Over The Top
On STAR SPORTS 1 & HD1
Runs Virat Kohli needs to become the sixth Indian player — after Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Mohdammed Azharuddin and M.S. Dhoni — to score 9,000 runs in ODIs
Jadhav bowled eight overs, conceding just 31 runs.
Kohli may not want to tinker with a winning combination, therefore, it remains to be seen whether Yadav gets a chance to play in front of his home crowd.
On the batting front, a big positive for India in Pune was Dinesh Karthik delivering at no. 4 with an unbeaten 64. The team management has tried as many as 11 players at the number four spot since the 2015 World Cup and Karthik certainly did enough to stake his claim in that position going forward.
He had batted at number five in the series opener but he himself said that four is his preferred spot.
Shikhar Dhawan getting a fifty plus score after six innings was also good news for India.
The stylish southpaw struck the ball beautifully and will be hoping to give his team another good start in the must-win game.
However, his opening partner Rohit Sharma is due for a big score after making 7 and 20 in the earlier games. Just like the home team, the Black Caps would look to get back to winning ways as they remain within touching distance of winning a rare series in India. heels of the Kiwis tour (three Tests and five ODIs), came the grueling five-Test series against England, then a break for Christmas before limited overs matches against the same opponents.
Barely was that completed when a one-off Test against Bangladesh popped up. This was followed by a four-Test series against Australia, and then the arduous twomonth period in which the IPL was played to bring the home season to a close.
Not much later came the Champions Trophy in England from where the team flew to the West Indies for five ODIs and a T20 international, which preceded the three Tests, five ODIs and a T20 international in Sri Lanka.
This was followed by five ODIs and three T20 internationals against Australia at home, leading into the current series against New Zealand (three ODIs, three T20s) to be topped up by three Tests, three ODIs and three T20s versus Lanka (again!) before the team leave for South Africa.
And just in case you’ve forgotten, there is the endof-season IPL to be played in April-May of 2018 before the team ready for a full tour of England next summer
That Kohli, among the fittest players in the world and with boundless enthusiasm for playing, should raise the red flag is telling. which will brings us to the brink of the next home season.
Phew! If just reading this leaves one breathless and confounded, imagine the state of the players. The fact that the team have coped splendidly, producing outstanding results, does not take away from the stress and strain they have to endure.
Apart from all the time spent in the nets and on the field during match days, there is the constant travel, hours spent waiting to board flights, checking in and out of hotels. This can leave them jaded — physically and mentally.
True, these guys are professionals and paid handsomely for their efforts. But there is a threshold beyond which even the most fit will start to wilt. That Kohli, among the fittest players in the world and with boundless enthusiasm for playing, should raise the red flag is telling.
Mind you, this is not the first time such concern has been voiced by an India player. But given Kohli’s stature, this acquires greater gravitas and should carry more clout where administrators are concerned.
In 1979-80, after a long, tortuous home season, I remember the then captain Sunil Gavaskar opted out of the West Indies tour to follow citing fatigue. The BCCI fulminated, but Gavaskar was adamant. With star player unwilling, the host country was unimpressed too and the tour was scrapped.
Not the ideal solution admittedly, but highlights why it is imperative that the administration works out a workload that puts team and country to optimum benefit in the long run.
That can’t happen if pedigreed players are turned into beasts of burden.