Test cricket is the oldest and the longest format of the gentlemen's game. Only having skills and great technique doesn't help one win test matches. It's a collective combination of patience, mind games, calming nerves blended with skill and unvawering dedication on the field for the 35 hours a team stays on the field. With the evolved version , test cricket evolved a little, but also eventually started to fade.

Realising the importance of red ball cricket, ICC introduced World Test Championship for the very first time. A tournament of the grandest value in cricket , for a format that has been the longest prevailing was a treat to the fans. And for the Indian fans , it turned out to be a great opportunity to look back to tests in the era of T20. And gladly , India did qualify for the finals of the WTC twice. But for the second consecutive time, they failed to lift the title, leaving the fans in despair yet again. And this time it was a huge, humiliating loss for India.

There are a flurry of reasons for this loss, where hardly Indian team was in the game. It all begins with extremely poor scheduling of tours. The number of tours have increased muiltifold and there is hardly any time which the players get to relax and rejuvenate. This crucial time to be away from the game for some time, gets the best out of guys when they come back with a fresh mindset. But that is completely missing due to horrendous scheduling.

Furthermore, money minded BCCI is so keen on conducting the IPL that they forget to give the national players a break. Yes, the IPL is contributing factor for BCCI being the richest board in the world , but the timing of the IPL needs to be seriously taken into consideration. One cannot simply keep the Ipl final just a week before a ICC event final, and hope to see the players fully fit and not fatigued. Also, no authority over the franchise to manage workload of main playing eleven for Team India, take a brutal toll on player's mental health.

In addition to this, lack of practice matches, thereby not allowing the players to get acclimatized have cost us heavily. For that, there has to be sufficient time given to the players to get adjusted to the bounce , which significantly varies in SENA. How can anyone playing on pata wickets in hot conditions, get acclimatized to bowler friendly condition with high bounce and different weather in a week and be match ready ? That's impossible.

If all of this wasn't sufficient, then favouritism and lobbying further add to the woes of the team. Selectors promoting regional players instead of the best available in the country, makes the team weaker when we have better options. Exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin, who was the best available option and the most successful bowler, caused us the game. Just imagine how good would Ashwin be knowing there are 4 left handers in the Aussie lineup. A grave selection mistake ,while having sharpest minds in the dressing room can change fortune of the game, which eventually did happen in the other way.

But changing fortune can also happen due the mistakes from playing eleven. Poor shot selection from set batters made things too easy for Australia. A well set skipper looked too comfortable on the crease, when he picked the wrong man to sweep. Virat and his woes outside the off stump have been a nightmare, which has lasted over a decade and doesn't look like it'll be stopping soon. Senior most players making mistakes lowers confidence of our own team, and boosts the morals of opponents.

And if there is no one to criticize the seniors, there is no chance of improvement for them. In a country where individuals are given importance than the team, one rarely sees someone criticizing the stars, as they have huge fanbases. This stops the most important process of learning and improvement, eventually leading to the stars not trying much to update their game according to the need. And a result of all these factors combined together, the success to our team is denied. And it will continue on happen unless changes happen.

It's said that "a good man learns from his mistakes, and a wise man learns from other's mistakes". But this is a case there the our team and greedy board are not learning from its mistakes since years. A mistake is only a mistake when it happens once, post then it's a bad habit. And these bad habits combined together have cost our team for a long long time, and it will continue to cost the team even more. A request to the fans to not expect our team win a title until change happens. We can just be hopeful that the required changes happens sooner