I thought about this question after a brief discussion on Uncle J's blog on this particular post . Did, a commenter on the post said "I think the IPL should be renamed the Antipodean Premier League anyways cause it would be twice as $%^ without the backbone provided by the Aussies and Kiwis." And he went on to mention that the Aussies had won 14 MoM awards in 34 games, 4 of the top 10 batsmen were Aussies, as were 2 of the top 10 bowlers. It won't be a surprise if the IPL teams are reliant on Aussies as they are the best cricket players in the world. But are the teams actually reliant on them?  read more »

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 »

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 »

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 »

Back to the Sydney Test. I tried yesterday to write about the Perth Test, but given how the ICC has scheduled things, the two days leading up to the Perth Test Match will be spent in revisiting the Sydney Test Match and its aftermath.

The anger has subsided somewhat, and the news media in both countries have published Sunday Specials on the subject. The Australians seem to be on a charm offensive, with Michael "pup" Clarke (oops was that racist? May be "Pigeon" McGrath can clarify) having allegedly made up with Anil Kumble. The cheek of it astounds me. Kumble seems to have given him a reasonably patient hearing and concluded with "i understand, mate". It seems to be the key word at all times. If Harbhajan had simply responded to Symonds by saying "i don't make friends with monkeys, mate", all would have been well. Similarly, if Bradley Hogg had said "Im looking forward to running through you bastards, mate", it would have been absolutely Ok. Most importantly, it would have resulted in a successful negotiation of Mike Procter racism-sensitive antennae.  read more »

The visitors had their best Test Match Day in an overseas Test in a long long time on Day 1 at Motera, as they produced a near perfect morning in the field to bowl India out for 76, in just 20 overs before lunch. The knives are out for India, with all the usual cliches about India being clueless about seam coming into play. Already, they have been called an "amateur club third XI" and the obvious parallel to Johannesburg, where the South Africans were bowled out for 84 seems to have escaped some.

That said, India find themselves deep in the soup at the end of day 1. 147 behind on the first innings already with six South African wickets standing, it will take a miracle for India to make a comeback in this game. India being bowled out for 42 at Lord's was explained by Sunil Gavaskar as a case of "the top five specialist batsmen falling to good deliveries, and the tail not having a good day".  read more »