‘Indian cricket has a problem’: Ex-India star gives MASSIVE statement following Australia series defeat

The Indian team suffered a 3-1 loss in the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series against Australia. The defeat in the fifth and final Test in Sydney also saw their hopes of reaching the World Test Championship (WTC) final get crushed.

Following this defeat, a lot of fingers have been pointed at senior stars Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, who failed to perform well throughout the 5-match series. Analyzing the loss, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar labelled the Men in Blue’s slump as ‘inevitable’ and blamed the ‘hero-worshipping’ in the country.

Manjrekar also believes that veteran cricketers Rohit and Virat have dragged the Indian team down, much like their predecessors.

“This ‘generational slump’ is inevitable for all teams. It’s what we know as the transition phase and among the best teams in the world, I believe it affects India the most,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for Hindustan Times.

“The one foremost reason behind this is the icon culture we have in India and the hero worship of certain players. Be it 2011/12 or now, it’s the same scenario that gets played out — iconic players featuring prominently doing the opposite of what they did their entire careers, thereby dragging the team down with their diminished performances,” Manjrekar added.

“When India lost 0-8 to England and Australia, Tendulkar averaged 35, Sehwag 19.91 and Laxman 21.06. Only Dravid stood out and got runs in England, but in Australia he too was given a harsh reality check,” Manjrekar further added.

The former India batter feels that there is a problem within Indian cricket if a player refuses to quit on his own, adding that the ‘icons’ in Indian cricket stay around for too long which sees a massive drop in their performances.

“If the player does not quit on his own, then Indian cricket has a problem. As a rule, our icons – barring very few – stay around too long well past their prime with their performances dropping to abysmal levels,” Manjrekar wrote.

“When it comes to the big players, we as a country are just not able to stay rational. Emotions run high, and those in position to take decisions on these players are influenced by this climate. Cricketing logic goes out of the window and then the selectors hope the player leaves on his own so that they don’t look like the villains who brutally ended the career of a great who millions of fans worship. They just fear the backlash,” Manjrekar added.

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