Should India’s middle-order be dropped?
Sports
India’s recent humiliating loss in England reminded all cricketing fans of the constant discussion that’s been around in the last couple of years - India’s Big 3 not firing in the middle!
The wall successor Cheteshwar Pujara, Indian Team Captain Virat Kohli and Vice-Captain Ajinkya Rahane are long overdue for delivering their share of runs. This begs a serious question to be asked - is it time to replace them?
Cheteshwar Pujara
It’s been 31 months and 36 innings since Pujara has reached the triple-digit score. After his historic resilience against Australian pacers in 2020-21’s India’s tour of Australia, the one down has started to come under intense scrutiny for a lack of big numbers, possibly because of not rotating the strike as much as the team wants him to do.
Virat Kohli
Once touted to comfortably pass Sachin’s record of 100 centuries comfortably, the Indian captain has not scored an international century in the last 51 innings. Ever since hitting his last century in November 2019, Virat Kohli has completed 10 Tests, 15 ODIs and 18 T20s - all without touching the golden three-digit mark.
During this term, he has scored 649 runs at an average of 43.25, compared to his career average of 59.07.
“It's a simple plan to Virat, fourth and fifth stump, get it to angle away, and hope he nicks it and he did”
In a post-match interview, England’s young fast bowler Ollie Robinson, went on to reveal their plan of focusing on the fourth and fifth stump to bowl to Virat - which in fact is turning out to be working for them.
However, his average in T20 has improved to an amazing 64.45 in this period, making him the only current batsman to have a 50+ average in all three formats of the game.
Ajinkya Rahane
Indian Team’s current vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane, presently averages 33.77 runs in 48 tests, which is 33% lower than his career average. In the last 31 years, India’s no other top or middle batsman has averaged less than 35 in a 48-test stretch in their career. With glimpses of greatness like his flawless century in Melbourne, Rahane currently runs a heavy risk of facing the axe and being left out of the squad.
Rahane’s average by the years
Despite Rahane having served the bench for the longest time, Indian spectators were very excited to see the young Mumbaikar play as amongst the greatest in the game. As an unfortunate contradiction, his performance has come to be one of the most inconsistent in the history of Indian cricket, often letting the team and his supporters down.
Tough decisions for the next test
Hanuma Vihari remains the current favourite to replace Ajinkya for the next test starting on September 2. Many have also been eyeing the T20 star - Surya Kumar Yadav, to make his test debut, thanks to his recent amazing achievements in limited-overs.
One may also expect Shaw or Gill to get a spot, with limited chances though, as they are primarily known for opening the innings and KL and Rohit’s pair has currently been displaying a sublime touch.
Why is Cloudtail shutting down?
Business
On August 9 2021, Amazon India announced that its seven-year-old joint venture with Mr. Narayana Murthy, Prione Business Services (PBS) will shut shop by May 2022.
To set the context, PBS owns and runs Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd. For the uninitiated, Cloudtail is the single largest seller on Amazon India - with a catalogue of over 30 lakh products and a merchant network of over 3 lakhs.
Change in FDI policy
In order to protect the interests of local merchants against the deep-pocketed foreign multinationals, and to create a level playing field, the Government of India (GoI) drafted an FDI policy last year pronouncing:
100% FDI permission - for marketplace based B2C companies and,
Prohibited foreign investment - for inventory based B2C companies
This implies that the likes of Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart cannot own inventory in India. They can merely be platform facilitators.
Why and how was Cloudtail formed?
Owning inventory is key to the top line of any e-commerce company - it ensures greater availability of products and a smoother customer experience.
Therefore, to circumvent the now-infamous Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) laws, Amazon partnered with Narayana Murthy’s Catamaran’s Ventures and set up PBS, which wholly owns Cloudtail India Pvt. Ltd.
Through this arrangement, Amazon India came to exercise indirect ownership and control over the products sold on its platform.
Backlash from other vendors
However, this intricate web of investment holding could not be hidden from public eyes for long. Other online retailers accused Amazon of indulging in anti-competitive behaviour.
Other retailers accused Amazon of:
Attempting to stifle competition by preferring products sold by Cloudtail
Launching products at steep discounts under its private labels, through unrestricted access to sales data
A case against Amazon is now filed with the Competition Commission of India (CCI) for contemplation.
Amazon to be heavily impacted
Despite its market dominance and hefty bank balance, Amazon India has been incessantly receiving blowbacks -
The threat of flash sales being banned - a core revenue driver for e-commerce sites,
The announcement of a state-sponsored open network for digital commerce,
The uncertainty over Future-RIL deal and,
Now, the closure of its seller entity.
With these threats hanging on its head, the going is getting tougher by the day for this mighty multinational.
Immense potential benefits to Reliance
If there is one company that would be thrilled by all these developments - it would be Reliance!
Reliance would grab this opportunity to fill in the vacant space created by Cloudtail’s closure. With its ubiquitous distribution network, copious amounts of money and the fact that it can hold inventory, Reliance will aim to be the next best alternative to Cloudtail in the days to come.
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