The upcoming test for Indian cricket
Virat Kohli is already the second most successful captain of the Indian test team and with a win percentage of almost 80%, he is the best ODI captain India has ever had. The whole Indian team, and not only Virat, has flourished in the last 3 years.
The fitness level, the fielding and most importantly the fast bowling standards have increased at an exponential rate. The mindset of giving more than a hundred percent and wanting to win the match at any cost even when the chances are slim has taken the Indian cricket to a new level. MS Dhoni himself said that Virat Kohli's team will be the most successful one in the history of Indian cricket.
But that is all in the past, what matters now is how the Indian team is going to perform in the upcoming season. The big question is will they be able to replicate the success they had in the past years?
With the IPL coming to its end, Indian players will have few days to rest before they play the historic test match against Afghanistan. Afghanistan will play their first Test match ever, and not only the players but the whole Afghanistan will be looking forward to it.
Virat Kohli will be missing from the momentous Test. He will be playing county cricket for the Surrey in England. He decided to miss the Test to get acclimatized to the English conditions.
This shows how badly he wants to score runs in England this time. With so much pressure on him to score in English conditions, it will be intriguing to see how he performs.
With Pujara and Ishant Sharma also playing country cricket and experience the players have, India's performance should be superior to what it was in their last tour in 2014. Also, if you see England's squad for Ashes, 9 out of 16 players have played fewer than 15 Test matches. England's team if fairly inexperienced and rely heavily on their four players (Root, Cook, Anderson, Broad). Still, England will be the favourites to win the series but India do have a great opportunity of bringing the trophy home.
There is another exciting situation that could happen just before the England series where Virat Kohli needs to be at two places at the same time. He is in the squad that is going to play two T20s in Ireland and the contract that he has signed with the Surrey requires him to be playing for them. Where he chooses to play, only future will tell.
From England's everlasting and exacting tour, India go to UAE for a comparatively easy Asia Cup. The match to watch will be the India-Pakistan one. People on both the sides of the border eagerly wait for the match between the arch-rivals.
Then, Windies will tour India which probably is going to be a monotonous series with India winning the series quite easily.
Afterwards, India will go for a big series Down Under. "India will be the favourites for Australia tour" is what the former Australian cricketer Simon Katich feels due to the fact that the two most important pillars of Australian batting will not be playing because of the one- year ban imposed on them after the Sandpaper scandal. Batting will be the key for India against probably the best bowling attack and if the batsmen scored runs, India could beat the Aussies. With weak Aussie batting and the best bowling attack India has ever had, the visiting team has a great chance of making history on the Australian soil.
And then starts the most awaited and the most celebrated cricket tournament- the World Cup in England and Wales. The kind of cricket England has played under Eoin Morgan over the past three years certainly makes them the favourites to win. Going into the world cup India's preparation will also be good as they will be playing about 25 One day Internationals until the world cup starts.
Also, this will be the last world cup of MS Dhoni and India will hope to do something special for the Indian legend. So, fans can hope for a very competitive and enthralling world cup.
No matter how the upcoming season goes for the Indian cricket but one thing it guarantees is entertainment.