OF the Indian team’s psychological barrier to make it big outside of their geographical boundaries, I have written on a few occasions in the past. I have to thank the Indian team currently in the West Indies for going out of its way to prove me right once again!
The West Indians have been on a low in international cricket for the last several years. They have been thrashed and annihilated by Australia, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka in the recent past, and it was all done with huge margins and days to spare. That even the current West Indian outfit made the Indians do most of the running during the five-Test series is a clear indication of the actual strength of the Indian side.
Regardless of the hype that is generated on television each time the Indians take to the field, the team just confirms the well-established fact that it is little beyond a bunch of tenderfoot, mentally weak players that disintegrates at the first hint of pressure.
That they do relatively better at home is not a big deal. And, I am sure, even that status would be seriously tested in future, as one of their huge ‘home’ advantages will no more be there to save their skin. Yes, of course, I am talking about the ‘home’ umpiring that had been one of the major reasons behind their success at home. With the implementation of the ICC’s plan of having neutral umpires at both ends of all Test matches, the Indian umpires will naturally feel sorry for having been deprived of their key role in the development of Indian cricket!
The Indian team, I remember having written it earlier as well, is a classic case of a unit that has failed to cross the psychological barrier that separates men from boys. The Indians are the eternal ‘boys’ of international cricket, and would struggle to mature into ‘men’ because they are mentally weak, and are made even weaker by all the media hype that builds up a number of scenarios even before the touring squad is announced.
I was amazed by the constant chatter doled out by one Indian ‘expert’ after another about the team’s opening pair, the lack of a fulltime wicketkeeper, the failure of the tail to wag and so on. Not one of them ever spoke about the team’s mental weakness. The game of cricket, specially at the international level, is played as much in the mind as on the field. But the Indian ‘experts’ failed to make any mention of it. And once Ratra made that century on that placid wicket, all these self-branded experts forgot everything they had said thus far against him, asserting that India had finally resolved at least one issue. Even Ratra would not have been that sure. There have been occasions when people have scored a century on debut only to fade out within no time. And here you are talking of a single innings by a No. 7 batsman, and jumping to such a high-flying conclusion. Nonsense.
The problem with the media hype, as I see it, is that India represents a big commercial market, and the broadcasters are making the most of it. The telecast, as such, starts an hour early, continues during the breaks, and lasts at least an hour after the day’s play, if not more. Since they can’t show all the advertisements in a row for that would kill the purpose, they have to intersperse the flow with these ‘expert’ comments. They just use them as fillers, with the real show being the commercial advertisements.
But all this is putting extra pressure on the players. The Indians — those on the streets and the ones sitting in television studios — would do well to shut their mouths and let their team undertake a foreign tour without reminding it of the need to do well abroad.
But this seems highly unlikely as the broadcasters have to fill time, and the ‘experts’ have to prove their worth to be engaged for the next series. No wonder, they are already talking about how difficult it will be for the team to make an impression in England where it is due to play next!
OF the Indian team’s psychological barrier to make it big outside of their geographical boundaries, I have written on a few occasions in the past. I have to thank the Indian team currently in the West Indies for going out of its way to prove me right once again!
