Tigers at home, lambs abroad: Can India buck the trend?

India are the current World Champions in cricket.They also are the No.1 team in ODIs. And yes, under the captaincy of Dhoni, Indian cricket team has achieved a lot. Primarily because of the star-studded batting line-up we have possesses over the years. The opposition takes a wicket, and it hardly ruffles too many feathers, becuase the new man to the crease is equally difficult to trouble. Oh yes, am talking about when Team India plays in its own backyard. We won the World Cup after 28 years, but that too in our own backyard. We almost win every series at home, and it more than makes up for our not so good travel record. Wondered why we are such a potent force at home, compared to abroad??? Its because the conditions here are suitable for our style of play, no assistance for pace and bounce in our wickets, spin and turn instead on offer, which assists the Ashwins and Jadejas, and a batting line-up that can bully the opposition bowlers, on flat pitches. No wonder that when we tour abroad too, we hope for slow tracks, and our few wins abroad are mostly in such pitches too. Meanwhile on bouncy tracks such as those in South Africa/Australia/England/New Zealand, its always a nightmare for our batsmen who succumb to the threat of chin-music, while our spinners aren’t able to get much purchase out of the wicket, and our fast-bowlers are anyways too gently paced to trouble the opposition batsmen.
So then the million dollar question facing Indian cricket, and all its fans today, is can India reverse the trend, and look to win more frequently abroad. Well, they have definitely improved their away record in the recent future, but there’s still a long way to go before we can shed our ‘Lambs’ tag abroad, and upgrade to the ‘Tigers’ status we possess when we play at home. But unless we develop some good fast bowlers like Javagal Srinath and Zaheer Khan, and encourage more batting practice to youngsters on batting-unfriendly pitches, I don’t really see too much improvement in the trend. Else we shall always remain batting-dependent which again struggles to quality pace and the short ball