SPORTS MEMORIES OF 2011

It was a mixed year - 2011. There were some incredible highs as well as some bitter lows for the teams and players that I like and support. It was definitely NOT as good as 2010 had been... from the perspective of the teams I follow.

Here are my top-10 sports memories (the pleasant as well as the unpleasant ones) from the year 2011 (sorted chronologically):

1. Cricket: England Win The Ashes 3-1 (7th January)

The Ashes had been retained already, but Australia had a chance to regain some pride after two innings losses. The redemption did not come, as England got their third innings win of the series as they sealed the Ashes win 3-1. It was a masterclass performance from the English side, bowling out Australia for 280 and 281, and scoring 644 themselves. Alastair Cook continued his golden run with 189 runs and the Man of the Match award. Playing without Ricky Ponting, who had injured himself at the Boxing Day Test of 2010-11, the Michael Clarke - led Australian team lost the Ashes at home for the first time in 24 years.

2. Cricket: ICC World Cup (2nd April)

I have far too many memories from this event. That is why I have already compiled a separate post of my World Cup Memories. But there is hardly any doubt that this was one of the highlights of the year in the game of cricket... and an event worth remembering! India became the World Champions for the first time in 28 years, becoming the first team to win the finals at home.

3. Tennis: Djokovic Rules At Wimbledon (3rd July)

It was the top-seed defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain against the form player of the year and usurper of the No. 1 rank Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the Gentlemen's Singles Final at the 125th edition of the Wimbledon Championships. Djokovic won in 4 sets, and plucked out a few strands of the Wimbledon grass to put in his mouth. He was savouring the taste of his victory... quite literally! It was a difficult match to watch for a Nadal fan like me... mainly because he had been outplayed completely by the Serbian. Djokovic broke the Federer-Nadal duopoly for the No. 1 rank that lasted almost 7 and a half years.

4. Football: Japanese Women Triumph In Germany (17th July)

Ordinarily, this event would not have made my top-10 list. But this was not an ordinary year for Japan. The great earthquake and tsunami of March 2011 had left almost 16000 people dead, 6000 injured and 3500 missing. The aftershocks of the earthquake continued till June 2011, when the Japanese women began their FIFA Women's World Cup campaign in Germany. In this backdrop, they won the finals on penalties against one of the two favourites - United States of America, having already beaten the other favourite - hosts and defending champions Germany - in the Quarterfinals. It was an emotional moment for Japan, watched by huge crowds in Germany and a fitting end to an immensely successful World Cup!

5. Cricket: England Complete Whitewash (22nd August)

The No. 1 spot in Test cricket had already been sealed with a win in the third Test. But that was never going to stop England, as they emphatically completed a whitewash over India to stamp their status as the top team in Tests. It was extremely difficult to watch that performance from England as an Indian fan... the only solace being the realisation that the English squad was far superior. The wounds of this drubbing will take a long very long time to disappear... and even then, they may never disappear completely.

6. Rugby: All Blacks Win At Home (23rd October)

The hosts won the Rugby World Cup for the first time in 16 years (after the Springboks 1995) in a closely fought finale at Eden Park, Auckland. Like the Japanese women's FIFA World Cup win, this win for the All Blacks too came in a year where Christchurch had been affected by a big earthquake... so much so that some matches (including a quarterfinal) had to be moved out of that city due to the destruction caused. The All Blacks have always been an exciting team to watch... and there is no denying that they were the best team of the tournament, winning every single match they played.

7. Formula One: Inaugural Indian Grand Prix (30th October)

A few years ago, I would have said it's unfathomable so early! But in 2011, it actually happened. Buddh International Circuit hosted the inaugural Indian Grand Prix Formula One race weekend from 28th October to 30th October 2011... and apart from a small interruption due to a stray dog during the first practice session on Friday, it was a smooth affair. Karun Chandok set the first ever flying lap time on the circuit during the first practice session on Friday. Sebastian Vettel won the with his Red Bull car, both the Force India cars (Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta) managed to score points and Narain Karthikeyan finished at 17th position - equaling his season best with the Hispania Racing Team. Formula One had come to India!

8. Cricket: South Africa 96, Australia 47 (10th November)

What a day of cricket! If I tell you that the day started with visitors adding 70 runs for the last 2 wickets and ended with the hosts scoring 81 runs for the loss of just 1 wicket, then you might be forgiven for thinking that a lot of the day's play might have been washed out. It is scarcely conceivable that in between these 151 runs for 3 wickets, Cape Town witnessed the fall of 20 wickets for 143 runs! So the final equation - 23 wickets, 294 runs, 79.3 overs and a part of all four innings played out in one day! I watched Australia slump to 21 for 9, and then had to miss out on the rest of their innings as I was to go out. Their 10th wicket pair's 26 run partnership saved them the embarrassment of recording the lowest ever total in a Test innings, and ended up being greater than the sum of all their other 9 partnerships!

9. Cricket: Sehwag Also Crosses The 200 Barrier (8th December)

A lot of people believed that he would be the first man to do so. He wasn't... his idol was! But 652 days after Tendulkar had done so, Sehwag too breached the 200-run barrier in Men's ODI cricket and relegated that 200* (147b, 25 x 4s, 3 x 6s) to the second spot amongst the highest runs scored by a batsman in an ODI innings. The top spot is now occupied by a 219 (149b, 25 x 4s, 7 x 6s)... a phenomenal knock that could even have been a 250! Like it happened with the Tendulkar 200, I missed this occasion too. Atleast in case of the 200*, I had seen Tendulkar bat till he was about 130-odd... but this time, I was reduced to just following the scores on my cell phone. But the highlights were good enough to make you realise what a special knock that was!

10. Cricket: Sri Lanka Move On From Murali (29th December)

South Africa humiliated them in the 1st Test. There was hardly anyone predicting a win for the Sri Lankans before the 2nd Test began. But the Durban jinx struck again. Sri Lanka put up a stupendous performance to beat South Africa in the 2nd Test and level the series at 1-1, subjecting the hosts to their 4th consecutive loss at Kingsmead, Durban. The most important thing was that this was Sri Lanka's first Test win in almost a year and a half since the retirement of Muttiah Muralitharan. I was wondering when Sri Lanka would start winning again... for their year had gone nowhere but down after they had been beaten in the World Cup finals in Mumbai. This match ensured that they finished it on the right note!


There were many other moments worth remembering in 2011 - Sri Lanka's capitulation against England at Cardiff, Zimbabwe's brilliant comeback to Test cricket, Na Li becoming the first Asian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title at Roland Garros, Rafael Nadal's 6th French Open win, Jo Wilfried Tsonga's win over Roger Federer in the Wimbledon quarterfinal coming from 2 sets down, Novak Djokovic out-Rafa-ing Rafael Nadal to win his first US Open title, Manchester United losing the derby to Manchester City at home 1-6, numerous clashes between Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa during the Formula One season, and many more! Looking forward to another exciting year full of great sporting action... Happy 2012 to everyone!

WHY I DO NOT AGREE WITH ANDREW MILLER

On reading this piece by Andrew Miller on Cricinfo (How good are this England side?), I was left with quite a few questions in my head. There are a couple of points in that piece that immediately left me shaking my head in disagreement. Here is the first bit:

"It is said that the acid test for this England team will come when they are faced with Asian pitches in the UAE and Sri Lanka this winter, though it's hard to believe that's really the case. If any side has the ingredients to triumph in such conditions, it is England - the fittest squad of international cricketers on the planet, whose batsmen have demonstrated the dedication required to grind out big scores in attritional passages of play, whose bowlers build pressure by strangling runs, and whose spinner, Swann - for all that he falls short of true greatness - is indisputably the best in the game at present."

I do not quite understand why is it so hard to believe that the acid test for England will come on Asian pitches. The current England squad is undoubtedly brilliant, and arguably at the peak of its powers at the moment. They managed to earn a hard-fought draw away in South Africa, flattened Australia in Australia, and demolished India at home. Like the great teams of the past, the only ground that remains to be conquered is the sub-continent (or broadly Asia, since they will be playing Pakistan in UAE).

He reasons that England is the fittest squad currently (though I think that the South Africans might want to challenge him on that), their batsmen have the capability to be attritional and score big, bowlers can strangle runs when needed, and they have the best spinner in the world. Fine reasons those!

But each of those reasons applied even to Steve Waugh's men who conquered everything in their path... or rather, almost everything! They were the fittest squad of their time, some of the batsmen and bowlers on their payroll are acknowledged today as all-time greats, and they definitely featured the best spinner of their time - one who even managed to make it to Cricinfo's All-Time Test XI as a unanimous choice!

Yet, on either side of their run of 16 consecutive Test wins through 1999, 2000 and 2001, Steve Waugh's Australia failed in its acid test on Asian wickets. The Kolkata and Chennai defeats to India in 2001 are famously remembered, but what is not remembered is that just before the start of their 16-match winning streak, they had recorded a series loss in Sri Lanka (September 1999).

So hard as it may be for Mr. Miller to believe that Asian pitches shall be their acid test, they would really still need to pass it to be able to make a further claim. Just having ingredients of success is not enough, as we Indians learnt it the hard way this English summer! We may not have had all the ingredients of success in our Indian squad, but we had managed to hold on to the No. 1 ranking with whatever ingredients we possessed for 20 months. It all came down spectacularly in 1 month! While I don't think it will be quite as dramatic for England, they still do have a task on hand to consolidate their top-of-the-table ranking.

Now, coming to the second excerpt from Mr. Miller's piece that I actually managed to frown upon:

"Passages of play such as Mishra's stand with Sachin Tendulkar prove that England are not unstoppable, but given that no team in the world can replicate their current levels of desire, it's going to take something extra to derail their ambitions."

Just one question here - just how does one claim that a certain person or a certain team's level of desire is the greatest or the least? I am really not a fan of blanket statements such as these where desires, ambitions, courage, spirit, and other such immeasurable aspects of a sportsman or sportsmen are judged.

I was not the only one who did not quite agree with this statement. There were others too, like @thecricketcouch and @grangergabblog. In reply to @thecricketcouch's question as to how could he make such a statement of England team's desire, this is what Mr. Miller (@miller_cricket) replied: 

Honestly, I believe this is as wrong an argument as any I have seen. I don't think that desire is always directly proportional to your on-field performance. Does that mean that every time a team loses a match, they did not desire to win it? It's a very rhetorical question... so lets just explore this with a few examples.

India lost 7 for 33 vs. England at Bangalore, 4 for 30 during the middle overs vs. the Netherlands at New Delhi, a mammoth collapse of 9 for 29 vs. South Africa at Nagpur, and even a 7 for 50 vs. West Indies at Chennai during the league stages of the World Cup 2011. Does this mean that they had no desire to win it? Going by @miller_cricket's response to @thecricketcouch on Twitter, it would tantamount to lack of desire.

Lets use an English example. England lost 6 for 63 in the first innings of the 1st Ashes Test match at Brisbane last year. Does that mean that the Australians had more desire to win that Ashes Test match than England? Does Rafael Nadal's loss to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon finals this year (2011), or his loss to Robin Soderling in the 4th round of French Open 2009 or Federer's loss to Nadal in the finals of Wimbledon 2008 imply that the victors were the ones who desired those wins more?

That, in my opinion, would be an insult to the vanquished - be it India this summer, Australia last winter, or Nadal and Federer over those (and other) matches. Every sportsman in every sport (be it a team game or an individual sport) takes the field of play with the sole desire to win. That is my opinion at least, for that is how even I used to play during my school days even against an XI comprising of seniors! These men are professional, and to compare and judge their levels of desire, in my opinion, is quite like insulting them!

PONTING SHOULD BE CHARGED WITH A LEVEL 1 OFFENCE

Might once again get away without punishment

It is all over the news that Ricky Ponting reportedly smashed the glass of the LCD TV in the Australian team's dressing room after watching the replay of his run out dismissal during their first World Cup 2011 game against Zimbabwe on February 21, 2011 at Ahmedabad.

We all know that this is not the first time that Ponting has been involved in an act that is not worthy of a sportsman, let alone the captain of the three-time defending champions! His most recent tryst with ICC's Code of Conduct was when he was involved in a heated argument with Aleem Dar during the Ashes 2010-11 after the third umpire upheld the ground umpire's decision to rule Kevin Pietersen not out. He was fined 40% of his match fees back then... a punishment too light, in my opinion.

But the media reports suggest that Ponting might well get away with his glass-breaking act this time. Reports state that Ponting apologised for this incident and claimed that it was an accident and not an intentional act of smashing the glass on the TV set. The Australian media manager has also claimed that the glass has not been shattered, but just a corner of the screen has suffered a blackout due to unintentional impact with Ponting's box, which flew up to the screen as he threw it into his kit bag.

Whatever the case may be, the possibility that Ricky Ponting will get away with his apology is a depressing news to hear. I have never been a fan of Ricky Ponting's behaviour on the cricket field... and even though this act came in the dressing room, it was a direct result of what happened in the field.

I will be very surprised if eventually, Ponting escapes with no punishment for his act. Ayaz Menon tweeted that while ICC may be able to frame codes to regulate the players' conduct on the field, there isn't much that can be done for what happens in the change rooms. But he is wrong here.

Level 1 Point 1.2 offence in the ICC Code of Conduct is defined as "Abuse of cricket equipment or clothing, ground equipment or fixtures and fittings."

Isn't the television in the dressing room a part of the ground equipments? Matthew Hayden had been charged with this offence and fined accordingly when he had broken a piece of glass in his team's dressing room after his dismissal during the 5th Ashes Test at Sydney in January 2003. Why isn't Ponting being charged with a similar offence?

At the risk of sounding like a frustrated Asian ranting out against the Aussies, I have to pose a question for the readers to ponder - had Sreesanth broken the glass of the LCD TV in the dressing room after his bad spell of bowling against Bangladesh and then apologised, would he have been let off?

300*

It's coming a couple of weeks later than I had originally intended... but here it is. This is my 300th blog post on CRIC - SIS, and on this special occasion, I have decided to select my 10 favourite sporting moments of 2010. The 10 below are listed chronologically... because try as hard as I might, I just couldn't rank them in an order of preference.

1. MICHAEL HUSSEY STEALS IT FROM PAKISTAN AT SYDNEY

6th January 2010

There may have been lots of questions asked about this match later... but when it happened, it was incredible. I was certain of a Pakistani win for most part of the match, but one of my friends was certain that if there is any team in the world that can throw away a match from such a position of strength, it is Pakistan. And throw away they did, as Michael Hussey scripted a century for himself and a win for his team that really couldn't be deemed possible.




2. 200* (147)

24th February 2010

This one had to be there! How could it not be there! 147 balls, 25 fours, 3 sixes... and 200 runs! Sachin Tendulkar created history (once again!) at Gwalior and accomplished a feat that no man had ever done before him... and Double Century in ODIs. Like it's said, many have scaled the peak of Mt. Everest... but no one looks beyond Sir Edmund Hillary!




3. INIESTA PAINTS THE RAINBOW NATION RED

11th July 2010

It happened late in the second half of extra time when Andres Iniesta finally helped Spain breach the defense of the Dutch team. And as soon as it happened, we knew it! Spain had become the Football World Champions (in addition to being the reigning European Champions) in South Africa. Spain was one of the three teams I had backed right from the start to win the tournament... and they did!




4. PAKISTAN ERASE THE SYDNEY NIGHTMARES AT LEEDS

24th July 2010

Usually, when a team is bundled out for 88 on the first day of a Test match, there can be only one result possible. But with this match, no one could be quite certain. Eventually though, Pakistan managed to beat Australia at the end. This match comes in my list because of events that preceded it. Pakistan was thrashed at Lord's by Australia and Shahid Afridi resigned from captaincy. Salman Butt took over and had this amazing result straightaway. Whatever may have conspired behind the scenes, there is no doubt that at that moment, Salman Butt had won a lot of credibility for Pakistan cricket (unlike another Butt).




5. WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS: AISAM-UL-HAQ QURESHI

10th September 2010

It was written somewhere up there... this entire journey! The unheralded 16th seed pairing of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (alias the Indo-Pak Express) reached the finals of the last Grand Slam of the year... the US Open at Flushing Meadows. Though the scoreline might not suggest it, it was a very hard fought match with both teams throwing everything they had at each other before the better and the more experience team prevailed. The match in itself was brilliant, but what Aisam said after the match was even better. It was heart-warming to see the standing ovation that Aisam got when he finished his speech that told the world that Pakistanis are not terrorists! What a way for Aisam and Rohan to finish their campaign!




6. RAFA!

12th September 2010

Rafael Nadal became just the 7th man in history to complete a Career Grand Slam (and the youngest to get there as well) by winning the US Open at Flushing Meadows. A tremendous final, a brilliant opponent in the form of Serbian Novak Djokovic... and Rafa capped a brilliant year for himself and his country Spain!




7. LAXMAN = HOUDINI

13th October 2010

Even Houdini wouldn't have managed the escape that VVS Laxman engineered for India in the company of first Ishant Sharma and then Pragyan Ojha (and of course, Suresh Raina all the while). It was the closest Test match in India after the tied Test of 1986 between the same teams - India and Australia! There is no way this list could have been completed without this event. And yes, CRIC - SIS had it highest ever number of hits after this match... so that's another reason for the match to be there in the list.




8. CHE ARRIVES AT THE BIG STAGE

13th October 2010

I had waited for young Cheteshwar Pujara's chance for a long time. When he did get his chance, he also got a wretched shooter third ball from Mitchell Johnson. His Test career couldn't have started with much worse luck. But he came back... given a chance to bat at No. 3 in what could have been a tricky run chase, Che impressed everyone by taking the attack to Australia and when he reached his half-century in the illustrious company of Sachin Tendulkar, we all knew that Che had arrived!




9. VETTEL PULLS OFF THE UNEXPECTED

14th November 2010

The day dawned at Abu Dhabi with anticipation high in the Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber camps. Though Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton were also in the race, nobody gave them much of a chance. At the end of that race, it was Vettel who sported the biggest smile as he realised that he was the World Champion... the only German other than Michael Schumacher to lay his hands on the sport's biggest prize.




10. THE URN IN THE BAG, THE SPRINKLER ON THE FIELD

29th December 2010

England managed to retain the Ashes away from home for the first time in almost a quarter of a century... so the celebration was bound to be different! And different it was... the Sprinkler dance! What a way to finish a brilliant year for England... a year where they also won their first ICC Trophy - the Twenty20 World Championship.




I do know that there are a few moments that were very close to making it to my list... but have missed out! There was Razzaq's monstrous hitting to steal a game for Pakistan, there was Afridi's monstrous hitting to almost steal a game for Pakistan... there was Chris Gayle's triple hundred, there was India's win at Durban... there was Barcelona's 5-0 thrashing of Real Madrid, and there were a lot of others.

But the list endshere... and I do hope that my readers have enjoyed my journey of 300 blogs as much as I have enjoyed writing them. Now for the next target: Brian Lara's 400!

RECENT HISTORY DISAGREES WITH GOUGH

Darren Gough's statement that England can beat India any day of the week has naturally ruffled a few feathers... as I assume it was meant to! It's strange though to hear this comment... simply because England has not beaten India in a Test series (home or away) since 1996.

I was just checking the tour schedule of India's 1996 tour to England... when two youngsters by the name of Sourav Chandidas Ganguly and Rahul Sharad Dravid made their Test debuts. And that tour schedule made a very interesting reading...

Besides playing 3 Tests (against England) and 5 ODIs (3 against England and 2 against the Netherlands), India played 8 three-day matches and 4 one-day matches in preparation for their campaign at different points during that tour. That makes it a total of 12 practice matches.

TWELVE PRACTICE MATCHES??

Sounds like some different era to me! Gosh, I can't believe that a couple of guys from that time are still around the Indian team right now... and who play the most important away Test series, one that could justify and consolidate their top ranking, without a single practice game...

But that is not the point. Coming back to Darren Gough's claim... he feels that England is the best Test team right now. Given that they have just retained the Ashes in Australia... a feat not achieved for 24 years... it is quite all right to think so.

But England's away record is still no better than India's! India has an away series win against England and two away Test wins against South Africa and Australia each to talk of during the 2000s. However, here is England's record against India over the last decade:

In India (2001-02) - Lost 1-0 in a 3-Test series
In England (2002) - Drew 1-1 in a 4-Test series
In India (2005-06) - Drew 1-1 in a 3-Test series
In England (2007) - Lost 1-0 in a 3-Test series
In India (2008-09) - Lost 1-0 in a 2-Test series

So in the last 15 matches between these two teams, the record stands thus: India Win - 5, England Win - 2, Draw - 8.

Most cricket experts were of the opinion that despite India being the top-ranked team on the table, only a series win in South Africa can justify that rank. Given that England is not even ranked at the top, they would need to do a lot more than just beat Australia in Australia to justify Darren Gough's claim.

The three teams in the mix for the top spot are India, South Africa and England. Given that England and South Africa played each other last year, India and South Africa are playing each other now (having already played once during the year gone by) and England - India are scheduled to play during the next year, we can have a clearer claimant to the top spot by August 2011.

Till then, Mr. Darren Gough may have his views... but he'll have a tough job convincing non-Englishmen regarding the sanctity of his views!

WHAT EXACTLY IS THAT?

Did Andy Flower choreograph this?

THE PACKAGE OF RICKY PONTING

An innings and 157 runs... that's a crushing margin! And it sounds worse when it is the margin of victory for a visiting team in an Ashes Test match!

England have retained the Ashes and will look to win this series against Australia when they travel to Sydney for the New Year Test. With this loss, we know for sure that there might be massive changes to the Australian set up post Sydney Test... maybe even before it. Ricky Ponting is almost certainly playing his last Test series as an Australian captain.

When Ponting took over the full time Australian captaincy from Steve Waugh after the Sydney Test of 2004 against India, he must have hoped that he too would one day get the sort of farewell that was given to his former captain. Ponting may still take a lap of honour on someone's shoulders after his final Test... but when he does bid adieu, it will be as a member of an Australian side that are no longer the world beaters and champions that Steve Waugh had led till his final Test.

I have always looked at Ponting with two different views... one is the batsman and the other is the captain.

As a batsman, Ricky Ponting is par excellence. He is one of the best in the era he played in... and at the time of his peak, he was probably the best in the world at that time. He's played at that crucial No. 3 position... and done complete justice to it. Yes, there are criticisms and weaknesses. The weakness at the start of his innings when he is fidgety and tends to feel for the ball outside his off stump by planting his front foot forward, the weakness against quality spin bowling, the recently discovered weakness against the short-pitches bowling... but then, they all have their weaknesses.

The criticisms have also been there... that he cannot adapt his game to suit the declining standards of the rest of his team, that he is very rigid and does not want to change his game, that he was a great batsman only when he had other great cricketers in the team with him...

As a captain, Ricky Ponting, in my opinion, has been overrated a lot of times. The outstanding statistics that he possesses as the captain of Australia would have been possessed by any other captain had he gotten the two resources called Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath for the majority of his captaincy career... not to forget the great compliments called Justin Langer, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist.

He has not been inspirational enough to turn an ordinary side into a strong and forceful unit. Yes, the team under him has always fought tooth and nail... but fighting is just a part of the story... delivering the results is what matters more. Ponting is on the verge of becoming just the second Australian skipper to lose three Ashes series, first to lose one at home in almost two and a half decades... he does not have a series win as a captain in England and he does not have a single Test win as a captain in India. One may say that he almost managed one at Mohali earlier this year, but even if he had, 1 Test win in India as a captain of the Australian side in 7 attempts would not have been too flattering either.

I, for one, have criticised him at every available opportunity... and I guess, I will always have some criticisms about him. But right now, I am not going to dwell further on those.

It is sad to see Ponting in the state he is in currently. The team under him is not good enough to challenge a strong side... even at home. His batting is going nowhere under the pressures of leading a mediocre side. For a man who is so used to winning (he has played 99 Tests in which his side has won... that's one world record that will be hard to break!), it is a sorry figure that he cuts out in the field these days.

Yes, that sadness disappears and contempt returns when I see Ponting arguing with the umpire over a decision that is not going to be overturned no matter what he says. The old feeling of frustration returns when I read his 'apology' over the incident where he still maintains that he was right in thinking the batsman was out. That feeling of pity erodes when I still see that cockiness in him on the field as if he is still the leader of a champion side that can win from any situation.

But it is short lived... because now even I am coming to the realisation that Ricky Ponting, like all the other players, comes as a package. The great batting, the outstanding fielding, that cocky attitude, that appetite for a fight, those hollow words when he talks about the 'spirit of cricket'... all that and more.

He is coming to the end of his career, and whenever I may think back about him, I will have confused feelings. He has never been amongst my favourite cricketers... but I still don't want to see him go out of the game when he is down. He has been a champion player, and champions shouldn't go out this way!

PERHAPS HIS LAST WALK BACK AS CAPTAIN

... certainly the last one as captain at the MCG!

PARALLEL REVIEWS OF DAY 1 AT PERTH AND CENTURION

Two pretty quick pitches, two captains winning the toss and inserting the opposition in to face the music, and two batting units failing. Eventually, the Australian lower order did enough to drag them up to a decent 268, but it would be an achievement if India even manages to touch 150.

Anderson, Tremlett, Steyn and Morkel were all brilliant. Finn, Swann and Kallis were decent. Tsotsobe was pathetic. Despite the large difference in scores, in my opinion, Australia should be just as disappointed as India. Because most of the Australians gave away their wickets, whereas the major Indian wickets were earned by some fine bowling.

Sehwag fell needlessly, and I have already expressed my disappointment with him over here. Ponting, Clarke, Gambhir and Raina fell due to their own tentativeness. Hughes, Hussey, Harris, Dravid, Tendulkar and Laxman fell to good deliveries. But whereas a lot of assistance was expected and available to the quicker men at Centurion due to the overhead as well as pitch conditions, it wasn't quite the same case at Perth.

It was a pretty quick pitch at Perth (despite the fact that a few strokes went well in front of the wicket). Prior was regularly collecting balls with fingers pointed upwards. In fact, coming to think of it, there were just four balls that I can remember from the entire first innings (and I did watch the majority of it) where Prior collected the ball below his knees.

But despite its pace and the control that Anderson and Tremlett operated with, it wasn't quite as difficult to bat at Perth as it was at Centurion. This, though, is no excuse for the Indian batting collapse as 136 - 9 is not acceptable in any conditions for a batting lineup as good as any.

Both Australia and India should have done way better than they have done today. As a result of their lack of application, both these teams now face an upward task against English and South African teams on fire... buoyed by their own performances.

The chances of fightback look slim to me... for differing reasons. In case of the Perth Test, Australia just don't look strong enough to me to fight back and come storming back into the Test. They may win a session or two... but eventually, England will prove that they are a much better side. And in case of the Centurion Test, though India is a strong team, they are in a much bigger hole right now... and with a bowling attack without its leader, India might just find it beyond them to force their way back.

But then, I will hope, for the sake of the game of cricket that we see a bit of fight before these matches end.

YOU BEAUTY!

Collingwood leaps to catch an edge from Ponting during the Third Ashes Test at WACA, Perth

A LOOK AHEAD TO PERTH

And finally, it has happened! The selectors of the Australian National Cricket Team have finally realised that Marcus North needs to be dropped... and they have done just that!

Marcus North has had so many chances by now that I was almost starting to think of him as 'The Boy Who Lived'. But finally, he's been dropped from Australia's 12-man squad for the Third Ashes Test at WACA, Perth from the 16th of December 2010. Here's the 12-man squad:

Shane Watson, Phillip Hughes, Ricky Ponting (c), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Steven Smith, Mitchell Johnson, Ryan Harris, Peter Siddle, Michael Beer, Ben Hilfenhaus.

It is interesting to see just how important that one statement from Shane Warne has been for the selection of Michael Beer into the Australian Test squad. But frankly, I don't see how Beer is going to get into a final XI... it cannot happen.

For Beer to play in the final XI, Australia have to play either with 2 spinners, which is quite unthinkable from an Aussie side at Perth, OR play with 6 batsmen - 5 bowlers combination... which will not be that great an idea.

So assuming that Beer does become the 12th man, Australia will be going into the Perth Test against England with a 4-man pace attack, with a leg-spinner Steven Smith and a medium pacer Shane Watson to back them up.

This team definitely gives more options to Ricky Ponting as he tries to work out a way to get 20 English wickets. But what will be interesting to see is whether the 4 Aussie pacemen can generate enough quality to ensure that Ponting has a relatively easier time as a captain at Perth than he has had so far this Ashes?

Perth, as a venue, is known for its pace and bounce. Though the fieriness of the pitch has reduced over the years, it is still amongst the faster surfaces you will find around the world. However, this does not mean any advantage for Australia. Whereas once visiting teams were scared of what treatment will be meted out to them at Perth, the tables are now turning slowly but surely. The last 3 Tests played at Perth -

2009/10 Season - Australia v West Indies - Australia on by 35 runs
2008/09 Season - Australia v South Africa - South Africa won by 6 wickets
2007/08 Season - Australia v India - India won by 72 runs

West Indies almost managed to beat Australia chasing a stiff 359... and despite their loss, it must not be forgotten that with a batting lineup missing Shivnarine Chanderpaul, they managed to score 323. In 2008/09, South Africa chased down a historic 414, and in 2007/08, India bowled Australia out for 340 defending 413.

Not only this, even when England lost by 206 runs in 2006/07, they did manage 350 in the 4th innings and South Africa scored 287 for 5 in the 4th innings in 2005/06. What I am trying to suggest is that batting on Perth is not difficult... and scores of 300+ are a norm even in the 4th innings. Matches in Perth are lost only when a batting unit suffers a collapse, which is more often than not engineered by a quick bowler.

In such a scenario, I believe that Chris Tremlett will be the best replacement for the injured Stuart Broad. He may not be as good a batter as Broad, but with the batting unit functioning so well for England at the moment, they don't really need to worry about that.

It will also be interesting to see if the English pacers will attack the Aussie skipper with short stuff at Perth. It was on this ground last year when a young Kemar Roach stuck Ponting with a nasty lifter that forced him to retire hurt for the first time in his long Test career. It may also be recalled that later in the second innings, Roach had his man out caught at short leg fending to another nasty lifter. Ponting's troubles to short-pitched bowling have been well-documented ever since. Perth 2010 might just add another chapter to this story.

Perth usually guarantees a result in the match. And given how strong England are looking at the moment and how low the Australians are feeling, I suspect that England will be fancying their chances of retaining the Ashes at WACA itself... it would be fitting to do it at the ground where the Australians had regained the Ashes 4 years ago.

WARNE'S MAKING ME THINK OF SCHUMACHER

It seems that everyone's talking about it even though they know it is not going to happen... Shane Warne's return to Test cricket! Or should I put it this way... I'd be very surprised if it did happen.

The last extremely high-profile sports personality to make a return to his sport a few years after announcing his retirement was Michael Schumacher. And though I was a big Schumi fan in his prime, it pained me to see what became of him this season where he made his highly-anticipated comeback.

One might argue that Schumacher's Mercedes GP car was not the best on the circuit... but neither was Nico Rosberg's. Yet his German compatriot managed almost double the number of points that Schumi did. What more, he was out-qualified by Nico 15-4... and for a man who has a world record 68 poles to his name, it was quite a disappointment!

I really don't expect Shane Warne to make a comeback... and even if he does, I don't expect his script to be exactly like Michael Schumacher's. I mean, come on, there is no way he can be worse than his compatriots like Xavier Doherty or Nathan Hauritz, let alone Marcus North! But it cannot be a cakewalk either...

Shane Warne was a great leg-spinner and one the very best ever... and I'd like to see it held that way. It would be sad to see him make a comeback and not live up to the expectations of the Australian fans, who seem to think that he can alone take the 20 English wickets in every Ashes Test!

TIME ZONES

Of all the Australian cricket venues, Perth is my favourite... because if I am interested in following a good day of Test match cricket at Perth, I don't have to get up at an abnormally early hour of 05.00 a.m.

The 3rd Ashes Test will begin at Perth from 16th December 2010 from 08.00 a.m. Indian Standard Time. Assuming that the additional half hour available at the end of the day to cover up for slow over rates will be used up, the match will go on up to 03.30 p.m. However, at 02.00 p.m. IST on the same day, another Test match will begin... which promises better quality of cricket, a better contest and a mouth-watering prospect of watching the No. 1 team play against the No. 2 team for the second time this year (after February).

But in any case, I wouldn't want to miss a lot of action at Perth either. So it's going to be quite a task switching in between two channels to watch the action both at WACA, Perth and SuperSport Park, Centurion between South Africa and India simultaneously without wanting to miss out on any key moments of either match.

This problem will be solved when action moves back to the eastern part of Australia with the Boxing Day Test at MCG... but then again, it raises the problem of getting up at 05.00 a.m.!

GAMBHIR TICKS THE UNCHECKED BOX

The first South Africa - India Test match starts in just a couple of weeks from today at the SuperSport Park, Centurion... and in the lead up to that Test match, it is great to see Gautam Gambhir get a century against New Zealand today. He was the only unticked box remaining in our top and middle order.

Virender Sehwag - He is in roaring form... second highest run scorer in this calender year (2010)... and could be the key for India's series win in the Rainbow Nation. Back to the land where he embarked on his journey in Test cricket, there are high expectations of him this time round. With the pace that the South African attack can generate, his fiery slashes may carry all the way over the third man boundary!

Gautam Gambhir - It was good to see him get some runs against the Kiwis. He did get lucky with a couple of streaky inside edges... but the crucial thing is that he capitalised on the luck. And once he got closer to three figures, he looked as comfortable as he's looked this entire year. Surely the signs are good for the Indian opening partnership...

Rahul Dravid - Though I am not completely confident about his form and indeed his place in the side, but it cannot be denied that he did get 2 centuries in Tests against New Zealand. That is bound to give him some confidence before the South African tour. But if I were MS Dhoni, I would still tell Cheteshwar Pujara to be on standby mode... just in case!

Sachin Tendulkar - Though the New Zealand series was not that productive, it cannot be denied that he is looking in ominous form. He will be facing South Africa in any form of cricket for the first time after the history-making 200* (147) at Gwalior. This time he'll have a chance to make another history... No. 50 is waiting... will it be SuperSport Park, Centurion, where he had smashed the Pakistanis into submission at a World Cup just under 8 years ago?

VVS Laxman - The South Africa tour will be a difficult one. There will be times when that brilliant bowling attack will put the Indian batting unit under immense pressure. And that will be the time when we'll again look towards Lax to bail us out... for he's a crunch-situation specialist. It will be interesting to see the fields that Graeme Smith sets for VVS.

The anticipation is building up for the clash of No. 1 against the No. 2. I know that a lot of neutrals will follow the Ashes more religiously that this one... but I think that this series will be a lot more interesting and the mini-battles a lot more absorbing. Obviously, this feeling may have come (or may have been strengthened) by the 22-wickets-over-5-days draw at The Gabba and the prospect of another such match at Adelaide next.

So I can't wait for December 16th to arrive... it's time to see the best in action!

THE BRISBANE TEST - FROM THE NEUTRAL EYE

How quickly fortune can change! Three days into the first Ashes Test, Australia was right on top... leading England by more than 200 runs, having gotten 10 first-innings English wickets without even letting the second new ball become due, centuries for batsmen who had had question marks over their places in the squad and there seemed to exist a tremendous amount of optimism in the media all over the island nation.

Two days later, the tables have as upside down as upside down can be! Whereas less than 77 overs were needed to take the first 10 English wickets, Australia couldn't prise out more than 1 over almost double the number of overs in the second innings. The captain led from the front, then the vice-captain overtook him and went further ahead... and meanwhile, the South African born No. 3 continued his dream run against the Aussies.

Since England won the final 2 days of the drawn Gabba Test, there is naturally a lot of optimism now in the English media and there are talks about momentum and psychological advantage... But putting all this aside, what else can be deduced from this match?

England batted for a total of 228.5 overs and scored 777 runs for the loss of 11 wickets at 3.40 runs per over. Australia, on the other hand, batted for a total of 184.4 overs and scored 588 runs for the loss of 11 wickets at 3.18 runs per over. Given that 302 of England's runs were scored by Alastair Cook (that's 38.88%) and 136 of Australia's runs were scored by Brad Haddin (that's 23.13%), it is surprising to see England scoring a good 0.22 runs per over more than Australia over the duration of the match.

So the numbers too, prima facie, showcase England as the better side over the Test match. But the catch is, they were just slightly better. 'Slightly better' will not be good enough to win the urn, maybe just good enough to retain it.

Australia's problems are being talked of loudly and clearly all over the cricketing world at the moment. But England should realise that they have problems of their own. Australia, even at their worst, can put up a huge fight. England's worst fear right now would be a scenario where Ben Hilfenhaus finds his rhythm (which he is soon bound to), Mitchell Johnson producing one of his once-in-10-Tests brilliant efforts, Doug Bollinger returning to the squad with decent match practice (sorry Peter Siddle, but you are not going to be getting hat-tricks everyday... everyday's not your birthday), Marcus North finding grip and turn with his off breaks and the English batting having its once-in-10-Tests batting collapse... all in the same Test.

But then, England will also be cheered up by the fact that the above scenario is unlikely to occur in the 2nd Test... since it is at Adelaide. So what I am left wondering about now is that if Brisbane has produced only 22 wickets over 5 days (10 of which fell under a cloudy Day 1), what is going to happen at Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne? The flip side is that these venues might just provide the impetus needed to spur a certain Graeme Swann back into the thick of things.

Frankly, the first Test was a let down from what I expected. I hope Adelaide delivers a better show...

GOOD TO BE BACK...

I am free at last... and it's good to be back at the blogosphere a few hours before the start of what promises to be a very close tussle for the Ashes. I have been looking forward to the Test cricket on offer this December for quite a few months now...

Two BIG tours in the southern hemisphere (England in Australia and India in South Africa) sounds a heartily enthralling prospect... especially for someone like me who had to sacrifice almost all cricket played in November for examinations. Now that they are over, it's just going to be cricket, cricket and more cricket till the results are out in January.

I did catch bits and pieces of the Indo-NZ series (a bit of Harbhajan's batting, Martin's devastating spell, a part of Dravid's 191 and finally saw an able spinner bowling in India after a long time in the form of Daniel Vettori). Then there were also a few overs that I caught up with during Chris Gayle's triple... and I thought he was once bored of Test cricket!

But all that's done and over now. In just a little over 3 hours, Ponting and Strauss will be watched by millions as they walk out for the toss... and will thereby mark the start of 2010-11 Ashes. Can't wait!

A SMALL BREAK FROM BLOGOSPHERE

Regular visitors to this blog may have noticed that the number of posts on this blog has come down quite a bit over the last 2 months (September and October) as compared to the earlier ones. The reason is that I have a very important examination coming up just after Diwali (which is on 5th) and it will stretch for a fortnight.

So, this is my last blog for the next 3 weeks... I will not be watching the rest of the Pakistan - South Africa ODIs (I have to say though that after Razzaq's knock today, this feels like a greater loss than I had earlier imagined), the Australia - Sri Lanka ODIs and the India - New Zealand Tests (though I'll keep track of the scores and results of all these fixtures).

I intend to return to the blogosphere by 24th or 25th November... in time for the start of the Ashes (this has been my silver lining on a rather dark cloud). There is no way that I will be missing the first ball to be bowled at Gabba on 25th November.

I know I'll have a lot of catching up to do when I return... especially with 3 Tests scheduled in India, and Sachin Tendulkar in such a roaring form. Just hoping that this form continues...

So then, till the Ashes... ciao!

MOHALI 2010... EVOKING MEMORIES OF EDGBASTON 2005

Over 4 and a half days - 28 hours and 10 minutes of enthralling cricket... after watching the Fates tilt their heads this way and then that... after watching men battle physical barriers of their injured bodies as well as thwarting the opposition every time they threatened to go one better... after watching myriad emotions etched on the faces of different men at different stages of the match... I am left a satisfied being

It was Test cricket at its very best, and this match ranks up amongst the very best there have been. Amongst the matches involving India, this one was the most thrilling finish to a Test match in my living memory. Kolkata 2001 and Chennai 2001 against the same opposition from Down Under do come close, as more than 2 results were possible on both those occasions as well till the very end. But this one takes the honour for me.

I know the Tied Test of Madras 1986 (again versus Australia) was brilliant... but that does not constitute as my living memory... you see, I was born a couple of years after that.

Australia have played Edgbaston 2005 against their Ashes rivals England... and they have had some thrilling draws as well against the same opposition. But for the Indian fan in me, this was a treat.

All through Day 5, my head kept going back to the great England - Australia battle at Edgbaston in 2005, where the heroics of Brett Lee and Michael Kasprowicz almost stole the Test from England before Steve Harmison and Geriant Jones combined to create a moment etched in history.

This match was a little different though. At Edgbaston, England were clearly the team on top through majority of the Test match. Australia came fighting back only on Day 5 to reduce the gap to 2 runs. At Mohali 2010, the two teams were involved in a very equal battle... and no side could claim to be absolutely on top of the other at any point in time through the Test. Some sessions were won by India and some by Australia, but a high number of them were in the grey areas... neither mine nor yours!

There were many moments today that were extremely special... and some of them will remain vividly clear in my memory for a long time to come. Laxman getting animatedly angry at Ojha and mouthing a few colourful expletives that I'd thought he didn't even know, the pain on Ishant's face as he was trudging off after being ruled out by Ian Gould, the horrific mix-up between Dhoni and Raina that resulted in the former being run out, the pumped up reactions of the Aussie outfit when Tendulkar's attempted upper cut ended up into the hands of Hussey at gully, Ojha's leg byes that sealed a win... oh, and there were many more!

In the end, it panned out just as Laxman had said earlier - that the Aussies don't give you an inch. And they didn't... or at least, till Marcus North's Steven Smith's (thank you, Elegantstroke for the correction) overthrow that gave India the match.

5 - 0

Ricky Ponting was recently asked about Australia's chances of regaining the Ashes with another 5-0 whitewash of England at home during the upcoming summer.

His reply: "It's absolutely possible. There's no reason why not. It's all in our hands. It's how well we play and how well we take charge of different situations."

What rubbish! He needs to take lessons from his former teammate Glenn McGrath on how to sound convincing while making such predictions. This is what McGrath had said before the 2006-07 Ashes held Down Under: "I reckon it will be 5-0 this time. To say anything else would be negative. If we're going to win 2-1, or 3-2, which games are we going to lose?"

© Getty Images

That is confidence for you! And why not, he knew that he and his team had the ability... and eventually, he helped deliver that 5-0 result! I doubt if Ponting will manage anything even close to it this time round!

WASHED WHITE AFTER A FIGHT

After an impressive showing in the First Test, Bangladesh were back to their old self during the Second Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.

To be fair to them, they did put up a fighting opening partnership in the first innings... courtesy their new talisman Tamim Iqbal, but once that first wicket fell... it was a procession... a total collapse! Eventually, 20 wickets fell in 2 sessions... with all the English bowlers chipping in. England's 419 all out in the 1st innings eventually turned out to be sufficient for an innings and 80 runs win.

The Bangladesh team management must have been pleased with the fight shown... but also upset that the team went back into their old habit of collapsing without a fight all of a sudden... their 20 wickets fell for just 213 runs after a first wicket stand of 126. It's Tamim or nothing for Bangladesh, at the moment.

England will be quietly happy with their performance... though Andy Flower and Andrew Strauss will know that a lot of improvement is necessary if they are to have a chance of retaining the Ashes in Australia later this year.

With the Test series having ended, I am hoping for a good performance from Bangladesh even in the 3 match ODI series to be played later in July... maybe, even sneak in a victory.