The rest seems to have worked for Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, as both notched up centuries against Bangladesh. The conditions were favourable for batting and the bowling was not that threatening but the two greats of Indian cricket must have been under pressure to perform. The start was tentative, as would have been expected, but they soon got into the groove and played well to reach their landmark.
There has been a lot of talk of rumblings within the camp during the World Cup, with the two seniors in the thick of things and the apparent 'rest' from the one day squad adding fuel to the speculation. A team should always strive to get new blood in and aim to move forward and grow and should use the expertise and experience of the senior players as it does so. The Australians are a testament to that theory and proves that players should be judged on their performance and not their age. India are at a stage where their star players from the last decade and more, are nearing retirement age and there needs to be a transition to bring in new players. This has to be done gradually and with the help of the senior players who can be used to aid the transition.
It was great to see Saurav and Sachin together again, playing so well and clearly enjoying and very comfortable playing together. Maybe the events of the past month has made them try harder and made them more hungry and determined to do well, which can only be good for India. It is always good to let your performance do all the talking because that is where it counts.There may be more sterner tests ahead in England and Australia for both them and the team but you can only deal with what is put in front of you and that they did.
2 comments:
Well said Rash, the 2 greats are delight to watch. They have always complimented each other since 1996 when they got together opening in ODIs, but the media has always made out some "cold vibes" between them.
Somehow the critics in the media (TOI) havent been able to digest the news well, so they now call it insipid and bore innings.
Do we have a replacement for this 2 guys and they are just 34. Lara played till 38, Waugh till 38 then why not this guys ?
You can't beat quality and these two still have some milege left in them.
I have it on very good authority that there are no bad vibes between these two and never has been and that was eveident in the way they played together.
It's a shame they are constantly on trial by 'experts' in the media and sometimes some within the camp keen to drop them at the first opportunity.
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