Would youngsters be favourirtes against the seniors

With the young guns of Mahendra Singh Dhoni succeeding in knocking down Pakistan in emphatic fashion at the Twenty20 final, the onus is now on India’s senior players to ponder over their ODI future.

With the youth brigade displaying splendid fighting spirit, athleticism and an urge for victory, life won’t be easy for senior stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid in the ODI team.

Though the Big Three are still the favourites with the board, selectors and advertisers, the paying public and cricket fans will scrutinize their future performances vigilantly, especially after the stupendous title triumph in South Africa. Dhoni’s boys have proved that a World Cup victory is possible without superstars. They showed that it is the team that matters eventually, and not necessarily the might of megastars or the laptop inputs of a ‘foreign’ coach.

Though Tendulkar (374 runs from seven matches; average 53.42) was the top scorer for India in the recent NatWest series against England, both Ganguly (249 runs; average 35.57) and Dravid ( 223 runs; average 37.16) had an ordinary tour. Still the trio, who will miss the next World Cup, retained their place in the team for the first three ODIs against Australia (the tour opens in Bangalore on Saturday).

Now India have the options to replace them with some of the Twenty20 stars, and the tour against Australia is an ideal opportunity for the selectors to adopt a rotation policy. It is not a must any more to include the seniors in almost all the ODIs. It is in fact a luxury.

With the seniors set to retire in a couple of years, the team is likely to face the same scenario the Australian board faced when seasoned campaigners like Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath made it quits at one stretch.

Though the Aussies had a wide range of pace battery to choose from the likes of Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken and Mitchell Johnson, India haven’t yet developed a set of players to replace the superstars.

India could afford to go for experimentation in the ODI series against the world champions. The entire nation — which toasts its superb Twenty20 victory now — would be in a forgiving mood, even if the hosts go down against Aussies in the tournament. More so, if the cause was for a worthy experimentation.

India have already selected their team for the first three ODIs against Australia, and neither Rohit Sharma nor Yusuf Pathan feature in that squad.

The 20-year old Rohit Sharma was a revelation in the T20 tournament, as his cool approach at the crease was instrumental in India scoring some useful runs in at least two matches, including the final.

Though the young brother of Irfan Pathan failed to score heavily in his debut match, he impressed with his calm approach on the field.

It is quite strange that India waited to give him a chance till the final as the 24-year old was one of the stars in India’s domestic Twenty20 tournament in the 2006-07 season.

It would be ideal for the board to give opportunity to youngsters and provide ‘rest’ for the ageing stars in the remaining four ODIs.

It is a worthy enough experimentation the board could afford than their disastrous Chappell-line experiments.

Or better still, the seniors could themselves assess the situation, and take a decision about their utility in one-day cricket.

It’s time for them to focus attention on their Test career.