Player of the Match James Pattinson

India could have been sniffing a probable victory last night after reducing Australia to 179/8, even though Michael Hussey remained a big threat to their chances as long as he was at the crease. However, one amazing 43-run partnership for the last Australian wicket demoralized India to such an extent that even a modest target of 292 seemed like 492 for a batting line-up having more than 50,000 runs to their credit.

Hussey only 10 runs to his overnight score of 79 as he was dismissed by a snorter from Zaheer Khan outside off-stump but James Pattinson was able to post his highest first class score in the innings of 37 where he demonstrated wonderful technique for a tailender, much like Ishant Sharma did for India in the first innings. While his partner in crime, Ben Hilfenhaus played two cracking strokes as well which frustrated the Indian bowlers.

But the Aussie bowlers continued from where they left off in the first innings as the pitch was deteriorating. The Indian batting collapsed like a pack of cards as the top order struggled against the pace of Pattinson, swing of Hilfenhaus and the seam movement of Siddle. Dravid was trapped beautifully by an inswinger from Pattinson which was bowled at a tremendous pace and that was perhaps the last nail in the coffin of the Indian batting as he is the man in form this year.

Gambhir’s problems outside off-stump continued as he gave a regulation catch to Ponting at second slip off Siddle’s bowling. While Laxman’s poor run at the MCG continued and Kohli failed yet again. Sachin Tendulkar gave the Indian fans a lot to cheer about but Siddle played spoilsport yet again by picking his wicket at a key juncture of the match. At 81/6, India were already staring now the barrel and it was just a matter of time before the match ends.

Dhoni and Ashwin fought hard for India but there was no big partnership to be seen and that cost India dearly as the tailenders could not survive for long. There is some promise in the batting line-up but Australia’s quickies are in red hot form and it was close to impossible to stop their march as they picked wickets at regular intervals.

India have a lot to work on if they are to pose any challenge to this underrated Australian team come Sydney.

Ed Cowan’s 145 knock helped New Zealand to gain advantage over host nation Australia.

Ed Cowan

The four days tour match is being played at Allan Border Field Brisbane, from November 24 to 27, 2011.

George Bailey, the Captain of Australia A won the toss on the first morning and opted to field first with a vision to restrict the tourists within limited score.

The New Zealanders went on to score 423 runs in their first innings before they were bowled out in 97 overs at a higher run rate of 4.36 runs per over.

Brendon McCullum took the honour by smashing 146 runs off just 115 balls assisted with 6 towering sixes and 21 well timed fours.

The Young all rounder Doug Bracewell contributed 73 runs off 79 balls comprising three sixes and 9 fours as Captain Ross Taylor demonstrated a patience knock of 57 runs.

James Pattinson was the highest wicket taker for the home side with four wickets, Mitchell Starc had three victims while Ben Hilfenhaus and Ben Cutting shared one wicket each.

AustraliaA accumulated 395 runs after their innings was folded up in 109.3 overs at a net run rate of 3.60 runs per over.

Ed Cowan was the star performer with the bat with 145 runs as David Warner and Mtthew Wade contributed 65 and 53 runs respectively.

Bracewell was the leading wicket taker for the visitors by grabbing four wicket as Tim Southee, Trent Boult and Chris Martin shared two wickets each.

New Zealanders gained a minor first innings lead of 28 runs but could not capitalize that as they lost the first wicket of century maker in first innings McCullum for just five runs.

Martin Guptill played sensible cricket while occupying the crease for long and secured one end while wickets were tumbling at the other end.

He added 30 runs for the second wicket with Kane Williamson before he departed after scoring 14 runs.

The second wicket fell at 48 runs whenTaylorjoined in with Guptill and the duo was at the crease until stumps.

The New Zealanders scored 75 runs without any further loss, Guptill was unbeaten on 37 runs asTaylorwas consolidating at the other end on 14 runs.

They have an overall first innings lead of 103 runs with eight wickets still in hand.

The match will most probably end in a draw as there is just one day left in the match unless some drama occurs on the fourth day.

New Zealanders would like to have a reasonable batting practice before the first Test against Australia which will start from December 1, 2011, at Brisbane.

West Indies have scored 81 runs for the loss of two wickets againstIndiain their second innings and accumulated an overall lead of 189 runs at the end of the fourth day’s play. The third and final Test is being played at Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, and is heading towards a draw.

Sachin Tendulkar Missed Century Again

Earlier Tourists scored 590 runs in their first innings which included an excellent century by Darren Bravo who smashed 166 runs.

Indiagave a solid reply to the Carribeans by scoring 281 runs in 80 overs after losing just three wickets at stumps on the third day.

Sachin Tendulkar and VVS Laxman were unbeaten at 67 and 34 runs respectively.

All eyes were set on Tendulkar who was creeping to his 100^th hundred in International cricket.

Mumbai is his home ground and every one was thrilled in anticipation of his much awaited ton.

India lost an early wicket once Laxman was caught at gully by Marlon Samuels off Fidel Edwards at 32 runs with the addition of just six runs in the overnight total.

Virat Kohli was the next batsman to join in with Tendulkar who was doing well at the other end and looked poised to achieve the unique feat.

The master batsmen punished Edwards in the 84^th over and scored 14 runs and reached seven runs away from hundred.

Whole Wankhede Stadium was stunned and no voice could be heard from any corner on the last ball of the 87^th over as Tendulkar was caught at second slip by Darren Sammy of  Ravi Rampaul on 94 runs.

Tendulkar could not believe that but that was the truth and slowly he started walking back to the pavilion as he has to wait for some other innings to achieve the mile stone.

The 38-year-old was the fifth batsman to go back to the pavilion at the total of 322 runs and the home side was still 268 runs behind the West Indian target.

MS Dhoni was the next batsman to lose his wicket after scoring mere eight runs at the score of 331 runs.

Ravichandran Ashwin played  gem of an innings batting lower down in the order and thrashed 103 runs off 118 balls which comprised two sixes and 15 fours.

The young off spinner shared 97 runs valuable partnership with Kohli who contributed 52 runs as well.

Indian innings was folded at 482 runs in 135.4 overs and they conceded a first innings lead of 108 runs.

Rampaul and Samuels were the most successful bolwers ofWest Indiesby sharing three wickets each, Sammy claimed two wickets as Edwards and Devendra Bishoo chipped in with one wicket each.

Dhoni gave a surprise to the Carribeans by introducing left arm spinner Prayash Ojha in to attack in the very first over of the second innings.

The trick paid off as the visitors lost their opener Adrian Barath for just three runs and Kirk Edwards followed him at 30 runs at his individual score of 17 runs.

Both wickets were acquired by Ojha but Kraigg Brathwaite and Darren Bravo consolidated the innings and took the score to 81 runs at stumps, they were unbeaten at 34 and 27 runs respectively.

The Test looks like heading for a draw as just one day remains in the match and India will be pleased to win the series 2-0 as they have won Two Tests already.

Misbah-Ul-Haq played Captain’s knock and remained unbeaten on 48 runs off 38 balls with a six and three fours asPakistanwon the Twenty20 match against Sri Lanka.

Misbah-Ul-Haq

The only T20 was played at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, on November 25, 2011.

The Lankan Lions set a target of 142 runs for victory to Pakistan on a placid wicket.

They started their innings with their regular openers Mohammad Hafeez and Imran Farhat as Tillakaratne Dilshan tossed up the ball to Lasith Malinga.

Farhat was severe on the bowlers from the word go and smashed three fours to Malinga in his first over.

The duo produced 31 runs for the first wicket when Hafeez was adjudged leg before wicket off Thisara Perera on the last ball of the fourth over.

Hafeez lost his wicket after scoring 13 runs and Farhat followed him with the addition of just five runs in the total.

The young gun Umar Akmal added the worries forPakistanas he was dismissed without opening his account.

The third wicket was lost at 44 runs in 6.3 overs when Misbah-Ul-Haq came to the crease and joined Asad Shafiq.

They put their heads down, consolidated the innings with occasional boundaries every now and added 46 runs for the fourth wicket.

Asad lost his wicket after scoring 33 runs of even balls when Shahid Afridi entered on the field.

They shared a valuable partnership of 43 runs and Afridi contributed 22 runs off 15 balls which included two sixes in the 19^th over.

Pakistanachieved the target on the third ball of the 19^th over, thanks to an overthrow on the first ball of the 20^th over.

Earlier Sri Lanka won the toss, elected to bat on a perfect batting wicket while the innings was opened by Upul Tharanga and Captain Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Pakistan started attack with the seasoned Umar Gul who bowled two consecutive wide balls but recovered well by ending up the over while conceding just four runs.

Sohail Tanvir started off the over in the identical fashion following Gul by delivering two wides and was punished by Dilshan for 16 runs including two fours.

Tharanga took charge from the other end by rolling the ball twice over boundry and scored 10 runs off Gul.

Aizaz Cheema was given the charge of bowling in the fourth over and he bowled Tharanga on the second ball after he had scored 12 runs.

Young Dinesh Chandimal came in next, joined Dilshan and the tempo of scoring was lifted by the duo.

Sohail was punished again in the fifth over for 15 runs and fifty of the innings was achieved as well.

Misbah-Ul-Haq brought in magical off spinner Saeed Ajmal to control the game and he got the important wicket of Dilshan who was caught smartly at short midwicket by the skipper for 28 runs off 15 balls which included 4 fours.

The second wicket fell at 61 runs in 5.3 overs which was a good going for Sri Lanka when Kumar Sangakkara appeared on scene.

Sangakkara could not perform well and went back to the pavilion after scoring nine runs and Pakistan never looked back from there.

Chandimal showed some resistance to the lethal bowling attack of Pakistan by smashing 56 runs off 44 balls with 6 fours as the middle order and tail vanished, the whole Sri Lankan team was bowled out at 141 runs off 19.3 overs.

Cheema was the star performer for Pakistan by grabbing four wickets, Gul claimed two while Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez shared one wicket each.

Pakistan won the nail biter by five wickets with three balls to spare and Cheema was declared ‘Player of the match’.

Sessions, test matches and the ongoing test series was completely dominated by England till the 2^nd test match. As the practice game started, a positive outlook was taken with all the top players including Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer Khan into the game.

The practice game was over and India already had a sad news to deal with, with Zaheer Khan already injured and doesn’t look like getting into the team till next 4 months atleast.

A series which is very unfortunate for India, with number of Indian players getting injured at the same time. As the 3^rd test match started, India was forced to go in to bat but with the best batting line-up they’ve used in this series so far. But unfortunately India has a disappointing start with Sehwag out for a duck with a ball which is short and bounced unevenly and sharply. Though umpire wasn’t convinced and the DRS came into play. And the result was out.

A partnership was building up between Gambhir and Dravid, though Bresnan soon played the spoilsport and Gambhir was bowled with ball hitting the stumps after getting an inside edge of his bat. Soon the other batsmen also followed him up to the pavilion including the in-form batsman Dravid whose went flying in the air because of an excellent delivery by Bresnan. India’s top order was destroyed because of some supreme bowling performances by Bresnan and Broad. Though Swann as usual wasn’t visible with his mediocre performances totally overshadowed because of magnificent performances by other English bowlers.

Even the apparent Vaseline user, VVS Laxman was set to the pavilion after playing a lazy pull-shot straight into the hands of the fielder. Now, with Dhoni being the only batsman left in the middle, with no form on his side, a score of 150 looked good enough.

But Dhoni fought and how! With a partnership of around 84 runs, the plan to counter-attack worked wonders for the Indian team. A score of 25 and PK got back into the pavilion. Soon Dhoni followed after scoring a magnificent 77, which wasn’t expected from him since he has been looking out of touch since a long time. Not like he wasn’t expected to, but obviously the expectations went down after multiple failures. Soon India was out and out with the score of 224 in their kitty.

With just half the day over, entire Indian team was back into the pavilion. There were things going around about what would the England team do if there were similar kinds of riots in Mumbai and they were playing in India. Since, England had already pulled out of the series which was in the playing mode when the Mumbai terrorist attacks happened in 2008.

England comes out to bat, and Indians come out to field. As a routine for this series, Praveen Kumar starts things off. Slowly the English batsmen start building their innings. Slowly and steadily the fours start flourishing as still there are no teeth in the Indian bowling line-up. As the day gets over, India is already struggling against 2 of the players in the England side who haven’t scored heavily as the rest of the batting line-up has. At 84/0 they were quite in contention to level the scores in no time.

As day 2 started, India was still in search for a wicket. English batsmen were in no mood to give away their wicket that easily. Indian bowlers were trying hard, but not to the impact they would have liked it to be. England was 186/0 already and in no time. Mishra bowling from one of the end, bowled a beautiful ball which sharply turned and went on to hit Strauss’s pads but the appeal was turned down. Patience was rewarded. Again the ball turned sharply and this time it goes right to just clear the stumps. English captain was out after playing a brilliant innings.

Ian Bell soon came in and played his natural shots. Scoring in no time and he was off with a flying start. Scoring boundaries all over, there was a traumatic situation for the Indian bowlers. What has Indian players done right in this test match?

Batting? No! Bowling? No! And now fielding too? Ian Bell was dropped at the slips by Dravid after a superb out-swinger just cut through Bell’s bat. A low catch which should have been taken. Even the fact that Dhoni’s captaincy skills have gone for a toss is true. Commentators have wondered a number of times since the start of the test series whether why do the slips and the wicket-keeper himself stands so away from the stumps that the ball doesn’t even carry properly? Even there have been problems to whether why doesn’t the third-man be in his position for some players and when it is necessary?

Ian Bell was finally out because of a cracking delivery which went past him right to help the stumps flutter in the air. But right before that, Alaistar Cook scored a well-deserved century applauded by everyone. Building up his innings slowly and with all the composure he didn’t give any chance to the Indian bowlers. With Pieterson already in, the platform for India in this test match was already lost.

Scoring at the speed of bullet, Indian bowlers were thrashed all around. Except Praveen Kumar all the bowlers went for runs. While Sreesanth was struggling against the left-handers, Ishant Sharma was struggling against right-handers.

Praveen Kumar again strikes as he gets Pieterson trapped in front of the stumps. Though Pieterson looked thoroughly dejected, hawk-eye showed he was clearly out. But these wickets never made a difference as the other English batsmen just came out and continued to score at a brisk rate. Eoin Morgan another English player who’s already on the verge of scoring a half-century. A life-line was given to him though en-route his knock as Sreesanth dropped a simple catch. The fielding looked as dull as the players, since even Tendulkar couldn’t see the ball coming right towards him which was chipped off in the air by Cook and if he would have just attempted it would have been in his hands.

England at 455/3 are at the top of the game and doesn’t look to declare their innings nor do they give any indication to get destroyed by the Indian bowlers. But with India having a batting line-up as such, you can never under-estimate them even though they haven’t reached a single score of above 300 in the entire series till now.

A test match dominated by England all over, has come to a static stop with India losing without much fight from the Indian batsmen.

Though the credit not to be taken away from England bowlers, who bowled exceptionally well. Getting the wickets of well-set batsmen with an aura on their side is a difficult job. But Anderson, Broad, Tremlett and Swann which made a formidable bowling line-up bowled the Indian batsmen to tatters. 2 dropped catches, LBW decisions given not-out controversially by the umpire and all the other obstacles obviously came in their way but they still went on to win the game against the odds. And they would have certainly thought about why they agreed to ‘no UDRS for LBW decisions’.

Anderson, who led the pack, first got Dravid out with the out-swinger which he nicked it to the keeper. A well-settled partnership was then broken by him back again when Laxman played a lose shot to give a catch straight into the hands of mid-wicket.

Gambhir and Tendulkar soon got out without showing much resistance in the match. Tendulkar looked quite in the rhythm, but too much defensiveness against the bowlers got him out of the match as Anderson again got an important wicket by trapping him in front of the stumps. Even Dhoni didn’t stay for long at the crease when he should have given support to the other end.

Batsmen troubled all over. Broad who was criticized for his inclusion before the match justified his inclusion altogether. Troubling the batsmen with his perfect line and length was his only aim. A hard-working all-rounder, he did all that he could to get the wickets on Indian batsmen. A determined shout against Tendulkar which looked plumb and he was given not-out. Even against Raina, he almost got his wicket and he was on the ground feeling heartbroken about which looked like a plumb and Billy just disagreed.

The only batsman who fought and got India into the fight was Suresh Raina, who made a gritty 78 against this English attack. When a batsman who is just 12 matches old, plays such a mature innings why can’t the others? Raina’s innings was gritty, patient and what is called as a shadow of a complete test batsmen. A slight polish and he’s already booked a place in the test squad for a permanent time.  A little time more he would have stayed to save the match and he could have been adjudged as the man of the match. But who would have been able to avert his wicket with that kind of delivery from Anderson.

Hopes were lost, and Indian tail-enders wouldn’t have been able to prevail for 28 long overs; and against a bowling line-up as such?

Though a match lost, it does have some positives out of the match. Raina, Mukund in the batting department where their temperament was tested and they did show patience to get some prominent scores. Dravid’s form was a worry for India, but does it look like the same anymore? Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar’s spells does show a good sign as India desperately needs an excellent seamer to partner Zaheer Khan.

England will be relieved looking at what they’ve done after what seems to be not the same as what happened in Lord’s in 2007 when India drew the match then. Now with another match in some days, its going to be difficult with Sehwag already out of contention for a place and Zaheer injured too. Uno numero status in danger, certainly!

After the world cup win, this was apparently the high-profile series every-one was waiting for. India with the #1 status defending their ranking to the #3 ranked England, was one of the most anticipated series at the moment. And what an occasion to begin with. This being the 2000^th test overall, 100^th test between India and England and the venue being, LORD’S the Mecca of cricket.

As the first day began, the Lord’s had overcast. An excellent start to the game, as the pitch looked like a bowler friendly one. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar’s sheer swing disturbed the batsmen, especially since Andrew Strauss is known to throw away his wicket against left arm seamers. Soon enough, Zaheer Khan provided India with a strike as Alastair Cook couldn’t go beyond the single digit mark. Soon Andrew Strauss departed too. Though, Zaheer soon had to walk out of the field because of a muscle pull and India were left with 3 bowlers. A struggling Pieterson trying to find his run-making ability couldn’t score as well as he normally does.

Though, India missed out on a lot of opportunities. Sharma missed out on an opportunity to run out Strauss when he was on 2. While Dravid missed out on a catch of Trott. A partly-blind sighted Dravid again missed out on an easy catch of Trott again at 1^st slip off Zaheer Khan’s beautiful out-swinger.

With day over with just 49 overs played, England were left at 127/2 with Pieterson struggling and Trott scoring an outstanding half-century. Apart from the fact that Indians could have fared way better than this as the ball swung because of the overcastting skies.

As the day passed, England were already at the crease and rearing to go.  Almost 3 years, a big match difficult conditions and that’s all he wanted to score a century at Lord’s and his third double century. Though it was his slowest double century, but it was a century made with sheer temperament and exceptionally well played. An innings built and played against all the odds that were standing tall against him.

With the Indian pace attack already paralyzed because of Zaheer’s injury, Praveen Kumar showed India the way. Exceptional bowling, he tried everything in his book to restrict them but with no support from either bowlers. Except for the fact that, Bhajji didn’t bowl badly. Praveen Kumar had an excellent start to his test career, picking up 5 wickets at the Mecca of cricket. As people say, if god has taken something from you, he will give it back to you in a better way. A dejected Praveen Kumar was left out of the World cup squad because of an injury, but he has made an impressive comeback with his first few matches in test cricket. His double blows at regular intervals did disrupt England’s batting for a while but Pieterson continued forming partnerships with Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Greame Swann. As Pieterson neared his double century, the original Pieterson was back leaving away his shadow as he attacked and how! The last 30 runs was a mere waste of effort by all the bowlers he was scoring against. Atlast they declared at 474/8, the crowd applauding for a superb double century and Praveen Kumar and Pieterson acknowledging each other’s excellent offers. Indian openers on the other hand tried and survived on the second day of the match at 17/0.

But the highlight of the day couldn’t be missed. The ball in the hand of M.S.Dhoni, Indian captain and wicketkeeper and the gloves in the hands of Rahul Dravid. But what amuses me is the fact that he almost got Pieterson out twice in the 8 overs he bowled. Once, Billy Bowden even judged him out, but UDRS just helped him out. But did Dhoni have an option? He sure did, 3 strike bowlers whom he had to rotate all the time, Raina and Sachin as part time bowlers who could be driven all around the ground. Being a gambler, he tried his luck out too, and trust me he was accurate.

As day 3 started, India were expected to score heavily with the kind of batting line-up they have. With Gambhir walking the path to pavilion early, India already looked in distress. Mukund made a fine 49, but wasn’t enough and got out as Broad bowled a full length delivery. And the most awaited person entered and was given a standing ovation by the entire crowd. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who was the most awaited person in Lord’s at that point of time, a person who has ever scored the century at the Mecca of cricket, ad what an occasion if he would have scored his 100^th international century here in Lord’s. After making an impressive, he started struggling against Tremlett and atlast got an edge against Broad and the anticipation was over. Disappointed, he walked back to the pavilion.

A much hyped Sachin Tendulkar day was however taken over by Rahul Dravid’s sheer temperament. Rahul Dravid took the opportunity and scored a fine century without certainly an almost no-support as even M.S.Dhoni fell for 28 just to follow Laxman and Raina. En route, he even became the 2^nd highest run-getter behind Sachin as he ran past Ponting. The great wall of India again proved why is he called one of the best in business. With India all out for 286 they already had a lead of around 188 runs which showed a clear advantage towards the English side. As the day ended, England were 5/0.

4^th day started and England were on top of the game. A quick wicket of Alastair Cook ad the day looked good for India. A quite partnership and here goes the wicket. An excellent spell by Ishant Sharma and England were already 107/6. But, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad played an excellent part and they just grew stronger. Scoring 103* and 74* respectively, they got England back into the game. Declaring at 269/6, England were back at the top.

India’s innings started and they were back to nowhere. With Gambhir injured because of shot played by Matt Prior which hit him on the upper part of elbow and Sachin Tendulkar ill, India were even more paralyzed. With Mukund’s wicket it looked like India were out of contention and even a draw looked far away from there. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who had to shift to no.2 and no.3 positions respectively, still hung out in the middle ad saved India from the embarrassment. At 34* and 32* they look to play their parts perfectly to get India on track to win the game. One being the centurion in the previous inning while the other being the second inning man and has been an ultimate savior for India in last few years. If they hang around with Gambhir, Tendulkar to follow if they fit, they have the perfect recipe for a draw if not win.

What do you remember when we talk about the 1980s and 1990s in Indian cricket? Indians being the   underdogs cruised to a phenomenal victory over the mighty West Indians to lift the world cup. Emergence of some exceptional cricketers like Amarnath, Kapil Dev, it all happened in 1980s. Gavaskar’s excellent strides against the fast and fierce West Indian bowlers like no-one could ever do! 1990s saw some outstanding cricketers in action, from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Dravid to Anil Kumble to Sourav Ganguly.

But, these excellent years did have something to regret about in Indian cricket. Match-fixing sagas were the most disappointing ones among them. Playing against your own country even after being in the squad is one of the worst things you could ever do. Why would you ever do that? How could your conscience ever let you do that? How could you ever sell your own country? The thought just amuses me.

Indians were extremely confident about playing in India but when it came to pitches abroad they would falter. Basically India didn’t have proper technique to counter the pitches abroad, especially the ones outside the subcontinent.

But life isn’t always about what you need, it’s sometimes about what happens. And as said, everything happens for a reason.  Whatever happened was for a reason, and the reason was pretty awesome. This gave India the need to get in some-one who could actually coach them in a way to play against the teams in their own den.

Its been a decade since the resurgence in Indian cricket started. With John Wright’s inclusion to the team, it was time to adopt dome international standards and techniques. His being a unique style of coaching, it didn’t go down well with the Indian players in the beginning. But his ability to adapt and understand the Indian political situations in cricket well and creating strategies considering the Indian cricketer’s mindsets help made the perfect start for an excellent decade. His partnership with Saurav Ganguly as a captain was outstanding and they together paved the way for many more youngsters.

Their partnership was the reason to why we have such exceptional and mature cricketers like VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and many more in our arsenal. He set a base, a foundation for Indian cricket. Some exceptional wins, he led India to the final of the World cup. And the credit has to be given to him. But statistics doesn’t matter as much as they way he has taught Indians how to play cricket in the right manner. Some motivational tips, the team huddle and there you go play cricket in the right way, in the right spirit on the ground. That’s what he taught them the best, apart from coaching them how to play cricket.

But his era was cut short due to loss of form of Saurav Ganguly and other cricketers, including Sachin Tendulkar. Though his tenure ended abruptly, but a job well done! But what matters is that the way he still advises the young boys and feels proud about the Indian cricket.

But what came next, was completely out of imagination. Greg Chappel’s spell with Indian cricket was one of the most horrendous experiences ever to be believed.  A supremely dominating, dictating and tyrannizing coaches I’ve ever seen. I agree these are harsh words, but all he’s done is worse to the Indian cricket.

Removing Ganguly from the team, marking an almost end to his exceptional career he never could have done worse. Ego problems always create bigger problems. I agree Ganguly had to be shown the right way, but not with the harshest solution. It still shows how much hatred he inflicted in the hearts of Indian cricketers, as no-one still has no words for him and as his name comes, they just say ‘Pass on please’.

Though an exceptional cricketer, his tactics never went down well with the Indians, as the way his tactics didn’t go well with the world in his playing days when he was captaining Australia. Asking his brother, Trevor to bowl the ball as if they were playing in a school playground, was one of the most disgraceful moments in the world of cricket. Even his brother, Ian Chappel doesn’t acknowledge it.

As his term was over, Gary Kirsten took his place. One of the most media-shy coaches, he never went in front of the media except when he left. He understood every player’s mentality and the way to deal with them. A cricketing brain, he was exceptional with whatever he did.

With M.S.Dhoni he had forged a partnership which was worth to watch. Winning the World Cup after 28 years, they together with the team got smiles on the millions of Indians all around the world. He was like John Wright in many ways. But where Wright laid the foundation, Kirsten was the man to lead the team forward.

He was a coach, a friend, a supporter everything you needed at that point of time. His coaching style was different and how! After winning the cup, he was carried on the shoulders by the young guns like the way he carried the team during his tenure. Creating a place in the heart of these millions of people is not easy, and he’s done the impossible. He has got himself the respect which he deserves. Cannot be forgotten that soon.

With him leaving the post, his post has been taken over by Duncan Fletcher. Looks like a media-shy person like Gary Kirsten, hopefully he’ll continue from where Gary Kirsten left and very well, indeed.

‘And a tremendous win by West Indies over India.’ We used to hear about this news quite frequently during the 1980s and 90s. Defeating West Indies in their own den is even more difficult, with their fast bowlers who were harrowing the batsmen for almost 2 decades. But their performances have just been dropping since then.

Once hailed as the dominant team, nowadays aren’t even close to being one. India taking their apparent ‘A’ team, says it all. India’s series against West Indies was basically a chance for youngsters to prove themselves and a chance for India to test their bench-strength. But with West Indies struggling big time and hardly able to get their combinations right, India had a good chance to set it straight up for them. After winning 3 matches convincingly, India was already out there to prove what they have in store for the world. But the winning combination was changed in order to give everyone an equal chance, but the chance to whitewash West Indies was lost and over. Losing the last 2 ODIs, the sight wasn’t great.

HIGHS

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Amit Mishra have been the highs of this series. Rohit Sharma pioneered Indian innings and helped India India win in a couple of matches. Averaging 128 and scoring around 257 runs in the 5 matches he played, he obviously has acknowledged many greats who have predicted him to be a future great for India. Kohli, another person who has been scoring consistently for India has had a pretty good series, but is capable of much more. Scoring 199 runs in 5 matches, he couldn’t score at all in a couple of matches as he lost out on capitalizing in the games. Parthiv Patel also gave us some solid starts in the games, and is trying to capitalize into the 2nc choice wicket-keeper place in the squad.

Among the bowlers, Amit Mishra was tremendous. Aggressive, he has always been looking for wickets. Picking up 11 wickets in the series with an exceptional economy rate of just 4, he has an awesome future to look at. Along with Harbhajan Singh, a defensive off-spinner, this leg-spinner can have a phenomenal partnership in the spin-bowling department. Munaf Patel has carried his form since the World Cup and looked good here again, picking up 8 wickets in the 3 matches he played.

LOWS

Suresh Raina was an utter disappointment. Playing rash shots, he was certainly over-burdened by the captaincy.  Making him a captain was a bad decision anyway, since he doesn’t have much experience anyways. Virat Kohli, who had the experience and certainly a good captain, could have been given the opportunity. Even Harbhajan Singh, a senior player could have had the chance to be what he ever wanted to be. Scoring just 82 runs, he certainly didn’t play to his capabilities. Even Shikhar Dhawan, lost out on a golden chance to prove his worth scoring as low as 69 runs, which included a fifty. Inconsistent performances are going to hurt. Manoj Tiwary, though didn’t get enough opportunities at the moment, but he certainly couldn’t get in through how many ever opportunities he was given.

Harbhajan Singh, being the senior-most player in the squad with his experience should have inspired the youngsters. Instead he himself wasn’t playing to his capabilities. Picking up 4 wickets in the 3 matches he played, his economy rate was good, and shows his defensiveness and the tendency to not look for the wickets. Even, Praveen Kumar was in the same league though his economy rate wasn’t as good as Bhajji’s. Even Ashwin couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities given to him. Actually he quite failed picking up just a wicket in the 2 matches he played.

WORSE

The biggest disappointment of the tour being, Subramanium Badrinath. Hailed as a great player, ignored by selectors all the time scored just 40 runs in the 4 matches he played.  Scoring well in the IPL, he lost the opportunity he was waiting for. Then why perform in the league games, if you don’t want to perform at the big stage? Nerves! Playing at the big stage is always a challenge and he needs to cope up with it. Dhoni brings out the best in him, and possibly his run tally could have been a lot better if he would have been around. Yusuf Pathan also couldn’t live up to his reputation of being a pinch-hitter and a clean striker of the ball. Poor selection of shots, he had a good opportunity to retain his place in the last ODI. When India actually needed him in the last ODI where wickets were consistently falling, he got a good start but fell for 30. Again losing out big time.

Ishant Sharma, who had a great opportunity to regain his lost glory again disappointed. Hailed as the one to put off fire in India’s fast bowling department when he actually made Ricky Ponting hop around in his crease he certainly has lost all the confidence in himself. He has to work on himself, indeed very hard.

It was a dream, but the dream just remained a dream. A whitewash and what would have been the frolic in the country. History would have been made, and how!  A golden opportunity, lost big time for the players as well as for the history to be made. Hopefully, they will create more opportunities for themselves in the near future.

Cricket is one of the most beautiful games to watch as well as play and I don’t think being from India, where people consider it as a religion, anyone here will have a doubt about it.  With over more than 100 years since the first ever match was played between England and Australia, this game went on beautifying itself with the way it was played.

Playing in true spirits, I’ve always admired some players. But what hurts my sentiment for this game is the way the beautifying effect has been just torn apart by certain players lacking basic sportsman spirit, money and the politics.

Rest aside, getting politics into cricket, just doesn’t seem to be a good idea. Despite being a ‘gentlemen’s game’, cricket and controversies always go hand in hand. Cricketers and their boards are constantly getting engaged in the mind games and the politics of the game.

Spats between cricketers and their respective boards have been going on since a long while. Right from Greg Chappell-Sourav Ganguly which gave rise to the fact that cricketers are mere employees for the board and nothing more. Chappell’s spat with Ganguly not only saw the worst spat ever occurred between a coach and a player but also showed how a player of caliber like Ganguly was treated in India. BCCI, being the most powerful and financially well-off cricket boards, has its own set of rules and treats players basically like slaves. But what weakens BCCI’s power is the fan base in India. Cricket being considered as a religion, the fans would just protest against BCCI if there’s anything going against a high-profile cricketer. Though media can always turn out to be the culprit.

Nevertheless what people fail to understand, is that politics is everywhere and to think that it’s only in India is just naïve. WICB-Chris Gayle, CA-Simon Katich, PCB-Shahid Afridi and it goes on and on to prove the fact that other boards do get engaged in politics too and it’s just that it hasn’t been openly talked about.

Axing senior players like Chris Gayle, Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan, what kind of team were they ever going to make? Others kept aside, Chris Gayle was on a mission to prove the board officials what they were missing on. And what he does is in style! Smashing sixes all over the ground in the just-concluded IPL, he was like a tornado coming towards the other teams. And this obviously infuriated WICB officials that he chose to play for IPL, instead of waiting for WICB officials to respond. Keeping him out of the current squad against India made the matters worse with WIPA supporting Gayle too. As the war of words goes on, who would axe senior players like them without even disclosing it in front of them? Politics plays its role.

Being in India, would you ever think of removing Sachin Tendulkar or for that matter any player who’s in his prime form with just the matter of fact that age is not by his side? That’s what exactly Australian cricket board has done! Scoring with an average of around 50 after his return to international cricket, no-one had ever thought of him being axed. Being in as many as 17 century partnership at the top after his return, Australia’s opening partnership was the most stable and effective. And the reason been given, ‘We want to forge a better opening partnership for Ashes 2013’. Is this a reason to give, when Katich has better averages than anyone else in the team after his return to international cricket? Why would you want to get rid of one of your best players? Just a bit baffled!

Even Stuart Clark was treated in a very much similar way, though he didn’t protest as such. And if two players are talking about this, there has to be some problems on the other side. And i’m sure there will be more players, just going against CA will make life worse for them.

Though PCB-Shahid Afridi tussle has been two-sided, where just because of stripping him from captaincy, Shahid Afridi decided to quit international cricket. Later again he was in a war of words with PCB and coach Waqar Younis which made the matters worse. Pakistan already at a point where their cricket doesn’t look like being stable any-time soon, with his retirement it looks even more awful. Being a two-sided mistake, you cannot just comment on what is it all about.

But what surprises me is that the board officials consider their players as mere contracted players and basically slaves who are supposed to do whatever the board wants when under contract. The politics played is intense and can’t get through it. Though the entire thing isn’t out, but what matters is all this is just affecting the game.

On top of that, with match-fixers and bookies all around, it makes worse. Even the fact that players favoring club over country hurts, but then it’s their own decisions though.

Cricket is to get back to the way it was, when there were no tussles, when every-one played their heart-out to represent their country, when match-fixing was never even a word in dictionary.