Opinion Walking wounded

A rather battered Team India will be entering World Cup 2015. At least five players have some sort of injury. Ishant Sharma might even miss the World Cup, while the other main bowler, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, is hardly fighting fit at the moment. The team might be facing a scenario where the bowling attack is led by relative newbies Mohit Sharma and Dhawal Kulkarni. It make one wonder: how exactly has India done its World Cup prep? It’s not as if the biggest event in the cricketing world was sprung as a surprise.

The Indian team management should have read the warning signs. For instance, Bhuvneshwar Kumar was run into the ground in England and seemed a spent force in Australia. But the management seems to have missed it. In the case of Ishant Sharma, there was prolonged dithering. At one point, it was decided he should only play Tests. Then they changed their mind and had him play both Tests and ODIs.

Advertisement

Then they found that he was so spent by Tests that he didn’t have much left for the ODIs. And if Mohit Sharma was to be the piece de resistance of the bowling side then why not let him play in as many ODIs as possible? All teams have some injury problems, but their bench strength will allow them to soldier on. Unfortunately, India does not have that luxury now.

But perhaps this was to be expected, with the Board of Control for Cricket in its current state of chaos. Its leadership in tatters, its lawyers firefighting on several fronts, the business of running cricket is probably not on the agenda. Though the team management and its players must shoulder most of the blame, the BCCI’s battered image seems to be reflected in the team it administers.