A look at Indian’s performance and one would not even feel the absence of probably the best of Indian cricketers over a decade.

By Rohit Sakunia

I wanted to do a player by player comparison of the Indian cricket team of maybe three years back with today's. But then that would have been an old fashioned style of writing and since old is not the taste of modern India anymore, I thought I would do it in a better and more modern style.

I had asked my classmates in my B-School what they thought of this new look Indian ODI Side sans Rahul, Sourav, Sachin (more often than not he won't play) and Laxman since for me cricket without these guys is like losing my religion. Back came the reply that the team would rock. I didn't care a damn since the self proclaimed expert I am, I thought that Indian cricket would always need the services of the Maharaja, Master Blaster, the wall and Mr. Very Very Special to do anything on the 22 yard surface.

But didn't I have to chew my words and that too badly. The way the guys have played so far in the last 8 odd months only goes on to prove that Indian cricket is not only in safe hands but probably is set for achieving much higher standards that the predecessors achieved. These bunch of mavericks have hunger much more than many Indian sides of the past and its good that it's being led by a captain who has shades of Sourav Ganguly when it comes to passion and is different in terms of controlled aggression.

Dhoni has been an unperturbed leader who has shown the audacity to speak his heart out when it came to fitness of some of the senior pros but that does not mean he has shown disrespect to any of the legends. He lifting up Anil Kumble on his shoulders and doing rounds of Kotla just goes on to show his affection and emotional bonding with the man for whom keeping has always been difficult. His statements towards the retirement of Dada and for the support of Rahul have also been very level headed.

On the field he has fulfilled his very reputation of being a finisher. There is no more a Dhoni who is being associated with being a slam bang player, rather this one is more an accumulator, growler and if you thought he has changed his style of play he has the potential to change gears any moment just as the speed hawk driver used to, thus making him one of the best bets India can place on and with a body to bet, with no injuries though being subjected to most number of matches for India in international cricket over the last couple of years Dhoni is here to stay.

Coming down to others, Yuvi's talent was never in doubt; he was always a match winner with the silken touch. Yuvraj probably is a batsman, watching whom even God will feel proud of his creation. Batting looks damn easy and seems to come naturally to him and when he is in flow, the opposition bowlers don't look international, rather it seems some batsman for the sake of coming back to form has asked a few local kids to ball at him.

The opening pair seems to be treading the same path that of the best opening combination ever in the history of the game, Sachin and Sourav. Both Sehwag and Gambhir match each other shot for shot. The kind of form both these guys are in, and the kind of pitches they are supposed to play for at least the next 6 months, only a divine miracle can save the opposition bowlers from their assault. Scoring runs has never been a problem and the first 50 comes up in no time and by the time you think you would finish your morning course they are done with the century stand. The way both of these guys with exceptional talent have matured into fantastic cricketers speaks volumes about the work going in the Indian cricket team.

And if you thought this was all, there is a Sharma, Pathan, Uthappa, Raina and many other waiting in the wings. The courage with which these guys have played shows the amount of confidence the management have in them and the amount of confidence these lads have in their abilities. The way these folks have batted off late, the Indian blitzkrieg is destined to get stronger with their pursuits.

The bowling if anything looks equally good with Zaheer Khan back at the helm and probably in the form of his life. A lot of the good bowling on show will have to be credited to the bowling coach Venky whose work kind of is visible on the field. The bowlers don't experiment much, they bowl according to the set fields and let the opposition do the mistake rather than making things happen. Ishant Sharma, Munaf Patel with Zaheer literally are the best fast bowling options on show and the way Ishant and Zaheer got the better of mighty Aussies on spinner friendly wickets only goes on to show how good they are.

The spin department also looks potent with Harbhajan Singh also looking extremely jelling with the team composition. His performances recently against Lanka and Australia have been more than good and his economy rate and the way he bowls in the limited over format where the batsman are seen struggling to take over him make him a core member of the side.

More than anything it's the passion with which these guys have stepped on the field is what has taken the world by storm. The best thing about the blokes is that they want to go out there, enjoy cricket and give it more than 100%. These guys have taken everything as a challenge, whether it's fielding, bowling, batting, off-the-field activities or anything and since most of them have come from backgrounds where for reaching International stage they have undergone bigger challenges than these, the fighting spirit comes naturally and once that's their winning becomes an easy task.

Indian team is destined to see better days in the limited over format and the sample is visible with the way the Aussies where thumped, the Lankans where mauled in their own backyard and now the English, coming after winning against South Africa are being treated as county cricketers and with all this, the final frontier though distant looks the World Cup 2011.