Buck up, Team India

What is wrong with our Men in Blue?

No, we have not starting losing more games than before, we have lost our spirit! Something is seriously missing from this team..The team that became the famous TEAM INDIA from the boring Indian cricket team.. The famous huddle (copied from Australia but popularised by us!) has lost its old charm...It looks so mundane these days.....

You can blame the Indian cricket team for everything else but you cannot blame it for lack of talent... I can vouch for the fact that we have the most talented bunch of eleven players in the side yet we fail... I am not going to analyse why and how?? I leave that to the experts.....

But, even to my untrained eyes, I can see the rift in this very talented Indian cricket team because it is so obvious that you cannot miss it...

Sourav Ganguly's allegation against Greg Chappell as to how he was almost dropped for this test. Earlier, VVS Laxman's confession that there is something missing in the present Indian team. Intermittent complaints and bitchy bickerings among both senior and junior players in the team have been rampant in the last few months.

It all started with Ganguly's loss of form (it's been a long time now)... The man who had built this Team India was failing continuously and some of his lack of confidence started to rub on the other players.. Differences started brewing, both in the dressing room and on the field (Remember the very public showdown between Pathan and Agarkar in one of the last few ODIs....I was enraged)

Ganguly was too busy trying to save his berth in the Indian side, leave alone his captain's cap and his preoccupation with himself, led to the disarray in the Indian side. I am not blaming Ganguly entirely for the problems that the team is faced with but he is partly responsible only because of the blind faith that all team members had in him. I hate to admit this, but he was the glue that bound the team together. Aakhir Fevicol ka mazboot jor toota, aur team bikhar gayee!

Anyway, today all I can see is an Indian team motivated by nothing but personal records that need to be set and personal scores that need to be settled. The team spirit that had developed after such a long time has now gone missing somewhere and I hate this! They look tensed and unhappy all the time, both in victory or failure and clearly, no one seems to care!

Some scenes from the good ol' days of Team India still linger in my memory. The sight of the whole team rejoicing collectively after a wicket fell, no matter how inconsequential the wicket might be and the encouragement that each player would receive from teammates... I donot see that anymore! There is a sense of detachment and disinterest in the whole approach!

No doubt that India shall win this Test match against Zimbabwe convincingly but we have lost TEAM INDIA...

As Rabindranath Tagore had once said, "Losing faith in humankind is sin". I won't lose faith and pray that we get TEAM INDIA back as soon as possible. Without that, no victory is sweet enough!