Heroes or Villains???

We recently witnessed the No.1 Test SIDES underwent a whitewash in the hands of opposition. Firstly, India was thrashed 4-0 by England, now Pakistan crucified England 3-0. In either case the ranking is not justified considering the humiliation factor associated to the outcome.

However there is a significant difference to both these losses despite No.1 tag. When India toured England, they were an experienced unit. Meaning, most of the members in the team say Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dhoni, Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma were neither new to England nor a mug outside subcontinent. On the other hand these England players are fairly new to Asian conditions. I don’t really remember players like Cook, Strauss, Pieterson, Bell, Tremlett, Broad, Anderson, Swann ever playing a major Test series in Sub Continent. The series loss to Pakistan was always on the cards. It is only the No.1 tag that created a blind sight. But, going forward this England unit will only get better in subcontinent and expected to produce tougher fight. Also, you might have already witnessed that the margin of defeat to Pakistan was only narrowing with each Test. On the contrary, India’s margin of defeat to England was only widening with each Test. Same saga continued for Indians in the series with Australia too. Despite the Whitewash, England cricket is still on ascending curve. After all they are a young side and the nucleus is likely to stay the same for a while. Mind you, even the top ranked Australian side could not beat India in India straight away. It is only after the series losses in 96/97, 97/98 and 2000-01 Australia conquered India in India during 2004-05.

Any means England playing in India at the end of 2012 should be intriguing. England might lose, for sure it will not be a whitewash.

Coming back to the second ODI against Sri Lanka at Perth, India starts favorites. For the first time after World Cup Finals, Sehwag and Dhoni are likely to play together for India in a one day match. In Tests, the union was unavoidable. In ODI’s they avoided each other much as they could. With team in dire straits the amalgamation is manifest. When there is so much politics going around, either of them don't deserve to lead the country. Since, Kohli is not ready yet, for the better of India, Tendulkar should lead the show until all dust settles. I’ve told this before, but I know it will fall into deaf ears. After all WHO AM I?

Bottom line: Heroes or Villains, politcs is winning. WHO WILL BELL THE CAT???

Dinesh

Cricket Lover