No.1 Team in the World! Really!!!!...Really????

Out of the 18 Tests that India has played over the last 2 years, they have been on the winning side on an impressive 10 accounts and have lost only twice in this period. This in itself is a never before statistics for the Indian Cricket, and if we take into account the fact that 4 out of these 10 victories have been Overseas wins, then it makes this statistic look even more fanciful. No wonder that with these performances Team India finds itself at the top of Test rankings, with a considerable lead over the other podium pushers. But what is most refreshing about this celebration of sorts is the fact that the monotonous, boring and at times irritating dominance of the Australian team in this arena is finally over. And gone are the days when even the very thought of a non-Australian team at the top was a far stretched imagination or even a wildest dream, no wonder these are well and truly the changing and exciting times in the world cricket.

Though there is a school of thought prevalent among the critics of the game that Team India isn't the deserved owner of the top seat but that hardly takes away anything from the consistently stellar performances exhibited by this team over the last few years. However there is no denying the fact that they (Team India) aren't as fearsome as the West Indies team of 70's and 80's or the Australian team of late 90's and early 2000's but nevertheless they have been playing exceptionally good cricket well within their limits.Not only this team has a fearsome, spontaneous and an intelligent leader in the name of MS Dhoni, but they also have an equally capable team to back their leader's spontaneity. And to have a team with an aggregate run tally of over 50,000 runs and a total batsmen century count of over 100 is a no mean feat. Though this also highlights the fact that our's is mainly a batsmen led team but then bowling has never been our forte.

It's very easy to attribute this success to a few key man like Tendulkar, Dravid, Harbhajan, Laxman, Sehwag, Dhoni, Zaheer and Kirsten but there are few others too who are not a part of this team now but are still equally responsible for Team India's ascendancy to the top spot. And these elite gentlemen are John Wright, Souav Ganguly and Anil Kumble. Wright was the one who emphasised on the way these guys trained and prepared in the most righteous manner, Ganguly was the one who marshalled and transformed the team from a soft bunch of players to an aggressive lot of warriors and Kumble was the one who consistently kept on taking wickets and almost single handedly bowled oppositions out on the unfriendliest of tracks. But this undoubtedly is the golden era of Indian Cricket, as not often will it happen that the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Sehwag, Laxman, Ganguly will play for the country at the same time. One may see one or at max two batting greats playing at the same time, but these many doning the Indian Jersey at the same time will probably remain rarest of rarities. In that sense the Indians are truly blessed to have all of them playing for country at the same time.

But for India to continue it's dominance at the top spot, they need to improve and sharpen their bowling skills because it's ultimately the ability to take 20 wickets which eventually decides the winner. Though of late India have been out batting their opponents convincingly to cover up for their mediocre bowling but certainly these aren't good signs for Team India. There was a time when a majority of fans used to criticize the great leg spinner Anil Kumble for not being able to spin the ball much and literally bowling as a medium pacer, but his effectiveness over the years can be felt now when none of the bowlers of the current era (including Harbhajan) are able to tighten up the opposition's noose with their bowling. Understandably Kumble didn't spin the ball much, but his line, length and pin point accuracy was a nightmare for the batsmen all around the world, naturally to fill his shoes is a big task. So when Harbhajan is hitting back to back test match hundreds, it is definitely a moment to rejoice, but this team needs more of Harbhajan the bowler than Harbhajan the batsman. Because we have already seen with Irfan Pathan, what that extra pressure of batting well consistently does to ones bowling and when Harbhajan is already struggling big time with his bowling we should not pressurize him further with those alrounder tags. It's high time he takes up the role of the lead spinner in the team and mentor the younger crop as Kumble did so well in his time and Zaheer is currently doing the same with the young pacers.

The debate on whether Team India is the deserved owner of the Numero Uno spot can go on for a long time, but on practical and statistical terms the ICC ranking system states that Team India is the No.1 cricket team presently. And there are no doubts about the fact that Team India possess the most formidable batting line up in the world but from the fielding point of view this team is lagging way behind and the bowling attack isn't the most threatening one either. So if we surgically disect the three important areas of the game, batting wise, YES, Team India is the No.1 team amidst it's peers, fielding wise the team languishes right at the bottom and bowling wise too this team is certainly not the No.1 team and is rather just average in qualitative terms. So in such a scenario if this team wants to extend it's stay at the top spot then it should minimise its dependency on the batting strong hold and pull up it's socks in the bowling and fielding departments. Because it's not far when the batting trinity of Laxman, Dravid and Tendulkar will hang up their boots and the current batting line up will transform from great to good or may be even average. It's then that the real test will start for the bowlers, they won't have that cushion of a huge score to bowl with, every single time; the destructive, flamboyant and carefree Sehwag will 'probably' turn into an innings builder and may be more of a batting mainstay then the momentum builder, as he is now. Consequently the bowlers will have to equally share the responsibility of wining sessions along with the batters and will also have to shed their dependence on the bowler friendly tracks to bowl out the oppostion twice.Only then the fans of Team India can proudly boast that their team is in the same league to that of the West Indies and Australian teams of the past!

Perspective -The gruesome South Africa tour which is just days away, should be the first real test for this talented team to prove its mettle at the top spot!

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