The men in Blue try and leave the blues of Test Cricket behind them and take on the Lankan might in the 50 over format of the game. The team would be dearly hoping that the young guns who will take up the One Day reigns will have a lot more success than the senior counterparts had in the longer version. Yet, beating Sri Lanka on home turf will not be any easier in colored clothing as the last time India faced up to the challenge on a neutral venue, they were handed a 100-run drubbing. So how does the Indian ODI team with a new look and new attitude measure up to the challenge and what ammunition is ready in their Arsenal?
The Squad for the ODI part of the tour looked both balanced and capable until it lost its most experienced player and its best batsman to an unforeseen injury. Sachin Tendulkar will be returning home with an elbow injury and his absence is a big void to fill. Even the dynamic Dhoni confessed that the little champion will be missed on and off the field and while his detractors will shrug their shoulders and tell you that he was of no great significance anyway, the fact remains that he was India’s best ODI batsman in the last year. Test form is not be confused with One Day record and Sachin’s last two ODI knocks helped India clinch a series Down Under.
In the team to try and fill that void will be Virat Kohli and S. Badrinath; both trying to earn their first cap for the national side. It will be interesting to see which way the captain goes and it might be safer to assume that the Under 19 World Cup winning captain could get the nod ahead despite Badrinath having tons o domestic runs under his belt. The rest of the batting order seems to pick itself with the lack of Sachin Tendulkar. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will continue the vigil at top with the classy Rohit Sharma, adventurous Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Captain Dhoni making up the middle order.
That leaves one spot open for the two debutants or even an all-rounder in form of Irfan Pathan. While it is unlikely, India could play Pathan in the number 7 spot and pick 4 other specialist bowlers. But knowing the way modern captains think, it is 7 batsman and 4 bowlers that will be the most likely combination to take the field on August 18. Harbhajan Singh picks himself as the lone spinner both because of his experience and recent form over young Pragyan Ojha. But the left-arm tweaker will come in handy in case the team feels that the track is a square turner.
The pace bowling department seems to have lot more variety and plenty of options in the form of Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Munaf Patel, Praveen Kumar and Irfan Pathan. While again Zaheer picks himself, the others could be switched around throughout the series. The fitness of Munaf Patel and the form of RP Singh will be crucial if India have to contain the Sri Lankan top order. At this point it is the bowling that looks a lot more solid than the batting as India will be forced to play a high profile series without Sachin, Saurav or Dravid in a long time.
The series will be interesting to watch and as it unfolds the contest between the young Indian batting brigade and the Sri Lankan spin magicians will be a treat to watch and one will only have to wait and see if the new blood does much better than the experienced warriors in handling spin. Looking at this side, one feels that this is the ideal time for the young guns to make the definitive statement and tell the world that they indeed have arrived.
It will be particularly interesting to watch Rohit Sharma who has been a delight to watch so far and is highly rated by many of the game’s former greats. Also the approach of Yuvraj Singh towards spin, one feels, will have a significant bearing on the outcome of the series. This looks like the series when the boys of Indian cricket turn in to men and to do that they will have to get pass a very tough test and if they manage to come out on top then they will earn the respect of a nation.
