Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of India's selection panel, has described India's winless tour of England as a "bad dream" and said the team needed to move ahead and focus on upcoming series, including the tour to Australia that begins in December
"Australia is the next target," Srikkanth told the Times of India. "We have a couple of home series [against England and West Indies] before that and from those matches we'll try and pick the best possible combination for Australia. We have to make up for the loss in England."
Srikkanth, whose tenure was extended by the BCCI at the AGM on September 19, welcomed the appointment of Mohinder Amarnath to the selection panel as the North Zone representative. "Jimmy [Amarnath] is going to add a lot of value," he said. "We are delighted to have him around us. He comes across as someone who has plenty of cricket experience and that will help us in selection matters."
India were beaten 0-4 in the Test series in England, 0-3 in the five-match ODI series and lost the solitary Twenty20 as well. Srikkanth said the team's performance was the "worst" during his tenure as selector. "It happens and we have to be patient with the team," he said. "We have to take corrective measures to ensure that things fall in place. You can't forget all the good things that happened before the England series.
"We won the World Cup and our cricketers didn't get time to soak in the celebration. Prior to that, we have done well in different conditions. This is a testing time for Indian cricket and we need to try out different things to ensure that we are able to come back with a bang."
Srikkanth said that while England were clearly the "best side" and India were "outplayed in every department", a number of fitness issues had compounded the team's problems. The way the youngsters performed, Srikkanth said, was one of the positives to emerge from the tour.
"In my opinion, the youngsters fought well in the series. All the matches were affected by rain and the D/L method," he said. "Plus there were a few injuries as well. What can someone do if Rohit Sharma breaks his finger off the very first ball he faces? You can't really control injuries. Now we have to move on and the next big challenge is to play to our full strength against England at home."