By: Drcricket7 Staff
Before the Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni era saw India becoming the No. 1 Test team in the world, some serious work went into their success story. More often, India didn’t have the luxury of getting great starts to their Test series, but always managed to turn it around.
And, the likes of former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble and Zaheer Khan contributed a lot to those wins. India also had a very very special talent called the Virender Sehwag.
The Delhi dasher used to plunder runs at will and, ultimately, the culture of team effort kept India in good stead. Now that the golden era is over and the current Indian Test team embarks on new journey, a tough ride awaits captain Virat Kohli and his men when they take on Sri Lanka in the 1st Test of three-match series in Galle from Wednesday onwards.
However, expectations are high after this team showed glimpses of greatness in countries like England, South Africa and Australia. Some of the batsmen like Murali Vijay, Ajinkya Rahane and captain Virat Kohli showed great application in challenging conditions.
They were not scared of losing, and produced some superlatives individual performances against some of the top bowlers in the world. But in those recent series, it’s always been the Indian bowlers, who let us down.
While offering a solution to this bowling worry, Kohli is strongly behind the five-bowler theory. To him, getting those twenty wickets is the way forward to win Test matches.
He is also backing the fast bowlers over the swing and also banking on the tremendous form of R Ashwin and experience of Harbhajan Singh.
If all goes as per the reputation of the Sri Lankan pitches, India may be tempted to field a third spinner in Amit Mishra, which can be an interesting choice of attack. In the batting front where he has confidence in the unit, Kohli doesn’t have qualms to express that Rohit Sharma is his top choice over Cheteshwar Pujara.
With Murali Vijay not playing the first Test, Lokesh Rahul, who missed the Bangladesh Test series with an injury, will get a chance to prove his worth. He had scored a century in his last Test appearance in Australia.
This Test series is also a very good opportunity for wicketkeeper W Saha. He is yet to come good for his team in this format. With the gloves, he has a done a reasonable job, but it’s his batting that has him down.
After all, it’s easy to find into Dhoni’s shoes within two Test matches. To Saha’s delight, his captain is open to the idea of giving him a long rope to establish himself at this level.
Fortunately for India, the hosts Sri Lanka are no big shakes. With the lack of experienced spinners in the Lankan line-up, Indian batsmen will get a plenty of opportunity to dominate the sessions.
Of course, a few special knocks could come off Kumar Sangakkara’s bat to celebrate his last few days in Test cricket. And so, the Indian attack will have to be on their toes to stop the flow of runs by taking wickets at regular intervals.
