It doesn't feel too good when I read this or this. I think its really unfair to blame Chappell for this defeat. Also, I think the questions from reporters at his press conference yesterday after the loss were ridiculous and downright insensitive. I can't believe that the reporters think that the captain and coach were dancing up and down after the loss and didn't care whatsoever. To borrow a line from Dravid's interview: "Nobody realizes the enormity of the defeat than the players. The players are the one who put in a lot of time. They worked really hard for this. It is an opportunity they get once in four years. It is something that you really look forward to in your career. So no-one understands the enormity of this more than the players".
I agree with Dravid. All we do is sit back and criticize. But just imagine how much a player goes through. They all dream about winning the World Cup. I am sure there is no greater joy than leading a team to winning a championship. So, I am sure they are all disappointed a zillions times more than an average Indian fan, who takes to the streets and burns effigies and throws stones at public properties because he has nothing better to do. Rather, I wish we rally around the team and stand by them. If only people had put in more constructive efforts after the defeat against Bangladesh and rallied for the team, maybe things would have been different. Apart from the BCCI president, no one came to the support of the team and everyone slammed them for losing to Bangladesh and created undue pressure for the next game. But, any rational cricket fan will also realize that Bangladesh has worked so hard on its game and they are no longer the bunnies of cricket and are well capable of pulling off an occasional upset. They have spent so much more time in WI and have played a few tough games against the other minnows and were clearly better prepared. The tame win against WI in the warm-up followed by a long break clearly affected our rhythm and by the time we realized it, it was too late.
And we clearly lost to a far superior team in Sri Lanka. Once again, to blame the defeat to a lack of effort is silly. I think the strategy was good, just the execution did not pay off. Uthappa was clearly given the license to go after the bowling and he started off well before Vaas pulled off a blinder. Saurav could have carried on his anchoring role for a while longer given Sehwag was blazing away but once again, Murali pulled off a stunner. Anyone who watched Sri Lanka bat will remember the numerous inside and outside edges fly past keeper or slips for boundaries. Sachin had one and it crashed bang onto leg stump. It just wasn't our day guys. And 10/10, Murali would have nailed Dhoni with that delivery, it was a beauty to receive as your first ball. We just couldn't do anything. It just want not meant to be.
I was upset that we lost. I think we are a far superior team than Bangladesh and Ireland and once we find out feet, we can knock any team. One just needs to look back to the previous world cup to realize that we can be slow starters. Effigies were burnt last world cup too and Sachin came up and asked supporters to have patience and rally behind the team and they had one of the most sterling runs to the finals. However, the format of this Would cup just didnt give them the chance. Who knows, if Bermuda knocks off Bangladesh tomorrow, the team may come back strongly for all you know. One extremely bad day against Bangladesh caught us on the wrong foot and potentially caused our elimination from the championship. But that does not make the and hard work and processes wrong.
It is for this reason that I think its important for fans to rally behind the team and show support and faith. We have done the criticizing job a lot, let try the other option now. Greg started off two years ago, trying to streamline Indian cricket and introduce processes. Things worked beautifully before some people lost form and everyone scrambled for Greg's head. If we had shown patience, things might have been different, who knows. So, its time to show support to Greg and allow him to carry his process forward. Its time to bring the youngsters back and for the seniors to play the support role in building the team for the future.
I am not saying everything the team did is right. It still annoys me that they don't realize that some times the best option is to look for singles instead of hitting out. It annoys me that they can't hit the stumps with direct hits when it matters. It annoys me that they can't stop bowling wides and no-balls. It still annoys me that they cant win crunch games. It still annoys me that they don't show consistency in winning games. It still annoys me that a team with Dravid, Ganguly and Sachin cannot bully opponents. It still annoys me that the team cannot improve on its ground fielding, that the belief seems to be that 34-year old's cannot field well rather than the them taking an effort to improve like Murali showed . It takes a heart first to get things right. If your thinking is that I can score 10 extra runs to make up for my lapses in the fielding, you have lost half the battle. It still annoys me that there is a team starting with 'I' in the super eights of the World cup and that team is not India. But, I still want to stand by them and help them rebuild.
