Team India is set to lock horns with Zimbabwe in a 3-match ODI series, starting Thursday in Harare. While the senior players have been rested for the tour, a bunch of talented youngsters will be in action under the leadership of KL Rahul.
In the 12 months, there have multiple occasions when two separate Indian teams have played two different series at different places. In July 2021, while the Virat Kohli-led Test team was in England, Shikhar Dhawan led a second-string side to Sri Lanka for 3 ODIs and as many T20Is. Earlier this year as well, when Rohit Sharma & Co were preparing for the Edgbaston Test, Hardik Pandya led a team in 2 T20Is in Ireland.
Fielding multiple teams at different places at the same time has been becoming a new norm in Indian cricket and BCCI secretary Jay Shah has already stated that it would happen more often in future.
Former Pakistan spinner Danish Kaneria lauded this particular strategy of the BCCI. In his latest YouTube video, he said India’s deep reserve of talented players let them send a ‘B Team’ to Zimbabwe for the ODIs.
“There have been talks about making two Indian teams, as they have so many players that it becomes difficult to accommodate all of them in a single team. Zimbabwe is a Test-playing nation and they do play impressive cricket. But despite that, India sent a second-string side for the series. We saw that earlier this year also when many Indian players were in England and a different Indian team played white-ball games in Sri Lanka," Kaneria said.
Speaking further, Kaneria suggested that it won’t be an easy task for other countries to replicate what India has done. He underlined that BCCI has been giving opportunities to fresh talents by fielding two separate teams at a time.
“It will surely have a big impact on world cricket if they have two teams. No other country has spoken about having two teams and I don’t think they would be able to do that. Pakistan also have a lot of talented players, but they haven’t been getting enough chances.
“India, on the other hand, are giving chances to their players, irrespective of where they come from. This isn’t the case with Pakistan. They could have sent in new players for the series against the Netherlands and Shan Masood should have been the captain," he added.
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