A disastrous season for Indian cricket

The 1999-2000 season, probably the most protracted in Indian cricket, has finally come to an end. The season, which started in August with the AIWA Cup, was finally over with the Asia Cup a few days ago. And the balance sheet does not make for very profitable reading.

The Indian team commenced its international engagements in Sri Lanka a little over two months after their campaign in the 1999 World Cup in England was terminated at the Super Six stage. And the World Cup hangover was carried over to Colombo. For, in a competition which had only three teams - the other two were the hosts and Australia - India were the odd one out before the final. August is too early for the Indian team to play in international tournaments. The players are still rusty and a short conditioning camp is hardly the kind of preparation that the team needs. Invariably whenever the Indians have visited Sri Lanka in August-September, they have not done well. But that has not stopped the BCCI from repeately making the mistake of sending the squad there during this time.

From Colombo, the Indian team proceeded to Singapore to take part in the Coca Cola Challenge in September. Here too, three teams were in the fray, the others being West Indies and Zimbabwe. Considering the opposition, India's entry into the final was taken for granted and a victory would not have been unexpected. However, India, unable to stop Ricardo Powell who smashed his way to 124 off 93 balls, lost in the final to the West Indies. From Singapore the Indian team proceeded to Toronto to play West Indies in the DMC festival. India won the three match series 2-1.

India then went to Nairobi to take part in the LG Cup in September-October. This time the competition was from Zimbabwe, South Africa and hosts Kenya. Again given the field, a place in the title round was taken for granted while with some luck it was thought that India could emerge victorious. Again India flattered only to deceive, losing to South Africa in the final by 26 runs. The consolation was that Vijay Bhardwaj was adjudged player of the series.

Now it was time for a contest at home. The opponents were New Zealand, fresh from their victory in England. The visitors landed for a short tour, consisting of three Tests and five one day internationals. India at last acquired the winning habit winning the Test series 1-0 and the ODI contest 3-2. It was a deserving win over worthy opponents but it was obvious that the Indian team had inherent weaknesses and playing at home and playing abroad would be two very different campaigns.

Sure enough, India went to Australia in November and received a drubbing. Even after granting the fact that the Australians were a formidable outfit in both Tests and one day cricket, the caving in of the Indians came as a disappointment. They lost all the three Tests by margins that brooked no argument. Then in the Carlton & United one day series, they were pitted against Australia and Pakistan and were again the odd team out, unable to reach the final. Indeed, they won just one of eight matches for one of their most dismal records `Down Under'. On both their previous visits, in 1985-86 and 1991-92, the Indians had made the final of the one day competition.

A shell shocked Indian team flew back home in February to take on the might of South Africa with the only consolation being the contest was at home. The two Test series was lost 2-0 but the Indians pulled off a surprise 3-2 victory in the one day series. Some of the gloss however was wiped out, thanks to the revelations in the match fixing scandal. By this time, the captaincy had changed hands. Sachin Tendulkar, who had unwillingly taken over the leadership from Md Azharuddin in August, could not take the pressure of successive defeats and media criticism and resigned after the Test series. The mantle fell on Sourav Ganguly.

The next stop for the Indians was Sharjah in March but again it was a disastrous campaign in the Coca Cola Cup. There were only three teams in the fray, South Africa and Pakistan being the others. And yet again, India were the odd one out, failing to make the final. The failure was repeated in the Asia Cup at Dhaka. The Indian team only had a victory over Bangladesh while losing to Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

A poor start to the season and an equally poor finish with very little to show in the profit margin in between was the dismal record of the Indian team in what has been a season to forget - for more reasons than one!