The Cricket season for India is going to begin with the arrival of the England team.India had a dismal tournament in Sri Lanka, but they would do better to put all that behind them and look forward to make some amends in the coming months.India needs to make a strong statement against the visiting English team,not only to start the season with a success but repay the favor to them, for what they did to us last year. In order to make that happen India needs to have its full strength squad at its disposal.
The squad for the New Zealand series was pretty good with Pujara and Kohli coming up with fine centuries.The other batsmen though failed to fire and had it not been for these two,India might have fared very badly.The batting is the main concern for Team India now with Gambhir and Sehwag being out of form for quite some time now.It is time for the selectors to look over them now and need to induct some young blood into the team. Sehwag can be dropped to the middle order and Rahane can be made to open the innings. Sehwag can be a pretty useful middle order batsman since he can play spin bowling well and is comfortable playing the old ball against the seamers. So Sehwag should think about playing in the middle order and its time for him to make a decision on how to take his career forward.
If the above change happens,then there is no slot for Suresh Raina or Yuvraj Singh to come in. Otherwise they can drop Gambhir and bring in a middle order batsman, making Sehwag open the innings.Then a slot would open up in the middle order.There are talks going around about Yuvraj bagging that place on the merit of his double ton in the recently concluded Duleep Trophy.Many people are sympathetic towards Yuvraj and want to see him back on the field soon.But Yuvraj was never a prominent face in the test side right from the time he made his debut.Agreed,Yuvraj can bowl well and that can be an added advantage against England who are weak at playing spin.But we need to have a settled batting line up first and we need a solid middle order batsman who can lend stability to the side.He should be mature enough to handle pressure and deliver the goods.
Thinking about all that,I can think of only name - Subramaniam Badrinath. He has been a prolific run scorer for his domestic side for the past few years.His batting technique and solidity is second to none.And he has tons of experience and quality in him to make the cut.He has been out of the side only because there was already a solid middle order all these days.But with the retirements of Dravid and Laxman,those two places have opened up.While Pujara has managed to bag a place for himself,it is time Badrinath gets a chance to prove himself.He should be given a long run in the test side for him to get settled.He would be an apt replacement for Laxman,since he has been the pillar of Tamil Nadu's batting in the Ranji Trophy.
The part time option would be missed if Yuvraj is excluded but Sehwag and Sachin can always double up as part timers and bowl some overs if needed.But that wont be necessary since we are playing on home conditions and our spinners are more than up for the task ahead.
This is our only chance to pay back our dues in kind.India should do well and win the England series comfortably and heal the hearts of million fans who were heart broken after witnessing the massacre on the tour of England last year.
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