A successful venture overall

India played some exceptional cricket in the ODI series against NZ to pocket another trophy and increment their tally of victories in bilateral series. That this triumph came after some 33 years makes it even more special. Again it is also important to note that the same NZ team gave the Aussies a run for their money in their own backyard just a month ago. Indian batting continued to flourish throughout the series but for the last game (India did so poorly in the last one day that I am not writing about it at all :)).

For India, the positives which emerged from this series are tremendous. The batting clicked on a regular basis and proved that Indian batsmen can continue playing their strokes in alien conditions and on foreign pitches. Some people do argue that the NZ grounds are small and the pitches have favoured the batsmen, but then they have been the same since some time now. However, not many teams have come to NZ and managed to score like the Indians did.
With the completion of this series, Sehwag has quite easily and deservingly earned the tag of most attacking batsman in the world cricket at present. He is the best batsman at the top of order for India and with age too on his side, he should continue to serve India for some pretty decent time. Sachin and Gambhir are the two ideal partners who can open with Sehwag. While Tendulkar did very well in this series, Gambhir quite did not live up to the expectations. However, it’s not something to really worry about. The concern for the team management right now is which place Gambhir should bat at. On current form and experience, Sachin and Sehwag should open the innings and Gambhir is not actually the best bet at Number 3. Yuvraj should be the one coming at that stage especially if India gets to a good start. Yuvraj has the attacking intent to capitalise on a good start. Raina has a style which is more or less similar to Yuvraj’s but then Yuvraj’s experience has to be rewarded by allowing him to come a bit up in the order. Raina should bat at number 4 but then again Gambhir is again overlooked. Most of Gambhir’s successes have come while batting up the order, so in that case Gambhir should not bat at any position lower than 4. This combination makes Raina to come at Number 5, which is not too bad. At number 6, we should have the next batsman coming in which could be Rohit Sharma. However, Dhoni is quite an experienced batsman, so he can take the number 6 slot and push the last recognised batsman (Rohit Sharma) at number 7.
However, this order should be subject to change and Dhoni understands this point more than anyone else. For example, allowing Gambhir to bat at Number 3 in case the opening stand does not yield much. Secondly Dhoni can always go up the order and he does that more often than not. Lastly, while playing in subcontinent, the last batsman can be omitted and a tits and bits player like Irfan Pathan or Ravinder Jadeja can be included. Lastly the four bowlers for India should be Bhajji Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar.
Bhajji Singh is a seasoned campaigner and so is Zaheer Khan. The two have done well for a period of some years and they are the senior most bowlers in the team now. Zaheer is actually in the form of his life and this augurs very well for India. Ishant and Praveen on the other hand are still novices as compared to Bhajji and Zaheer. Praveen had a decent series but Ishant definitely had a disappointing one by his standards. Ishant bowled too full on many occasions and also gave a lot of extras. However, he is still a young kid and spending more time in the middle should help. Praveen Kumar bowled well in patches but he should realise that his strength is his impeccable line and length, and therefore should never deviate from it.
The present team is a very good one day outfit for India and the batting strength and depth is good enough to send shivers down the spine of any captain or coach who are going to face India. For a change, Indian bowling combination is also balanced and therefore the chances of success, whether playing at home turfs or abroad are very high. However, Indian fielding is still very ordinary and that is one serious concern.
Secondly, the complacency which the team showed in the last ODI is another issue.

The test series will begin very soon and it remains to be seen if the team is able to get into the test mode at a fairly quick pace. On paper, India easily is the better of the two teams and therefore should win. However, the Kiwis have a reputation of challenging the best sides and therefore are no pushovers. I am sure the test series will provide ample moments of excitement to watch for and also for me to write about :).

The ODI series was a very successful venture for India as a team and for me as a blogger. Would like to thank all those who read my match reports and commented on them as well, especially Dr. Channa :).
Looking forward to the 3 Test series with much hope and enthusiasm.