A Harbinger of the Nineties

The problem isn’t just Harbhajan Singh, but a past that Indian cricket can’t let go of

The 1990S were an odd time to be in love with cricket. Towards the end, every team wanted a laptop. At the start, Javagal Srinath and Venkatapathy Raju ran like clowns. But in between, when cricket saw Professionalism hurtling down towards it, captains, players and selectors declared loud and often: everyone is expendable, so no man can take his place for granted. It was a running joke, but still.

The dodginess never really went away. It lingered in an administrative capacity; N Srinivasan, who plays several conflicting roles in Indian cricket, is its latest manifestation. Confidential mails and reports were leaked. The ‘politbureau’, a loose coalition of sour journalists, got their news from their man in the team. Bidding for television rights was so messy, Zee decided it would buy its own bat and ball and make its own rules. So the rot remained, even if the team began to shine.

But could this team’s journey have been smoother? Were close wins closer than they should have been? Great escapes often reflect a team’s resolve, but repeated great escapes, repeatedly coming from behind, repeatedly justifying poor first Tests by pointing to improvements in the next few games—all this points to long-standing issues not being addressed. The biggest of these issues is the one of Harbhajan Singh. Since January 2010, this is his Test record: 17 games, 61 wickets, an average of 40, and a strike rate of 84.

Remember how Kapil Dev went on and on and on? In his last 17 Tests, he claimed 37 wickets at an average of 30, with a strike rate of 86. So Harbhajan has 24 extra wickets, and averages 10 more.

Yes, grounds are smaller and bats are better, but the instructive part of Singh’s record is his strike rate. This strike rate, which reflects a diminished wicket-taking capacity, is why Dev had to go. And this is why Singh, one of our strike bowlers, needs to go: he can’t strike. He can’t flight, he can barely befuddle, he can’t contain.

Yet, this team and its administrators do not feel it necessary to discuss Singh’s performance, and the reasons why he continues to represent, and hobble, India. They’d do well to remember that the 1990s were also a time of few explanations, of problems that went unresolved. We might be number one, but there’s trouble on the horizon.

About The Author

Rahul Bhatia