It was not long ago that Asian teams were once the most feared opponents in the cricket world. India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan boasted a plethora of dangerous players such as Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene, and Muttiah Muralitharan. They dominated proceedings at the 2011 World Cup, and contested an Asian-based final. However, 2015 was not very kind to Asian cricket.
Sri Lanka have suffered a far worse collapse since the retirement of Sangakkara and Jayawardene, with a huge burden inflicted upon Angelo Mathews and Tillakaratne Dilshan to carry the torch forward. Constant experimentation with an ever-changing roster saw the tiny-island suffer a collapse prior to the T20 World Cup as they had lost all of their warm-up games. A feeble win against Afghanistan was all they could muster; a worrying sign considering they were the champions of the tournaments’ previous edition.
Considering that, youth coaches must take necessary steps to nurture these players and ensure that the next batch of talent is able to emulate the great feats of previous legends. Pakistan too, has been plagued with an inconsistent run of form, losing all but one of their games. The ever-reliable Shahid Afridi lacked stature on the pitch, and has been branded “clueless in terms of on-field tactics and off-field leadership” by Intikhab Alam, retired Pakistani cricketer. Waqar Younis, Pakistani coach had to step down as a result of the shameful performances and apologised to Pakistani Cricket Board (PCB) officials for failing to meet criteria.
India by far looked to be the best Asian side coming into the T20 World Cup after a comprehensive victory at Asia Cup. They played entertaining cricket throughout the course, and were helped by some incredible knocks from the Player of the Tournament, Virat Kohli. However, it is important to consider that majority of their success was achieved when Yuvraj Singh and Tendulkar were at their prime, and were accompanied by a well-balanced team.
The current demise of Asian cricket should be taken as a precaution, and conservative efforts should be taken to replicate the feats of the greats who helped shape the game we play today.
— The reader is a Canadian student based in Ontario, Canada
