Skip to main content

An exciting new season for India

Given that I'm a cricket tragic, it won't be a surprise for me to state that I find the beginning of a new season exciting. Notwithstanding that, the upcoming season for India is one I'm particularly looking forward to.

For one, I can't recall India having played as many Test matches as they are going to between July and March next year. 17 Tests against a wide variety of opponents will be a true test of what this team is shaping up to be and of Virat Kohli's next stage as captain. Granted that the fact that 13 of these are at home means that the team won't be tested condition wise as much as they might have been. It will however show how much depth Indian cricket really has and who the next generation of match definers (I don't like the term match-winners in Test cricket given how much of a team game it is) will be. The most important questions in my view are -

  • Who are India's best openers? (my current view is M Vijay and KL Rahul)
  • Should Cheteshwar Pujara or Rohit Sharma play? (my current view is the latter)
  • Should India play five bowlers and Saha at 6? (my current view is yes, with Jadeja and Ashwin at 7 and 8)
  • Who should India's first choice seamers be? (my current view is Ishant, Bhuvneshwar, and Shami)
If we get to even 70% of the answers, that would be a long step towards getting to #1 again by the end of 2017. The fact that several of these Test matches will be played at new venues is a bonus that will give insight into the longer term health of the format in India (and by proxy the cricketing world then).

And while the Test matches will hold centerstage, the journey of the limited overs teams will also be fascinating. The big question of course is the captaincy. After a poor IPL, and with the next ODI World Cup some time away, there is an increasing sentiment that the time has come for Dhoni to make way for Kohli as skipper. And while it is usually folly to try to read Dhoni's mind, his recent views don't appear to indicate that he wants to quit anytime soon. And in my view, a fit Dhoni is best used as captain for India no matter what Kohli's form might entice people into thinking. If nothing, Dhoni's career has proved that he's masterful at reading situations even if his personnel or luck have not always backed him up. His almost catenaccio like style of captaincy in Test matches worked really well when he had the batsmen (or the defence if you will) to pile on the runs and the bowlers (in Zaheer and Harbhajan, and to an extent Ishant, Sreesanth, and Mishra) to counter attack. When those parts started to falter so did the Indian performances. He was quick to realise that the new order of Test match cricketers needed a more aggressive style of play and he stepped aside immediately. And his decision has been the right one, with Kohli showing signs that he can take the Indian Test team forward meaningfully.

The Zimbabwe series then provides Dhoni another chance to show that his ability to do things, lead inspirationally in short form cricket, and extract the best out of his team members, has not waned. The composition of the squad also means that we will get a true understanding of the depth of Indian cricket when it comes to limited overs contests and whether the IPL is really a good training ground or not.

As I said, exciting times!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Et tu?

As a single sport website, I think Cricinfo has brought about a revolution and the fact that they were bought by ESPN is testament to how highly valued they've become. Their editing and approach to articles/opinion has been refreshing to say the least and even though they seem to have had a lot of editorial staff movement they've usually maintained very high standards. Off late though, both in their headline styles as well as in actual content, there seems to be an occasional slippage of standards and an inching towards the modern media sensationalism which is a bit of a pity. This piece  by Siddharth Monga is a classic example. Granted that the last two press conferences by Dhoni and Sehwag  indicated clearly that the captain and his deputy did not agree on this aspect of selection but "discord", "dissent", "public sniping" feels rather presumptuous and heavy handed. Yes, it is a team sport but there is no reason why everyone on the team needs ...
1 comment
Read more

Quick singles: Why the double standards?

I'm no fan of David Warner's but for once, I'm firmly and squarely on his side . Sportspersons are probably treated the most unfairly by public opinion (and often the media) whenever they are involved in pay disputes. "Oh, look these millionaires are complaining about not getting paid enough" seems to be the gist of the general reactions. I find this attitude inexplicable at best and grossly hypocritical if I'm feeling less charitable. Like the rest of us, all athletes have the right to fight for what they think they should be paid. That is the fundamental part. In addition (and unlike many of the rest of us), most sportspersons operate in the knowledge that they only have a short period available as a performer, and therefore only a short period to maximise earnings. Most people that I know would behave exactly the same as Warner and his colleagues are doing. So why all the hue and cry?
Post a Comment
Read more

A kick up the backside

Its very interesting (and revealing) that so many Indian cricketers pull up their socks and become better players once they've been dropped from the side and left out in the cold for a while. The trend is even more prevalent currently when the selectors have a larger pool of good players to choose from. Dravid (from the one-day team), Kumble, Ganguly, Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan, the list goes on. In fact, the only people I can think of who haven't been dropped at any point in recent years are Tendulkar (in any form of the game), and Dravid (from the Test team). This article in the TOI attributes their post-drop performance improvements (at least in Yuvraj's case and a few more as well) to anger. I'm not too sure I agree. I think its more a generic Indian mentality of taking things easy and getting soft and comfortable too easily. Its a national trait and one that needs great guarding against. I've discovered the hard way how getting physically unfit or slack...
Post a Comment
Read more