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SPORTS APRIL 02, 2021 | The Indian Eye 52

indian cricket’s abundance of Talent:

a BlessinG

Or a curse?

Michael Atherton sums it up India U-19, & India A (courte- a ParadigM sHiFT
perfectly—“Depths of talent sy Rahul Dravid). There is no dearth of talent
can be both a blessing and a in Indian cricket, but how it is
curse.” THe curse utilized is key.
Recent successes cannot Gone are the days where
THe Blessing hide the cracks beneath the teams carry players across for-
Ishan Kishan hits a 50 on surface. mats for an entire decade. Ex-
debut. Suryakumar Yadav The selection mismanage- cept for the occasional Kohlis,
pulls his first ball for a one- ment (or ‘rejection’ as Ajay Rabadas, & Williamsons, we
Broken crickeT dreaMs legged six and scores a 50 as Jadeja calls it) of Ambati will not see the all-format play-
well. Rahul Chahar impresses. Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, Man- er again.
NITESH MATHUR Prasidh Krishna picks 4 wick- ish Pandey, Kuldeep Yadav, India is amidst an exper-
ets on ODI debut. Krunal Pan- Shivam Dube, & Sanju Sam- imentation phase where any
all THaT gliTTers is dya caps it off with the fastest son is well known. newcomer fits into the team
gold, aT leasT For THis debutant half century. Dropping players after a environment & performs. In
indian crickeT TeaM. Sundar, Gill, Thakur, Na- couple of games & constant order to sustain this way of

36 All out? Bruised bodies? tarajan, and Siraj all came to experimentation instills a lack playing, a paradigm shift is
Losing the first match of a se- the party in Australia. The list of confidence, instability, & in- required not only among the
ries? No matter the obstacle, goes on and on. security within the team. India selectors & captain but also
this team has risen to the chal- It seems that for every needs to make sure they do not in the thought process of each
lenge. Grit, fearlessness, and Ravindra Jadeja, there is an repeat this mistake with the player that is selected on the
resilience all on display in the Axar Patel & Krunal Pandya. likes of KL Rahul & Shreyas particular day.
Australia & England series. In fact, India has a production Iyer. Is flexibility the new sta-
One of the hallmarks of this line of 75 players & can even Because if similar manage- bility? Only time will tell, but
success has been India’s mar- field four teams at the same ment continues, India’s up- remember—some change is
vellous bench strength. Yet, time. They are reaping rewards coming T20 World Cup cam- good, but too much change can
too much of anything is bad. of systems created by the IPL, paign will be in jeopardy. create chaos.

India's Prasidh Krishna celebrates the dismissal of England's Jonny Indian skipper Virat Kohli plays a shot during the 2nd ODI
Bairstow during the 2nd ODI between India and England at Maharashtra between India and England at Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in
Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Friday. (ICC/ANI Photo) Pune on Friday. (BCCI/ANI Photo)

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