After the Latham-Taylor show in Mumbai, India have drawn level in the ODI cricket series against New Zealand with a clinical performance in Pune. Bhuvaneshwar and Bumrah set the tone up front and batsman knocked off the runs with ease. 1-1 with one to play. Our prediction at the start of the series seems to be coming good at this point.

We, however, have an another (larger) question – do these matches have any context at all? With series flying thick and fast, hardly a weekend goes by without India featuring in a cricket match. Since the Champions Trophy 2017 in June, India have played almost non-stop.

• Five days after defeat in the Champions Trophy final the Indian team was in the West Indies for five ODIs and a T20I.
• Two weeks after returning from the Caribbean, they were in Sri Lanka for three tests, five ODIs and a T20I.
• Ten days after returning triumphant from Sri Lanka, India were playing their old nemesis Australia in five ODIs and three T20Is.
• A week after Australia, the New Zealand series started.
• Ten days after the end of the New Zealand series, India plays Sri Lanka again in three tests, three ODIs and one more T20. You might ask why we are playing Sri Lanka again, since we played them earlier in the year? Maybe it has something to with Sri Lanka being the only ones voting with the BCCI in the big ICC revenue re-shuffle?
• Ten days after the end of the Sri Lanka series, India will be in South Africa for three tests, six ODIs and three T2OIs.

Did you feel tired reading that? Does the world really need more India-Sri Lanka matches? Who is watching these matches? Read More …