All is well with the Indian ODI side

The colored clothing and the white ball seem to bring out the fighting spirit in the men in blue. The team playing in the CB series does not look anywhere close to the clueless test team earlier in the series. Dhoni seems at ease leading this young team and the young team is responding brilliantly. Dhoni himself has looked in brilliant touch and the performance of the team has improved considerably.

The fielding has been the best aspect of the series. The youngsters have thrown themselves around and have been brilliant in the field. It is amazing to see an Indian side out fielding Australia and Sri Lanka. The bowling also has looked more purposeful. Everyone is surprised the way Vinay Kumar has bowled in the ODI series. His pace is up considerably and has been brilliant with the new ball. Umesh Yadav has been pacey and Zaheer has been his consistent self. R Ashwin and Jadeja have been good with the ball and effective with the bat.

The only problem for the Indians again in the ODI team has been consistency of the batting line up. Even though Gambhir has been in brilliant form he has got little support from the top and middle order. The reason why India has struggled to win the games convincingly is because the young batsmen have thrown their wickets away at crucial times. Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have looked in great touch but have played some horrendous shots to get out after looking set. The pressure of the chase has been falling squarely on the lower order and for now they have done the job. The rotating openers too have found the going tough. Both Sachin and Sehwag have not hit their straps yet which is also the cause for the batting issues.

Even though there are some issues, the overall performance of the team has been brilliant till now. India is topping the table as of now which is a great achievement and the youth has obviously brought the necessary energy to the team. The youth policy on the ODI team started few years back is for sure paying rich dividends as even in the absence of Yuvi in the middle order Raina, Kohli and Rohit have taken the responsibility. Even though the rotation policy at the top is causing instability, it is the right thing to do as the youngsters need to be given a longer run. Manoj Tiwary and Ajinkya Rahane also are waiting in the wings and it will be great to see them getting some games. The ODI team has started well and has a great chance of repeating the success of 2008.

Article by: Giridharan Subramanian