Happy new year and all that!
As we say hello to a new year (still new, at least for this blog posting its first article of 2022), it's probably a good time to reflect a bit.
Pretty much a year ago, India registered an unforgettable victory on Australian soil, on January 19, 2021. It was the second consecutive Test series victory by an Indian team, beating Australia IN Australia for two consecutive tours (2018-19 and 2020-21).
How time turns. Ironically, two gentlemen who were the heroes this time last year - Cheteshwar Pujara (as the gritty, blow-bearing, un-outable, un-dismissable batsman who won us the Gabba match and pretty much the series too) and Ajinkya Rahane (the stand-in captain for the series after Virat Kohli's paternity leave after the infamous 36 all out first Test) were being rightly feted, glorified, and hero-worshipped.
Cut to circa 2022. Twelve months and many cheap dismissals later, as India lost a very winnable series against South Africa today, they are now the most maligned, most targeted and most blamed villains of the day. While one mustn't forget their contribution and grace for the most part, and extreme reactions are still avoidable, it must be said that they have been given enough of a long rope now.
So much so, that the long rope has now become a noose around their necks. While they must be the first ones to acknowledge and improve on their lack of contributions and might still have time for a comeback, on the evidence of the last 12 months, they need to make their performances talk and begin with the domestic circuit now. If they still bang the door hard enough with their runs, they can always come right back in but for now, that'll be all.
Barring an odd performance here and there, the last 12 months have not shown any semblance of consistency and assuredness that have been their USPs over all these years. Remember the time we were blanked out in Australia in 2011-12? We revamped our Fab Four after that, bringing in a generational shift.
This loss, against a South African side, who we could have beaten quite easily, will hurt for a long time. It comes against a team that is inexperienced and probably the weakest Protean starting lineup that we have faced on their soil, till now. Not taking any credit away from the magnificent Rabada, the inspirational and gritty Elgar, precocious Petersen, and Jansen, their new sensation. The grit, skills, temperament and talent of this SA lineup compensated for the lack of enough experience or "big name"/marquee players.
But all said and done, the way we began, we could have still won the series from the points where we had been in the match. For both the losses, we have to look at our batting as the biggest bugbear. A failure to capitalize on 50-50 situations, sometimes collapsing even after dominant positions and the lack of those consistent partnerships and daddy hundreds hurt us bigtime. After all, you cannot ask your bowlers (especially fast bowlers) to keep galloping in, session after session, innings after innings, match after match.
Tough luck at times but we were very under-par and need some tough calls now.
It's time to bring the Viharis, Iyers and Gills of Gen 2.0 and start afresh. With Rahul as coach and guys like Kohli, Rohit, Jadeja, Ashwin, Shami, Bumrah, and Rahul, there's no dearth of experience or quality either. Only a matter of time before we hit our straps and make every match count and every moment count.
Hope to see Gen 2.0 in our playing XI. Now. High time.
Only then can we say that we are on course for a truly happy, a truly "new" year.
Jai Ho!
