Team India - End of a victorious season

The ‘Men in Blue’ are on a roll

With a clean sweep against minnows Zimbabwe, India have ended their season on a high with back-to-back victories in England,West Indies and Zimbabwe.

They played like the No.1 team in ODIs, which they are, and emerged champions in each and every tour. Lots of positives were brought forth for the team in these tours and many of the young players got to showcase their talent in front of the entire cricketing fraternity.

But the stand out performance of India was, undoubtedly, winning the last edition of the ICC Champions Trophy in England and Wales. The conditions in England have always been difficult for the team and India’s last tour to the nation had proved to be a total disaster as they lost their No.1 Test Ranking to England and were also outplayed in the shorter formats of the game.

So, winning the Champions Trophy was a big splendid achievement for our players. Having a young team with fresh and new faces, Dhoni had quite a few things to worry about at the start of the tournament and but his boys rose to the occasion and proved their credentials at the right time to win the tournament for him. The young guys adopted the conditions in England very quickly and everyone performed for the team when required.

Team India’s tri-series victory was also inspiring as they were two games down and had also lost their captain due to hamstring injury. But as always, under the stand-in captain Virat Kohli, the boys played their “A” game and won the team a place in the tri-series final which was looking very difficult in the early part of the series.

In the final against Sri Lanka, when all was lost for Team India while chasing a modest target of 202 against their Asian neighbours, regular captain M.S. Dhoni, in his comeback match, proved a match winner again. He led his team to a famous victory in the last over as he hung on to his wicket with the tail-enders and added another trophy to his cabinet.

After two difficult tours, team management decided to rest their frontline players and give some new players a chance in the much easy tour to Zimbabwe and their plan didn’t backfire as the young Team India, under Virat Kohli’s captaincy were able to whitewash the African nation 5-0 and register their first ever series whitewash on foreign soil. These tours have been positive for India and have also led to the success of many of their young players.

Emergence of Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma

These two lads were given the tough task of opening for the team in their first encounter against South Africa in the Champions Trophy, 2013. Both these players accepted their new roles as openers wholeheartedly and delivered the goods for the team when mattered the most.

They were involved in two back-to-back century stands followed by two fifty-runs partnerships to make India reach the final of the Champions Trophy. The best part of their recent success has been that both these players were making a comeback after a long time into the national side and their contribution played a vital role in each and every match for the ‘Men in Blue’.

Dhawan scored three centuries in all the tours combined, while Rohit Sharma had five fifty plus scores and enjoyed a good run while touring for Team India.

Dinesh Karthik and Amit Mishra – Second Innings

Both these players made their debuts long time back but were consistently dropped out of the team or were asked to warm the bench due to their lack of form or injury. But after a successful stint in IPL 6, both these players were recalled by the selectors and were included in the squad travelling to England, West Indies and Zimbabwe.

Dinesh Karthik had a dream run in both the warm up matches ahead of the ICC Champions Trophy to be included in the playing eleven and when given a chance, he didn’t disappoint. Though he had not much to do in a few matches as India were cruising to victories when he came out to bat, but he did finish the job for the team and got involved in a few useful partnerships at crucial stages. He needs to be more consistent with the bat and play a few long innings to cement his place in the ODI team, his performance was still satisfying.

Amit Mishra had to wait for a long time to finally get a game in Zimbabwe but he was right on the money from game one as he had a terrific series against the Zimbabweans to finish with a tally of 18 wickets to his name in five matches (a new world record).

He was not afraid to flight the ball and bowl a few googlies to test the home team and put them under pressure. He was adjudged Player of the Series for his splendid performance and surely, if he would have been given a place in the team in the Champions Trophy and tri-series, he would have troubled the other teams too.

Emergence of Ravindra Jadeja as a star player

Ravindra Jadeja – A star in the making

The Champions Trophy victory would be largely remembered due to the all round performance of Ravindra Jadeja. He was a stand out performer for India throughout the tournament with 12 wickets in five matches and two vital innings against top teams like South Africa and England. He continued his rich form with the ball in the tri-series too, where he picked up eight wickets with a superb economy rate and showed his skills with the willow on a few occasions against Zimbabwe .

There were a few youngsters who grabbed eyeballs from their first game in the India-Zimbabwe series as well. These players were – Jaydev Unadhkat, Ambati Rayudu and Mohit Sharma.

Unadkhat had a good series by picking up 4 wickets in his first match and gave India breakthroughs in every other outing. Mohit Sharma was given his first match in the fourth ODI and he did not disappoint as he finished with two wickets in his spell and an economy of less than three. He was adjudged man of the match on his debut performance.

Ambati Rayudu had been on the sidelines for a long time but when he was given a chance in this one-sided series, he proved to be valuable to the team’s success with a fifty on debut and crucial knock in the third ODI to give Team India another series victory on the trot.

Though there are tough series coming up in the next season for the Men In Blue against South Africa and New Zealand, but for now all looks good for the team. They have ended a good season by playing some fabulous cricket on foreign soils and have outplayed other teams.

One would like to see Cheteshwar Pujara get some more games in ODIs too and Rahane is also one good player to watch out for. The senior players of the Indian team and the youngsters have shown their potential but they need to remain more consistent as a team. As of now ‘Men In Blue’ are definitely going through a purple patch and we should all enjoy their success.