Indian cricket peaked in the last decade, when India was dominating all the formats of the gentlemen's game. The journey which started after Kapil Dev's team winning 1983 world cup, has been a fantastic one for the cricket fans in the country. The fans witnessed legends of the game, and every time the batton of captaincy was passed on successfully. Kapil Dev, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virat Kohli led the team extremely well to scale newer heights. But since the past few months, the performance of the team has significantly dropped down, and the only thing increased is the disappointment of the fans.

The ongoing senior men's series against the West Indies, as well the senior women's series with Bangladesh evidently highlights the fact that cricket fans are losing interest in the game. The cricket crazy Indian fans don't seem to even follow the team's matches happening in West Indies. And if anyone dared to follow, they are at the end of something disappointing most of the times they witness team playing. It is surprising to see the situation of cricket in the country which is the powerhouse of the game.

The women's team tour of Bangladesh had already saddened the fans. The series which was termed by many as easy one for the Women in Blue, turned out to be something else. By the barest of margins the team managed to win the T20 series, however they could only manage to tie the ODI series. Harmanpreet Kaur's response, as well as poor umpiring was the talk of the series. And in process what was overshadowed was the poor performance of the team, which led to the final outcome of the game and series. The team failed brutally in batting department in spite of having the best depth in batting line-up they ever had.

And if the Bangla series was not enough, senior men and their matches with Caribbean team are further declining the morale of fans, who hoped for the best of the team. The only few good things happened in the series were Yashasvi Jaiswal's dream debut, Hitman and Virat's century and seeing Ravichandran Ashwin rattle the opposition. Barring these, nothing was worth watching. West Indies team are no more the older giants whom everyone feared. Furthermore, their current weakest format is tests. And therefore the series victory over them, after the WTC final missed chance was not enough to make fans smile with joy again.

And the little joy they received, was vanished as the ODI series began. The little target of 115 runs for India was expected to be chased quickly by a good margin of wickets. Eventually it required the fall of 5 Indians to chase the small target. The happiness of win was lesser than the agony of losing 5 wickets. And if that wasn't already enough for the fans, the yesterday's loss against West Indies have left the fans infuriated. Boasting a strong batting line-up, the team barely reached to 181 runs before they were bundled. And the Carribbean team won the match comfortably by 6 wickets.

Just a few days back, Caribbean team struggled to qualify for the world cup as their below par performance and defeats from Netherlands, Scotland and Zimbabwe threw the team out of the World Cup race. This was the first time they didn't qualify for a world cup, and were distraught. They were already so low on confidence. And a team of India's stature, claiming to be one of the top teams getting defeated so badly by the same Carribbean team which failed to qualify makes matters worse for Men in Blue. With the defeat they are now at the receiving end of wrath of millions of people. Even the most hopeful of the fans now hopelessly look towards the team going ahead in important matches to come up next.

The ODI series has done the job of waking up the richest board and the stars of the team, who seemingly were sleeping while enjoying the dream to be the best. It's a tight slap for the entire body, the board, selectors, coaches, players and everyone involved in the happening of the game. While the board is busy in minting more and more money, the team is struggling to win the match against a team which has not qualified for the world cup. And it's a major red flag which if not observed will have worse outcomes for the team in the biggest tournament of the game, happening in our own country.

This series is also an eye opener in terms of the over reliability the team has on seniors like Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran. In a nutshell, guys who have played the game before IPL are the most reliable players. And most of those who have played the cash rich league in only since past few years, have not lived up to the mark at the international stage. The IPL seems to have given match winners for their franchise, who in reality have failed more than often playing for India against quality international opponents playing.

The efforts of the board to make Indian Premier League the richest and most successful league are futile for the team which wears blue jersey with pride. The pride of the franchises, and board has exponentially increased knowing their worth in terms of finances and power in cricketing world. However the same board and the star players playing for the country, don't swallow the pride the playing for Team India, and once their pride becomes ego, the price is paid in the form of devastating outcomes for Men in Blue. And eventually all of it results in loss of hope for the fans, who eagerly watch the matches even in their busy schedules in hectic life. What remains for them is sheer disappointment.

It's been a decade since the fans rejoiced any ICC trophy won by the team they wholeheartedly support. But even then the team was performing well and acing all the formats of the game in the last decade. The failures were rare and were limited only to the ICC knockouts. However since the past few months, the failures have gone high and good victories and moment of happiness have become rare. The performance of the team has gone downhill significantly, leaving the team and fans in despair. And if this continues, the outcome will never be good. Hopefully, the days to follow would bring a positive change in the entire system allowing the team to roar yet again, and allowing the fans to rejoice the game they love.