Goutham Chakravarthi
England have moved on from the world cup with a new captain and are investing in a new set of ODI specialists in the hope to build for the next world cup in 4 years’ time. India, on the other hand, would put their world cup winning team on the park if they had the option. Injuries have forced them to try out some youngsters. It cannot be bad from that stand point.
Manoj Tiwary can be an explosive player on his day.
Expectedly, Tendulkar is advised rest and India are another two men down. It is a call up for Tiwary who made the whole of India stand up and take notice of him in a Ranji final in Mumbai against Mumbai few years ago. He took on Zaheer at his peak and had the better of him and a lot was expected out of this youngster. He was ahead in the pecking order that constituted names like Raina, Rohit Sharma and Badrinath back then. Virat Kohli hadn’t yet taken India to the U-19 world cup win. He was the next big thing. He had lost his way a bit and had even become a movie producer once. Times change, and with consistent runs in the domestic competition last year, he landed a spot in the Emerging Players’ Tournament in Australia. He made his debut there and Brett Lee knocked him back several years with the two card trick – bouncer followed by a searing Yorker. He has taken a good 3-and-half years to get back from that set back.
A confident Tiwary is a sight to behold. He has tremendous range of strokes and is a dominating batsman. He rolls his sleeves up and goes after the bowling. He likes center stage and wants success. He wants to be the aggressor and can be a bully when on top. He will walk down to quicks, move inside the line and hit over the leg-side and will go after the spinners with sweeps and will also step out and hit over the top. In short, he is the ideal limited overs player who can control the middle overs with his tempo. If he gets into the team and settles in, he can be quite a sight in full flow. He will be tested by bumpers by the English bowlers of course.
It might not be a bad thing for India if they give Varun Aaron a game at some stage. There is not much of an unknown factor with the Indian seamers. While the top-order is still coming to grips with Praveen Kumar’s swing with the new ball, there is little left once the ball is old. No Zaheer Khan either to reverse the old ball. It puts too much pressure on Ashwin to control the middle overs if there is nothing in the wicket for the seamers. The extra pace of Varun is hope for a captain to force for a play in the middle overs. He tends to be expensive when it is not his day, but he can also be a handful when he gets it right for a couple of overs. Those might be the match-turning overs. Dhoni might punt on him especially with Vinay Kumar not proving to be effective in the two games he has played so far.
It is still a land of unknowns for both teams. Both teams are trying out combinations for two separate reasons. It might be the unknowns across both teams that might still give us some close contests. India needs all the help it can get from its youngsters to win their first game against England this tour. Let’s hope Tiwary and Aaron make it to the team for the 2nd ODI.
The CouchExpert 