Opinion India need to do the small things better

Traditionally,Indian cricket has placed skill on a pedestal and attitude by the wayside. It seems to me the sub-continent way of doing things,even Bangladesh exhibit that already. And so our part of the world tends to throw up people who can do some brilliant things but don’t care too much doing the smaller,more routine things. And so we are a batting country,then maybe a bowling country and hardly,if ever,a fielding or fitness driven team. You see,the newspapers and television channels don’t report fielding and fitness and in any case those two aren’t switches that can be flicked on for results. Attitude then becomes an individual pursuit not an institutional trait. A Dravid or a Tendulkar or a Kumble are products of individual values and so they are willing to do the small things that allow them to become great.

In England,the team that did the small things better won. When you spend time to do the small things you are actually practising excellence. At key moments in the series,India were a bowler or a batsman short,not because a truck had knocked them over,but because they weren’t fit. And it didn’t matter to those selecting them that the players weren’t fit. Both at Lord’s and at Nottingham,India had the opportunity to win but didn’t have a bowler when it mattered. Zaheer Khan shouldn’t have been on that tour,his shape was a testament to that. Neither should Virender Sehwag or RP Singh have been on it.

The new England,as the old Australia and the old West Indies did,make some things non-negotiable. Fitness is one of those. And as one of the Indian players told me,fitness isn’t about been able to get onto the park but about coming back after tea to bowl a solid six-over spell. To do that you must be strong and in rhythm and to be strong and in rhythm you should have trained and played. In days gone by,English cricket,burdened by the county workload,sent tired players to play Test matches. Predictably,they didn’t last,they weren’t strong enough. But when Stuart Broad was bowling poorly against Sri Lanka,he was sent off to play a four-day game for Nottinghamshire and told he had to bowl a lot and bowl a certain way. Instead of bowling short,as he was doing,he had to pitch it up and swing it. But knowledge alone wasn’t enough,he had to bowl enough balls,which he did for his county. By the time he came to Lords he was ready with a change in style. England could do that because they manage his workload. When Chris Tremlett had a niggle,he was left out because England didn’t want to be down to three bowlers. Somebody was taking tough decisions.

Indeed,England’s renaissance is built around identifying a problem and doing what it takes to rectify it. England had fitness issues,now they have a state-of-the-art academy at Loughborough that monitors cricketers and requires them to submit themselves to tests at regular intervals. They have a fast bowling coach with the power to summon bowlers from the pavilion if they aren’t warming up before the start of play. And they chose not to include their best spin bowling all-rounder in Samit Patel because he disregarded instructions and wasn’t fit enough. These messages travel.

India can do it too but not in the cosy democracy that exists today. If India’s cricket establishment asks itself hard questions,and accepts the answers,India’s climb back to the top could be quicker and the stay there more permanent.