England v India - Indian Premier League is the culprit behind India's dismal show in England

Over the last ten years, one factor which is the reason behind India’s rise to the top has been their ability to fight amid stifling circumstances. But the spineless exhibition at Edgbaston has certainly dented the hopes and aspirations of billions of Indian fans and followers. 

What might be reason behind the men in blue’s such a dismal show in England so far? There might be various explanations. The Indian team was clearly out of focus and especially the batsmen were not in mood to play Test cricket.

But why the mood to play Test cricket was not there? The Indian team’s batting line-up is the best in the world. But still, why such a pathetic batting display?

In my opinion, the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) is the culprit behind the Indian batsmen’s poor show in England. How can you focus yourself to play Test cricket when your mind still haven’t recovered from that format of the game which is not cricket at all – it’s only a tool of entertainment.

 If we observe the Indian batsmen’s approach in the Test series so far, except for Dravid or Laxman, we can notice the eagerness to play too many strokes which were unnecessary when the situation didn’t demand. By and large, though, the notion of staying at the crease for a long haul and batting all day like Sunil Gavaskar didn’t seem to be a part of the Indian batsmen’s mental make-up. In contrast, the English batsmen shun flair and sticked to what Gavaskar or Boycott used to do during first session of the day’s play.

I was astonished to notice even the caliber of a player like Tendulkar’s feet didn’t move enough and he could hardly play on the back-foot whereas, Sachin is both comfortable on the front and back foot. Then why was Tendulkar struggling to play on the back foot?

To counter the movement of the ball soft hands and astute foot-works are needed and sadly other than Dravid hardly any Indian batsmen executed an appropriate batting temperament. There had been entertaining knocks, but those are for circus shows and do not fit in Test cricket.

The Indian batsmen were trapped in the IPL zone. In Twenty20 cricket one doesn’t need much technique or enough character to script an innings and even a loose-shot might fetch a boundary. So, such approaches dent the Test mood and sadly, the Indian team’s batsmen Test mood had been dented by the IPL.

Again, before a big series it is very important that the main players remain fresh and fit. After playing long tournaments like IPL most of the senior members of the Indian team got injured and it certainly did affect the team’s performance a lot. And when the morale is down no matter how much you try nothing happens. Directly, the injuries to Zaheer Khan and Sehwag are related to IPL. Again, there had been evidence of fatigue among the Indian players. How badly, the IPL has affected the Indian team!

The batting failure let the bowlers down who did give India some fine moments and then the fielders were simply like school kids whose lackluster approach made India to suffer. Even the captain was found out of focus and out of form. Dhoni’s focus was dented due to continuous playing of cricket without any rest and he seemed totally aloof from his men - World Cup and then the IPL without much rest after the World Cup and then the West Indies tour. After all, these players are not robots. 

You people will never point your finger towards the IPL. But this IPL is the actual culprit behind India’s dismal performance in England.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar