New Era Started in Indian Cricket

-

 

New Year, New Approach in Indian Cricket

 

2022 has gone, we have entered into 2023. As we can see, previous year hasn’t been a year to remember for us. We failed in all big instances for example- WT20, Asia Cup, South Africa and England Tests. Leading up to another year the BCCI has taken some tough calls, perhaps preparing a  overwhelm change in team set up.



Big names from the team are missed out from the T20 squad and strict approach in ODIs have been also taken for next home series against Sri Lanka. Let us look at the changes made:

First of all we will look at both the squad announced on 27th December for the series started from 3rd January.

 

T20 Squad:-

Hardik Pandya (C), Suryakumar Yadav (VC), Ishan Kishan (WK), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shubman Gill, Deepak Hooda, Rahul Tripathi, Sanju Samson (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzi Chahal, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Harshal Patel, Umran Malik, Shivam Mavi, Mukesh Kumar

ODI Squad:-

Rohit Sharma (C), Hardik Pandya (VC), Virat Kohli, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Washington Sundar, Yuzi Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Mohammed Shami, Umran Malik, Arshdeep Singh

 

Takeaways from T20 Squad:-

If we look at our T20 team, now we can see a clear indication that the Board is planning ahead for 2024 T20WC, that why they are moving out from the big names likes of, Rohit, Rahul, Virat, Pant, Bhuvi, Ashwin, Karthik etc. from last 2 WCs. Tough any official statements hasn’t been made or no player have not made any statement, so it is not 100 % certain. But somehow one can understand the process and can make judgment.



Hardik new Captain and Surya will VC:-

From the various options India tried in recent past, Hardik has been the standout option for captaincy as per the board. So he has been appointed, but we have to wait for another some days to see whether it is permanent or not. At the same time with big names missing out currently, the best batter for India in this format Suryakumar Yadav has been rewarded as VC. So, now finally we can see the new approach from the newly appointed captain in New Year.

Big Name Missing:-

Big guns like- Rohit, Virat, Rahul, Pant, Bhuvi, Ashwin, Dk etc. who have been key players for India in recent times are out of schemes in T20Is at least for now. All the players were ignored because of their poor performance in past 2 T20WCs. So, the board now making some tough calls. But there is no closed road for all these senior players.

As, they can still prove their value by IPL and can make comeback. The only exception and surprise that we can found here is Virat kohli, who was the best batter in T20Is during Asia Cup and T20WC. His fitness is at different level and perhaps his exclusion is bit surprising.

But as nothing explained properly by board till yet. So, we have to wait for next series where the newly appointed selection committee will announce the squad for NZ series and from that point onwards we can actually see the real picture.

Takeaways from ODI Squad:-

With all these failures in ICC events in recent years, now the board is also taking some serious action in this format also. With the ODI WC in next 10 months, BCCI started taking action from now onwards. If we look at the ODIs in 2022, we have played decent amount of games but results are not satisfying. We lost series against South Africa in January 3-0, while ended the year also with series loss against New Zealand and Bangladesh in December.



In the new squad that is announced some surprising calls have been made. As we can see, Shikhar Dhawan, a constant member of ODI team has been dropped from squad due to recent failures. Hardik Pandya also made VC in the squad ahead of KL Rahul. And here Rishabh Pant is also missed out.

                                    

End of Road for Shikhar:-

Shikhar Dhawan has been a fine opener for team India in last 9 to 10 years, particularly in 50 over format. In tests he was dropped in 2018 due to his inconsistency and in T20Is his Strike Rate was key factor for his ignorance from the team. But he owns the ODI format, where we also know him as Mr. ICC. But if we look at his performance for past 1 year, it is not looking so good.

 


His average is under 40 and Strike Rate is in mid 70s, which is not so good for an opener, especially in India where there are lot of options available for that spot. In recent Shubman Gill and Ishan kishan have emerged as two good options for that spot. Gill for his compact technique and consistency whereas Ishan for his powerful and attacking batting.

                                    

And another case is that for Shikhar Dhawan, he is not in the same bracket for someone as Virat or Rohit. Tough he has performed excellently well in this format, but his poor form not helping him or his backing is not same as like other senior players. But one thing is for sure that it is not the end of road for him. The WC is still some time far from now, so he has to done extremely well in IPL and wait for his time. But his age might be a draw back for him along with performance from young guns.

KL Rahul Demoted:-

As we can see, there is VC mentioned against the name of Hardik, which means KL Rahul who was recently doing VC during Bangladesh series and before, and did the captaincy also in that series in the absence of regular skipper Rohit Sharma, now will just be playing as WK Batsman. His poor form in recent times, particularly in T20Is, and confused mindset have resulted as demotion for him in the team.

    


                                            

It looks like he is dropped from T20Is after a horrible show from bat in Asia Cup and T20WC. Tough his ODI numbers are good but his lack of clarity in approach has gone against him in terms of leadership role. So, now his ODI place will also be on thin ice. And to stay in this format he has to do extremely well. As Sanju and Pant are out for now but if he doesn’t perform then his ODI place will also be in danger.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Time for Transition

-
  It’s time for Transition now   The time has come now for a complete changeover in team India. From the current set of players, there are most of players were part of that last ICC event, which was won by India, way back in 2013. Since that it’s been almost 10 years now, where we are still searching for that glory. The same set up is continued till now, but certainly failed in crunch moments. So, now with this T20 WC campaign is over, and the next one is in 2024, team India should try a new set of players in the combination.   With the next WC of 50 overs is very near from this time and as we are in the middle of the Test Championship in this cycle, so we can still continue with this core of players till next year. But post that we will also have to make that transition there. Most of these players are now at their end of their carrier and some are also with injury issues, so continuing with them might not be ideal.   For some players like Rohit, D...
Read more

India tour to New Zealand, What we got?

-
  What we got from New Zealand Tour?   Just after the T20 World Cup, Indian team travelled to New Zealand for a limited over series for 3 T20Is and 3 ODIs. Team India picked two different teams for two different format, where some of the senior players were rested. Hardik had given the T20Is captaincy, while Shikhar Dhawan had given the ODI captaincy.   The series started and ended with frustration as the complete tour was affected by rain. Only two games were possible completely across two formats. In T20 series 1 st game was a complete washout, 2 nd game was easily won by India, while the 3 rd game was ended with a tie in DLS method, which resulted in series 1-0 in favor of India.   In the other hand 1 st ODI was a good outing for the hosts as they chased a 300+ total quite easily and took a 1-0 lead in 3 match series. The remaining two games couldn’t end completely due to rain. Only 12 to 13 overs were possible in 2 nd game while 3 rd match was a...
Read more

Rohit Sharma Retired from Tests

-
Image
  Rohit Sharma Retired from Test Cricket Picture Source: Google  Whenever an Indian Cricketer announces his retirement, it’s always an emotional feeling. Recently, India’s Test Captain Rohit Sharma has announced his retirement from the longest format of the cricket. Well it’s not surprising at all, that, it came over on just a normal social media post. It’s very rare to find, players officially announcing their farewell and ending their career in the ground, while playing. Well, many will feel it as a shocking news. But, it was quite understandable. Since, the Home series against Kiwis and the BGT in Australia were so bad that, BCCI and Selectors had to think about that. Rohit the Captain and the batter failed terribly there. More than the leadership, it was Rohit’s batting form which was more concerning. He was terrible after that home series against England in early 2024 in red ball format. He had managed to score only 164 runs from his last 15 innings, averaged 10.9 in this...
Read more