A year that was a bane for champions.....

A year that was a bane for champions.....

As 2008 comes to an end, it was a long year full of events engulfed with surprises, controversies, enthralling moments....

Major International sports took a toll on champions and what a toll it was.Cricket,Tennis,Formula-1-all saw reigning champs not only succumb to ever increasing pressure but also fail to maintain their standards.Formula-1 might have had a see-saw year like 2007.However Cricket and Tennis had the fans stand up and take note threatening signs of reigning empires crumbling.

I don't like comparing performances/results from different fields, but this was a bit compelling.
On a striking note, the patterns in tennis and Cricket went on similar lines as I line it up later.

Let me begin with tennis first.....This year belonged to the "Mallorcan marauder" Rafael Nadal.Roger Federer began the year with the invincibility tag looking more stronger than ever and also set his sights on crossing Pete Sampras' record.Rafa made it so tough for the Swiss that he eventually ended up taking over his no.1 ranking after a reign of 4 and a half years.Novak Djokovic and Jo Wilfried Tsonga beat Federer and Nadal at the Australian Open,with the former winning the title.But were unheard of for the rest of the year.Federer came to Roland Garros hoping he would be third time lucky in the finals against Nadal, but could win only 4 games in the match.The signs of a recession showed up deeply and when Nadal beat Federer at the Wimbledon Lawns after a 4hr 48 min epic roller coaster, it was alarm bells ringing loud.Amidst all this, there was a man called Andrew Murray who was silently making his way up the rungs.Roger successfully defended his title at the Flushing Meadows and this after exiting early from the Beijing Olympics,where Nadal won the gold.Further Roger also failed to secure the season ending Tennis Masters Cup at Shanghai, after winning it for 4 years in a row.Clearly the signs look scary for Federer...but he still cannot be counted out.After all...."Form is temporary, but Class is always permanent."

On similar lines,in Cricket...Team Australia began 2008, after having not lost a single test match in 2006 and 2007,with a string of 15 consecutive wins.The year began with the Acrimonious Sydney Test,which is more remebered for Symonds,Harbhajan,Bucknor,Benson,Ponting and Clarke for "very obvious" reasons than for Hundreds from Tendulkar,Laxman,Hayden and Hussey.Since then Australia won 2 test matches each against 7th ranked West Indies and 8th Ranked New Zealand. Their record for 2008 in test cricket stands as

Played 14
Won 5
Lost 5
Drawn 4

Of their 5 losses, 3 were against India, the 1st one at "Fortress WACA" and the rest were part of a 2-0 thumping away.2 more losses came as a part of South Africa's run chase at WACA and the Melbourne magic to beat Australia in their den, a first for any team since 1992-93.Out of the draws, they dominated India at Bangalore, but were on the back foot at Delhi and Adelaide. The other draw came against West Indies, which was a shame for the Aussies.

Against India and South Africa in 2008, the Aussie record reads:

Played 9
Won 1
Lost 5
Drawn 3


Lining this up against the same teams from Jan'04 to Dec'07:

Played 11
Won 7
Lost 1
Drawn 3


If not for the Sydney victory(which was not deserving), Australia look really nowhere near the champion side they were for the past 15 years.

How tennis and Cricket matched up in 2008:

Stunned:Australia and Federer

Australia and Federer lost their "aura of invincibility" and lost it very badly.While Australia were hamprered by retirements of Warne,McGrath,Gilchrist,Langer and Martyn.Federer was bugged by Mononucleosis,Stomach and Back Injuries.

Federer had a saving grace with the US open, but Australia did not even have anything to find solace with.

Devastating: South Africa and Nadal

Rafael Nadal was a rampaging bull winning French Open,Wimbledon and the Olympic Gold to name a few.

South Africa won 11 of their 15 test matches this year, losing once each to India and England, while narrowingly drawing in India and clinching series victories in England and Australia.

Resurgent: India and Murray

Andy Murray seriously challenged both Nadal and Federer constantly throughout the year and made it to world no.4 , also winning 4 masters series titles.

Team India humbled Australia at Perth and drew honorably against South Africa.While they failed to tackle SriLanka,rather Mendis-Murali to be precise, they regained the Border-Gavaskar trophy without losing a test and beat England with the spectacular run chase at Chennai.India found a new charismatic,shrewd and mature leader in Mahendra Singh Dhoni,while Andy Murray found and kept his fitness going strong through the year.

So the new year 2009 holds lot of promise in Cricket and Tennis.....Hope it will be another historic and enthralling year ......

THE WALL....can never FALL.....

THE WALL....can never FALL.....

This blog is dedicated to all the critics of Rahul Dravid:

There's this very age old saying...."Quitters don't win, Winners don't quit". And this very appropriately fits into every aspect of life and every profession in life.

And when people speak about Rahul Dravid on whether where he shall be heading to, in future, this is what they must think of,if not anything else.

Come on....people have criticised Ganguly,Yuvraj,Harbhajan,Sehwag...or even Sachin for that matter...that they must be thrown out etc etc...But when it comes to test cricket, even the thought of dropping Rahul Dravid will be a heinous crime to perform.

It was this man who taught India how to bat in test cricket on overseas territories and win test matches. And I make no mistake in saying that he surpasses even Sachin Tendulkar,if one were to rate the amount of significance his knocks have had in India's fortunes abroad.For that matter,from the year 2000, Tendulkar,Laxman and Ganguly owe a lot- right,left and center- to Dravid for all the plundering of the bowling they did. Yes they are Great cricketers in their own rights,but when it comes to guts,determination,resilience,defiance and wearing down of the opposition, Dravid comes second to none.
Brian Lara famously said-"If i were to want anyone to bat for my life, i would go for Rahul Dravid".And he said this not for any nonsense reason.And for nothing is he called "THE WALL".

Starting from Kolkata 2001 all the way to Jamaica 2006...every Indian victory overseas and in India had a trademark Rahul Dravid stamp on it..in one way or the other.Be it run making or fabulous slip catching.Be it the Eden turn around,or the Adelaide thumping or the Rawalpindi run-athon or the Headingley battle....Rahul Dravid defined Indian victories.All this when he was in his prime and Indian cricket was on its rise on the World cricket ladder. For a change, I will not explain any of dravid's innings from my memory....Because if anybody does not remember what he has done to Indian cricket, then they do not deserve to be followers of Indian cricket.

Yes...he has had his ill luck hitting him now...but for heaven's sake take a look around and you see that not even a single great cricketer has been spared of this.Jayasuriya,Inzamam,Hayden,Steven Waugh...the list is hopelessly long.Yes he led the team to India's worst ever world cup campaign ....but there were reasons for it, that need to be better forgotten.But after all he has given all his toil and sweat for the country and one bad year in comparison to the standards set by him does not make him mediocre overnight.

Just that people need to give him some time to come out of this bad time.And not brickbats....As I write this blog, Rahul Dravid remains unbeaten on 65 at Mohali on day 1 vs England...and i sincerely hope this is just the beginning of another purple patch for 3 years.He is on the threshold of achieving the feat of most catches by a fieldsman in test cricket and if not for all those spilt catches in the last year,owing to an effect of his poor form,he would have been at the door of 200 catches by now.Beyond all this, the best gift Rahul would get on his retirement would be to see India at the no.1 position in the ICC Test rankings,which is now looking possible in one year's time.

So...it would be a sincere request to all his critics....please have some patience.If people had not had patience with someone called Sachin Tendulkar when he scored 2 ducks in his first two ODI innings, we all know what the cricket world would have missed.

Finally.... with a hope that my final farewell blog on Rahul will nowhere be within another 3 years and

with lingering memories of Rahul Dravid kissing the crest on his baggy Blue at the Adelaide Oval in 2003...my final word goes.....THE WALL always stands TALL !!!

An inspiration in true sense......Thanks Sourav

An inspiration in true sense......Thanks Sourav

This blog might seem like a cliche to those who would take the effort to read this, since lot of such blogs have come up on the internet as well as in the form of newspaper articles.However this is just a honest appreciation and tribute to one of India's greatest leaders ever.This will be my longest blog ever...and one of my most cherished blogs.....:-)

March 22,2001....a tense battle at the MA Chidambaram stadium...It would not be necessary to mention what was the occasion, but the celebration by the Indian captain on beating the world champions-Australia, is still etched in my memory.It truly symbolized what we call "Fire in the Belly".

Aggressive,street fighter,maverick,flamboyant....Various adjectives have been used to describe a certain Sourav Chandidas Ganguly in the last 13-14 years. Whatever may anybody say, the definition of the word FIGHTER in the Oxford dictionary needs to be changed to Sourav Ganguly. Indian cricket never saw such a persona, such oozing confidence,most of the times infectious to his mates and the cause of opponents' envy.

Whenever he was abandoned, he rose out of the ashes like a Phoenix. When nobody gave him a chance, it made him furthermore determined and his critics just had to watch in awe and surprise.If one had to make a long list of Indian leaders who made the country proud,who fought with valour,courage and pride, it would be a disgrace if Sourav's name would not be in the list.He wore his heart on the sleeve and did not bother to understand what fear meant.Sourav showed us all a new dimension of leadership. The attitude,fearlessness,never-say-die spirit....well let me put an end to all adjectives and begin with my recall of all the things that riveted around the man who was the most talked about in the last 13 years in Indian Cricket.

My first memory of Sourav Ganguly,as most of the people have,definitely is his debut century at Lord's in June 1996.The other debutant who made 95 at the other end,was a now legendary Rahul Dravid ,who aptly made a statement-"On the off side,first there's God,then There's Sourav Ganguly".Magic flowed in his silken smooth strokes,after he made his debut under,again,difficult circumstances.Navjot Singh Sidhu abandoned the England tour under controversial circumstances after a fall out with captain Azharuddin and his place was taken by Sourav.Everyone pointed at it beng a regional selection,rather than on merit.Well, at Trenbridge in the next test match,he proved all people wrong...And this saga of proving people wrong started then......


In 1997,he began opening the innings with Sachin Tendulkar in ODI's and they both went on to torment bowlers all round the world.And in the Sahara cup in the same year,he became a thorn in the Pakistanis' flesh,with 4 successive man-of-the-match awards,shining with both bat and ball.However,for me,the best ODI innings played by Sourav is the 124 he scored at Dhaka vs Pakistan in 1998, when India chased 315 to set a world record for the highest successful chase.In 1999,Sourav acted as stop gap captain for an injured Sachin in the DMC cup in Toronto against the West Indies and led the team to a 2-1 victory.To all those people who thought Sourav was a selfish individual, his comments after this series would make it clear..."When Sachin comes back,we will have a team ready to go for the kill"...

Things did not go as Sourav stated and India slid down both with respect to on-field performances and the off-field controversy of match fixing.Sachin quit as captain with it having affected his batting,and after having followed Indian cricket since the India's tour of South Africa in 1992,as a 7 year old,8 years hence in 2000,my interest in cricket dwindled out of sheer desperation.Never did I think that i would follow cricket again with the same vigour and passion,but the passion grew even more bigger....all thanks to a great new Team India,led by Sourav.

My first memory of his as full time India captain was his worried look at an ODI at Kochi against South Africa, where Herschelle Gibbs was toying with the Indian bowling.But then he was never the one to give up without a fight,and came out with a blistering attack on the SA bowlers,enabling India to clinch a thriller.This might have been written as a one-off win,but Ganguly defied all logic,batted with tremendous aplomb right through the series and won,leading by example.



India's next biggest destination was the ICC Champions trophy in Nairobi,where India surprised Australia and South Africa , only to be denied by a counter-attacking Chris Cairns in the final.India discovered 2 new heroes in the series- Yuvraj Singh,with an 84 on debut against the aussies and well....I can never forget Zaheer Khan clean bowling Steven Waugh in the dying moments of that quarter final.

A new and young India was emerging to challenge the world.Sourav's first assignment as test captain began nightmarishly with Bangladesh scoring 400 in their first ever test.India was however saved the blushes,thanks to a Sunil Joshi all-round effort.

Come March 2001,the whole world was waiting for the Australian juggernaut to trample the Indians and conquer their "Final Frontier".Aussies had won 15 test matches in a row and India were still struggling to come out of their troubled days.Steven Waugh bragged of a whitewash in India,to which Sourav's reply came:"What does he know what's going on here,sitting in Australia??".Never have Indian captains done this before and never will anyone ever.DADA was not gonna be prey to the Aussies.India's greatest match winning bowler, Anil Kumble was out of the series with a shoulder injury and India's spin bowlers were really, nothing but average.It was here when Captain Sourav fought for a certain Harbhajan Singh to be included in the team ahead of many other contenders.What was to follow was an epic of a series,the best I have ever seen in my lifetime,with India clinching the series thanks to a mammoth turn around by the VVS Laxman-Rahul Dravid duo at Kolkata after following on,and Harbhajan pickcing up 32 aussie wickets,including a hat-trick as well.

India mentally won this series,and not only was it on the field.Sourav did not allow the aussies to get under his skin, rather he got under Steve Waugh's skin,who at Chennai,got out handling the ball.


The way I followed Indian cricket now began to take different dimension after this series.This series led to India's best ever batting middle order to get established in Dravid,Sachin,Sourav and Laxman.Harbhajan Singh became a bowler for the future and most of all, India now making the Australians get the feeling of losing a test match and a test series.

Well...for a short moment i got carried away with the 2001 epic series,without noticing that the blog was meant to be wriiten on Sourav.The same also happened with Sourav's batting.As the Times of India aptly put it,he was the "Robin Hood of his mavericks" around,taking all the brickbats from all corners while making his team grow from strength to strength.India was now HIS team,not to forget how equally it was John Wright's.John worked on the background with the player's skills and Sourav acted the motivator.


In 2001 in South Africa,Sourav promoted a certain Virender Sehwag to open the innings at Bloemfontein,who scored a hundred on debut.The rest as all know is history.Sourav faced his first biggest test in the series with the Mike Denness controversy,which he handled with aplomb and let the world know that India would not succumb to anything like that.India beat the SriLankans in Kandy in 2002,where the team was without Sachin and Laxman.From here India began to show that we are not meek travellers.A win in Port of Spain in 2002,to go ahead in the series in the carribean,was only floundered by losses at Barbados and Jamaica.Then came one of the biggest series of all,which really kick started India's rise back on the cricketing ladder.The Natwest triumph brought about by 2 new kids on the block,Yuvraj-Kaif,leading to a bare-chest act on the hallowed Lord's balcony by DADA and the drawn test series which heralded the greatness of Rahul Dravid was only an indication of things to come.


Well, this is supposed to be a tribute to Sourav, but all i have written so far is about Team India.That is what it actually was!! A tribute to how he made India believe that overseas tours are not only for sight-seeing!!! You've got to go and win test matches abroad.In the midst of these important victories,there was a huge decision Sourav had to make,and it was keeoing Anil Kumble out of the playing eleven in overseas Test cricket.It was really difficult to comprehend for everyone,but Sourav had his way.It had nothing to do with Kumble's performance,but it was to do with the theory of playing 3 fast bowlers and an in-form Harbhajan Singh.And Sourav also admitted recently in a TV interview that it was the most difficult decision he ever took in his career.

Then came the season 2003-2004....My favourite season in Indian cricket for various reasons.India got a serious drubbing in New Zealand and everyone had written off the Indian team,when it came to the ICC World Cup in South Africa.After scratching to beat Holland,the Aussies humiliated the Indians at Centurion.It was now that the fans back home burnt effigies and the captain was the main target.Sourav showed extreme resolve and held the team together,led from the front,inspired the youngsters,Zaheer and Nehra, Srinath delivered outstandingly and the batting held forte with Sachin leading the pack.

England,Pakistan,Newzealand,Sri Lanka all were knocked off and only the Aussies were now reamaining to be defeated.On March 23,2003 as all India waited with breathlessness, the nerves got the better of the team and a certain Ricardo Ponting took the World cup down under once again.SOURAV had took his team to the World cup finals and it was only the 2nd time in Indian history.Sourav's thinking rubbed off on the team...the ability to rise out of the ashes and show the world what you are capable of....

As the season ended,India had to travel to Australia with an attempt to retain the Border-Gavaskar trophy.Any Indian team travelling down under was labelled as mere tourists, and the prediction this tiem was a 4-0 whitewash for India.This after India struggled against the Kiwis at home and were beaten by Australia in the TVS cup.I was extremely apprehensive of India doing well in Australia,and was not liking the idea of watching cricket live early in the morning from 5.30 AM,with the mindset that India will not fare well.Well....Sourav Ganguly showed what guts and determination meant with his scintillating 144 at Brisbane,which for me was the turning point of the series,MENTALLY.

When India won historically at Adelaide,with heroics from Dravid,Laxman,Kumble and a certain Ajit Agarkar ,Sourav's celebration was a calm and composed, clap of hands as he walked out to congratulate Dravid and Agarkar on the field.The look on his face said " I told you so....!!".The next moment of the series came when he walked out at the fag end of day 1,ahead of Sachin,who was struggling for form at Melbourne and took some blows on his helmet.Earlier Indian captains would have sent a nightwatchman....But not Sourav....He liked to fight it out in the middle....Although India failed to seal the series at Sydney,they showed all the world that Aussies are not unbeatable....Rahul Dravid was the man of the series...YES...but for me it was Sourav...he set it up at Brisbane and the other followed suit....


This was followed by a first time series win in Pakistan,both in Tests and ODI's.All this amidst pressures of all that is associated with the environment in Pakistan.


However after this,things were to change....India lost to Australia in India,and Sourav was criticised from all corners for sitting out of the Nagpur test,citing an injury.Pakistan came to India,saved the Mohali test and lost at Kolkata.However India managed to lose the bangalore test and the way Sourav got out to Afridi on the 5th day there,made me think....is it the end of all this glory of 4 years?? India also lost the ODI series 4-2, after being 2-0 up.John Wright's tenure came to an end,and with that the end of a successful combo that took Indian cricket miles ahead.




The next Indian coach was backed by Sourav, and he was none other than Greg Chappell,who was in a way instrumental in Sourav's 144 at Brisbane.However in a span of 6 months things started going downhill and the relationship between them soured due to various reasons.Sourav was struggling for runs and a dogged hundred against minnows Zimbabwe was not meritorious enough for the people who mattered.


This is where things hit him badly and unfairly....He backed Rahul Dravid when he was going through a lean patch in 2000-01,he backed Sachin in West Indies and Australia,He backed Laxman when he was the target always by the selectors....Now he was left unsupported and in solitude...

I have always looked up to my parents when it came to learning lessons and how to go about various things in life.Further my teachers and friends have influenced me in various other ways.Apart from this,if there was anyone whom i always admired,it has to be Sourav Ganguly.Most of the times,i tend to go by instinct and this was learnt by me from the way Sourav exhibited himself.I also took a leaf out of his book when it came to another aspect.That is, "You always support and appreciate people when they do well, but it matters more than anything else,when you support the same people in time of distress"....I have taken lot of flak from most of my friends for supporting Sourav when he was getting support from nowhere....I was taken to be joking when i said that he would come back into the team with a bang.Everyone thought he did not deserve to play for India.Moreover,they all labeled him selfish,stubborn and what not!!!And in a matter of few days,all forgot what he had done for Indian cricket all these years. Well....if an engineering student scores a 60 percent in a semester after getting 80 plus till then,does he become useless and unworthy overnight??? This was the same situation that Sourav was in.....

Sourav went back to domestic cricket,county cricket....slugged it out at unknown venues and showed the hunger to fight back.

And one fine day,in Johannesburg , the same old Sourav of Lord's surfaced and had all his critics running for cover and gasping for breath.India defeated South Africa for the first time ever in a test match in South Africa and my joy knew no bounds.I was extremely happy for him and for myself, for DADA had proved me right !!!!

Again he was dropped in Pakistan, for unknown reasons,despite scoring runs and this was extremely frustrating.However once the World Cup debacle got over in the Carribean in 2007, Greg Chappell was ousted and with that ended the dark days of Indian cricket.Sourav kept scoring runs, played superbly in England,where India won a series after more than 20 years.Rahul Dravid resigned from captaincy post this series and Anil Kumble took over the reigns.
It was in December 2007,that Pakistan came to India.Sourav scored a hundered at Eden Gardens,his first at his home ground.So the expectation was more at Bangalore,the venue for the 3rd test.I had never watched a test match Live at the stadium and i wanted to go this time to watch India v Pakistan.India were 69-4 on day 1 at Lunch,and it was Sourav and Yuvraj at the crease.I was wondering whether it would end as a nightmare day watching India paly below par.But it turned out to be one of the most memorable days of my life.Sourav scored a hundred and watching it live was really a dream for me.Not to forget Yuvraj's belligerent hundred.Sourav went on to score his first and only double hundred the next day and it was an extremely cherishable moment for me.I shall never forget December 8th 2007...the day i watched my hero perform valiantly.


India were supposed to tour Australia in early 2008 and i had this bet with one of my dearest buddies,that he would score atleast one test hundred on the tour.I was extremely disappointed when i lost the bet as Sourav could not manage one,although he came close in the acrimonious Sydney test.However he batted fluently throughout the series with confidence.The bombshell came at the end of the test series when he was dropped for the ODI series and this was extremely disappointing when he was the highest run scorer in ODI's for India in 2007.But it was also true that he would not go on to play the 2011 World cup and hence the decision looked logical with a futuristic sense.
He continued to play well in tests,scoring a match winning 87 on a dustbowl at Kanpur vs South Africa.


Then came the SriLanka series in July 2008,where Indian batting looked all at sea against Mendis and Muralitharan.
Sourav was the scape goat again and was dropped for the Irani trophy game.Everyone predicted the end of the road for Sourav,but i still felt he still had a year to go.A world ranking of No.1 for Team India was what i expected when Sourav would retire.Krish Srikkanth handed Sourav a lifeline and picked him for the Australia series in October 2008. I felt somewhere inside me,that Sourav would have his swansong in the series...It was Australia and the last test was at Nagpur....the same venue which haunted him in 2004.The same old foe whose skin he got under and what more than signing off with a win against Australia.I renewed my bet with the same buddy of mine,of Sourav scoring a hundred in the series.And barely 2 days after this, came the news that Surav had retired. It was extremely shocking and difficult to digest at first.But i expected a drubbing for Australia(Refer to my pervious blog)....All this for Sourav....
He proved me right once again...a match winning hundred at Mohali and a series win at Nagpur.


The image of Mahendra Dhoni asking Sourav to lead the team for one last time before he left was extremely touching.


Finally the moment had arrived...India beat Aussies 2-0 and one of the greatest chapters in the history of World Cricket had come to an end.


This is an image i would never forget...Sourav being carried for a lap of honour fittingly by Laxman and Harbhajan..one who changed the fate of Sourav's captaincy and another who was one of Sourav's biggest contribution to Indian cricket.




Finally....I still could have written lots and lots on Sourav...Well,he will always remain in the minds and hearts of all the people......even those who "Hated to love him and Loved to hate him"....


Indian Cricket will dearly miss you Sourav....There can never ever be another Sourav Ganguly.!!!

Why India won at Mohali?.........

Why India won at Mohali?.........

Now that India has drubbed the Australians at Mohali by 320 runs, seeds of doubts will slowly start growing in the Aussie camp about whether they really can pull off a win in the series.

Cricket enthusiasts and pundits will now get their pens out to predict the outcome of this series as well as start wondering about a decline of Aussie supremacy.

I am an avid enthusiast of the wonderful game of cricket, and although i can never be a pundit, i would like to list down the reasons WHY India won the Mohali test, rather than HOW.

Agreed that Australia are hampered by their weakest bowling attack in 15 years, but this was the attack that beat India last January,down under.So no sympathies on that count.

So WHY India won the Mohali test.....??

Factors:

1.Sourav Ganguly: Amidst all the celebrations of Sachin Tendulkar's rise to the top of run scorers list, this man quietly churned up runs at the other end.Yes, i am a die hard Sourav fan. But i would definitely have written about his role, even if i was his biggest critic.

At 160 for 4, and only Dhoni to come in next, in walked dada and took India past 300, with his favorite "Chhoto Babu".Imagine India getting bowled out on day 1, and there would have ended India's chances in the match.Again when Dhoni launched a brutal assault on aussie bowlers, he was the ROCK at the other end, with stoic determination and purpose.

He wanted to make sure, he demolishes the aussies and his critics in his farewell series, and this under all sorts of pressure.Salutations PRINCE OF KOLKATA


2.Mahendra Singh Dhoni: I could not agree more with Gaurav Kalra of CNN-IBN,when he said Dhoni was destiny's child.But only luck does not help.
Lets have a look at what Dhoni did right in the test match,for he hardly did anything wrong!!!

• He won the toss at first place and batted first

• Launched a murderous assault on the already wearing Aussie bowling, right from ball no.1

• Made big statements at critical moments like:

1. Got to his fifty after lunch on day 2,with a six in the 1st over.
2. Promoted himself to no.3 in the 2nd innings to up the ante
3. When India was 499 ahead, hit another six to take the lead past 500, to dent the Aussies psychologically
   

• As a captain:

Innovative fielding placements :
*A very fine leg slip for Simon Katich who likes flicking off the leg stump

*Different fielders at a single fielding position
Eg:At times there was Tendulkar at mid-on,suddenly we found Ganguly there, even Gambhir after few overs. Sachin also fielded at point,where he took that brilliant catch, Sehwag fielded at covers This was mainly setup for different batsmen,who are stronger in different areas of the filed.This was missing in the Bangalore test match.

*Bowling changes at regular intervals, at Bangalore same bowler bowled very long spells

*When a bowler got hit, immediately would run up to the bowler for a talk
Eg:Amit Mishra ,when he was hit by Watson for a six in the first innings

• One instance where, Dhoni asked harbhajan to speak to Mishra when haddin and clarke were attacking the leg spinner in the 2nd innings.

• Earlier Indian captains would have brought on Mishra,who picked 5 wickets in the 1st innings,to bowl when openers counter attacked in the chase of 516.Rather he brought Harbhajan on.
  

• Mishra was not over-bowled in the 2nd innings,for which the Aussies would have had their plans.Hence he was canny with his decisions.
  

• And at the post match presentation,he felt bad for Sehwag and Laxman to have got out unluckily in the 1st innings.And said had that not happened India would have scored 600 runs.What confidence!!!!
  

3. Gautam Gambhir: This man has sealed India's opening batting problems at least for a year,hopefully with Sehwag they can surpass Hayden-Langer.The most improved Indian batsman in 2008 was Gambhir and at Mohali he exorcised all the ghosts regarding his temperament.

4. Amit Mishra: This man flighted the red cherry was spectacular ease and guile.He could well be Anil Kumble's successor for years to come.

5. Australia's confused tactics:Ponting spoke of India playing from the old school of cricket and Oz playing the new brand.Well, India scored runs at a faster pace than Australia in the 2 matches and also had attacking fields for their bowlers,while Aussies went back to 2004 tactics and failed.

6. Victory in mind games: Zaheer Khan said before the game that at Bangalore,Australia were at their defensive best and also challenged their ability to pick wickets.Ponting got back at Zaheer telling he had a very rare good game. Both India and Zaheer set things right at Mohali.

So its time for the caravan to move to India's (and Kumble's) fortress- Delhi,where India have won 7 test matches in a row.However India must be aware that they themselves beat Australia at their fortress-Perth-earlier this year, hence anything can happen.
For me, if Kumble is fit he walks in to replace Amit Mishra. Only if he is 100 percent fit.Else the same team plays at Feroze Shah Kotla.

Wish India dont leave it until Nagpur,where they last lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy in 2004 and seal the issue at Delhi,and claim the series,at the same venue where they won the 1st ever Border-Gacvskar trophy in 1996.

The Battle of the Best………

Prologue (Which was actually not a part of this blog):

This blog of mine comes at the end of the 1^st test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2008, which is too late by my standards.

Two reasons:

• I was contemplating over whether to write a blog (very long one, to be split in parts) on Sourav Ganguly before or after the series, I decided on the latter.

• I depended on the internet connection of my office to upload it on the day before the series, but found that www.blogger.com was blocked on that day!!! HUH!!!

Here’s a look back at the amazing rivalry with some memorable pictures…

History:

India - Australia rivalry in test cricket is now THE watched, THE most enthralling, and THE most promising contest (not to forget about THE Financial aspect) in international cricket. As a young cricket follower in the 1990’s I grew up looking up to India-Pakistan contests as the “Mother of all battles”. As time grew by, it was India v Australia that took center stage.

1996:

The Border-Gavaskar Trophy was launched in 1996, with India winning the one-off test, enabled by a Nayan Mongia Century.

1998:

Next stop was supposed to be Australia , however it was in 1998 that Aussies revisited India. This series is remembered only for one man-Sachin Tendulkar. After getting caught off Shane Warne at 1^st slip by Mark Taylor for 4 at Chennai,and sending Warne berserk, Sachin went on to flay the aussie attack all throughout the series with aplomb. Not to forget the permanent scars he created in Warne’s minds…

1999-2000:

India next had a forgettable 1999-2000 tour of Australia, getting whitewashed 3-0. Only stand out points for the tourists were Sachin’s Melbourne hundred and VVS Laxman’s 167 at Sydney, the latter being the sign of things to come in future….

2001:

Then came the biggest of all series in 2001,which included the best test match I ever saw-at Kolkata…..Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist pulled the Mumbai test away from India with a sensational counter attack and India pulled off a thriller from the brink of losing hopelessly, thanks to career defining innings from VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid. Sachin Tendulkar took the baton at Chennai, Harbhajan Singh ran through the Aussies and fittingly hit the winning runs, to clinch a cliffhanger. Lots and lots can be written on this series….Probably I shall write about this to commemorate the completion of 10 years on March 22, 2011.

2003-2004:

The 2003-04 series down under began with predictions of India losing 4-0, and ended up with India dominating, yet drawing the series 1-1.Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar –all plundered the Aussie attack and Anil Kumble almost single handedly won the series , but for a farewell innings from Steve Waugh.

2004:

The Aussies came to India in 2004, completely ready with a plan. India were clearly under prepared, with Sachin Injured, yet if not for a rain wash out on the 5^th day at Chennai, the series would have been drawn 2-2.However, all credit to the Aussies for out-witting India and winning after 35 years on Indian soil.

2007-08:

The recent 2007-08 series was the most intriguing of them all both on and off the field, culminating in the retirement of the great Adam Gilchrist. India started badly at Melbourne, Aussies retained the trophy after a non-deserving win at Sydney(For reasons everyone knows), India won at Perth for the first time and Aussies saved themselves some blushes with slow, defensive un-Aussie cricket at Adelaide.

Current Series-2008:

Indian Fab-Five are under pressure to deliver one last time and have the last hurrah, Australia are weakened by retirements of greats, yet extremely formidable and hence this series is definitely the end of an era of a fantastic decade of India-Australia rivalry. Ironically, it also is the end of the career of India’s finest captain ever, Sourav Ganguly, for he was the one who orchestrated the beginning of this rivalry.

Predictions:

To speak the truth, I made a prediction 3 days before the series began, to one of my best buddies, Prashanth Salian, who is an avid non-supporter of everything that I support.

My Predictions were:

• Ponting, Hussey and Katich will be the key players for Australia…Hayden and Clarke will fail
• Sourav Ganguly will score at least one hundred in the series, and it will be at Nagpur
• Australia will not win a single test in the series.

To add these I will add few more:

• India winning the series will entirely depend on the batsmen. Because this series will be played on dead slow wickets (exception being Delhi) and hence the India need to out-bat Australia and score quickly. The Fab-Four(rather Fab-Five) know this and will go all out to prove critics wrong!!!

• The openers-Sehwag and Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar and the fast bowlers will be the stars for India (Yes … Dravid, Laxman and Sourav, will play their roles neatly though)

• No team has kept the Border-Gavaskar trophy with them for more than two consecutive series, hence India will win this test series

Final statement: India will win the series 2-0, with draws at Bangalore and Nagpur.