India's tour of RSA was a big enlightment for both Men's & Women's team as they achieved a historic Double series Win
Ultimately Indian cricket teams, both men, and women conquered Proteas as they created history. Both men and female team won the limited over's cricket i.e. ODI and T20I series respectively. Indian men's team lost the Test series 2-1, but after the Wanderers Test India made a great fight back. They clinch the 6 match - ODI series as 5-1 and 3 match - T20 series as 2-1.
In the women's cricket, the ODI Captain Mitali Raj and bowlers star in both ODI and T20 tournaments. Beside those, T20 Captain Harmanprit Kaur, famous opening batter Smriti Madhana, Veda Krishnamurthy also played well. Indian women team first time achieved the rare double series-win against the host in South Africa both in ODI & T20. They played brilliantly and showed the supremacy against the host.
After Mithali Raj led the side to a 2-1 series win in the ODIs, it was Harmanpreet Kaur’s turn to lift the trophy as they become the first cricket team to win two formats in the Rainbow nation.
The win also showed that Indian women’s performance in the ICC ODI World Cup wasn’t a mere flash in the pan and the women showed little rustiness even though they played their first series in seven months. The big positive was winning a T20 series — a format where the Indian women have not done well traditionally.
In an interview to the News-daily, the women’s cricket captain said that their performance in South Africa was a reminder of how well prepared as a team they were. “The fact that we completed a highly credible ‘double’ under challenging conditions in South Africa is a reminder of how well we were prepared for the tour. I think the short duration camp in Mumbai before we left for South Africa helped us a lot,” she said. “I think it was great to see the girls do so well in conditions which were challenging for batters and spinners on pitches that were fast and had bounce,” said the 35-year-old. “The twin-series triumph has done a world of good to the team’s confidence. We always knew we are a very good one-day team. And, the T20 series performance with convincing wins is something commendable.”
Now let's come to the tour of Men's team. After winning the last Test match in Wanderers Indian team found their momentum and then they just dominated the hosts in ODI series. This series was named as if for the Skipper Virat Run-Machine Kohli. He is the first batsman ever to score over 500 mammoth runs in any bilateral series. He scored three tons in this 6 match- ODI series. Sanjay Manjerakor said in the commentary, "Virat is hitting centuries like he is going to morning walk!"
And of course, two wrist spinners of India, Chahal, and Kuldeep are the stars of this series, claimed 33 wickets all-together.
And we can't ignore the contributions of Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah is the main Discovery of this Tour for India. Before this tour, we used to see the Bhuvi-Bumrah pair in the limited overs' cricket only. But now we will see this pair with the Red ball too. Meanwhile, Bumrah is the Numero-uno ODI bowler right now (February. 2018).
Shikhar Dhawan, another soldier of this team, played brilliantly in both ODIs and T20Is. Almost in every match, he gave a flying start to India. He was the second highest run-getter of the ODI series. We hope our "Gabbar" will continue his good form in future tournaments as well.
In T20Is, India won the series 2-1 without the help of wrist spinners! By this, we can understand how well India dominated Proteas in this shortest format.
The inclusion of Suresh Raina was the biggest plus point of India in T20. In the last T20I, Raina performed a good all-round show (43 runs in only 27 balls, 1-wicket, and 2 brilliant catches ) and claimed the Man-of-the-match trophy as well.This will surely boost Raina's confidence up. One more good innings from Raina will clear his path to inclusion in the ODI team as well. In this series, Raina looked very fit and his mobility and positive energy on the ground was the plus point for India's fielding.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the stand-out bowler in this T20I series (took his first 5-wicket-haul in the first T20I) and became Man-of-the-Series. Ending the bilateral series on a high, Man of the Series Bhuvneshwar said in a press conference, “We don’t want to be too greedy and we are happy with these two trophies. Hopefully next time we will win all the three trophies. This tour has been brilliant, particularly talking about Test series. Yes, we lost two matches, but they were very close. We could have also lost 3-0 or won 2-1 instead. But it gives us confidence in whatever way we have played, and we are ready to go to England and Australia, and do better there.”
In T20I series and in last few ODIs, India's brand new medium pacer Shardul Thakur also impressed with his economical performances. Virat rested Bumrah and Bhuvi in few matches and replaced by Shardul Thakur. Manish Panday is another star in this team. He grabbed the opportunity when Virat and team management gave him opportunities in T20I matches.
Virat won the double series, performed well in Test matches, looked like a perfect team, but actually, there are some Achelis heels in the team, there are some concerns in the batting order. Bowling unit is looking perfect, although India is still searching a good left-arm Fast bowler to include variations in their armory. But in the batting order after top 3, there are messes! In the positions of 4,5,6,7, there are plenty of options, but none is clicking properly! MS Dhoni, the ex-captain is now in the penaltimate stage of his career, now he is not the old destructive finisher. Although he is still required in the team for his experience and almost-perfect-keeping gloves. He is somehow suited in the 5th position in the batting order.
Ajinkya Rahane couldn't justify himself when he was given the opportunity to play in the 4th position of the batting order throughout the ODI series. Just one good knock from the Rahane in the first ODI, after that his bat was silent!
Kedar Jadhav in the number 6 position of the batting order is seeming not a good option for India, especially in the overseas. Specifically, his fielding is so poor compared to the level of the Indian fielding unit. Hardik Pandya is another big concern for India. Pandya should immediately start to work hard on his batting. Maybe he is very good against the spinners, but in overseas he has to find the way to face the chin music! In this perplex, the performances of Raina and Manish Panday in T20Is would relief for Team India. Raina is a good candidate for the 4th position in the ODI, as the southpaw can deliver 4-5 quick and tight overs regularly as well.
One thing to notice, in this long 50-days South Africa tour, first overseas tour for Virat Kohli, as a captain, he is growing up strongly as a player and as a captain as well. There is no doubt now that he is the best batsman in the world across all the formats. His batting form is just spellbound in this tour. His immense passion for this game sometimes may make him over-aggressive, but he is learning quickly. He is calmer than earlier Virat. He handles his teammates quite superbly. And last but not in the list, he handles his ex-captain MS Dhoni magnificently! My all-time favorite cricketer - Sourav Ganguly always mentions that how lucky Dhoni is because he has Virat Kohli who knows how to show respect the ex-skipper on the same team!
India once again awarded the ICC Test Championship Trophy as they are the Number One Test team throughout the year. They lost the Test series in South Africa, but they fought back well in the last test and won it. To do well in Test matches in Overseas, team should go much earlier in the venue. I'm sure after this tour, Virat and team management realized the fact and will definitely reach the destination 15-20 days earlier than the first match in a overseas tour!
India will play the Tri-nation (India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh) T20I Nidhan Cup in Sri-Lanka in the month of March, under Rohit Sharma's Captaincy (Virat, Dhoni, Pandya, Bumrah and Bhuvaneshwar are rested). Personally, I feel Rohit is a better mature captain than Kohli! After that, the IPL will commence in April.
Photo Courtesy: Google
Stats Courtesy: Cricbuzz
Will come back with the new article soon. Keep reading my blog. :)
Thanks in advance! And Happy Colourful Holi to all of my readers...:)
Comment in my blog and give me feedbacks.
Share this article if you like it and Subscribe my blog to get the notification on every new post.
Cheers! :)
In the women's cricket, the ODI Captain Mitali Raj and bowlers star in both ODI and T20 tournaments. Beside those, T20 Captain Harmanprit Kaur, famous opening batter Smriti Madhana, Veda Krishnamurthy also played well. Indian women team first time achieved the rare double series-win against the host in South Africa both in ODI & T20. They played brilliantly and showed the supremacy against the host.
The win also showed that Indian women’s performance in the ICC ODI World Cup wasn’t a mere flash in the pan and the women showed little rustiness even though they played their first series in seven months. The big positive was winning a T20 series — a format where the Indian women have not done well traditionally.
In an interview to the News-daily, the women’s cricket captain said that their performance in South Africa was a reminder of how well prepared as a team they were. “The fact that we completed a highly credible ‘double’ under challenging conditions in South Africa is a reminder of how well we were prepared for the tour. I think the short duration camp in Mumbai before we left for South Africa helped us a lot,” she said. “I think it was great to see the girls do so well in conditions which were challenging for batters and spinners on pitches that were fast and had bounce,” said the 35-year-old. “The twin-series triumph has done a world of good to the team’s confidence. We always knew we are a very good one-day team. And, the T20 series performance with convincing wins is something commendable.”
Now let's come to the tour of Men's team. After winning the last Test match in Wanderers Indian team found their momentum and then they just dominated the hosts in ODI series. This series was named as if for the Skipper Virat Run-Machine Kohli. He is the first batsman ever to score over 500 mammoth runs in any bilateral series. He scored three tons in this 6 match- ODI series. Sanjay Manjerakor said in the commentary, "Virat is hitting centuries like he is going to morning walk!"
And of course, two wrist spinners of India, Chahal, and Kuldeep are the stars of this series, claimed 33 wickets all-together.And we can't ignore the contributions of Bhuvaneswar Kumar and Jasprit Bumrah. Bumrah is the main Discovery of this Tour for India. Before this tour, we used to see the Bhuvi-Bumrah pair in the limited overs' cricket only. But now we will see this pair with the Red ball too. Meanwhile, Bumrah is the Numero-uno ODI bowler right now (February. 2018).
Shikhar Dhawan, another soldier of this team, played brilliantly in both ODIs and T20Is. Almost in every match, he gave a flying start to India. He was the second highest run-getter of the ODI series. We hope our "Gabbar" will continue his good form in future tournaments as well.
The inclusion of Suresh Raina was the biggest plus point of India in T20. In the last T20I, Raina performed a good all-round show (43 runs in only 27 balls, 1-wicket, and 2 brilliant catches ) and claimed the Man-of-the-match trophy as well.This will surely boost Raina's confidence up. One more good innings from Raina will clear his path to inclusion in the ODI team as well. In this series, Raina looked very fit and his mobility and positive energy on the ground was the plus point for India's fielding.
Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was the stand-out bowler in this T20I series (took his first 5-wicket-haul in the first T20I) and became Man-of-the-Series. Ending the bilateral series on a high, Man of the Series Bhuvneshwar said in a press conference, “We don’t want to be too greedy and we are happy with these two trophies. Hopefully next time we will win all the three trophies. This tour has been brilliant, particularly talking about Test series. Yes, we lost two matches, but they were very close. We could have also lost 3-0 or won 2-1 instead. But it gives us confidence in whatever way we have played, and we are ready to go to England and Australia, and do better there.”
In T20I series and in last few ODIs, India's brand new medium pacer Shardul Thakur also impressed with his economical performances. Virat rested Bumrah and Bhuvi in few matches and replaced by Shardul Thakur. Manish Panday is another star in this team. He grabbed the opportunity when Virat and team management gave him opportunities in T20I matches.
Virat won the double series, performed well in Test matches, looked like a perfect team, but actually, there are some Achelis heels in the team, there are some concerns in the batting order. Bowling unit is looking perfect, although India is still searching a good left-arm Fast bowler to include variations in their armory. But in the batting order after top 3, there are messes! In the positions of 4,5,6,7, there are plenty of options, but none is clicking properly! MS Dhoni, the ex-captain is now in the penaltimate stage of his career, now he is not the old destructive finisher. Although he is still required in the team for his experience and almost-perfect-keeping gloves. He is somehow suited in the 5th position in the batting order.Ajinkya Rahane couldn't justify himself when he was given the opportunity to play in the 4th position of the batting order throughout the ODI series. Just one good knock from the Rahane in the first ODI, after that his bat was silent!
Kedar Jadhav in the number 6 position of the batting order is seeming not a good option for India, especially in the overseas. Specifically, his fielding is so poor compared to the level of the Indian fielding unit. Hardik Pandya is another big concern for India. Pandya should immediately start to work hard on his batting. Maybe he is very good against the spinners, but in overseas he has to find the way to face the chin music! In this perplex, the performances of Raina and Manish Panday in T20Is would relief for Team India. Raina is a good candidate for the 4th position in the ODI, as the southpaw can deliver 4-5 quick and tight overs regularly as well.One thing to notice, in this long 50-days South Africa tour, first overseas tour for Virat Kohli, as a captain, he is growing up strongly as a player and as a captain as well. There is no doubt now that he is the best batsman in the world across all the formats. His batting form is just spellbound in this tour. His immense passion for this game sometimes may make him over-aggressive, but he is learning quickly. He is calmer than earlier Virat. He handles his teammates quite superbly. And last but not in the list, he handles his ex-captain MS Dhoni magnificently! My all-time favorite cricketer - Sourav Ganguly always mentions that how lucky Dhoni is because he has Virat Kohli who knows how to show respect the ex-skipper on the same team!
India once again awarded the ICC Test Championship Trophy as they are the Number One Test team throughout the year. They lost the Test series in South Africa, but they fought back well in the last test and won it. To do well in Test matches in Overseas, team should go much earlier in the venue. I'm sure after this tour, Virat and team management realized the fact and will definitely reach the destination 15-20 days earlier than the first match in a overseas tour!
Photo Courtesy: Google
Stats Courtesy: Cricbuzz
Will come back with the new article soon. Keep reading my blog. :)
Thanks in advance! And Happy Colourful Holi to all of my readers...:)
Comment in my blog and give me feedbacks.
Share this article if you like it and Subscribe my blog to get the notification on every new post.
Cheers! :)
Nice Article. Keep it up!
ReplyDeleteAmazing analysis! really feeling good after reading it!
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the writing as well as the writer!
ReplyDeleteThank You Souritra for mentioning Women's Cricket in your article. Good going! Carry on :)
ReplyDelete