The Indian cricket board is the only board that is determined to destroy Indian cricket. What else can be said? A very important series against an inform Australia side is scheduled to begin in the month of February. What does the board go onto do? India weren’t scheduled to play any series in the month of January. They just finished a series in Bangladesh and were looking forward to a short break before an important series. BCCI will have none of it. They went ahead and scheduled a series of meaningless limited over games against Sri Lanka and New Zealand. How does this going to help the team prepare for such an important series? India vs Australia series Indian perspective.
Indian batting is quite brittle. Rohit Sharma hasn’t played the longest format in close to 12 months. Rahul is literally struggling and Kohli’s strokeless innings in Bangladesh shows how low his confidence is. Pant is anyway unavailable for selection for the next 12 months. Jadeja will be back after a long injury layoff. Pujara as we all know will go into his shell when up against tough bowlers. The run scoring ability of all the first choice batsmen is of serious concern. It is not now. It has been going on for well over 3 years. How many times have the batsmen scored more than 450 during this period? Hardly a few. This was the prime reason for India losing the South African series and the final test against England. Not to mention the series loss in New Zealand. Only the brilliance of Pant saved India’s blushes in Australia.
Players must have been directed to play in Ranji
When the situation is this bad, either the BCCI must have given everyone a complete break or they must have asked every batsman in the squad to play Ranji Trophy. It has become a fashion in Indian cricket that once a player starts to play for the national side, he completely forgets Ranji cricket. It is only when that player is dropped, does he go back to Ranji to stage a comeback. When was the last time, a Rohit or a Kohli appeared for Mumbai or Delhi? For that matter, has Bumrah even played any Ranji game? The inability of the Indian batsmen against spin is getting exposed repeatedly. Yet, neither the players nor the board directs them to play in Ranji and improve their game against spin.
In Nathan Lyon, they will be up against a master of the craft. Last time around, he was the standout bowler in either team. He will be much better for the experience and must have picked up some more nuances and will be raring the experiment that in the series. His partners in Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood will be as miserly as they can. The question is, how will a white ball series against New Zealand and Sri Lanka will help the team in preparing for what promises to be a difficult series? Already, the former Australian players and some Indian former players have picked Australia to win the series. I to consider them to be the favourite.
The bowlers will probably be able to prevail over the Australian batsmen if the pitches aid spin but the Indian batsmen will not.
Injuries galore
One more problem with such ridiculous games is that the small matter of injury. Already, Shreyas Iyer is ruled out of the games against New Zealand. Bumrah, who takes rest while playing for India but plays in every inconsequential game for Mumbai Indians, is again injured. What if such games results in injuries to other players? Who will be held responsible? The board will easily escape blame stating that injuries are part and parcel of the game.
In the absence of Pant, will India want to go in with 5 batsmen and a keeper? If Jadeja is fit and match fit, he will take his place as the 6th batsman but if he is not, will India risk with 5 batsmen most of whom are not scoring runs? If India do decide to go in with the 6th batsmen in Jadeja’s absence, the bowling will be thinner with just 2 fast bowlers. Neither Ishan nor Bharat are a proven performers at the highest level. This is an opportunity for them to not only confirm their position as Pant’s understudy but perhaps to even eclipse him. Easier said than done against a marauding attack.
Will India continue to stick with Rahul? I would personally pick Gill over Rahul. He is in good form and with his positive strokeplay, will push the Australians on the backfoot. Rahul on the otherhand is likely to allow the bowlers to settle down into a nice line and length. This team certainly cannot afford both Rahul and Pujara in the playing eleven, not to mention Kohli who has become half Pujara.
Wrapping up India vs Australia series Indian perspective
Australia are firm favourites for this series. Not just because of the brittle Indian batting but also because of some encouraging results for them in Asia last year. Thanks to the Indian board, they are not properly exposed to red ball cricket for a very longtime.
My heart wants India to win but my mind says tough luck.