Winds of change in Indian cricket

Indian cricket team: a bright future ahead

A few weeks ago, India went on to make 300 plus runs after struggling at 55 for 5. A few days later, they won the Champions Trophy final after defending a very low score. Don’t we find this startling? Yes, we do. But it is obvious that the current Indian cricket team is far better than any from the previous generations. Never has anyone seen the Indian team play with such fighting spirit and killer instinct.

What is the reason behind this sudden change? Well, if we ponder over this topic, we find many. An able leader in M. S. Dhoni, aided by young guns of the Indian team hitting form at the right time, and a superb bench strength. Well, I will throw light on each of the above mentioned reasons.

First talking about M. S. Dhoni, which one of us doesn’t remember the mayhem of the 2007 ODI World Cup, when the Indian cricket had hit its lowest? Then came the World T20, where M. S. Dhoni announced his arrival as an able leader. There was no looking back after that. The Commonwealth Bank series down under, followed by the Number 1 ranking in Tests for quite a long while, a 50-over World Cup, and now the Champions Trophy. He has won all the relevant trophies of modern day cricket as skipper.

Was it just his leadership skills or was it something else? He infused fresh blood, like Sourav Ganguly had earlier forced the selectors to take bold decisions and showed confidence in his young players. Ravindra Jadeja and Rohit Sharma are prime examples of the extent to which MSD has backed his players.

Never ever did anyone imagine in their wildest dreams that players like Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, and Zaheer Khan would be shown the door. Never ever in the past had any selector taken such a harsh decision. The team looks balanced with each player knowing what his responsibilities are.

Bench strength has always been a problem for India, but now you have players like Manoj Tiwary, Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara, Vinay Kumar, Irfan Pathan, etc who could fill in anyone’s shoes at any moment. The Indian team has pacers like Umesh Yadav and Varun Aaron, both of whom can consistently clock 145+ kmph. We have our very own Sir Ravindra Jadeja, who has evolved to become a much better player than before. We have our very own ‘maggi man’ Rohit Sharma, who has suddenly hit form at the top of the order.

The team looks far more balanced and composed. It has learned to handle pressure. The spot-fixing scandal had raised so many questions over the purity of the game. The Indian team has answered those questions, and answered them in the best way it could. These are certainly the winds of change!