It has been a hectic week for Indiea's cricket team. After coming back to defeat South Africa 2-1 in the three-match one-day series, the Indians reached England via Scotland.

The charity ODI due to be played between India and Pakistan was rained off, much to the disgust of the sub-continent supporters. But the main gain of the first-leg of ODIs played has to be the comeback series win against the Proteas.

Sachin Tendulkar led the way with two 90-plus knocks - but he must surely have been disappointed about missing two more centuries. Yuvraj Singh had a couple of good knocks, proving his worth to the team once again. In fact, he and Manendra Dhoni have done enough to be considered as the front-runners for the captaincy in the upcoming Twenty20 World Cup. Dinesh Karthik also showed that he had a cool head in situations that tested the best.

'The players are not bigger than the game but we can only wonder whether the directive came from the Cricket Board or whether player power still rules Indian cricket'


The most heartening aspect has been the bowling performance so far. Zaheer Khan showed that he is still capable of testing the best - but he needs to avoid the boundary balls, to be more lethal. Ajit Agarkar's ball to dismiss a batsman of the calibre of Jacques Kallis would have usually raised high hopes - but for the fact that it was Ajit Agarkar!

His consistency seems to be better but he still has some way to go to reach the level of expectancy.The Indians, as expected, took advantage of the Proteas' weakness against spin by utilising the slower bowlers very well. Piyush Chawla must have learned quite a bit more during this tour than any 'A' tour. Pity he is not staying back for the Test series - he could have gained so much just by observing Anil Kumble.

But the coup, if you can call it that, is the selection of probables for the Twenty20 World Cup. The senior trio - Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly -  have all made themselves unavailable. As they are unlikely to be selected for the next ODI World Cup, it raises another question. How can the seniors get away with such an attitude?

Rahul and Sachin didn't play in the ICC-backed Afro-Asian Cup, either. By opting out, they have belittled the importance of the Indian cap, so to speak. Do they feel that such a tournament is not worth playing in? Or do they feel that they would not be able to take the workload?

If they had no intention of participating in such tournaments, why on earth did they go on the tour of Bangladesh? The players are not bigger than the game but we can only wonder whether the directive came from the Cricket Board or whether player power still rules Indian cricket. And we all know that was something that angered former coach Greg Chappell.

All very mysterious. But by agreeing to the players' request, the Board have done a complete U-turn after the stance they made following the World Cup debacle.  At that time they were anxious to make it clear that they held the reins of Indian cricket - not the players!

Putting all the implications aside, this will give a chance to a number of youngsters to parade their talent against quality bowlers in tough conditions (South Africa). The Board will be expecting to see some of the boys graduate during this World Cup. And that can only augur well for the future of Indian cricket.