I completely agree that the standard of cricket has gone down but you should also consider the use of technology in current sports and the amount of pressure these players have to bear in regard of number of games being played and a variety of games being played. As a player it is not easy to switch from one mode to another and be successful in test matches as well as 20/20 cricket. This was not true in the past. The batsman had liberty of strenghtning their game. Thus, this makes batting more difficult than it looks. Every bowlers recognizes the weakness and strenghts of every famous batsmen as such the batting is not as easy as it looks. I agree the technique has deteoriated. The elegance of Garry Sobers, Mark Waugh, Inzi and Rahul Dravid is not there anymore and I still believe the ability to change as needed and make your team win is the sole responsibility of a player. If you can't win for your team your technique is not going to matter.