conundrum

India’s lower-order batsmen frequently end up as top scorers, a trend symptomatic of a broader problem: an unreliable top order. Home conditions, when overexploited to favor bowlers, can poison a team’s batting just as effectively as it does the opposition. Playing on pitches overly tailored to assist bowlers has often backfired, hampering India’s own batting lineup as much as it troubles the opposition. This recurring issue came into sharp focus during the 2024 Test series against New Zealand.

New Zealand’s Historic Triumph

New Zealand’s men’s team, with only two Test wins in India since 1955, stunned the cricketing world by achieving a historic 3-0 clean sweep. The victory was a testament to their adaptability to spinning pitches and India’s complacency post their T20 World Cup triumph. While players like Washington Sundar, Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal performed admirably, the underwhelming contributions from senior batsmen Rohit Sharma (91 runs) and Virat Kohli (93 runs) proved costly.

Rohit and Kohli: A Question of Legacy

Once the cornerstones of Indian cricket, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli now seem to struggle with familiar patterns of failure. As time catches up with them, their waning form has become a burden on the team. A critical question arises: should these stalwarts retire on a high note, leaving fans asking, “Why now?” rather than “Why not now?” Their consistent underperformance has left the batting lineup vulnerable throughout both series, inevitably leading to an adverse result. 

Change of Leadership

India has failed to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and scrutiny of Rohit Sharma’s captaincy is set to intensify, especially following five defeats in the last six matches. Leadership in cricket is as much about man-management as it is about on-field strategies, and Rohit’s tenure has ended.

Over-Reliance on All-Rounders

India’s strategy of relying on all-rounders to mask the failures of its top order has its pitfalls. While players like Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja & Washington Sundar have produced tough performances, this approach often hides a lack of consistency in the top order. Selecting “half-bowlers who can bat” neither ensures wickets nor guarantees economical spells, as seen in the team’s struggles despite Jasprit Bumrah’s heroic efforts.

Road to Failure

No team can succeed when senior players are out of form, and young players fail to rise to the occasion. The core issue with the senior players isn’t just their underperformance—it’s their approach to the game. Given the chance to sharpen their skills in the Duleep Trophy, they chose to opt-out, missing a valuable opportunity to regain form. India’s decision to skip practice matches ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 has raised questions about their preparation and approach. In a high-stakes series, such a move could impact their ability to adapt to Australian conditions, putting additional pressure on the team from the outset. This decision speaks volumes about their priorities, leaving them with no one but themselves to blame. 

The Need for Grit and Simplicity

No team can carry so many mediocre or out-of-form batters and expect to win against a side with 4 great bowlers. Cricket’s timeless wisdom is that success often demands grit and simplicity over flashy heroics. India’s young players encouraged to “express themselves” with aggressive intent, must learn the value of resilience. The team’s conveyor belt of talent continues to produce promising players, but a lack of foundational stability in batting, captaincy, and selection strategies undermines their potential.

The Broader Lessons

As the cricketing world debates the causes of India’s slump, the focus must shift to fixing the basics. From addressing batting woes to ensuring sound leadership and selection policies, India has the resources to bounce back—but only if it learns from its failures.

The path forward requires more than cosmetic changes; it demands a cultural shift within the team. After all, cricket is as much about reinvention as it is about tradition—a lesson India must embrace if it hopes to reclaim its lost glory. 

New face of Indian Cricket - 6

Fantastic performance of the series by the Black Caps. Abysmal India has hit rock bottom as attitudes and defensive techniques stand badly exposed. The recent series against New Zealand culminated in a dominant display by the Black Caps and raised genuine fears of a possible 5-0 whitewash in the upcoming tour of Australia.  The Indian management must make tough, possibly transformative decisions if the team is to regain consistency and success on the international stage.  

The Indian cricket think tank appears to have adopted a narrow focus, concentrating heavily on the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) while overlooking the importance of the New Zealand tour.  Senior players like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Jasprit Bumrah chose not to participate in the Duleep Trophy, and Ravindra Jadeja opted out due to niggle. Even the pitches in the Duleep Trophy were customized for seam rather than spin, leaving Indian Test batters underprepared. Despite India's celebrated depth of talent, it means little when key players are unavailable or not utilized effectively.

The series highlighted the shortcomings of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli as leading batsmen. Players like Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Shreyas Iyer, and Hanuma Vihari have faded away due to a combination of factors such as form, injuries, and shifts in team strategy. Meanwhile, Sarfaraz Khan and Yashasvi Jaiswal represent the new generation of talent making their mark in Indian cricket. Additionally, B. Sai Sudharsan, Devdutt Padikkal, and Abhimanyu Easwaran are promising cricketers whose consistent domestic performances have brought them closer to the national Test team. Integrating these younger, in-form players who have refined their skills in domestic cricket would be the most effective approach to replacing Rohit and Virat.

As India moves toward the next World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, it’s reasonable to speculate that the team might start transitioning away from veteran spinners like Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Including Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, and Washington Sundar as a spin-bowling trio could greatly enhance the strength of India’s Test squad.  While the transition may not be immediate, giving these younger spinners opportunities to lead the attack will be essential for their development.

The transition for any coach into the international arena is rarely smooth, especially when they bring their own philosophy and tactics. A 3-0 series loss to New Zealand is a humiliation, placing Gautam Gambhir’s role as coach squarely under the radar. This has invited criticism not only of his strategies but also his ability to inspire and manage players under pressure. For Gambhir, this could serve as an important learning phase to reassess game plans, strengthen mental resilience in the squad, and recalibrate for future series.  

Cricket is still and will always be about scoring runs and equally about bowling out the opposition. The upcoming Test series for India against England and Australia, both overseas, will be a "baptism by fire."  These tours will offer a chance for emerging talents to cement their place.  These high-stakes tours will demand an adaptable approach, as both teams bring unique styles—Australia’s aggressive, fast-paced game and England’s renewed focus on “Bazball,” their brand of attacking, high-scoring Test cricket.

Individuals declining in a team is normal, but the question remains: Are the backups ready? A lot of Test cricket is about physical and mental endurance, about concentrating when it is easy for the mind to wander.  The transition will be painful for the fans as well as players.  Jasprit Bumrah, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant are set to become the new generation of senior players in the evolving Indian Test cricket team. As Kipling once said, they’ll need to "keep their heads when all around them are losing theirs and blaming it on them."

New face of Indian Cricket - 5

This blog doesn't often dabble in technical cricket analysis, because my credentials in the field of technical cricket analysis are somewhat lacking. And I am writing this blog post in a series of posts 7 years after the New face of Indian Cricket - 4. The Indian cricket team is on the verge of playing the ODI World Cup, the Test series with England, and then the T20 World Cup,

What lies ahead for India as their Test /ODI/T20 side enters a transitional phase? Indian team under Rohit and Dravid has been into a spiral loop of learning in every series and every game. Winning is a habit, as England discovered on their march to the summit, and confidence begets confidence along the way. Losing for the sake of learning, on the other hand, tends to become known simply as losing as the team gets too used to the feeling.

Test Team: Retirement is a natural conclusion to a sportsman’s career, even if occasionally the inevitable is delayed.  Rohit, Virat, Che Pujara, and Ajinkya Rahane are perhaps at the far end of his career in the batting. Shreyas Iyer will be VVS for the future test team, playing at 5 & competing with Sarfaraz Khan for the spot. Poor XI selection in the test matches and Dust Bowl pitches in India have also expedited the process of the bad patch of batters. Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli both averaged 29.69 in Test cricket since the start of 2020. Yet, while the former has been dropped, the latter continues holding onto his spot.  This is the time to blood new talent Abhimanyu Easwaran, and Sarfaraz Khan and give prolonged chances to Shreyas Iyer, Shubman Gill, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. 

The real strength of the Indian bowling attack is the ability to take 20 wickets with fantastic spin all-rounders and genuine fast bowlers. Five-bowler theory has been working in abroad tours as there is a reliable batting line-up against good teams. Ashwin and Jadeja are allrounders in the legacy of Kapil Dev & Vinoo Mankad.  New bowlers like Kuldeep Yadav,  Axar Patel, and Saurabh Kumar will be hopeful to carry on this legacy shortly.  

It's difficult enough to solve problems in Test-match cricket, but infinitely more challenging when the existence of those problems is never acknowledged. India is producing sub-standard cricket pitches for the test matches, and they are alien to our own cricketers as well. This is not because they never get a chance to play much domestic first-class cricket but because the standard of pitches in the Ranji trophy is much better than test match pitches in India. This legacy from Kohli-Shahstri & Rohit-Dravid has to be discarded as the substandard pitches also nullify the strength of the Indian spin attack. Lower order has bailed out in Indian conditions, but SENA countries require batsmen to play out of their skin to win games. 

ODI Team:  Dhoni and Kirsten had a clear frame of mind and hardly experimented in the lead-up to the 2011 World Cup. Everything was built with core players forming a cohesive unit and sorting out their positions over time. The anti-thesis of 2011 is currently being practiced for the 2023 World Cup. Rahul Dravid and Rohit have kept on experimenting which has led to an unsettled squad leading lack of cohesion in the team much needed to win games under challenging situations. There has been too much rotation of the players from the ODI squad.  With this strategy, mistakes spill over & have a domino effect. 

India has been a very very ordinary limited-overs side for some time now. The chances of winning the ODI World Cup seem bleak as of now.  This is the time to rebuild the core batting and bowling group of 15-18 players by making tough decisions. Rahul Dravid has turned out to be a disappointment as a senior team coach and must be shown outside. Fitness, endurance, intensity, and skill are the four pillars of cricket.  And the fitness of Captain Rohit Sharma is fragile in nature. The pragmatism of the separate ODI captain must reflect the realities of the hectic schedule of world cricket. 

Individuals facing injury and declining form are normal, but the shocking thing is there are no backups remotely ready for the batting positions 4 and 5. Even then, the main problem is not the team composition but the lack of match time together.   Hoping to create a team worth talking about!

T20 Team:  Top-order conservatism in T20s is a high-risk strategy. At its best, it reduces the game for your batting unit from a 20-over match to a 14-over one, ensuring that even if you don't win many games in the batting powerplay.  The ability to design and implement a strategy was ranked as the top perceived risk.  A reasonable strike rate from the beginning is the only way to counter the planning and tempo of opposition bowlers. Loss should neither be accepted with a phlegmatic shrug nor should low-risk low-reward cricket. 

When it comes to executing strategy, the old saying "the devil is in the details" holds true for many professional human resources setup that identifies performers through the risk-reward process. There should be a reward for good work and backup for the odd initiative gone awry. No player, not even Captain Hardik has to play the role of the grafter and stick to the part of the adventure cricket. Ravi Bishnoi and Kuldeep Yadav be playing faster T20 World Cup in 2024. India will need a fresh set of bowlers with X-factor and a lot of potential. Avesh Khan, Umar Malik, Arshdeep Singh, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Tilak Varma, Sai Sudharsan, and Jitesh Sharma are the future stars.

The new impact player substitution is a dangerous idea that has exacerbated the tendency to play with specialist bowlers/batsmen. And, further eroding the growth of the Indian allrounders in IPL. Too much IPL without exposure to international T20/T10 leagues will always come to hurt India.  Young prospects in the wings can't be confined due to the exclusivity of IPL. Giving exposure to future superstars among these emerging talents is always an intriguing task.

Enduring great teams prosper not because of a single great leader, but because they can consistently produce great performances from within the team. Great teams become pioneers in producing match-winning performances.  Let us hope for better cricket from Team India.