We can now peacefully follow the remaining part of the tournament without having to do any complicated math that in some way find a place for India in the Semi Finals of World T20.
I’ve been saying this for quiet sometime. There is no point in playing Dhoni, Sehwag and Gambir in the same side. There is too much dissent between them and it is hardly helping Team India. Well, we can always say these players are thorough professionals and they should be able to keep their political difference aside and perform proficiently for the country. Unfortunately this has not been happening for quiet sometime. It only looked like Sehwag and Gambir were waiting for one failure of Dhoni to latch on (starting from England debacle). From there on Dhoni’s response/attitude has been to keep both these players out of the squad/ XI. This is just a game of cat and mouse exhibited by our superstars instead of taking the opposition on the cricket field. As a result, we yet again experience the pain of seeing India evicted from the tournament earlier than expected despite being a strong unit on paper.
Though the names of Sehwag, Dhoni, Gambir are too big to be ignored in Test Cricket, the least India should have started with a young side under the stewardship of Kohli in this World T20.
Had India fielded a squad say
Rahane, Unmukt Chand, Kohli*, Rohit Sharma, Raina, Pujara, Rayudu, Bisla, Umesh Yadav, Parvinder Awana, Harmeet Singh, Ashwin, Irfan Pathan, Pawan Negi
I don’t say the above squad would have won the tournament. The least the above squad would have delivered the same result the current squad did. This by itself is a big step forward in many aspects like...
Developing a new set of players,
Sending a strong message to the players involved in dissent,
Sending a message to the Dhoni for not producing results despite leading a strong side,
Sending message to Sehwag and Gambir that they are no longer a candidate for India Captaincy and so they better concentrate on their cricket no matter who lead them.
Wonder when our selectors can/will make such brave moves?
As a fan, I faithfully support the team that is wearing the Indian Jerseys. I wish the players and skipper reciprocates the faith by representing the nation sincerely, rather play politics in the middle!!!
Back to World T20, it is good to see Sri Lanka, West Indies, Australia and Pakistan qualifying for the Semi Finals. Sri Lanka, West Indies and Pakistan appear to be well balanced sides. Australia’s inadequacy was woefully exposed by Pakistan after the early exit of Shane Watson. So I don’t count on Australia to win the tournament. Sri Lanka appears to be well lead, while they still have to deal the threat of Pakistan and West Indies.
Bottom line: It is not Australia this time.
Dinesh
Cricket Lover
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