Exciting Cricket Between Two Cricketing Giants

Image Design: Bala Kumar

Hello Friends,

The much awaited cricket series of the year between India & Australia is underway and the limited overs series between the cricketing giants has been completed. As expected by all it was an extremely competitive one. The hosts took the one day series while the visitors fought back in the T20I leg & emerged victorious. Talking about key highlights of the limited overs series there were quite a few including Steve Smith's new avatar in the one day series, emergence of batsman Hardik Pandya, youngster Natarajan's big debut. 

The area of concern  for both the teams though seems to be the fielding. It was surprising to see two of the best fielding units in the world dropping so many catches. Reason for the sloppy fielding though still a matter of debate. Great to have  the crowd back in the ground. Both the teams are now gearing up for the most talked about four match test series to be commenced in a week's time. Let's now have a quick look at how both the teams & the individuals exhibited some of the major leadership traits.

 

Leading from the front

Aaron Finch
Image Credit: https://www.flickr.com/people/28990363@N05

It's very important for a leader to show the way to his team in any big assignment.  An inspiring performance or a strategy by the leader can change the course of an  entire task . Aaron Finch did exactly the same. He went on to the attack mode from the word go. He set up a  nice platform in the first two ODIs for the rest of his batsmen to come & express themselves. His teammates  didn't disappoint him. Setting up a target of close to 400 runs in the first two one dayers by the men in yellow  is the testament to  how explosive their batsmen have been. Credit must go to their captain for showing the way. 2 half centuries & a century scored by Finch in the one day series set the tone for his team. 

As a leader he understood the importance of his own performance  & ensured that his performances are good enough to inspire his team. On the other hand his counterpart from the opposition Virat Kohli wasn't at his best in the one day series. Considering he sets really high standards for himself & his team every time, his performance in the limited overs series was not upto the mark. Some of his decisions in the field in terms of bowling changes were also debatable. Overall it can be said that batsman Virat Kohli really didn't come into his own during the one dayers.  He ended up with couple of useful contributions with the bat during the T20I series.

 

Save your best for the big occasion

Steve Smith
Image Credit: Dun.can from Leicestershire, UK, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

All the great performers badly want to perform at the big stage. For that they ensure that they have sufficient preparation & proper planning. Steve Smith is no exception to that. Australian team always expects big things from him whenever he is in the field. He was criticized for his batting approach in IPL. But that didn't bother  him much as his focus was solely on this series against one of the best teams. We saw a different avatar of Smith in the one dayers where he notched up two back to back centuries in the first two matches to seal the series for his team. His approach was very different from the usual one. He was more attacking & not letting the opposition bowlers to settle down at all. His acceptance of trying the same approach since the IPL days shows how much planning he has been doing for this series. The approach didn't bring  fruitful results for his IPL franchise, but definitely proved to be a useful one for his national team.

 

Sharpen your  skills

Hardik Pandya
 Image Credit: Bollywood Hungama

It's very important these days to be multiskilled & also to be specialized in most of your skills. In cricket  an allrounder's job is much more difficult than anybody else as their performance is measured based on the various skills they possess. That is why it is so important to keep sharpening  different  skills that one possesses.  Hardik Pandya who is known more  for his allround abilities had to play in this series as a specialist batsman. Recovery from back injury prevented him from bowling which was a big loss for his team. Playing him as a specialist batsman was a big risk too as the move allowed India to play with 5 specialist bowlers only. Lack of sixth bowling option troubled the men in blue throughout the ODIs. Though there was a much better performance from the bowlers during the T20Is. Playing as a specialist batsman didn't put additional pressure on Hardik. Instead he backed his batting abilities & emerged as the best batsman for his side during the entire limited overs series. Couple of Man of the Match awards &  Man of the series award in the T20Is  is the testament to his ability  as a specialist batsman in tough conditions.

  

Team work is the key to success

Team work is always a key ingredient to achieve greater success. Especially in a sport like cricket it becomes even more critical. It was the complete team effort in the the limited overs leg of this tour that brought fruitful results to the victorious teams respectively.  Australia were brilliant in setting up big totals & then defending with some strong bowling performances during the ODIs whereas India put up an excellent show in the T20Is with both ball & bat. Individual brilliance can win you battles but team work can win you wars. This series once again proved that.

Hard work always pays off

T Natarajan
Image Credit:Dee03

It's a fact in every sphere of life. Specially in sports we come across lot of inspirational stories of individual brilliances.  The latest one being of T Natarajan. Coming from a very humble background he has fought against all odds & come out with flying colors. IPL gave him a platform to showcase his talent. He got an opportunity to be a part of the Indian limited overs side for a tough tour like Australia &  grabbed it with both hands. His performance in the T20Is was a key factor in India's win. A brilliant start to his international career promises lot more in the coming days. Hope his incredible journey continues with further success at international level.

Hoping for an even further exciting test series. Stay tuned for more in this segment.

 

Image Credit:

Top Image

Bahnfrend, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

NAPARAZZI, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons