By Sunil Gavaskar
The tables are turned. If it was the number one Test team taking on the number three team in the Test series that began last month now it is the ICC World T20 Champions taking on the former Champions in the one off T20 match that starts the limited overs series.
This affords India the chance to regain some lost prestige and salvage some face before the tour ends. The biggest plus for the Indian team is that it will have fresh faces who will not be suffering from the trauma of defeat and who will thus be eager to get going and establish themselves. The younger legs in the team will also spruce up the out-fielding, and that itself will add a lot of energy to what was a lethargic team in the Test series. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina will patrol the boundary and the inside and should save plenty of runs for India.
Sure the T20 format encourages batsmen to go for maximum and so those in the crowd also need to be good catchers or wear helmets as they do in South Africa for the T20 matches played there.
After their triumph in the first ever ICC T20 World Championships the Indian team have not been able to replicate that performance in subsequent editions, and in fact have lost at the qualifying stage itself.
This despite playing loads of matches in the Indian Premier League. Why this is so is hard to explain but it is pretty similar to England who have many limited overs tournaments, but have still to win the ICC World Cup.
Very smartly the Brit media is downplaying the ensuing limited overs series as if it is a second hand event and still talking about how England can stay the number one Test team in the world. They have rested Kevin Pietersen, and if that is a loss India have even bigger losses with players like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Zaheer missing in action with injuries.
The uncertainty about Gambhir should be dealt with quickly, and if he is still struggling then it is better to go ahead without him and give him the chance to make a full recovery rather than put pressure on him to get fit in a couple of days. Tendulkar does not play T20 internationals neither does Rahul Dravid so whether they will be drafted in after the spate of injuries to other regulars remains to be seen. Both will be only too willing to answer the call to national duty. India’s bowling is the worry and how they cope with onslaughts that is the bowlers hazard in limited overs cricket will decide whether India win the game or not.
The Test series is gone and the Indians have to treat it like a bad dream and look for a fresh dawn. Therein lies their hope to return the favour to England.