Team India – Is it or Isn’t it?
Congratulation to Dhoni and his Dare Devils!!!
A team of young men with nothing to lose & no reputation to ruin - played their hearts out and won the WC. There were no Super Stars which the Indian team is so used to having. There were no expectations to keep up with. These guys were predicted to be out by the first round or Super 8. But throughout the tournament, they played with a refreshing energy and optimism which, on top of their natural flair, has endeared them to the fans. Not surprisingly, they have featured in the most exciting contests in the tournament. There is no taking away credit from these guys for what they have achieved -- Its Tremendous. But, is it not premature to call this a new dawn?
All of India is out on the roads, cheering for their new stars, calling them as the ones with team spirit in heart and not the individual record, saying that this is the team which should play the ODIs too, but this is a game. This very team will lose. This very captain will make mistakes. These youngsters will have a lean patch. How tolerant will we be then?
Do we have the perfect team in place for future matches? Can these players manage the Aussies for 50 overs in Home pitches forget doing it down under?? What I see is none of the players in the current team has the class (the kind of stroke play that Tendulkar has demonstrated time and again). They all have flair, but not class. Class is what matters in longer versions of cricket and when playing against good bowlers and with no field restrictions. Current Indian team has to have someone like Tendulkar who can take on any bowler in the world and score runs. We are not there yet.
Perhaps Dhoni's team has that rare and raw talent to become the world champions in all the other formats of the game; however I would say that we should give enough time to the boys to so they can rebuild themselves for test and ODI 50-50 format. They need to have consistency in test and ODI as well. They need to prove their mantle as test cricket would definitely test their character. A team India line up without Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly is still highly unimaginable. Twenty20 is a game where sporadic moments of brilliance outweigh concentration, temperament and co-ordinate effort. It is all a matter of swinging the bat with no effort towards preserving wickets. The real test would come when the same team plays against an Australian team in the one day or test format of the game and yet ends up on the winning side! Till then we cannot comment on whether this is the real Team India.
I don't think that because of the final match results we can conclude the real quality. It's always the consistency that matters. The fact is that the big three should be there in the team and at the same time the performance of the newcomers should not be ignored. Everything looks rosy in a shorter version of the game, if a batsman makes 20 runs in 12 balls he is a hero and if a bowler give 30 runs in 4 overs he has bowled well, but do you think the same would apply in the 50 overs game....70% of the team is same which toured England.. What was their performance if compared to big 3 or bowlers when compared to Zaheer Khan?
This is not the real team, T20 is fun game and not proper Cricket, in England Sachin, Rahul, Zaheer & Ganguly were the most successful player and not Dhoni or Yuvi, so we need younger players as well but we can't go further without exp. players. What needs to be done is have them always in the touring 16 and play them in a match or 2. With Sachin saying he will be choosy in ODIs, there will some matches he won’t play; those are the times to be used to groom a new comer. Not at the cost of the Big 3.
Words of caution for Dhoni as well; Because We have seen it all before. With Dravid as captain, did India not win a record number of matches batting second? Under Ganguly, did India not get into the finals of the 2003 World Cup? After reaching those heights, we still got beaten by Pakistan and Australia at home, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2007 World Cup, South Africa in S Africa! Our batsman played badly, bowled poorly and fielded miserably! It's good to see the youngsters doing well. Let us groom them to take on the footsteps of Sachin, Rahul, and Saurav. But let us not go overboard with this victory as we have in the past! There is still a lot to do and a hell of a lot to prove!!
A downbeat note, this, to end an upbeat round-up, but what the hell - it's a rare moment of triumph undiluted by background controversies, and it is ours to enjoy. Soon enough, the circus will start again - with Australia for opposition, and the new captain facing, for the first time, the pressure of playing at home, with a team studded, with three former captains.
Good Luck Team India.
A team of young men with nothing to lose & no reputation to ruin - played their hearts out and won the WC. There were no Super Stars which the Indian team is so used to having. There were no expectations to keep up with. These guys were predicted to be out by the first round or Super 8. But throughout the tournament, they played with a refreshing energy and optimism which, on top of their natural flair, has endeared them to the fans. Not surprisingly, they have featured in the most exciting contests in the tournament. There is no taking away credit from these guys for what they have achieved -- Its Tremendous. But, is it not premature to call this a new dawn?
All of India is out on the roads, cheering for their new stars, calling them as the ones with team spirit in heart and not the individual record, saying that this is the team which should play the ODIs too, but this is a game. This very team will lose. This very captain will make mistakes. These youngsters will have a lean patch. How tolerant will we be then?
Do we have the perfect team in place for future matches? Can these players manage the Aussies for 50 overs in Home pitches forget doing it down under?? What I see is none of the players in the current team has the class (the kind of stroke play that Tendulkar has demonstrated time and again). They all have flair, but not class. Class is what matters in longer versions of cricket and when playing against good bowlers and with no field restrictions. Current Indian team has to have someone like Tendulkar who can take on any bowler in the world and score runs. We are not there yet.
Perhaps Dhoni's team has that rare and raw talent to become the world champions in all the other formats of the game; however I would say that we should give enough time to the boys to so they can rebuild themselves for test and ODI 50-50 format. They need to have consistency in test and ODI as well. They need to prove their mantle as test cricket would definitely test their character. A team India line up without Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly is still highly unimaginable. Twenty20 is a game where sporadic moments of brilliance outweigh concentration, temperament and co-ordinate effort. It is all a matter of swinging the bat with no effort towards preserving wickets. The real test would come when the same team plays against an Australian team in the one day or test format of the game and yet ends up on the winning side! Till then we cannot comment on whether this is the real Team India.
I don't think that because of the final match results we can conclude the real quality. It's always the consistency that matters. The fact is that the big three should be there in the team and at the same time the performance of the newcomers should not be ignored. Everything looks rosy in a shorter version of the game, if a batsman makes 20 runs in 12 balls he is a hero and if a bowler give 30 runs in 4 overs he has bowled well, but do you think the same would apply in the 50 overs game....70% of the team is same which toured England.. What was their performance if compared to big 3 or bowlers when compared to Zaheer Khan?
This is not the real team, T20 is fun game and not proper Cricket, in England Sachin, Rahul, Zaheer & Ganguly were the most successful player and not Dhoni or Yuvi, so we need younger players as well but we can't go further without exp. players. What needs to be done is have them always in the touring 16 and play them in a match or 2. With Sachin saying he will be choosy in ODIs, there will some matches he won’t play; those are the times to be used to groom a new comer. Not at the cost of the Big 3.
Words of caution for Dhoni as well; Because We have seen it all before. With Dravid as captain, did India not win a record number of matches batting second? Under Ganguly, did India not get into the finals of the 2003 World Cup? After reaching those heights, we still got beaten by Pakistan and Australia at home, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh in 2007 World Cup, South Africa in S Africa! Our batsman played badly, bowled poorly and fielded miserably! It's good to see the youngsters doing well. Let us groom them to take on the footsteps of Sachin, Rahul, and Saurav. But let us not go overboard with this victory as we have in the past! There is still a lot to do and a hell of a lot to prove!!
A downbeat note, this, to end an upbeat round-up, but what the hell - it's a rare moment of triumph undiluted by background controversies, and it is ours to enjoy. Soon enough, the circus will start again - with Australia for opposition, and the new captain facing, for the first time, the pressure of playing at home, with a team studded, with three former captains.
Good Luck Team India.
posted by Nitya - The Rebel Queen at 11:37 PM
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