One
should always be supremely confident about one's innate ability to
overcome seemingly insurmountable odds; but overconfidence can more
often than not prove to be the pride before an unseemly fall.........
Exuding confidence before team India's two odd long month tour of England, recalled Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir who has made a comeback after spending eighteen odd months in the cricketing wilderness exuded supreme confidence about team India's chances of besting the English lions in a make or break five test series in English climes.........
Being confident about one's chances is certainly a good thing but a reality check is even better; the less said about team India's opening batsmen the better; Shikhar Dhawan seemed like a fish out of water during India's tours of New Zealand and South Africa, while his partner in crime Murali Vijay did certainly acquit himself a little better but his exploits with the bat did everything else but set the Ganges on fire........
As for Gauti himself, may I take this opportunity of reminding him that the English bowlers; one Stuart Broad in particular got his goat the last time team India were in England and put an exclamation mark on his then flourishing international career.........
The fact of the matter is that team India is overdependent on Messrs Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara as these are the only two Indian batsmen with the wherewithal, technical skills and mental acumen to cope with both the swinging as well as seaming ball that is as natural as the mercurial English weather.........
As for the bowlers, I for one am keeping my fingers crossed and ardently hoping that one Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who swings the ball like the proverbial banana does himself credit by wreaking havoc on a revamped English batting line up comprising of Messrs Robson, Cook, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali and last but not the least Prior; but one swallow does not a summer make and one rampaging bowler is not good enough to win you a five test series..........
Ishant Sharma seems to have regressed if anything; he seems to be lacking self belief and believing his doubts and doubting his abilities; I for one for the hell of me cannot even begin to remember when Ishant came up with an incisive spell of undiluted fast bowling that left it's indelible impression on the opposition..........
New kid on the block, Mohammad Shami who was being touted as the panacea to India's fast bowling illnesses until very recently came a cropper during the recently concluded Indian Premier League, he showed a remarkable penchant or tendency to spray the ball around at pace and got his supposedly lethal yorkers horrendously wrong; one may well argue that there is a world of difference between the two formats but current form and match preparedness are the stuff of yore and Shami seems to be cutting a sorry figure on both accounts.........
I for one would plump for either Ishwar Pandey or then Pankaj Singh as the third seamer in place of a gloriously under performing Ishant Sharma for the simple reason that the two of them have been picking up wickets by the wagon full over the last three seasons or more of domestic cricket and also because both have the ability to swing as well as get the ball to rise disconcertingly from a length because of their heights as well as upper body strength...........
Here's hoping against hope and praying that team India does certainly cover itself in glory this time around as yet another 4-0 drubbing might not only sound the death knell on the careers of Messrs Dhoni and Fletcher but also place many a promising young cricketer on the rack for good.........
Exuding confidence before team India's two odd long month tour of England, recalled Indian opening batsman Gautam Gambhir who has made a comeback after spending eighteen odd months in the cricketing wilderness exuded supreme confidence about team India's chances of besting the English lions in a make or break five test series in English climes.........
Being confident about one's chances is certainly a good thing but a reality check is even better; the less said about team India's opening batsmen the better; Shikhar Dhawan seemed like a fish out of water during India's tours of New Zealand and South Africa, while his partner in crime Murali Vijay did certainly acquit himself a little better but his exploits with the bat did everything else but set the Ganges on fire........
As for Gauti himself, may I take this opportunity of reminding him that the English bowlers; one Stuart Broad in particular got his goat the last time team India were in England and put an exclamation mark on his then flourishing international career.........
The fact of the matter is that team India is overdependent on Messrs Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara as these are the only two Indian batsmen with the wherewithal, technical skills and mental acumen to cope with both the swinging as well as seaming ball that is as natural as the mercurial English weather.........
As for the bowlers, I for one am keeping my fingers crossed and ardently hoping that one Bhuvaneshwar Kumar who swings the ball like the proverbial banana does himself credit by wreaking havoc on a revamped English batting line up comprising of Messrs Robson, Cook, Ballance, Bell, Root, Ali and last but not the least Prior; but one swallow does not a summer make and one rampaging bowler is not good enough to win you a five test series..........
Ishant Sharma seems to have regressed if anything; he seems to be lacking self belief and believing his doubts and doubting his abilities; I for one for the hell of me cannot even begin to remember when Ishant came up with an incisive spell of undiluted fast bowling that left it's indelible impression on the opposition..........
New kid on the block, Mohammad Shami who was being touted as the panacea to India's fast bowling illnesses until very recently came a cropper during the recently concluded Indian Premier League, he showed a remarkable penchant or tendency to spray the ball around at pace and got his supposedly lethal yorkers horrendously wrong; one may well argue that there is a world of difference between the two formats but current form and match preparedness are the stuff of yore and Shami seems to be cutting a sorry figure on both accounts.........
I for one would plump for either Ishwar Pandey or then Pankaj Singh as the third seamer in place of a gloriously under performing Ishant Sharma for the simple reason that the two of them have been picking up wickets by the wagon full over the last three seasons or more of domestic cricket and also because both have the ability to swing as well as get the ball to rise disconcertingly from a length because of their heights as well as upper body strength...........
Here's hoping against hope and praying that team India does certainly cover itself in glory this time around as yet another 4-0 drubbing might not only sound the death knell on the careers of Messrs Dhoni and Fletcher but also place many a promising young cricketer on the rack for good.........
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