In the next few hours the whole country will be celebrating Diwali. The entire country would be bathed in lights and lamps. Firecrackers will be bursting and there will be an atmosphere of excitement everywhere. The Indian cricket team will also be celebrating the festival that day, keeping aside its recent performance, but somewhere in the mind of every player and every coach, there will be a thought of the difficulties that will come after Diwali. Team India has already suffered a lot after losing the Test series against New Zealand by losing two consecutive matches, but after Diwali, its crisis may deepen further. Why is this so and what is the challenge? Let us tell you.
Everyone expected that this time Diwali would be celebrated by the Indian cricket team and its fans with the solace of great performance on the field but exactly the opposite happened. Team India has faced defeat in its home Test series after 12 years. New Zealand has surprised Team India by winning the first two matches of the series. Not only Team India, but it has surprised the entire world cricket because in the last 12 years, every team had failed to breach this fort. New Zealand has done this seemingly impossible task and now it can do something which has happened only once before in Indian cricket.
The threat of what never happened
There is confusion in the country whether Diwali is on 31st October or 1st November, but everyone knows that the third and last match of the Test series between India and New Zealand is starting from 1st November in Mumbai. Although every test is important but this time its importance is different because now it is about the shame of Team India. Team India has already lagged 0-2 in the series. In such a situation, she will have to win the last test at any cost because if she fails in it then she will get a clean sweep at home.
This has happened only once in the 92-year history of Indian cricket when Team India has had to face a clean sweep at home. South Africa had won 2-0 in 2000. Apart from this, if we talk about a series of 3 or more test matches, there has never been a clean sweep. This means that New Zealand can become the first team to do this and the challenge of stopping it will be in front of captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir.
Fear of missing the destination
Mumbai Test is not just a question of shame but is an important part of the race for the World Test Championship final. If Team India wins it, doors will be open for it but if it loses, all doors may be closed. This is because after the last Test, he has to play 5 Test matches in Australia for the next two months and looking at his current form, this is going to be the toughest tour for him in the last 12 years. Team India has to win 4 out of 6 tests to reach the WTC final. It is almost impossible that Team India will win 4 out of 5 matches in Australia. In such a situation, if Team India wins in Mumbai then the situation in Australia will still be a little better. If the performance of Team India remains like this then these 6 test matches going to be held after Diwali can bankrupt the Indian cricket team.