This refers to the editorial, “Year of reckoning” (December 28). It would not be an exaggeration to say that the year 2017 belonged to the Indian cricket team, which performed exceptionally well in all three formats of the game. But having said that, the teams real test lies ahead when it will tour to South Africa, Australia and England because those are the frontiers which are yet to conquered by the Indian cricket team. We should remember that the West Indian cricket team of 1970s and 1980s and the Australian team of 1990s were invincible because they performed equally well on both home and overseas tours.
So, it would be really interesting to see how this team, which has talent, skill and also the right attitude to win on tough tours, perform on those bouncy, swinging and seaming conditions. And yes, until and unless the Virat Kohli-led team does well over the next 18 months, when it will be touring above countries, it can not be termed as the greatest team in recent history. Coming to the new entrants, like Afghanistan and Ireland into test playing nations, it should not be forgotten that it is T20 format like the Indian Premier league and the Big Bash league, which has given huge platform to these players to perform against the best in the world. Hopefully, both these nations will get more chances to play against best sides in test cricket so that their standard improves and game of cricket reaches to newer boundaries.