22 August,2011 09:41 AM IST | | Clayton Murzello
Clive Lloyd says India's probable 0-4 demolition in England could serve as a lesson
West Indies legend Clive Lloyd is hopeful that India will learn from their mistakes after the drubbing suffered at the hands of England this summer.
Lloyd's team were at the receiving end of a shellacking in Australia in 1975-76 when Greg Chappell's team rolled over them.
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"Yeah," Lloyd exclaimed when asked whether India's probable 0-4 scoreline could end up being a motivational force. "You learn from your mistakes -- play enough games before your Tests begin and work on a group of players," he told MiD DAY at the members' end of the Oval during the luncheon interval of the fourth day's play yesterday.
Lloyd felt the England-bound India squad should have played the series in the West Indies prior to this all-important tour. "England is a difficult place to play cricket. The old ball will probably swing more than the new one. Most of them (players) should have gone to the West Indies to be in good nick for this series.
"You just can't come in and think you are going to get runs. People here were expecting much from India. It is a much better side than what they are showing in the field," said Lloyd, who lost just one series -- in New Zealand in 1979-80 -- after the drubbing in Australia. He led the West Indies from 1974-75 to
1984-85.
Like Dhoni's men here, Lloyd's team lost a major series (Australia 1975-76) after winning the World Cup. The West Indians beat Ian Chappell's team in the World Cup final at Lord's in 1975.
Asked whether India would be able to regroup after this embarrassing performance, he said: "It is up to them to find a set of players and work together."
He stressed on the groove factor. "Why do you think Rahul Dravid is doing well here? It is because he is in good nick. He was in good nick in the West Indies too. Remember, he made that hundred (in Kingston during the first Test)."
Lloyd felt Sachin Tendulkar is "just out of form." The batting maestro, who is one short of his 100th international hundred, did not go to the Caribbean because he wanted to spend time with his family after a gruelling season. "You need more games to get back your confidence and timing. He should have gone to the West Indies," said Lloyd.
The 67-year-old great said the lack of warm-up games and not many games in between the series was another problem. "Your team had no games (only one at Northampton) in between the Tests to get into some form. So, you are playing Test match after Test match. You cannot get form in a Test match. You have to go in and bat long in the four-day games. It is the same for one-day cricket. If you keep one-day cricket and you are out of form, you are not going to make runs," said Lloyd, who heads the International Cricket Council's Cricket Committee.
Lloyd stressed yesterday that the 5-1 demolition in 1975-76 was a good lesson. "We worked on a group of players... people like Viv Richards, Michael Holding and Andy Roberts. We worked on our fitness and employed a trainer," he recalled. In the opinion of many West Indian experts, trainer Dennis Waight, who entered the fold during the Kerry Packer series in 1977, made a huge difference.
Fast bowling great Holding devoted an entire chapter in his book No Holding Back to Waight, an Australian, whose tenure with the West Indies ended in 2000. "He (Waight) has been called an institution and I wouldn't disagree with that," wrote Holding in the book.
