Judge India on how they respond to defeat
MS Dhoni and his side have faced scathing criticism for their defeat in the Lord's Test, with England already being hailed as the No
ESPNcricinfo staff
25-Feb-2013
MS Dhoni and his side have faced scathing criticism for their defeat in the Lord's Test, with England already being hailed as the No. 1 team by some. Andy Bull, in the Guardian, says that the rush to pass judgement, however, should be resisted until the series is decided.
The compulsion to rush to conclusions does not tally with the Test format. Dhoni knows that India have only lost the first round of the four. We're one-quarter of the way through.
India are the champion team, and should be judged on how they respond to defeat at Trent Bridge, not the fact that they lost at Lord's.
Dileep Premachandran writes in the Cricketer that the English media's criticism of Zaheer Khan's preparation, and their appreciation of England on the back of a single victory, are over the top. He calls for some respect and a 'sense of perspective'.
Zaheer certainly didn't arrive at Lord's as svelte as he had been back in 2007, when his bowling was the key factor in India's series win. He did seem to be carrying some excess weight, but to equate that with laziness is … well, plain lazy. He was supposed to have played the three Tests in the Caribbean but had to pull out because of an injury to his right ankle. When a key weight-bearing joint is affected, your preparation suffers. You can't jog or carry heavy weights. Nor can you even run in off a few steps to bowl some balls.