Young & Restless India ready for ODI's against England

SOUTHAMPTON: The Test series is done and dusted with. The Twenty20 World Cup lies ahead. The go-between — a seven-match one-day series — lies in between. It’s time to put away the glorious whites India donned this English summer and welcome the vibrancy of the high octane game.

Discussing Anil Kumble’s century at the Oval will be passé and VVS Laxman will quietly turn out for Lancashire even as Rahul Dravid leads out his men to take on Paul Collingwood’s team at Southampton on Tuesday. Dravid himself will head home along with Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar as Mahendra Singh Dhoni leads a youth brigade to South Africa for the Twenty20 Cup.

Looking at the packed schedule ahead, one that sees India hosting Australia immediately after the Twenty20 World Cup, resting of players, especially the ageing marquees, will be necessitated. This in turn will provide opportune moments for India’s Generation Next cricketers to shine.

For Robin Uthappa, Rohit Sharma, Piyush Chawla, the NatWest series that begins on Tuesday and the Twenty20 World Cup will be defining games. Dinesh Karthik, in his new and improved avataar, has been a revelation and RP Singh, the left-arm paceman, has shown the skill and maturity that belies his 21 years.

Not all of them are going to be regulars in the starting XI, but the seven-match series should provide each of them a chance to prove their mettle. For starters, inclusion of any one among Uthappa, Chawla and Karthik will compliment Yuvraj Singh’s electric fielding.

Yuvraj himself will be itching to get into action as his appearances so far have been restricted to the sidelines and gigs in the winning dressing room. Still only 25, Yuvraj with a wealth of experience, will be the first among equals. In Uthappa, Sharma and Karthik, India have the batsmen to match Yuvraj’s ability to fell targets at a very quick pace.

Uthappa, in his first game, overhauled Yuvraj’s highest score by a debutant for India. After a lacklustre World Cup in the Caribbean, the Karnataka opener has been lying low. His 55 against Scotland in the one-off one-dayer was a relatively sedate affair when looked at in context of his 100-plus strike rate. Uthappa has wisely taken time to get his eye in before playing the big shots.

Sharma has played just two one-dayers so far. He remains the only Indian batsman to have a Twenty20 century to his name. He is considered the brightest batting talent emerging from Mumbai, since one Sachin Tendulkar. In the domestic circuit he has made the runs. He will now have to take the next big step.

Chawla has enjoyed a fair deal of success as the Under-19 skipper. But what has kept him in the news is his leg-spin and more recently his inclination to turn into an all-rounder. In tandem with Ramesh Powar’s off-spin, Chawla could pose the English batsmen a few problems.

Another thorn in the flesh for Paul Collingwood’s team will be Dinesh Karthik, who has transformed himself from just a wicketkeeper-batsman to a fine Test opener. He played a crucial role in India’s Twenty20 win over South Africa in December. After a successful Test series, where he had the highest run aggregate, Karthik will only be too eager to get into the one-day mode. For India’s young cricketers, the NatWest series could be the stepping stone to greater things.