Looking at the topic objectively, one will certainly arrive at the conclusion that we haven't made much progress in the limited over version of the game. On ocassion, we have competed and fought hard but nothing notable to concretely suggest that we have turned a huge corner. But, in the longer version of the game ( tests ) the improvement is clearly noticable in the post-Whatmore era. I doubt if there is any room for argument with that statement.
Saying that, we still haven't learnt how to play five days worth of test matches. We still manage to botch one session in a given test match, a trend so suicidal that eventually seals our fate in that match irrespective of subsequent fightbacks. At the same time, we have dominated sessions, even days, in test matches only to lose out because of critical collapses at the most unfortunate times. We were on par with Pakistan in all the matches or even ahead some of the time. We battled Zimbabwe and West Indies on even terms as well. Those are signs of definite improvement. Before Whatmore arrived, we were losing tests within three days consistently. Sure we lost to England pretty bad at home. But that can happen to any team sometime. Playing BD in a test match is not a cakewalk for most of the teams anymore. That is a fact. To me, I would rather learn to play the longer version better than ODI's first. A good test team is usually a good one day team as well. Its taking a long time for us to learn the nuances and tricks of the limited over game. You can say that we haven't progressed that much in that version of the game. After all, we have played some ninety odd games and managed to come out on top only five times. Something is definitely wrong with that scenario.
So, have we taken a step backward? In tests, the answer is a definite NO. We have actually made huge strides. In ODI's , the answer is not as clear cut. I would say that we haven't made much progress or no progress.
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