What won't change about Indian cricket
India's spectacular surrender in England has sparked outrage among Indian cricket fans and critics alike, writes Amrit Mathur in the Hindustan Times
Akhila Ranganna
25-Feb-2013
India's spectacular surrender in England has sparked outrage among Indian cricket fans and critics alike, writes Amrit Mathur in the Hindustan Times. But will things finally change? Here's a look at what definitely won't, says the author.
Will there be less cricket? The chances are slim considering that the BCCI has confirmed international commitments under the FTP. Also, more cricket means more money for all concerned (Boards, sponsors, broadcasters and players), so no one complains.
Three years after Sourav Ganguly vacated his middle-order spot in the Test team is now being used for a seemingly never-ending game of musical chairs writes Deepak Narayanan in the Mumbai Mirror. India have played 29 Tests since Ganguly retired. In those 29 Tests, six batsmen have been tried out in the middle-order, with two others in the opening slot and yet, either through ill luck or incompetence, none of them have been able to seal their spot.
Ganguly (39) is already finding his feet beyond the boundary and he will at some point be joined by Laxman (37), Dravid (38) and Tendulkar (38) a generation of batsmen who hit the ground running in Test cricket, men who made it in spite of the system, not because of it.
This is unlikely to happen again, for not only is the system still shambolic, we’ve also got Twenty20 to deal with now. There is talent there: Rohit Sharma, Kohli and Pujara, especially, seem to have the goods. Neither is it as if this generation dislikes Test cricket, or dismisses its importance, just that their skill-sets seem to fall short of both their ambitions and our expectations.
Akhila Ranganna is assistant editor (Audio) at ESPNcricinfo