India's new generation of mediocre cricketers

Suresh Raina and his chastened team will be getting plenty of bad press in India in the next few days following their second successive defeat to hosts Zimbabwe in the Triangular One Day Competition. The first match was close, but the second yesterday was an absolute cakewalk for the home team who cantered past the winning post with over 11 overs to spare after restricting India to 194 for nine from their 50 overs.

In India's defence they are without regulars Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, who have been rested for the tournament. Any side would miss players of that calibre. They are also without Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh. The first two no longer feature in the one day side and if recent history is anything to go by, an out of form, unfit and seemingly uninterested Yuvraj is no real miss.

But even with these players missing, most people would still expect India's supposedly talented new generation to deal easily with Zimbabwe. And it's not if most of the players are inexperienced. Of the team that played yesterday, Dinesh Karthik (44), Suresh Raina (93), Rohit Sharma (45) and Yusuf Pathan (36), have all played over 30 ODIs. Suresh Raina's comment before the tour that his "team had no weakness" is coming back to bite him on his rather portly bum.

Given that some of the same players also disappointed in the recent World T20, it would seem that India does not have much strength in depth to eventually replace the likes of Tendulkar when they finally hang their pads up. Players like Pathan and Karthik have had plenty of chances but don't seem to have what it takes to succeed in international cricket.

We would have put Sharma (below) in that bracket too before his first two one day hundreds came in the first two matches of this tournament. Rohit (or The Artist formerly known as Nohit - as amusingly named by Bored Cricket) is clearly talented but an average of 31 (even with those two hundreds) in over 40 ODI is simply not good enough. Maybe he can kick on from here now that the monkey has been lifted off his back.

We would guess that all this shouldn't affect India too much in the World Cup next year because Dhoni, Sehwag and Sachin et al will return and be the core of the side hoping to win the competition on home soil. But soon after, some of these players may retire completely or at least give up playing ODI. That must be a sobering thought for embarrassed India fans this morning, who will not take mediocrity lightly. They will comfort themselves that at least Raina and Virat Kohli look like they will become very good players. 

Comments

[Mock Wah]

Its probably a lot to do with the team composition. You cannot pick 11 players and have a role play. For instance Karthik opening, Raina's captaincy, or even Virat @ 3, Sharma @ 4 and Raina @ 5. Ideally all of them will play @ 3 and Raina has looked terrible in all departments. It is similar to Sehwag, Sachin, Gambhir all who want to play the openers role but, one has to bat at 3.

This was a good opportunity for the likes of RP Singh and Ishant Sharma to have a bowl and find some form. But the selectors chose Dinda, Yadav (injured vinay and his replacement Mithun) and 3 specialist spinners based on I don't know what criteria!! I'm sure they have played the 50 over format for their domestic sides, they (Dinda and Yadav) don't have anything impressive yet. A good opportunity they wasted. Even Vijay has been miserable. Not sure if he will get another opportunity in the future.

[Mahek]

I think this series has shown up some of the guys who became stars thanks to a couple of big innings in conditions loaded in favour of batsmen. In a way it's good that Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik have failed miserably. Now we can move on to others.

The bowling has been bad from top to bottom and it's not helped by the fact that we play most of our cricket on flat tracks, fast outfields and short boundaries. It's one thing to cope with it one or two series a year, it's another to do it all year round.

The board needs to get it together and do a better job at scheduling. Young players need to play more outside the subcontinent so that they don't look out of their depth when it's time for them to replace Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid. It would also do well to not make conditions so batsmen friendly in LOIs.

[The Reverse Sweep]

Thanks for the comment Mockwah. I've always been impressed when I've seen Khli and feel that he is the most likely of the new generation. I was surpised too that RP Singh and Ishant weren't taken. As you see they could both do with some match time.

[The Reverse Sweep]

I agree with what you say Mahek. A spell in county cricket wouldn't do the likes of Raina, Kohli, Vijay or Ishant Sharma any harm. On the pitch front, I also agree. It is time that more variety was on offer inside India i.e. more bowler friendly surfaces.

[Mahek]

You can forget about these guys playing county cricket, the BCCI didn't even allow Piyush Chawla or VVS Laxman to go back to the county circuit this year. This is what you get when the players are too self-absorbed to congregate and represent the interests of themselves and their peers.

[The Reverse Sweep]

The BCCI are wrong on this front (as on so many). It surely would help young players to play in English conditions? I suppose all the money on offer in the IPL means that India's young players are millionaires by the time they are in their early 20s. That could reduce their hunger much as it does with some of the young English footballers.