Hi, I don't often comment on cricket on these boards because I find the India vs Pakistan fights annoying but I am a South African of Indian descent and I support India not by choice but because it is the most natural thing in the world and I couldn't not support them if I tried.
Not being from India I belive myself to be more critical and will call a spade a spade when it comes to Indian cricket. I had a long held disgust for the Indian batsmen that couldn't face fast bowling. I useed to think to myself "Sort out your technique man! You can't be the best without being able to play in England, South Africa and Australia" and conversely when Indian batsmen made runs or won in India I'd always diminish the acheivement slightly in mind own mind thinking it was a flat track etc.
However recently Gambhir has come out and said that Indians do not get enough credit when they win in India but get slated when they lose overseas. He said that Indian techniques are questioned against fast bowling yet visiting teams techniques are not questioned when they are spun out in India. He went further and talked about how the media slate the Indians for producing flat tracks or turning wickets and yet say not a peep when green tops are prepared for them.
It was an honest interview and changed my thinking, and I agree 100%.
India are hopeless in England, Australia and South Africa, and these teams are useless in India. I still believe Indian batsmen should play with some backbone and Sehwag in particular needs to play with some intelligence, but I agree with Gambhir that Indians should be given more credit for their acheivements at home and abroad.
When England trashed India in England it was a huge story and India was rightly slated, when the reverse happened we heard barely a whisper and the old "It was in India it doesn't count" was thrown about.
About time the hypocrisy in Test cricket stops don't you think?
Gambhir's comments
posted on 23/1/12
What I never get is that English Asian players are always thought of good players of spin. Like Bopara pundits are saying he is a good player of spin and should play but what evidence backs that? The same was said about Owais Shah and Solanki. These guys were bought up playing the English way but because there off Asian decent they are supposed to be spin playing experts. Never get that.
posted on 23/1/12
Growing up in SA, nine out of ten times when you'd play cricket against a team with an Indian player he'd be the team's spinner. Funny but true. Sort of like the Chinese guy always being the best at maths in the class....
posted on 23/1/12
too many excuses for my liking.
ghambir was asking for rank turners but india's spinners aren't much kop these days. even bangladesh has better spinners.
sometimes, you get what you wished for and get steamed in your own backyard.
basically are india saying that they don't care about losing in half the cricketing world?
posted on 23/1/12
Till 80's and early 90's Australia and England were abysmal against spin bowling but they have improved lot (not taking the recently concluded test in account) now but barring Pakistan, asian teams' results in Australia and England have not improved.
posted on 23/1/12
In other words Asian teams are more worse in Aus nd Eng then Aus and Eng are in Asia.
posted on 23/1/12
In my opinion had there been an Australian batsman in place of Gambhir he would have never said that.This shows the adverse impact on the psyche after string of losses.The correct attitude is to say that Yes, we were horrible, as an international batter of a team ranked no 1 in not so distant past I should bat well under all conditions but we were the 2nd best in the series and we will do utmost for improvement rather than waiting the turn of your opponents to visit your country.
posted on 23/1/12
im sorry to say but i fully disagree with gambhirs comment and some of their attitude towards cricket. i know indian players especially like mentioning how good they are in india, but teams like aus have won many tests a a couple of test series in india. india on the other hand have barely won 4 test matches in australia over the last 20 years or so, forget the test series. how many times have india whitewashed other teams in india? they couldnt do it against west indies and im sure they wont be able to do it against any other teams. with this kind of attitude i think teams of 60s and 70s will proudly say that they were not the worst indian team in the history of our cricket.
posted on 23/1/12
Viru,
Do you not agree with the media aspect of gambs point? I must admit he has a point in relation to the non-asian media....
posted on 23/1/12
afridi i do agree with the fact that the media always questions the subcontinent teams when they fail on those pacy wickets, or the green tops, and when other foreign teams are bundled in 3 days on a rank tunner then pitch is labelled as not a test wicket. but frankly speaking, the pitched india got in australia and to some extent england, they were no where near unplayable. to be honest if those pitches were green tops and proper bowler friendly then both teams should have been bundled out for less than 200. Gambhir at this point is just giving an excuse, as if this was really what is disturbing the indian team, they should mentioned this story long time back. i would also want a ran tunner for foreign teams, but its a fact that this indian team needs to learn how to play on those fast tracks. If this was another day i would have well praised gambhir for what he just said, as batsman should equally be praised on their performance on rank tunners as they do when they perform on fast and bouncy pitches.
posted on 24/1/12
Just to reiterate my point I am one of the harshest critics of Indian cricket and some of the interview had an element of defeat and excuse, however, I am state that Gambhir had a valid point in terms of media exposure.
In fact Indian media criticise India for winning on "flat tracks" yet you don't see the Australian media say "yes we won but it was a green top".
It is disgusting that India are happy to lose overseas and have the attitude "we'll show them at home", however some of the points raised were valid.
Just my thoughts.