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Essay / Politics in Indian Cricket
There was a time when India had a perennial problem plaguing their team – the elusive No.4 spot. India has tried and tested so many 2-down batsmen in limited-overs cricket that even fans have lost track of who is playing in that position. It had essentially become – as Aakash Chopra put it – “a case of musical chairs” with batsmen rushing to fill that seat in the Indian XI. Ajinkya Rahane, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, KL Rahul, Ambati Rayudu, Vijay Shankar, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and MS Dhoni were all tried for the job, but none for too long. Ambati Rayudu, in particular, has been a victim of questionable selection policies, despite being fully supported by Indian captain Virat Kohli. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why violent video games should not be banned'? Get the original essay India's erratic selection policies and sometimes confusing decisions have been criticized by experts, analysts and fans. It's only natural for a player to fail to fulfill his potential when he constantly has a sword hanging over his head – he could be sacked at any time. For any player to flourish, he must be given the assurance of a long rope and be supported for a minimum of matches before being replaced. This assertiveness has long been absent from Indian cricket, particularly in ODIs and T20Is, and many players auditioning for the role found themselves in an environment where they were unsure of their place in the team. However, the winds of change are now blowing stronger than ever. One of the reasons could be the appointment of a strong, competent and widely respected BCCI president, Saurav Ganguly, who strongly believes in the theory of supporting players all the way. Even when Ganguly was the captain of the national team, he always supported players who he believed possessed potential, which was a big factor in the rise of legends like MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh. As the president of the world's largest cricket association, Ganguly will no doubt provide players with longer opportunities to prove their worth and get used to playing in a particular spot in the Indian XI. The appointment of former CAB president and Indian captain Saurav Ganguly as the new BCCI president could lead to an even greater boom in Indian cricket. In India's last limited-overs series, the West Indies Tour of India, we watched Indian batsmen come of age and stood speechless at the batting unit functioning like a well-oiled machine. Despite the West Indian batsman rampaging and scoring 207-5 in the 1st T20I in Hyderabad, we witnessed one of the greatest T20 chases as KL Rahul 62 and Virat Kohli 94 masterfully led the Indian team to victory. Young Rishabh Pant, hailed as MS Dhoni's successor, has been facing criticism for quite some time. He played immaturely and impetuously, often throwing away his wicket due to rash shots. A similar situation occurred in the 1st T20 when Pant's cameo of 18 was interrupted by Sheldon Cottrell. However, thanks to the brilliance of Rahul and Kohli, the failures of the other batsmen were masked. In the second T20I in Thiruvananthapuram, the Indian batting order was reshuffled. Despite Shivam Dube's 54 and Rishabh Pant's 33, India struggled to reach a total of 170-7. That total was not enough as the West Indies batsmen battled their way to the total in just 18.3 overs after receiving reprieve in the form of dropped catches on several occasions. In the third T20I in Mumbai, Indian openers got off to a flying start.