Champions Trophy 2013: Men with moustaches weaving magic for India

Dhawan and Jadeja have been phenomenal.

Both of them were wandering in the domestic circuit and weren’t sure of their places in Team India even a year ago. While Shikhar Dhawan, despite being talented was inconsistent, Ravindra Jadeja was impressive only in domestic cricket or the Indian Premier League. But as far as the current scenario is concerned, it is difficult to remember how the Indian team has survived all these days without these two players. They have shown tremendous improvement in their game and are likely to be a part of the team for a very long time.

The ‘Sir Jadeja’ jokes haven’t ended yet. Cricket fans still post weird and hilarious stuff about Sir Ravindra Jadeja on social networking sites. Every now and then, even MS Dhoni cracks a joke on him. But with each game that he is playing, the cricket fraternity is stunned to see what a significant cricketer Jadeja is proving to be for the Indian team. More than his batting, his bowling has been wreaking havoc in the minds of the best of batsmen. Meanwhile, Dhawan has grown in confidence after scoring his maiden Test ton against Australia. Something else which works in his favour is the confidence that Dhoni has shown in him. With Sehwag and Gambhir not being in the picture for quite some time, the Indian skipper might have told the left-hander to enjoy his game without bothering about his place in the team. Jadeja is proving to be a terrific all-rounder. There haven’t been many matches where Dhoni has thrown the ball at him and he hasn’t got him breakthroughs. The batsmen now fear facing him keeping in mind his tendency to bowl with an accurate line and length and pick wickets on a regular basis. And the best part about Jadeja is that he never seems to be playing under pressure. He bats down the order and even though he has become Dhoni’s go-to-man when he needs wickets, the Indian skipper never seems to be in a hurry to toss the ball at him. He is enjoying his cricket, and he doesn’t even mind the Sir Jadeja jokes as it keeps the team in good mood. The Indian team had been missing a genuine all-rounder for quite some time now. While Irfan Pathan seemed to be the probable candidate, nobody even considered Jadeja for it, let alone bringing him in the squad. Every now and then he scored some big knocks in the domestic circuit which made his comeback into the Indian team possible. But now he is there as a bowler who can pick wickets and score runs at a brisk pace when needed down the order. Dhawan, on the other hand, is a mix of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. He isn’t the one who will go after the bowlers from the very first ball, but after spending some time at the crease, he can score boundaries at will. He has now scored three international tons on the trot, and being technically sound, he is fit for any format of the game. The current Indian team is one of the best we have seen in a very long time. Dhoni is focusing on in-form players, a reason why somebody like Yuvraj Singh was dropped from the Champions Trophy squad. Dhawan has proved that he is meant for the big stage, and while ‘Sir Jadeja’ continues to impress, we are set to take a formidable side to Australia for the ICC World Cup 2015.