Mahendra Singh Dhoni is just one example of raw talent from the smaller towns of India coming to the fore and quickly rising to the top through sheer personal ability. For the longest time Indian cricket looked little beyond the urban centres for talent from which to pick the Indian cricket team. Even domestic cricket was largely dominated by urban representation.

Then In 2002, the BCCI formed the Talent Resource Development Wing (TRDW) in order to identify cricket talent across the country. The officers of this department have an objective assessment system which is able to identify and isolate real talent which would otherwise not have been spotted.  There are of course still flaws in the team selection process; however the TRDW has made available to the selectors a larger pool of talent from which to select players.  And in fact in recent times many players of the international cricket side have some up the TRDW way, from India’s smaller centres. The fact that the TRDW has made a lot of difference is evidenced by the fact that winning percentages of the Indian team have gone up in the recent past, because winning is the one parameter above all that indicates the success of a team.

The fact that there is as constant stream of new and young talent which is being identified and which is joining the cricketing ranks is also keeping the seniors on their toes. The fact that one has to perform or be replaced by another younger, better performer would be at the back of a player’s mind so that complacency or lethargy does not set it.

There is now a confidence, a maturity in the Indian team that was perhaps not as evident in the 70s or the 80s. Then the attempt was to draw tests or ‘save’ them rather than aggressively go all out to vanquish the opponents. This aggression, which now characterises the Indian team, is a new and undoubtedly welcome phenomenon.

If in years past, India relied heavily on and in fact was known to produce only spinners, now there is a steady supply of talented seamers that produce the kind of pace that amazes foreign commentators who are used to thinking of India as being synonymous with spin. It is refreshing that there are constantly new sources of talent available for the team, which adds tremendous variety and diversity to the team.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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