by meninblue » Sun Feb 26, 2012 5:33 pm
T20 is the future for India and India will be masters at it, both home and away. Thanks to IPL. I am very optimistic that we have a great future as far as T20 is concerned, in sub con or even in hostile conditions like England . In an few years time we will have a vast experienced bench strength of domestic players. Imagine 20 year Apporva Wankhede playing alongside Sachin Tendulkar , Keiron Pollard, Malinga etc. There is so much that the cream of our Under 22 players are going to learn. In few years times by ways of IPL, they will have played alongside best and played against the best, even if they don't get a game in entire season of IPL or get a chance in future seasons of IPL. Atleast they will be at nets with the international superstars and gaining the tacit knowledge.
As far as ODI's are concerned i think we will benefit from the T20 exposure. I would say that we will be a very competitive ODI team in sub continent. Also our ODI fielding will be much improved and we will have better bench strength in this format. I am skeptical about the away tours though. We lack batters have good footwork and who can cover the swing. There are natural stroke players aplenty but they lack temperament to post a big knock in such conditions. Modest totals will be made and we don't have the bowling attack to defend those. They even didn't plan to experiment with pitches for the Vijay Hazare trophy. That is what disappointed me the most. The strategy is missing.
In tests, well, the retirements of Rahul, Sachin and VVS in coming two three years might be a doomsday. With the advent of T20 in India, it's influence on skills on Indian cricketers,the creation of the Elite and Plate divisions in Ranji cricket will hamper the proper grooming of the Test Players. Remember that Sachin, Rahul and VVS all emerged from a different Ranji system. They did not have T20 tournaments for their respective zones so they concentrated more on classical batting sessions in nets and did not compromise for technique. There are selection issues as well in this format. We can get away with a selection error in ODI because we have good bench strength in it, but selection error in tests will be very risky.
Test FL's - 8 , ODI and Tests Combo FL's - 1, ODI World Cup - 1, ODI FL's - 7, ODI and T20i combo FL's - 1 ,
T20 Franchisee FL's - 7, T20i Cup FL's- 1, T20 FL's- 5 , 50 Overs Domestic FL's - 1, 40 Overs Domestic FL's- 1