Between the two tours 2002 and 2009

Dravid gets a 100.

Sehwag fires yet again. Tendulkar gets his groove back.

India is back to being unstoppable on the field. 2 T20 defeats seem far behind. The unperforming party boys are out. Yuvraj is back to SL 08 form. Time for him to get the groove before Mar 18. Thats the real Test.

You can say that the pitches now are flat, slow, whatever. Pitches are batting friendly. As they were not in 2002. That was one sided contest when neither side could claim to be superior over other. The team which won the toss, won the game in albeit every match.

What followed in 2002 was a grand 2003 World Cup run. And youngsters of that team are now the star performers of the current ODI team. Sehwag, Gambhir (2003), Yuvraj, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Dhoni (2004) form the crux of the team. Tendulkar continues to be the frontline batsman in both forms of the game.

No young player, supposedly young player or read batsman has been able to make a mark in past 3 years. Raina, well he is inconsistent. Rohit Sharma, well less said the better. What Ganguly did to the team in 2001-05 and then Rahul Dravid from 2005-07, the results are visible right now.

Flexibility was the keyword in Chappell era too as is in Kirsten age, but then flambuoyance is the difference. The ex-coach was dominant and fiery. He was least secretive of all. Kirsten is happy being laidback, his results say it all. He played against most of the team members of this team untill 2004. And now he is back coaching them. And best part is, everybody speaks in high respect for him.

Thats the difference. And the presence of senior players inspires Indians. Not like the neibhours where they are accused and thrown out. And thats the difference between the 2 teams.

A pity that 2nd ODI was washed out. And nobody knows if we would have even single 5o over game in the series.

Wah Sehwag.......

A man with straight bat ...........

On Chappell

"The thing with him (Chappell) was that whatever you shared with him, it was promptly disclosed to media and selectors. He talked and that hurt the trust......."

On Ganguly

Yes, it was in Sri Lanka. I hit gold in the third match with that blistering century off 69 balls (against New Zealand). A lot of youngsters, including me, came to the fore under Dada. Remember, when he took over world cricket was reeling under the impact of match-fixing. He always backed us.For instance when I was Man of the Match against Australia early in my career, he assured me that I would play in at least next 30 One-day matches. Even when he promoted me as an opener, he told me to bat without worry as he wouldn't touch me for the next 30-35 games.When your captain backs you in this manner, your confidence is sky-high. He was also an extremely aggressive captain.

Totally unbiased, straight out of box, in your face attitude just like when he bats and puts the ball out of the sight.......

Morning bunch of cricket developments round the globe!!

Hayden bungled up in the Tests this season and he was persisted with entire season.

He was axed from ODI squad and the T20 squad……….

Now he wants to go back to his family, ease off and decide what to do next. Cling on or exit.

Similar to what Virender Sehwag had in 2007 when he suffered loss of form in ODIs and was sacked from Tests and in effective lost the chance of being the skipper for good.

Pieterson and Moores were shown the door in English cricket after the rift came out in open……

Guess this is the time to wash out the dirty linen in public…………

KP – Moores rift in England and Fraudlingam Raju in India…………

England go a step back in appointing Strauss the skipper for WI tour…..They don’t have anybody else who is sure to play all 3 forms of game except Pieterson…

3 yrs back we had a rift in skipper and coach, coach prevailed to screw us further and skipper was fired. Later on coach was fired and skipper returned back for a fairytale return and even fairytaler farewell.

And then we almost had a Pieterson style rift between MS and selectors over RP Singh!!

Graeme Smith is the man of moment and SAFs are the team of moment……Romantics’ favorite……Showered with accolades for beating world champs in their own den. But then was that domination ? Did they dominate right through ? Did they send fear and shiver amongst the opposition ?

Frankly speaking the lineup of McKenzie, Amla, Kallis, Prince / Duminy and DeVillers doesn’t sound scary as this one :

Sehwag, Gambhir, Dravid, TENDULKAR, Laxman and Yuvraj………

Put Smith in and yet this doesn’t sound scary J

Nope not convincing……

SAFs cant be long term Test champs even if they uproot the Aussies……

Fingers crossed for more surprising developments………

And yes across the border, Akhtar won the contract, but not sure how long he would be up there and even bigger question is how many matches he would play ? Injury, fights, ego battles and conflicts might create a roadblock for him!!!

Malik remains captain for another year when they play SL home and away, tour Australia later in the year and go to England to play T20 world championship!!! Let them get good amount of cricket!!! Yeah they should get…..

Whose series is this ?

Sachin Tendulkar has said it right when he said that the series against Australia is not about the seniors but about the 2 teams. 2 of the best Test playing teams who have played some epic series this decade and perhaps this one is going to be no different. Go to any channel or any newspaper, the pre-series talk is specific to the future of the seniors and how they are over aged and how much they are liable to the team on basis of just 1 failure in Sri Lanka. Any ex-cricketer who has lifted some bat in international level or state level assumes importance when lured by the money in the media. And so we now have likes of Venkat Raja, Surendra Bhave who havent played at international level, to select the Test team for Australia series and yet again the questions would be does SG deserve a place ? When would seniors be dropped ?

M'con guys we got to discuss more about other aspects of the series, the selectors, the new regime of BCCI, the upcoming series and stuff like that. But we are stuck with 4 guys. Team doesnt revolve around this 4 people. They form the middle order. There are openers, there are bowlers and then there are wicket keepers. All possible micro analysis and micro management of every move of the 4 middle order batsmen is being done and every move is dissected with a surgeon's precision.

Time and again, on this blog I have said, yes the seniors would go one day. We should have replacements. But who ? Somebody who has succeded in T20 goes straight to Tests ? How many of our media experts or some bored writers (pun intended) know Test match rules ? Survival is the key in Tests. 20 overs is little less than a session in a day out of 5's play and you got to win sessions to win a Test.

Another silly discussion going around the corner is Greg Chappell. Media seems to be obsessed with him. Ok he is with Aussie team now as a coach cum consultant or whatever role it is. And if he gives some inputs to Aussies, then wats wrong with it ? He was with us during 2003-04 series, Bobby Simpson was consultant during 1999 WC, we have had John Wright and now Gary Kirsten as coach. Never did NZ and SA come back and charged us that may be this coaches are giving secrets about them to India. Then why this fuss over Chappell ?

Real battle would be right there in the middle of the ground. And when it would begin the coaches and every other thing would take the backseat. Can't wait for the series to begin. And as VM correctly pointed out pro-senior posts have no taking. I would sincerly advise all the bloggers (not media buffoons) to have a wide perspective, apply some brain before writing anybody off. Before prejudicing anybody, lets have his options ready.