You draw a sense of ubiquity and unendingness when you look at the current Indian line-up. In some sense, it does begin but where does it end, given all the versatility and possession of talent?
Needless to say, it’s a line-up that boasts of big talents; stars in their own right. You have the likes of Virat and Rohit on the one hand. Then, you have the likes of Shami, Bumrah, Jadeja and the genuine match-winning talent in Kuldeep.
In a fraction of a second, you gaze upon six names that you cannot imagine the side without.
Put KL Rahul- given the way he’s been batting of late- in the current context and you understand just how seriously threatening this unit is. You needn’t wax lyrical to ascertain the threatening power India exudes.
Just look at the rather one-sided, in fact, pitiable one-sidedness the contests against South Africa and Bangladesh, later, West Indies and Australia provided.
Saving the one-odd occasion where West Indies bettered India in a T20 and ODI and ditto for Australia (in the one-dayer at Wankhede, Mumbai) India were head and shoulders above their opponents.
Now that Sanju Samson is back in the team, the dynamic changes giving way to more credibility and fire-power.
But there’s just one question that needs a credible answer.
Shikhar Dhawan Injury
Can the famous Kerala batsman make it count? Now that Sanju Samson is back in the team for the New Zealand tour, at the back of Rishabh Pant and Shikhar Dhawan’s injuries the onus is on him, not on the team to make it count.
A few hours ago, the social media stratosphere was hit by a piece of news that depending on who you were was conceived multi-dimensionally.
If you were a serious Shikhar Dhawan fan, a batsman whose abilities to deliver goods for India on overseas situations cannot be doubted, you were ‘hands-on-the-face‘ by the news that the left-hander was sidelined from touring New Zealand.
In what’s become a rather upsetting trend for the leftie, a series of freak injuries in his mid-30s affecting his availability for the side, this is yet another series where a proven run maker cannot participate.
While surely the versatile dynamic of the current set-up may not point to this being a big vacuum for there are plenty of options to make good for the temporary void- Rahul, Rohit, even Agarwal, and Shaw being around.
But on a day where runs don’t come easy, if it so happens, Kohli’s side would miss the services of someone who’s accumulated 1686 runs on Indian turfs and more than double that tally batting overseas: 4002 runs (in ODIs).
Yet, if you were someone who’s been a witness to just how incredibly difficult has it been for one of India’s fluent stroke makers, particularly in the shortest form to wear the bright blues, you were elated.
Sanju Samson is back in the team but he cannot be complacent
Now that Sanju Samson is back in the team, he should be elated.
This is not only down to the fact that at a time where despite being in the prime of his youth- possessing both age and fitness- he’s pitted alongside just as talented run-makers who happen to be his contemporaries.
Furthermore, now that Sanju Samson is back in the team he must value the whiff of good fortune that’s showered him with another opportunity thanks to Pant and Dhawan being on the sidelines.
At the same time, he mustn’t forget that a stale outing against Sri Lanka, in the one-off Indore T20, where a first-ball six was followed by an abject failure to read the googly on the very next ball resulting in a rather brief outing in his ‘comeback game’ has been ignored by the selectors, perhaps treated as a one-off incident.
The time spent in dire frustration, knowing that the sheer lack of chances in the international arena has hurt his cause should now translate to results on the crease down in Kiwi-land.
It’s a bit like how Bruce Lee suggested- translate all the anger into a force making it your strong-point.
That he’s made most of the brief chances he’s been afforded, such as through musings of the bat at a stage where all eyes are transfixed through strong IPL credentials exemplified by 2200 plus runs (at a very healthy s.rate of 130) should spur Samson to forge a new inning.
For now, it would make sense to draw wisdom from the famous Celine Dion lyrics: I was waiting for so long for a miracle to come, everyone told me to be strong…hold one and don’t shed a tear!”
For the puppy-faced big-hitter, it seems a new day has come!
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