Time Machine

"If only I could go back in time" is a thought which goes thorough most of our minds at least once in our lifetime. There are lots of things in our life which we think we could have done little bit different in our life. There are lots of decisions in our life which we can reverse and correct when we find it’s not the right one for us and there are a few which cannot be made right and will haunt us for rest of our life.

I always thought that we have choices all the time and we get to pick the right one. People always blame God for all their failures and for all the bad decisions they make in life. For me it’s always us who are responsible for doing the right thing in life. I think God has put a state called "Confusion" in our minds so that it makes us think little bit harder when making those important decisions. Most of the time people like me believe in their instincts to make the most important decisions in life. As far as I am concerned till recent times I have really happy with most of my choices in life.

Even though I believe in destiny and all the things which I have mentioned earlier in this piece, I still wonder what it would be like if we had a time machine. I was recently watching "Harry potter and The prisoner of Azkaban", in which Harry and Hermione go back in time to save couple of lives. This thought really fascinates me. People sometimes; make some decisions for which they have to struggle for life. I feel even if we have access to a time machine to change our decisions we need to have some conditions for use on the same, something like

1. You can only change couple of decisions in a period of 5 or 10 years.
2. You can only change a decision which was made couple of months ago and not beyond that.

The above two conditions are the ones which come to my mind immediately. Well I know that this is not possible and the problem of such an invention is that most of the time it will be put to use for wrong purposes. People will continue to be responsible for the decisions they make and that’s how God has intended the universe to operate. I guess God always shows us two doors, and we get to make the decision as to which is the right one. When we make decisions which can alter our lives, we need to take extra care on the same. The door which is easiest to get to may not always be the right one. I made such a decision few months back which may haunt me throughout my life.

While I wait for my time machine, I can’t help but wonder "If only I could go back in time".

A Wonderful Test Series

The Adelaide draw brings to end one of the most fascinating test series in the recent times. The Indians would be really pleased with the way the came back in the series after two defeats. This series also was the last on the Australian Soil for the big 5. Sachin, laxman and Kumble had a great series but Dravid and Sourav would be ruing missed opportunities.

In a way the last two test matches brought focus back on cricket after the chaotic Sydney game. Both the teams played hard and competitive cricket over the past one month and 1-1 would have been a fair result. Bad preparation cost India the Melbourne game, bad umpiring and some bad shots cost us the Sydney test match.

Australia in the end proved that they are still the number one team in the world but only by a little margin. The Indian team has again proved to the rest of the world that Australia can be beaten in its own den. Brett lee was the best bowler in the series with 20+ wickets and has improved leaps and bounds since India toured Australia in 2003/04. It seems like Australia have found an ideal replacement for Glenn McGrath. The Australians though are finding tough to replace Shane Warne as the experiment with Brad Hogg failed miserably in this series. The fact that both Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke out-bowled Brad Hogg is an able testimony for his failure in this series. Australia would be hoping that Stuart McGill recovers from his injury really quick to fill the void left by Shane Warne. Adam Gilchrist's retirement also came as surprise as there were no indications of the same prior to this series.

Matthew Hayden was again their best batsman against the Indians as he was in the prior meetings between the two sides. Andrew "Lucky" Symonds played some important innings for his side in this test series and so did Micheal Hussey and Clarke. Stuart Clarke provided able support to Brett Lee in the fast bowling department and Mitchell Johnson was terribly inconsistent throughout the series. I have never seen a test bowler bowling so many wides as Johnson did in this series.

The Indian team again relied on Sachin Tendulkar for some big runs and to his credit the "Little Master" did not disappoint his captain. Dravid and Sourav had a very inconsistent series but as usual VVS Laxman had a great series against the Australians. Irfan Pathan, who I think should have played since the first test, gave a good account of himself by winning the man of match award contributing handsomely with both bat and ball in India's win in Perth. Sehwag again one of the players who should have been in India's playing X1 in both Melbourne and Sydney had a great end to this series by scoring a match saving 150 in the Adelaide test.

The inexperienced bowling attack performed very well against the strong Australian batting line up with Ishant Sharma being the find of the series for India. RP Singh bowled beautifully in the series in patches but lacked consistency. Kumble was once again the star performer for India in the bowling department as he captured 20+ wickets in this series. He captained the team really well during the difficult time after the second test and also made sure that he brought out the best from his team.

Overall India gave a good account of themselves in this test series. India remains the only team to have at least won one test match against Australia in every series they have played with them since the 2001/02 series.

To the country I Love

This is my first non cricket article.This article has been long time pending as I wanted to write this since I came back from my visit to India in February. I came to US to do my masters in 2003 and did not go back to India till the end of 2006. When I visited India in December of 2006, I was totally surprised with what I saw there. There was a huge cultural change since I left the country for studies in 2003. For the first time, I felt like an outsider in my own country. The outlook of the people had changed, the use of technology was enormous and the people were moving towards the mechanical life as we see here in America.

Before my visit to India last year I was hoping to meet my friends and relatives after four long years. When I eventually reached there the situation was completely different, No one had much time for me and I actually struggled to meet most of them. This is due to no fault of theirs though as all of them were busy with their hectic schedules. The other noticeable change I observed was the use of mobile phones in India. I have never seen mobile phones put to so much use anywhere as it is done in India. People keep receiving messages from their friends or just some forwarded jokes like every other minute. I was just fascinated by the same.

There are lots of new food chains, similar to what we have in the US and the spending limit of people in city has increased enormously. Couple of times when I was in some stores I was stunned with the ease with which people in India pay bills in thousands of rupees. This is obviously a good sign as it shows that the standard of living at least of the people living in the cities has increased. It was also great to see those huge malls and theaters similar to the ones in the US, where people can come in to watch movies, have food and also do some shopping all under the same roof. Even though the traffic still remained the same or to be frank had increased a little bit with more vehicles on the road and most of the times out of control. The traffic in Bangalore and Hyderabad were the worst and Chennai was just better in comparison.

My observations were only based on the cities I had visited during my stay in India and to be frank I liked what I saw in terms of infrastructure and the different mind set of the people. Even though there has been lots of changes in the last few years (mostly for the good), I still don’t know whether this can be termed as the overall growth of the country in itself. There were lots of things which still remained the same, such as kids running out of their huts when a train passes by. There are lots of people just in Chennai, who have to vacate their huts or houses if there is a cyclone. Kids in India still don’t have their basic necessities. When I was traveling to a temple via train, I was very disturbed to see so many kids who don’t even have proper clothes to wear, who can’t go to school and who don’t get proper food to eat. When I see such things it makes me respect my parents more as it’s because of them I am in a good situation.

I had a great childhood, great education, traveled abroad for studies and currently by god’s grace in a decent job. This is a great gift when you consider there are so many kids in India who don’t even have the basic necessities in life. Most of them have to work to even have some food everyday. When I was looking at these kids during my visit, I just told myself that I need to do something which will bring some change in the life of at least one of them. I told myself that I am lucky to be in this situation and it would be great if I can do something to bring a difference in someone’s life. I came back to US and the first thing I did was to find a trustworthy organization and decided to sponsor a kid for education, food and all other basic necessities. This is my first step towards giving something back to a country which has given me so much. We know that we cannot change the politicians or the government in India but what we can do is to make sure that we contribute in whatever way we can to make life better for these kids.

Sachin and Sourav - An unbroken Partnership

The Partnership which began about 10 years back is still up and running in fine style. Sourav joined Sachin at the top of the order sometime around 96/97 season when the team was desperately looking for an One-Day opener. Sourav started as a correct batsman with mostly elegant strokes through the offside, even though he was a great player of spin. Sachin was already an established opener in the shorter version of the game and was one of the most feared one at that.

Few years later they became one of most consistent and prolific opening combination in the one-day format of the game. The broke all sorts of records at the top including the highest opening stand of 258 which they made against Kenya at Paarl. Ganguly by then had become the captain of the team and also one of the most dominating batsman in the shorter version of the game. One of his innings in Australia against a strong Pakistani attack, made Wasim Akram (Who was part of the attack which comprised of Shoaib, Waqar, Razzak and Saqlain) admit that he has never seen anybody play so well through the offside. Sachin at that time was already termed as the next only to Don Bradman. He was already breaking all sorts of records in both forms of the game.

Sachin and Sourav have batted together for more than 150 ODI's and have 25 century partnerships. Both these greats joined at the top of the batting order again in the recent series in England and in Belfast and proved again that they are one of the best opening combinations in the world. Now since Rahul has resigned as captain of the National team there are talks that Sachin or Sourav might be offered the position. I just hope that both of them reject the option as by just concentrating on their batting they might offer much more to the team in the last few years of their illustrious career. Sachin and Sourav have few more years of great one-day batting left in them and when they decide to hang up their boots they might end up as the greatest combination in ODI. Lets just hope that they do not put more pressure on themselves by agreeing to captain the National side and just concentrate on their batting as its very important for India to succeed in the upcoming series against Pakistan and Australia.

India needs ODI strategy rethink

The Indian team went 3-1 down in the ongoing one-day series against England. The Indian team was expected to perform better after their exploits in the just concluded test series against the same opposition. The Indian team have struggled in all departments including their much hyped batting line up. After watching the fourth one-day international, the need for a professional coach has become more evident. The Indian team is struggling with fitness and consistency in all forms of the game. The team's fielding has been very disappointing in this series. The Indian team has never been a great fielding side but at least used to be safe catchers, even that aspect of their game has taken a hit in this series.

The Indian captain seems to have run out of ideas as India lost from a position of strength in the fourth ODI. After having England 7 down of 100 odd runs with 98 runs more required, India managed to lose the game, thanks to some uninspired bowling and fielding performance. The team's bad fielding performance has been attributed to their aging players as per the media but I tend to disagree with the same. Only few years back we had the oldest players in the team as our best fielders, I am talking about our current fielding coach Robin Singh and the former captain Azhar. Age should not be given as an excuse for bad fielding.
The problem with the Indian team has been their ODI combination which does not look strong neither on paper nor on the field. The decision of Rahul Dravid to play five bowlers is a positive move but that seriously weakens our batting. The bottom half of our batting line up has just been a formality in the first four ODI's. The only way this combination could work for India is when they find a genuine bowling all rounder, someone in the mold of Kapil Dev. I guess the Indian team will do well to get Irfan back into the team. The Indian team needs to completely rethink their strategy in one-day cricket. They need bowlers who are aggressive and consistent.

I think we need to get Pathan back into the scheme of things at least for the one-dayers. Pathan would lend perfect balance to the team and give Rahul the option of playing 5 bowlers without compromising the team's batting strength. As we all know Pathan is a good bat at number 6 or 7 in the line up and can follow the opening bowlers as the first change bowler. We need to experiment with the team a little bit and also keep a close eye on the 20-20 tournament which is starting from the 11th of this month. India can identify few good one-day cricketers for the future from this series. I think India should consider giving a chance to Rohit Sharma as he has just been carrying drinks in this one-day series. The worst thing about the selectors is that they would always take a younster for a tour, never give them a chance and drop them for the following series. I guess we need to treat good talents better and give them appropriate chances to prove themselves at this level.


The Indian team can still win this series if their batting fires, even though their bowling and fielding are below the international standards. As I complete this article the Indian team just won the 5th game to keep the series alive, again owing to a good batting display and some great spin bowling. I hope that we carry on this momentum into the 6th game tomorrow and level the series at 3-3.

No more "Paper Tigers" abroad

For a long time since I have been watching cricket India has been labeled as poor visitors(Strictly on cricketing terms :)). The famous title given to the Indian team by the media was "Tigers at home and Paper Tigers abroad". The Indian team in the past have struggled when they toured as they took too long to get acclimatized to the conditions. When they evetually get used to the conditions it would be too late. I remember watching India tour Australia in 1991/92 and later 1999/00, hoping that there will be some resistance from the team but got really dissapointed as we lost badly on both occasions.

In 2000 when Sachin resigned as the captain of the Indian cricket team following bad performaces by both the test and one-day squads. Sourav Ganguly got appointed as the captian of the Indian team in the later part of 2000. It was really a difficult time for all captains in the world due to the match fixing scandal. The game itself needed some faith reinstalled among the fans by the players around the world. India's first overseas win abroad after 1993 came in Bangladesh when the defeated the home team by 9 wickets. The win in itself was not much to write home about as the team was expected to defeat the latest entrant to test cricket. The Indian team under Sourav did not have a great 2001 losing all the away test series which included a 2-1 loss to Srilanka.

The end of 2001 brought about one of the greatest test series I have ever witnessed on Indian soil when India took on Australia in a three match test series. India emerged victorious by a margin of 2-1. The series will always be remembered for Harbajan's 32 wickets and also the great partnership between Dravid and Laxman in Eden Gardens where India came back to erase a 272 runs first innings deficit to eventually win the game. That series in India, kind of sparked a turnaround for cricket in India. Australians were the best team in the world and had come to India with a proud record of 15 straight test wins. After that series India had two new stars in Laxman and Harbajan. The Indian team went to Zimbabwe with the hope to win their first test series outside sub-continent for 16 years but lost the second game after the winning the first convincingly to return with a 1-1 draw. Similar fate followed when they toured WestIndies where they again sqandered 1-0 lead to eventually lose the series 2-1.

Even though we were losing all these series the one good thing about them all was that India were winning test matches abroad if not the series. Since I started watching cricket India have never won a test match outside home except for one series in Srilanka in 1993/94. India had good wins in WestIndies and Zimbabwe and had a great world cup in 2003 reaching the finals. I would attribute most of the success prior to worldcup to the Ganguly and Wright combination. The Indian team had a great tour to England where they won the one-day series and drew the test series 1-1. Ganguly was great with the youngsters in the team and he instilled an aggressive intent in team which was lacking when we toured in the past. The Indian team were no more a pushover and also started to believe that they can do more than just play a part. After the world cup India had a good year where they went to Australia and had a great time returning with a draw in the test series. Later in 2004 Ganguly's team won both test and one-day series in Pakistan.

The Indian team was doing great with emergance of Sehwag, Yuvraj, Dhoni,Zaheer and Pathan. The Indian team had few problems in 2005/06 with the exit of the coah John Wright and the Captain Sourav ganguly almost at the same time. Greg Chappel took over as the coach of the Indian team and Rahul Dravid was named as the captain of the team. The team had a bad 2006(Expect for their first series win abroad since 1986 when the defeated WI 1-0) which carried over in the world cup where they lost in the first round. Since then the team led by Rahul Dravid has been fighting to spark a turnaround with Zaheer returning into the team and the emergence of Sreesanth, Munaf and RP Singh. Greg Chappel resigned after the World Cup debacle but Rahul Dravid still carries on without a coach for the team.

As I write this article the Indian team is in England winning the second test in trent bridge leading the series 1-0 going into the third test in Oval to commence on Aug 9th. The Indian team would want to come home victorious by winning the test series in England which would be their first since 1986. The Indian team has won 16 test matches abroad since 2000, a record only bettered by Australia who are sitting pretty with 26 test wins. The tag of "Paper Tigers" was given by the media in the early and late 90's and deservedly so as the team struggled to put up even a fighting performance overseas leave alone winning a test match. The tag has been lifted since the new millenieum due to efforts of John Wright, Sourav Ganguly and currently by Rahul Dravid who are making sure that when the seniors in the team retire the Indian team is one of the best in the world. Sachin, Sourav and Rahul derserve to be a part of a good team for their services in the last decade. I hope that this year turns out to be the stepping stone to the same. The Indian team's first goal would be the series in England and then the home series against Pakistan before the take on the Australians later this year.

I sincerely hope that the Indian team emerges victorious in all their future series and keep adding to the tally of 16. Go India!

India tour England amidst chaos

The Indian team prepare for one of the toughest series after the World Cup. Even though they beat Bangladesh in both tests and one-dayers, Rahul Dravid would be the first one to admit that England would be a different proposition altogether. The Indian team is without a coach for this tour also, thanks to the coach hunting fiasco by the BCCI. The board has not made things easy for themselves and the team with a very poorly conducted selection process which caught the attention of the media world over for all the wrong reasons.

Rahul Dravid has already mentioned his concern over touring England without a coach and also regarding the teams preparation. The good thing about this series is that India got to play South Africa in a three match series in Belfast, Ireland in similar conditions to what they would be facing in England. India won the hard fought series 2-1 and registered their first overseas series victory against South Africa. This series should give India the much needed confidence before the all important tour.

The Indian team selection for the English tour had little surprises, Sehwag was dropped from both the one-day and the test squads as expected. The problem with Sehwag was not the lack of runs itself but the way he had been throwing his wicket away after getting promising starts. The recently concluded Afro-Asian cup was an example of the same. Sehwag got to decent starts in the first two games but played atrocious strokes to get himself out. Harbajan Singh and Pathan were the other notable absentees from the Indian touring party, more so due to their lack of bowling form in the past few months.

The Indian team would be relieved to see Sachin scoring some runs in the recently concluded series in Ireland, in the meanwhile crossing yet another milestone. Sachin became the first batsman in One-Day internationals to cross 15000 runs. A great achievement when you consider that he still has a batting average of 44 and a strike rate of 85. The Indian team would take lots of positives from the series against SA, as most of their batsmen made runs and would also be happy with the performance of Zaheer ahead of the test series. Anil Kumble might be the lone spinner in the team with Sreesanth, Zaheer along with another medium pacer would form the bowling combination atleast for the first test.

The Indian batting order might face a few headaches with Yuvraj scoring some valuable runs in the one-day series, making it very difficult for the captain to leave him out of the playing X1 for the first test starting on July 19th.Well all in all the Indian team would want to finish this tour by winning both the Test and the one-day series against England. Captain Rahul Dravid would be hoping that the seniors in the team including himself, can inspire the team to achieve success on this tour.

Its all in the mind for the great player

I started playing cricket at a very young age but did not have the patience to sit through a entire cricket match on television. The first game I ever watched was a match between India and Pakistan in Sharjah in 1990. India were chasing a total of 250 odd against a strong Pakistani bowling attack and there walked in a young batsman barely 18 years old. He was none other than Sachin Tendulkar. This was my first look at the great player. I did not have too many memories of the game as it was the first game I ever watched. The only thing I remember was that India lost that game and Sachin got out trying to smash Mushtaq Ahmad for the third consecutive time in an over.

Before watching this game I always thought that Sachin Tendulkar was a model who happened to act with Kapil in the Boost ad which was very famous at that time. Sachin played a brand of cricket which was not that prevalent in the early 90's. He was attacking and also very positive in his strokeplay when he was at the crease batting. Since that Innings in Sharjah I have closely followed Sachin's career. I guess Sachin will agree with me that the biggest failure so far in his career has been his captaincy. He has captained India on two separate occasions and both the times it was not that great. He has been a great player and great ambassador for Indian cricket over the years.

In recent times his batting has gone downhill, even though he is still one of the major run getters in this period. Sachin's major problem has been that he has changed his batting style which unfortunately is not his natural one. He has tried to change his batting style according to the team's needs which is the cause for his inconsistent performance in the last few years. Sachin has always drawn parallel to another contemporary great Brian Charles Lara who retired from International cricket just a month ago after the World Cup. Lara's success is based on the fact that he never changed his batting style no matter what his role in the team was.

Sachin on the other hand has been confused with his role in the team and has decided to be more circumspect with his batting being one of the senior members in the team. We all know that Sachin can still be the devastating one-day batsman he was couple of years back. The innings he played against Srilanka just before the World Cup further proves my point. For Sachin to get back to one-day team and make a difference he needs to get back to his strength. I remember him as a fearless young boy standing up to the likes of Waqar, Wasim, Donald, Ambrose and few other great bowlers of this era. He is one of the players who took pinch hitting to a different level, where the shots were not mere slogs but pure cricketing strokes. He has been an inspiration to countless number of youngsters who want to follow his path and become like him.

He deserves to have a send off from Indian cricket just like the way Glenn McGrath had after the World Cup. Being the great player that he is, I guess he owes it to himself. As I was writing this article, Sachin scored his 36th test century against Bangladesh in the first match of the series in chittagong. I hope that Sachin continues this form in to the rest of the season ahead against the English team and the Australians later this year. I hope he also makes a comeback into the Indian one-day team and plays the way we all know he can. For a great player like him it does not take too much to get back to his strength give his fans much more to cheer about in the last few years of his wonderful career. I have been an ardent fan of his and will continue to be the same till the end as he was the one who got me interested in this wonderful game and also inspired me to write about the same.

The Seniors Should Spark The Turnaround

After a disappointing exit from the World Cup the Indian team start their season with a series against Bangladesh. This is the start of a long and difficult season for the Indians as they take on both England and Australia later this year. The Indian team start the series on 10th of this month with 3 one dayers followed by couple of test matches. The one day team for India is without the experience of Sachin and Sourav but Dravid has been retained as the captain of the team. Sehwag should consider himself very lucky to be a part of the one-day team as he has not been performing well for a long time now. Even though he scored a hundred against the hapless Bermuda attack, the discipline in his batting is still lacking.

I would have expected India to make more changes to their bowling attack as except for Munaf and Zaheer nobody looked convincing in the WC. As expected Agarkar and Pathan were dropped from the squad to Bangaldesh but recalling RP Singh, I think is a step back. RP Singh was currently playing in English County Cricket and I would have expected him to complete an entire season there to gain some valuable experience as India tour England this summer.

The Indian team to be successful in International cricket needs at least one good fast bowler who is consistent and quick. The batting has been the main concern for the Indian team in the past few months. Rahul Dravid and Dhoni have been the most consistent batsmen in this period and the others in team have been really struggling. Sehwag as I mentioned above has been been the worst of the pack and still finds a place in the squad which is hard to believe. India should be trying out new players in the place of Sehwag and allow him to play in the domestic cricket and fight his way back to the team.

This series is been termed as a "Revenge" series by the media and it brought out a immediate denial from the Indian captain. Even though Dravid says that they are not terming this as the revenge series they will know in their minds that anything less than a white-wash will not convince their fans. There is lots of pressure on the Indian team to get back into their stride after their disappointing World Cup performance and the seniors in the squad like Sachin, Sourav and Dravid should spark the turn around which the team is looking for. They need not be the star performers in this series but their job will be to instill confidence and self belief on to the youngsters in the team.

The senior members in the team have just a few years of International cricket left in them and they should make it count in not only their personal performances but also in leaving behind a strong Indian team when they retire. The Indian team has lots of promising youngsters such as Dhoni, Karthik, Pathan and few others who need proper direction in their careers to become tough and more consistent in their performances. The Indian team has a long and hard international calender ahead of them and they would need to start well by winning both the one-day and test series in Bangladesh. I hope that we would be able to achieve the same in this series without any problems.

Australia Triumph as expected

Australia won the Cup as expected and the championship ended on a dark Saturday evening. The Australian team beat Srilanka convincingly in the WC finals to win it for the third consecutive time. The Australian team once again proved that they are way ahead of the other teams in both forms of the game. Everyone in the team contributed when it mattered and Glen McGrath had a dream exit from one dayers being the highest wicket taker of the tournament and also named the "Player Of the Tournament". This was a fitting end to a great career which spanned over a decade and also coincided with the amazing Australian dominance in both forms of the game.

Glenn McGrath has been a great bowler for Australia with more than 400 wickets in both forms of the game. He has been a part of 3 world cup winning teams, a rare achievement in the modern era. Matthew Hayden became the highest run getter of the tournament with more than 600 runs in the championship and Rickey Ponting became just the second captain in World cricket to lead two World Cup winning teams after Clive Lloyd of WI.

The World Cup Finals itself was an organizers nightmare with the rain before the start of the game. The game was reduced to a 38 overs a side and Srilanka's best bet would have been to bat first and set a challenging total for the Australians to chase in the finals. The Srilankans lost the toss and Australia did what they did four years ago and batted first. The Srilankan new ball bowlers except for Malinga were trashed by Adam Gilchrist on his way to the championship winning 149. Adam Gilchrist had a ordinary tournament before this game but he performed when it mattered the most. Adam Gilchrist has always been the man for Australia in WC finals as he has two fifties and a hundred in the three chances he has had till now.

This innings almost batted Srilanka out of the game as Australia amassed 281 in 38 overs at almost 7.5 runs an over. Srilanka's start to the innings was not that promising with Taranga getting dismissed in the first couple of overs.Everything rested on the partnership between Sangakkara and Jayasurya after the early loss. Both these batsmen kept them in the hunt until Jayasurya's charge against part timer Clarke ended his innings on 63 which also ended Srilanka's hopes of winning the game. The Australians tightened the screws after Jayasurya's exit and Srilanka kept losing wickets at regular intrevals. Later the match was stopped due to the rain with Srilanka needing more than 10 runs an over and after lots of chaos Australia were eventually declared the winners of the World Cup.

Srilanka had a great World Cup as not a lot of people thought they would be in the finals. Srilanka played beautifully and the veterans in the team Jayasurya, Murali and Vaas had a great World Cup. These three great players from the island might have just played their last World Cup game and they would feel that they had given their best in the Championship.

Overall the World Cup was a dull event due to the Australian dominance over the other teams and also was too long to keep the viewers interested as there were too many meaningless games towards the end of the tournament in the super 8 stage.

Another tour abroad

Its time for the Indian team to forget the dissapointment of the Champions Trophy and concentrate on their SA tour. Well the tour in itself did not start on a happy note as Sehwag injured himself during the practice session and has been ruled out of the first one-day. The Indians had a disastrous first outing in SA as they lost their practice match against the South Africa A team. The Indian team is already without the injured Yuvraj Singh and now Sehwag joins that list.

The Indian batting failed again in their practice match as only 3 batsmen managed to make a decent contribution towards the final tally. Dravid as usual was the saviour with some decent contributions from Kaif and Pathan. This tour is very important to India in finalizing the middle order before the world cup. The Indian team has been chopping and changing the middle order especially the positions from 3-6 for the past one year.

Sachin and Sehwag at the top with kaif at number 3 would be a good option for the Indian team to try out in this series. Rahul Dravid at 5 and Dhoni following him in the batting order should be the best option for the team. I think Suresh Raina needs to be sent back to play some domestic cricket before he can come back to the national team. The yuvraj should bat at number 4 which is the ideal batting position for him in one-dayers. India will be in deep trouble if yuvraj is not fit for the world cup. In the absence of yuvraj India should be choosing between Laxman, Mongia and even sourav ganguly.

The Indians should be happy with the return of Anil to the Indian one-day team after more than a year. Zaheer also made it back to the Indian team after a long absence owing to injuries and bad performances. Its great to see two experianced bowlers in the team on one of the most difficult oversees tours for the team. Munaf and sreesanth got wacked around a bit in their final spells against the South African A team with both of them going above 6 runs/over. Irfan bowled a decent spell in the match but we have seen him to inconsistant over the last few months. Irfan has to work on his consistancy in bowling. Munaf Patel had a forgetful match as he was India's major performer in the last couple of one-day tournaments.

Ajit Agarkar did not play this match but I am sure that he would be in the playing X1 for the first one-dayer which starts on 16th of this month. Indian team should be contemplating going with 2 spinners and three fast bowlers combination for the first one-dayer. Anil doing so well on his come back has put pressure on the selectors for the spin bowling spot in the team. Munaf Patel and Sreesanth may lose their spot to a much improved Zaheer in the first match. The batting order must be easier to pick with sehwag out of the game it should be Jaffer to open with sachin with Dinesh or Kaif at number 3 followed by Dravid, Dhoni and pathan.

All in all it seems a very interesting contest with hopes of india winning is not too high. The Indian team would be hoping to put up a better show against the SA in the first one-dayer. Being an Indian fan I will watch this match with keen interest and hope that the Indians put up a decent show.

Pathetic performance by the Indian team

The Indian team again dished out yet another pathetic performance on the field to loose the all important game against the Aussies. I am sure not many people gave the Indian team a chance before the match as they had not beaten the aussies in the one-day format for a long time now. The batting was ordinary after a good start and bowling was pathetic to say the least.

The Indian selectors need to take some harsh decisions and drop people who are not performing and inject some young blood in the team. Irfan Pathan has been bowling rubbish for the last few months and his batting has also hit a all time low, inspite of which he continues to be in the team. The batting of Sachin and Kaif defied any logic and I was not sure what they were trying to achieve by batting so negetive.

Sachin at the start looked clueless against the bowling of Mcgrath and eventually lost his wicket. If Sachin was finding hard to face Mcgrath, he should have made sure that the strike was rotated and he does not have to face the entire over. Mohd Kaif's batting in the final overs was also something which could not be explained. Eventhough I would like to give credit to the Aussies on restricting India,but the batting by the Indians lacked any planning. The batting order started out well but sending Raina before Dhoni was a huge mistake which cost India some valuable runs late in the order.

All in all it was again a horrible performance by the Indian team. The Indian team selection to South Africa brings no surprises, except for the inclusion of Anil Kunble and Zaheer Khan. One more oversees tour and this time there is no expectation on Indian team to perform miracles.

Congrats to the Australian team on yet another title win. They proved once again as to why they the number one team in the world.

Champions Trophy - Interesting contest ahead

The Champions trophy has reached its most important phase where teams battle for the semifinal spot. The favorites have been knocked off and the subcontinent teams have faltered to leave an impression on this tournament. Srilanka and Pakistan have already been knocked out, and India still have a mamoth task of beating Australia to grab the final spot for the semis.

This tournament has been a dissapointment in terms of good tough matches. The only matches which come to mind are Aus V WI, SL V Pak and Ind V WI(Only at the end) as the rest of them have been one sided affairs. The batsmen have struggled and bowlers have enjoyed the conditions, pretty rare on Indian pitches.

With three spots for the semifinal already decided, the India V Australia match seems to an interesting contest. Both the team have had problems with their batting with their bowlers doing a reasonable job. This is the first time I feel in an Ind V Aus encounter that both teams have an equal chance as Australia have been vulnareble with their batting in the last couple of tournaments. It was kind of dissapointing to see the Indian batters struggle once again against the WI.

The Indian batting has struggled since the WI series where they lost 4-1 after having a great run in one-day cricket prior to that. The Indians would be hoping that their most experianced players like Sachin, Rahul and Sehwag would step up to the occasion and deliver the goods on the most important game for India in the last few months.The Indian bowling was a mixed bag against WI with Irfan Pathan leaking lot of runs at the start(may be psychological, playing WI).

I am still unable to get the selection of RP Singh over Sreesanth as the former has not been able to deliver in the last 3 or 4 tournaments. Sreesanth was Indias best bowler in WI and bowled beautifully in the only match he played in the DLF cup. India should realize that we should make use of players who are in form rather than just playing people who they want to succeed. This tournament would be a big confidence booster for India as they visit SA right after this tournament.

Australia on the other hand came to India as the favorites as is the case in most of the tournaments they are involved in. They have had pretty rough time in the champions trophies prior to this and have not reached the finals even once in the previous tournaments. If I know Australia they would want to set the record straight.

I hope that this match provides a great contest and not a one-sided affair like the other matches in the tournament.

The ICC Champions Trophy - India's Chances

After the qualifying rounds and few matches into the main tournament, we already have a team out of the competition. England let themselves down with poor batting displays in both of their games so far(Vs India and Australia). Apart from the early exit of England the other teams in the tournament still remain in hunt for the semifinal berth. All the games in the tournament except for the couple of them have been one-sided contests, the exceptions being WI V Aus and Pak V Srilanka.

The competition has reached the second phase where even the slightest mistake by any of the team could ensure an early flight back home. The Indians would be really dissapointed with the scheduling of the tournament as Rahul Dravid himself expressed in the post match press conference after their win against England. A 10 day break between two matches is little too much and does not do any good for the preparation of team. The Indian batting apart from Sachin looked very much out of form against England while chasing a below par total.

The West Indians though would be flying high on confidence after defeating Australia in their first game in the main tournament. Their win against Australia has thrown the group open with all the three teams having fair chances of qualifying for the next stage of the tournament. India would be hoping for an improved performance from thier batters against West Indies which would make their life little bit easier. The bowling has done exceptionally well in the last couple of tournaments, with Munaf improving with every game and Irfan coming into his own in the game against England. The Indians would be hoping that their batting can recapture the golden run which helped them to have a wonderful season as a one-day team just few months ago.

The Indians would desperately want to win their next game as it would give them the much needed confidence when they face Australia on 29th of this month. Rahul Dravid has lots to think about regarding the composition of the team especially the batting. I would personally prefer Sachin and Sehwag opening the batting with Yuvraj or Mongia coming at one down. As Ravi Shastry said during commentary on India's first game Rahul should bat at no 5, the batting spot where he has performed exceptionally well and also would help in the team balance. Dhoni should follow Rahul followed by the bowlers with Pathan being the floating member in the batting order.

The bowling attack I guess would remain the same with Pathan and Munaf opening the attack with Agarkar, Harbajan and Powar backing them up. All in all it seems to be a cracker of a contest with everything to play for. The Indian team would be hoping for their batsmen to rediscover their form and West Indies would be just wanting to repeat their performance against the world champions. Hope we will see a great contest.

Tough tour for the Indians

The Indians are going on yet another tour and as usual the expectations are high. The Indian team has had a wonderful run in the shorter version of the game but fell way below the expectation in the longer format in the past 6-8 months.

The one-day series which begins tomorrow should be an interesting one. The Indian team has come into this series winning 18 of their last 25 games quite contrary to the Westindian counterparts who have had a miserable run in the shorter version of the game.The Westindian team is going through a rebuilding process with Brian Lara at the helm once again. This series is going to be very important for Lara as a captain and a player.

The Indian team on the other hand will not have too many problems for the one-day series as their team is almost a settled. The only worry for both Dravid and Chappel will be the Test series which will proceed the one-day series. The return of Sachin for the test series will be an added advantage for the tourists. His presense along with Dravid and Laxman will surely help the Indian team in the test series.

All in all the Indian team should fancy their chances of winning both the one-day and the test series convincingly. This series will give the Indians yet another chance to register a series win outside subcontinent after 20 years. Hope the series is a Hard fought one and let the best team win.

India Wins the Series 2-0 and become #2

India completed their 2-0 whitewash in the test series against Srilanka and in the process became the second best team behind Australia replacing England.The series was way closer than the final scoreline indicates but the Indian team wouldnt be complaining.The series would be mainly remembered for the controversy surrounding Ganguly's expulsion from the third test rathar than the happenings on the field.

The Indians would be happy with their performance on the field though as they came through with an impressive scoreline of 2-0 in hard fought series.The Indians were bailed out on numerous occassions by the lower order after the top 5 failed more than once(They contributed more than 70% of Indian runs this series).The lower order batting of Yuvraj,Pathan,Harbajan,Kumble and agarkar along with Dhoni deserves a special.The Srilankan performance was marred by missed opportunities on the field.Their top order failed to convert good starts and their bowlers were unable to dismiss the Indian Lower order.

The Srilankans would like to forget the Indian tour as they were thrashed 6-1 in the oneday series and were beaten 2-0 in the test series pushing them to 7th in the ICC rankings.The Victory against the Srilankans and a creditable performance against the SouthAfricans in one-dayers should give India enough confidence to take on a confident Pakistan next month.

Kumble again was the man of the series with 20 wickets inching closer to the magical 500 mark.Harbhajan was declared the man of the match for his 10 wkt haul.

Indians Struggle on a Rain Curtailed First Test

After torrential rainfall had eaten into the first three days of the first test and most of the fourth day,the Indians put up a horrible display.There was nothing much to gain for both the teams,but enough time to inflict few psychological blows on each other.In the end we have to say that the Lankans came on top in whatever cricket was possible in Chennai.

Indian batting lacked any sort of application as everyone except for Dravid,Sehwag and Dhoni failed to cross 30 run mark.The much awaited return of Sourav Ganguly was a disaster as he just contributed 5 runs to the total.Well overall the Lankans would be happy with their two premier bowlers Vass and Murali being the chief wicket-takers.

The Indians have to come in with better performance in the second test to win the series which could see them jump second on the ICC test ranking.

Pakistan On The Brink

Pakistan are all set to take the test series after England finished on 121/2 on the 4th day with Ian Bell on 60 and Collingwood on 37 unbeaten at the crease when bad light stopped play.The English team arrived in Pakistan with the hopes of continuing their Ashes form but were outplayed by a rejenuated Pakistani team.

The Pakistanis were hugely benefitted by the return of Shoaib to full fitness and bowling well.Shoaib dismissed Markus Trescothick for a duck and the England captain for 13 after pakistan had piled on 636/8 with the help of a double hundred from Yousuf Khan(Previously known as Yousuf Youhana) and a hundred from Wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal.Inzimam chipped in with a 97,coming back after being retired hurt.

England have lost this series on the back of their Ashes triumph defeating the world number 1 team Australia.They would be clearly dissapointed as they were totally outplayed by the pakistani team. The series showed the complete lack of preparation from the English team to play in subcontinent conditions.Now the English team can just hope that this experiance would help them to put a better show against the Indians next year.

India V Srilanka - Everything to Play for

Torrential rain fall in chennai made sure that the first days play between India and Srilanka be abandoned without a ball being bowled.Its highly unlikely that any play would be possible on the second day too as more downpour has been predicted.

If and when the play starts the main focus would not be the match itself but whether Ganguly will make it to the final X1 or not.Ganguly's selection in the first test match has raised a few eyebrows considering the form of Yuvraj Singh with Kaif waiting in the wings.Sourav being chosen as a Batting allrounder makes it clear that the selectors are not confident about his batting ability.The other interesting situation for the media would be the interaction between Sourav and Chappell after their clash in the Zim tour.

The Indian team with a young side have done wonderfully well in the one-day series against both south Africa and Srilanka.The most noticable aspect of the Indian performance was their much improved fielding which was brilliant at times.The Bowling and batting though needs to be more consistant in order to have a serious crack at the World Cup.

India go into the test series against Srilanka with an opportunity to become the second best team in the ICC rankings provided they beat the islanders by the margin of 1-0 or 2-1(Srilanka can topple the Indians from 3rd position by defeating them).The Srilankans have everything to play for after their humiliating 1-6 loss to Indians in the one-day series.Overall it seems to be an interesting series with both the teams playing with some incentive but nothing can match the excitement of whether or not sourav will make it to the final X1.