Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir has entered the building, finally. India wins the 2^nd ODI at Jaipur against New Zealand quite clinically.

Gautam Gambhir captained the side, won the toss and elected to field first. He scored an unbeaten 138 and won the game making India lead the 5 ODI series against New Zealand 2-0.

Gautam Gambhir has been suffering from a number of injuries in the recent past from a hamstring injury to a groin one; he’s been through it all. One cannot deny the fact that he lost his form due to his various aliments and found it very difficult to get back into the mode of international cricket.

Gautam Gambhir’s return to form wasn’t the only surprise of the day, S. Sreesanth’s 4 wickets in 47runs made it that much easier for the batsman to chase down a target of 259 at 6 runs per over.

Without what is considered to be the “backbone” of the Indian team, M. S. Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Zahir Khan, Virender Sehwag and Harbajan Singh were being rested for the first two ODI’S against New Zealand.

But New Zealand even with the return of Daniel Vettori replacing Grant Elliot couldn’t stop India from winning.

But with Gambhir’s excellent performance individually with his perfect timing and shot selection and as a captain of the 2^nd ODI one might wonder what kind of a team composition would be the best one. Virat Kohli has proved in both the ODI’s that he has no intension of letting anyone drop him from the team with his century in the first ODI helping India win the match by 40 runs and in the 2^nd ODI supporting Gautam Gambhir with his 64runs.

So who bites the dust? Will it be Suresh Raina, M.S Dhoni’s favourite? Or Yuvraj Singh an out of form injury prone player but when in form close to unstoppable and almost always a match winner.

Virat Kohli just needs to keep doing what he doing now and he will ensure himself a place in the 11. So it comes down to the other two.

Yuvraj Singh has nothing to lose and it’s only uphill from here if he regains his form now and has shown the side he can be of some assistance with the bowling attack as well

Suresh Raina however is at the moment shaky and unable to tackle his problem with short deliveries, so will his fielding and being M.S Dhoni’s protégée be enough to keep him in the team?

Either way Gautam Gambhir is going no where.

Tags: Cricket, Daniel Vettori, Gautam Gambhir, Harbajan Singh, India, Indian Sports, M.S. Dhoni, New Zealand, ODI Match, ODI Series, Sachin Tendulkar, Sports, Sports India, Virender Sehwag, Zahir Khan