We, at Jaal, are firm believers in the adage that every silver lining is essentially camouflage for a dark cloud. We also believe that this is particularly relevant to the Indian cricket team.
Yeah, yeah, we've managed to beat the Aussies in the Test series. That, however, does not convince us that Indian cricket has suddenly come alive. We think it's on artificial resuscitation.
We give the reasons for such an assertion:
Tigers At Home: The Aussies were beaten on turning tracks where any trundler could make the ball turn square. But take us overseas where the ball rises above knee high and you know well enough what the outcome would be. Remember that India has not won a Test series abroad in aeons. Forget that victory over Bangladesh in Dhaka. Even that was accomplished with serious difficulty.
The BCCI And The Selectors: They'll always manage to do their worst when it comes to the team. The zonal selection system will ensure that mediocre players keep wearing India colours. And the BCCI's money-making machine will ensure that the team plays so may inane internationals that when it comes to truly important matches, the match-winners wll be out. Injured Hurt.
The Captain: Aggro is all very well when you put your bat where your mouth is. running around trees with a Southern bombshell is all very well, if you know where your off stump is. Why is it that Indian skippers are suckers to failed nymphets? Isn't it true that any team derives its confidence from the performance of its leader? Look at Steve Waugh or Shaun Pollock. Rahul Dravid must be licking his lips in anticipation of the eventual downfall of the Prance of Kolkata.
The Fielding: Think of the number of catches that the Indian team dropped and you would wonder how it managed to win a single match. The butter fingers are also so sorely apparent when they are in the outfield trying to stop a simple grounder. When it comes to running out opposition batsmen, why is it that the ball unerringly strikes the stumps when the batsman is yards in, but equally unerringly misses by a mile and goes for overthrows where he is yars out?
The Batting: Does any other team have opening bats who spend more of their time swishing at flies outside the off stump? You can get away with technical glitches when the ball travels at you at Robin Singh's pace, but it's a different issue when the locale is Perth or Johannesburg. As to the much-vaunted top order, it is still prone to collapsing at the drop of a coin. And for any international team to have its tail starting at the fall of the fifth wicket is nothing much to celebrate.
The Bowling: Our quickies bowl with such amazing consistency that they manage a slew of wides and no balls each game. When they manage to keep between the wickets, the delivery is either too short or too full. There goes any hope of early strikes. As for the spinners, if one bowler takes two-third of the wickets to fall in a series, there isn't much to fall back on, is there?
The Keeping: Missed stumpings, dropped nicks, muffed run outs and an unending stream of byes bear testimony to the quality of wicketkeeping in the country. If would be a consolation if any of these doubtful performers behind the stumps could do anything meaningful in front of them by weilding a purposeful willow. But that's really asking for too much, isn't it?

Finally, remember the worst can and will almost certainly happen to Indian cricket. Be prepared: Azharuddin may just be recalled some day.

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