The fantastic four - Time to perform or perish for the Indian stars

Sehwag, Yuvraj and Zaheer – Time to prove their worth, yet again!

“Time doesn’t stop for anyone” - all will agree with this phrase as time is not stagnant for anyone and people need to be at par with time or  lose out on their ambitions and goals in life.

Today, the Indian cricket team has a bunch of established players feeling the heat and pressure to perform and find a place in the team because they were not consistent with their abilities and time flew leaving them behind with dim hopes of a comeback.

Yes, I am talking about the hottest topic of Indian cricket today- will the relegated- to- the-background ex-regular players gain a place in the team again?

Ever since the selectors showed faith in the senior players and named them for the series against West Indies A, speculations have risen in the mind of all cricket fans around the country whether our senior star players will be able to rise to the occasion, deliver the goods and make a comeback into the national side.

The four senior players, namely- Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan have been given a lifeline to perform in the domestic circuit and win a spot back in the Indian team for the upcoming international season. Each of them have been a pillar of strength for the team for the past few decades. Individually they bring a lot to the team and any strong side would fear playing against a team comprising of such talented cricketers.

These four have nothing to prove to the world today. People who know about cricket and understand the game will surely say that these four players have given a lot to their team and rendered their services to the fullest. They have been winners  in their respective areas of the game, but  today time has changed.

They may have nothing to ‘prove’ but certainly have everything to ‘lose’. Their reputation of being Indian team’s ‘star players’ have  received a major jolt as a result of their inconsistency, fitness issues and emergence of younger and extremely talented players in the present Indian squad.

Let us first analyze the situation of our former opening duo- Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir.  They have been selected in the India A squad for the Test series against West Indies. It  is crystal  clear  that  the  selectors  are  looking  for someone to accompany Shikhar Dhawan in  the Test matches.

The sad part is that only one of them is likely to be picked up  to pair with Dhawan. Dhawan’s mesmerizing and flawless knock of 187 against Australia and his consistent performance with the bat in ODI’s has given him a permanent place at the top of the innings for India for the coming season. So, both the dashing  openers from Delhi will have to fight amongst each other for the other place in the opening spot in the team.

Time has certainly been cruel to them but they have no one but themselves to blame for their dismal performance. Though Murali Vijay had also impressed the selectors in the Border-Gavaskar series after being the leading run scorer, but his place looks uncertain as he had a forgettable outing for his team in this year’s IPL and maintained the same form in the tri-series in West Indies. He has been written off as an opener for the South Africa tour, later this year, due to his lukewarm performances.

It comes as a shock to me to see  our one-time-regular-opener  Gautam Gambhir’s name only in the Test series and not  in ODIs. It maybe because the selectors are happy to let the Rohit Sharma- Shikhar Dhawan pair continue to open for India but I feel Gambhir brings a lot to the equation for our team.