The Women's World Cup cricket is under way in Australia and India have started their campaign really well. They recorded their second victory against Bangladesh. One player who has lit-up the tournament is the Indian wicket-keeper Taniya Bhatia. Taniya trained under former Indian cricketer and Yuvraj Singh’s father Yograj Singh while she was studying at secondary school. Former India cricketer Yograj Singh was a huge influence on Yuvraj Singh and it is heartening to know that he is now helping the Indian women's cricket team. Taniya has won the hearts of Indian cricket fans who believe that her style is similar to that of MS Dhoni's. She always wanted to become a wicket-keeper like her father Sanjay Bhatia who played cricket at the all India university level.
Indian men haven’t started very well in the Test series against New Zealand. There were huge expectations from them. Yet again the moving ball proved to be India's nemesis, opening up the debate on who might be the best Test team in the World. On current form I would say it is England. They won the T20 series, One-Dayers and the Test series. How can India win the next Test match? It will boil down to their batting. They will need to master conditions that are unlike their home turf. Even the likes of Virat Kohli is not in good form and it will require the skills of Ravi Shastri and the coaching staff to come up with appropriate strategies to show that the Indian Test team can perform. I remember a similar situation when I was on the India tour in 2012. We lost the first match but won in Mumbai and Kolkata. We soon realised that as a batting unit we had to score quickly to allow enough time to bowl India out. And it worked for us.
India need to occupy the crease for long periods of time and the best way to do this is to leave the ball well and know where the off stump is so that they can play each ball according to its merit. It is not going to be easy for India to make these changes because they play so much white ball cricket, making it difficult for them to adjust to the red ball. I think conditions in New Zealand will play an important part too. India will need warm weather and a good plan to attack Kyle Jamieson who at 6ft 8 inches is possibly the tallest player to play for New Zealand. A cricketer who turned from batsmen to bowler he made a dream debut taking Virat Kohli's wicket. The next Test match is at Christchurch where he spent five to six years and is familiar with the ground. So, things are looking ominous for India.
The Pakistan Super League has started and all the games are being played in Pakistan. Finally Pakistan fans can watch cricket in their own backyard. This is good news for the cricketing world, and the country now appears safe for both fans and players from a security point of view. Pakistan deserves this. It has been a long time since international cricket came to Pakistan.
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