Indian cricket faces 'crisis':Dalmiya

The Indian cricket team faces a crisis because of their poor performances and an all-time low Test ranking, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Jagmohan Dalmiya said.

"Indian cricket is passing through a crisis at the moment... Without counting Bangladesh, we are now ranked eighth out of nine teams, it has not happened in 50 years."

Dalmiya, who headed the International Cricket Council (ICC) until last year, took over the Indian job on Saturday and said his main priority was to improve the standard of the national game.

The Indian side has not won a Test series outside the continent for 15 years and the country is now ranked only ahead of Zimbabwe and newcomers Bangladesh.

The Indians have remained a force to reckon with at home, but have been dubbed poor travellers because of their inability to translate their strong showing on slow, spinner-friendly home tracks to fast pitches abroad.

They are currently in South Africa to play in a one-day triangular tournament from October 5-26 which also involves Kenya and a three-Test series against the world's second-ranked side in November.

India's one-day record has also caused some worry after losing eight consecutive finals of one-day tournaments involving three or more teams.

Dalmiya said a spate of injuries to key players of late was also a matter of concern.

"We had seven of our frontline players on the injured list. This has not happened before. Prevention is better than cure," he said.

Leading batsman Sachin Tendulkar has just recovered from a foot fracture and leg-spinner Anil Kumble is making his comeback after being sidelined for almost a year because of a shoulder injury which needed surgery.

Two young left-arm pacemen Zaheer Khan and Ashish Nehra were ruled out for the early part of the South African tour because of injuries.

The number of injuries forced the BCCI to conduct fitness Tests on the entire squad before they left for South Africa.

Mail Cricket Editor