Cricket 24x7 - All the cricket

Breaking/Brief news

    August 01, 2008

    India's one-man batting armies

    The Indian team's batting performances in the last decade can be roughly divided into three phases.

    Phase 1 would have been from 1998-2001 where Sachin Tendulkar was really the only one making runs. The entire batting revolved around him. Dravid, Laxman & Ganguly were yet to establish themselves while Azhar was on the downhill slope. This was the period where he had some unforgettable knocks against Australia (Chennai in 1997-98, Melbourne in 1999-2000, a double treat at Mumbai in 2000-2001 & Chennai in 2000-2001), Pakistan (Chennai in 1998-99) and South Africa (Bloemfontein in 2000-2001). Basically, it was a case of "Get Tendulkar, and the rest will follow". Almost all the knocks mentioned were of that variety, most painful of all being the one against Pakistan at Chennai.

    Phase 2 would have been from 2002-2004 Rahul Dravid where was the one around whom the batting revolved. Although there were vital contributions from others, he towered over the rest with his knocks against Australia (Adelaide in 2003-2004 & indeed the rest of the series), England (Headingley in 2002), Pakistan (Rawalpindi in 2003-2004). In the last 2-3 years, he has had the odd great test/knock (e.g. see his twin gems at Jamaica), but the consistency is missing. When Dravid failed, at most you had a few instances where the likes of Laxman, Tendulkar, Sehwag or Ganguly did the job. But by and large, his was the most prized wicket.

    I would say we are in phase 3 currently where Virender Sehwag is the chap around whom the batting revolves, despite him being in and out of the side recently. He scores so bloody rapidly, the bowling side is shocked at his audacity. His teammates are typically too shocked to continue the good work, and end up handing over the initiative to the opposition. Sample some of his thrillers: Pakistan (Mohali & Bangalore in 2004-2005, Lahore in 2005-2006), West Indies (nearly a century before lunch on day one). He also scored his first ever 2nd innings century (151) earlier this year at Adelaide when no-one else made more than 20!

    Let's see for how much longer the Sehwag phase will continue. When it ends, whose turn will it be to pick up the baton? Raina? Rohit Sharma? Yuvraj? Dhoni? Gambhir? Or will it be someone totally out of the blue and unexpected?

    Labels: , , , ,


    Thus spake Jagadish @ 12:29 am |
    Did you like the post? [ Subscribe to the blog feed - Blog Feed | | ]

    0 sledge(s):


    We'd prefer if you posted comments with your real name to add more credibility to your opinions. However, the moderators reserve the right to delete comments, especially those containing offensive or unsuitable language. The opinions in the comments are your own views. You are welcome to provide a URL to your own cricket blog, but the moderators reserve the right to delete comments which only reference sites for viewing live streams.

    Post a Comment


    Links within entries open in a new window. Some of the links may now be broken/not take you to the expected report since the original content providers may have archived/removed the contents. Some of the sites linked may require registration/subscription.
    All opinions expressed are those of the authors alone. The authors' respective employers (past, present or future) are in no way connected to the opinions expressed here.
    All pictures, photographs used are copyrights of the original owners. We do not intend to infringe on any copyright. Pictures and photographs are used here to merely accentuate and enhance the content value to our readers.

    Powered by Blogger Locations of visitors to this page
    HOME
    RSS Feed - RSS Feed


    Contact us
    cricket24x7 at gmail dot com
    cricket24x7 at yahoo dot com

    How Cricket 24x7 started


    The squad
    The best innings this century
    Dissecting the player referral regulation
    Sorry Mr. Ted, it is very pathetic
    A clear-cut case of 'restraint of trade'
    Proposed schedule for England tour of North, West,...
    IPL doping controversy
    South Africa suffer from Lord's curse
    Squad announcements: India's tour to Sri Lanka & C...
    Zimbabwe throw Twenty20 World Cup scheduling haywire
    Bvute & Chingoka are right, let's focus on the cri...



    RHS navbar photo source - Tc7

    Partnership between


    Creative Commons License
    Cricket 24x7 - All the cricket by V Ganesh & S Jagadish is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.