Indian cricket is on the pinnacle of its success and much of
its blossom can be owed to the dynamic captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a
bunch of young lads, who have grown in their stature by accomplishing
achievements that no other cricketers of same generation were able to
accomplish.
They changed the face of Indian cricket forever. The need
for more youngsters in the team was realized by Saurav Ganguly, under whose
captaincy names like Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Mohammed Kaif, Yuvraj
Singh, Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan emerged. But then team India always had seats
reserved for the ageing fabulous four (Saurav, Sachin, Dravid and Laxman). There was a wealthy chance given to players
who didn't perform. As the time marched on, the lack of agility and flexibility
became more and more visible.
The captaincy shifted hands and the young lad from Ranchi (whose
long cascading hair once drew praise from the then Pakistani President General
Parvez Musharraf) was presented with the gigantic task of leading team India. Soon
it was apparent that things were inclined to change. Leading team India was no meager task yet Dhoni
took no time to prove his mettle. He didn't invest in the risk of losing
matches by sitting down players with inconsistent performances. The budding
cricketers used this opportunity to shine above the horizon just in line with
Dhoni to turn his dream of winning the 2011 world cup into a praise-worthy
reality.
The move quickly uncovered the abundance of talent available
at domestic level in youngsters like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina,
Cheteshwar Pujara, Ravindra Jadeja and few young lads who gradually became the
core part of team India. This was the reincarnation of Indian cricket; young
and prolific form yet mighty and unshaken in its potential. Even as this transformation
drew some criticism, Dhoni maintained his stance.
The transformation paid off as India made history by winning
the inaugural edition of Twenty20 world cup and then scripted history by
defeating Australia in their homeland in the Common Wealth Bank Series. It was
made clear by the selectors that experience is no more a criteria and one has
to perform on a consistent basis to cement his place in the team. The mantra
worked as every youngster became more focused in seizing every opportunity at their
disposal.
The likes of Dhawans, Rainas, Kohlis and Jadejas soon
emerged. The team India which had two or three good fielders in the squad soon
became a team where everyone would dive to stop in a single. An athletic bunch
of youngsters soon earned recognition as the best fielders in the world. The standards
were now on par with the most acclaimed teams around the globe including
England, Australia and South Africa. One must also appreciate the efforts of BCCI
in improving the infrastructure that eventually lead to the raise in standards.
In Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Shamra, India found successors
for the flamboyant opening pair of Sehwag and Gambhir. Kohli and Pujara could
always be shuffled for number three and number four spots in the batting list.
There’s much of reliability on Kohli, Pujara, Suresh Raina and Ravindra Jadeja,
who strengthen the middle order. One can only be a fool to exclude the Captain
Cool, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, finest of batsmen and unarguably the greatest
finisher in the world of cricket.
The bowling department is just as good as the batting with
the experienced Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma. Bhuvanesh Kumar has been the
find of the season for team India with Umesh Yadav on the reserve. India has world class spinners in Ravichandra Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha and Ravindra Jadeja with his
successful bowling stint ends the search for the fifth bowler.
For now, everything looks green for team India with the bench
being warmed up by the names that include Ajinkya Rahane, Dinesh Kartik, Murali
Vijay, Amit Mishra, Manoj Tiwari, Shami Ahmed and Parvez Rasool, the talent of
whom have already been glimpsed to the world.
Team India in its current composition stands tall with a
learned past, a remarkable present and possibly a lustrous future.
Indeed! Thanks to the BCCI for finally considering Talent and Consistency over big names.
ReplyDeleteI agree :)
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