Now comes the circus part of the series. With India having pocketed the series, the only fascinating element about the sport, apart from the remote possibility that England can get their act together, would be seeing how Dhoni and his selection ring now utilize players to ensure they stay match fit and raring to go.
The English section of the crowd have already drubbed the Caribbean extravaganza when England could not put it past an essentially West Indian team a “circus”. But perhaps they will now be at the receiving end of some more as India will now unabashedly flaunt the fact that they won the series by a margin of 4-0 and can in effect play around with their men, and perhaps fiddle further with the psyche of the already tattered visitors.
Kevin Pietersen can scream hoarse about haze, Duckworth Lewis or the forces of nature. But the pure fact of the matter was that the difference between India and England were as obvious as chalk and cheese. One team bandied like a gang of ruthless warriors; the others too meek to even offer a fight. Somewhere between the British Isles and the Caribbean, England lost the momentum, their faith and winning strategy they thought they had gathered against South Africa.
Now as the final three one day internationals are reduced to an academic record, which is to basically say a farce, a little game in the circus to see if India can make it 7-0, India will now have to make some careful moves without disturbing the furniture to the point of completely losing the plot and team strengths. There is no doubt that rest for the players will be paramount but to mix fresh faces with the established would be better than blooding a second team all at once.
There have already been enough said about the leak from the selectors’ about Dhoni wanting to quit. Dhoni needs to be careful this early into his career to not get fret up over issues that he could better do a better act convincing with a little more captaincy experience under his belt. India certainly would benefit from it rather than to throw away the captaincy in the heat of the moment and thereby, deprive India of a reign when looking to rule the roost.
It’s all about playing the cards right, with the captaincy in general and at Cuttack in particular.
