Men In Blue - The new Chokers of World Cricket

How far will it go ?

There is one thing common in the World Cups of 1975, 1979, 1992, 1999, 2007 & 2011. All these World Cup had the Kiwis losing in the Semi-finals. Spirited performances in the previous stages of the tournament were brought to null at the business end of the tournament. The Semi-final of WC 2019 was a broken jinx when the Kiwis defeated the Men In Blue by 18 runs after having performed out of their skins in the previous rounds.

It was a deja'vu moment for the passionate Indian fans for having faced a similar defeat in the Champions Trophy finals a couple of years back. After having beaten Pakistan comfortably in the round stage, the manner of defeat in the finals came as a real shock. The same fate was met in the WC semis of 2015 wherein the Aussies easily thrashed the MIB to subsequently lay their hands on the coveted trophy. Having won the Champions Trophy in 2013 and the famous WC victory of 2011, what exactly did change in the attitude and approach of the Indian cricketers since the Champions Trophy Finals versus Sri Lanka in 2014 ? Change in Captaincy, Attitude, Temperament or simply the Law of Averages ?

The Indian team is consistently finding themselves in similar situations in the last five years or so. Such consistent choking has been displayed only by the South Africans in modern cricket. Maybe it started for them with the multi nation Hero Cup semi final held in India in 1993 wherein Sachin Tendulkar's leg spin beauties bamboozled Allan Donald & Brian McMillan to create a brain fade moment of sorts. By the way, it was the first Day Night game played at the grand Eden Gardens.

Choking at crucial moments is the ultimate heartbreak for any sport person or a team as a whole. It was not that the 'Men In Blue' were not defeated on previous occasions in important tournaments at pivotal junctures but the kind of defeats we are witnessing now bear a different fabric altogether. Many a times the words Choking and Panic are interchangeably used but there is a very thin line which distinguishes the two. While choking is about thinking too much like a M.S.Dhoni trying to take every game to the last delivery, panic is about thinking too little akin a Rishabh Pant simply relying on his instincts, irrespective of the game situation. Though both these conditions are caused due to stress, they make the brain to act differently.

It is to be understood that Cricket is a team game. Hence, even though Captain Cool MSD could adapt well to a certain situation, the same situation can create a condition of choking for other team-mates. It all depends on the mental conditioning. Here, closing the gap between Training & Competition can get an individual used to the feeling of 'All eyes on us' in important games, in important tournaments. The best examples of these could be game finishers like Michael Bevan, Carl Hooper, Eoin Morgan or our very own Hardik Pandya !

So, who emerges as a Champion ? Undoubtedly, somebody like Kapil Dev. Otherwise who would have scored an innings of 175 not out after walking in when your side is placed at a precarious 17 for the loss of 5 wickets. A captain's spirit does the trick for his team. A virtue which is found missing with Virat Kohli. The aggression which helps King Kohli the batsman, doesn't necessarily help Virat Kohli the captain. Sport is all about man management. Putting the right people at the right place at the right time is the key. Over experimentation and pushing sub-par players to perform beyond their limits could also be a cause for the current mental state of the team.

In such a scenario, should Virat Kohli be relieved of captaincy pressure from at least one format of the game. Ro Sharma is ripe mature for captaining the side in the shorter formats. England & Australia have been successfully implementing this structure for at least a couple of years now. With a change in the Chairman of Selectors, it's the perfect time we think and act in the right direction. Sunil Joshi is known to be a man of honour and integrity. Hereon, it becomes interesting if he speaks out his mind instead of trying to match his feet with the bigwigs of the country's cricketing setup.

The board would also do a world of good to introduce a scientific mental conditioning set-up particularly for performances at the business end of premier tournaments. Special attention should also be paid to groom players in their craft for pressure situations in pressure games. 

What transpires while plucking tail end wickets of the opposition across formats ? Ah well... this can also be considered a form of Choking. And last but not the last least, the talented Indian Women also seem to join the band wagon after going down meekly in the World Cup T20 finals against the Aussies !!