I had started watching cricket from the 1996 world cup. In the later 90s, India were a generally inconsistent and often incompetent team. They won some ODI matches at home, but in away Tests they were quite useless, and a draw was considered satisfactory. From 1996 to 2000 India lost 1-0 in england and west indies, 2-0 in south africa, 3-0 in australia. They did not do well in home Tests also. Then in late 2000, the corrupt, match-fixing, non-performing seniors were dropped and the relatively young team showed signs of improvement. In 2001 they won a memorable home series against the rampaging Australian side. Then onwards, india started winning test matches (though not series) outside the country. They started small, winning a test in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and West Indies in 2001-02. After that a good 2-year period came, which saw them drawing 1-1 in england and more remarkably in australia, and 2-1 victory in pakistan (despite losing 0-2 away and drawing 0-0 at home against new zealand). While ODI fortunes rose and fell in two cycles once under Sourav and again under Rahul, in 2006 under Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell India won a test series in West Indies, and for the first time won a test match in South Africa, despite conceding the series.
After a debacle in the 2007 world cup a golden run in tests started. India won 2-0 in bangladesh, and commendably won 1-0 in england. After Anil Kumble took over as captain in late 2007, india won a memorable test match in Australia and another in sri lanka (though both series were lost 2-1), and Kumble signed off with a remarkable 2-0 home victory against australia. Dhoni took over and won series in Bangladesh, New Zealand and West Indies (though at this time they were weak Test sides), but achieved a creditable 1-1 draw in South Africa under hostile conditions, and another 1-1 against Sri Lanka. Meanwhile unrelenting victories at home over every team saw them rise to Number 1 ranking in tests, and held on to that position for 1.5years- longer than most experts expected. While India had won only 13 away tests from 1932 to 2000, they won as many as 22 (and lost only 20) away tests in 2001-2010. India were now a force to reckon with even in alien conditions. These victories (and some respectable draws) were achieved by memorable performances from Sachin Tendulkar (average 81 in away wins), Rahul Dravid (average 69), VVS Laxman (56), Virender Sehwag (51), Sourav Ganguly (50), Anil Kumble (bowling average 21 in away wins), Zaheer Khan (bowling 23), Harbhajan Singh (bowling 25) and other players.
And then.
Come 2011, and an injury-ridden Indian side was wiped out 4-0 in england. They lost the number 1 status in tests. The batting failed in all the tests, despite heroic centuries from Rahul Dravid, now 38 years of age. Eyebrows were raised, but there was no denying that incredibly bad luck like injuries to many key players and poor umpiring decisions had a role to play. But when they arrived in australia in late 2011, hoping to win a series for the first time, they have again been wiped out by an identically humiliating margin of 4-0. And this time no injuries, no umpiring errors, or any other factor that can be attributed to ill luck. Even in the 1990s 4-0 defeats were difficult to believe, and now there were two of them on a trot!! The reputation built over the 2000s has got vandalized at unbelievable speed. What's worse, the current team includes many of the architects of the victories in the 2000s, though 3 of them are nearing 39 years of age now.
When India rose to Number 1 position, experts raised eyebrows because India's bowling attack was not great. They had the world-class but injury-prone pacer Zaheer to lead the attack and the declining but still effective off-spinner Harbhajan, but other bowlers were inconsistent. In these two series, India's bowling did well in patches but could not sustain the good work. In both England and Australia the home sides' bowlers planned a strategy and executed it accurately. But in India, strategies are rarely made and even more rarely executed- Indian cricket is spontaneous. Also it is likely that the defensive tactics of captain Dhoni is partly responsible for the indian bowlers taking a beating several times. Often he set fields to prevent boundaries rather than squeeze the singles and frustrate the batsman. When two batsmen got settled, the team tended to stop aiming for a wicket and just go through the motions. This has happened in South Africa, England and Australia, and India has conceded several 250-300 run partnerships. In such situations the captain needs to keep encouraging and motivating the team, but that is not Dhoni's style of captaincy. He is a quiet tactician. He is tactically very strong in ODIs, but he applies the same tactics in tests, which causes such problems.
In the past 3-4 years, in spite of the bowling not being the strongest, or uninspiring captaincy during bowling, India has made a great record in tests because of their batting being phenomenally strong. With Sachin Tendulkar leading the pack, there have been outstanding contributions from VVS Laxman, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. The first 3 of them were born around 1973, and because of their age experts had started talking about phasing them out since 2008. However, it did not happen, and with good reason. In 2009 and 2010, Tendulkar averaged over 78, and Rahul and Laxman too were near 60. But now, at 38-39, age has finally gotten to them, and unfortunately for India it has happened simultaneously and abruptly, giving no time to plan a phase-out. To make things even more unfortunate, the middle-aged batsmen Sehwag, Gambhir and Dhoni, 30-33 years, have also gone into a serious prolonged form slump at the same time. While the latter 3 may find form after spending some time in domestic cricket/county, there is no such possibility for the 3 legends, whom India will have to do without.
But in the defeats in Australia, what looked worst is the lack of application showed by the side. There were no attempt to change the batting order, let alone try new players. The only time a change was made in the team was in Perth when Ashwin was replaced by Vinay Kumar- an inexplicable decision given that Ashwin was the lone specialist spinner and was also scoring some runs. While Australia maintained run-rates of around 4, India could not manage even 3 in most of their innings. Their general air of surrender was symbolized by Zaheer Khan's shows with the bat. He is very far from being a rabbit, and has played several crucial roles with the bat- twice in South Africa in winning causes, and an incredible match-saving half-century in Bangalore against Australia. However, in this series, he simply backed away to the leg-side and whacked at every ball regardless of the situation, often throwing away his wicket.
During the late 2000s, Indian victory had become the norm. It happened gradually, and nobody may have noticed it happening, but it had happened as an outcome of years of hard work by the players, and particularly the flair and talent of the Big 3- Tendulkar, Laxman and Dravid. But blinded by current success, India had forgotten the weak links- the ageing of these 3, the decline of Sehwag, off-form of Gambhir and Dhoni, absense of a regular no.6 batsman and inability to sustain pressure on opposition when a partnership built. The negligence has backfired rudely, and in no time India has plummeted from zenith to nadir, and a recovery does not seem easy.
