Monday, September 24, 2007

Indian Cricket Team - New look is the new Mantra

Flashback 5 months back. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Scotland and exit from the first round of the cricket world cup India were really the underdogs for the Twenty 20 world cup and amongst the teams with least experience for this particular format.
A couple of hours ago what most of us experienced was nothing short of pride and happiness which we probably felt after lifting the 83 Cricket World Cup. Looks like Indian team is back with a bang this time. So what could have led to this reversal in the fate of Indian cricket ?
To begin with this Indian team wore a typically new and fresh look. Led in front my the young and intelligent M S Dhoni this team was ready to take risks and most of them paid off. M S Dhoni was really confident about the new players. I could not imagine Dravid handling over the last over of the critical match (both against Australia in the semis and Pakistan in the finals ) to Jogender Sharma especially after he had gone for a hammering in the previous overs. It is this faith in the new players for M S Dhoni which payed back.
Dhoni again displayed some great leadership qualities and led from the front. Never once in any of the nail biting matches he ever looked tensed or worried. He was always pumping in more confidence in the likes of Sreesnath and R P Singh, and look what he got in return the World Cup.
Unarguably one of the best batting performances in the World Cup was by no other than Yuvraj. Literally snatched a couple of critical matches from the opponent. The six sixes in an over against Broad was a visual treat which I would definitely be remembering for a long time now.
So everyone would agree that this change in Indian team is definitely a welcome change. Looks like it's time for Dravid, Ganguly's and Tendulkars (Yes you heard it right, Tendulkar) to move along and give some breathing space to the fresh blood in the team. No doubt that the trio I have just mentioned are one of the best players the game might have ever produced but yes as we all know "Nothing Lasts Forever" and "The only constant thing in this world is change".