ONE of the reasons why the Australians have been such a champion side is the way they respond to challenges. On the eve of the Mohali one-dayer their position as the No. 1 team in this format was under threat if they lost to India. So despite the fact that India did extremely well to restrict them to 250, a score which was perhaps 30 runs short of what they were hoping for, the Australians bowled and fielded as if their lives depended on it.
While the Australians will give a player who they feel is a good prospect a long rope to show his skills and establish himself in the team it will not be at the cost of the regular order. The new player will be guided by the seniors and not given a responsibility that he is not used to. The new player will be trying to show that he is worth his place in the team and it can sometimes work against the needs of the team. He is not thrown in at the deep end but allowed to get into the thick of the action gradually.
If the Indian followers link the unfortunate dismissal of Sachin Tendulkar as the reason they lost the game, then they are living in a fool’s paradise. Tendulkar had been dismissed cheaply in the earlier games but the others like Yuvraj, Gambhir and Dhoni had taken over and won the matches for India and the state of the game when Tendulkar was out in Mohali was pretty much the same as it was a couple of days earlier in Delhi so to think that it was the turning point is actually missing the point. The disappointment was that he fell short of getting to the 17,000 runs mark.
Dhoni obviously has a lot of faith in Virat Kohli at No. 3 but if one looks at the losses India has suffered, be it in the ICC World T20 or the Champions Trophy it has happened when inexperienced youngsters have been given a responsibility far beyond them. Raina bats at No. 3 for most teams and he has been in good touch so he should have come in at No. 3. Remember Gautam Gambhir who bats there is a left-hander too and so there would have been a continuity of sorts with Raina coming at one drop. Dhoni also needs to have a chat with Sehwag to see that the prodigiously talented player does not fritter away the ability by being carried away. The public’s applause is to hanker for alright but as the Australians have shown us over the years there is nothing quite like the cheers of teammates and the sweet pain of their backslapping that a player truly yearns for and cherishes.
— Professional Management Group
