Is India's period of being the most dominant side in history already over?

[pasag]

This is not a thread regarding anything India have achieved over the past few years. Twenty20 champs, ODI success, gaining a Test ranking of #1, they got to the top fair and square.

However, in the very recent past there have been many worrying signs regarding their once much praised bowling depth that makes one question their status in all formats going forward. In Twenty20s they can't seem to defend anything, whatever their brilliant batsmen put up and in Tests, well, Harbi's a gun, Ishant has been mismanaged to the extent that it's looking unlikely that he will ever come anywhere close to his potential and the rest, well... It's really not out of the question to call them the worst pace attack within the top 8 sides based on the sides they regular put out (can talk about Zaheer till the cows come home but the guy is injured more than he's available).

 

[Shri]

If you think this is bad wait till Dravid, Sachin and Laxman retire. We will be screwed over.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Blatant trolling. Thread closed.

Nah, seriously tho, was it ever dominance? Pre-eminence, yes, however briefly, but India wasn't ever so far ahead of the pack as to really be a dominant team in the same way as Oz were and the Windies before then had been. IMHO, obv.

 

[Athlai]

AWTA there was never a period of dominance.

 

[pasag]

Blatant trolling. Thread closed.

Nah, seriously tho, was it ever dominance? Pre-eminence, yes, however briefly, but India wasn't ever so far ahead of the pack as to really be a dominant team in the same way as Oz were and the Windies before then had been. IMHO, obv.

tis a sly reference to a certain type of thread we saw so much of a couple years back

 

[GIMH]

The age of England is upon us.

Nah, when do Aus and Ind square up next? Should be interesting.

Actually do we have India at home next summer or is it the year after?

 

[Shri]

Blatant trolling. Thread closed.

Nah, seriously tho, was it ever dominance? Pre-eminence, yes, however briefly, but India wasn't ever so far ahead of the pack as to really be a dominant team in the same way as Oz were and the Windies before then had been. IMHO, obv.

Yeah, agree with this. They had the edge sometimes ahead of other times for months in patches based on the form of different players compared to other great sides who dominated for decades together. Amit Mishra against Oz in the home test series, Ganguly when he made his test return etc. The only ones who were reasonably consistent were Sehwag, Sachin and Gambhir during this peak period for the side.

Its all getting even gradually as bowlers from the side are all gradually losing form. I would say they played well for about 2 years from 2008-2010. Things will get worse and they will get knocked out in the quarter finals in the wc after which Yuvraj will become captain with the coach being changed. Then there will be another peak and the cycle will go on. Story of Indian cricket tbh.

 

[social]

As I've said ad nauseam, IMO all the teams have lots of weaknesses so we could/should see lots of chopping and changing in the rankings for a while as there is unlikely to be one dominant team for quite a while

 

[Shri]

I disagree, social. Australia and SA's reserves are so far ahead of the rest of the world it isn't funny.

 

[chicane]

Zaheer, Sreesanth, Ishant, Munaf, RP, Irfan, Nehra, VRV. That's decent depth and quality but NONE of them stay in top shape for long.

 

[pasag]

I disagree, social. Australia and SA's reserves are so far ahead of the rest of the world it isn't funny.

We're reaching CRISIS POINT with injuries though.

 

[Prince EWS]

I disagree, social. Australia and SA's reserves are so far ahead of the rest of the world it isn't funny.

South Africa's depth would indeed be mighty impressive if their Second XI players didn't routinely turn it all in to play County Cricket; as it stands I think their depth is pretty ordinary.

 

[Flem274*]

Agree with Brumbers. They were never really dominant.

They look like they're on the decline, but India's seamers have always been greater than the sum of their parts. They churn out enough top spinners to always pose a threat.

Also, it's India. They might find some fast bowling kid on the street who is brilliant, though traditionally that happens to Pakistan instead of India.

Generally with India it's score a ****load of runs, hope the seamers get a few early wickets then roll on the spinners. Repeat.

So when the batsmen retire that tactic will be tested with the new generation.

 

[Shri]

South Africa's depth would indeed be mighty impressive if their Second XI players didn't routinely turn it all in to play County Cricket; as it stands I think their depth is pretty ordinary.

Nah, CJ de villiers, Roussow and a few others would already be playing test cricket if they were born elsewhere in lower ranked countries. Neil Wagner moved to NZ and he was a beast in SA first class cricket. TT_Boy is a good source of info on SA domestic cricket. Should ask him about this when he is online as I don't know much else.

Then there is Oz, with Hughes, Pomersbach, Khawaja, Bailey, Hazlewood etc who are sure to play for the national side in the future. These two countries are way ahead of the others as far as reserves are concerned.

 

[Himannv]

Blatant trolling. Thread closed.

Nah, seriously tho, was it ever dominance? Pre-eminence, yes, however briefly, but India wasn't ever so far ahead of the pack as to really be a dominant team in the same way as Oz were and the Windies before then had been. IMHO, obv.

Agree with this. I think they've been very good but certainly not dominating.

About their bowling, I dont think they've ever been exceptionally great. Amazing batsmen in their ranks though, thats for sure.

 

[Kylez]

Yes, but there was a never a real dominance period tbh.

I hate it when people I know think that just because a nation is ranked No.1 in the world at the time, it doesn't mean their ' dominating '.

 

[Prince EWS]

Nah, CJ de villiers, Roussow and a few others would already be playing test cricket if they were born elsewhere in lower ranked countries. Neil Wagner moved to NZ and he was a beast in SA first class cricket. TT_Boy is a good source of info on SA domestic cricket. Should ask him about this when he is online as I don't know much else.

Then there is Oz, with Hughes, Pomersbach, Khawaja, Bailey, Hazlewood etc who are sure to play for the national side in the future. These two countries are way ahead of the others as far as reserves are concerned.

You haven't really listed "depth" though; you've listed potential players of the future (and Pomersbach lol). Players like Andrew Hall, Jacques Rudolph, Johannes van der Wath, Martin van Jaarsveldt etc what I'd like to think of as good depth but none of them are available anymore. South Africa's current depth is not particularly impressive and probably won't be for a while because quality players who can't get a gig just go and earn a living playing CC once they get to a certain age - and who could blame them?

 

[pasag]

People getting caught up in the semantics of the title. Moving on from the "dominance" aspect then to a proper analysis of where the team is at going forward...

 

[Prince EWS]

People getting caught up in the semantics of the title. Moving on from the "dominance" aspect then to a proper analysis of where the team is at going forward...

Don't think it was a great time for you to start the thread really given they're currently playing a Test with half their best bowling attack not playing and it'll look like a knee-jerk, but I kind of agree anyway.

 

[BoyBrumby]

tis a sly reference to a certain type of thread we saw so much of a couple years back

Ah, fair dos. Way too subtle in your irony for me to get it.

Agree with social, actually, interesting times ahead. For my quid Oz, SA & India all broadly on a par just now with us a little further back and Sri Lanka maybe a tick behind us (although they could drop back a bit more with the Murali's exit; huge shoes, etc) so any one of them could make a run at #1 in the next couple of years.

If Pakistani cricket wasn't such a basketcase they wouldn't be far away either, but the country obviously has bigger socio-political fish to fry outside of cricket too.