Making IPL Relevant

IPL in it's sixth edition is doing pretty well for it's own good. All 9 teams, at the halfway stage, still have a chance to make it to the playoffs. Delhi Daredevils, one of the top four teams in the last editions languish in the 9th spot. Pune Warriors, team that made the 9th spot its own now is at no 8. Rajasthan, Punjab and Hyderabad teams have surprised a few with their strong shows. Not all would make it to the play offs though. Bangalore, Chennai, Mumbai have looked strong, yet vulnerable in situations. Kolkata seems to still be finding its feet in this edition after the Championship win last year. Foreign players like Gayle, Narine, M Hussey, de Villiers, Watson, Dwayne Smith, Finch, Kallis, Steyn & Miller have done exceptionally well for their franchises. Whilst on the other hand only few Indians namely; Kohli, Dhoni, Mishra, Karthik, Gambhir, Vinay Kumar have shown any consistency with bat or ball.

The tournament every years starts with a bang and and ends with a relatively lesser enthusiasm yet still manages to get the buzz going. Its the middle stages that mostly disappoint. The better teams go about asserting their dominance and the weaker ones get into a rut of defeats. What's more? Indian Premier League is a platform to showcase talent. With the term Indian being prominent in it, it comes across as a platform to showcase Indian talent. Where's that?

Let's look at some areas that could be looked into that can increase the viewer's interest and more so relevance of the IPL to Indian and world cricket over all.

Captains

IPL, in the year 2008 started with most franchises being captained by Indians, most of them being termed 'marquee players'. Who are the marquee players now? Okay, that's not even the point. Ricky Ponting for Mumbai Indians, Sangakkara for Sunrisers Hyderabad, Gilchrist for Kings XI Punjab, Jayawardena for Delhi Daredevils, Angelo Matthews for Pune Warriors, all first choice captains for their teams have mostly failed to get going, thus leaving their franchises short of a foreign talent in the XI. Ponting, Sanga, Matthews have gone a step ahead and have dropped themselves in the interest of the teams. Great sacrifice, but why even give way to that? Bring in young Indian talents to captains the sides. Rohit Sharma was made captain when Ponting's continued failures began to hurt the team. Virat Kohli being named captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore has got to be the best decision so far in this IPL. With the presence of the likes of Dilshan and Vettorri in the squad, it would've been easy for the management to name one of them. Kohli's elevation to captaincy will bode well for the franchise and for Kohli himself who can hone his captaincy skills which maybe required in the future for the national team when Dhoni is unavailable or sacked. Each franchise could take up the responsibility of naming a youngster as captain and have them trained by a senior.

Chennai Super Kings - Suresh Raina/Ravichandran Ashwin
Delhi Daredevils - Irfan Pathan
Kings XI Punjab - Piyush Chawla
Rajasthan Royals - Ajinkya Rahane
Kolkata Knight Riders - Gautam Gambhir (existing captain)
Royal Challengers Bangalore - Virat Kohli (existing captain)
Pune Warriors India - Yuvraj Singh
Mumbai Indians - Rohit Sharma (existing captain, replacing Ponting)
Sunrisers Hderabad - Shikhar Dhawan

The above list is just an example of what kind of players can be elevated to captaincy. Post the 2014 auction shuffle, some of these guys may not even be a part of their existing teams. But what this essentially does is encourage younger players, maintains team balance by allowing them four best performing foreign talents, hone captains who could lead the national team in the future if needed. If it's Indian Premier League, franchises must have Indian captains. To me, it was kinda strange to have Ponting lead Tendulkar. Unreal to see Jayawardena leading Sehwag in a Delhi franchise.

Indian Talent

Jalaj Saxena, Shami Ahmed, Parvez Rasool, Ishwar Pandey, Wriddhiman Saha are all good enough to be named amongst the probables for the Champions Trophy but are not good enough to represent their franchises in IPL? Cheteshwar Pujara just finished as India's best batsman in the recently concluded international season, yet can't find a place in the playing XI for his franchise. Abhimanyu Mithun, Abhinav Mukund after brief stints with the national side have gone off the radar so much, they can't get a game for their sides. Sreenath Aravind, in reckoning for the national side in 2011 hasn't played a game in IPL 2013. Where do these guys showcase their talents and come back into reckoning? They play their heart out in domestic games, but who watches them? Wasn't IPL supposed to be the platform where talents which don't get visibility have a chance to make it big? Strange, the franchises and the organising committee, in the bid to get more money out of the cash cow is forgetting the premise on which the tournament was founded. Rahul Sharma, Ashwin, Jadeja are example of talents that got recognition through IPL. Even this year the few new guys given the rare opportunities to have flourished. Mandeep Singh, Ajit Chandila, Jasprit Bumrah, Dhawal Kulkarni, Mohit Sharma, Karan Sharma to name a few.

Loan Players

What is Wriddhiman Saha, a top wicket keeper in the domestic circuit in the running for national selection doing in Chennai Super Kings, captained by Dhoni? Why can't he be loaned to Pune Warriors who are having to do with Robin Uthappa as a wicket keeper or even Kolkata Knight Riders who are putting up with very average Manvinder Bisla behind the stumps? Delhi Daredevils have been playing with poor spin attack and being forced to keep out Morne Morkel to play foreign spinners Botha, Jeevan Mendis or van der Merwe. They could easily exercise the loaning option to seek a unused spinner from one of the other franchises. Loaning of players should be introduced immediately to the IPL.

IPL 2014, with refreshed teams should also alter some rules to make the going ons more interesting for the viewers and followers. Brands have already been cashing in on the IPL and have been making the most of its popularity amongst the views. Be it contests giving away match tickets, meet and greet with players, IPL is a new boon to marketers and consumers both. But without innovations and tweaks it could fall into a rut and slowly rot. That's why its important there are dynamic changes made to the way things are.

This IPL could well be the last time we see the likes of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ponting, Muralitharan, Gilchrist play any kind of cricket on Indian soil. Big salute to the stars and hope they make the most before bid farewell. Cricket will be poorer by some of the greatest talents but the show will, as it always has, go on.

Delhi Daredevils: Team Preview & Expectations

Indian Premier League III ended with much fanfare with Chennai defeating Mumbai in the finals. And what followed it was mayhem. Corruption charges, Lalit Modi, endless speculation etc. Chirayu Amin took the post of the Commissioner of the IPL and then took place the auctions of 2011, where two new teams too had a chance to buy players for their team. All teams got reshuffled. Delhi Daredevils, the team I look forward to, retained their marquee man Virender Sehwag. Delhiites will be sad to have lost Gautam Gambhir who will now captain Kolkata Knight Riders.

Sehwag has a strictly good team at his disposal. On paper, he has the most explosive top three in his team in himself, Warner and Aaron Finch, but as we go down the middle order, the team lacks firepower. Travis Birt, youngsters Matthew Wade and Robin Bist who was a part of Rajasthan's Ranji Trophy winning team & Colin Ingram, the bright Protean youngster, will be expected guard the slide if the openers fall early. Middle order could also be manned by India rejects Sridharan Sriram and Venugopal Rao. One big advantage this team has over any other team in this IPL is the presence of many all rounders and utility cricketers. Irfan Pathan, Roelf van der Merwe, James Hopes, Andrew McDonald make for the most lethal lower middle order in the competition. In Naman Ojha, Delhi has a fine wicket keeper option, somehow who can bat explosively and can even open the innings. That gives the captain a lot of options. Spin department is where Delhi is going to suffer the most. Except for van der Merwe and Rajesh Pawar, the team only has a few slow bowlers in reserves. Shahbaz Nadeem maybe tried and might even get the success Shadab Jakati has got for Chennai in the last few editions. Morne Morkel will by far be the captain's go to bowler. One of my favourite Indian bowlers, Agarkar, Salvi, Umesh Yadav and Ashoke Dinda will be Morkel's support with the new ball.

Delhi has a good mix of youth and experience. But what's missing from the team is an assurance. Top order looks promising, but the middle order weak. Pace bowling department looks well equipped, but spin department totally bare. They have all rounders in numbers but none that could change the course of the game like an Afridi, Symonds or Yusuf Pathan. Delhi, looking at the team, on paper it would do enormously well for itself getting into the semi finals. Getting through to the finals and winning it will just be a huge bonus. Chennai, Mumbai, Pune looks the most balanced team in the competition. Delhi, along with Kolkata, Deccan, Bangalore look an unstable unit. Rajasthan, Punjab and Kochi, by the looks of it lack firepower. They don't enough impact players to make an instant difference to the outcome of the match.

Here's to an amazing Indian Premier League 4. 

Common Opponents Face Off In The Biggest Match Ever

The finalists of the ICC World Cup 2011 have played each other 30 times in the last two years. Such has been the frequency of India and Sri Lanka playing against each other that the fans on either side have been heard praying for respite. But here they are, competing at the finals of the biggest cricket tournament. Its the third finals for either side and both have won the World Cup once each. First time ever in the history of World Cups two Asian teams meet each other in the finals. Only fitting, two of the hosts, also two of the most versatile sides have made it to the finals to be played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Both teams have overcome disappointments and shortcomings on their way to the finals of the Cup. One defeat each in the league stages against South Africa and Pakistan. Lets look at how the teams might be looking at each other's line ups.

India have overcome challenges from Australia and Pakistan in the knock out stages of the tournament. Both teams considered as contenders have stretched the home team but never to a bothersome extent. India's bowling a worry in the league stages looked much improved in their two knock out games. Bowlers seemed to have found some rhythm. Batting, at least to me, isn't a big worry. The power packed Indian batting has had a few uncharacteristic collapses, but I wouldn't read too deep into them. If the Indian batting plays to potential, there is no stopping them. Tendulkar and Sehwag form the crux right on top of the order and both have been in ominous touch. The Lankans must be tiring themselves on the drawing board trying to plot their dismissals.Gambhir though has been amongst runs, hasnt set the stage alight in any of the matches yet. Yuvraj is probably in the phase of his career where he can barely do any wrong. Been excellent with both bat and ball. Winning four Man of the Match awards in the same World Cup is no mean achievement. Zaheer, as expected has been India's lynchpin with the ball. The tournament's 2nd highest wicket taker, Zaheer has foxed  batsmen throughout the Cup with his excellent variations and perfect lengths. India are expected to play both Harbhajan and Ashwin in the finals. Both have looked good when they've bowled together. They together must plan to stifle Dilshan, Tharanga and Sangakkara who've been in excellent touch.

Sri Lanka on the other hand have had it comparatively easy after their defeat to Pakistan in the league stages. They only had to face a weary and almost uninterested looking England in the quarters. Lankan openers pulverised English bowling to take the team home by 10 wickets chasing a modest score of 230. New Zealand's resistance with the bat was poorer but they fought hard with the ball causing a mini collapse, but Lanka won the game by 5 wickets. Both England and New Zealand are traditionally poor players of spin. All Sri Lanka had to do was to spin a spin web around. Sri Lankan top order is in fantastic touch. Middle order though is a spot of bother. Samaraweera and Chamara Silva havent been amongst the runs. Sri Lanka is going to miss Angelo Matthews dearly. He is one player in their ranks capable of changing gears with great ease. Lankan bowling has been quite upto the mark. Murali's fitness though would be a worry. Unless 100% fit, his effectiveness against quality players of spin that Indians are can be questions. Malinga and his yorkers will be something India would be working on though.

Ultimately it is going to come down to how the two teams react to pressure of the situation. Both teams have played innumerable final games against each other. But this surely is a notch above them all. I would say Sri Lanka have a slight edge over India in terms of chances. India after two mentally draining games really need to re focus on this all important game. Sri Lanka have had two breezy wins in the knock outs. They are yet to be stretched in the tournament except for their defeat vs Pakistan over a month back. India on the other hand need to field and bowl as well as they did against Pakistan to pose a challenge to the Lankans.
Both teams have a huge legend in their ranks, one who will play his last ODI tomorrow and the other whose CV has everything but a World Cup medal and is expected to hang his boots in the near future. Muttiah Muralitharan is expected to bowl to Sachin Tendulkar one last time in international cricket. As the cliche' goes, May The Best Team Win.

India's African Safari

Till not so long ago India, not-so-proudly held the tag of "poor tourists". And in that period, till 2007, amongst other countries, India toured South Africa four times and played 12 test matches; won 1, lost 6 and drew 5. A record that doesn't really befit a team which sits atop the Test rankings.

South African pitches offers Indian batsmen what they arent too comfortable with; the twin troubles of Pace & Bounce. Indian batsmen have traditionally suffered at the hands of South African bowlers in these pitches assisting pace and bounce. Even the mighty Sachin Tendulkar has looked a mere mortal in South African conditions. With three centuries in 12 test matches, South African bowlers have offered him the least to get away with in their backyard. Even Dravid, Laxman & Sehwag havent struck gold against the Proteas. But things might be slightly different this time around. India have a settled opening combination in Gambhir & Sehwag for the first time in all their tours to SA. A middle order which has three legends. A wicket keeper batsman & captain who can more than just bat. Two promising youngsters, Raina & Pujara, battling for the sixth batsman spot. Its Steyn, Morne Morkel & the less known Lonwabo Tsotsobe they'd need to negotiate. Paul Harris, the Protean spinning option shouldnt pose much of a threat to the Indian batting line up.

Indian bowlers though have been slightly more successful than their bat wielding team mates. Prasad & Srinath were a deadly combo during the 1996-97 tour. Sreesanth was lethal & Zaheer supported him well in the 2006-07 tour. But what these bowlers lacked was support from rest of the bowlers and batsmen. The pressure exerted by Prasad & Srinath was usually undone by the third seamer who let the Proteas counter attack and take runs before the pair came back to hunt. India this time has Zaheer in prime form, Ishant and Sreesanth finding rhythm and Harbhajan not in the wiliest of phases. But Sreesanth is a mercurial bowlers and can find rhythm in one good spell and once he does he can be dangerous. Zaheer will bank getting his bunny Graeme Smith cheaply consistently. Trouble is when they run into the Protean middle order, next only to Indian middle order if not equal. AB de Villiers, Kallis & Amla are all in sublime form and are determined to go into the World Cup with victory against India.

This series will be watched by all cricket enthusiasts for its between the two most successful teams in recent times. With the one sidedness of The Ashes, the significance of India versus South Africa has increased multi folds in the context of the game. India has no reason to not feel confident about their chances. They have achieved success in the bounciest wicket in the world at WACA, Perth against Australia in 2008. To do well and achieve success here will be the best preparation India could ask for before the World Cup and a perfect adieu to Tendulkar, Laxman & Dravid who have traveled thrice to South Africa without achieving a series win and quite certainly are playing their last series in South Africa.

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

Indian Cricket since 1996 - Part 2

World Cup 1999 to World Cup 2003 eve

Pepsi World Cup 1999 in England

India headed for the World Cup with a good team and an experienced captain in Azharuddin. India began its campaign unsuccessfully with a defeat against South Africa, but hit a great low by losing to Zimbabwe in the next game falling prey to some extremely indisciplined bowling, terrible running between the wickets and Tendulkar’s absence from the team. This defeat made the next three group games must win for India. And they did just that. Ganguly & Dravid put up big hundreds to amass a score of 373 for 6 against Sri Lanka. In the super sixes, India faced eventual winners, Australia and lost convincingly despite a fighting hundred by Jadeja and a desperate partnership with Robin Singh. India faced Pakistan in the most awaited clash of the World Cup at a time when the two countries were engaged in a war back home. It was touted to be a high adrenaline match with tempers flaring. But it wasn’t to be, India trounced Pakistan in a relatively low scoring match where Indian bowlers came up trumps. India’s semi final hopes were dashed even before they played their last super six game against New Zealand owing to some funny calculation system adopted by ICC. India lost the match against New Zealand, and thus ended their campaign, where though lot was promised, not much was delivered. Dravid, Ganguly & Srinath were India’s stars from the World Cup. Dravid remained the highest scorers of the tournament.

1999

The unsuccessful World Cup campaign was dealt with severely by the BCCI and Azharuddin was sacked as captain & dropped from the team and Tendulkar was reinstated. Robin Singh was overlooked for he was the oldest member of the team at 36 and selectors looked at nurturing younger talent. India toured Sri Lanka for a tri series involving Australia. Indians played below par in the series and didn’t reach the finals despite Tendulkar’s century in severe back pain in a crucial match. Their next campaign was the Singapore Challenge against Zimbabwe & West Indies. India was crushed by Ricardo Powell who carted bowlers to all corners of the ground in the finals and we eventually lost.  Next up India won the DMC Cup, 2-1, played against West Indies at Toronto as Indian government refused to allow the team to play Pakistan even in a neutral venue due to political tensions. The team here was lead by Ganguly in Tendulkar and Jadeja’s absence. Ajay Jadeja was at the helm for the LG Cup held in Nairobi. India played the round robin games like real champions with unknown faces like Sunil Joshi and Vijay Bharadwaj making valuable contributions. But it was in the finals that India realised how inept we were at handling pressure.

After a more or less disappointing ODI season, India faced New Zealand at home in a three match test series. India won the series 1-0 on perfect featherbeds and dust bowls. The series would only be remembered for Tendulkar's first double century in the second test at Ahmedabad. In the ODI series that followed, India defeated New Zealand 3-2 in games most of which were high scoring. Tendulkar came up with his highest ODI score, 186* and India posted it highest ODI total 376.

This was followed by one of the most disappointing tours India has even been on, the tour down under. India’s morale wasn’t helped by the then secretary of BCCI predicting a 3-0 whitewash. It came true though. Australia blanked India 3-0 in the test series. Indians weren’t allowed to dominate a single session of play in the entire duration of the series. The only high points for India from the series were Tendulkar superb century at Melbourne, Laxman stunning 167 in an attempt to save the Sydney test and of course Tendulkar being adjudged Man of the Series despite his team’s loss. The test series loss affected the psyche of the players and the ODI series involving the hosts and Pakistan was no different. India only managed one win in the 8 matches they played in the series.

2000

South Africa toured India with a strong resolve to avenge their defeat in 1996. Hansie Cronje had put together a strong team, with a terrific batting line up and an equally strong bowling attack. India, for the first time in 13 years lost a home test series. South Africa defeated India 2-0. India had Tendulkar and Azharuddin scoring hundreds, but for South Africa it was their bowling which never let Indians dominate. Allan Donald was at his best, supported by Shaun Pollock and Nicky Boje. In the ODIs that followed India defeated South Africa 3-2 in the five match series. Sachin Tendulkar informed the BCCI that he would like to step down as the captain after the ODI series following two series defeats. The decision was shocking, but seemed to be in the best interest of the team as India really needed him as a batsman. Sourav Ganguly was soon handed over the mantle of captaincy of the Indian cricket team. His first two assignment as a captain were forgettable. The Coca Cola Cup at Sharjah against Pakistan and South Africa and the Asia Cup in Sharjah. India failed to reach the final in both and managed two wins both put together.

All was well with the world of cricket till Hansie Cronje decided to make a confession, a confession that was going to rock Cricket and scar the game.  Cronje, the maverick South African captain, pleaded guilty of accepting money to underperform. Not once, not twice, but on a number of times. This was going to open a can of worms. He would himself be banned for life by the CSA and his co-offenders Herschelle Gibbs, Henry Williams were handed suspensions. But for India, the can of worms was hurtful. Mohammed Azharuddin, one of the most respected figures in Cricket was banned for life for alleged involvement in the match fixing scandal, so were Ajay Sharma, former India cricketer and a Delhi Ranji player and Manoj Prabhakar. Five year suspensions were handed to current Indian cricketers Ajay Jadeja for alleged closeness with one of the bookies and Nayan Mongia who along with Prabhakar were accused to throwing a match against West Indies in 1994 by purposely batting slow. Indian Cricket stood jolted by two of their cult cricketers being suspended, one for lifetime and the other for 5 years.

With the appointment of former Kiwi opener John Wright and having got some time off the game to put behind the events that unfolded, India looked for some change of fortunes in the ICC Knockout Trophy in Nairobi, Kenya. India wasn’t rated too highly and weren’t expected do too well. India brushed aside Kenya to set a date with Australia in the quarterfinals. A match that will be remembered for Tendulkar sledging McGrath and charging down the track to hit him over long off. A mini collapse saw debutant Yuvraj Singh battling a lone battle. He scored a magnificent 84 off 81 balls as India toppled top ranked Aussies. Zaheer produced a peach of an inswinging yorker to see off Steve Waugh. Thus two warriors who would take India to the next generation were born. India defeated South Africa in the semi finals in  a clinical performance and met New Zealand in the finals. New Zealand had defeated the much favoured Pakistan in the semis and looked good as did India. India started confidently and looked to bat the Kiwis out of the game, but Chris Cairns had different ideas. He choked runs and Indian panicked. Lost wickets in a heap and could only manage a modest 264. Cairns again came to the Kiwi rescue and scored a brilliant hundred to break a million Indian hearts. India still took a lot of heart and positives from the tournament after coming back almost from the dead.

A disappointing three nation tournament in Sharjah against Sri Lanka & Zimbabwe followed. Indian batting hit rock bottom against Sri Lanka being dismissed for 54 on a senile Sharjah pitch. India also aided Muralitharan in getting his career best figures of 7/30 in one of the matches. India was one of the most vocal supporters of Bangadesh in getting their Test berth. Bangadesh also invited India to play the inaugural match in Dhaka. A workmanlike century by Captain Aminul Islam, a solid batting performance by Bangladesh & a fine all round effort by Sunil Joshi were the highlights of an otherwise dull game which India won by 9 wickets. India was then toured by Zimbabwe for two test and five one dayers. India won the first of two test and Zimbabwe managed to draw the second. Andy Flower was Zimbabwe hero scoring a mammoth 544 runs in two test matches that included a fantastic 232 not out at Nagpur. India thrashed Zimbabwe 4-1 in the one day series.

2001

India began preparing to host Australia for a three test match series. Australia had by then conquered everything they laid sight on. India was their “Last Frontier”. Indian batting looked strong but the bowling, feeble. Anil Kumble had been sidelined by a shoulder injury, and playing against Australia, India missed its frontline spinner. Harbhajan Singh who last played for India in 1999 was recalled into the team. The first test at Mumbai went as expected. Accurate Australian bowling had India in tatters in both innings and the visitors romped home by 10 wickets. Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and another test recall VVS Laxman were the only positives from the match. Before the second test at Kolkata, Indian selectors scrutinized spinning options from all over the country to support Harbhajan. Australia started the 2^nd test on the right note, scoring around 400 runs on the first day. A Harbhajan hat trick in the last hour of play on the 1^st day jolted the Aussie march but when India came on to bat, the Aussie scored looked Himalayan. Replying to Australia’s 448, India was skittled out of for a measly 174 and were expectedly asked to follow on. Ganguly, in one of the moves that makes him one of the best to have lead India ever, sent Laxman one drop instead of Dravid who seemed to struggle a bit. Laxman looked in ominous touch. He and Dravid put on a gargantuan partnership of 361 taking India to safety. Laxman scored a phenomenal 281 and was ably supported by Dravid who scored 180. Putting Australia into bat in the 2^nd half of 1^st session of play on the 5^th day chasing 260, India struck gold with picking wickets early and at regular intervals. Hayden was the only confident looking Aussie. Harbhajan snared another 6 wickets and Australia succumbed to defeat in what could be described as one of the best Test matches of recent times. India had well and truly snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The third test at Chennai too was keenly competed. After a Hayden double century, a century by Tendulkar and another Harbhajan special with the ball, India were left to chase 126 on the final day. In the bid to score the runs quickly, India began to lose wickets in a heap. Harbhajan & Dighe displayed composure and took India to a fabulous 2 wicket win.  This series has gone down in the history of the game as one of the best competed.

India’s next assignment was a two test series in Zimbabwe followed by a tri series involving West Indies. India won the first test but on a bouncy, seaming track in the second test India lost the plot and the game. The series stood drawn 1-1 and India were embarrassed by the result. The ODI series was won by West Indies after defeating India in the finals. This was followed by a tough tour of Sri Lanka where India had to deal with total absence of Tendulkar owing to a back injury. The series saw the Indians play around with the batting order with only Ganguly remaining constant. This is also the series where Virender Sehwag emerged as an opener for India. His blazing 108 against New Zealand gave India a place in the finals they was eventually lost. The test series will be remembered for Muralitharan magic delivery to remove Indian opener Sadagopan Ramesh, bowling him with a delivery that pitched way down leg stump. After losing the first test convincingly, India pulled back the second at Kandy, but lost the third test by an innings. 

India’s tour of South Africa will be remembered for two major events. One, the debut of Virender Sehwag who scored a magnificent ton his first test alongside Tendulkar who scored blazing ton to take India to safety and two the Mike Denness issue where the match referee accused Indians of over appealing suspending Sehwag for a match and accusing Tendulkar of ball tampering in the  second test. The issue was blown out of proportion by the BCCI and ensured change of match referee in the 3^rd test. After losing the first test and drawing the second, India played South Africa in an unofficial third test for India refused to play the test when Sehwag’s suspension wasn’t revoked. The tri series involving the two teams and Kenya was won by South Africa. India reached its low point when they lost to Kenya in one of the league matches. The final between India and South Africa was a one sided affair where accurate bowling by the hosts had the Indian batting hopping on a placid track at Durban. South Africa won the series and left India with some thinking to do.

2002

England toured India with a team less than full strength. But lead by shrewd Nasser Hussain, it showed it didn’t lack character and will to fight. After losing the first test in Mohali, they drew the next two tests. Hussain got Giles to bowl outside the leg stump to Tendulkar to curtail his run and frustrate him. Giles did succeed in getting the maestro out stumped by persevering bowling the same line. The ODI series that followed was again well competed in by England. After conceding a lead of 3-1 to India, England came back to square the series, 3-3.

India toured West Indies in the summer of 2002 hoping to change fortunes from their previous Caribbean tour in 1997. First test was a drawn after fine performances by Chanderpaul & Hooper for West Indies and a fine hundred by Laxman for India after which rain took over. India won the second test at Port of Spain but lost the third. The 4th match was a high scoring draw. Anil Kumble's dedication towards the game was at the fore when he came on to bowl after a Merv Dillon delivery broke his jaw while batting. He not only bowled but picked the wicket of Brian Lara. The hosts wrapped up the series with a fine win in the fifth test. West Indies gave a terrific account of themselves with brilliant performances by Chanderpaul, Hooper & Dillon.

India's tour of England in late summer was monumental for reasons more than one. India won the Natwest Trophy triangular series and also drew the test series 1-1. The Natwest final win is considered amongst India's best till date. The way the two youngsters, Yuvraj & Kaif took India to the finishing line was remarkable. A win became a distant dream when the India was at 140 for 5 in 23 overs. Yuvraj, Ganguly & Tendulkar had a wonderful series with the bat. The Test series saw the rise of Indian batting line which after losing the first test at Lord's played exceedingly well in the next three to win the third test at Headingly by an innings and salvage a drawn series. Dravid was in sublime form with two centuries and Sehwag, Tendulkar, Ganguly & Agarkar chipped in with a century each.

The Champions Trophy of 2002 boosted India's confidence going into the 2003 World Cup. India played with great flair and excellent camaraderie and eased through Zimbabwe, England to meet South Africa in the semi finals. In a chase of 262, Proteas were easing at 194 for 1 when Gibbs retired hurt after scoring 116. The rest of the team fell like pack of cards to lose the game by 10 runs. India met Sri Lanka in two rain curtailed finals and the trophy was shared. India seemed to have found its combination for the World Cup.

India convincingly beat the touring West Indies 2-0 in the test series and the ODI series was looked at as an opportunity to tinker with the team composition. India tried out many combinations and in a high scoring series West Indies outran India 4-3. India, before the World Cup made a trip to New Zealand for a two test and seven ODI series. In typical seaming, bowler friendly wickets India lost to the hosts 2-0 in a low scoring test series and 5-2 in the ODI series. India bowling was flourishing but the batting seemed to have taken a battering with the exception of Sehwag who scored two centuries in the ODIs. Ganguly was apologetic with his team's performance. These pitches seemed to India like how spin minefields seem like to visiting tourists in India. He though had no reason to be too apologetic about. India had done exceedingly well over the last 12 months and one off series wouldnt affect their World Cup preparations much.

Sourav Ganguly over the last year and a half had done world a good for the Indian team. Test wins in West Indies and England, the Natwest Series win, shared trophy at the ICC Champions Trophy; he had proved to be one of the best captains in recent times. Not only that, the team respected him as a leader and he showed confidence in youngsters in the team. Yuvraj, Kaif, Dinesh Mongia, Zaheer, Nehra, Harbhajan, Parthiv Patel were all players who bloomed under his captaincy. He showed confidence in Rahul Dravid by bringing him back into the ODI team and made him wear the wicket keeping gloves so he could have the luxury of playing an extra batsman. India were well on their way towards a great World Cup campaign lead by Ganguly, under the guidance of coach John Wright.

VVS – Most beautiful cliché in Cricket

Every test match India plays, fans expect Sehwag to entertain, Tendulkar to score a hundred, Dravid to provide solidity at the top. What about the other crucial pillar of the Indian team? VVS Laxman. Lately he is expected to do all of the above three; entertain, provide solidity and score a hundred. He is the most ‘taken-for-granted-man’ in Indian cricket.

Post the epic 281 against his favourite bunnies Australia in 2000-01, he has very much become the crisis man for India. The team burrows itself into a hole and Laxman with his master painter like strokes and a saint like composure brings India to safety. Remarkable about this man is the effortless calm he brings to the crease and the fans at critical times. In Dravid’s case, its easily evident he is trying to concentrate hard and battle the demon which doesn’t put us at ease. With Tendulkar, expectations of the zillion hearts are enough to put pressure on him and on us who are watching. Laxman doesn’t look vulnerable in such situations. His confidence is sure to spur on his partner. As wristy as Azharuddin, Laxman's repertoire has a few shots that has opponents, spectators and commentators alike mesmerised. His absolute dream of an on drive, the flick to mid wicket from outside off stump; visuals of these are equal to big successes in life.

His partnership with Gautam Gambhir in 2009 against NZ in Hamilton to save India the test match was phenomenal. Both men stood their ground and refused to budge from the crease till the opposition gave up. Laxman has now made it a habit to play the kind of knock oppositions hate; stick around with the tail and give the total a huge boost. His 4th innings century against Sri Lanka at Galle in the third test to lead India to a series leveling win was a classic example of a mature, responsible innings. His innings of 76 against Australia at Mohali battling through back spasms acquired while fielding was a special innings. The way he influenced Ishant Sharma in the epic chase against Australia was incredible and more recently his fabulous stand with Harbhajan where the latter went on to score his first Test ton and Laxman score a masterful 93.

"Back to the wall" innings was what these innings were once called, but lately they are just known as "Laxman'esque' innings", a huge honour to the man whose initials VVS are often dubbed as being an abbreviation for Very Very Special. He deserve every bit of those praises he has been showered on over the years. He, along with Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly & Sehwag have has given India, its best years in Test cricket.