CricDigs Blogs

If one would look up any newspaper or a website that is even remotely related to covering sports, one piece of news is commonly splashed across every readable page, Indian trounce Australia, 2-0 or some other phrase, representing the same fact. In fact, things have changed so fast that the cricketing pecking order is bound to be affected by this. Australia no longer looks like the world-beating side that ruled world cricket for so long. It is not just the end result of losing a test series but the fact they seemed so vulnerable every time a single Indian player was on the offensive. Australia appears more defeatable in both one-day and test cricket than ever before.
This could mean a whole lot of changes for the world of cricket. On one hand, the likes of India and England are improving as cricketing one-day and test sides — India seem much better placed than England at the moment, while the likes of Australia and Pakistan have taken a nosedive.

Bangladesh has ceased to exist as a competing side since the defect of their players to the ICL and Zimbabwe has been non-competitive for some time now. New Zealand has retained their old habit of never performing to their potential. The result? We have even lesser competitive test-playing teams than before and the chances are that India, England and South Africa would compete for the top spot with Australia as their main rival. This would have a double impact on the cricketing viewership and loyalties. One can expect repeated encounters between fewer teams — something not desirable with already so much of cricket being played. Secondly, there would a more realistic and desperate run for the top slot, now that Australia is bound to vacate the highest rank within the next few months as South Africa and India take upon easier opponents.

This could turn into a manifesto to make sure that Australia doesn’t make a comeback as the number one competing team that could actually see some of the international teams coming together and sharing information with each other in the form of knee-jerk reactions every time Australia threaten to regain their old form and glory. India is bound to emerge as the new cricketing power as it is evident that they have the best bench strength in contemporary cricket and under Dhoni, the transfer of captaincy and its handling has been of the highest order. For the first time, an Indian captain appears to be enjoying his role and for the first time, the Indian team looks good to be the champion in all formats of the game. Someone had written a blog about sympathy for the Aussies after their drubbing in India — well, there are no takers for such theories here. Australia have had a long run at the top slot and they may have been a magnificent in terms of winning ratios but they never looked worthy of being a game’s number one side. I hope India does a better job of it but I may be jumping the gun here — there are still test series and World Cups to be won. Hoping Dhoni & Co. keep the winning habit going.