India Looks to Younger Players to Deliver in One-Day Series
With the ghost of their dismal World Cup performance still lingering over the minds of the entire nation, the Indian cricket team gears up to play Zimbabwe in the first match of the triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka. The new-look Indian team, led by new skipper Suresh Raina, will miss the services of Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan as well as regular skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, but the juniors are confident of emulating their seniors in their biggest challenge.
Although most of the players in the Indian camp haven’t played many international matches, they would look to do well in the opening match on Friday. The timings to check the bench strength couldn’t have been better as the cricket World Cup is just nine months away, and is being played in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.
The series will also be a test of character for the stand-in skipper Raina, who will not have the services of as many as eight regular players. How he uses the players available and how he fares as their skipper will determine his tag as the future Indian Captain. His captaincy would largely depend on the young legs, fresh mind and fit bodies of those youngsters who were part of the Indian Premier League’s third edition and who would also like to cement a place in the Indian squad for the World Cup.
The aggressive Virat Kohli returns to the Indian side after missing the Twenty20 World Cup where Murali Vijay was tried instead. The failure of Vijay made the selectors go for Kohli who has also been named Raina’s deputy for the tour that also features two Twenty20 matches against the host nation. Murali Vijay gets a lifeline to revive his career due to the absence of seniors, and he might try to impress by scoring heavily on the African safari.
Indian selectors have also shown faith in the left-arm spin of Pragyan Ojha, off-spin of R Ashwin, and leg-spinner Amit Mishra, who have been included alongside the expensive Ravindra Jadeja. Those to be ‘rested‘ include the successful Harbhajan Singh and the impressive Piyush Chawla, two bowlers the men in blue are likely to miss on tour.
Although the Indian batting failed to click during the recently concluded Twenty20 World Cup, the selectors have decided to give a chance to the tried and tested trio of Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma and Dinesh Karthik, the last also being given the additional duties of keeping the wickets in Dhoni’s absence. Youngster Naman Ojha is the second wicket keeper in the side and might get to play if the management decides to use Karthik as a specialist batsman.
With no Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar and Sreesanth in the squad, the Indian pace attack paints a sad picture. Raina will have to use the bowlers intelligently if he is to defend scores or restrict the opponents. The available resources - Ashok Dinda, R Vinay Kumar, Pankaj Singh and Umesh Yadav - may be good bowlers but they lack international exposure, something the Sri Lankans and Zimbabweans don’t. It remains to be seen how the Indian pacers fare in pressure situations, and if they manage to do well, India might earn more victories than they are hoping for.
Although the Indian seniors haven’t toured Zimbabwe since 2005-2006, some members of the current squad - Pankaj Singh, Pragyan Ojha and Rohit Sharma - were part of the A team that toured Zimbabwe in 2007. Their experience might come in handy when India face Zimbabwe away from their home, in territories unknown!
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