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Sessions, test matches and the ongoing test series was completely dominated by England till the 2^nd test match. As the practice game started, a positive outlook was taken with all the top players including Sehwag, Gambhir and Zaheer Khan into the game.

The practice game was over and India already had a sad news to deal with, with Zaheer Khan already injured and doesn’t look like getting into the team till next 4 months atleast.

A series which is very unfortunate for India, with number of Indian players getting injured at the same time. As the 3^rd test match started, India was forced to go in to bat but with the best batting line-up they’ve used in this series so far. But unfortunately India has a disappointing start with Sehwag out for a duck with a ball which is short and bounced unevenly and sharply. Though umpire wasn’t convinced and the DRS came into play. And the result was out.

A partnership was building up between Gambhir and Dravid, though Bresnan soon played the spoilsport and Gambhir was bowled with ball hitting the stumps after getting an inside edge of his bat. Soon the other batsmen also followed him up to the pavilion including the in-form batsman Dravid whose went flying in the air because of an excellent delivery by Bresnan. India’s top order was destroyed because of some supreme bowling performances by Bresnan and Broad. Though Swann as usual wasn’t visible with his mediocre performances totally overshadowed because of magnificent performances by other English bowlers.

Even the apparent Vaseline user, VVS Laxman was set to the pavilion after playing a lazy pull-shot straight into the hands of the fielder. Now, with Dhoni being the only batsman left in the middle, with no form on his side, a score of 150 looked good enough.

But Dhoni fought and how! With a partnership of around 84 runs, the plan to counter-attack worked wonders for the Indian team. A score of 25 and PK got back into the pavilion. Soon Dhoni followed after scoring a magnificent 77, which wasn’t expected from him since he has been looking out of touch since a long time. Not like he wasn’t expected to, but obviously the expectations went down after multiple failures. Soon India was out and out with the score of 224 in their kitty.

With just half the day over, entire Indian team was back into the pavilion. There were things going around about what would the England team do if there were similar kinds of riots in Mumbai and they were playing in India. Since, England had already pulled out of the series which was in the playing mode when the Mumbai terrorist attacks happened in 2008.

England comes out to bat, and Indians come out to field. As a routine for this series, Praveen Kumar starts things off. Slowly the English batsmen start building their innings. Slowly and steadily the fours start flourishing as still there are no teeth in the Indian bowling line-up. As the day gets over, India is already struggling against 2 of the players in the England side who haven’t scored heavily as the rest of the batting line-up has. At 84/0 they were quite in contention to level the scores in no time.

As day 2 started, India was still in search for a wicket. English batsmen were in no mood to give away their wicket that easily. Indian bowlers were trying hard, but not to the impact they would have liked it to be. England was 186/0 already and in no time. Mishra bowling from one of the end, bowled a beautiful ball which sharply turned and went on to hit Strauss’s pads but the appeal was turned down. Patience was rewarded. Again the ball turned sharply and this time it goes right to just clear the stumps. English captain was out after playing a brilliant innings.

Ian Bell soon came in and played his natural shots. Scoring in no time and he was off with a flying start. Scoring boundaries all over, there was a traumatic situation for the Indian bowlers. What has Indian players done right in this test match?

Batting? No! Bowling? No! And now fielding too? Ian Bell was dropped at the slips by Dravid after a superb out-swinger just cut through Bell’s bat. A low catch which should have been taken. Even the fact that Dhoni’s captaincy skills have gone for a toss is true. Commentators have wondered a number of times since the start of the test series whether why do the slips and the wicket-keeper himself stands so away from the stumps that the ball doesn’t even carry properly? Even there have been problems to whether why doesn’t the third-man be in his position for some players and when it is necessary?

Ian Bell was finally out because of a cracking delivery which went past him right to help the stumps flutter in the air. But right before that, Alaistar Cook scored a well-deserved century applauded by everyone. Building up his innings slowly and with all the composure he didn’t give any chance to the Indian bowlers. With Pieterson already in, the platform for India in this test match was already lost.

Scoring at the speed of bullet, Indian bowlers were thrashed all around. Except Praveen Kumar all the bowlers went for runs. While Sreesanth was struggling against the left-handers, Ishant Sharma was struggling against right-handers.

Praveen Kumar again strikes as he gets Pieterson trapped in front of the stumps. Though Pieterson looked thoroughly dejected, hawk-eye showed he was clearly out. But these wickets never made a difference as the other English batsmen just came out and continued to score at a brisk rate. Eoin Morgan another English player who’s already on the verge of scoring a half-century. A life-line was given to him though en-route his knock as Sreesanth dropped a simple catch. The fielding looked as dull as the players, since even Tendulkar couldn’t see the ball coming right towards him which was chipped off in the air by Cook and if he would have just attempted it would have been in his hands.

England at 455/3 are at the top of the game and doesn’t look to declare their innings nor do they give any indication to get destroyed by the Indian bowlers. But with India having a batting line-up as such, you can never under-estimate them even though they haven’t reached a single score of above 300 in the entire series till now.

A test match dominated by England all over, has come to a static stop with India losing without much fight from the Indian batsmen.

Though the credit not to be taken away from England bowlers, who bowled exceptionally well. Getting the wickets of well-set batsmen with an aura on their side is a difficult job. But Anderson, Broad, Tremlett and Swann which made a formidable bowling line-up bowled the Indian batsmen to tatters. 2 dropped catches, LBW decisions given not-out controversially by the umpire and all the other obstacles obviously came in their way but they still went on to win the game against the odds. And they would have certainly thought about why they agreed to ‘no UDRS for LBW decisions’.

Anderson, who led the pack, first got Dravid out with the out-swinger which he nicked it to the keeper. A well-settled partnership was then broken by him back again when Laxman played a lose shot to give a catch straight into the hands of mid-wicket.

Gambhir and Tendulkar soon got out without showing much resistance in the match. Tendulkar looked quite in the rhythm, but too much defensiveness against the bowlers got him out of the match as Anderson again got an important wicket by trapping him in front of the stumps. Even Dhoni didn’t stay for long at the crease when he should have given support to the other end.

Batsmen troubled all over. Broad who was criticized for his inclusion before the match justified his inclusion altogether. Troubling the batsmen with his perfect line and length was his only aim. A hard-working all-rounder, he did all that he could to get the wickets on Indian batsmen. A determined shout against Tendulkar which looked plumb and he was given not-out. Even against Raina, he almost got his wicket and he was on the ground feeling heartbroken about which looked like a plumb and Billy just disagreed.

The only batsman who fought and got India into the fight was Suresh Raina, who made a gritty 78 against this English attack. When a batsman who is just 12 matches old, plays such a mature innings why can’t the others? Raina’s innings was gritty, patient and what is called as a shadow of a complete test batsmen. A slight polish and he’s already booked a place in the test squad for a permanent time.  A little time more he would have stayed to save the match and he could have been adjudged as the man of the match. But who would have been able to avert his wicket with that kind of delivery from Anderson.

Hopes were lost, and Indian tail-enders wouldn’t have been able to prevail for 28 long overs; and against a bowling line-up as such?

Though a match lost, it does have some positives out of the match. Raina, Mukund in the batting department where their temperament was tested and they did show patience to get some prominent scores. Dravid’s form was a worry for India, but does it look like the same anymore? Ishant Sharma and Praveen Kumar’s spells does show a good sign as India desperately needs an excellent seamer to partner Zaheer Khan.

England will be relieved looking at what they’ve done after what seems to be not the same as what happened in Lord’s in 2007 when India drew the match then. Now with another match in some days, its going to be difficult with Sehwag already out of contention for a place and Zaheer injured too. Uno numero status in danger, certainly!

After the world cup win, this was apparently the high-profile series every-one was waiting for. India with the #1 status defending their ranking to the #3 ranked England, was one of the most anticipated series at the moment. And what an occasion to begin with. This being the 2000^th test overall, 100^th test between India and England and the venue being, LORD’S the Mecca of cricket.

As the first day began, the Lord’s had overcast. An excellent start to the game, as the pitch looked like a bowler friendly one. Zaheer Khan and Praveen Kumar’s sheer swing disturbed the batsmen, especially since Andrew Strauss is known to throw away his wicket against left arm seamers. Soon enough, Zaheer Khan provided India with a strike as Alastair Cook couldn’t go beyond the single digit mark. Soon Andrew Strauss departed too. Though, Zaheer soon had to walk out of the field because of a muscle pull and India were left with 3 bowlers. A struggling Pieterson trying to find his run-making ability couldn’t score as well as he normally does.

Though, India missed out on a lot of opportunities. Sharma missed out on an opportunity to run out Strauss when he was on 2. While Dravid missed out on a catch of Trott. A partly-blind sighted Dravid again missed out on an easy catch of Trott again at 1^st slip off Zaheer Khan’s beautiful out-swinger.

With day over with just 49 overs played, England were left at 127/2 with Pieterson struggling and Trott scoring an outstanding half-century. Apart from the fact that Indians could have fared way better than this as the ball swung because of the overcastting skies.

As the day passed, England were already at the crease and rearing to go.  Almost 3 years, a big match difficult conditions and that’s all he wanted to score a century at Lord’s and his third double century. Though it was his slowest double century, but it was a century made with sheer temperament and exceptionally well played. An innings built and played against all the odds that were standing tall against him.

With the Indian pace attack already paralyzed because of Zaheer’s injury, Praveen Kumar showed India the way. Exceptional bowling, he tried everything in his book to restrict them but with no support from either bowlers. Except for the fact that, Bhajji didn’t bowl badly. Praveen Kumar had an excellent start to his test career, picking up 5 wickets at the Mecca of cricket. As people say, if god has taken something from you, he will give it back to you in a better way. A dejected Praveen Kumar was left out of the World cup squad because of an injury, but he has made an impressive comeback with his first few matches in test cricket. His double blows at regular intervals did disrupt England’s batting for a while but Pieterson continued forming partnerships with Ian Bell, Matt Prior and Greame Swann. As Pieterson neared his double century, the original Pieterson was back leaving away his shadow as he attacked and how! The last 30 runs was a mere waste of effort by all the bowlers he was scoring against. Atlast they declared at 474/8, the crowd applauding for a superb double century and Praveen Kumar and Pieterson acknowledging each other’s excellent offers. Indian openers on the other hand tried and survived on the second day of the match at 17/0.

But the highlight of the day couldn’t be missed. The ball in the hand of M.S.Dhoni, Indian captain and wicketkeeper and the gloves in the hands of Rahul Dravid. But what amuses me is the fact that he almost got Pieterson out twice in the 8 overs he bowled. Once, Billy Bowden even judged him out, but UDRS just helped him out. But did Dhoni have an option? He sure did, 3 strike bowlers whom he had to rotate all the time, Raina and Sachin as part time bowlers who could be driven all around the ground. Being a gambler, he tried his luck out too, and trust me he was accurate.

As day 3 started, India were expected to score heavily with the kind of batting line-up they have. With Gambhir walking the path to pavilion early, India already looked in distress. Mukund made a fine 49, but wasn’t enough and got out as Broad bowled a full length delivery. And the most awaited person entered and was given a standing ovation by the entire crowd. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar, who was the most awaited person in Lord’s at that point of time, a person who has ever scored the century at the Mecca of cricket, ad what an occasion if he would have scored his 100^th international century here in Lord’s. After making an impressive, he started struggling against Tremlett and atlast got an edge against Broad and the anticipation was over. Disappointed, he walked back to the pavilion.

A much hyped Sachin Tendulkar day was however taken over by Rahul Dravid’s sheer temperament. Rahul Dravid took the opportunity and scored a fine century without certainly an almost no-support as even M.S.Dhoni fell for 28 just to follow Laxman and Raina. En route, he even became the 2^nd highest run-getter behind Sachin as he ran past Ponting. The great wall of India again proved why is he called one of the best in business. With India all out for 286 they already had a lead of around 188 runs which showed a clear advantage towards the English side. As the day ended, England were 5/0.

4^th day started and England were on top of the game. A quick wicket of Alastair Cook ad the day looked good for India. A quite partnership and here goes the wicket. An excellent spell by Ishant Sharma and England were already 107/6. But, Matt Prior and Stuart Broad played an excellent part and they just grew stronger. Scoring 103* and 74* respectively, they got England back into the game. Declaring at 269/6, England were back at the top.

India’s innings started and they were back to nowhere. With Gambhir injured because of shot played by Matt Prior which hit him on the upper part of elbow and Sachin Tendulkar ill, India were even more paralyzed. With Mukund’s wicket it looked like India were out of contention and even a draw looked far away from there. Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman who had to shift to no.2 and no.3 positions respectively, still hung out in the middle ad saved India from the embarrassment. At 34* and 32* they look to play their parts perfectly to get India on track to win the game. One being the centurion in the previous inning while the other being the second inning man and has been an ultimate savior for India in last few years. If they hang around with Gambhir, Tendulkar to follow if they fit, they have the perfect recipe for a draw if not win.

What do you remember when we talk about the 1980s and 1990s in Indian cricket? Indians being the   underdogs cruised to a phenomenal victory over the mighty West Indians to lift the world cup. Emergence of some exceptional cricketers like Amarnath, Kapil Dev, it all happened in 1980s. Gavaskar’s excellent strides against the fast and fierce West Indian bowlers like no-one could ever do! 1990s saw some outstanding cricketers in action, from the likes of Sachin Tendulkar to Rahul Dravid to Anil Kumble to Sourav Ganguly.

But, these excellent years did have something to regret about in Indian cricket. Match-fixing sagas were the most disappointing ones among them. Playing against your own country even after being in the squad is one of the worst things you could ever do. Why would you ever do that? How could your conscience ever let you do that? How could you ever sell your own country? The thought just amuses me.

Indians were extremely confident about playing in India but when it came to pitches abroad they would falter. Basically India didn’t have proper technique to counter the pitches abroad, especially the ones outside the subcontinent.

But life isn’t always about what you need, it’s sometimes about what happens. And as said, everything happens for a reason.  Whatever happened was for a reason, and the reason was pretty awesome. This gave India the need to get in some-one who could actually coach them in a way to play against the teams in their own den.

Its been a decade since the resurgence in Indian cricket started. With John Wright’s inclusion to the team, it was time to adopt dome international standards and techniques. His being a unique style of coaching, it didn’t go down well with the Indian players in the beginning. But his ability to adapt and understand the Indian political situations in cricket well and creating strategies considering the Indian cricketer’s mindsets help made the perfect start for an excellent decade. His partnership with Saurav Ganguly as a captain was outstanding and they together paved the way for many more youngsters.

Their partnership was the reason to why we have such exceptional and mature cricketers like VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Virendra Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh and many more in our arsenal. He set a base, a foundation for Indian cricket. Some exceptional wins, he led India to the final of the World cup. And the credit has to be given to him. But statistics doesn’t matter as much as they way he has taught Indians how to play cricket in the right manner. Some motivational tips, the team huddle and there you go play cricket in the right way, in the right spirit on the ground. That’s what he taught them the best, apart from coaching them how to play cricket.

But his era was cut short due to loss of form of Saurav Ganguly and other cricketers, including Sachin Tendulkar. Though his tenure ended abruptly, but a job well done! But what matters is that the way he still advises the young boys and feels proud about the Indian cricket.

But what came next, was completely out of imagination. Greg Chappel’s spell with Indian cricket was one of the most horrendous experiences ever to be believed.  A supremely dominating, dictating and tyrannizing coaches I’ve ever seen. I agree these are harsh words, but all he’s done is worse to the Indian cricket.

Removing Ganguly from the team, marking an almost end to his exceptional career he never could have done worse. Ego problems always create bigger problems. I agree Ganguly had to be shown the right way, but not with the harshest solution. It still shows how much hatred he inflicted in the hearts of Indian cricketers, as no-one still has no words for him and as his name comes, they just say ‘Pass on please’.

Though an exceptional cricketer, his tactics never went down well with the Indians, as the way his tactics didn’t go well with the world in his playing days when he was captaining Australia. Asking his brother, Trevor to bowl the ball as if they were playing in a school playground, was one of the most disgraceful moments in the world of cricket. Even his brother, Ian Chappel doesn’t acknowledge it.

As his term was over, Gary Kirsten took his place. One of the most media-shy coaches, he never went in front of the media except when he left. He understood every player’s mentality and the way to deal with them. A cricketing brain, he was exceptional with whatever he did.

With M.S.Dhoni he had forged a partnership which was worth to watch. Winning the World Cup after 28 years, they together with the team got smiles on the millions of Indians all around the world. He was like John Wright in many ways. But where Wright laid the foundation, Kirsten was the man to lead the team forward.

He was a coach, a friend, a supporter everything you needed at that point of time. His coaching style was different and how! After winning the cup, he was carried on the shoulders by the young guns like the way he carried the team during his tenure. Creating a place in the heart of these millions of people is not easy, and he’s done the impossible. He has got himself the respect which he deserves. Cannot be forgotten that soon.

With him leaving the post, his post has been taken over by Duncan Fletcher. Looks like a media-shy person like Gary Kirsten, hopefully he’ll continue from where Gary Kirsten left and very well, indeed.

‘And a tremendous win by West Indies over India.’ We used to hear about this news quite frequently during the 1980s and 90s. Defeating West Indies in their own den is even more difficult, with their fast bowlers who were harrowing the batsmen for almost 2 decades. But their performances have just been dropping since then.

Once hailed as the dominant team, nowadays aren’t even close to being one. India taking their apparent ‘A’ team, says it all. India’s series against West Indies was basically a chance for youngsters to prove themselves and a chance for India to test their bench-strength. But with West Indies struggling big time and hardly able to get their combinations right, India had a good chance to set it straight up for them. After winning 3 matches convincingly, India was already out there to prove what they have in store for the world. But the winning combination was changed in order to give everyone an equal chance, but the chance to whitewash West Indies was lost and over. Losing the last 2 ODIs, the sight wasn’t great.

HIGHS

Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Amit Mishra have been the highs of this series. Rohit Sharma pioneered Indian innings and helped India India win in a couple of matches. Averaging 128 and scoring around 257 runs in the 5 matches he played, he obviously has acknowledged many greats who have predicted him to be a future great for India. Kohli, another person who has been scoring consistently for India has had a pretty good series, but is capable of much more. Scoring 199 runs in 5 matches, he couldn’t score at all in a couple of matches as he lost out on capitalizing in the games. Parthiv Patel also gave us some solid starts in the games, and is trying to capitalize into the 2nc choice wicket-keeper place in the squad.

Among the bowlers, Amit Mishra was tremendous. Aggressive, he has always been looking for wickets. Picking up 11 wickets in the series with an exceptional economy rate of just 4, he has an awesome future to look at. Along with Harbhajan Singh, a defensive off-spinner, this leg-spinner can have a phenomenal partnership in the spin-bowling department. Munaf Patel has carried his form since the World Cup and looked good here again, picking up 8 wickets in the 3 matches he played.

LOWS

Suresh Raina was an utter disappointment. Playing rash shots, he was certainly over-burdened by the captaincy.  Making him a captain was a bad decision anyway, since he doesn’t have much experience anyways. Virat Kohli, who had the experience and certainly a good captain, could have been given the opportunity. Even Harbhajan Singh, a senior player could have had the chance to be what he ever wanted to be. Scoring just 82 runs, he certainly didn’t play to his capabilities. Even Shikhar Dhawan, lost out on a golden chance to prove his worth scoring as low as 69 runs, which included a fifty. Inconsistent performances are going to hurt. Manoj Tiwary, though didn’t get enough opportunities at the moment, but he certainly couldn’t get in through how many ever opportunities he was given.

Harbhajan Singh, being the senior-most player in the squad with his experience should have inspired the youngsters. Instead he himself wasn’t playing to his capabilities. Picking up 4 wickets in the 3 matches he played, his economy rate was good, and shows his defensiveness and the tendency to not look for the wickets. Even, Praveen Kumar was in the same league though his economy rate wasn’t as good as Bhajji’s. Even Ashwin couldn’t capitalize on the opportunities given to him. Actually he quite failed picking up just a wicket in the 2 matches he played.

WORSE

The biggest disappointment of the tour being, Subramanium Badrinath. Hailed as a great player, ignored by selectors all the time scored just 40 runs in the 4 matches he played.  Scoring well in the IPL, he lost the opportunity he was waiting for. Then why perform in the league games, if you don’t want to perform at the big stage? Nerves! Playing at the big stage is always a challenge and he needs to cope up with it. Dhoni brings out the best in him, and possibly his run tally could have been a lot better if he would have been around. Yusuf Pathan also couldn’t live up to his reputation of being a pinch-hitter and a clean striker of the ball. Poor selection of shots, he had a good opportunity to retain his place in the last ODI. When India actually needed him in the last ODI where wickets were consistently falling, he got a good start but fell for 30. Again losing out big time.

Ishant Sharma, who had a great opportunity to regain his lost glory again disappointed. Hailed as the one to put off fire in India’s fast bowling department when he actually made Ricky Ponting hop around in his crease he certainly has lost all the confidence in himself. He has to work on himself, indeed very hard.

It was a dream, but the dream just remained a dream. A whitewash and what would have been the frolic in the country. History would have been made, and how!  A golden opportunity, lost big time for the players as well as for the history to be made. Hopefully, they will create more opportunities for themselves in the near future.

India - England

India’s tour to West Indies has already kick-started with a win over them each in ODI’s and the T-20 formats. With youngsters giving a chance to prove their mettle in tests as well since the senior players have been given some rest, people are looking forward to the positives coming out of this series as this will prove how strong is India’s bench strength. However, this series hasn’t been the talking point which surprises me quite a lot as India- West Indies rivalry has been phenomenal as years have passed on, though it has lost its touch in the last decade or so.

With India touring England in the month of July this year, the focus has completely shifted on to them. With India playing overseas after a long time, it has to be a tough one to go past. Ganguly said,” India will win in West Indies, but England will be tough”. This looks quite true with the fact that England has been playing phenomenal cricket around and have been going great guns. Retaining Ashes cup at away and defeating Australia at their home ground is no sort of joke. Though their ranking in ODIs is quite higher when compared to their performances but when it comes to tests they’re just looking for a chance to throttle India from the top spot. And when you have the opportunity to defeat India in their own den with flurrying bouncers and swing that takes away the game from the Indian counterparts.

But what makes England a serious competitor to the #1 ranking which India has earned so deservedly. These players are certainly to be credited.

Alastair Cook

Averaging 48 in his test cricket, he gives England a perfect start what a team actually needs. But what has been exceptional, is the way he has come up and shown what he means to his team. He was the main reason to why England retained the Ashes trophy. A run machine for England, he scored 766 runs in 5 tests he played with an exceptional average of over 120. With 3 centuries, 1 double century and 3 more half-centuries he had a splendid series. And that happened in just about 7 innings in which he played. Even in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka, he has already notched 335 runs in just 3 innings. Being in blazing form, he is the torch-bearer for England at the moment and certainly the man to watch out for.

Jonathan Trott

An exceptional player, playing just 19 tests has already notched 6 international hundreds which includes 2 double hundreds already. A prolific batsman, he has been in tremendous form this year, winning the cricketer of the year award for England. In the Ashes series tour he was next only to Alastair Cook and Michael Hussey for the number of runs he has scored. An exceptional double hundred in the 1^st test he played against Sri Lanka in the ongoing test series, was an example of his unbreakable defense. Always on the lookout for runs, he is going to be tough one to breakthrough.

Greame Swann

Been considered to become the best off-spinner, he certainly has got the talent to be one. With a career 135 wickets and a splendid economy rate of 2.9, he has always kept on the batsmen and never let him score runs. He always keeps the batsmen in defense and keeps him thinking all the time. The batsman ultimately succumbs to the batsmen and gives away his wicket. Making a debut in 2000 for an ODI, he was called back in 2007 and ultimately cemented his place in the team. Playing his spin is difficult, and with India touring to England in July, it’s going to be a strong but healthy rivalry between the best off-spinners in the world at the moment, Swann and Harbhajan Singh.

James Anderson

The spearhead of the England pace attack, he has been phenomenal this season. With 24 wickets in the Ashes series, he dismantled the Australian batting line up with sheer pace and his swinging ability. An experienced bowler, he is one of the best pacers in the world today along with Dale Steyn, Zaheer Khan and Brett Lee. Though injured at the moment, it’s highly likely that he would recover before India’s tour and would get the perfect rest before such a high-profile series which would decide to who actually deserves the #1 ranking. Pace and swing is all that he’s got, and with the England pitches he wouldn’t need anything more except the experience and intelligence which he’s god-gifted.

Apart from these players, there are many more players who have been in exceptional form. Just the fact, that these players have taken away the limelight from the other players. Andrew Strauss along with Ian Bell and Matt Prior also has notched up some outstanding performances. Ian Bell especially has been consistently performing. Kevin Pieterson, though injured for the moment he has been well impressive for England in a couple of matches himself.  Even in the bowling department, Chris Tremlett has been phenomenal. Picking up 17 wickets in the Ashes tour and demolishing the Sri Lankan side along with Swann to win the test match which was always looking for a draw, he has given England a bowler to support Anderson.

A tough time ahead, India is not going to take this series lightly. M.S.Dhoni, the calmest ever captain the cricketing world would have ever seen, might know it better but it all falls down to square one. Defending the number 1 spot against a team like England is going to be tough. Laxman said,”I never got a 100 in England. Hopefully, it would be very special if I get a 100 at Lord’s and India wins the match,” Preparation has to be tough and I don’t think India will falter at this point atleast. A rivalry to watch out for, India-England has always been exceptional to watch. Right from early days, to taking out shirt incident by Andrew Flintoff and Ganguly mocking the same one, to Yuvraj Singh hitting Stuart Broad for 6 sixes in an over. There might be many more moments which I wouldn’t have been even aware about.

A tough schedule ahead, India-England is going to be an interesting tie to watch.

Suresh Raina & Darren Sammy

India already reached West Indies a couple of days back but the hype around it isn’t the same as the expectations. Shocked, right? West Indies team has gone from being the example of dominance to being casted as the side easy to beat.

West Indies – India matches have always been one to look forward to. West Indies dominated world cricket for almost more than a decade during the late seventies and early eighties until India defeated them in the final of world cup in 1983. An unbeatable side, West Indies beaten by an underdog in the final of a world cup was an unimaginable but a sight to look at and a splendid clash anticipated in the upcoming years.

Except for Sunil Gavaskar, who played well above the expectations when it came to playing against West Indies playing splendid cover shots and hooks, the West Indian pacemen which included legends like Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Michael Holding and many others demoralized the Indian batting line-ups along with Amarnath who was an exceptional player of pace. Brain Lara’s comparisons with Sachin Tendulkar were nothing but comparisons between two players filled with talent and idiosyncrasies which drove them to practice all day long to become what they are. Sir Vivian Richard can never be count out whether whichever is the country playing against him.

Though this clash went on faltering and never could live upto its expectations as it went by, as the West Indian side kept on losing its dominance. They went from riches to rags by the time the 20^th century started. And with Lara’s retirement and West Indies not producing enough fast-paced battery that can actually inflict fear in the minds of people, the matches between hasn’t been able to create much excitement in the second half of the last decade atleast.

On top of that, West Indies Cricket Boards (WICB) hasn’t been able to work well. Their constant fights with WIPA and consistently not being to be able to take proper decisions & get in players who would be able to change the phase of cricket in country. Them being clueless about how to take the game forward in the country and trying new approaches like youngsters being the core part of the team by axing the senior players, led to the destruction of the team. Axing players like Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and Ramnaresh Sarwan & row of fights over club v/s country with Chris Gayle have had a major impact on the game of cricket in the country.

While West Indies was one of the major concern and a team to defeat, time hasn’t remained the same since years. Even most of the Indian senior players have decided to opt out of the squad to tour West Indies even though it’s just for the ODIs. All the senior players including Sachin Tendulkar, Dhoni and India’s pace spearhead Zaheer Khan. Though I don’t blame these players for missing the tours as it has been extremely tight schedule, as they’ve had back to back tours including the South African series, WORLD CUP and IPL and even the fact that it’s good to give the youngsters international exposure atleast in front of weaker teams.

Though the West Indian side does look like a struggling side but with cricket, uncertainties are always possible. But West Indian side do show some promises with the names of Darren Bravo who certainly just look like a re-incarnation of Brain Lara. Along with him are Darren Sammy and Devendra Bishoo too looking quite promising. But with Chris Gayle’s ouster, who has been in top form in the just concluded IPL, from the 1^st two ODIs atleast, it would have been a decision tough to make.

Indians are geared up too for the series with Suresh Raina leading up front. West Indies team would be approaching this series to be played basically for pride because of the way senior international players have approached the series against them along with an opportunity for youngsters to step up and take the responsibility. However, for Indians it is basically an opportunity to test their pool of players. A clash between the depleted Indian side and a struggling West Indian side, it’s going to be a treat to watch.

Its been a long tough schedule for India all around this year. With just some breaks in between the World Cup and the IPL, the South African tests just got over 10 days before the World Cup. On top of that, the West Indies tour is going to take just 6 days to kick start. Unfortunately, it puts a lot of pressure on the players and their fitness because of this packed-up schedule.

Indian Cricket Team With World Cup 2011

The test squad as well as the ODI squad for the West Indies tour have been announced and its quite disappointing to not hear some of the big names. Virender Sehwag already pulled out of the ODI squad because of injury, while Gautam Gambhir cannot play both the test tour as well as ODI tour because of a shoulder injury which was apparently caused in KKR’s last game against Mumbai Indians. Yuvraj Singh too has a throat infection which ultimately leaves Dhoni and Zaheer Khan to take rest off this schedule. This is not all, as Sachin Tendulkar too gets off the flight to West Indies as he wants to spend some time with family.

Such a schedule just takes a lot of toll on its players and just can’t be acceptable. All the big names being injured all the time and begging for some rest just makes it tough to live a life for them. A bowler has to be prevented from injuries, but as the number of games is increasing, the injuries can certainly go long-term. With Indian fast bowlers are even more susceptible to injuries it just makes it worse. And an injury to a player like Zaheer Khan, where we don’t even have a back-up bowler just makes it even tougher.

As every coin has two sides, this tour and the rest taken by players, has its own advantages too. This tour certainly gives an exposure to younger players in the team to take more responsibility and gives an opportunity to more players to show their talent on an international base. An opportunity, which would give India a larger pool of players to select from and would be an extremely nice opportunity to rotate the players, especially the fast bowlers. This could reduce the chances of players getting injured which will ultimately help India on the whole.

But its sometimes extremely disappointing to look when you see the players still selecting the club and money over country. As per the news, Gambhir was already injured before the start of the IPL season, though he didn’t know the intensity of the injury. On top of that, most of the players preferred playing in IPL with their respective clubs instead of taking the much needed rest. But preferring to take rest during the West Indies tour instead of playing the game for the country just amuses me. Which clearly states, that players have started giving much more importance to the club over country.

Obviously big money lures people and has quite an impact, but why put money over country. They say money is not the only answer but it makes a difference. Country and money are the only answers for the players and they let money make the difference here.

Its extremely important to give an opportunity to every player who is truly deserving, but not on the cost of so many senior players being rested. BCCI needs to keep some basic strategies in mind, and give opportunity to some players at a time, instead of giving every player just to show their talent on one stage. An extremely phenomenal scheme, they can certainly try and make 2 pool of players and try and rotate players at a regular interval. This can certainly help the team. But for that, we unarguably need to get in more talent to play for the country and not waste the talent.

West Indies tour on its way, its time for players like Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina to take up the big responsibility and try and carry the team on their shoulders. Apart from that its definitely a good opportunity for youngsters like Dhawan, Vinay Kumar and some more to shine and steal the limelight away from the other cricketers who have already put themselves in the list of top-level cricketers. Even in the test squad, Badrinath has atlast got a chance to prove himself that he is the lone and vivid player who has the skills to fill the big shoes ahead of Yuvraj Singh and Chateshwar Pujara.