Indian cricket team back to winning ways
India's clean sweep in the recently concluded four-Test Border-Gavaskar Tournament against Australia is surely one that will find pride of place in the country's cricketing history. The closest that India had come to such a whitewash victory was back in 1992-93 when it beat England and then in 1993-94 when it beat Sri lanka. But both were three-match series. It is no wonder then that cricketing fans across the country erupted with joy as India romped to victory in just under three days at Delhi's Feroz Shah Kotla stadium. One of the reasons was of course the fact this historic win came exactly a year after Australia inflicted a similarly crushing 4-0 defeat upon India. Payback cannot get sweeter than this. Now, India's victory in this tournament should hopefully mark the end of its rather dark phase in test cricket. The longer, more traditional form of the game has consistently proved to be a major challenge for the Indian side which, in recent times, seemed to have lacked the kind of form and technique needed to secure victories in Test matches. let us not forget that after being ruthlessly routed by Australia, India was crushed by the English too.
But by bringing home the Border- Gavaskar Trophy for the first time ever, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys have successfully fought off much of the criticism that had come their way. Especially for the captain, this was a trying time, given the growing clamour for his scalp. But while Dhoni's performance, both as captain and player, was remarkable, it was the youngsters who stole the show. Among them were Ravindra Jadeja who proved to be India's trump card. His bowling threatened to bring down the Australian batting order, much like his team mate Murali Vijay's batting proved to be a key element in scripting India's triumph. The only player to hit a double century, Vijay’s 430 runs made him the top scorer on either side. Partnering him were two other rising stars: Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan. While the former scored two half-centuries, the latter made his mark by delivering the fastest century ever made on a debut Test match. Credit must also be given to Bhuvneshwar Kumar, the other debutant of the series, who too proved his mettle as a potential world class player, alongside bowler Pragyan Ojha, yet another youngster. Finally, of course, there is R Ashwin, the Man of the Series, who truly came into his own in this tournament.
However, in stark contrast to the stellar performances of the juniors was the lacklustre show put up by the senior members of the team. Virendra Sehwag, for example, failed to pull his weight and had to be replaced by Dhawan. But perhaps the most disappointing performance came from the little Master himself. Clearly, it is high time that Sachin Tendulkar rethinks his continued presence in the Indian team. Given Sachin’s legendary status, it is understandable that the selectors may not want to axe him from the side for his consistently failed performance — though they held Sehwag accountable for a similar reason. Shouldn’t then the little Master not take a call, finallyIJ It’s true he has remarked that he will make way the day he stops enjoying his game. That’s fine, except that enjoying the game is not the same as scoring runs.