Sport - Cricket

India must learn from England’s mistakes

India must not make the same mistakes as England did. In so many ways 2005 was a wonderful year for that nation of hedges and cardigans.

Anyone present in Trafalgar Square on that September morning when the victors celebrated the recovery of the Ashes before a vast and merry crowd will know how much it meant to the inhabitants of that remarkable land, the home of William Shakespeare, W illiam Wilberforce and such fictional luminaries as Mr. Pickwick and Captain Mainwaring. Casting off Victorian starch, England rejoiced with gusto. It was quite a party.

And then England made its mistake. Far from maintaining its momentum, it allowed the bad habits to return. Accordingly England fell off its wave long before the shore had been reached. India must not fall into the same trap.

As the Swan of Avon himself pointed out “there comes a tide in the affairs of men.”

Managing the development of T20 will test India’s resolve. England was first to explore the possibilities of a version of the game that had seemed better suited to maidans.

It was the invention of T20 that first indicated that England was waking up from its cricketing sleep. Here was something audacious and it swept the land.

Nor did Michael Vaughan waste the opportunities presented by his country’s innovation. No sooner had the Australians landed in 2005 than they found themselves playing a 20-over match in a seething ground. Anticipating a romp, they were confronted by hounds baying for blood.

England struck the first blow. Even so it took an injury to Glenn McGrath to give it an edge. Great sportsmen are never easily subdued.

But winning back the Ashes should have been the first step on a longer road. A revolution of the mind was required. Instead complacency crept in and momentum was lost. Far from following through with fresh T20 initiatives, its inventors waited on events.

India took over. Of course money was a factor, and the announcement of a rebel league forced the issue, but it is also a state of mind. India let its imagination run riot and emerged with an official league, dancing girls, auctioned players and other delights calculated to entertain the burdened.

Meanwhile the light went out in England. It started playing stolidly in 20-over matches, a strategy demolished in the inaugural World Cup by more excited, fertile and gifted opponents.

India’s challenge is to build upon the success of the IPL. Staging the next 50-over World Cup will help to focus minds. The 1983 event was superb but even more will be expected because India is a powerhouse these days, and not to be patronised. T20 has thrown up some likely lads.

Where have they been hiding? India must seek them out, and guide them on the perilous journey from promise to fulfilment.

It is only by constantly striving to improve that decay can be defeated.

India needs to review its structures, offices, practice facilities, domestic matches, women’s leagues, school competitions and so forth. IPL must become a springboard from which India takes the great leap forward. England has not been top of the Test rankings for 50 years.

India has never attained that position.

It’s high time that changed. Evidently money is not the problem. Energy has been released. The younger generation does not lack confidence. Greatness awaits those daring to seek it.

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