The Indian Bench strength

After a small break, the English Team is back for the ODI leg of the tour.The two List A Games have demonstrated that Cricket is thriving in India. The India 'A' side that played the visiting England XI had plasyers who were not involved in the ODI against Pakistan or the four Ranji Quarter finals. Similarly, the Delhi team which beat England did not include Sehwag, Gambhir or Ishant Sharma. This augurs well for India. The bench strength is pretty good and the only worry seems to be in the spin department.However for all the clamour being made, We must recall that Ravi Shastri, Maninder Singh, Shiv Lal Yadav and several others held fort after the great spinners and Dilip Doshi faded out and before another golden age dawned in the form of Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.The gap between Doshi's last Test and Kumble's first was nearly ten years and in between while Kapil Dev and the seamers bowled well and winning series in England as well besides the World cup in England, Hirwani, Sivaramkrishnan and Maninder Singh did win us matches at home.So this is not the first time and will perhaps not be the last.In Ravindra Jadeja, We have found a Shastri and from the wide pool of talent available, India will remain competitive.

If a team cannot accommodate Pujara for ODIs, it must be very good. Pujara's One Day average is next only to Michael Bevan's. Therefore,India's dip against Pakistan is not very relevant and India starts favourite against England.