A few talking points from India's Asia Cup campaign

Indian captain Virat Kohli (R) with teammates returns to the dressing room after losing the sixth match of the Asia Cup one-day cricket tournament between India and Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on March 2, 2014.

India’s Asia Cup campaign hasn’t yet come to an end. But two matches that could quite have gone the other way certainly paves way for this article.

So here are a few talking points from the Arise Asia Cup 2014.

1. Virat’s Captaincy

What Virat Kohli has showed in this short period is certainly something to look out for in the future. For a change, India have two captains at once whom we can be proud of. In the first match against Bangladesh, he led from the front with a swashbuckling 136, for India to romp home with ease. In the second and third, although he didn’t fire, he led from the front with his aggressive captaincy. If only the fielding had been better in the second game and the death bowling in general, India would’ve scripted two very good wins. He may have not fired in the last two matches, but the best of Virat is yet to come for sure.

2. Ravindra Jadeja‘s rise

Often called as MS Dhoni‘s favourite, Ravindra Jadeja has finally showed what he is really capable of. Tidy bowling and fierce hitting at the end make him a quality player in this Indian team. His athletic fielding adds another dimension in his ever-growing game. His batting has come of age lately with a few innings that any batsmen could boast off. The innings that helped India salvage a tie in the disastrous tour of New Zealand showed how he has come of age as a batsman. And his 50+ innings against neighbours Pakistan helped India a great bit. Although his bowling in that match could’ve been better, we can’t blame him for one bad match, can we?

The rise of this southpaw has come at the right time for this team.

3. Resurgence of bowlers

When was the last time that you saw an Indian bowling attack bring the match close to the finishing line and that too when the batting had all but almost lost the match not once but twice? Mohammed Shami and Bhuvaneshwar Kumar have provided the team with 2 quality opening bowlers. Probably with the addition of either Umesh Yadav or Ishwar Pandey, it would provide more spice. But this is as good an attack we’ve seen for a long time. And I tell you, it’s certainly a long time since an Indian bowler just conceded 28 runs of 10 overs and took 2 wickets, as well. Amit Mishra’s bowling proved that leg spinners give another facet to a bowling attack. Ravichandran Ashwin‘s action in the first match gave way to much flak; but he bounced back in some fashion and helped the team, although his last over against Pakistan didn’t prove to be heroic.

4. Missing MS Dhoni?

Dinesh Karthik was brought in to keep wickets. Stuart Binny was drafted in for his finishing abilities and Ambati Rayudu for batting. But even the three combined are not able to fill the very large shoes of Mahendera Singh Dhoni. Karthik gave away two easy chances, that of Kumar Sangakkara and Sohaib Maqsood. Sangakkara’s in particular proved to be very costly. Ambati Rayudu hasn’t fired consistently either. Binny has not proved to be the finisher that Dhoni could be. If this continues to happen, India would be in shackles as Dhoni can’t be ever present in the team. This clearly shows the importance of Dhoni. He may or may not boss the team selections, but the ability he possesses is unmatched.

India still have a long way to go, and, if appropriate measures are taken, India can start dreaming of a world cup victory again.