Indian cricket has become a formidable force  

by Rex Clementine

In cricket we have had some teams that set the benchmark in the sport. First it was ‘The Invincibles’ of Don Bradman, who went through a tour of England where they played 32 matches and were never defeated.

Then there was Clive Lloyd’s champion outfit in 1980s. His fast bowlers instilled fear among opposition batsmen while his carefree batsmen threw caution to the wind. After several series of total domination of England, the lexicon had a new word thanks to West Indies; ‘blackwash’.

Steve Waugh’s Aussies at the start of the new millennium took the sport to a new level encouraging ambidextrous players and targeting 400 runs on day one of a Test match. They ended up winning 16 Test matches in a row, a record that will be hard to match.

Are we seeing the sport’s next best team in India? Well, they have not won the series in England as yet but they played out of their skins at Lord’s earlier this week and you tend to get the feeling that you are seeing something special. India under Virat Kohli have been truly remarkable.

Early this year, they did something even special; winning a series in Australia; that too after being bowled out for 36 runs in Adelaide. It was a remarkable achievement to lift the spirits from such lows. Mind you they sealed the series of all places at the Gabba in the final Test.  Brisbane is a venue where Australia had been unbeaten for 30 years.  It was the first time an Asian team won at the Gabba after 16 attempts.

So, what have the Indians been doing right in recent times? Quite a few actually. They are fortunate to have a good leader of men in Kohli. This throw down coach that India lifted from Sri Lankas Nuwan Seneviratne better known as Bawwa to most, was Kohli’s idea.

India were to play Australia in 2018 and Kohli knew Mitchell Starc was going to create problems. So he insisted on having Bawwa on board. Bawwa is left-handed and can give you a torrid time at the nets while doing throw downs. So, torrid that apparently apart from Kusal Mendis and Niroshan Dickwella no Sri Lankan padded up to him.

Kohli is a different beast. After a couple of deliveries struck on his ribcage, Bawwa lowered the intensity only to be called up by the Indian captain who gave him an earful and wanted him to go high intensity. Small things matter. Then of course there is Kohli’s insane gym work and stuff to be the best player he can be. It is he who is calling the shots when it comes to fitness standards in India and although there is a hue and cry made in our part of the world about the two kilometer run, the Indian standard is supposed to be more intense than ours.

The options are simple. Fall in line or get lost. Over here, players who fail fitness tests go to the social media and blast the coaches. Then they find themselves recalled to the team! This Pramodaya Wickramasinghe is truly setting new standards. With friends like him, Kumar Sangakkara doesn’t need any enemies.

Going back to India, apart from Kohli, there is of course Ravi Shastri. The former Indian captain has little coaching experience. Since retiring, he has been a broadcaster for nearly three decades. The Indian board realized that coaching at this level was more managing players than helping with any technical brilliance. So they took Shastri out of the commentary box and put him in charge of the team. Shastri-Kohli combination is a match made by the cricketing gods in a bid to bring Aussies and Poms to their knees.

The IPL obviously has been a godsend to Indian cricket. Time was when India played just one seamer and included a seamer all-rounder to share the new ball and depended on spin to cover up their bowling. But what IPL has done is that young Indian quicks get a chance to spend time with world’s leading fast bowlers and coaches picking their brains. As a result, India is able to put up a formidable four-pronged pace attack. The consequence of that is someone like Ravichandran Ashwin, who has 400 Test wickets at an average of 24, is unable to get into the team.

So, there is Shastri factor, Kohli factor and the IPL factor that has contributed to India’s success. There is one more factor that has put cricket in India back on track; the intervention of Indian Supreme Court.

In the year 2015, the Indian Supreme Court appointed a retired judge to give recommendations as to how cricket in India could be improved. The court appointed someone with stature – Rajendra Lodha, the 41st Chief Justice of India. He presented to court in what is known as Lodha Committee report several recommendations.

Some of the prominent recommendations of the Lodha committee report are term limits for office bearers, limiting the number of votes at the BCCI AGM and an independent governing body for IPL. These recommendations were implemented resulting in the CEO having greater control over the matters and hence more responsibility. That has certainly been a welcome move. Indian cricket is nowadays run like a business.

In Sri Lanka too, several past administrators and former players got together and moved the Court to bring constitutional changes to our cricket. The learned judges’ observations remain to be seen.