THIS DAY... FOUR YEARS AGO

All good things come to an end... this one also did! India had created a world record of having won 18 consecutive ODI matches chasing... that very skill in which it was once considered that India was shabby.

But on this day (20th May) four years ago (in 2006) at Sabina Park, Kingston, Jamaica, it came to an end... it came to an end with a slower yorker from Dwayne Bravo that beat Yuvraj Singh all ends up to rattle into his stumps... and sent India to an excruciatingly painful 1-run defeat.

Four years is a timespan between two World Cups... but for India, this four-year gap represents a different era altogether. This was a time when Rahul Dravid led the team. India had not played a Twenty20 till then. Irfan Pathan was considered a match-winner then... and regularly sent to bat at No. 3. Yuvraj Singh was lean and fit (can you believe it?)! Some guy called Mohammed Kaif also played cricket for India. Modi meant Narendra Modi (a politician always in news)... and not Lalit Modi! Preity Zinta, Shilpa Shetty and Juhi Chawla might not have owned a cricket jersey then... let alone a cricket team! And yes, the legendary Trinidadian Brian Charles Lara also played cricket and captained the West Indies side.

India had won the previous match (while chasing again) by 5 wickets with 1 ball to spare at the same Sabina Park ground. There was a feeling that Rahul Dravid will choose to bowl every time he wins the toss, no matter what the conditions. He did win the toss... he did choose to bowl. India did well in restricting West Indies to 198 for 9 in 50 overs... leaving Sarwan stranded on 98* at the end of their innings. Again, it was that Irfan Pathan fellow who impressed with his bowling... grabbing 3 - 45 in 9 overs (including the prized scalp of BC Lara).

India lost regular wickets till 60 for 4 in 17 overs. Then Raina and Yuvraj forged a 64-run stand when I typed an SMS on my cell alerting everyone that India had won 19th in a row batting second. When Raina went and soon the score became 134 for 7, I saved that SMS to drafts... determined to open it only when India sealed the deal.

As the game got closer to its climax, I became more alert (despite the fact that it was about 2 in the night in India). When No. 11 Munaf Patel was to face Bravo on the first ball of the final over with India needing 11 and Yuvraj on the other end... I was on my wit's end. I still recall that over clearly. That scrappy single by Munaf to the keeper, that outside edged four to third man by Yuvraj attempting a wild slog followed by a beautiful cover drive for a four that would have been called beautiful no matter what continent were you in... and then that ball! Needing 2 runs of 3 balls and Yuvraj on strike... I had opened my drafts folder on my mobile phone. What happened next meant that I had to edit that message before sending it to people who followed cricket through me.

West Indies had to get Yuvraj out to win... there was no other option (save a run out)! Yuvraj looked sublime on 93... it took a special delivery from Bravo to deceive him! Yuvraj was distraught... on his knees at the crease long after the match was over. Bravo was over the moon... but that is where he is every time he does something special. Not only was India's streak broken, even India was broken! They went on to lose their next 3 matches... and losing an ODI series 4-1 to West Indies was embarassing even then!

It was a fabulous match that did not end on a happy note for me. But looking back at it, I am glad that I had decided to stay up till 3 at night to watch it... it was worth the sleep deprivation that I put myself through.

VINAY KUMAR PRAYING FOR A DIFFERENT SCRIPT THAN M VIJAY

After India's performance yesterday, I was left speechless. I can understand having a bad game... but players learn from their mistakes even in a bad game. On the other hand, in yesterday's game against Australia, India never seemed to want to learn.

The spinners kept pitching it short, and the pacers on length. And the batsmen... well, I wouldn't blame them. They are just not good enough against good fast bowling.

When Sehwag had problems against the short balls climbing onto his chest, he found a way out. He developed the tuck behind square for a single, and when in mood, he used the make-some-room-and-hit-over-square-on-the-off-side. This has not happenned with the other guys in the team. Their inadequacies against the short balls were exploited during the last Twenty20 World Cup... and nothing seems to have changed since.

When his franchisee was looking at elimination even before the semi-finals stage in the IPL, MS Dhoni came up with a strong innings to propel his side ahead and eventually to the title.

But it's a completely different ball game here at the Caribbean islands. He is not at Dharamsala or Chennai... but far away at Barbados. He is not playing in his CSK yellow, he is in the Indian deep blue. And bowling to him will not be a well-payed-but-not-so-motivated Irfan Pathan, but some highly-motivated-and-vastly-talented quickies like Kemar Roach, Jerome Taylor and Lasith Malinga.

It's high time that Indian players and selectors understand that country-v-country cricket is extremely different from the IPL. Murali Vijay gained entry into the team due to his IPL performance... and he flopped. Now, Umesh Yadav has gained an entry into the side. I hope he does not meet the same fate as Murali Vijay, though he is unlikely to feature in the playing 11.

The player who will be sensing that opportunity is not too far away is the young medium pacer R Vinay Kumar, who can atleast claim that his selection into the squad was not purely on his IPL performance, but also on the basis of his performance in the domestic season.

Time of reckoning for the young man!

KXIP NEEDS A NEW LEADER

When Irfan Pathan came to bowl the last over of KKR's innings against KXIP at Mohali, his figures read 1 for 21 in 3 overs. And in that one over, he managed to replicate those figures, 1 for 21, and thereby finish with 2 for 42.

I think that KXIP need a good leader. With due respect to Kumar Sangakkara (who is a wonderful batsman and keeper), I believe that he is not inspirational enough to solve the current problems of KXIP.

We saw last year, when Royal Challengers Bangalore team was suffering from problems similar to that of the Kings XI Punjab this time, a new leader in the form of Anil Kumble spelled a reversal in their fortunes. Shane Warne has always had the ability to inspire his Rajasthan Royals side to comeback when the odds have been stacked against them. In IPL 2008, Sachin Tendulkar missed the first 7 matches of Mumbai Indians. But he returned to inspire a turnaround in the performance, which saw them miss out on the semi-final spot marginally by 1 point.

KXIP's troubles this year are similar to those of KKR's cricket-related problems last year (KKR had too many non-cricket problems as well). Despite having a good enough team, there is a lack of confidence that is hindering them in their efforts to land the killer blow. Even in today's match, when KKR was struggling to find momentum in the slog overs, KXIP should have chipped away at a couple of wickets and finished KKR. Instead, they conceded 53 runs in the last 4 overs. In the end, 183 always seemed daunting.

I do not know who is the vice-captain of KXIP. Sanga has already been fined twice due to slow over rates, and there might be a ban looming round the corner.

PATHAN'S PUZZLE

The Indian selectors recently announced the probables list of 30 for the World T20 Championship in West Indies in May 2010. Here is the list:

Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, S Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Rohit Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha, Piyush Chawla, Abhimanyu Mithun, Manish Pandey, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, M Vijay, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra, Pragyan Ojha, Virat Kohli, R Ashwin.

Here is a small analysis:

Pure Batsmen (3): Gautam Gambhir, Manish Pandey, M Vijay.

Batsmen who can bowl a bit (7): Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Abhishek Nayar, Virat Kohli.

Keeper Batsmen (4): Dinesh Karthik, M S Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha, Naman Ojha.

Bowlers who can bat a bit (7): Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Amit Mishra.

Pure Bowlers (9): S Sreesanth, Sudeep Tyagi, Ashish Nehra, Ishant Sharma, Abhimanyu Mithun, R P Singh, Munaf Patel, Pragyan Ojha, R Ashwin.

I have a feeling that many of you might disagree with my classification of Ravindra Jadeja (or maybe even Abhishek Nayar), and I will be delighted to hear your views. You can always leave your comments, but as far as I am concerned, Jadeja is a very good bowler who can bat a bit, certainly not T20 style.

An interesting omission was Irfan Pathan (My Classification: Batsman who can bowl a bit), who is supposed to be injured. If he is being excluded from the list of probables of World Twenty20 Championship, which is to start from April 30, does this mean he will be unavailable for Kings XI Punjab's IPL campaign? That would be a huge blow for Preity Zinta owned franchisee as they are unsure about the participation of Brett Lee as well.

But if Pathan Jr. does play the IPL, would it be safe to assume that the injury claim was just a gimmick played by the selectors to tell Irfan that he is no longer considered amongst the top 30 players in India by them?

Though I am not a great fan of Irfan Pathan, I don't think that he should be considered below the likes of Vinay Kumar or Abhishek Nayar. For that matter, he could have been included even in place of Naman Ojha (why do we need 4 keepers in the list?) or R Ashwin (9 bowlers are far too many).

Well, lets see what the selectors come up with as their final 15 to tour the Caribbean islands! I am sure that atleast a couple of the above mentioned guys will get injured during the IPL and a few outside the list will impress. Tha ball is in the court of the Indian Selection Committee.