Positives and negatives for Team India from the Zimbabwe tour

While the world is busy speculating over the marvels of the Ashes series, Indian cricket season is currently at a serene, calming phase before the eventual storm of competitive cricket in the upcoming months leading to the T20 World Cup.With most of thepermanent squad members opting to rest, a young and inexperienced side was sent to compete with Zimbabwe, in hopes of shining some light on promising stalwarts that would usher forth a positive era for India cricket, which is currently rife with rumours of political unrest.Here are few things that went in Indias favour, and few that didnt.

#1 Positive: Return of Bhuvneshwar Kumar & Harbhajan Singh

Bhuvi bowled well in the series

One of the biggest gains from the series would be the pleasing sight of Bhuvneshwar Kumar returning to his swinging, miserly ways. With MS Dhoni’s snide hint at India’s reluctance to continue the fast bowler project, the return to potency for India’s current top swing bowler is good news for everyone. While Kumar picked up wickets, it’s his return to economical bowling (albeit, aided by the new cricket rules) that truly signals he has vanquished the demons of that fateful injury that made him lose his skillset. 

Apart from that, his death bowling has also seen a massive improvement. Kumar was a regular death bowler for Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, and his growing tendency to bowl yorkers at the rear end of the innings is gradually making him a fully accomplished bowler. The 50th over of the 1st ODI, in which he successfully defended India’s total against Elton Chigumbura’s resilience will give him a massive boost.

Equally gratifying was the return of Harbhajan Singh, who continued to show he is just as canny as always. While he was bowling to a relatively weaker batting opposition, his consistency and experience was once again at display and he might just claim his spot back in the Indian team in place of Ravindra Jadeja.