The young brigade, under the courageous leadership of a Brigadier and a superb performance from a veteran soldier, have created havoc within a superpower. I am talking about the young Indian cricket team which defeated Australia in the first final of the CB series about 6 hours ago, leading by 1-0.
Lots of hues and cries had been raised regarding the team selection of India, especially in the one-day squad. Inclusion of young blood and exclusion of experience had made captain Dhoni a prime target of the media. I honestly admit that initially, I was also skeptical about the one-day team selection, where Dhoni was trying to win a tournament leaving out the experiences of Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman in Australia in spite of the fact that the trio performed nicely in the test series. But Dhoni stuck with his plan, including only Sachin in the final eleven, and had faith on the youngstars like Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma. We must not forget that this tour is Dhoni's first Australia tour.
The vital point in Dhoni's captaincy is that he never hesitates to take risks, knows what he is doing and firmly believes in that. Sometimes it seems that he is arrogant, may be truely he is, but otherwise, he is a very nice captain. Changing the game plan as and when needed is a good quality of a captain, and needless to say, Dhoni has that quality.
Regarding the youngstars, Rohit Sharma is the latest sensation. He delivered in the most crucial stages, and today also, his knock of 66 and the 123-run partnership between him and Tendulkar paved the path of victory for us. Ishant Sharma has bowled superbly throughout the series and today was not an exception. Praveen Kumar has played only 4 matches, but has shown lots of promises. If nurtured properly, he will be the bowling spearhead in future. Piyush Chawla, whom people claim to be the successor of Anil Kumble, got his chance in the final match, and did not disappoint at all. His spell of 10 overs had cost only 31 runs! Robin Uthappa, however, was a bit low in the series compared to his earlier performances.
Harbhajan Singh has been the cynosure of controversy for the last couple of months. But the good thing is, all of these could not distract his focus from the game. Throughout the series, he has played his part effectively. The same is true for Irfan Pathan as well. It is good that he is been allowed to concentrate solely on his bowling rather than imposing the "all rounder" label on him. Yuvraj Singh however, has been a disappointment. But hopefully he will perform pretty soon. Gautam Gambhir, on the other hand, has been the best batsman of the team so far in this series with two hundreds and a couple of fifties.
It is said that one should never disturb a tiger. After losing the fourth league match against Australia, Dhoni stated the press that the openers should take more responsibillity from now on. This must have hurt the ego of Sachin, which he treated with a 54-ball 63 against Sri Lanka, and by the unbeaten 117 today. A sublime knock which had a perfect blend of aggression, authority and responsibility, this was a treat to watch for the cricket lovers.
Lastly, we still have to win one match to emerge as a champion. I believe we have the power and talent to do it. So, Chak de India !!
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