Time for a change?

One more failed campaign in one more edition of World T20. Let’s just say that India was done in by the format of the tournament slightly. Pakistan, Australia & Sri Lanka managed to go through to semis winning four out of five games. India, on the other hand, won identical number of games but they could not sneak in whereas the West Indies won two out of five games and still managed to get through to the semis.

So the big question: is it time for changes in the T20 team. May be yes, may be no but the issue as of now is whether to stick with senior players like Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag or not. Both of these players have dubious fitness records. They are not live wires in the field either. And as far as Gambhir is concerned, he needs to find his off stump otherwise his place might be up for grabs sooner than later. His record has dipped alarmingly in all forms of the game.

Dhoni seems to be under-utilizing himself as a batsman. He has not even managed to score a half century in four World T20 events thus far. He is a prolific scorer in shorter versions of the game so he should not have any hesitation in batting at number 4. He has made big scores in ODI cricket batting higher up the order. It just may be that he has run out of luck with 0-8 away losses in Test cricket and failure to make it through to the final round of Asia Cup as well as World T20.

The plates are full for Sandip Patil & Co., the new selection committee. Sandip Patil was a courageous batsman and I guess he will require courage aplenty in the next few months. In 2007, the committee had selected few unknown names in World T20 in South Africa and their fearless brand of cricket brought India the glory. May be it’s time for an overhaul of the team. This goes for Test team too due the retirements of stalwarts like Dravid and Laxman, earlier in the year. Testing times ahead for all the parties concerned, with England series looming large on their heads. Good luck team India!