Team India was never really expected to lift the Word Cup but to be shown the door in the opening round itself was a bit much. I think every cricket fan in the world (Indian or not) would have liked to see India play in the super eights and that is a very reasonable ask from a team that boasts of players like Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Dhoni.
World Cup 2007 has shaken the very foundations of Indian cricket and the future certainly doesnt look exciting. I do feel the loss to Bangladesh was a one time fluke but Team India has to be above teams like Bangladesh. A general casualness, lack of accountability and no burning desire to win has plagued this team for the last eighteen months or so. I think it is this attitude that upsets fans more than anything else. We dont expect Sachin to score a 100 everytime but we do expect to see a fight in every game. We want to see Team India believe in itself everytime it walks out on the field.
The biggest culprits to that effect in this tournament have been Tendulkar, Dhoni, Sehwag, Uthappa and Harbhajan and to a slightly lesser extent Ganguly, Yuvraj and Dravid. The former set of players should be simply asked to take a break from international cricket and iron out their flaws in domestic cricket. As much as Coach Greg is at fault, he is not the one playing the game. And no matter how good or bad your coach is, you just dont loose to Bangladesh, thats plain unacceptable. Even as a huge Tendulkar fan myself, I think he is the first one who needs to go: enough is enough. It is actually painful to watch him bat, struggling against B-grade bowlers from teams like Bangladesh.
Champions exit the game gracefully when they are in peak form. Isnt that what Shane Warne did? The man took 700 test wickets and was the spearhead behind England's Ashes demolition. Anybody who follows cricket knows very well that he still has it in him to take 50-60 more wickets in no time. However, professional sport is about being, well, professional. Its about giving your best, staying honest to the game and to your team. If you cant give 110% to your team then just go before you are thrown out.
I know the coming days will present lots of discussions and speculations as the BCCI sits to evaluate what needs to be done. To start things off, some BCCI officials need to go as well. Here's what I would do next. Rahul Dravid probably made the mistake of his life by winning the toss and electing to bat against Bangladesh. However, he still is a good batsman and I would keep him in the team, specially since I'd let go of Sachin and Sehwag.
For the short-term, I'd bring back Ganguly as Captain, maybe for 1 or 2 series. I'd give Ganguly just that much time to see if things work and put Yuvraj as Vice Captain to groom him as a future Captain. If Ganguly proves that he still has the old magic then he gets the Captains job for a longer stint otherwise he gets the boot. I'd encourage Kumble to quit one-day cricket and focus on tests only. Piyush Chawla would come in as his replacement. Dinesh Karthik would replace Dhoni as wicket-keeper till Dhoni has proven in the domestic circuit that we cant ignore him anymore.
Next I'd try to hire a world class bowling coach (dont know who it is right now but on the lines of Alan Donald, Wasim Akram etc) and get on the case of Irfan Pathan, Sreesanth, Munaf and Zaheer. I feel we have tremendous talent here that needs some guidance and coaching to become true match winners for India. Pathan specially being a gifted batsman, needs to be mentored as an all-rounder, someone India desparately needs. I am positive there are enough talented youngsters in our domestic circuit to replace Sachin and Sehwag for the time being. They shouldnt take too long to regain their form and come back to Team India if they indeed still have the class that we think they have. The time to think has gone though and both of them must earn their place back in the team. You can save the 14,000+ runs and 41 centuries rubbish for your grandkids or whoever cares to listen.
