Limited over cricket is here!!! India can breathe easy.
Monday, January 30, 2012 5:18:44 PM
Finally the test series is coming to an end and India are 3-0 down and heading towards 4-0. Indian team is surely waiting for the test series to end as they never really seemed like they could beat Australia in the five day format. It is sure to be quiet different when the two teams square off in the limited overs format that is T20's and ODI's. In ODI's India are the world champions and thanks to IPL our cricketers have no difficulty in adjusting to this format either.
It was traditionally believed that great teams are the one's which can win any format under any conditions. As far as India is concerned they are a very good limited overs team and not so good test team especially when they are playing abroad. So this makes it all the more interesting to see how the Indian can bounce back from the recent thrashing they have taken in Australia.
One of the positive things for India is that their ODI team has a lot of fresh face, those players who were not a part of test team. So there is bound to be fresh confidence and energy in the team once new guys join in. Also the ODI team is much younger, agile and athletic unit compared to the test team and hence we can expect a lot of exuberance from the team. More than anything Indian players feel more at home playing this format as their skills are more suited for the shorter version of the game.
India kick-off their limited overs campaign with the T20's it would be interesting to see how Indians can perform in the T20. We have a very strong team especially the batting boost of players like Sehwag, Gambhir, Kohli, Raina, Rohit Sharma and MS Dhoni some of the most fearsome and cleanest strikers of the ball. The most important thing about them is all of them in their own right can win you games. This is one of the reasons why India is not such a great test team. In test matches we rely heavily Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman to win us games while T20 and ODI each of the top order player is equally capable to turn a game on its head on his own. The other reason is why India is not such a good test team is that to win a test match it is important to win at least four sessions consecutively and India does not have the firepower to do so. Since the limited overs version is shorter it is easy for teams like India to stay in the game also impact players like Raina, Dhoni and Sehwag can change a course of the game in 5-10 with a quick 30-40 while those 30-40's don't win you test matches.
Even our bowling seems slightly stronger in this version simply because our spinners Ashwin and Jadeja will have a bigger role to play. Also the addition of PK (Praveen Kumar) should help the team.
Even though India did not win a single game in England it must be said that they managed a tie and were in winning positions in all of the games. It was unfortunate that the team was not able to win a game. However, when India played England and West Indies at home they whitewashed England in ODI's and only lost once against West Indies winning four. For India's sake let us hope that infusion of younger players yields better results and we can get back to winning ways against good teams
Halla Bol!