More questions than answers for team India ahead of World cup
Not an ideal preparation for Team India
Ask any top athlete what is the hardest thing in their sport and the answer wouldn’t be reaching the pinnacle but staying on it. Winning the World Cup in 2011 was the highpoint for team India and from then on barring the Champions Trophy the MS Dhoni led side has nose-dived to new lows. The ability to dominate opponents while on top is what separates the good from the great. It is what makes the West Indies team of the 70’s and 80’s and the Australian team of the late 90’s to the mid 2000 legendary stuff Unfortunately Team India has not been able to live up to that expectation.
Winless India a first in 47 years
This is a first time since the past 47 years that the Indian Cricket team has no “W” against their name in Australia (tests and ODI combined). Two draws in the final two test matches was the best the men in blue were able to achieve against the Aussies in their own backyard.
Form a worry
The current Indian squad has a revamped look than the team that lifted the trophy at the Wankhade stadium in Mumbai. With no Sachin Sehwag special at the top of the order India have been trying out the permutations and combinations at the top between Dhawan, Rahane and Rohit. While Rohit found some form in the tri series an injury prevented him from playing rest of the games. Rohit’s loss was Dhawan’s gain as the south paw got another lease of life of sorts but the extra bounce and pace down under has proven to be Achilles heel for the Delhi batsmen. Ajinkya Rahane the third opener in the fray although technically correct has shown a bit of a temperament problem in the tri series.
Fragile Middle Order
The middle order which was once the backbone of India with Dhoni, Kohli, Raina and Yuvraj (not a part of world cup squad) packed enough firepower to blast its way past any hurdle now looks a pale shadow of its former self.
Too many spinners spoil the broth?
The Indian team management doesn’t seem to have heard the phrase ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’. In spite of it being a world known fact that Australian conditions favor pace way more than they do spin the team India gave more opportunities to the spin department. The pace department too remains a deep area of concern for the 2011 world champions.
To be or not to be for Kohli
Virat Kohli is unarguably the maverick player of the present Indian squad. However too much meddling in his batting position has seen team India’s test captain unable to translate his form from the white jersey to the colored one.
With so many problems the question now arises did the tri series raise more problems than it solved?
