Indian Cricket - All The Money in The World, But Not Much to Show For It

Indian cricket's long-term planning has even been more flawed than the execution itself.

You cannot take anything for granted, never ever underestimate the Indians, 1.5 billion [people in India] and you play in the senior team, you have to be really tough. I couldn't appreciate India enough.

This quote by former Australia head coach and former Test batter Justin Langer became quite the rage after India pulled off the miracle at Gabba, Brisbane in early 2021.

In fact, all through the World Test Championship (WTC) final, banners paraphrasing this quote was displayed by some Indian fans at The Oval. But alas, the same spirit could not be invoked by this lot of Indian players and there was more heartbreak for the fans.

Langer was well justified to come up with the statement in 2021 after the Brisbane miracle because of the nature of that Test series win.

Indian cricket is known to produce such flashes of brilliance from time to time. But the tragedy with Indian cricket is the lack of consistency with which these results come through. In comparison Australia has now become the only men’s team to have won all the senior ICC titles up for grabs.

A Lesson From Australia's Dominance

Australia with a population of approximately 2.6 crore people has more ODI World Cup trophies than India. They have had a far more dominant men’s team than India’s over the past century. Their women’s team has consistently bested the women’s team of India across formats over the years.

What separates Australia from India or maybe even the rest of the cricketing world?

It is quite simply a system that does not believe in resting on laurels. They yearn to be champion in all three formats in both men’s and women’s cricket. Their under-19 cricket is more for development than anything else. The only place they lag India is in terms of their franchise T20 competition and the valuation of their commercial rights.

Else, Australia is way ahead of India and the rest of the cricketing world in terms of putting in place systems that can produce champions.

In the mid-1980s, they realised that their next set of superstars may not come through for a while, so they set up the Australian Cricket Academy (ACA) under the tutelage of the late Australian wicket-keeper Rod Marsh. The fruits of that were borne through the 1990s and early 2000s as a fantastic bunch came through.

The champion sides of Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting had players who had graduated from ACA. They invested in grounds, development of infrastructure, domestic cricket and put together the toughest first-class competition in the world in the form of Sheffield Shield.

Slowly this system was copied by other countries like England.

India went a step ahead and brought in Marsh himself to help set up their own National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore in early 2000. The tragedy is that while Australia moved from ACA to setting up a High-Performance Centre in Brisbane, the one in India is still undergoing a facelift.

For the past two decades almost every six months we hear stories about the NCA being shifted out of its current residence, M Chinnaswamy Stadium, to somewhere outside Bangalore. Almost every six months we hear stories about BCCI setting up regional academies across the country.

When India pulls off a miracle like Brisbane everyone sings praises of the NCA but then no one bothers to question the lack of movement in it becoming a truly world class High-Performance Centre.

India - Consistently Inconsistent

The only place that India bests Australia is in the valuation of cricket. But unfortunately, what percentage of that amount goes into development of the sport is a question that no one will answer. Stadiums are a mess, those governing the game locally are in a constant flux and the less said about the development programmes the better.

There is not a single centrally run development programme which can result in producing consistent champions. What we get in terms of quality of players are those who come through not because of the system, but despite it. The density of the population is such that you will eventually get the superstar that everyone so dearly loves like Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Mahendra Singh Dhoni etc.

But what we will never get is the consistency that will make India the most feared side across formats and across genders. Currently India is probably the most feared at the under-19 level and that is because the players play more cricket at that level than those in other countries.

A much-hated figure in India, Greg Chappell, a former head coach and former Australian captain always believed that the day everyone gets their act together in this cricket system, nothing can stop it from becoming an unbeatable force. Unfortunately, the way our cricket is structured, it is unlikely that the dream of being a dominant force on the field with consistent triumphs will ever come through.

Two recent examples prove this point just in terms of the performances on the field.

Error in Not Capitalising on Big Wins

In the aftermath of the 2011 World Cup triumph, India was at an all-time high. Players were being feted left, right and centre. Australia had been dethroned along the way and an era had ended for them.

India on the other hand went on the spree that now the world is at their feet. Some players landed up a week before a Test series in England in 2011. The other lot landed from the West Indies, with a nonsensical warm-up game to prepare for the big Test series.

At stake in the series was the number one Test ranking. India did not turn up, with their superstars taking turns to get injured and leaving mid-way through the series. India surrendered both the series (0-4) and the number one status meekly.  At the end of the year India reached Australia and the result was the same. A few months later, the team lost to England at home in a Test series for the first time since 1984-85.

The common refrain at that time was that we are world champions and such odd losses don’t matter, conveniently forgetting that the trophy was in the ODI format while defeats happened in Tests. India had lost 0-8 away from home in six months and then at home too lost 1-2.  But admitting to a serious rot would have amounted to taking a hard look at the way the sport is run and no one wants to take the trouble of doing that.

Then again after the two T20 World Cup debacles in 2021 and 2022, there was promise or at least we were made to believe that there would be changes. But again, no changes took place, because why bother? That Virat Kohli himself conceded the captaincy is a did he, didn't he story for another day.

Such meek reactions from boards and selections though would not take place in countries like Australia and England with far lesser resources, but a more professional set-up. Australia’s Ashes losses in 2005 and 2010-11 have resulted in a structural overhaul. England’s hammering in Ashes in 2006-07, 2014 and then most recently in 2021-22 have resulted in changes in their system. The early exit from the 2015 ODI World Cup also led to changes in white ball cricket. By changes we just do not mean in terms of personnel in the squad, but also the way the game is run.

Here everyone closes ranks the moment there is talk of changes.

The WTC Final Loss - a New Opportunity for Change 

The WTC final of 2023 is one in a series of mistakes that those who run the game have committed over the years in India.

India’s two most recent successes away from home in Test cricket have come when they have had time to prepare.

In 2020-21 against Australia, Indians had white ball games, side games and then the Test series giving ample time for everyone to prepare. Then in 2021 on the England tour before the Test series the side had 25 days by default due to the global COVID19 pandemic. So, the squad prepared well and played a side game. The result was that they ended up producing some of the best performances in Test cricket away from home.

This time it was due to pure negligence that the players had a cramped schedule before the WTC final. No attempt was made to tweak the IPL schedule or end it a lot earlier than when it finally finished.

There was absolutely no planning to look at how the side could be better prepared for such an important game.  So busy were those who ran the game that they could not even get the team a sponsor, despite the contract of the previous one ending on March 15!

With all the money in the world, the Indian cricket mandarins could neither force a change in date of the WTC final nor get its own house in order.

With India set to get 38 per cent share in the ICC revenue in the coming years, one thing is certain nothing will change. More money will certainly not result in a more professional system off the field.

However, one thing that we will continue to excel in is being in a different state to others and that is the State of Denial.