Does India Deserve Their Number One Slot?
Ever since India topped the ICC Test cricket rankings late last year, there have been many questions raised about http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 and said that they weren’t playing like the number one team in the world.
The skeptics do have a point. India has probably gone to the top by benefiting from Australia’s failures rather than through their own successes. They have never won a Test match series in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 and Australia and they have not won a series in Sri Lanka since 1993. Yes, they’ve been very strong at home and have won series against almost all opposition, but they only managed a 1-1 draw against South Africa in each of the two home series against them.
India have gone to the top by beating the rest of the teams. They have won series in the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, and one needs to give it to them. But what would have probably infuriated the skeptics is the fact that these three sides are the lower-ranked teams – currently in the bottom half of the Test-match rankings. South Africa have beaten Australia, England and India away from home, and they stake a better claim than India.
Their recent performances do really expose that they are not good enough to be called the top Test team in the world. They have been saved by their strong batting line-up more than once and their bowling attack is most probably their weakest among the top four nations. The attack looks toothless and without any bite, which is strange considering that Dhoni had only recently proclaimed that the side had gotten to the number one position thanks to their strong bowling.
Even with Zaheer Khan being a part of the attack, India’s bowling does not have the ability to strike fear in the hearts of the opposite batsmen.
Harbhajan Singh, India’s premier bowler, hasn’t had a good season. He may have been handled well by the Sri Lankan batsman but only one wicket in two Test matches is a poor return for any bowler. Waugh however, feels that Harbhajan would be back to his best in the upcoming series against Australia, against whom he has a wonderful record.
India currently have a great batting line-up, but have will have to replace its entire middle-order in a year or so. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/VVS-Laxman-c2772 are 37, 37 and 35 years-old respectively, and will retire almost around the same time. This can only add further problems to the Indian cricket.
They could end up in a position that Australia had found themselves in 2008, as they lost their aura of invincibility after they lost many good players at the same time. The same thing happened to the West Indies, who saw their aura dissolve by the early nineties when many of its stars retired. They will be put under severe tests if they do not find and groom the successors for the aforementioned three. Suresh Raina’s century puts him in good stead to do the job, but it will take him some time to become a regular.
There are obvious issues that the Indian Premier League (IPL) has brought on for Indian cricket, as pointed out by Waugh as well. He felt that the IPL could actually harm the development of the young cricketers because the fame and wealth could get to their heads. And one gets the sense that Waugh is not too far off the mark.
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