How does India fare 'break ke baad'?

“Break ke baad”

July 21^st, 2012 – India played against Sri Lanka after a long break (more than 100 days) from international cricket (one and half months after the IPL). Dhoni’s men stood by what Dhoni promised, the country when he said, “We will make most of the rest we have got. It’s the start of the season and we want to start on a good note” and gave the series a kick-start yesterday when they elected to bat after winning the toss. Placing a fine target of 315 on board for the Sri Lankans to chase, the Indian cricket team won the game in style by 21 runs. This match had a lot more positive aspects to be attributed to it apart from the grand total on the score board. With Irfan Pathan putting up a commendable show on the field and many others contributing with good individual scores, this match was worth praising.

I wondered whether this is something new to the Indian team – to perform satisfactorily after every long break. A brief study of the performance stats of Indian cricket men in the past after a long break, of more than 60 days, told me that Indians have almost always put up a winning show after a break – with only 1 exception in the past 6 years – in September, in the 2011 NatWest Series. Indians toured England 80 days after playing a series with the West Indies, India lost the 5-match series to England 3-0. Here are a few statistics for you to see what I mean.

In June, 2011, West Indies hosted 5-match ODI series; the first match Indians played after the ICC world cup 2011, with the Indian team playing under the captaincy of Suresh Raina. Not only did India win by 4 wickets (with 31 balls remaining), but they also won the series 3-2, proving that break ke baad Indian team performs well.

In 2009 alone, Indians played thrice after a break of more than 60 days each and have put up a laudable performance every time. During the tour to Sri Lanka for a 5-match series, during January and February, India won the series 4-1. Just to prove the fact that I presented, India won the first match by 6 wickets (with 11 balls remaining). Then in another away series against the West Indies, India proved its mettle by winning the 4-match series 2-1, during June-July. The Indians put up a huge 340 run target for the host team in the first match and won it by 20 runs. Yet again, after a gap of 68 days in international cricket, India participated in the Compaq Cup, along with Sri Lanka, New Zealand, in Sri Lanka. India won thr first game by 6 wickets (with 57 balls remaining) and went into the finals playing against Sri Lanka and won the Compaq Cup.

In 2008, India took 3, 60-plus day breaks and were back with a bang and renewed energy. In November after a 70-plus days break, not only did India win the series 5-0 against England, but also put up a great show when it won by 158 runs in the first match in this series. In June, after taking almost a 100-day break, India beat Pakistan by 140 runs and proceeded into finals of Kitply Cup, hosted by Bangladesh. In February, India made it to the finals of the Commonwealth Bank series and won the series by defeating a strong opposition like Australia.

Break from continuous cricket is important for any player and that is a rear luxury for Indian cricketers. Rest gives players the most necessary mental and physical strength and peace required for them to go out there and give their best performance in the forthcoming matches and these statistics prove just the same. Yesterdays’ win against Sri Lanka gives us a hope that this break has given our Indian team the most needed rest and that they will be back to No.1 position in ODI cricket by winning this series with Sri Lanka 5-0 and they will be well prepared for the upcoming ICC world T-20 series and other series’ to be hosted by India.