manedge

Indian cricketers have excelled in refusing to believe that their time is up. The Indian Premier League (IPL), which is at the core of all the ills that plague Indian cricket, lulls the stars past their prime into believing they are just a hit away from their return to form. After all, the T20 format gives players the freedom to fail. But then for how long? It is painful to see the likes of Rohit Sharma, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ravichandran Ashwin, and even Ravindra Jadeja struggling to find form. That they don't acknowledge their time is up, is hurting their fans as well as their hard-earned reputations. The icing on the 'cake' was Chennai Super Kings' (CSK) decision to go back to Dhoni when regular captain Ruturaj Gaikwad got injured. The immediate result has been disastrous, if we go by the whacking they received from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at their homeground - Chepauk, on 11th of April 2025. CSK seems to have swallowed the poison pill, hoping it to be an antidot...

After coming a cropper against spinners who normally struggle to find a regular place in the New Zealand Test squad, the media-hyped Indian batting line-up flopped against pace barring a few exceptions in Australia. The abrupt retirement and return home mid-tour by Ravichandran Ashwin and Rohit Sharma getting dropped (or whatever you may like to call it) from the playing XI in the last Test, rounds up the story. To sum it up in two lines - you cannot entrust to a failed politician the reins of India's cricket team, and the star system has to give way to actually deserving players if Test cricket in India has to survive, or shall we be kinder - go forward. Not only was not Rohit firing, but also others like Kohli and Gill were struggling, when Rohit chose to 'stand down', why no opportunity was given to Sarfaraz or Easwaran? The batting returns of Rohit and Kohli are diminishing, more so in the last few months. They cannot play spin at home or pace abroad. That should be eno...