Old replace the young

On this day, 132 years ago, Test cricket was born but it was just another day at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Auckland. But the poignancy of one moment couldn’t be missed. As Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar, Rohit Sharma, and other ODI specialists left for the airport, to fly back to India, VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid posed for photographs with fans, in the foyer. It was also odd, that such vastly experienced champions were replacing relative upstarts. A sort of reverse changing of the guard.

For the last 25 days or so, facing the camera has been the job of Raina, Rohit, Praveen and such likes. Twenty-five days that have included two defeats for them to start off with, a comeback in the ODIs, introduction to the extreme beauty of New Zealand, sky-walks, harbour climbing, deep-sea fishing, cold days, warm days, rainy days, dry days, and a historical series win.

Over the last 25 days, Raina realised the horror stories from the last tour were just an aberration, and Praveen realised the pitches here needed about as much work as in India. Maybe Tests will be different. But then they will watch the action on the telly. They might choose not to, but the action will go on.