Cricket: 'You can't be the best if you don't win abroad'

Ben Hilfenhaus celebrates the wicket of Ishant Sharma during day three of the third test between Australia and India. Photo / Getty Images

Former players trained their guns on India's powerful cricket board yesterday after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's team slid to a humiliating series defeat in Australia.

The hosts smashed India by an innings and 37 runs inside three days in the third test in Perth yesterday to clinch the four-match series, after winning in Melbourne by 122 runs and Sydney by an innings and 68 runs.

It was India's seventh successive loss abroad, following their 4-0 rout in England last year, in a dismal run that has taken the sheen off their limited-overs World Cup victory last April.

As the nation debated the future of ageing batting greats, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul David and Venkatsai Laxman, the cash-rich Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) was trashed for its short-sighted policies.

"They [BCCI] are doing extremely well when it comes to making money and controlling world cricket," said former captain Kapil Dev. "But what is the use if your team fails to win matches abroad?"

India's last tour ended with a 3-0 series defeat in England.

Another former captain Bishan Bedi said the emphasis on the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 competition had cost India dearly.

"I am saying this with a heavy heart, but once the IPL comes around in April, every test defeat will be forgotten," Bedi said. "The game has been badly damaged by the BCCI."

Former captain Sourav Ganguly said India were never the best test side in the world, despite the No 1 ranking it held for close to two years until their demolition in England.

"You can never be the best if you don't win abroad," said Ganguly, India's most successful test captain. "India have not just lost in England and Australia, they have been drubbed."

India's next overseas series is against South Africa late 2013.

- AAP