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No contest between India and Pakistan can go without controversy or some stomach churning action. The recently concluded three Test series in India had many a contentious tale to tell. Yet every tour diary told a common story of how India could have won it all, or conversely, how Pakistan saved themselves the blushes on every such occasion.
Delhi Revisited
The last time Anil Kumble tasted sweet success against Pakistan at the Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi, he equaled Jim Laker’s feat of all ten wickets in a single innings (Laker having done it twice of course). This time round Kumble savoured the victory in a role he thought had eluded him. Anointed skipper for a volatile series against Pakistan, Kumble brought his grit, aggression and steadfast perseverance to the fore and was aptly named the ‘man of the match’.
Pakistan were hurtling towards a largely self-inflicted first innings sabotage before the guile of Misbah-ul Haq and the determination of Mohammad Sami salvaged what was otherwise a rather shambolic affair. The weight of their partnership of 87 for the ninth wicket was felt when India found themselves struggling at eighty-eight for four. Vintage V.V.S. Laxman and ‘man of the moment’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni built on a 115 run alliance to give India a slender lead.
Pakistan would feel they lost the match and the series when they failed to capitalize on their start in the second innings and lost their last five wickets for a mere thirty-four runs. Kumble though was having a whale of a time scalping wickets and leading India to a winning position. It gave India a modest target to chase and left Pakistan feeling rather hollow considering their efforts.
Kolkata’s sweet for Jaffer
India were savouring the delicacies at Eden Garden with Wasim Jaffer standing tall and proud on the back of a stupendous double century that also got India off in the right direction in the second Test. But the centurions would keep coming in the form of the veteran brigade of home boy Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S Laxman.
616 runs seemed like a lot to play with and it appeared that way as Pakistan’s top order succumbed under the weight of it at five for 150. But dire situations for Pakistan have only meant one thing in this series. It was time for Misbah. And he did not disappoint. He had a batsman alongside him who has faced much criticism for his wavering form in recent times.
Misbah’s resurrection in the Pakistan side seemed to buoy Kamran Akmal as well. The duo destroyed India’s hopes of closing the match without having to bat again. More importantly, with their 207 run dalliance and Sami’s partnership with Misbah accounting to ninety-one, Pakistan consumed enough time and runs for India to re-engage their efforts once again. Harbhajan Singh’s five-fer was noteworthy, but not from the point of view of the initiative having already been conceded.
But Pakistan were not out of the woods. It took the enormous experience of the two Y’s, especially a stellar century from stand-in skipper, Younus Khan, to bide time on the fifth day before Pakistan sailed to safety. A century for Akmal, Misbah’s well earned unbeaten 161, and a draw for India quickly evaporated the effervescence of Jaffer’s sublime stamp on the match. Pakistan, and Misbah in particular, stole the thunder from India. Of that, there was no doubt.
Ganguly, south paws take over Bangalore
Pakistan may have felt exhilarated with another opportunity to even the series. But it was India feeling like they had lost something when the Test ended on the fifth and final day at Bangalore. There had to be one winner, provided the intent to win was clearly stated. India had to decide between going for a thumping 2-0 victory or staying sedately content with the lone victory in the first Test.
However, neither option would prove an easy proposition. Perhaps in keeping with their gutsy save from the previous game, Pakistan unleashed their first salvo by having India stranded and looking sheepish at sixty-one for four. It was thanks largely due to a young fast bowler who was disdainfully dismissed as not fit for the Test version. How Yasir Arafat proved them all wrong!
On debut Arafat grabbed the rare opportunity with both hands for his first five-fer and one that certainly sent the Indian think tank reeling, having slipped into complacency. But India have proved roaring lions on their own pitches. Ganguly continued where he left off in the previous Test, only this time he did one better. By notching his maiden Test double century, Ganguly belonged to an elite group of his own as India’s highest scoring left hander at 239.
But in that face saving effort, he was joined by another young man whose form merited a place but fate denied. That was until this Test that saw both, Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni, sit out with injury concerns. Yuvraj Singh posed a dramatic comeback with Ganguly to get India back on track with a whopping 300 run partnership. Initiative changed hands yet again that day.
The second day was not without its milestone moments as yet another left hander, Irfan Pathan, yet again reminded all of his all-rounder skills with a well earned century, and one that would have had the selectors a re-think, even if Irfan the bowler had not quite staged the comeback expected of his caliber. But India had other things to worry about.
Who else would stand between mediocre and outstanding but Misbah? Alongside his partner-in-crime from the second Test, Misbah and Akmal put on another 144 stiff runs for the sixth wicket. But if there was a ray of hope for India, it came in the form of Ishant Sharma, who exactly a year ago, was called up only to be quickly put on hold to join the team in South Africa. This time he made the most of his outing with a five wicket haul on debut, joining his counterpart Arafat.
With the runs all but leaked away, India relied on Ganguly’s ninety-one and Dinesh Karthik’s struggling for form for a half-century to give India runs aplenty in the kitty. But in a controversial move that will be debated for some time to come, India had in hindsight sat too long on the decision to declare and ended up paying the price for playing too safe.
Draw was the chant on most lips with two days still remaining in the Test. However, time taught a valuable lesson as Pakistan suddenly lost sight of their goal in the session after tea and stared down a barrel with plenty of overs yet to be bowled and just three wickets in hand. Light however would not favour India, thereby robbing India and Kumble of majestic glory.
Misbah matters, Akhtar falters
Shoaib Akhtar picked up the four wickets to fall in the second innings of the now deciding match of the series. But the Indian players were well set and there was little to back him to create a further dent to the Indian chase. But the next two Tests proved a rather turbulent time when Akhtar disappeared often from the field and incurred the wrath of the likes of Imran Khan.
However, in Akhtar’s defense, it should have been a no-brainer not to play him in the second Test, especially after being hospitalized with high fever and expected to recover overnight. With the series hanging delicately in the balance, perhaps the selectors felt they had little choice but to play their star player in the absence of timely replacements, again a matter of consternation. In the third and final Test, Akhtar left the field on the first day itself and for Pakistan’s case, his back injury proved less serious than earlier feared.
Considering how much of a factor Misbah proved to be in the series, perhaps the blame should be placed equally on the top order batsmen who failed to use the docile pitches in making a greater case for Pakistan’s cause.
Spin-not for sub continent?
While the pitches have become cause for contention for in their inability to stem the rather lopsided flow of runs, two bowlers in particular faced uncertain moments. While Harbhajan Singh may claim wickets, he has looked a pale shadow of himself and with Kumble in the prominence; his efforts have looked far less impressive than what one would expect playing in sub continent conditions.
But where Harbhajan may have received a fortunate reprieve, his counterpart may be less lucky. Pakistan’s ardent fans and ex-cricketers have called for Danesh Kaneria’s head, accusing him of letting down the support effort for the pace men. Kaneria though felt let down by the quality of pitches, claiming it was the lack of bounce that did him in, as it purportedly did Harbhajan for much of the series. The rest of the world, at least the one that will decide his feat, may not concede an acquittal. The axe has been hanging on Kaneria for some time now. Ironical then that he has claimed the most wickets in the series, precisely twelve, and yet failed to impact the men or the matches.
Mallik- a non-issue?
But Kaneria was not the only one staring down the barrel. It was the Pakistan captain, no other, who seemed done for. An injury forced him out of the second Test and kept him out of the final Test as well. While it did not dramatically change fortunes for Pakistan, it nearly put paid to Mallik’s career. Younus Khan proved a reluctant skipper in the second Test and while his ingenuity saved Pakistan in that game, he was himself at the heart of turbulence ahead of the third Test at Bangalore.
Annoyed at his exclusion in picking the team for the second Test, Younus stepped down as stand-in skipper before he was pulled back in. However, the events in the series seemed to have warmed his heart to the skipper’s role and hinted at his being ready to take on the role on a longer basis provided he had a few matters sorted out with the selectors. Shoaib Mallik , on the other hand, would have had a few jitters of his own. Having come in for scathing criticism from all and sundry for what seemed his inability to motivate and inspire the team and show more authority on the field, Mallik would be grateful to know he still has the faith of the selectors.
India’s loss or Pakistan’s save?
The jury is still out on the issue of whether to standardize the pitches world wide or leave some things to the natural environs and let variety be the spice of the game. The same could be said of the series. India seemed to have the upper hand in each of the three games. And yet somehow Pakistan scripted a Bollywood style save, to come away with some extent of dignity they showed little worthiness for. It must be some cause for concern that on the same docile pitches, India was able to set Pakistan on the back foot but struggled on practically every occasion to dislodge Misbah and the tail that had a telling effect on the margin by which India won the series.
Credit should not be taken away from India. Their batsmen used the opportunities and their bowlers did well, even if only in patches. Kumble did a good job on his first assignment and if mistakes like those of declaration in the final Test happen, leeway must be accorded as is to any new captain, however experienced a player he may be. The 1-0 score line meant India had sealed a victory against Pakistan on home soil in twenty-seven years. Viewed from Kumble’s sharp, engaging eyes, that was all that mattered!

Wasim Jaffer became the fifth and Sourav Ganguly, the sixth Indian on nine occasions to score a double century and a fifty in a Test match.
Jaffer achieved this feat by making 202 in 401 minutes off 274 balls with 34 fours in the first and 56 in 107 minutes off 75 balls with eight fours in the second innings of the second Test match against Pakistan at Eden Gardens, Kolkata while Ganguly did the same by scoring 239 in 518 minutes off 361 balls with 30 fours and two sixes in the first knock and 91 in 185 minutes off 134 balls with 12 fours and a six in the second innings of the third and final Test match against Pakistan at Karnataka State Cricket Association Ground (Chinnaswamy Stadium), Bangalore.
Rahul Dravid acheived this feat on three occasions while Sunil Gavaskar did the same twice. Venkat Sai Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar are the other two Indian batsmen who achieved this feat before Jaffer and Ganguly.
Sunil Gavaskar was the first Indian batsman who scored a double century and a fifty in a Test match. The little master did the same in his fourth Test match against West Indies at Port of Spain in 1970-71. After making 124 in 392 minutes with 11 fours in the first innings, he went to score 220 in 505 minutes with 22 fours in the second innings.
With this Gavaskar also became the second batsman after Australian Doug Walters, 242 and 102 against West Indies at Sydney in 1968-69, to score a century and a double century in the same Test match and the second Indian after Vijay Hazare, 116 and 145 against Australia at Adelaide in 1947-48, to score hundreds on both innings of a Test match.
Seven years later against the same opponent, Gavaskar did the same for the second time. He made 205 in 397 minutes off 342 balls with 29 fours and two sixes in the first innings of the Test match at Mumbai in 1978-79. Interest in India’s second innings centred round the prospect of Gavaskar scoring his fourth century in successive Test innings. He had scored one in each innings of the last Test against Pakistan, a fortnight earlier and becoming the first batsman in history to score a double-century and a century in a Test match for the second time. Having been on the field for all but two and a quarter hours of the match, Gavaskar suffered from periodic lapses of concentration. However, he scored a delightful 73 off 131 balls before being caught behind off Sylvester Clarke.
Rahul Dravid was the second Indian to score a double century and a fifty in a same Test match. The former Indian captain achieved the same for the first time against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2000-01 by making an unbeaten 200 in 541 minutes stay that occupied 350 balls and was punctuated by 27 fours in the first innings and 70 not out in 152 minutes off 91 balls with eight fours in the second.
The right-hand middle-order batsman from Bangalore did the same second time against New Zealand at Ahmedabad in 2003-04 series. India controlled the match on the back of a high-class 222 from Dravid, scored off 387 balls and punctuated with 28 fours and two sixes in the first innings. He went on to score 73 in 124 minutes off 86 balls with six fours in the second knock.
In 2003-04 against Australia at Adelaide, Dravid changed the destiny of the match with two superb innings, 233 in 594 minutes off 446 balls with 23 fours and a six in the first and an unbeaten 72 in 241 minutes off 170 balls with seven hits to the fence in the second. There’s a lack of flourish to Dravid’s batting which means that the average spectator will never take to him as they do to a Tendulkar or an Adam Gilchrist.
Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman joined this elite club by scoring 59 and 281 against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01 and helped India beat Australia after following on.
Laxman’s swashbuckling 59 from 83 balls prompted his promotion from No. 6 to No. 3 when India followed on 274 behind. The tall and elegant Hyderabadi batsman responded to the responsibility with a flawless display that stretched over 10 hours 31 minutes, during which he faced 452 balls, picked up 44 fours with a wide range of exciting shots, and comfortably surpassed India’s previous best individual score of 236 not out by Sunil Gavaskar against West Indies at Madras in 1983-84.
By making 239 in the first innings of the Bangalore Test, Ganguly recorded the highest ever score by a left-hand batsman for India in Test cricket. Vinod Kambli who made 227 against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 1992-93 held the previous record of highest individual score by an Indian left-hander in Tests. Ganguly also became 17th Indian on 33rd occasion to score a double century in Test cricket.
The Prince of Kolkata, who scored 534 runs at 89.00 with two hundreds and one fifty in six innings of three Test matches to walk away with the man of the series award against Pakistan, has attributed his tremendous success to batting at No.4. Ganguly, mostly a No.5 or 6 batsman, walked in at No.4 in three of the six innings, notching up scores of 46, 239 and 91 from that position, and felt he could have had more hundreds in his career had he batted higher throughout.
“I got to bat at No. 4 in this series and it helped me,” he told , after enjoying his most successful three-match series in close to a decade. “I have batted lower down the order for a lot of time as Rahul Dravid used to bat at No. 3 and Sachin Tendulkar came at four. As a result, I had to bat at five or sometimes six and I missed quite a few hundreds because we did not have wicketkeeper-batsmen like Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Dinesh Karthik earlier. These guys support people batting at five or six. But me and Laxman suffered in terms of getting hundreds,” he added.
Ganguly began his Test career batting at number three position but managed only 16 more chances in that position. He has batted at No. 4 in 18 innings but the majority of his innings has been from Nos. 5 (84) and 6 (39). He managed a hundred from No. 5 in the second Test of the recently concluded series against Pakistan, a memorable one in front of his home crowd in Kolkata, and was sent in at No. 4 in the second innings to speed up the scoring-rate. An injury to Tendulkar meant he walked in at No. 4 in the final Test too, one where he cracked his career-best score.

Anil Kumble became the first Indian and third bowler after Sri Lankan Muttiah Muralitharan and Australian Shane Warne to take 600 wickets in Test cricket.
The leggie achieved this feat by dismissing Andrew Symonds,caught by Rahul Dravid in Australia’s first innings on the second day of the third Test match at Western Australian Cricket Association Ground, Perth on January 17,2008.
With the fourth ball of his fifth over, Kumble bowled a shorter, faster delivery and it cramped Andrew Symonds, who got a thick edge.
The ball rebounded off the top of wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s glove and ballooned to Rahul Dravid at first slip.
Dravid completed the simple catch and umpire Asad Rauf seemed to allow Symonds the opportunity to walk, before eventually raising his finger to spark Indian celebrations.
The Kumble-Dravid combination has been the most successful bowler-fielder partnership (excluding wicketkeepers) for India. Their 54 dismissals is second only to the 65 dismissals by Mahela Jayawardene off Muralitharan.
As Symonds departed, the 37-year-old leg-spinner raised the ball to an appreciative crowd. “It means a lot. You never think when you first start off that you will reach that milestone but having played this long you keep crossing landmarks and milestones,” he said.
”I’d like to thank my family, my wife, my kids and all the teammates right though my career, the 18 years I have played… and the bowlers who have actually bowled from the other end, and the catchers,” he added.
”It was an irony that Rahul took the catch as he has probably taken the most catches off my bowling.”
Kumble has enjoyed some of the best form of his Test career in recent years and said his form had improved since he recovered from shoulder problems in 2000-2001.
”I’m probably more relaxed and all the experience I have had in different conditions, I have used that,” he said.
Jumbo who made his Test debut against England at Manchester in 1990, took 17 years and 161 days to reach this landmark.
Shane Warne was the first bowler to take 600 wickets in Test cricket. The Australian leg-spinner achieved this feat in his 126th Test match by dismissing English opening batsman Marcus Trescothick, caught by Adam Gilchrist, on the opening day of the third Ashes Test match against England at Old Trafford, Manchester on August 11,2005.
Shane Keith Warne made his Test debut against India at Sydney in 1991-92 series took 13 years and 221 days to achieve this feat.
The champion bowler, took 319 wickets at an average of 26.39 in 69 Test matches at home while he dismissed 389 batsmen at 24.61 in 76 Test matches outside Australia.
Muttiah Muralitharan who holds the record of most number of the wickets in Test match cricket, was the second bowler to take 600 wickets in Test match cricket.
The Sri Lankan off-spinner achieved this feat in his 101st Test by dismissing wicket-keeper batsman Khalid Mashud, caught by Malinga in Bangladesh’s second innings on the third day of the second Test match at Shaheed Chandu Stadium,Bogra on March 10,2006. It was also Murali’s 50th wicket against Bangladesh, in, just his sixth Test, and he became the first-ever bowler to pick up 50 wickets against every Test playing nation.
Muralitharan who made his Test debut against Australia at Khettarama Stadium, Colombo in 1992-93, took 13years and 194 days to achieve this feat.
Muralitharan took 451 wickets at 19.22 in 67 Tests at home while he dismissed 272 batsmen at 25.99 in 51 Test matches played outside Sri Lanka.
By taking 600th wicket in his 124th Test match, Kumble is the second fastest after Muttiah Muralitahran to reach this landmark.
Sri Lankan off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan holds the record of taking 600 wickets in lesser number of Tests while Australian Shane Warne took the highest number of Tests to perform the same. Muralitharan took his 600th wicket in his 101st Test match while Warne claimed his 600th wicket in his 126th Test match.
The Indian captain took 343 wickets at an average of 23.85 in 59 matches at home while he took 258 wickets at 35.03 in 65 Tests played outside India.
Australian Adam Gilchrist has the dubious distinction of being dismissed most often by Kumble, nine times followed by Pakistan’s Inzmam-ul-Haq, eight time. South African Hansie Cronje and Andrew Hudson, Sri Lankan Aravinda de Silva and Roshan Mahanama, Australian Ricky Ponting, West Indian Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Pakistan’s Mohammed Yousuf have been dismissed by Kumble on seven occasions each.
Along with England’s Jim Laker, Kumble is one of only two bowlers to have taken all 10 wickets in an innings of a Test match. He performed this by taking all 10 wickets for 74 runs against Pakistan at Delhi in 1998-99. In the same match he perfomed his best bowling in a match by taking 14 wickets for 149 runs. Twenty five of his 35 five-wicket haul and seven out of eight 10-wicket haul came at home.
By catching Australian tail ender Shaun Tait, Kumble set a new record of most caught and bowled dismissals in Test cricket. It was his 32nd such dismissals in 124 Tests.
Muralitharan who dismissed 31 batsmen on his own bowling in 118 Test matches held the previous record.
Kumble also is the only bowler to dismiss 150 batsmen, leg before, in Test cricket. Stuart Clark was Indian skipper’s 150th victim in this manner in the second Test at Sydney.
A man of few words but big deeds, Kumble is a rare phenomenon in contemporary cricket. All including opposition batsmen, knew he couldn’t turn the ball a great deal, but kept watching with awe the staggering rate at which he has struck. A tireless worker, he never flinched in the face of a challenge, often ending up bowling 30 overs on the first day of a Test match. Six hundred wickets is just a small appreciation of the splendid service he has rendered to cricket. The man with the golden shoulder deserved each one of them.
The right-arm bowler has dismissed right handed batsmen on 440 occasions (73.21%) and left handed batsman on 161 occasions (26.78 %) of his 601 wickets so far.
The year 2004 has been the best year of his career. He has claimed 74 wickets at an average of 24.93 in 12 Test matches. He took 57 wickets at an average of 33.50 in 12 Test matches in 2006 and 54 wickets at 27.05 in 10 Test matches in 1999.
No bowler in history has won India more Test matches than Kumble, and there probably hasn’t been a harder trier either.
Before the Perth Test, India achieved victories in 41 Tests when Jumbo was the member of the team. He has claimed 279 wickets at 18.41 in these matches. He took 200 wickets at 36.34 in 52 Test matches which ended with out a result while he dismissed 120 batsmen at 39.76 in 52 Tests when his team taste the defeat.
Kumble is by far India’s greatest match-winning bowler. His 279 wickets in Indian victories have come at 18.41 apiece. Harbhajan Singh, who is next in line in terms of wickets, has taken less than half that number. Kumble’s average in wins is only marginally bettered by Kapil Dev, Bishan Bedi and Erapalli Prasanna among Indian bowlers with at least 50 wickets in wins.

Oh the batsman’s hit it highhhh in the air, fielder coming under it….and he is gone…”. Before one can groan in ecstasy of watching India pick up another wicket, or do something totally polarized on seeing India lose the plot, the audiences across this country have more reasons to fret and fume than only this. It could be in the form of a ‘young’ man climbing his girl friend’s house for a can of cola, or another not-so-young one talk on why having cable TV is not such a viable option. Cable TV? Sometimes, we – as audiences – feel that we should not even think of having a TV, especially when we could have done well with another couple of replays of the six or the dismissal and try and analyse the same.
Before this article gets misconstrued as an advert-bashing one, let’s clarify one thing. It certainly is not. It is a humble attempt to try and figure out what Sony – and WSG – could do to not only recover the whopping sum of a billion dollars, but also make viewing a pleasure. After all, no one wants a Steve Waugh to comment “It is annoying, ridiculous and an insult to the game to see an advertisement being squeezed in just because the bowler has not reached the top of his run-up.” Again.
The question then is how does Sony Entertainment Television break even – financially – in as short a time as possible?
The strategy of advertisers – companies that buy advertisement spots – is rather simple. They work on the principle of getting their brand to be a part of a ‘top of the mind’ recall, and to achieve that, they try and bombard the same on the viewing audiences in the hope of catching the viewers’ attention. Now, try and picture this, the whole country is desolate after having seen Sachin Tendulkar get out for yet another score of 90, and wants to catch a glimpse of how did he manage to play a shot like what he’s played. They want to watch every reaction that he exhibits after his dismissal, and every word that he utters – if he does say something, and all of a sudden, the cola guy rears his butt again. Exactly as what happened through the World Cup, fortunately, with Team India out of the tournament that early, not many suffered the fate of sitting through ads. even as the sight screen got adjusted by the batsmen. In fact, the last India-Pakistan ODI series went one better. Not only did the usual, untimely advertisements harass the living daylights out of people, but the ticker advertisements – ones that keep rolling at the bottom of the screen – kept increasing their volume to something more than the commentators’ voice. The only reaction that this could exude from the viewer would reek of a negative connotation for the brand, and this is what, not only the television broadcaster but also the adman should realize.
With so much cash at stake, there is a reasonable probability of this repeating, the television broadcaster could end up selling ad. space for much more than one can fit in, and the whole cycle may just end up repeating. A favourite gets bowled, the viewer is irritated, here comes an ad., the irritation gets fuelled further, the next batsman adjusts his guard, and there comes another ad. Now, while this – earning by irritating model - may work as a short term fix, expecting this to be a sustainable revenue model would be treading on a dangerous path. Hardcore cricket fanatics may just ignore their frustrations, but the fringe cricket fans, who would probably want to watch the DLF IPL for all its buzz and hoopla, may just not come back again.
Now, the IPL is as much cricket as it is entertainment. The content by itself is just another cricket T20 tournament, but the ingredients are different. And to get that dollar flowing in, the content needs to be packaged as carefully as a mother wraps her new born baby in the cold. Sony Entertainment Television (SET) had caused a revolution when they introduced Mandira Bedi to the cricket watching public. With Mandira out of the picture – now working with ESPN Star – it would only be natural for SET to continue with this experiment of having pre and post match shows hosted by a female anchor. For, all said and done, Mandira Bedi did get the fairer sex – and that is apart from the male audiences – glued to the TV sets for a variety of non cricketing reasons. Mayanti Langer is now doing an excellent job for Zee Sports and ICL – she has been the anchor for the ONGC I-League Soccer tournament for sometime – as she is not only attractive, but also has a reasonable following of the game. Roshni Chopra had tried her hand at DD’s fourth umpire, and while she was not too successful, this is something that IPL cannot do without. The element of glamour interspersed with the cricket.
However, I would like to go one step beyond this and get more lady commentators covering these matches. Currently Donna Symonds is the only known face to commentate in live cricket matches, but SET could look at contracting ex or current lady cricketers, with a reasonable command over the language to take up the commentary box. The only reason why I mention the use of ex-cricketers, is because, it would be an easier transition for them into the commentator’s box than a woman who has not followed the game through her life from such a close quarter – as a lady cricketer would have. So a Lisa Sthalekar, who was born and brought up in Maharashtra, but now plays cricket for the Aussie cricket team, or Isa Guha, an English cricketer with Indian origins – she was the first Asian to play for England – could be invited over to do the job through the tournament.
And just like Nirupama Vaidyanathan does for Grand Slams, the services of a current cricketer from the Indian women’s team could also be used for the same.
The pre match and the post match time slots and the breaks between the innings are going to be crucial for SET if they want to make the whole thing work without adversely affecting the pleasures associated with watching the sport. It is these slots that many viewers prefer to give a miss; and it is here that the SET could come out with innovative ideas to keep the viewer with the channel. If they manage to achieve this – keeping the viewer engaged that is – then the ad. slots could obviously be sold for a premium to what they are normally sold for this one. Now, the question is, how does one manage to do that?
The most obvious is what ICL has managed to do, get Bollywood stars to perform in the ground itself and make the people stick. Another way of doing the same, is to have an interactive game show, and not the usual expert talk which may just suit only the few connoisseurs of the game. This interactive game show, could have a few locals being called over to the studio, and give them an opportunity to win some prizes by participating in a ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’ kind of a game. Even better would be a game that is better known as ‘Housie’ or ‘Tambola’ which could be used to engage the audiences in that 15 minute slot, in turn earning from the advertisement revenues.
In the end though, Sony should realize that the tournament is not a one off, and the success of its format is as much their onus as it is BCCI’s or the franchises’. And for that to happen, it is the viewing public, one of the most important stakeholders – number two after the players themselves – that need to be taken care of. It is going to be Sony’s prerogative to always remember this. Unlike before.

Ponting advocates window for IPL
The Australian captain Ricky Ponting has urged to create a window for the IPL. The veteran batsman feels that the lucrative IPL might have adverse impact on the game as the international players can opt to play in the IPL over their national duty. “I think it’s vital that we have a six-week period carved out of every international team’s program because the money being thrown around becomes very appealing to young kids coming into the game.

Australia tour to Pakistan in 2009 clash with IPL
In what could be breather for the Pakistan Cricket Board, Australia has agreed to tour Pakistan twice in two years, a joint statement from both boards said. As expected, the five one-dayers and a Twenty20 will be played in the first leg, 2009 and the next phase tour will fall in August 2010 to play three Tests. Australia hasn’t toured Pakistan since 1998-99 and their scheduled tour in March 2008 was postponed owing to security threats. However the dates announced clash with the lucrative IPL scheduled next year. The ODIs next year are scheduled from mid-April to early May next year, coinciding with the second edition of the IPL slotted from April 10-May 29.

Akram urges to change ODIs rule
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram believes that rising T 20 popularity is a threat to the ODIs. The former all rounder said that the ICC must bring some changes in one-day cricket to survive in the wake of T 20 and make it more exciting and watchable. “Twenty20 cricket is gaining popularity because it is exciting and is aimed at the younger generation who want to watch high class sport in three to four hours,” Akram said. “Twenty20 cricket is good for the future of the game, but at the same time it is not quality cricket. It is simply entertainment. And to protect the real competition like one-dayers or Test matches, the ICC needs to think about revolutionary rule changes.”

Controversy forces Cheerleaders to get a cover-up!
If you thought that our politicians are opposed to only nuclear deal and price rise, better watch out for. The new furore have made headlines over the skimpy outfits of the cheerleaders. Cheerleaders have been hired for the jigs that mark sixers and boundaries during the matches. The issue came over for discussion in the Maharashtra assembly while West Bengal Sports Minister Subhas Chakra-borty also raised the issue. The debate became so volatile that the organizers have now “covered up” to ensure that there are no more controversies. The new outfits have been designed leaving no room for complaints and probably much to the delight of Rakhi Sawant.

Kolkata Knight Riders rope in Brad Hodge for five weeks
In a significant development Shahrukh Khan owned Kolkata Knight Riders team have signed Brad Hodge, the Australian batsman for five weeks. Hodge is currently with the Lancashire and is flattered by the offer to be a part of the first edition of IPL. He is the leading scorer in Twenty20 cricket worldwide with 1649 runs at 42 and a strike-rate of 139 from 47 matches. The Kolkata Knight Riders must be elated to have the right-hander batsman as the star batsman Brendon McCullum and Ricky Ponting are leaving for their national duty.

WB Govt forms probe panel to probe lapses at the Eden Garden
The Eden Garden fiasco involving power snag had left the franchise owner red faced. Flood Lights went off during the Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers match. After facing wrath over the incident the West Bengal government has formed a three-member committee to probe the lapses. Meanwhile allegations and counter allegations have begun. Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty said that the three-member committee would look into the 31-minute power disruption, the non-functional scoreboard and the poor state of toilets at the ground during the game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Deccan Chargers. The committee is likely to submit its report to the West Bengal government before April 29.

PCB cautions its players during IPL
Though the Pakistani cricketers are excited to play in the lucrative IPL but the PCB has advised them to be careful about the company they keep, following inquiries by ICC’s Anti-corruption unit this month. The warning comes midst reports that Younis Khan, Umar Gul and Danish Kaneria were questioned by the ACU over their relations with an Indian. The PCB has cautioned these players to avoid any parties or function when they play in the IPL matches. Kamran Akmal. Younis Khan, Sohail Tanvir, and Mohammad Hafeez are playing for various teams in the IPL.

IPL to go global, Lord’s and The Oval may host IPL games
Indian Premier League popularity is soaring not only back home but among other cricket playing countries as well. It is learnt that two of England’s leading international grounds, Lord’s and The Oval, are considering offers to stage exhibition games involving teams from the Indian Premier League. The venues for the IPL have already been allocated India but the organizers are prepared to promote the tournament through holding matches at the international venues.

Spin wizard Murali and Kumble plans to coach together
Cricket can not ask for better as two living spin wizard are set to come together.  Sri Lanka off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan has plans to work alongside Anil Kumble to coach subcontinent players in spin bowling after his retirement. Murali said that they would figure out which country needs help. Hailing Kumble achievements he referred him as one of the greatest bowlers. The venture seems fascinating for the art of spin bowling.

ECB and Stanford to revive cricket in the Caribbean
The England & Wales Cricket Board is keen to help revive cricket in the Caribbean after moving ever closer to a lucrative tie-in with the Texan billionaire, Allen Stanford. Stanford multimillion-dollar Twenty20 tournament has reinvigorated interest in cricket in the West Indies, has reportedly offered up to $100 million for a series of five 20-over matches between England and a West Indies All-star XI, the first of which could be played as early as November this year.
Yousuf finally signs with Lancashire
Mohammad Yousuf must be itching on having lost out to the lucrative IPL. Pakistan prolific batsman has finally signed with the Lancashire. He comes in as the replacement of Brad Hodge who signed with the Kolkata Knight Riders team. Yusuf hearing was expected on Wednesday over signing with the IPL but the ICL has postponed his hearing indefinitely, leaving him with little option but to play county cricket, though for a much smaller purse.

Dubai to host ICC annual conference
The 99-year association with Lord’s will come to an end as Dubai is all set to host the ICC annual conference this June. The decision was taken by the majority of the ICC executive board at the opening of the IPL in Bangalore.  The decision comes in the wake of reports that Peter Chingoka attempts to obtain a visa to enter the UK had been blocked. The annual ICC conference has been held at Lord’s since the first meeting in 1909. The decision to relocate this year casts a shadow over plans to centre the ICC’s centenary celebrations on Lord’s.

PCB keen to launch Pakistan Premier League
With so much media hype and attention attached to the IPL, Pakistan Cricket Board will launch a new version of Twenty20 domestic tournament next year on the lines of the Indian Premier League. PCB will offer the franchisees city-based teams to sponsors and companies. The Twenty20 national championship will be expanded to allocate the foreign players. According to reports PCB will follow the similar guidelines as per the IPL. PCB’s marketing department has already started the groundwork for a Pakistan Premier League but everything would depend on the response from sponsors and companies.

ICL and IPL flatter England players
The lucrative IPL seems to have robbed the cricket world of its feet. With so much of money pouring in, the layers are finding it difficult to resist their temptations to be the part of quick money. In shocking revelation by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA) 18% of first-class cricketers in England would risk incurring a year-long county ban by the ECB to play in the next Indian Cricket League (ICL), and 35% would consider retiring from international cricket prematurely. The later believed that it would give them more time to spend with their family while 18 % believe that a day will arrive where they see tournaments such as the IPL and ICL ranking ahead of obligations to their country.

The future of Cricket might be pink
If everything goes well the cricket ball might be replaced with the pink ball. The first trial of a pink cricket ball took place at Lord’s with MCC taking on Scotland in a 50-over friendly match, as the lawmakers of the game investigate ways to find a more durable ball than the existing white one used in limited-overs cricket. The experiments are being driven by MCC to produce a more durable alternative. The players have often complained difficulties in sighting the white ball once its shine goes off. The new experiment is under way but only time will determine its success.

Shoaib’s career hangs in limbo as the five-year ban is upheld
In a dramatic fold of incidents the appellate tribunal set up to hear Shoaib Akhtar appeal against a five-year ban upheld the ban, but only temporarily, deciding instead to revisit the appeal in June. The decision given is even strange as it allows Shoaib to play outside Pakistan and his availability for Pakistan has virtually come to an end. Justice (retd) Aftab Farrukh, the head of the three-man tribunal, said the main hearing into Shoaib’s appeal against the ban would now take place in June and that the ban on playing in or for Pakistan would stay in place until then. “We have seen Shoaib’s track record and believe that he has not learnt any lesson. He flouted discipline of the board, he harmed the chairman of the board and fellow cricketers and above all sentiments of the nation,” Farrukh said. Meanwhile Shoaib is unlikely to feature in the IPL as the IPL has made it clear that they would play Shoaib until the ban is lifted from him.

Sutherland susceptible to IPL’s future
Well some might find it hard to digest but if you go by James Sutherland, the Cricket Australia chief executive has different perception all together about the IPL.  Sutherland believes that Twenty20 isn’t good for the game and now comes with another dozier questioning the sustainability of the lucrative IPL. He said that the tournament was good for the players but was critical about the return for the owners or the franchises. Sutherland said that the IPL would be under financial pressure. It is important to note that the second edition of IPL is scheduled next year when Australia tours Pakistan and one could see Australian players skip the tournament.

Harbhajan slap cost 11 IPL games
The off spinner Harbhajan Singh would not have imagined in his wildest dreams that his slap could prove out to be his worst cricketing nightmare. His on the field fiasco with Sreesanth has virtually forced him out of the IPL. The moody bowler has been banned for 11-match following his altercation with Sreesanth at the end of Mumbai Indians’ match against Kings XI Punjab. The ban is not all that he gets, Harbhajan also faces separate action from the Indian board as Sudhir Nanavati has been appointed to conduct a “preliminary inquiry” and submit a report “within 15 days” to Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, who will refer the findings to the board’s disciplinary committee for possible action. Harbhajan has been fined 100% of his match fee for Friday’s game

No technique required in T20: Zaheer Abbas
The former Pakistan captain Zaheer Abbas is blown away by the hype and attention IPL has managed to create so far. He said that the IPL will be a big hit and boost for the game of cricket. Zaheer, however, felt that it’s a batsmen game and they would gain nothing from Twenty20 cricket. He said that the bowlers can do nothing, as the batsman is willing to take risk all the time. The administrators needed to seriously assess the popularity of Twenty20 cricket because of its short duration, he pointed out.

Injury forces Gayle out of IPL
In a big blow to the Kolkata Knight Riders Chris Gayle has been ruled out of the Indian Premier League after suffering a hairline fracture in his groin. According to reports Gayle, the West Indies captain was taken to a private hospital in the city by the physio Andrew Leipus and has been advised surgery. The aggressive left-hander missed all three opening games as he picked up the injury during the third ODI in St Lucia against Sri Lanka earlier this month. The West Indies team will miss his services in the forthcoming home series against Australia next month.

Ganguly takes a dig at Warne’s comments over the spirit of game
The encounter between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals team witnessed games two veterans taking on each other. Sourav Ganguly, captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders came down heavily on Shane Warne’s criticism of his on-field behavior, questioning his moral right to comment about the spirit of the game. “We just need to look at Warne’s career to understand that he has no moral right to teach what the spirit of the game is. I just want to laugh at what Warne is saying. He should not be talking about the spirit of the game. Warne had said that Ganguly took more than stipulated time to come out to bat and then criticized his attitude questioning a catch taken by Graeme Smith.

Hair days again, set to stand at Old Trafford
The controversial umpire Darrell Hair will make his return to top-level international umpiring in the second Test between England and New Zealand at Old Trafford on May 23. Hair has not been officiating any matches since the 2006 match between England and Pakistan at The Oval. The Test match went on to become the first game in history to be forfeited after Pakistan refused to take the field following Hair’s ruling that they had tampered with the ball. Hair dragged ICC to court claiming racial discrimination but soon he withdrew his claims. Meanwhile he was never removed from the elite panel and will stand along with Simon Taufel in the Second Test match between England and New Zealand on 23 may. However Pakistan Cricket Board has said that they don’t want him standing in any of their matches.

Umpire Saheba faces BCCI wrath over Sreesanth remarks
It’s not only the off spinner Harbhajan Singh who is facing the BCCI music. The BCCI has sought an explanation from umpire Amiesh Saheba for his remarks, over Sreesanth behavior. The governing council of the Indian Premier League has withdrawn Saheba from his next two matches, one of the on-field umpires during the match in Mohali after which Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth. Saheba in an interview to a tabloid said that he and his fellow umpire Aleem Dar had warned Sreesanth for his constant sledging.  He further went on to say that the fast bowler was “disliked in the Indian dressing room”. He also used the term schoolboy for Sreesanth behavior. The remarks have not gone well with the BCCI officials.

Lillee takes over as bowling consultant for Delhi Daredevils
Dennis Lillee, the former Australian fast bowler has taken over as the bowling consultant for Delhi Daredevils team. Lillee joins his colleague TA Sekar of MRF academy. Lillee will continue to be involved with the MRF pace academy, where he is the main consultant and works on a tri-annual basis. With the Daredevils, his expertise will mainly be used after the end of the tournament’s first edition, to sustain and improve upon the their preparations. Lillee will work in collaboration with fellow Australian Greg Shipperd, who took over as coach, having previously worked with Victoria in the 2007-08 domestic season in Australia

IPL mania grips Azhar, Miandad likely to play in Twenty20 event in USA
The IPL is taking everybody by surprise. No players want to give it a miss.  Twenty20 with no boundaries is set to make inroads into one of the sport’s most elusive frontiers, the United States. Mohammad Azharuddin, Javed Miandad and Richie Richardson have agreed to take part in a privately-run, All-Star weekend in southern Florida in late May. The MAQ T20 International Cricket Tournament will combine three days of matches with ethnic musical concerts during the Memorial Day long weekend, May 23rd to 25th. It aims to attract 30,000 fans over three days to Central Broward Regional Park, a new cricket stadium, near Fort Lauderdale. Cricket Council USA (CCUSA), a non-sanctioned organisation with no affiliation to the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA), will fund the event. Four teams will compete for $75,000 in prize money.

Face off with Mali  cost dearly to Speed
The ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed was removed from the post after his showdown with Board members of the game’s world governing body. Speed has been CEO since 2001, would be on paid leave till July 4 when his contract comes to an end. The ICC President Ray Mali and Chief Executive Officer Malcolm Speed have agreed as the later will be on paid leave from April 30, 2008 until the end of his contract term on July 4, 2008. Speed had differences over a variety of issues that include Zimbabwe. ICC General Manager David Richardson will serve as the interim CEO until Speed’s replacement Haroon Lorgat of South Africa assumes the role at ICC’s Annual General Council at the beginning of July. Speed recently made headlines when he said that ICL request for ICC approval would be looked in to, which did not go well with the BCCI top brass.

Let umpires use Hawk-Eye - Boycott
If everything goes well, cricket is likely to be more organized and one could see less umpire error on the field.  Umpires access to Hawk-Eye to help their decision-making has won support with Geoff Boycott insisting the ICC make the move as soon as possible. Boycott believes at the very least the game’s governing body must allow umpires to see basic information such as whether the ball pitched in line with the stumps. The ICC is set to discuss Hawk-Eye at its Cricket Committee meeting in Dubai Boycott member of the MCC World Cricket Committee said that as a player one likes to see as many as accurate decisions as possible and the last thing you want is to be given out when you are not.

Setback for ECB as ICL trio wins appeal against ban
In a significant development, Andrew Hall, Justin Kemp and Johan van der Wath have won their appeals against an ECB block on them being registered to play in England this summer. The three South Africans had initially been refused registration after competing in the unauthorised Indian Cricket League. Hall and van der Wath can play immediately for Northamptonshire while Kemp is available for Kent. The decision can spell trouble for the BCCI as the board has banned the players participating in the ICL.

Canada to host Twenty20
After so much hype and IPL grand success, there are a number of countries that are wiling to organize the T 20 matches as cricket is going global.  Canada have joined the Twenty20 bandwagon and will host their first tournament in Toronto on May 17 and 18. Eight teams from British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia will compete. According to the board’s CEO Atul Ahuja the Indian franchises have promised to send their teams to Canada.

Kallis hails ICL and IPL as  beneficial for Indian cricket
The South African all rounder Jacques Kallis has all praise for the IPL an ICL. He said that it will ultimately benefit the game in the country. Playing for Bangalore Royal Challengers he went on to say that both the leagues provide a learning base for the domestic players who get a chance to share the dressing room with some of the international stars.Kallis feels that the shortest version of the game is the ideal format to make cricket a global sport.

Dravid rubs off being a Test squad in T20 guise
Bangalore Royal Challengers team has come under sharp criticism over their fourth defeat in five matches. The team has been leveled as Test team with the presence of Wasim Jaffer, Kallis and Dravid himself, but skipper Rahul Dravid vehemently dismissed suggestions saying, “I don’t think so. Twenty20 fates are decided in an over or two. Luck, rub of the green are factors here”. He felt that his team is missing the x-factor. Royal Challengers veterans are yet to fire for the team.

After Eden Garden fiasco, Power snag delays start of Delhi match
The IPL organizers are having tough time to set things right as the start of match between Delhi Daredevils and Bangalore Royal Challengers was delayed by 10 minutes due to a power snag at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium. The power breakdown following a short circuit at the temporary studio built in the Club House of the stadium prompted a delayed start of the match by 10 minutes. The live telecast of the match was not possible initially, but it was resumed after 40 minutes of play.

No contest between India and Pakistan can go without controversy or some stomach churning action. The recently concluded three Test series in India had many a contentious tale to tell. Yet every tour diary told a common story of how India could have won it all, or conversely, how Pakistan saved themselves the blushes on every such occasion.
Delhi Revisited
The last time Anil Kumble tasted sweet success against Pakistan at the Ferozshah Kotla in New Delhi, he equaled Jim Laker’s feat of all ten wickets in a single innings (Laker having done it twice of course). This time round Kumble savoured the victory in a role he thought had eluded him. Anointed skipper for a volatile series against Pakistan, Kumble brought his grit, aggression and steadfast perseverance to the fore and was aptly named the ‘man of the match’.
Pakistan were hurtling towards a largely self-inflicted first innings sabotage before the guile of Misbah-ul Haq and the determination of Mohammad Sami salvaged what was otherwise a rather shambolic affair. The weight of their partnership of 87 for the ninth wicket was felt when India found themselves struggling at eighty-eight for four. Vintage V.V.S. Laxman and ‘man of the moment’ Mahendra Singh Dhoni built on a 115 run alliance to give India a slender lead.
Pakistan would feel they lost the match and the series when they failed to capitalize on their start in the second innings and lost their last five wickets for a mere thirty-four runs. Kumble though was having a whale of a time scalping wickets and leading India to a winning position. It gave India a modest target to chase and left Pakistan feeling rather hollow considering their efforts.
Kolkata’s sweet for Jaffer
India were savouring the delicacies at Eden Garden with Wasim Jaffer standing tall and proud on the back of a stupendous double century that also got India off in the right direction in the second Test. But the centurions would keep coming in the form of the veteran brigade of home boy Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S Laxman.
616 runs seemed like a lot to play with and it appeared that way as Pakistan’s top order succumbed under the weight of it at five for 150. But dire situations for Pakistan have only meant one thing in this series. It was time for Misbah. And he did not disappoint. He had a batsman alongside him who has faced much criticism for his wavering form in recent times.
Misbah’s resurrection in the Pakistan side seemed to buoy Kamran Akmal as well. The duo destroyed India’s hopes of closing the match without having to bat again. More importantly, with their 207 run dalliance and Sami’s partnership with Misbah accounting to ninety-one, Pakistan consumed enough time and runs for India to re-engage their efforts once again. Harbhajan Singh’s five-fer was noteworthy, but not from the point of view of the initiative having already been conceded.
But Pakistan were not out of the woods. It took the enormous experience of the two Y’s, especially a stellar century from stand-in skipper, Younus Khan, to bide time on the fifth day before Pakistan sailed to safety. A century for Akmal, Misbah’s well earned unbeaten 161, and a draw for India quickly evaporated the effervescence of Jaffer’s sublime stamp on the match. Pakistan, and Misbah in particular, stole the thunder from India. Of that, there was no doubt.
Ganguly, south paws take over Bangalore
Pakistan may have felt exhilarated with another opportunity to even the series. But it was India feeling like they had lost something when the Test ended on the fifth and final day at Bangalore. There had to be one winner, provided the intent to win was clearly stated. India had to decide between going for a thumping 2-0 victory or staying sedately content with the lone victory in the first Test.
However, neither option would prove an easy proposition. Perhaps in keeping with their gutsy save from the previous game, Pakistan unleashed their first salvo by having India stranded and looking sheepish at sixty-one for four. It was thanks largely due to a young fast bowler who was disdainfully dismissed as not fit for the Test version. How Yasir Arafat proved them all wrong!
On debut Arafat grabbed the rare opportunity with both hands for his first five-fer and one that certainly sent the Indian think tank reeling, having slipped into complacency. But India have proved roaring lions on their own pitches. Ganguly continued where he left off in the previous Test, only this time he did one better. By notching his maiden Test double century, Ganguly belonged to an elite group of his own as India’s highest scoring left hander at 239.
But in that face saving effort, he was joined by another young man whose form merited a place but fate denied. That was until this Test that saw both, Sachin Tendulkar and Dhoni, sit out with injury concerns. Yuvraj Singh posed a dramatic comeback with Ganguly to get India back on track with a whopping 300 run partnership. Initiative changed hands yet again that day.
The second day was not without its milestone moments as yet another left hander, Irfan Pathan, yet again reminded all of his all-rounder skills with a well earned century, and one that would have had the selectors a re-think, even if Irfan the bowler had not quite staged the comeback expected of his caliber. But India had other things to worry about.
Who else would stand between mediocre and outstanding but Misbah? Alongside his partner-in-crime from the second Test, Misbah and Akmal put on another 144 stiff runs for the sixth wicket. But if there was a ray of hope for India, it came in the form of Ishant Sharma, who exactly a year ago, was called up only to be quickly put on hold to join the team in South Africa. This time he made the most of his outing with a five wicket haul on debut, joining his counterpart Arafat.
With the runs all but leaked away, India relied on Ganguly’s ninety-one and Dinesh Karthik’s struggling for form for a half-century to give India runs aplenty in the kitty. But in a controversial move that will be debated for some time to come, India had in hindsight sat too long on the decision to declare and ended up paying the price for playing too safe.
Draw was the chant on most lips with two days still remaining in the Test. However, time taught a valuable lesson as Pakistan suddenly lost sight of their goal in the session after tea and stared down a barrel with plenty of overs yet to be bowled and just three wickets in hand. Light however would not favour India, thereby robbing India and Kumble of majestic glory.
Misbah matters, Akhtar falters
Shoaib Akhtar picked up the four wickets to fall in the second innings of the now deciding match of the series. But the Indian players were well set and there was little to back him to create a further dent to the Indian chase. But the next two Tests proved a rather turbulent time when Akhtar disappeared often from the field and incurred the wrath of the likes of Imran Khan.
However, in Akhtar’s defense, it should have been a no-brainer not to play him in the second Test, especially after being hospitalized with high fever and expected to recover overnight. With the series hanging delicately in the balance, perhaps the selectors felt they had little choice but to play their star player in the absence of timely replacements, again a matter of consternation. In the third and final Test, Akhtar left the field on the first day itself and for Pakistan’s case, his back injury proved less serious than earlier feared.
Considering how much of a factor Misbah proved to be in the series, perhaps the blame should be placed equally on the top order batsmen who failed to use the docile pitches in making a greater case for Pakistan’s cause.
Spin-not for sub continent?
While the pitches have become cause for contention for in their inability to stem the rather lopsided flow of runs, two bowlers in particular faced uncertain moments. While Harbhajan Singh may claim wickets, he has looked a pale shadow of himself and with Kumble in the prominence; his efforts have looked far less impressive than what one would expect playing in sub continent conditions.
But where Harbhajan may have received a fortunate reprieve, his counterpart may be less lucky. Pakistan’s ardent fans and ex-cricketers have called for Danesh Kaneria’s head, accusing him of letting down the support effort for the pace men. Kaneria though felt let down by the quality of pitches, claiming it was the lack of bounce that did him in, as it purportedly did Harbhajan for much of the series. The rest of the world, at least the one that will decide his feat, may not concede an acquittal. The axe has been hanging on Kaneria for some time now. Ironical then that he has claimed the most wickets in the series, precisely twelve, and yet failed to impact the men or the matches.
Mallik- a non-issue?
But Kaneria was not the only one staring down the barrel. It was the Pakistan captain, no other, who seemed done for. An injury forced him out of the second Test and kept him out of the final Test as well. While it did not dramatically change fortunes for Pakistan, it nearly put paid to Mallik’s career. Younus Khan proved a reluctant skipper in the second Test and while his ingenuity saved Pakistan in that game, he was himself at the heart of turbulence ahead of the third Test at Bangalore.
Annoyed at his exclusion in picking the team for the second Test, Younus stepped down as stand-in skipper before he was pulled back in. However, the events in the series seemed to have warmed his heart to the skipper’s role and hinted at his being ready to take on the role on a longer basis provided he had a few matters sorted out with the selectors. Shoaib Mallik , on the other hand, would have had a few jitters of his own. Having come in for scathing criticism from all and sundry for what seemed his inability to motivate and inspire the team and show more authority on the field, Mallik would be grateful to know he still has the faith of the selectors.
India’s loss or Pakistan’s save?
The jury is still out on the issue of whether to standardize the pitches world wide or leave some things to the natural environs and let variety be the spice of the game. The same could be said of the series. India seemed to have the upper hand in each of the three games. And yet somehow Pakistan scripted a Bollywood style save, to come away with some extent of dignity they showed little worthiness for. It must be some cause for concern that on the same docile pitches, India was able to set Pakistan on the back foot but struggled on practically every occasion to dislodge Misbah and the tail that had a telling effect on the margin by which India won the series.
Credit should not be taken away from India. Their batsmen used the opportunities and their bowlers did well, even if only in patches. Kumble did a good job on his first assignment and if mistakes like those of declaration in the final Test happen, leeway must be accorded as is to any new captain, however experienced a player he may be. The 1-0 score line meant India had sealed a victory against Pakistan on home soil in twenty-seven years. Viewed from Kumble’s sharp, engaging eyes, that was all that mattered!

Three left-handers, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh and Irfan Pathan posted career-best knocks as India posted their highest total (626) against Pakistan at home in the third and final Test match at Bangalore, beating their previous best of 616 for five declared.
Yuvraj Singh proved again that he is no ordinary cricketer. Breaking into the side after India suffered a series of injuries, he gave the selectors a befitting reply with a dazzling display of strokeplay.
Yuvraj, who found a place in Indian team after missing 10 Test matches, made his highest score in Test cricket by scoring 169 in 250 minutes off 203 balls with 28 fours and a six. His previous highest was 122 against Pakistan at Karachi in 2005-06.
It was a special innings as he and Sourav Ganguly scored significant centuries to lift India out of the doldrums they had played themselves into at 61 for four. They set a new record for the fifth wicket for India against Pakistan in Tests by adding 300 runs. It was second best partnership for the fifth wicket for India in Test match cricket after Rahul Dravid and Venkat Sai Laxman’s 376-run stand against Australia at Kolkata in 2000-01 and ninth 300 plus partnership for this wicket in Test cricket.
Sandeep Patil and Ravi Shastri who put on 200 runs for the fifth wicket at Faisalabad in 1984-85 held the previous record against Pakistan.
It was the highest ever partnership for India against Pakistan at home and third highest overall in Tests after 410-run stand for the first wicket between Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid at Lahore in 2005-06 and 336-run partnership for the third wicket between Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar at Multan in 2003-04.
The 200-run partnership for the first wicket between Sunil Gavaskar and K.Srikkanth at Chennai in 1986-87 was the previous best for India against Pakistan at home.
Ganguly and Yuvraj’s 300-run stand was the second best in Test cricket by left-hand batsmen after West Indian Brian Lara and Jimmy Adams’s 322 runs partnership for the fifth wicket against Australia at Kingston in 1998-99.
Ganguly recorded the highest ever score by a left-hand batsman for India in Test cricket by making 239 off 361 balls with 30 fours and two sixes. Vinod Kambli who made 227 against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 1992-93 held the previous record of highest individual score by an Indian left-hander in Tests. Ganguly’s previous highest in Tests was 173 against Sri Lanka at Mumbai in 1997-98.
Irfan Pathan reached his maiden Test hundred by hitting six off leg break bowler Danish Kaneria. He made 102 off 133 balls with 10 fours and four sixes to surpass his previous best of 93 against Zimbabwe at Delhi in 2005-06.
Ganguly and Pathan set up a new record for the seventh wicket against Pakistan by adding 178 runs. Roger Binny and Madan Lal who put on 155 for the seventh wicket at the same ground in 1983-84, held the previous record.
It was a rare instance of three left-handers scoring a century in an innings of a Test match. This was only the third such occasion in Tests. Australian Justin Langer (104), Matthew Hayden (136) and Adam Gilchrist (118) achieved it against New Zealand in Brisbane in 2001-02, while England’s Marcus Trescothick (132), Andrew Strauss (136) and Graham Thorpe (118 not out) feasted on South Africa in Durban in 2004-05.
The four left-handers in the Indian team - Gautam Gambhir being the fourth - totalled 515 runs in the innings, which was only the fourth time left-handers managed an aggregate of more than 500 in an innings. The record for the two highest contributions by left-handers is held by West Indies, and on both occasions Brian Lara was the protagonist - he contributed 400 out of 612 against England in Antigua in 2003-04, and 375 out of 556 against the same opposition in 1993-94. Matthew Hayden’s 380 against Zimbabwe at Perth in 2003-04, helped the lefties add 549.
In the Test match between West Indies and England at St John’s in 2003-04, the home team made 715 runs. Besides Lara’s unbeaten 400, Ridley Jacobs scored 107 not out, Chris Gayle made 69 and Ryan Hinds contributed 36.
At the same ground against same opponent in 1993-94, West Indies declared their first innings at 593 for five. Lara piled up 375 in 766 minutes off 538 balls with 45 fours, Jimmy Adams scored 59 in 248 minutes off 164 balls, with the help of two fours and two sixes. Shivnarine Chanderpaul made unbeaten 75 in 264 minutes off 182 balls with 10 fours while Keith Athurton scored 47 in 246 minutes off 184 balls with five fours.
Australia declared their only innings at 735 for six against Zimbabwe at Perth in October 2003. The left-arm opening batsman Matthew Hayden piled up 380 in 622 minutes off 437 balls with 38 fours and 11 sixes. His opening partner, Justin Langer scored 26 in 42 minutes off 38 balls with five fours. Adam Gilchrist made an unbeaten 113 in 140 minutes off 94 balls with 12 fours and four sixes while Darren Lehmann contributed 30 runs in 61 minutes off 48 balls with three fours and a six.

Record: They were champions of the England edition in 2004 and then in 2006 almost defended their crown but for the Aussies to stop them in the final. They could have won the first edition of the tournament in Bangladesh as well, but then they were stopped by the mighty South Africans, again in the final. It could be said then, looking at their record, that they enjoy this tournament and would fancy their chances, but if we look at the squad, that seems to be out of the question for West Indies cricket has a habit of pulling itself down just when it seems they might be getting out of their deep pits.
Captain: Floyd Reifer
After a very successful Red Stripe Cup scoring 756 runs, Reifer was given a chance with his first one-day and Test matches against the Sri Lankans on their tour of the West Indies in 1997. However, he did not manage to produce the necessary performances and, despite being given another chance on the West Indies A tour to make his way back into the senior squad, played only two more Tests and one more one-day international. Three years later, following some decent domestic matches, he claimed that he was again ready to be chosen for West Indies. And he was, in the most unexpected of circumstances, in 2009, when the original squad to face Bangladesh in Kingstown decided to boycott the Test a day before its start. The board scrambled to organize a replacement side and Reifer found himself leading the second-string squad ten years after he had played his last Test. However, he couldn’t script a win in either the Test or the ODI series.
Coach: David Williams
David Williams was a competent wicket keeper but his weakness with the bat (he made seven ducks in 18 completed Test innings) meant he only played 11 Tests. But he did have his moment in the sun when he hit 65, and added a match winning 129 with Carl Hooper, against England in Trinidad in 1997-98. This was a rare high point for Williams, though, who was dropped after the fourth Test of that series. As a coach, Williams has been involved with the Trinidad & Tobago team from 2003, and the team enjoyed a purple patch which included two one-day titles and three four-day titles in four years. He was appointed assistant coach to the West Indies team for the Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa and after coach John Dyson was sacked following the series loss to Bangladesh in 2009, he was handed the reigns for the ICC Champions Trophy, also to be played in South Africa.
Strengths & Weaknesses:
It is tough to find strength in a team that has lost comprehensively at home to even Bangladesh. It is a pity that the cut off for the ODI rankings was April 1 2009 for qualification for the tournament in South Africa. That is because it will be but a travesty if this West Indies team gets to participate and shame the names of their glittering ancestors. They face Australia, India and Pakistan, so let there be no doubt that they will be mauled.
If there is a chance for them to surprise people, maybe just maybe, that will come only if the teams up against them become more than just complacent. For the West Indies seem so fragile that even just being complacent might not be enough for them to cause an upset. It would have made far more sense to have Bangladesh participate than allow the West Indies Cricket Board to make this tournament such a farce.
Player to watch out for: Darren Sammy
Even though the team might disappoint as a whole in the absence of their stalwarts, it might just be the right opportunity for some one with real class to make a name for themselves. And the money to do just that would be on Darren Julius Garvey Sammy. He is the first international cricketer to emerge from St Lucia, an island rediscovering its cricket culture as the new Beausejour Stadium has captured imaginations. Sammy, who spent some time at Lord’s with the MCC cricket staff, also showed off his skills as a batsman and right-arm medium-pacer as part of the University of the West Indies Vice-Chancellor’s XI.
He won a one-day cap in England in 2004 and was called up late to the Champions Trophy squad in September 2004 after Jermaine Lawson pulled out with a stress-fractured back. In July 2006, he was named as St Lucia’s captain for West Indies’ first-ever Twenty20 tournament and was recalled for the tour of England in 2007. After missing the first two Tests, Sammy was drafted into the side for his debut at Old Trafford, and celebrated with 7 for 66 in the second innings. He is still trying to cement his place in the Test and limited-overs sides as an allrounder. Playing for a weakened team against Bangladesh in 2009, he ended the two match Test series with 12 wickets.

It took eleven Indian cricketers to bring to light what was dealt with as a matter of formality by tens of thousands of sportspersons around the world. While there is no doubt that there has to be a more stringent measure to curb the use of illicit drugs in sport, and cricket can be no exception, the BCCI is now in a headlong battle with WADA over what it deems are impracticable conditions on its cricketers.
FICA jumps, ICC setback
The conundrum turned into a fiasco when the eleven Indian cricketers (nine male and two female cricketers) failed to turn in their signed agreements by the ICC set deadline of August 31st. The ICC had suffered a setback en route to ensuring a drug free cricket policy. It led to a strong petition from the FICA (Federation of International Cricketers Association) to appeal to the ICC to take action against the Indian cricketers, who are also incidentally not members of FICA.
Faced with an awkward situation that the ICC could not evade, they put the onus back on the BCCI to ensure that the papers were turned in. An emergency meeting with the likes of the Indian captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh, the BCCI sent a message to the ICC that it was firmly backing its players against the WADA code and that it was up to the ICC to seek resolution without compromising on the concerns of the Indian cricketers.
Why WADA?
The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) is universally accepted by over 20,000 athletes over sixty international sports federations. It has the world’s top athletes on its roll and while tennis champions such as Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams have expressed anguish at the whereabouts clause, Roger Federer perhaps has put it succinctly that it was a small inconvenience to pay to ensure the sport was rid of doping.
Even India’s leading badminton champion, Saina Nehwal, sees only the positive side of complying with WADA and has even furthered the cause by stating that it would not be too hard to state the whereabouts because players would have some form of training or workout even during off season, a matter that India’s Olympic gold medallist at the 2008 Beijing Games, Abhinav Bindra, totally agrees with.
Blood doping as also the use of anabolic steroids, diuretics, narcotics have played a huge role in other athletic events. While cricketers are generally believed have a significantly lesser need to depend on performance enhancing drugs, that they are experimenting with it cannot be denied. Furthermore masking agents do a good job in covering up for doping players as hormones produced within the body in excess then tend to skew the results.
Tour de France champion, Floyd Landis, was stripped of his medal in 2004 after his drug test showed an unusual amount of testosterone in his body implicating him in the use of synthetic drugs. USA’s top athlete Marion Jones though escaped getting caught and it was only upon her own decision to confess that the dreadful deed came to light and she was subsequently taken to tasks amidst tears that garnered no sympathy. Shane Warne was found by an independent drug testing within Australia of having used diuretics before the 2003 World Cup in a country where drug awareness is at a peak and is generally intolerant of drug usage in any sport. Nandrolone was found in the bloodstream of Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif before the ICC Champions Trophy in 2006 again by the Pakistan Cricket Board. As impossible as it sounds, there could be more deceitful attempts to cheat in sport than those that have come to light only to be dismissed by way of feigning ignorance.
Relevance of drug testing
South Africa’s Dale Steyn’s sample turned positive apparently during the IPL 2 season for morphine, an effect of painkillers containing codeine turning into morphine at slightly higher than the acceptable levels. However, since the officials were briefed of Steyn’s condition and subsequent drugs at the time of testing, he was exonerated of all charges. The same though cannot be said of Mohammad Asif and Shoaib Akhtar whose blood work found traces of banned substances.
The WADA has signed on sportspersons around the world and they have accepted, even in disagreement, the encumbrance posed by the necessity of the whereabouts clause. WADA realizes that there is high pressure on sportspersons to deliver with overemphasis on performance with big money at stake and six figure endorsements to ensure a life of no work and all play. For some it is about keeping their place on the team, for others, families to upkeep, egos and ambitions to be nursed. In some cases, illicit drug testing has also inadvertently boosted the bottom line of certain pharmaceutical companies has come to light since doping became a major concern in the U.S. which has revealed certain past winners such as Ben Johnson and Carl Lewis to have cheated.
On a more dangerous level, drug testing has had the ulterior motive on the border lines of creating rifts on the political roadmap. When Carola Nitschke returned her swimming medal in 1988, the first athlete to do so, she essentially brought to light the sinister motive where in several of the East German athletes were given drug supplements, without their explicit knowledge, to put down their West German counterparts with a clear political angle to the motive.
With cricket being far from an amateur sport and certainly earning professional sport endorsements and with the ICC now aiming a greater role for cricket in world sports meets, it is only natural that the sport must then fall in line with the accepted norm which includes WADA as the premier anti doping agency that is respected by both, sportspersons and sports bodies.
Cause for consternation - whereabouts
According to the WADA President, John Fahey, there is a greater need at present to introduce the surprise element of off season testing to deter the possibility of doping in sport. But the Indian cricketers have a major concern over the whereabouts clause that states that they must state for an hour each day about where they will be for the projected period of three months. Not only are the Indian cricketers extremely weary of stating their location for fear of compromising on their security following terror threats to some of the top cricketers in the country, they are also extremely protective of their privacy, although that is sometimes compromised upon for the odd intrusion of endorsements.
Negligence to blame for this stalemate?
The BCCI may be pleading ignorance over issues and seeking the legal opinion of the likes of Goolam Vahanvati, India’s Attorney General, and A.S. Anand, the former Chief Justice, and on prime facie evidence, they are likely to support BCCI’s stand on quoting Article 21 of the Constitution that grants liberty to all citizens of the country.
But there is apparently a rather tricky situation that the BCCI finds itself in. The BCCI committed a glaring error and thereby, missed a golden opportunity to state their point at a valid time. The NADA (National Anti Doping Agency), an independent agency instituted by the Indian sports ministry, issued notification to the effect that unless there was opposition from the various sports bodies regarding compliance with the WADA norms, their silence would be assumed as in agreement of the rules. BCCI remained silent and has now woken up rather late to the pressing issue. Additionally, the Copenhagen declaration of 2003 against doping of which the government of India is a party to makes it hard for the BCCI to weasel out of the drug testing per se or fight a universally accepted system on the protest of eleven cricketers.
The BCCI has also stated the example of FIFA over non compliance with the whereabouts clause. But contrary to that opinion, FIFA has managed a system wherein the International Registered Testing Pool (IRTP) consists of a fluctuating number and names of players depending on their injuries and past history with drug related issues, while maintaining their own anti-doping norms for all players under the FIFA banner. The BCCI could certainly suggest to the ICC a similar course of action where only repeat offenders and those cricketers undergoing treatment for injuries need to come into WADA’s bracket.
Stand off Implications
The ICC has a reason why it cannot be the reed that usually weathers the storm that originates from the BCCI. The ICC now has a bigger agenda. Apart from the fact that the ICC has also signed on to be a part of WADA in 2006 and officially accepted the WADA dictum in January this year, there is an agenda behind this.
The ICC has aspired to be a part of a larger global sports event, namely, the Olympics. Recently the popularity of the Twenty20 game also had some cricketers getting behind the idea of having cricket represented at such worldwide sports meets in its latest version. However, for the ICC to involve cricket in any Olympic or sports event, it must first have all its member nations and cricketers adhere to universally accepted, common norm and customs that contribute to a drug free sports world. Without the Indian cricketers jumping on the bandwagon, the ICC cannot carry out its plans forward.
The ICC has already received a slot in the 2010 Asiad games in China with Twenty20 and some would be inclined to believe that India could be deliberately or otherwise creating a spoke in the wheel. Nevertheless it will be hard for them to prevent this, even as a wild conspiracy theory, or the WADA from coming into the picture as the ICC is determined to help the Indian cricketers and indeed the BCCI to see the right of way. The ICC has instead appointed a five man committee, consisting of Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive, N. Srinivasan, the BCCI secretary, ICC Principal Advsor, IS Bindra, Anil Kumble, member of WADA’s athletic committee, and Tim Kerr, chairman of ICC anti-doping panel, to formulate a plan to convince the Indian cricketers to accept the WADA code when they meet in September.
Why Indian cricketers can protest
The BCCI has just granted the All India Football Federation (AIFF) a grant of Rs25 crore over two years for the preparations for the Asian Games. Such is the BCCI’s clout that it is not obligated to tow the Sports Ministry to procure its funds. Not mandatory to comply with the norms of the Indian Olympic Association (IOC) either, the BCCI has been an autonomous institution unto itself and it has passed on, in essence, the same sufficient arrogance, to its cricketers. To now conform with other sportspersons is then the seemingly unacceptable scenario.
While it is difficult for individual athletes to protest universal laws, it is unthinkable when the sports discipline is dependent on government funding. Cricket in India, however, has always functioned as an independent entity unto itself which is why while the South African and Australian cricketers have complied with their national obligations to drug testing without being able to voice their protest against the WADA clause, eleven cricketers are hoping to turn the dictation around.
The immediate solution
One look at the ADAMS (The Anti Doping Administration and Management System ) website, and it will be clear as to how easy it is to fill the calendar during the off season. Players can simply log on to the website from wherever they are located, state one hour of every day that they are available and draft it on the calendar page which will then be put in a bank safe like vaults within the database. Sportspersons who have complied with it talk about the facile procedure as also of changing time and place where need be. For cricketers, it should only become easier since they are always complaining of a hectic international calendar which means more of their days are already chalked out for them without them having to state explicitly.
The whereabouts clause is considered as a necessary evil amongst sportspersons throughout the world because of the benefit of having fair play on the field. It will be hard for eleven cricketers to beat the system and they risk the ICC’s larger plans for globalization and expansion of cricket in doing so. A more pragmatic course would be to fall in line but with an explicit grievance earmarked for the WADA review which comes up in 2010.

Curtains fell on a very distinguished Test match career of Chaminda Vaas after he announced that the series against the Pakistanis would be the last one he would be a part of; of course, with a caveat that he will be still available for selection in the other formats of the game. And to my mind, with this closure, we are one step away from the end of cricket seeing these decade and half test careers in the future, what with the magi-noodle format of the games allowing for cricketers to feature in the five-day games for some years before calling it quits for the lucrative alternatives.
Not for nothing did Vaas survive and blossom for more than 15 years in international cricket. If he had begun his international innings as a nippy and quick swing bowler, then like many of his predecessors, he quickly learnt the art of surprising the batsmen with the vagaries of his bowling. Like Dennis Lillee, Imran Khan or Javagal Srinath, he learnt the motley of change of pace, cut across the seam, and the ball that straightened instead of coming in with the swing to the right handed batsman. All of this ensured that 110 test matches after having made his debut, he ended his sojourn at the test match level with 355 wickets at a more than acceptable average of less than 30 runs per wicket.
The oft-repeated phrase about Vaas being one of the servants of Sri Lankan cricket rings is absolutely true. But, more than the figures associated with his bowling, it is a batting milestone that corroborates this fact; a century in test matches after having none in the first 96 games that he played in! As if toiling manfully on unresponsive tracks, inhuman weather conditions and under captains who would wait for as long as the first couple of them went to the fence before turning to Muralitharan was not enough, Vaas had taken upon himself to metamorphose himself from a dour blocker to a useful accumulator, to finally an all-rounder who could more than hold his own with the bat.
This is not to say that the bowling deteriorated with time. It is often said that Murali is the wily old fox, with a bag full of tricks. However, Murali’s biggest asset that provides the perfect backbone to the rest of his armoury, was his ability to turn the ball a mile. Vaas did not possess a lot of pace, with the swing with the new ball being his only forte. The pace may have decelerated, but not the guile and the wiliness, and with age, Vaas managed to ward off any challengers to his position in the team with some excellent ability to roll the fingers over the seam, either ways.
And lest one forget, he did relish conditions that supported even an iota of swing, such was his control and mastery of the incoming ball to the right-handers. In one such ODI against the hapless Zimbabweans, he ran through the top, middle and the lower order to send eight batsmen – including a hat-trick – back to the pavilion, and finish off the opposition for a measly 38 runs! As if to prove that this effort with the ball was no flash in the pan, he cleaned up the mighty Indian batting with a 5/14 haul, on a track where his own countrymen had piled up a near 300. Another opposition to suffer at the hands of Vaas was Bangladesh, as the 2003 World Cup saw the first ever instance of a bowler picking up three wickets off the first three deliveries of the game, and he added another one off fifth delivery to send the opposing batting into an early tizzy. Incidentally, he finished the tournament atop of the bowling list, with 23 wickets.
To give an analogy of his swing, it was a Siamese twin to Irfan Pathan’s when the Indian was at the peak of his prowess – or the other way around – but unlike Pathan, whatever he lost by the way of pace in the early part of his career, and the bite in the later portion, was made up in more ways than one by his mental strength and pin-point lines and lengths.
Vaas’ legacy will always be remembered for being a successful fast-medium bowler from that part of the world where the tracks have traditionally been difficult to bowl on for his brand of art. And where does his retirement leave the Lankan pace bowling cupboard? The answer to that question can possibly be found mirrored in two important and interesting facets.
One is the fact that Sri Lankan medium-pace bowler, Nuwan Kulasekera, currently holds the top spot for bowlers in ICC’s official rankings; a position that he has held for more than six months now. Secondly, if one were to look at the Sri Lankan bowling records of the recent times, it would becomes easier to conclude that the Vaas has done enough to inspire the younger breed of quick bowlers into not only taking up this trait, but also matching the likes of Muralitharan and Mendis, wicket for wicket.
The first game of the ongoing test match has already had Thilan Thushara do more than his bit with the ball, whereas the test series preceding this – against Pakistan – had had Nuwan Kulasekera topping the bowling charts with 17 wickets. Even there, Thushara had scalped 12, which was after the nine he bagged in the ODIs. With Angelo Mathews coming into the fold too, the Lankan quick-bowling cupboard seems to have more than just the one proverbial leaf off the Chaminda Vaas book.
To cap it, Sri Lanka also possesses the likes of Farveez Maharoof and Lasith Malinga, both of whom have been more out than in the side because of a variety of reasons – injury and form being the two major ones at that. Malinga has already proved his worth as an almost-unplayable bowler in the death overs with his ability to bowl the ones under the batsmen’s bat at will. On the other hand, Maharoof had a decent start to his career, but lack of wickets seems to have taken the sting out him, and Mathews has taken over the number seven position of a bowler who could bat in the ODI setup. So much so, that Mathews has earned the test match cap as well, and while his bowling remains as ‘work-in-progress’ for now, what certainly does not is his attitude.
What will be definitely missed, if not for his incisiveness was his perseverance at bowling longish spells. Known to sometime finish up eight or nine overs off the ten a bowler is permitted to, in a single first spell, he could also take up the role of a stock bowler, which permitted the Lankan captains to unleash Muralitharan from the other end and pick up many a wicket.
In all probabilities, it will be a difficult road back into the ODI side as well for Vaas, but somewhere in there, there would be a burning desire for their last hurrah, that final moment of glory, and a healthy contribution in the home World Cup of 2011, just like he had in the 1996 version. It remains to be seen whether he gets that opportunity!