Some Lessons This Series Will Teach The Cricket Board Who Never Learn Their Lesson No Matter How Hard They Get: India lost the India-New Zealand ODI series 1-0. India had to concede defeat in the three-match series after losing one game and dropping two matches.
Despite losing the series, India should learn many lessons from this series. One of these is the failure of T20 specialist Suryakumar Yadav in ODIs.
Suryakumar is not able to match the same in ODIs even when he scores runs in T20Is. In the first match of the ODI series, Sky scored just four runs from three balls. He scored 34 runs in the second match but failed again in the third match.
Rishabh Pant is another batsman who failed to bowl. Rishabh Pant, who has proved his talent in Test cricket, and in a sense only in Tests, played him in the shorter format, India got the job done again.
This is not to forget the star’s match-winning century against England in ODIs. However, it should also be remembered that the century alone does not make the ball eligible to play in this format.
The first thing India should learn is to select the team according to the format.
Through this series, India has also managed to find a good place batsman. Washington Sundar became the star of India by giving a shocking performance to all the fans in the series. Another thing that the board needs to do is to provide proper backup to Washington by giving opportunities in the upcoming matches.
Washington Sundar came up with a performance that made up for the lack of a left-arm batsman in the Indian batting line-up. Washington Sundar scored 37 runs from just 16 balls in the first match and scored a half-century in the second match.
A left-arm batsman is a must in the team as the left-arm-right-arm combination can trouble the opposition bowlers. But another lesson of the series is that Rishabh Pant should no longer be given the privilege of being a left-arm batsman because a better left-arm batsman has emerged in this series.
This right-handed off-breaker is also doing well in bowling. Sundar, who bowled 10 overs in the first match and conceded only 42 runs at an economy rate of 4.2, conceded only 16 runs in three overs in the third match.
India rarely gets a good spin all-rounder. After Yuvraj and Jadeja, Washington is the answer to the question of Iniyar. Therefore, another lesson is that the Indian Cricket Board has an obligation to nurture Washington.
Another lesson for India to learn is that form should be the only basis for team selection. This is a lesson that the current Indian cricket board and selection committee will never learn, no matter how many matches they lose and which tournaments they fail.
It may come as a surprise in retrospect that the cricket board had a history of sacking, including Virender Sehwag, for this reason.
BCCI may also get the title of the best sports board in the world if we pay attention to some things like not favorites, but the form should be the basis for getting a place in the team, cricket board is not a place to play politics.
