Wednesday 26 February 2014
Onus entirely on Virat Kohli to win Asia Cup cricket tournament
India began their Asia Cup tournament with victory over hosts Bangladesh, thanks to yet another magnificent century, while chasing, by captain Virat Kohli. Virat is captaining side in absence of regular captain MS Dhoni who is not participating due to injury.
136 runs that Virat Kohli scored were absolutely essential. It seems like he has to do it again and again if India needs to win Asia Cup. This is because the players coming before him and after him, look incapable of handling the pressure. The team selected is bit of a 'joke', to be frank.
ODI cricket is a role based game. You need to have openers who can take advantage of field restriction overs and power hitters to maximize the score in the end. India is missing both of them.
Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been struggling for long as One Day Cricket openers. They started brightly with century partnerships in Champions Trophy but faded quite quickly after that. Shikhar Dhawan though has impressed in Test Cricket, the most difficult form of cricket, as per experts, but Rohit Sharma has struggled in all forms of cricket that he has played, although he has been publicised as 'most talented' batsmen by same experts.
After openers come Virat Kohli and he has been the main reason for India maintaining its number 2 position in ICC One Day Cricket rankings.
But If Virat Kohli fails, does India have players who can win matches by accelerating the scoring if need be? Answer is comprehensive 'no'. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, 2 of the best finishers in ODI cricket have been dropped because experts, Aakash Chopra, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly etc, have made it a point on more than one occasion during their commentary stints that both Raina nd Yuvra are not capable of handling the 'short balls'. It has created environment against both Yuvraj and Raina, pressure on selectors mounted as a result, and both have been dropped to please these stalwarts of Indian cricket.
Mind you, Yuvraj was man of the series in World Cup of 2011 and Suresh Raina played match winning knock in quarter finals against Australia in the same tournament. Both of them have changed the equation in India's favor, by quick running and strong hitting under pressure, if one is frank in his analysis of cricket. Also people like Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma etc, who have replace those two are getting out on even normal full length deliveries along with 'short pitch bowling' and india have possibly replaced better players with worst players.
Others are new comers. Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara, Stuart Binny haven't even faced a single ball of likes of 'Lasith Malinga' and 'Umar Gul'. It will be unfair to expect them to hit sixes and fours of them, and India will need them to do that if they want to win Asia Cup at some point or the other.
This leaves Virat Kohli to do a lot. Apart from leading young and inexperienced team, he needs to settle the ship every time because openers are ordinary, accelerate the scoring and bat long every time, then stay at the end to make sure India have a good finish. It's too much of an ask of 25 years old man.
Indian selectors have committed a blunder here. Even if India wins the tournament, the team selection will require some explanation.
136 runs that Virat Kohli scored were absolutely essential. It seems like he has to do it again and again if India needs to win Asia Cup. This is because the players coming before him and after him, look incapable of handling the pressure. The team selected is bit of a 'joke', to be frank.
 |
| How far can Virat Kohli take India? |
ODI cricket is a role based game. You need to have openers who can take advantage of field restriction overs and power hitters to maximize the score in the end. India is missing both of them.
Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma have been struggling for long as One Day Cricket openers. They started brightly with century partnerships in Champions Trophy but faded quite quickly after that. Shikhar Dhawan though has impressed in Test Cricket, the most difficult form of cricket, as per experts, but Rohit Sharma has struggled in all forms of cricket that he has played, although he has been publicised as 'most talented' batsmen by same experts.
After openers come Virat Kohli and he has been the main reason for India maintaining its number 2 position in ICC One Day Cricket rankings.
But If Virat Kohli fails, does India have players who can win matches by accelerating the scoring if need be? Answer is comprehensive 'no'. Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh, 2 of the best finishers in ODI cricket have been dropped because experts, Aakash Chopra, Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar, Sunil Gavaskar, Ravi Shastri, Sourav Ganguly etc, have made it a point on more than one occasion during their commentary stints that both Raina nd Yuvra are not capable of handling the 'short balls'. It has created environment against both Yuvraj and Raina, pressure on selectors mounted as a result, and both have been dropped to please these stalwarts of Indian cricket.
Mind you, Yuvraj was man of the series in World Cup of 2011 and Suresh Raina played match winning knock in quarter finals against Australia in the same tournament. Both of them have changed the equation in India's favor, by quick running and strong hitting under pressure, if one is frank in his analysis of cricket. Also people like Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma etc, who have replace those two are getting out on even normal full length deliveries along with 'short pitch bowling' and india have possibly replaced better players with worst players.
Others are new comers. Ambati Rayudu, Cheteshwar Pujara, Stuart Binny haven't even faced a single ball of likes of 'Lasith Malinga' and 'Umar Gul'. It will be unfair to expect them to hit sixes and fours of them, and India will need them to do that if they want to win Asia Cup at some point or the other.
This leaves Virat Kohli to do a lot. Apart from leading young and inexperienced team, he needs to settle the ship every time because openers are ordinary, accelerate the scoring and bat long every time, then stay at the end to make sure India have a good finish. It's too much of an ask of 25 years old man.
Indian selectors have committed a blunder here. Even if India wins the tournament, the team selection will require some explanation.
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