December 8 Disaster: A Day Of Collective Despair For Indian Cricket

Jatin∙ Updated: Dec 8 2024, 7:21 PM

Team India suffered triple heartbreak [Source: AP, @BCCIWomen, @BCBtigers/x.com]Team India suffered triple heartbreak [Source: AP, @BCCIWomen, @BCBtigers/x.com]

‘December 8, 2024’ will be go down as a day Indian cricket collectively hit a nadir. Across time zones and formats, India’s teams failed spectacularly and left fans licking their wounds and critics sharpening their knives. From Adelaide to Brisbane and the stands in Dubai, it was a day when nothing went right for the Men in Blue, Women in Blue, or the Under-19 hopefuls.

Adelaide Horror: Indian Men’s Team Hits Rock Bottom

It all commenced with the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy where India was handed a shameful 10-wicket loss by an unrelenting Australian side. Adelaide turned into a pandemonium of pain and misery for Rohit Sharma and Co. as the hosts levelled the series with an emphatic statement win.

Mitchell Starc bowled like a man possessed as he snagged six wickets in India’s first innings and three more in the second. Captain Pat Cummins bagged five wickets in the second innings to crush any hopes of a fightback.

India’s top order was a disaster waiting to happen. Yashasvi Jaiswal departed for a golden duck, nicking Starc’s opening delivery. KL Rahul and Shubman Gill showed flickers of resistance, but the cracks in India’s batting were wide open.

Virat Kohli’s well-known Achilles heel—his flirtation with deliveries outside the off-stump—came back to haunt him. Skipper Rohit Sharma looked as lost as a tailender facing Wasim Akram in his prime.

Nitish Kumar Reddy offered some fight, but a target of 19 in the second innings was never going to trouble Australia. Travis Head’s flamboyant 140 in Australia’s first innings had already batted India out of the game as they went on to secure the game by 10 wickets.


Brisbane Battering: Indian Women’s Team Outclassed

The Indian women’s team found no refuge from the storm either. The Aussies put on a show at the Allan Border Field where they dismantled India Women by a staggering 122 runs in the second ODI. With this thumping win, Australia not only sealed the series but also exposed India’s obvious weaknesses.

The hosts batted India out of the contest with a mammoth 371-8, thanks to sublime centuries from Georgia Voll and Ellyse Perry. Voll’s maiden ODI ton and Perry’s 105 off 75 balls was a clinic in how to decimate bowlers.

India’s bowling, apart from Saima Thakor’s three-wicket effort, was toothless. Renuka Singh and Priya Mishra were taken to the cleaners, and debutant Minnu Mani’s late wickets couldn’t salvage the situation.

Chasing 372 was always going to be a mammoth task but India’s batters looked like they were scaling Everest without oxygen. Richa Ghosh’s fighting fifty was the lone bright spark, while captain Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues chipped in with cameos. But consistent wickets ensured India were bundled for 249, handing Australia an unassailable 2-0 lead.

Dubai Disappointment: Indian Under-19s Fall Short

If the senior teams’ performances were humiliating, the Under-19 boys made sure the trifecta of misery was complete. In the U19 Asia Cup2024 final, India suffered a 59-run defeat to Bangladesh, which dashed their hopes of lifting the coveted trophy.

Chasing 199, India’s batting fell apart like a deck of cards. Captain Mohamed Amaan tried to steady the ship, but he was a lone warrior in a sinking vessel. On the bowling front, led by Rizan Hossan and Iqbal Hossain Emon, Bangladesh’s bowlers ran through the Indian batting order and left no room for heroics.

The turning point came when KP Karthikeya, who looked promising with his 21, fell to Emon. From there, the wickets tumbled with alarming regularity, and India was bundled out for a paltry 139. The young guns from Bangladesh deserved every bit of their victory as they celebrated their second consecutive Asia Cup title.

Lessons to Be Learned

December 8 is a wake-up call for Indian cricket at all levels. The men’s team needs to address their batting woes and revisit their leadership strategies. The women’s team must find depth in both their batting and bowling departments. As for the U19s, it’s about mental strength and seizing crucial moments.

Cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties and even the best teams have off days or in this case, an off day across the board. Indian cricket possesses the talent and the skill to bounce back from these setbacks. The next time they step on the ground, the teams will carry the lessons from this black Sunday and will be ready to rewrite the script.

As fans, we live for the highs and suffer the lows. December 8 was a low, but it’s days like these that make the victories sweeter. For now, though, it’s time to lick our wounds and hope for a better tomorrow.