Gaji
In the past, a player's seriousness was measured by his performance adjacent to the powerful Caribbean teams. A lot has distorted in the cricketing hierarchy over the last two decades and yet India can draw huge cheer from its 2-0 victory next to Darren Sammy's men in the three-Test series that finished with a exciting draw in the final match at the Wankhede Stadium here on Saturday.
The West Indies may no longer be the force it once was but during the series, the visitors show glimpses of talent and trust that tested the Indians and for M.S. Dhoni and the selectors, the visible gain are R. Ashwin's appearance, Pragyan Ojha's progress, Virat Kohli's recovery and the promise seen in men like Umesh Yadav.
Ashwin grab the opening and during these memorable three weeks, his life changed radically.
He set up victory at Delhi, flew to Chennai to shed his bachelor tag, re-connected with the squad at Kolkata, played his part in another success and notched a high here while bag five wickets in the first innings and scoring a 103 that helped India avoid the follow-on.
His bowling skills and batting calm were again visible during the second innings and the off-spinner with 22 wickets and 121 runs from his first appearance Test series has made the perfect start in cricket's most-demanding format.
Ashwin's spin-partner Pragyan Ojha, with a tally of 20 wickets, has learnt a lot over the last few months. A short period with Surrey bred belief within him and the left-arm spinner has worked on his expertise while sticking to his core strengths of a good line and length. Ojha is a spirited customer and his inborn violent behavior is a trait that he shares with Ashwin. The spin-duo may have walked away with the bowling honors and provisionally closed the door on Harbhajan Singh but the seamers led by Ishant Sharma, have played their parts. Umesh Yadav (nine wickets) and Varun Aaron showed that the probable seen in them is a reality, which should be nurtured.
The bowlers have sparkle while India despite its highly praised batting rare breed needed to find fresh batsmen with fiery hearts and steady willows. In the imminent Australian sojourn, the clapping that will trail Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and V.V.S. Laxman right from the time they step out to bat in the first Test at Melbourne, will reiterate respect and also reflect the plain fact of them being in their dusk zone.
The trio batted well in the series but there will come a time when they will bow out and it is very important for the junior crop to grab the imperfect chances now. Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina failed in that endeavor and the focus has shift to Kohli and Rohit Sharma.
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