Practice makes a human perfect…We have heard it many times and most of us live by that but how well it applies to the cricket that is played is the question. Is practicing in the form of bilateral series helping teams to win the international tournaments, the ones who decide if the team is actually worth the praise? Umm, let’s discuss.
India after T20 World Cup 2020 (ideally 2021), has played bilateral T20 series against Newzealand (home), West Indies (home and away), Srilanka (home), South Africa (home), Ireland (away), and England (away), and they have won it all. If we go by this form record, our assumption would be, that they have played against most nations and that they have played a lot of T20 cricket, they have practiced well, and that increases their chances of winning the big trophies. But! They didn’t! They lost Asia Cup and that makes fans question their position in the World Cups.
On the other hand, we have Srilanka, who since the last T20 World Cup has only played India and Australia, and they lost against both of them. The team because of its poor performance and thus rankings has to play qualifiers for the upcoming short-format World Cup that is to be played in Australia. We have seen them play bad cricket but also improve with time and their improvement has been so immense that they won the multinational tournament, the Asia Cup! The team clicked at right time, played with the right zeal, and worked like a team in a sport of companionship.
These are two different scenarios, we also have the case of Afghanistan. The team has only played matches against Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, and Ireland. Still, they were the only team to beat the champion Srilanka in the Asia Cup 2022 even though the tournament had favorites in India and Pakistan. The team served great competition and when asked how the players had such a practical approach in the short format. The answer came, ‘they play leagues around the world and learn by playing amongst the best. This brings forward a different idea that probably, it is the skill players learn by playing anywhere and not the best of best against the same teams.
One has to be challenged to do different things rather than maintain records of winning at home or away. The India team seems to be carried away by planning for one team at a time. This approach probably requires a rearrangement that is not working for them in international tournaments that requires shifting gears with every match.
Practice does make one perfect but in the sport that has become so dynamic, you don’t have to practice against the same teams again and again, you probably need to put yourself under different simulations, practice against various strengths and work on their weakness against those strengths. It does not just apply to India, but to all countries who will be playing back-to-back Bilateral series, be it Pakistan and England or Australia or South Africa against India. The game is changing and so should our approach…
