What India gained from the West Indian tour

The tour didn't get ignored as much as I'd thought, actually - quite unlike Raina's first captaincy stint in the tri-series with Zimbabwe and Bangladesh year. There was plenty of interest in the progress of India's next cricketing generation. Here's a list of things that have been added to our knowledge over the course of the T20I, ODIs and Tests.

  • I have no idea what Shikhar Dhawan is doing in the team with Rahane and his runs lying around.
  • Parthiv Patel has looked like a classy opener for months without scoring big runs. It's like he's a lefty Rohit Sharma or something.
  • Badrinath only looks like he may be an effective Test player when he's playing T20's.
  • Ashwin can't take wickets when no one is attacking him. He can't use the new ball for India, because we already have good new-ball bowlers.
  • Rohit Sharma may have turned the corner. Where a banana skin may still be lurking. That expression never makes sense to me. Does 'turning a corner' mean revolving where you stand while you're in a corner?
  • Raina shouldn't be captain - it neutralizes his midwicket-hacks. And he has registered himself for a huge English test by scoring those Test runs.
  • Manoj Tiwary deserves another chance.
  • Yusuf Pathan does not.
  • Rahul Dravid still has some juice in him. Which is good, or else he'd be dehydrated from all the sweat. I think he's only programmed to bat in tough conditions at this point.
  • Abhinav Mukund is going to have a real tough time in that first Test against England.
  • Virat Kohli. Not ready. Tests. Future of India. Time on his hands. Attitude. 
  • Hey, Murali Vijay won CSK the IPL4 trophy.
  • Praveen Kumar can be very useful in the right conditions. And he's still a tidy bowler when it's not swinging. He will be competing with Munaf and Sreesanth for the third seamer's position though... and going by Dhoni's track record, I have a suspicious suspicion about who might win that spot.
  • It's great to see that Ishant is not cutting down on pace. For now.
  • Sehwag, Gambhir and a great Indian spinner are conspicuous by absence.
There are pluses. There are minuses. And some division signs. Pretty worthwhile trip in the end.
Coming soon, to a blog near you (this one): England vs India preview.

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