IPL focus hurting India
India's poor showing in the Tests against England is nothing but a reflection of a larger picture of the deterioration of India's cricketing priorities due to the IPL, suggests Kunal Pradhan in the Times of India
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
India's poor showing in the Tests against England is nothing but a reflection of a larger picture of the deterioration of India's cricketing priorities due to the IPL, suggests Kunal Pradhan in the Times of India. At a critical juncture, in 2007-08, when a long-term path should have been laid, IPL's arrival diverted the energies and set a wrong standard for cricketers to aim at, the consequences of which the Indian team currently suffers from.
The IPL, per se, may even have been a good idea had it been tempered to better reflect the kind of cricket they propagated. But the point where it became more rewarding than the Ranji Trophy, where it was insidiously sold as a cauldron that would brew excellence, and became more alluring than playing for India, was where the glass of milk was toppled unceremoniously on the floor.
An editorial in the Hindustan Times says India's talent pool offers slim pickings for Test cricket, mainly due to the change in the mind-set of GenNext triggered by the commercialisation of the game.