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A London-based company has released a book revealing Sachin Tendulkar’s thoughts on his achievements on the cricket field.Tendulkar Opus was released by Sachin himself in the T20 World Cup which finished recently in England. The book will have details of his playing career and will also tell us what Sachin thinks of his teammates. A section will also be devoted to his on-field rivals, both past and present and also his personal life. Book will weigh 35kgs with 800 pages. But not everyone can get it as it will be a limited collectors’ edition and each copy will be personally signed by the man himself. Sachin is the first individual sportsman to feature in an Opus collection. It is being said that this book has 3000 photograph of Sachin Tendulkar. Master Blaster has been in front of the camera for seventeen hours to complete the entire book. Tendulkar Opus will cost its readers the sum of three lakh rupees.

Rudi  Koertzen has the highest regard for Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. Looking back on his career, the 60-year-old South African said he was fortunate to have seen Tendulkar and Lara bat from close quarters. “They had amazing reflexes and used to pick up the ball as soon as it left the bowler’s hand which helped them make batting look very graceful and elegant due to their superb timing, excellent footwork,” Koertzen said. “I don’t think you can replace batsmen like Sachin and Brian in a day or two. The batsmen of these qualities and class are born in years and we are so fortunate to have seen them when they were at their brilliant best,” he added.

India speedster Sreesanth, who was left out of the national team for the Champions Trophy to be held in South Africa, is likely to be appointed captain of the Kerala Ranji Trophy team for the coming season. Even though selection of the team as well as the captain rests entirely with the state selection committee, Kerala Cricket Association (KCA) has expressed desire that Sreesanth may be given the chance to lead the state.

Former India all-rounder Manoj Prabhakar has offered help to lanky fast bowler Ishant Sharma to do away with his “technical flaws”. “He (Ishant) is one of our mainline bowler but has lost his sting.”If he is being hit the captain is sure to lose confidence in him and such marauding surely affects the morale of the team said the former ace. Prabhakar felt Team India bowling coach Venkatesh Prasad might not be able to help Ishant and he was willing to offer his services to the youngster.

Indian debacle at the World Cup and Greg Chappell’s unceremonious return followed a huge hue and cry in the country. In reaction, BCCI’s action of curtailing player’s endorsement and their earnings is like looking for a culprit in a cupboard. The love and understanding of the game was missing from all quarters. The hype turned in hysteria.
Since World Cup, Indians have now strangled Bangladesh in their own backyard and the ODI series win is being taken as a tribute to attrition. The young looking Indian team has some how shown the will to win, even if it is rather subdued. Cricket is after all, only a game.
‘If money can’t buy you love, it won’t buy you trophies either’. Sports is played for love and if one excels, money follows. It is the love for the game, which brings enjoyment and without enjoyment life cannot be worthwhile. Indian performance or non-performance in the World Cup should have nothing to do with money matters and at the same time, everything to do with the enjoyment of playing cricket. Indian cricketers did not seem enjoying playing during the World Cup. The pressure showed on their faces that withered without focus.
The hype created before departure for the Caribbean Carnival turned into their doom after the Indians could not even qualify for the Super Eight’s. Media reacted as if World Cup was just a trophy and being the richest board, players ought to ‘bring’ it for India. After the World Cup debacle, a soft drink advertisement suggested that the young ‘soft drinkers’ would ‘bring’ the next World Cup to India. It is ridiculous for a nation where cricket is like a religion with fans hardly understanding the game.
Indians led by Sourav Ganguly, while playing the final of the 2003 World Cup in South Africa created hope for this World Cup in the Caribbean. But for the Indians under Rahul Dravid in the Caribbean World Cup, worst waited. They lost to not-so-minnows Bangladesh and ever improving Sri Lankans in the preliminary rounds itself and bowed out of the World Cup prematurely. The collective blame became personal and matters of money became crucial.
As they say, ‘A superior man understands what is right and an inferior man knows what will sell’. The Indian media and people following the game were boasting the richness of its cricketing heroes. After the World Cup the same set of people from market started abusing cricketers for reasons of money, corrupting cricket and cricketers. They went overboard in criticising, as if cricketers were only money-hungry. They crucified each and every player as if they were not mortals. Cricket is after all a game and not a product of or for the market.
Cricketers can be marketed but not the game of cricket. Market owes to cricketers but nothing to the game of cricket. Cricket was still there when cricketers played as amateurs and later as professionals. And it will still remain a game. Then, what has money done for the game?
Yes, it has enriched the cricketers and given them a better life, while playing as well as after the playing days. And that is absolutely fine, as players make a career out of their love and talent through the game of cricket. Market does not realize, how much effort or hard work has gone into making a finished product like a national cricketer. Market is only concerned with what will sell. Market will never be bigger than the consumer. Cricket will never be a market.
Indians hired the costliest coach in the World, Greg Chappell. It is surprising that the major changes in the team, which reached the final of the Rainbow World Cup in South Africa and compared to the non-qualifying team of the Caribbean World Cup in West Indies were only the captain and the coach. The difference was, only ‘cricket’. In the Caribbean, Indians under Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid performed below their potential and calibre. And that does happen in cricket.
Since, Greg Chappell has gone back to Australia leaving Indian cricket to its horrors. And Indian board is still contemplating for another foreign coach. Good luck to them. However rich and up-to-date Greg Chappell was in his cricketing knowledge and wisdom, he lacked patience and attitude of a good coach. According to Chappell, if Indian Board runs its cricket like Zimbabwean board then Chappell was too cocky for a coach. Cricket was always played on the square and thank goodness, it will remain so. Cricket is a game of style and a bit longer to be managed sitting far off in the shade. Chappell’s return was eminent.
More than the Indians, players from Ireland, Bermuda and Bangladesh enjoyed their cricket in the West Indian World Cup, and are paid far less than the Indians. More money does not make one play better; more enjoyment makes one perform better. In the Caribbean World Cup, somehow, for the Indians pressure of the self and the market became bigger than the love and enjoyment of the game. They looked loaded.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has to realise that only better use of money will improve Indian cricket, not the mere use of money. Cricket is for the players and the people, but the market is for the product and consumers only. And so, curtailing the players’ hard earned money won’t better Indian cricket. BCCI should not behave like the Board of Control for Cash in India. BCCI should spread it well to nurture and find talent in a huge country like India. Otherwise, it won’t be Cricket.

They are both senior statesmen of world cricket today. But eleven years ago this month when Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid made their Test debuts together against England at Lord’s very little was known of their capabilities. Ganguly had made his ODI debut in Australia in 1991-92, was dropped after playing one match and was a forgotten man for over four years before being recalled for the tour of England amidst vociferous protests. Some critics saw Jagmohan Dalmiya’s hand in his selection while others deemed his inclusion as part of the quota policy. Dravid had played a few ODIs not very successfully but in complete contrast to Ganguly his selection was widely welcomed for he had impressed with his consistent run getting, his impeccable technique and he gave the distinct impression of being a long term prospect. Ganguly on the other hand was considered too flashy and in the opinion of many was lucky to be making the tour.
But at the start of the campaign it was clear that both were just reserve batsmen. With Sachin Tendulkar, Ajay Jadeja, Vikram Rathour, Md. Azharuddin, Navjot Sidhu and Sanjay Manjrekar around it meant that either could get in only if one of these players were injured or terribly off colour. About a week before the first Test, Sidhu controversially walked out of the tour following a misunderstanding with Azharuddin but neither Dravid nor Ganguly were named as a replacement. The tour management decided to go in with five batsmen and five bowlers at Edgbaston, a Test which England won by eight wickets. Batting failures more than anything else had led to the reverse. Tendulkar got a heroic hundred but the top score registered in both innings by the quartet of Azharuddin, Rathour, Manjrekar and Jadeja was 23. Ganguly or Dravid – if not both – would have to come in for the second Test at Lord’s and there would also have to be some changes in the batting order. Ultimately the tour management decided to play both the batsmen while pushing up wicket-keeper Nayan Mongia to open with Rathour.
Dravid was 23, Ganguly a couple of weeks short of his 24th birthday. There is always some pressure on Test debutants but between the two there was much more pressure on Ganguly. With the criticism surrounding his selection no doubt ringing in his ears he took the field with Dravid as Azharuddin on winning the toss put England in to bat. Initially at least the move seemed to have succeeded for England were 107 for five. Interestingly enough two of the wickets were taken by Ganguly. It was always thought that his right-arm medium-paced swing bowling had a chance of coming good in helpful conditions in England but in scalping Nasser Hussain and Graeme Hick he exceeded expectations. In fact he took the wicket of Hussain with his seventh delivery in Test cricket. After their wobbly start England recovered to post a total of 344 thanks to wicket-keeper Jack Russell’s enterprising 124 and a typically solid 89 by Graham Thorpe.
India lost Rathour at 25 and Ganguly walked in to join Mongia. If he was under pressure the graceful left-hander did not display any nervy signs for he settled down quickly to play the shots that have become his trademark since then. There were elegant drives, ferocious pulls and hooks and rasping cuts. Mongia was second out at 59 but Ganguly and Tendulkar shared a third wicket stand of 64 before the latter was out for 31. Azharuddin was fourth out at 154 for 16 and Jadeja fell for 10 at 202. But nothing disturbed Ganguly who by this time was sailing along smoothly well past his half-century. The five men attack of Chris Lewis, Alan Mullaly, Dominic Cork, Graeme Hick and Peter Martin stuck to their task manfully but Ganguly was not to be denied his tryst with destiny. Joined by Dravid, Ganguly continued to bat with panache and he did not show any signs of nervousness even in the 90s. Finally the man whose selection had been ridiculed reached his hundred becoming the tenth Indian batsman to get a century in his first Test and the seventh to get it in his debut innings. Moreover a century on Test debut at cricket’s headquarters was a terrific accomplishment and Ganguly had done it.
Batting with gay abandon Ganguly went from 100 to 131 in quick time dominating an 84-run sixth wicket partnership with Dravid. By the time he was bowled by Mullaly, Ganguly had seen the Indians to the safety of 296 for six. He had faced 301 balls and hit 20 fours. It was already late on the third evening and a draw was the most likely outcome.
Interest now shifted to Dravid. Could he also get a hundred and emulate his fellow debutant? By stumps he had diligently built his score to 56 in an Indian total of 324 for six. On the fourth morning the England total was duly overhauled and despite losing Anil Kumble and Javagal Srinath, Dravid already displaying the qualities that would make him one of the world’s leading batsmen over the next decade – the superb technique, the chiseled text book strokes, the monk like concentration – proceeded past the 80s into the 90s. Paras Mhambrey was keeping him company for the ninth wicket and Dravid at 95 was just a stroke away from a date with history. However a momentary lapse of concentration saw him edge Lewis to Russell and after facing 267 deliveries and hitting six fours Dravid was on his way to the pavilion. He was not destined to join the select band of Indian cricketers to make a hundred in their maiden Test but his unruffled temperament showed through in his answer to a question about coming so close to a century and then missing out. “It hurt but I realized it would not do me any good to keep thinking about it,’’ he said calmly.
In the next Test at Trent Bridge Ganguly followed up his historic hundred with a superb 136 while Dravid compiled an impeccable 84. It was obvious that Indian cricket had uncovered two world class batsmen who would be an embellishment to the game over an extended period.

Women’s cricket!  And how do you define it? A nonglamorous  and neglected as a sub-ordinate sport or hot and happening because the artists are ‘WOMEN’, the beautiful species of the earth!
It is certainly a sport of great tenacity as it prevails for last 30 plus years, without receiving the deserved dues. The picture has though changed in the last few years and now that the governing body of the men and women’s cricket is one on national and inter-national level. Women’s cricket is receiving better recognition.
The Indian eves were rocking from 2003 and was climbing the ladder of success speedily till 2005. Without proper infrastructure and facilities and lack of sponsors, women’s cricket was growing very fast in India. Girls played the game with sheer passion but returns they received were negligible in terms of money and fame.
Recognized as the giants of the Asian region and one of the top team in the leading Test playing countries, Indian eves were the finalists of the 2005 World Cup! The first ICC top women award was awarded to Indian speedster Jhulan Goswami.
When BCCI took women’s cricket under the wings in 2006, a dramatic change was expected in the performance as the girls were made available of all the top facilities ,best grounds to play, gyms,trainers, physios, sports psychologist and what not! The expectation was that the finalist of the 2005 World Cup are going to carve their name on the 2009 World Cup Trophy!
But the scenario unfortunately was different. Though the girls reached the semi-finals of 2009 World Cup but the way they reached there was not up to their reputation! Earlier to world cup, the girls lost two series played in England and Australia without winning a single game!
The quadrangular series played in India in 2007 was the best opportunity for the girls to win with the home advantage on their side but the series was bagged by Australia.
The recently played T20 World Cup was a superb opportunity for our girls to showcase their talent as they were exposed on the world stage again! The matches were played alongside men’s T20 World Cup and girls got the attention of the audience all over the globe. But team India didn’t took the right advantage of the situation and could not play to their full potential. They never clicked as a team and a winning combination lacked all the way. Some played well in some matches and while some in other. The immensely talented girls lacked a binding force. We have three players in the team who have played more than 100 ODIs but nobody took enough responsibility like the players of the England team. When England lost their captain Charollete Edward’s wicket in two critical games, Clair Taylor stood like a rock on the crease and steered her side to victory!
What went wrong and why did our girls failed? Can we pinpoint the problem and find a solution to it? What did Indian girls do earlier when they were on a winning spree and where lies the difference?
Women’s cricket team were playing one or the other form of the game for 9-10 months in a year. Unfortunately between March 2007 and March 2008 girls didn’t play much international cricket. There is no use of a great infrastructure if the girls are not playing cricket! BCCI should certainly arrange for more competition on the domestic and the international front in all the three forms of the game. It should be a continuous process. Girls are getting complacent because there is not enough of challenge for them. There is no proper bench strength as no cricket is been played between the international and the state level.
Longer pre-tournament camps should be organized by BCCI which will gear up the girls to defy the opposition
The big chunk of criticism will go to the players. The girls should be enough motivated to play at this level. They are the best eleven girls among the whole country selected to form the international team! They should respect it and should understand their responsibility. They are now well paid and gets the attention of the world! Are they doing justice to their role? If fitness is always a problem with our players, why not overcome it individually? Why wait for the BCCI to take the action? How do other Indian sportswomen like Sania Mirza and Anju George stay fit ? They are self-motivated! It is always wise to take a right example!
The convener of BCCI’s Women’s Cricket Committee , Shubhangi Kulkarni said, “ Since the 2005 World Cup, girls were expected to work on their own to better skills to play at the highest level and maintain fitness. They were introduced to modern methods of coaching and expected to practice in their home towns instead of having long camps. Players playing for India should be self-motivated to perform better. A lot was expected when they beat Australia in Australia at the World Cup in March 2009. They should understand their role in the team and do their best to contribute to the team’s performance They have it in them to reach the top. It will certainly help to play domestic T20 competitions and to have longer camps for preparation.”
So, here is a RED ALERT warning for the sweet Indian girls..better late than never! The future of Indian women’s cricket is on their shoulders..it should be written in bold and gold letters! We wish that they should be honored as the successors of the great Indian women cricketers like Diana  Edulgee, Shubhangi Kulkarni, Shanta Rangaswami, Sandhya Agarwal and the list should go on to Mithali Raj, Anjum Chopra, Jhulen Goswai and so on…..!

Yuvraj Singh became the fifth Indian and 28th batsman overall to complete 7000 runs in limited overs international cricket.
The left-hand middle-order batsman from Chandigarh, reached this milestone during his 35-run knock in the second match of the four-one day match series against West Indies at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica on June 28, 2009.
Yuvraj Singh, who made his international debut against Kenya at Nairobi on October 3, 2000, took eight years and 270 days to reach this landmark.
Mohammed Azharuddin was the first Indian batsman to score 7000 runs in one-day internationals. The former Indian skipper achieved this feat during his 34-run knock against Sri Lanka at Sinhalese Sports Club Ground, Colombo on August 23, 1997. It was the 233rd innings of his 252nd one day international matches.
The right-hand top order batsman from Hyderabad, who played 334 one-day internationals between 1985 and 2000, scored 9378 runs at 36.92 with seven centuries and 58 fifties in his 308 innings.
The second Indian to join this elite club was Sachin Tendulkar. The master-blaster reached this target in the 189th innings of his 196th match against Sri Lanka in the final of the Singer-Akai Nidahas Trophy at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo on July 7, 1998.
In 425 innings of his 415 one-day internationals, Sachin Tendulkar has scored 16684 runs at 44.37 with 43 centuries and 91 fifties so far.
Sourav Ganguly was the third Indian to score 7000 runs in limited overs international cricket. The Prince of Kolkata achieved this feat during his 111-run knock against Kenya at Boland Bank Park, Paarl on October 24, 2001. It was the 174th innings of his 180th one-day international match.
Ganguly who played 311 one-day international matches between 1992 and 2007, scored 11363 runs at an average of 41.02 in 300 innings with 22 centuries and 72 fifties.
Rahul Dravid became the fourth Indian and 15th batsman in the world to join the 7000 run club in ODIs.
The former captain of the Indian team achieved this feat during his 12-run knock in the first final of the VB series against Australia at Melbourne Cricket Ground on February 6, 2004. He was playing in the 204th innings of his 223rd one-day international match.
The Wall’ who has appeared in 333 one-day international matches till date has scored 10585 runs at an average of 39.49 in 308 innings with 12 hundreds and 81 fifties.
Yuvraj Singh, the vice-captain of the Indian team, has scored 2236 runs at 43.00 with five centuries and 13 fifties in 64 innings of 68 one-day matches played at home, while he has scored 4782 runs at 35.68 with seven centuries and 27 fifties in 152 innings of 168 matches played outside India.
Besides five Indians, six Sri Lankans, five Pakistani, four batsmen each from Australia and West Indies and two each from New Zealand and South Africa have scored more than 7000 runs in limited overs international cricket so far.

In 2000, India were playing Australia in the first game of the Knock Out trophy in Nairobi. The team was reeling at 90 for 3 when in walked a youngster – a left hander – and stroked his way to a majestic 84 off 80 balls, with twelve hits to the fence. By evening, he had also caught Ian Harvey and ran out Michael Bevan to stump Australia’s chase off 266. That day many remarked about this youngster that one day he would lead team India’s batting.
Nine years hence, a totally different looking Indian team went on a four ODI matches tour to the West Indies. Different looking in every sense of the word, for there were no Tendulkars, Gangulys or Dravids in this team. For that matter, Virender Sehwag was missing due to injury. It was almost a precursor into the future when the greats of Indian cricket wouldn’t be there anymore to make their numerous come backs into the side. In that scenario, it would seem as if dark clouds would appear on the horizon. Probably that is why they changed the team jersey colors too.
In the first ODI then, that same youngster from Nairobi strode out at number four with the score again not making good reading, 32 for 2. He played his way in, waited for the bad balls to come and then duly dispatched them out of the park. By the time he had finished, he made 131 off 102 balls, with ten hits to the fence and seven over it. It was just a reflection of the times Indian cricket is in, where Yuvraj Singh drives the wheels of the batting order.
In cricket, the player who comes out to bat is actually quite a dangerous one. He has the ability to both defend and attack at the same time, a perfect rearguard action as and when needed. He could be in early, needing to rebuild. Or he could be in late, going on the offensive straight away. He could also come in to bat in the middle overs where the onus is on running the ones and twos, and then push on from there. In all these positions, the number four batsman is the one who can excel. The very fact that the Indian team thrust this responsibility on Yuvraj when there were many senior players missing just goes to show his importance to the side.
It is not as if this was the first time that he has batted at this position. No, in fact on the contrary, he is quiet accustomed to this position. Probably Greg Chappell was the first one to hand him this responsibility, on the earlier trip to the Windies, back in 2005. At that time, even with seniors like Dravid and Tendulkar around, he was handed the reigns of the middle order for he had the flamboyance, the temperament and the shots in his arsenal to make this position look all his own.
The same is as true today as it was then. But with a rider; today the onus on him has increased many folds as Indian cricket goes through a lopsided transition. Transition yes, with many new players coming in and breaking ranks, but why lopsided would be the question. Quite simply because not all the players that are coming in are exactly able to pass the test of consistency!
Sample the current player pool for the Indian team. Gautam Gambhir is fairly established as an opener with Sehwag and moves down only when Sachin Tendulkar comes in to play ODI cricket. Then there are Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni, Yusuf Pathan and Rohit Sharma alongwith Yuvraj who take care of the middle order responsibilities. Barring probably Sachin and Sehwag, none of the above batsmen have shown the prolificacy that ought to be seen at this level, when playing round the year. What is needed is the ability to be making runs from series to series without losing focus and determination to do well.
Probably out of all of them, Dhoni and Gambhir could argue their case well. Yes they have done well individually over the last two months and done well for the team in the meanwhile as well. But just how long did Gambhir take to find a sure foot in the Indian eleven? Can we afford to give the same amount of time to each and every youngster that comes in through the revolving door? The answer is a simple no.
The question for Dhoni would be thus; where would he find himself if not for his wicket keeping gloves? Probably outside the playing eleven, for even though one is a staunch supporter that the Indian skipper deserves a place in the side just on the merit of his batting, the selectors clearly don’t see any reason in that theory. That explains why he still kept wickets even though Dinesh Karthik was present in the team.
Karthik represents the next in line for the Indian cricket team. Players who are the reflections of Gambhir in his early days, only they don’t possess enough talent to progress as Gambhir has done! And there are many of them too. So in that scenario, it is very easy to understand why the skipper calls Yuvraj Singh as the backbone of the Indian team.
Ever since, MS Dhoni has become captain of the Indian team, Yuvraj has gained an even more prominent position in the team. You can say that the rise of Dhoni has been entwined with the rise of the shortest format of the game, Twenty20, and as a result, some one like Yuvi comes in very handy whatever be the situation, batting or bowling. One is not only talking about the 2007 T20 World Cup when the Prince of Punjab smacked those six sixes in an over and then followed it with a match winning performance against the Aussies, but also the recently concluded T20 World Cup in England where the south paw was probably the only batsman in any sort of match winning form.
In fact this is where statistics would come in very handy to understand Yuvraj’s journey from a youngster to a senior statesman in the team. Yes a senior, at only age twenty eight. His career figures can actually be divided into three phases; one spent under Ganguly as a marauding young gun who could easily lose his way, two under Chappell and Dravid who brought out the idea of responsibility in him and set him on the path to become what he is today, and third, from the time that Dhoni took over, as he looked to set his place in the Indian cricket history.
Recently, John Buchanan alleged in his tell-all book on T20 cricket (the book is fairly unimportant to be mentioned here) that Yuvraj tries too hard to be Ganguly. In fact, Buchanan is only slightly off the mark in the sense that Yuvraj doesn’t need to try. He is already in that mould and just needs to keep it going, and without a shadow of a doubt he will end up in the same mould as Dada. Probably his record at playing bouncers would be even better than the Bengal Tiger, though one is not sure about his record against the spinners.
The underlying point is, under Ganguly he was allowed to have a free will, be the youngster that he was as he waited for his time to come. In between the skipper fought hard for a place for him in the side, but on a couple of other occasions, Ganguly could no more fight for him and his mediocre average of just a shade above thirty meant that he was soon out of the team.
Then came Chappell and surprisingly, his form took an upswing. His averages shot up by almost ten in all forms of the game, to maintain a more dignified look of 41.9 from 2005 onwards till the 2007 World Cup. In fact, very remarkably, probably Yuvraj is the only Indian player to have benefited from the Aussie’s coaching, we only have to look at Mohammed Kaif and Irfan Pathan as examples of the devastation he left behind.
Remember, in those time, Yuvraj formed a handsome partnership with Dhoni in the middle and the two were the chief architects of India’s world record seventeen consecutive run-chases. It was a high like no other for the team as well as the player individually, brought to an abrupt halt when he was injured ahead of the South African tour in 2005. The recovery was long and Indian cricket was in the doldrums. It would be very correct to say that Yuvi’s break from the team probably caused them the momentum to do well enough in the horrible world cup in 2007.
Changes came in after the tour to England and with a new captain in place, it was clear that Yuvraj would get a look in the Test team as well. Something that he had been pushing on the doors of, for quite some time now! Against Pakistan he had made his debut in March 2004 and had gotten a ton in that series. Now, at Bangalore, it was a sort of a second debut as he didn’t disappoint, scoring a 160 odd. Since then there has been no looking back. He still maintains his average in all forms of the game around 41.85, with a very healthy strike rate. His strike rate in T20 cricket is closer to 200s and that speaks for itself in as many words.
The only blip on his glowing career so far has been his patchy test form. In the last couple of years, he has that innings against Pakistan to show for, and the one against England last December in the historic chase along with Sachin. But somehow on away tours, New Zealand this time and Australia the year before, he has failed to rise to his pedigree, of playing the quicker ball better than the turning one.
It almost seems that Yuvraj has to take one more step in his career and then there would be no stopping the vast dam of potential that he has got from bursting. They say that the best years of a batsman’s life are when he is nearing thirty. He still has two years to go before that, but the point is simple.
At this age, probably the best years of his cricket lie ahead of him. And that can only be good news for Indian cricket for its batting as a whole in the next decade will probably revolve around him.

Sunil Gavaskar has joined the debate over the IPL by saying young players should aim for the India cap instead of being lured by the riches of the league. “Today, parents are encouraging their children to take up cricket as a career option because of the IPL and the amount of money it provides said little master . Gavaskar also said that the IPL should not be their ultimate goal and pointed out the worrying trend among young cricketers to pull out of domestic matches in order to be injury-free ahead of the tournament. He also spoke about the danger of youngsters being carried away in a wrong direction by money, fame and success because of the money involved in the IPL.