The Curious Case of South African Cricket Team

South African team has been the most unlucky Cricket team since 1992. Many times fate had literally stopped them from making into finals of ICC Cricket world cup. They were robbed of 1992 world cup final place by then rule for rain affected games. They ran straight into might of Brian Lara in 1996 Work Cup Quarter-Final. Then there was an epic tie against Australia in 1999 world cup semifinal. In 2003 world cup league match, they miscalculated the score as per Duckworth-Lewis method and it costed them a place in knock out stage. They were demolished in 2007 World cup semi-final by Australia and they failed to overcome spirited New Zeeland in 2011 WC Quarter-final. In 2011 WC semi-final they were undone by a determined South Africa born New Zealander Grant Elliot (who had left South Africa due to quota rule in cricket).They had won only one ICC trophy and that was 2008 ICC Knock-out tournament (now called Champions Trophy). Earlier they were called chokers who would choke at crucial time. Yes, they have lost their nerves at very crucial junction but these days more often they have lost due to bad performance. Yesterday, they were completely dismantled by India. They lost the match by poor running and co-ordination between the wickets. Their prime weapon A B De Villiers has been misfiring for a long time. Their bowling has not been same in absence of Dale Steyn. Their team doesn’t look like an old South African Team. They still have very talented players and they still are a good team by virtue of records on paper. But their performance in this ICC Champions trophy was horrible baring the match against Sri Lanka. They just managed 60 odd runs against Pakistan in last 10 overs and lost last 8 wickets against India within 51 runs. This was one of the worst performance by World’s No. 1 ranked team in quite a long time in an ICC event. But De Villiers is still defiant that he would captain South Africa to world cup glory someday.One of the reasons which have put South Africa on back foot has been the Quota policy. As per the policy South Africa's national men's team has to field a minimum average of six players of color, of which at least two must be black African. The colored players must be given ample opportunities and they derive team in the team. But you should select your best guys when nation’s pride is at stake. Take an example of South African football team. It is now dominated by non-white players. It is the time for South Africa to rethink the quota policy for the sake of cricket. Another major problem has been the mental ability of players to handle pressure situation in big matches. Everyone is aware about the past but they do the same mistakes at the similar stages. Grant Elliot hitting Styen out of the park in last over of 2011 world cup semi-final was the best example of handling the pressure. Same mistakes have been repeated by at least three generation of players. South African cricket is in need of complete overhaul and it need to bring in some fresh faces in place of same old faces like J P Duminy. A cricket lover of 1990s would not even believed in dreams that one day India would win the match against South Africa by being better fielding side. They need some good all-rounders and a calm captain like Dhoni. I can only hope that South Africa will shed the tag of chokers soon.