India in Zimbabwe: Make or Break?

For a couple of weeks now the Indian cricket team has been receiving flak for their adventurous ventures off the cricketing field. It is high time that we focus back on cricket. By no means is the upcoming tour confined to just the so called minnows of the game – Zimbabwe; the tournament which commences on Friday clearly has a third dimension to it – Sri Lanka.

Sanga has been rested for the tour.

Though Sangakkara has been rested for this tour, pretty much on the lines of his Indian counterpart, the team is going to be led by another fierce competitor - Tillakaratne Dilshan, who has an apt deputy in budding star Angelo Mathews. Undoubtedly Sri Lanka would be a much depleted side with the absence of Sangakkara, Jayawardene, Muralitharan & Malinga but aren’t we an equally depleted side with Dhoni, Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir, Harbhajan, Zaheer & of course the debatable Yuvraj being rested/dropped?

Now, turning our attention to the Indian cricket team: it goes without saying that the youngsters would get a chance to showcase their talent in this tour, starting with Raina who has been bestowed with captaincy if that is any indication of grooming our future captain and with Virat Kohli, the former under 19 Captain being appointed as his deputy. Players like Yusuf Pathan would need to come good in this tour; the critics have often pointed out that the mighty all-rounder has been more of an IPL wonder than a success at the international level. One may argue that the position at which Yusuf bats in the Indian team does not give him any scope to play himself in and that in the IPL he would bat much higher in the order which gives him enough overs to launch himself. Probably the think-tank of the Indian cricket team should experiment Yusuf at No.3 or No. 4 for a long stretch before taking a final call on him.

Virat in action

Rohit Sharma has been around for a couple of years now & has always been projected as the next Indian superstar but unfortunately he has only shown sparks of brilliance so far and has not done full justice to his potential. It is high time that he starts playing the sheet anchor roles in the games pretty much similar to how a Gambhir has evolved over the last couple of years. M.Vijay’s selection has been questioned by many of us, but let’s not forget that he has just been tried for one tour, the horizon of strokes & class he displayed at the IPL may call for persisting with him for a while, he may not just be a 20-20 & a test prospect but very much a 50 over man.

Only time will tell. Namhan Ojha, another IPL star this year would only try & maximize on his opportunities while Karthik has been given many chances, this may well be his last if he doesn’t come good and Naman does, Jadeja also finds himself in the same spot as that of Karthik after his dismal show in the world cup .

Yusuf will have to prove his mettle

Among the bowlers, the inclusion of Pragyan Ojha, Mishra & Ashwin comes as no surprise, thanks to their impeccable form at the IPL. Most pitches in Zimbabwe are not spinner friendly, and trying two spinners in a match may not be advisable. Ojha & Mishra may well prove to the selectors that the selection of Piyush Chawla ahead of them in the T-20 World Cup was definitely questionable, Ashwin could be the surprise package of the tournament. He may be our version of ‘Mendis’.

Coming to our pacers, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Pankaj Singh & Ashok Dinda are all inexperienced & not the quickest but their recent form is the only consolation for all of us. If these guys do not perform upto the expectations, quite a few bowlers warming the bench are raring to to take their places back– Ishant Sharma, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan & the rested Zaheer Khan. Not that these bowlers are way better than the new ones but just that we don’t have better pace bowlers in the country currently.

Overall, the Zimbabwean tour needs to be seen with a close eye, as it is a definite indicator of the ones who are likely to stay for long in the Indian cricket team. Though Prosper Utseya resigned as the captain of the Zimbabwe team & the all-rounder Elton Chigumbura would take over from Friday, the change and instability in the team is no reason to underestimate them. Zimbabwe has always been known to spring surprises and Sri Lanka is not going to take it lightly even if its main players are absent. The successful Indian players from this tour should get a shot at the Asia Cup and further need to be groomed before the World Cup next year.