India’s win over Australia in the CB series was just amazing. It brings back memories of Sunny Gavaskar’s team winning the World Series Cup in 1985. What was great to see was MS Dhoni’s picking the team he wanted and the team backing him up. Praveen Kumar was Dhoni’s man friday and Sachin Tendulkar for once made useful contributions in big matches.
The series win effectively brings down the curtains on the illustrious careers of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.
Biggest gains of the ODI series
Dhoni’s captaincy – Displayed calm assuredness – displayed hitherto boldness unseen in Indian captains – brave decision to open bowling with Praveen Kumar and play Piyush Chawla in the finals. Backed his instincts and came out good. Playing under Kumble in the test series would have been an learning experience even as he grows in his job each day in the one day form of the game.
Gautam Gambhir has come off age. He has proved detractors like me wrong that he could not play genuine fast bowlers.
Rohit Sharma: A class act with great temperament. India would do well do groom him for test cricket.
Ishant Sharma: Continued his progress from test series. India should manage his work load well as he looks like the strike bowler that we would require.
Sachin Tendulkar: Finally playing critical innings while chasing esp in important matches. All of us have been waiting for this for a very long time. The monkey is off his back. Last time Sachin Tendulkar played import innings in finals was at Sharjah in 1998.
Jury is still out on Praveen Kumar. His contributions have been invaluable but it remains to be seen how useful he would be in unhelpful conditions in sub continent. But is worthy investment for the future
Disappointments of the series:
I am big fan of Yuvraj Singh and it was disappointing performance from him. Ditto Virender Sehwag.
In summary, a brilliant win for young, hungry team. One gets the feeling that this is just the beginning.
1 comment:
Yes, this has been a terrific result for a young indian cricket team. For a change, the selectors have given a free hand to the captain to choose his team. Dhoni has proved his skills as a mature captain with a good cricketing brain. The bowling has been quite a revelation and despite fairly low-key batting performances by stars like Sehwag and Yuvraj, they've managed to deliver the killer-punch. And this is certainly just the beginning.
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