A Test Of Character For Team India

So team India has discovered that no matter how tough the path to the top, it is even tougher to stay at the top once you get there. The team’s shock early exit from the 2009 ICC World Twenty20 can be attributed to a loss of mojo.

Nothing illustrates this loss more starkly than the happenings of the penultimate ball in yesterday’s loss to England.

With nine needed off two balls, Yusuf Pathan smacked a ball down towards long-on, and the batsmen verily strolled across for a single, as if resigned to loss. Why didn’t they look to run hard and come back for a second?

Clearly they hadn’t done their calculations. Had they ran two then a six off the last ball would have been enough to tie the match. And then we would have been off to a super-over. Or would it have been a bowl-out? It’s beside the point…the point is India would have remained alive!

The fielder was just picking-up the ball as the batsmen completed the first run. But they were simply ambling to a standstill. Obviously they hadn’t thought about a tie as a possible goal. Or they just hadn’t done their math. Ridiculous!

A total loss of mojo. Dhoni’s quote post-match says it all: “By the time Yusuf and I came together it was too late.” That is, through that whole partnership, Dhoni was just going through the motions, resigned to defeat. It told in the way they ran in that penultimate ball.

Given the twos that are run in Twenty20 cricket these days, there was an altogether good chance of a slightly wide throw or a fumble at the bowler’s end that would have seen two runs be complete. And then the entire equation, the entire psychology of the last ball would have changed.

The mindset of a bowler running in to bowl knowing that all he has to avoid is a no-ball to secure victory versus the mindset of one knowing that a six will result in a tie is fundamentally different. And, with the big-hitting Yusuf Pathan back on strike, anything could have been possible.

That penultimate ball reflected a larger malaise, almost a jaded lack of enthusiasm that has hung like a grey cloud over this Indian team since the start of the tournament. Clearly that was one main reason behind the underperformance.

A second, and more important reason, however, was attitude. In the inaugural edition, the young Indian team was expected to finish last. So they played enthusiastic, no fear cricket and shocked everyone. Twenty20 is the type of format where, given its length, the playing field between teams that look of vastly different quality on paper is markedly more level.

India exploited this format in the first edition, to script a fairytale story.

In this edition, however, expectations were high. Pre-tournament India were outright favourites. And one could sense a touch of entitlement about their "rightful" place in the semis. But sport can teach you some harsh lessons.

Where last time India played no-fear cricket, this time fear of failure was writ into every tactical move. Saving one big hitter for later? Fine. Saving two? A bit much, but ok. But saving three? That betrays real fear.

Why did the debutant Ravindra Jadeja have to come in ahead of all three of Yuvraj, Dhoni and Yusuf? Despite fighting valiantly—they struck at strike rates of 188.88, 150.00, and 194.11 respectively—the task left for the big three was just too much. And yet they got within a whisker.

Perhaps this is the kick in the backside India needs if it is to take the next step from highly gifted and very successful team to consistent world number 1.

Can they do it? Yes. Despite the strangely un-new India attitude displayed in this tournament, Dhoni remains the best leader for the team and the personnel are truly hurting. That is what one would want to see.

Dhoni’s last quote gives hope that the attitude can be rectified: “Cricket never tests your character when you are doing well, it always test you when you are not doing well both as an individual and as a team.”