Here is the crux of the integrity argument against Ricky Ponting and his team. The "spirit of the game" which Ricky Ponting claims was upheld by both teams through out the Test Match, but for one incident (in his view the Harbhajan-Symonds incident).

This is the video of the Dhoni Catch. The argument is a matter of three catches really. In the first innings, Ricky Ponting made a difficult attempt in the slips and came up with the ball and immediatly declared it a bump ball. Then on the 5th day, first he went with Michael Clarke's claim of a catch, which everyone including Gilchrist suggested was good. Finally, the third catch which Ponting claimed was this one against Dhoni.  read more »

TheBangalore franchise has named its team as the Royal Challengers and Rahul “The Wall” Dravid is the captain.  read more »

What a series it has been! The two most experienced test teams in the world today met in the best venue for Test cricket in the world, and produced a contest for the ages. This contest may not possess the glamorous history of the Ashes, but in this new year, it is clear that this has become the pre-eminent clash in the cricket world. I don't subscribe to historical rivalries, for when a generation of players retire, and a new generation takes over, the carry over to the next generation of contestants is purely symbolic. One need look no further than the Frank Worrell Trophy which was instituted in honour of the West Indies' first black captain Frank Worrell, who took a group of talented West Indian cricketers to Australia in 1960-61, and forged a great team. They played a series to remember, and the team Worrell built team dominated Test cricket for the next six or seven years. Since then the Frank Worrell Trophy has only rarely produced truly competitive series. It has invariably been either the West Indies who were dominant, or as has been the case in recent times, Australia. It is the series which marked the handing over of the reigns of power which have tended to be most exciting. The best comparison one can offer for the current India - Australia series, are the Pakistan - West Indies contests in the 1980's. In a decade where both England and Australia were regularly hammered by Viv Richards's pace battery, only Imran Khan's Pakistan could compete with them. They produced three thrilling 1-1 draws in the late 1980's.  read more »

Sunil Gavaskar called it India's greatest win on TV yesterday. Plenty of other worthies have said things along similar lines.

Granted that the venue was Perth, an Australian citadel. Granted too that no Asian team has won before. And granted three that India's pace attack consisted of two 23 year olds and a 19 year old.

But, is this India's greatest win?

Was this win greater than Headingley 2002, Adelaide 2003, Rawalpindi 2004, Jo'burg 2006 or Calcutta 2001?

Calcutta halted an Australian juggernaut that had done something that no other cricket team in the world had come close to achieving. And after the capitulation at Mumbai and the follow on, did India even have a hope in hell to dream of a comeback?  read more »

Will history repeat itself in Sydney after the Aussies wallop India in the 1st Test ?

IT is often debated on the Betfair cricket forum how far back in history a punter should look when researching a bet. The answer is simple: trawl through the record books as long as you like until you are satisfied that you have formed an opinion, never the other way round.

One of the most dangerous games a bettor can play is to have an opinion and then conduct a piecemeal stats search for the data which, in his eyes, proves him right.

For example, if you reckon India are capable of a comeback against Australia in their four-Test series, then the 2001 series fits the bill perfectly.

India lost the opening Test in Mumbai of that series by ten wickets but won the final two matches to ensure the contest went down in history as one of the greatest of all time.  read more »

India beat Australia by 72 runs in the Perth Test today. In doing so they have broken Australia's 16 Test match winning streak (for the second time). Australia have play 90 Test matches in this decade, and they have amassed a 68-11 record so far. Out of the 11 Test defeats, 5 have come in dead rubbers (after the series has already been decided). They have played 15 times against India, and have a 7-5 record. One of India's wins has come in a dead rubber (Mumbai 2004). The next best record against Australia is England's - 4-14.

As impressive as this is, it is only part of the story. India have scripted an epic at the WACA ground. A fast bouncy wicket (more on that in a moment), a genuinely quick Australian attack, Australia chasing a record 17th Test win, the dispiriting defeat at the SCG and the Harbhajan situation meant that when Anil Kumble walked out to participate in the toss, the overwhelming majority of cricket fans had probably written India off. For Australia, the 17th Test win seemed a formality. Adam Gilchrist had told the world to expect a sizzling day. The curator and knowing folk were telling us that this Perth pitch had been part of a newly relaid square and had the old fire. It looked very forbidding for everybody but the members of the Indian squad.  read more »

I watched Taare Zameen Par on Day 1 of the Perth Test, and i told my friend, that even a 2-2 Test match result by India would not be a superior experience to watching that film. After Perth, i remain steadfastly in the Taare Zameen Par corner, but i must admit that its getting more and more tenuous. One thing is certain, if India do win at Adelaide, it will be the greatest month of cumulative accomplishment ever for two of India's greatest pastimes - Films and Cricket.
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If Day 2 was good for India, Day 3 was even better. Starting at 3/216 with Tendulkar and Ganguly at the wicket, India batted almost through out the day to end with a first innings score of 532, a lead of 69 runs. Tendulkar remained unbeaten with 154, Ganguly made a strokeful 67 and Harbhajan Singh made 63 - an innings which got better and better as it progressed. Tendulkar nearly made a century after the sixth wicket fell, and the last four Indian wickets added 202. Brett Lee bowled magnificiently for Australia. He was clearly their designated strike weapon, and he delivered in champion fashion taking 5/119 in the innings. Australia's openers walked out to bat for about 15 minutes (thanks in large part to Australia's ridiculously poor over rate - they had bowled 51 overs in the day by Tea time) facing a rare first innings deficit.  read more »

The Mumbai Mirror's cover story on November 28th 2007 is a textbook case of how a ambiguously sourced story is damaging. There are several problems with this story. The most obvious one is that it does not name sources. "Senior players" - a phrase flogged to death by the press much like the phrase "BCCI officials" is ambigious, and most crucially drags in anybody who may qualify as a "senior" player. It makes no allowance for the possibility that certain senior players may infact be in favor of Kirsten - or more simply, that there may be various different personal opinions amongst the senior players about the selection of the coach. Further, who are the "senior players"? Kumble, Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman? Are Harbhajan Singh and Zaheer Khan also amongst the "senior" players? Is Dhoni who captains the ODI side a "senior" player? It could be speculated with some merit therefore that 8 out of the 11 that played the Kolkata Test are "senior players". Is it reasonable on the part of the Mumbai Mirror to assume that all these senior players (the number ranges from 4-8 by any reasonable standard) are all of exactly the same mind? The Mirror has also used that classic non-source "a source close to the team" who reveals the following:  read more »

The home jinx for Deccan Chargers continued, as Bangalore Royal Challengers powered to a five-wicket win to register their fourth win of the IPL and assure themselves of seventh place. Set a modest target of 166, Bangalore started slowly, but cameos from Misbah-ul-Haq, Rahul Dravid, Cameron White and B Akhil ensured they got home with [...]