India vs Australia Test Series: A Preview

This has to be one of the most under hyped India - Australia series in two decades. India's poor showing versus England in the test series and the whitewash last time they played Australia might be a reason to it. Australia are without Ricky Ponting, Mike Hussey and their batting doesn't instill the confidence it did 18 months back. Both India and Australia are teams in transition and there is no denying that.

But Australia, even in transition have a confident captain in Micheal Clarke in ominous batting form. A firing opening combination, stable middle order, in form all rounders in Henriques & Maxwell and a strong pace bowling unit. India on the other hand have their struggles beginning right at the top. With Gambhir being dropped and Dhawan, Vijay being included Sehwag will have a new partner to start the innings with. Pujara was in bright form against England and will be expected to hold fort against Australia at no 3. Tendulkar, fresh from a hundred against a strong attack in the Irani Cup will look to pile on runs against the Australians and shut his critics. This series will also indicate how long Tendulkar prolongs his test career. Success in this series could mean Tendulkar could play till India's tour of South Africa to guide a younger side in tough conditions against a tough opposition. But failure here could result in retirement. Kohli will be India's no 5 and will have the task of playing with the lower order. Much expected of him is yet to bear fruit. Dhoni, has been facing enormous criticism for his test batting and captaincy. Outcome of this series will decide if Dhoni will continue to captain the test side or selectors will look for the next captain. Indian bowling without Zaheer Khan and Umesh Yadav looks bare. Ashwin & Ojha's inability to spin a web around the English batsmen proved they can be dealt with rather easily and aren't penetrative enough even in favourable conditions. Ishant will lead the pace attack and Bhuvneshwar Kumar is expected to debut after impressive ODI performances.

In my opinion India will do well going in with five batsmen, three spinners and two pacers. India's best chance to challenge Australia will be by attacking them with spin. India's line up for the first test in my humble opinion should be: Sehwag, Dhawan, Pujara, Tendulkar, Kohli, Dhoni, Ashwin, Bhuvneshwar, Harbhajan, Ishant, Ojha.

Australia will depend on Warner and Cowan to give them explosive yet steady starts. Hughes will be the more preferred option for no.3 over Khawaja. Hughes' effectiveness against Indian spinners is to be gauged. Clarke & Watson hold the key for Australia in spinning Indian pitches. Matthew Wade, selected over Brad Haddin will have the task of playing with the tail if need be. Henriques, picked over Maxwell for the first test, will take over the all rounder spot vacated by Watson, now playing purely as batsman. Glenn Maxwell will be crucial as the second spinner and a valuable batsman when selected.

Australia will surely have an edge over India with a very strong bowling attack. Siddle, Pattinson & Starc will have taken notes from how Anderson bowled to the Indian batsmen. Indian batsmen won't have good memories of this pace trio who had them hop, jump, duck, fend & edge in faster, bouncier conditions. According to me Starc is the bowler India needs to be most careful of. He is capable of skidding, curving away from and bringing it back to the right hander which is Sehwag, Tendulkar & Kohli's undoing. Pattinson will come at the Indian will all he's got. Good pace, lovely rhythm and good lengths. Siddle is expected to spearhead this attack and is the only bowler who has played in India conditions before. Bowling in Indian conditions will be Lyon's biggest test in his career up till now. If he can emulate some success that Swann & Panesar had against Indian batsmen few months back, Australia will be well served. His experience of these conditions will help. Mitchell Johnson & Ashton Agar will await their chances in the upcoming tests.

Dhoni & Clarke are both in different stages of their captaincy. Dhoni will set out to prove series loss to England at home was an aberration and the Indian team in transition is still good enough to inflict a series defeat against Australia. He also has a point to prove that he is good enough a batsman and wicket keeper to hold his place in the side even if he wasn't the captain. Clarke on the other hand has had a challenging summer at home against South Africa & Sri Lanka and would be looking to win overseas. South Africa inflicted a rare defeat at home on Australia while they easily thrashed Sri Lanka 3-0. Clarke, in contrast with Dhoni has been in phenomenal personal form with the bat. He will be looking to add to his runs tally from 2012.

My call for the series would be a 1-1 draw as neither team seems to have the firepower to outdo the other. India has too feeble a bowling line up to defeat Australia. And Australia, post Hussey & Ponting's retirement will struggle to hand India a series defeat at home. Drawn series would be a success for India while Australia will look to force a win considering how India played against England.

One last word for Duncan Fletcher for whom this might be the last chance to lead India to a win and salvage some pride after an extremely disappointing two years at the top job.

World Cup Special: Men Who Mattered

Change they say is the only constant! Its no different in Cricket than it is elsewhere. Legends must retire for new legends to be born. Most successful international players dream of a World Cup swansong. Some are fortunate to hang their boots with a successful World Cup campaign and some leave after a disappointing first round exits like Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Inzamam Ul Haq after the 2007 World Cup. This tournament will see some of the modern day legends of the game playing their last World Cup. Each of these players have played a major role in their team's progress over the last ten years. They have mentored newcomers over the last decade a some have even captained their side for a long or a short while.

Ricky Ponting

Who would have expected the diminutive middle order batsman to go on to be a part of three wWorld Cup winning teams and lead Australia to wins in two of them. A batsman par excellence and a never say die captain. Ricky is the second highest century maker in ODIs and tests next only to Tendulkar. He was made the ODI captain in 2002 and lead Australia to an undefeated World Cup win in 2003. He played a major part in the win as he demolished the Indian bowling in the finals along with Damien Martyn. He scored a masterful 140* which remains one of the best knocks to have been played in a WC final. He lost most of his important personnel after the 2007 WC. He has had to rebuild the team and that has been no mean an achievement. He remains the lynchpin of the Aussie batting line up and will play a crucial role if Australia were to defend the Cup successfully. Veteran of four World Cups, Ricky starts this World Cup second on the overall run-list behind Tendulkar with 1537 runs. He had a terrific 2007 World Cup scoring 539 runs leading Australia to another spectacular World Cup win. 


Jacques Kallis

No less a talent than Ponting or Tendulkar. Kallis, for me, might even be a notch higher than Ponting in terms of contribution to his team. He, in my list, would be counted amongst the two best all rounders ever only behind Sir Garfield Sobers himself. Kallis is almost as effective with the ball as he is with the bat. Made his debut in 1997, Kallis made his presence felt in the World Cup 1999 with his swing bowling and consistent batting. He, for a while, even opened the attack with Pollock to allow Donald to bowl first change. As a batsman, his contribution to the team has been enormous. Playing along with Gary Kirsten, Gibbs, Smith, Cullinan; Kallis made his own mark being the batsman with impeccable technique and someone who relied more on timing and placement than power. Over the years, he may have lost some pace but still is as handy with the ball.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul

Made his debut in 1994 and was a part of the West Indian team that made to the semi finals of the World Cup 1996 and almost made it to the finals at the expense of Australia, but for a lower order collapse. Chanderpaul started off being an understudy to Brian Lara but took over and came on his own in 2001/02 where he performed admirably well against the visiting Indians. He is considered one of the best players of spin amongst players outside of the subcontinent. His free stance allows him to use his feet conveniently. Going by his built and thinking he can't attack would be a mistake. He is capable of accumulating runs at strike rate above 100. He currently is the senior most batsman in the WI team. Him retiring would be a big loss to the already dooming West Indian cricket. He is the last trace of 1990s in West Indian cricket.

Shoaib Akhtar

He clocked the fastest ball to be bowled in World Cups in the 1999 edition. He got Steve Waugh out to one of the most amazing yorkers seen in cricket annals in the same tournament. He was in his mettle in 1999. Troubled batsmen with his pace and brilliant variations. Shoaib Akhtar is one of the senior most members in the Pakistani team. He, Razzaq and Afridi are the only survivors from the 1999 Cup finalist team. Mentored by Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis in his early days, Shoaib today is leading the bowling attack with Umar Gul, Junaid Khan and Wahab Riaz to be mentored and supported by him. A successful campaign this World Cup could be a huge boost for him after a more or less controversy shrouded career he has had. He has shown a lot of character in coming back to play the game after injuries and disciplinary suspensions. He still has the pace and the accuracy to rattle the best in business. He mustn't be taken lightly at all.

Muttiah Muralitharan

It could be said, Murali had a huge role to play in Sri Lanka winning the 1996 World Cup. Him being called for chucking was taken so personally by Ranatunga, that he motivated his players and rallied them around to form a team that shocked one and all. Murali played a crucial role in the World Cup too. Amongst the best spinners and the greatest characters to have played the game, Murali must be wishing to end his career on a high after a successful retirement from tests last year. He was hugely instrumental in his team reaching the finals of the 2007 edition picking 23 wickets out of his 53 total World Cup wickets. Sri Lanka have Ajantha Mendis and Suraj Randiv replace when Murali's hangs his boots, but no one can fill the void for the great sportsman and ambassador for the game he has been. His detractors will continue to call him a chucker and discredit him for the wickets he has earned. Chucker or not, Murali has changed the meaning of spin bowling since his debut in 1993.

Sachin Tendulkar

He sure needs no introduction. He would walk into every World XI, ODI or Tests. Tendulkar had a phenomenal 1996 and 2003 World Cups. India got to the semi finals in both editions and went upto the finals in the latter. His aggregate 1796 World Cup runs will be hard to match. He has been the backbone of Indian batting for over 20 years now. Debuted in 1989, when some of his current team members were still in their diapers, he has broken every possible record in ODI batting. Most recently came the ODI double hundred at Gwalior last year. Winning the World Cup will be the perfect swansong for him like all others, but the patriot that he is and the passion he has he would want to win it for India than for his own benefit. He found his bearings under the supervision of seniors like Azhar, Srikkanth and Vengsarkar, blossomed playing together with contemporaries like Dravid, Ganguly, Jadeja, Kambli and now is the teacher and role model to new comers such as Kohli, Vijay, Raina and even Sehwag.

Author also writes on http://www.isport.in/

Australia's Next Captain Conundrum

How many full time captains each test playing nation has had in the last decade?
Pakistan - 8, Sri Lanka - 5, England - 5, West Indies - 6, South Africa - 4, India - 5, Australia & New Zealand - 2. Unlike other teams, with the exception of New Zealad, Australia has seen the least number of captaincy changes in the last decade. While New Zealand has had Stephen Fleming & Daniel Vettorri leading the team, Australia has had only two full time captains in this period; Steve Waugh & Ricky Ponting. Adam Gilchrist, Mike Hussey & Micheal Clarke have filled in for them in interims. Australia for that matter, since 1970 have had a long term captain. Starting with Ian Chappell, followed by a short stint of Graham Yallop, Greg Chappell, Kim Hughes, Allan Border, Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh & now Ricky Ponting have upheld the mantle of Australian captaincy.

Australia now are in a transition phase after the retirement of Langer, Hayden, Warne, McGrath, Martyn and Gilchrist. Ricky Ponting too isn't getting younger, his batting form isn't getting any better, his success rate diminishing and retirement thoughts surely would have entered his mind. But the selectors have quite a dilemma ahead of them. The two main contenders for Australia captaincy are Micheal Clarke & Mike Hussey. The latter's age (35) might work against him, but Clarke's form with bat is a crisis in itself.  Not doubting Clarke's talent as a batsman and a fine fielder and utility spinner. But his vulnerability to short balls has been exposed by bowlers around the world. And he surely isn't in the league of all the ex Australia test captains. Mike Hussey sure does seem to have the charisma and is a well respected senior in the team. His title of Mr.Cricket too augurs well for a future Australia captain, but for his age.

If I was an Australian cricket selector, I wouldnt even look towards Clarke. I would either opt for a bowler captain in Mitchell Johnson, already a senior in the team and will ensure he stays focussed for the team benefit or hand it over to Mike Hussey or Brad Haddin for a short period of two years and ensure either of Cameron White or Callum Ferguson trained under them as vice captains. I feel Callum Ferguson is someone with enormous potential and is a player to watch out for in the future.

Author of this post also writes on http://www.isport.in/