While a billion+ souls in India argue about the cause(s) of the present annihilation of Indian cricket at the hands of the magnificent Strauss & Co's England viz., the illogical scheduling by the BBCI, the over-the-top old legs or the Men Vs Oldies argument, I wonder, if technological change and the resistant to it has anything to do with the future of Indian Cricket?
Once upon a time, in the good old days, Indian Hockey was at the top of the world. Hockey was played on grass and the Indians led by the Legendary Dhyan Chand & Co, won everything in their sight. Then came the 'Western Conspiracy' to overthrow the Indian hegemony. This was 'achieved' by introducing the 'artificial turf'. No matter what the Indians say, the fact is that, the Indians just couldn't or didn't adapt to the new platform and are still playing the catching-up game.
I wonder if the same is true for Indian cricket now? In the longer version of the game, Indian batsmen's technique to survive is to bring the legs forward and block the ball with the pads. The umpire cannot rule LBW because the batsman is too far outside the crease. But now with the introduction of the technology like hotspot and hawkeye, the trajectory and direction of the ball can be accurately projected in time thus negating the front-foot blocking technique of which the Indian batsmen are masters. Now, they will be forced to play every ball on merit. That needs the re-adjustment of technique and they need to un-learn and re-learn pretty quickly.
This 'artificial turf' moment is the real reason why Indian cricketers and BBCI has been resistant to use the hotspot for LBWs. Only after the present crop of veterans including Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman retire, we will know if the Raina's, Kohli's and Sharma's have it in them to adjust and adapt. That is where the future of Indian cricket lies and not in the present fiasco, whatever the cause for that maybe.
Pradeep Kabra
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