(contd.)On the other hand as far as Indian playing XI is concerned the very fact that the side is banking heavily on an aging and over the hill Yuvi to win the T20 WC by itself is an indicator of the low level of confidence being reposed on the upcoming younger players !This is not to show Yuvi in any poor light because Yuvi indeed is a talented player but let there be no doubt that it is players like Kohli, Rohit Sharma,Dhawan and Rahane who have to put their hands up and take responsibility to contribute with longer innings rather than get out in 20sw and 30s after a good start every time which in the end is going to decide the fate of Indian side in the T20WC. Of course Dhoni’s finishing heroics will also be very crucial in India winning close ties assuming that Dhoni indeed is going to be available! As far as bowling is concerned the combination looks good enough for the T20 version an d perhaps they will be playing 3 spinner combo.
(contd..)Inspite of all these handicaps captain Virat started well and raised hope with a facile win in the first match against Bangladesh.However in the subsequent two matches team India failed to rise to the occasion with poor fielding, wicket keeping and above all batting with openers or middle order batters failing to convert good starts in to big score! Although Virat’s captaincy was reasonably good but for some reason he too looked rigid like Dhoni not giving chance to benched players even in inconsequential matches drawing lot of criticism. Given this background rightly so the role and contribution of the coach Duncan Fletcher has been questioned. Now everyone is expectantly looking to T20 WC in which India normally has not done well after the inaugural version in 2007.We are told Dhoni is going to lead the side but incidentally the SC has not given its verdict and so a lot of uncertainity over the Indian side looms large! Million dollar question is with the sword of SC hanging can Dhoni led India side do well in T20 WC ?
After SL winning the Asia cup in style Ranatunga slamming SLC over recapulating to the big three should not come as a surprise! It is only a matter of time before ex-cricketers of Pak and other countries too start slamming their respective boards. Here lies the real lesson for India----in order to dominate over world cricket first and foremost the Indian cricket has to necessarily do well or rather excel in the 22 yrds of the cricket field! For that to happen BCCI has to clean its stables ,bring transparency in its workings so that the cricket fans can have full trust in the games they watch and cricketers can play freely in the right spirits. W/o fan support BCCI cannot become rich and wealthy to dominate world cricket and for getting wholehearted fan support Indian cricket has to do well in the field .win against best world sides, win ICC trophies and so on. So it is a vicious circle and BCCI cannot ignore it.Now let us come specifically to Asia cup. The selectors announced a different young side well ahead in time that was untested on any front and just before start Dhoni was held back for whatever reason and Virat Kohli was asked to take over. Now this new captain virtually had to start from the scratch experimenting with batting order, pace bowling combo while the best finisher and wicket keeper Dhoni was out already and the openers too had not doing well in the just concluded overseas tours.
