Is India trying to follow West Indies?

Well, all you readers are aware of the way the West Indies team last year got into the record books for the wrong reasons when they became the first team to not only have lost a test match series to Bangladesh but also were the first team to have been whitewashed by the same. And the misery just got extended further when they lost the one day series as well. All thanks to a strike carried out by the West Indies Cricket Association (WICA) regarding contract disputes. May be the strike was not seriously taken by the WICB for it was a series against Bangladesh which the West Indies were about to face.

That got extended until the ICC Champions Trophy last year in South Africa where West Indies lost all three games it played against Australia, Pakistan and India in the league stages. Now, it looks like team India is also following suite when the BCCI has rested most of the senior players including the regular captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni and a squad consisting of Suresh Raina as the captain is all set to face Zimbabwe in their first encounter. India need not fear Zimbabwe for a victory is granted unless the Indians don't make a fool out of themselves by underestimating Zimbabwe.

But, there is another team in Sri Lanka who would be facing team India for the third time in this year after they had a bilateral series late last year and then in the world T20 and now in the tri nation tournament at Zimbabwe. Oh! Yes, I had forgotten to mention the tri nation tournament involving India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh held earlier this year. This would be a chance for team India to salvage their pride by winning the finals of a tri angular series which India has always been deprived of a title despite being at the top in the league stages.

However, there was no need for the BCCI to drop all the senior players namely Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Gautam Gambhir etc to name a few all simultaneously. It would not come as a surprise for anyone in case India fail to win a game against Zimbabwe. This would mean some satisfaction for the Indian team that would be heading for a tournament after their yet another dismal T20 world cup where India lost all three games in the super eights. Moreover, most of the players including Raina are new to Zimbabwe which can smell trouble.