INDIA, Australia and to some extent, South Africa, powerhouses of international cricket, having crashed out of the final race to the World Cup are now ruing over the spilt milk. After the heatbreaking loss to New Zealand in the semi-final, Indian Captain Virat Kohli said that 45 minutes of bad cricket made all the difference between winning and losing. A day earlier the Indian team had fancied its chances reaching the finals with ease, having restricted the Kiwis to a modest, chasable score. But the next day’s dawn brought crashing defeat, thanks to what Kohli said was ‘45 minutes of bad cricket.’ In similar vein former captain Ricky Pointing rued the ‘worst cricket’ that Australia played in the World Cup, although according to him the selection was near perfect, the plans were in order and in place. But then what went wrong in the critical moment of the semi-final against England who just steam-rolled their arch rivals? Nobody has the answer.

 

 

Both India and Australia were hot favourites before the World Cup began and true to their billing all along the tournament both teams had an easy run. But they faltered at a time when they were expected to give out their best. And now theories are being put out by experts in the field and not so experts over what went wrong. As far as South Africa was concerned it was an enigma to see this team losing match after match throughout the tournament, signalling the decline of the preeminence of South African cricket. Theories are being pedaled that absence of prolific rungetter A. B. de Villiers made all the difference to South Africa’s performance. But a player does not make a team and hence this excuse does not hold much water. The truth is that there is a sudden slump in the talent pool of South Africa which is affecting the team’s performance like most other teams in international cricket.

 

 

As far as future of Indian cricket is concerned, stories are floating around that there may be some changes in the Indian cricket team as also the management side of the team. There are already indications that coach Ravi Shastri’s contract may not be renewed and that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) may be looking for a new face to replace him. Even greater speculation is that Rohit Sharma may be asked to don the mantle of captainship for the shorter version of the game. This is knee-jerk reaction on the basis of just one reverse, though throughout the tournament the team played outstanding cricket, with Virat Kohli’s contribution with the bat not at all below par. But it is true that the team management, including the captain, grossly ignored the vulnerable areas in the team and appeared to be experimenting with batting order all the time.