The Rise of Indian test team-part 7 home dominance to extanding their dominance in overseas

•learning from the mistakes is the biggest thing for overseas domination: whenever this side went to an sena nation the very second series they won. They toured aus in 2014 and understood what needed for the team and Indian team managed to find the ideal pace attack with help of south africa and England series and managed to win the Australian series and become the first asian captain to do that.

•unlike previous or other captains all kohli wanted is to win and he didn't worry about dropping any player if particular player in that condition might affect the chances of win and kohli proved that by dropping world's best spinner ashwin for England series where there is no spin and played only jadeja as spinner that too for his batting more then bowling and went to almost win the series as India are standing 2-1 in unfinished series which would have been 3-1 if rain didn't affect the first test of the series where India was well placed for an win. He was not ready to give importance to outside noises and critics even after lot of rumours on ashwin and kohli kohli remained unworried and wanted to do what is good for the team. His attitude to go for win has already made him the only Indian captain to win a series in aus and win/draw a series in England. And now he can become only Indian captain to win a test series in south africa. His faith on his pacers has made India one of the strongest pace attack team which was seldom supported and done by previous captains. 

•giving importance to reality and that moment over imaginary or future ie., all he thinks about is to dominate all the 5 days and have players who can do that unlike other who plays 2 spinners in England hoping it might spin on day 5 without thinking about first 4 days. He also did that mistake in wtc final which costed India their first test icc championship he played 2 spinners even after frequent rain hoping that track will produce spin in last 2 days at it is a neutral track prepared by icc but it backfired as due to rain the track didn't dry and failed to produce roughs as a result India end up lossing the match. And eventually he changed approach from the learning by bringing in siraj and played thakur ahead of ashwin. Which is still the rumour creating one for kohli. Anyways being a captain means you should do what is good for team and not doing anything that will affect the team chances for win

The Rise of Indian test team- part 6 the contraversial coach and captain relationship

• when kumble was made coach everyone expected that two cricketers with same attitude is going to take Indian team new heights but it didn't go as planned as two similar attitudes bought soon rised problem between them.

• the first problem arose between them was team selection as both are not ready to compramise themselves down from their choices. Some of problem is kohli wanted to back kl but kumble wanted to back gambhir. Kumble called gambhir on 2016 after kl got injured to join the side and he conducted him fitness test and included him in side. Once kl was back kohli started to stick with kl even after inconsistencies. Yet again problem started to increase as parthiv patel and nair replaced kl and saha. When rahane is injured nair played at his position and scored a 300 but once rahane returned it made things difficult as captain and coach took two different sides. And kl aswell scored a 199 in final tests.

•everyone tried to solve the problem between both but none was ready to comedown and one key thing that is said to be reason is kumble questioning kohli over every small thing both on and off field. Bcci initiated several talks from ex cricketers to both kohli and kumble but nothing paid off as kohli was too adamant over coach change and kumble was too adamant that he will continue the same and as a result kumble was removed. 

•even after such a big drama both performances of Indian players and kohli didn't come down but kohli became doubly dangerous player scoring 200s for fun that particular years

The Rise of Indian test team- part 5 no7 to no1

Not for a day or month or year but Indian team from no7 on jan 2015 went on to become no1 for 5 consecutive years.

•when dhoni retired  the team had only ashwin who was in top 10 rankings of players. But the entire players turned things around as kohli became no2 batsman and pujara entered top 10 and rahane aswell in 2016 and jadeja became the no2 test bowler and no1 is none other then the spin wizard ravichandran ashwin a total of 5 players entering top 10 rankings made India one of the toughest side.

The Rise of Indian Test Team- part 4 beginning of processes

• even after winning an historic test in Sri Lanka didn't satisfy Virat Kohli as he kept on searching for ideal batting positions and this continued against South Africa aswell.

•The south africa side was too strong but again some unexpected changes in batting order rohit was dropped in first test and for the first time pujara kohli and rahane played as no3,4,5 of the side. And jadeja was included as all rounder in the side who was out for a long time and these two moves became one of the biggest changing point. And as a result India won the first test by 108 runs and jadeja announced his comeback with a man of the match performance. 

•second match was washed out and third test saw the inclusion of rohit in place of a pacer which was again an unexpected move but unlike previous matches India sticked with the same batting order and it started firing and was producing consistent runs with India winning the third test they won the series aswell 

•Final test saw the famous blocking Innings of South African batsmans but yet it went in vain against young Indian bowling attack and apart from the series win India found their batting order and spin attack. Ashwin proved that kohli and management was correct by backing him ahead of harbhajan singh with yet another man of series.

...to be continued 

The Rise of Indian test team- part 3 change in approach and squads

•the first biggest challenge was tour in Sri lanka where India hasn't won a single series in 22 years. India won a series in Sri Lanka lastly in 1993 under azharuddin

•Noone had faith on this Indian side as this side not only lacked experience but proper 11 players. But the Indian team had their eyes set on the series win.

•poor start to the series- India lost the very first match by 63 runs in galle. The very first match showed the attitude and approach of Virat Kohli they dropped pujara and vijay and picked young kl and rohit ahead of them. The squad change aswell Harbhajan and mishra were included in the squad all of sudden. And their inclusion backfired in very first match as both harbhajan and mishra managed to take just 6 wickets in a spin friendly track. 

•using ashwin as the leader of bowling attack ahead of experienced harbhajan and ishant made the changes: coming to the second test kohli team selection shocked everyone as he played just 2 spinners and played 2 pacers and one medium pacer in form of binny but eventually it paid of as India won the second test by massive 278 runs and the backing of kl paid as kl scored a massive 100 in first innings. 

•third match once again kohli shocked everyone with his team change:

He dropped the second test match hero vijay and bought in pujara as opener but again it paid of as pujara scored a massive century which ensured that India is on commanding position as they won the third test by 117 runs.

•Kohli himself ended as the leading run scorer for Indian side and the leader of bowling attack ashwin won the man of series for picking 21 wickets in just 3 games and the complete team performance from young boys breached Sri lanka for the first time in 22 years.

.. to be continued 

The Rise of Indian Test Team-Part 2 the biggest challenges

• the time when kohli was appointed the captain was the toughest time of Indian test side. And the pressure and challenges are too much for a 26 year old. The first challenge was India ran out of players and already players are too ineffective especially pacers so the captain and management was put a big challenge ahead of them and the time they had was too less as India dropped to 7th at that point of time 

• the first thing kohli addressed to his side was always go for the win which boosted the confidence of players and one positive thing is all the players of same age so there was no hardship for kohli to speak out loud.

• Virat kohli the captain started his campaign believing the player and batsman Virat Kohli and it bought out a different Virat Kohli in tests kohli was so consistent then ever before. 

》》the following are the challenges kohli and side had

1.no experienced players

2.no proper pacers

3.no proper batting position for batsmans

4.lack of all rounders

5.who is going to be the leader of bowling attack

The Rise of Indian test team- part 1 the shocking retirement of captain cool

*Drop in rankings and back to back losses in away and frequent injuries pushed dhoni to retire from tests at the age of 33

•sudden retirement of the experienced msd in middle of a Australia series after the 3rd test of the Australian series shook already shaken Indian team to core. Indian team was not only ran out of captaincy option but also experience. 

•kohli who played just 32 test games and age of just 26 was named the skipper ishant with 61 games was the most experienced player of the side but he was equally inconsistent too. 

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Follow next blog for continuations 

is bcci being transparent in kohli issue?

1.steps down from t20i captaincy day before that news bcci said kohli will be our all three format captain then after his stepdown jayshah said we are discussing this for 6 months now nu 

2. Kohli in his letter he himself said i want to focus on odi and test captaincy so he wanted to captain odis and test which he himself said and ganguly accepted that at that time which he himself expressed. 

3. Within weeks kohli was removed from odi captaincy(they portrayed as if kohli was stepping down) so then the news came that board said kohli to stepdown within 48 hrs but he didn't do that so he was removed. 

4. Then ganguly said bcci requested kohli to not stepdown then he changed his words again and said i personally requested him not to stepdown but today kohli rubbished everything and revealed noone asked him to not stepdown

5. They said kohli there cannot be 2 different white ball captain and that will not suit Indian cricket but meanwhile our own Indian women's team has 2 different white ball captain

6. They said kohli was removed because of not winning icc trophy but when press asked him about results and win percentage they didn't have proper answer they just dodged the question by saying we had that in mind also. And kohli revealed he was said that he was nolonger the captain just before 90 minutes of meet as 5 selectors don't want him

And the way kohli answering question he has crystal clear explanations which itself a symbol that there is no wrong on kohli side. The way he reacted after news might be different and we cannot say it is wrong because after giving everything for the side and then simply getting removed with no proper information will definitely affect anyone.

what is the role of captain in cricket and difficulties in being the captain

Lot of people thinking captaincy is simple job but truth is not what you think. 

1. You cannot be friend to anyone or they see you the same when they don't perform you need to be harsh at that time not everyone thinks the same for example: gambhir edhutukonga white ball la avaru drop aana appo dhoni captain dhoni avara vida kohli ya back pannaru adhanaala avaruku dhoniya pudikadhu aprm yen kohliya pudikala na avaru test la comeback panna appo kohli captain avaru gambhir ah back pannama kl la pick panni back pannaru idhula thaan kumble kooda vum problem vanduchi. 

2. You should always be top of your game if you cannot be on top of your game then you cannot command anyone it might also lead to rise in ego between players and captain avan captain adhanaala 20 match fail aagiyum irukan naan player adhaan oru series fail anadhuku drop pannitangandra madiri.

3.most of our people cricket knowledge begins with captain and ends with captain majority of us are not ready to see beyond captain the coaches the selectors the board members.

4. Holding the team together captain needs to be centre of everything your decisions should be such it don't divide the dressing room or create ego in the dressing room

Players who are going to be under pressure in this New Zealand series

1.Rahane

with strings of low scores and failing to standup under pressure with bat in England and emergence of gill in tests has put his spot under pressure with several test middle order batsman already in South Africa it will be the series to prove in nz series. And previously also Rahane lost his place in series against South Africa.

shreyas iyer test batting

2. Saha 

he was India's front line keeper till first test against Australia he was constantly backed because of his keeping skills being ahead of pant. But now pant has improved his keeping skill and become more dependable batsman it pushed saha to almost a exit from squad. They have included srikar barath which is a symbolic sign that with the age factor also going against him if he fails he will mostly loss his place.

3. Ishant sharma

with prashid krishna started to impress the Indian management and ishant injury concerns might force to bring krishna in place of ishant and also they are backing a new young left arm swing bowler nagwaswalla he was selected in India a which is going to tour South Africa.

nagwaswalla bowling

(Tap to see)

4. Mayank Agarwal 

Mayank Agarwal in recent times lost his test form and kl rahul has found the secret of success in tests so he automatically made him the lead opener for test side. Indian management is keen on playing gill at any number so if he fails again then we can see gill becoming backup opener

5.Pujara

Indian management clearly unhappy with approach of pujara that he even playing at higher strike rate against England. He also lost his ability to play new ball. His approach in recent times is he used to face 100 balls but scores at less then 30 strike rate even after getting settled he is failing to score and gets out on odd ball which is affecting team total as a result now selectors have went for iyer who is an aggressive test batsman who can do both aggressive and defensive play.

Important players to watch out in India a vs sa series who might replace one of the above:

1.devdutt padikkal:

with absence of a left hander in top 5 it was sometimes becoming easy for opposition to trouble India so they already asked for him as replacement in England tests.

2.Hanuma vihari vs Baba aparajith 

in ranji trophies both have huge numbers and both does the same role batting middle order and bowling some overs. Baba aparajith has scored close to 4000 runs and also took close to 50 wickets. Vihari on other hand has 7261 runs and has 27 wickets and was in and out of Indian test side. So either of them or both can become the backup middle order batsmans

Baba Aparajith batting and bowling

vihari batting

3.Arzan nagwaswalla:

India due to lack of variety they are being pushed to being dominated so India might look to add nagwaswalla who is a left handed swing bowler which will be a great inclusion if he gets success so all eyes will be on his performance.

4. Priyank Panchal vs Abhimanyu easwaran:

abhimanyu easwaran with being included in previous test series he will be a strong contender to be the backup batsman for Indian team but he is not the only competitor there is Priyank Panchal who has been consistent for a long time now in Indian domestic

Priyank Panchal batting

Abhimanyu easwaran batting

what are the problems in having three different captains for three formats

1. Players needs to adopt:

If you take kohli he brings aggressiveness into side rohit brings in calmness while kl is someone who allows players to do what they want to do. So now if one player gets used to one captain and playing under other captain he might not like it or his performance might go down

2. Increase in ego:

So in case if one captain is dropped from one format then that captain might force other captain might take advantage over him in his format. Eventhough none of them are like that we cannot say for sure anything. And even players close to one captain might take advantage and develop ego on other captain favourite 

3. Coaches gets confused:

The head coach cannot speak the same way to all captain kohli is an expressive type rohit likes to have proper explanations for all while kl likes to follow what they say so they also gets confused with how to approach one

4.the selections:

The selections will be too challenging it might make the selectors dominative even more.  And can further increase misunderstandings

is this the first time: answer is no

England tried this in 2013 which ended up as a failure and as a result morgan took over complete white ball captaincy and cook remained test captain and was sometimes odi captain.

Why New Zealand tend to beat India in pressure matches despite lossing in series matches

1.less expectations

They have qualified in almost every icc events since 2015 and also one tournament win but still everytime they enter the tournament as underdogs or none speak about them so it clearly releases a huge pressure even if they loss noone speaks about that. While India almost enters every tournament as favorites so the pressure is always on them and when they loss one then it becomes the biggest talking point so they are under huge pressure to win all games.

2. Comperatively lesser recognized players:

there is kane williamson, boult but the expectations on them is comperatively lesser then what Indian players bring in the tournament. The fans and fellow country people will appreciate them even if they take a catch but if someone like kohli,rohit,kl steps on field we expect them to score 50s and 100 every single time.

3.usage of franchise cricket

They tend to play for different leagues in the world unlike for money they mainly focus on training and adjusting to those pitches. For example before this wc boult kane southee milne used ipl as a platform to prepare for wc their board also allowed them to train in ipl over playing in bangladesh. While India on other hand board doesn't allow them to participate any leagues as that they may loss intrest in internationals and move towards leagues for excessive earnings. The only league they play is ipl and they are only allowed for one day and county of England but the problem is it is used to be played during ipl times or main schedule so players tend to avoid it. As a result they are struggling to adopt in sena tours.

4.fitness of entire side 

If you take the fielding and fitness aspect kiwis stand way ahead of India and also stand in top3 sides. New Zealand tend to put their body on line almost every single of them are fit and can take extraordinary catches and stop balls going to boundary which ensures that they are cutting atleast 10-20 runs from opposition total. While on the other hand the number fit players in Indian side is very less we can have a finger count on fit players while if you speak about fielding skills then you need to hide 4-5 players in field whom themselves concedes more then 10 runs for example: in recent world cup India was forced to hide varun bumrah chahar shami and even ashwin so as a result fielders like kl kohli jaddu rohit is forced to occupy every single key places themselves.

What are the things India needs to do to get ready for next world cup?

After the disappointing 2021 t20 world cup first thing they should do is stop getting behind players just like previous icc events instead of searching for a scapegoat they need to find realistic options. 

1.look to retain the core alone

from this world cup the selectors should look to back certain players from current squad

1.kohli

2.kl

3.rohit

4.bumrah

5.ashwin

6.pant

7.jadeja

8.iyer

9.hardik

Kohli factor:

unless kohli decides to miss next wc he should not be rested simply. All the players should play all the t20i match during this period. And first and most important thing is no gamble with him he is no3 and should be that.

Captain coach duo:

within this short time the new coach and captain should understand eachother and need to adopt to the team which was adopted according to kohli shastri duo. And dravid is a disciplined person and there will be certain issues that might rise so the captain and players should avoid that. 

Bowling options:

the next world cup is going to be played in Australia which gives a major boost for pacers. With bhuvi losing his pace and swing India need to look beyond him. There will be very less assist spin there so India should find a accurate spinner. Shami lacks variations needed for t20s he is bowling test match line and lengths. 

Young players to fill rest of spots:

1.siraj should definitely given chance and as bhuvi and shami looks ineffective he can do their both role that is both swing and seam. 

2.Ruturaj gaikwad he should not only needs to get picked but should give him constant chances and have him match ready. Either of rohit or kl should more often bench them to get him ready.

3.harsal can get a go because of number of variations he posses.

4.kuldeep and chahal should be bought back either one of them needs to get back to their old form as there is lack of spinners in domestic.

5.players like vijay shankar,murugan ashwin,krunal,v iyer,samad,abhisek sharma,gill,shaw,sakariya needs to be backed as one might perform which will be a great boost.

6.devdutt padikkal needs to be prepared because of lack of left handers in domestic so he has a great potention which India should look to utilize.

Will India win next t20 wc?

Ans: 90% no it is just the begin of a process which might not pay off in 2022 but it will definitely pay off in upcoming years. The reason behind the 90% no is 

1. It is being played in Australia where the boundaries tend to be a bit big so our batsman getting adjusted to that will be tough

2. Pitches there tend to produce good asist for pacers if we take pacers around the world India fails to posses such a dangerous seam attack

3. Balance of the side takes some time to adjust

Role of Jadeja:

jadeja effectiveness with the ball has dropped so it is time to promote him up the order and use him as an batting all rounder who bowls 2 overs consistently.

Roles of players India needs to find:

Anchor:kl and kohli

Innovative player❌(min 2)

T20 bowlers❌(harsal and thakur)

Bowling all rounder❌(thakur only option)

Consistent finisher❌(only jadeja is there but one is not enough)

Pant needs to improve his keeping skills and also experience and helping skills to both captain and bowlers.

Why India couldn't put a consistent performance when it comes to icc t20is tournaments

1.poor backing policy by selectors for no4 spot:

After 2016 they had 4 years to prepare for next world cup the primary issue they tried to solve is no4. And seeing the persons played as no4 first kl was picked as no4 then he was consistent there then all of a sudden he is opening and scoring huge runs then he is becoming no3 then kohli the experienced no3 is moving to no4 then kl is lossing his form then again kohli is becoming no3. Then they are picking manish as no4 he was batting there then all of sudden he is getting dropped then vijay shankar is coming to scene he was scoring for India a and performed good for India then he was picked in 2019 wc and he fails and all of a sudden he is avoided. Then they are picking iyer as no4 and he is performing consistently then all of a sudden samson is coming into scene iyer is getting pushed to no5 same as manish who got pushed to no6 then iyer is giving best and samson fails and again iyer is being picked then all of a sudden sky and kishan was picked they are performing in four matches then they are dropping iyer out of the world cup squad. So they are not even allowing the players to get set and not giving a surity that they will be picked.

2.Giving more importance to ipl then international:

babar azam who made his debut after 2016 wc has played more then 60 matches while virat kohli who made his debut in 2010 played just 30 games more then him. The reason is the amount of importance given to ipl over international south africa and new zealand wanted to play a t20 series against India to prepare for t20 world cup but they denied everything just to play the second half of ipl. As a result players got tired and couldn't get focused or give their 100% for world cup. And the over importance given to ipl in terms of selections a player who performs in a ipl season replaces a player who was consistent in internationals.

3.failing to create backup for player:

When the players are performing consistently they are not looking to have a backup for such a player so that incase if he is injured or out of form they are running out of form. For example: Hardik has injury concerns and lost form but they don't have a backup for him.

4.failing to give importance for experience:

When they are finding a player and if he is performing for 10 matches and an experienced player fails for 10 matches they are just looking to avoid that experienced players for example: Dhawan,Ashwin,Chahal,dk,manish and there is no end to this list

5.taking too much shortcuts on selections:

They are not looking for future they are just looking for short time options and they are not also backing that short option dube scores 5 sixes in an over gets picked in ipl then he is playing for India then he is getting dropped within short time. Even now they are looking to pick opener v iyer as replacement of a genuine finishing all rounder hardik pandya. In last 5 years they hasn't produced a single long term option except kl and they got iyer but they are failing to back him.

6.Poor scheduling:

bcci scheduling is such that they are playing only tests for amost 6 months with world cup coming up they didn't play as a complete unit and they are playing ipl and tired players are getting united only in warmup games then they are going into world cups. And even in wtc final they had an option of having a warmup game with ireland or county teams they just ignored it leading to failing to find a ideal 11.

 

7.Looking for scape goat instead of solutions:

They failed in 2019 wc semis and they failed as unit but they just blamed batting coach and removed him and now they are looking to remove kohli as odi captain as the team failed to perform in t20 wc. They are not ready to address the actual problem in the side and they are looking to defend themselves by pointing out at a person.

 

8.appointment in coaching staffs:

Their appointment of coaching staffs without worrying about the style of approach by coaches and players. The current batting coach loves to see aggressive brand of batting so he is encouraging but unfortunately it is covering our players natural style here the mistake is not on coach or player but the board failing to understand the coach and player for example  kumble and Indian team kumble style of approach didn't suit the side and as captain of side kohli openly said it out.

9.Some unfortunate happenings:

First the main man in plan Msd retired for everyone surprise which was added pressure then kohli announced that he will be stepping down from captaincy which further created pressure as players wanted to get him a wc. And several injuries hardik,bhuvi,Washington,rohit got injured and some players lost their forms like sky,kishan,kl,shami. 

10.poor strategies in terms of team selections:

The best batsman in the side became the floater of the side was the biggest affecting factor both for kohli form and side balance. Kohli gave his no3 spot to almost every single youngster dube samson iyer kishan kl sky. The players gets picked for a number slot in batting but he never gets a chance to perform at numbers for example iyer and manish. 

11.failing to evolve according to the game:

Now slowish bowlers are becoming difficult to play but India  failed to create such slowish bowlers the numbers of spinners they have is very less now. And bowlers with a little bit of ability to hit sixes is also missing. And also a genuine t20 bowler that is a bowler who has a seam up cutter cross seam and several types of slower balls they are at the moment failed to have one or back one they have thakur but he is just getting chances. 

12.failing to stick with plans:

They have rarely sticked with their plans if you take some of the plans like kl was keeping for almost a year then pant performs in a test series then he is taking the keeper gloves from kl. Bumrah started as a death over specialist now they are using him as new ball bowler. Dhawan was opening and before 6 months of world cup they are completely dropping him from the side. Kohli was doing the anchor role then all of a sudden he is playing the role of aggressor then again he is being pushed to play anchor role.