Brown Washtralia

First, congratulations to M S Dhoni and his team for putting up a pulverizing performance against the mighty Aussies. Secondly, I think we need to congratulate Sandeep Patil & Co. who seem to have managed to muster a lot of courage in taking some bold decisions after the catastrophe of losing at home against England. They dropped Zaheer Khan at the end of the series against England. That was the sign of things to come for the non-performers. They showed the door to Gautam Gambhir at the start of the series against Australia. And on the top of that, Virender Sehwag was also axed during the ongoing series after taking the lead of 2-0. That sends a strong message to the team that they will either perform or will perish.

Let’s look at the new faces that were brought in to replace some of the experienced players. Although Murli Vijay is not entirely new but he ended up at the top of the list of run getters in the series with 430 runs in 4 matches. He showed lot of maturity during his two hundreds at Hyderabad and Mohali. His leg side play reminds me of Mark Waugh who always relied on silky touch rather than brute force. If anything, he needs to tighten up his defensive technique as it will be tested in India’s next assignment in South Africa. He tends to hang back a lot and doesn’t come fully forward when the ball is pitched slightly further up.

Ravindra Jadeja is renowned as ‘million dollar baby’ on IPL circuit but he showed that he can be good enough in the longest version of the game too. This was second series for him and he had the backing of his skipper. He did not let him down or the selectors for that matter as he performed admirably with the ball in this series. He managed to take 24 wickets in 4 matches at an average of 17.45. I think he will be saying to his team mates that Michael Clarke is his bunny after dismissing him 5 times out of 6 innings. Not only did he bowled well but also fielded well. Keeping the long term interests of the team in mind, Dhoni would love if he becomes a full-fledged all rounder so that he can become a permanent fixture in the line up.

Bhuvneshwar Kumar was a debutante at the start of this series but he used his domestic experience to good effect on these unresponsive pitches. He swung the Mohali test India’s way with his triple strikes. He also provided the initial break-through in Hyderabad test and went on to take 3 wickets on what appeared to be batting wicket. He also quite capable with the bat as he showed in that partnership with his captain when Dhoni was going great guns in Chennai. It will be interesting to see how he goes in pacer friendly conditions in South Africa. He looks like a bowler who will not compensate swing for speed but sometimes at the highest level you need combination of both to make inroads in the opposition batting line up.

Shikhar Dhawan is a household name by now. He batted like a man possessed. In many ways, that knock of 187 at Mohali reminded viewers of Sehwag. If anything, Shikhar Dhawan looks to have a better footwork than his more illustrious team mate from Delhi. Such was his dominance that Allan Border, former captain from Australia, had to ask his fellow commentators, “Where were the Indian team hiding this young left hander”. It was the fastest century by a debutante which says it all.

Finally a word on Ajinkya Rahane. He got his chance after warming the bench for 18 months. He was slightly unlucky that he got to make his debut on a 3 day wicket. He could not score much on a pitch where spinners were ruling the roost but everyone knows what he is capable of. He should get more chance to shows his mettle. The selectors need to be lauded for their effort. They seem to have the right approach.