Dravid puts Flintoff and Co in their place

By John Cheeran
India could not have won the seven-match one-day series against England in a more convincing manner than they did at Kochi.
Even die-hard India loyalists would not have expected the team to bounce back from the last day collapse in Mumbai Test in such a fashion, winning first four matches to wrap up the series.
In Kochi, India won their 15th consecutive match, chasing a target, a new world record in one-day cricket.
While India was winning the match, with Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina applying the finishing touches to the efforts of skipper Rahul Dravid and Irfan Pathan, I heard a critic trying to put Team India’s success story in perspective.
This perspective is called depleted vision.
Throughout the series against England, both in Tests and one-dayers, some of the pundits were telling us that visitors are a depleted side.
They don’t have Michael Vaughan, Marcus Trescothick, Ashely Giles, Simon Jones etc. A national team should have sufficient replacements and at international level any newcomer is expected to stand up and deliver the goods.
I would like to remind those critics that by their yardstick, India too is a depleted side.
India is without Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly (whether you like it or not hasn’t he scored some runs in ODIs?), VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble.
And add to this, the wretched form of opener Virender Sehwag and Mohammad Kaif, two players who have contributed immensely to India’s progress in one-dayers.
What matters is not the reputation of players but ability to succeed NOW.
India, to the credit of skipper Dravid and coach Greg Chappell, has found a new set of players who are ready to give their life to team’s success.
It is a pity that the likes of VVS Laxman and Kumble can’t find a place in the one-day eleven; but it shows the intensity of the competition that has thrown up future legends such as Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Suresh Raina.
Not at all a bad state of affairs, I must say!