Young Team India have their noses ahead of Australia and Sri Lanka in the tri-series. But Indian fans across the globe will not be feeling happy after the drubbing at the hands of Sri Lankans. In India every fan is a cricket pundit but the average supporter is only looking for victory at all costs.

During India's opening match against Australia in the series, the commentators indulged in an interesting time-pass of comparing the age and international experience of the players of both teams. Aside from Sachin Tendulkar, the average age of Team India is around 25 whereas most of the Aussies were well into their 30s.

Gautam Gambhir, who had been in and out of the team since 2000, suddenly finds himself among the senior ranks in the team at 25. This elevation is due to the presence of even more inexperienced players like Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Manoj Tiwary.

'Expecting a youngster like Manoj Tiwary to score tons soon after landing in Australia is asking too much'


As for the bowling department, 23-year-old Irfan Pathan spearheads the attack with Sri Sreesanth and teenage sensation Ishant Sharma. The same selection committee which was reluctant to believe in young talent, suddenly seems to be obsessed with it.

It was not long ago when the same selectors sent a flawed group of ageing legs to the Caribbean for the 2007 World Cup at the expense of youth. Paying no heed to the then coach Greg Chappell, who always fought for youth, they decided to stick to the old war-horses, fearing a media-backlash in case the youngsters failed to click.

But now it is rather surprising to see the change in attitude the selectors have undergone as they have started showing courage to the extent of dropping super-seniors like Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly to bring in the young guns. Of course it is the Twenty20 triumph that has brought about this turnaround

Ishant and Rohit have responded well to the faith shown in them. There is nothing wrong in promoting young talent. As the controversial Chappell once said: "One-day cricket is a young man's game."

Expecting a youngster like Tiwary to score tons soon after landing in Australia is asking too much. Firing or backing the current youngsters in the team on the basis of the final result of this tri-series is not the right way to groom them for the future.

An unfavourable position in the tri-series can bring the youth mantra under the scanner and see the youngsters pave way for seniors. This will definitely shatter the young players' confidence.

The selectors should continue to back youth, whatever the result of this series. The current youngsters have proved that they have it in them to reach the highest level and the selectors need to be much more realistic in visualising the future of Indian cricket and not expect miracles to happen overnight.