By Ashok Kumar:

Well, the obituaries are already written and ready howsoever the seniors may put up a show of defiance in the wake of widespread criticism in the aftermath of double debacle overseas. Laxman had said even before the Adelaide Test that there are no plans to retire and now Dravid too is talking in the same tone.
In cricket, score speaks and not reputation. Because, the reputed batting line up wilted under the novices’ attack. In the post-mortem conducted so far by the bigwigs of sports journalism, the pointer is that the first head to go on the chopping block is Captain M.S. Dhoni.
Dhoni , the captain cool failed to instil the enthusiasm in the team before the match that resulted in defeats, one after the other. The confidence was not there in the after match statements. After the first Test match, Glenn McGrath had predicted a 4-0 whitewash and Aussie captain Clarke said that they will make sure that Sachin does not score his hundredth ton in Australia and both saw to it that happened.
There was no such statement from any Indian player to show that level of confidence. All that could be seen was the focus on Sachin’s hundred and not on their game. Instead, what came out were the reports of the team falling apart after the alleged difference of opinion between the captain and the vice-captain. How can you play leave alone winning a Test match with such a low team confidence?
I would rate the West Indies team touring India better since they at least succeeded in drawing the last match to avoid a brown wash.
This was a team with a lot of name and talent. The talent was wasted and the name was of no use and in the end became the unknowns. Rohit Sharma, the batsman in form was made to sit out for the entire series while the famed failures had been given chance after chance. If only once a senior was dropped from the playing eleven, it would have done some good to both. Dropping a senior would have instilled at least realisation of a sense of responsibility in him and playing a youngster would have given him a chance to prove himself. Wridhiman Saha is the best example. The way he joined Kohli in building the innings after all the seniors failed showed that he didn’t want to let the opportunity go waste.
The way the team India management persisted with the failed seniors, showed its stubbornness. They should have shunned the thought soon after the first Test that they are the best. Come to think of it that no one displayed a semblance of fight and crumbled under its own weight.
Well, reams have been written about the performance now we should think about stemming the rot. The first step should be to ask the national selection committee to take the blame for the debacle and resign. Second, a fresh look at the seniors be given to consider their respectful departure. It is not just failure in the last two away series alone that should be the reason for their dismissal but also the fact with the age their performance is not improving and hence, the young blood.

Still the ODI series is there and no senior except Sachin and Sehwag is there and the much needed young blood is there to prove the selectors wrong. And, moreover , we are now playing with a tag of world champions, so more is at stake.
Australia, fresh from the Test series win over India and Sri Lanka coming after a debacle in South Africa and Dilshan quitting as captain is likely to make the contest interesting. It gives the World Champions a chance to prove its standing and redeem some reputation in Australia.
Australia is pitted against the World Champions and World Cup runners up but on their own soil. The latter two will be hard pressed to defend their reputation.

The worst Australian team in 25 years has beaten the best Indian team in 25 years. Why?
The Australians turned their weaknesses into strengths and the famed batting of the Indian team crumbled from overconfidence. The Australian new bowling attack should have been under pressure to perform but it was Indian bowlers who were looking hapless in front of Clarke, Ponting and Hussey, the last two being on the verge of losing their place before the start of the series.
The top scorer at Perth David Warner said after receiving man of the match award “in the Test match most of the fielders are behind the wicket so I thought of playing in front of the wicket.” While the Indians played to those fielders and Australians made merry by scoring in front of the wicket.
The Perth test exposed the fragility of the Indian batting though the bowlers did well. In both the innings, the Indians couldn’t even reach the 200 mark. The Indians couldn’t even match the highest scorer of the match in both the innings.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni said after the match we were unable to adapt to the conditions both in England and Australia. The BCCI should be blamed for this tight schedule in there are hardly any tour matches. The thrust of the Board’s planning is on more matches and more revenue. But still how many Test matches one needs to adapt to a condition. If the top batsmen in the world are unable to adjust to the conditions then they are not world class.
All experts are calling for the sack big four but Dhoni doesn’t feel that way. The seniors have the class and experience so they can’t be dismissed. Sehwag gets out in only one fashion: caught in the slip cordon or point. The opposition knows the way Sehwag bats and lay a trap by bowling him constantly on or outside off stump and he succumbs. Dravid and Laxman had opened the gates more often, Dravid being cleaned bowled for a fifth time in the series in a similar fashion. Tendulkar being unfortunate in the second innings at Perth, being given out to a doubtful decision. Evidently, Zaheer could be seen vociferously reacting in the pavilion to the replays.
Kohli tried to delay the inevitable but succumbed to pressure as he ran out of partners. Three wickets fell in one Hilfenhaus over and all was lost. In the next over, Kohli also edged a Siddle delivery to the keeper.
Till the Perth Test everybody was after Kohli’s head and wanted to replace him with Rohit Sharma and before the series the media thought of introducing a competition between the two. Well, Kohli has answered to all of them. In my opinion, Kohli should be groomed as the future captain as he has the right technique and temperament not to forget that he has led the India under-19 team to the World Cup title. He is the captain material. After all, Mansoor Pataudi was made captain at a very early stage of his career.

I think, in the Adelaide Test, if the team management still has no plans to replace one of the seniors then it should try and reshuffle the batting order. Dravid and Laxman should be batting lower in the order and Dhoni, Virat can be better at number three and four if India is batting first. It can be hard for Dhoni to bat up after keeping the wickets.
All said and done, the Adelaide Test has to be won whatever it takes.

By Ashok Kumar:

In the 2007-8 series, Anil Kumble went to Perth 0-2 down after some bad umpiring decisions at SCG and Harbhajan’s “Monkeygate” scandal. And, Kumble made use of the fast track of WACA through Ishant, Pathan and R.P. Singh to win the Test match.
Dhoni is under similar pressure but the difference this time being an abject surrender by his batsmen at the SCG while the Kumble’s men were fired up after some bad decisions and brought some simile on the faces of Indians.
Dhoni’s problem is compounded with some out of form experienced and famous batsmen whom he is finding it hard part with.
The manner in which all the three were bowled out in the two Test matches clearly shows that their time is up. It’s hard to find a batsman today of the calibre of Dravid, Laxman or Tendulkar allowing the ball to go through their defences. And, Dravid has done it four times in a row.
Of the three, only Tendulkar still seems to be commanding the morale boosting presence. Team India desperately needs to induct Rohit Sharma into the playing XI. And, we have three failures in the form of Dravid, Laxman and Kohli. Of these three, Laxman gave a semblance of his true form and took his score past 50. Dravid seems to be getting into shape but soon he opens the gates. Kohli, on the other hand, is new and needs some more exposure against the bounce. He had showed some ability against the fast bowling of the West Indies albeit at home.
The track at the WACA is green and promises a lot of bounce throughout. Of the three seamers used the last time, only Ishant Sharma is in the present lot. Zaheer Khan, who left the team after the Adelaide Test in 2007-8, would love to exploit the conditions and of course, the fastest of them all Umesh Yadav’s abilities and temperament will be tested here. It will not be out of place here to say that Kohli, if retained, can be utilised in these conditions as he has some pace.
It is likely that the Australians will be deploying a four-pronged pace attack with the inclusion of Ryan Harris in place of injured James Pattinson and New South Wales’ Pat Cummins, if he is fit or Mitchel Stac.
Well the conditions are still stacked in India’s favour and they should go into the match forgetting the 0-2 defecit.

By Ashok Kumar:

Finally, there was something to smile for England and they go back happy. England reached the easy target of 121 losing only four wickets and 8 balls to spare, thanks to half century from the most popular player in the side Kevin Pietersen. And, frankly speaking, England rediscovered its touch for the first time, batted, fielded and bowled well right from the word go.
In fact, Kevin made a mockery of Yusuf Pathan’s bowling by getting into position before the ball was bowled and played a switch shot over long off. The next ball was dispatched to mid wicket boundary. Pietersen marked the gaps and would hit only in those areas with great ease but it was another attempted switch shot that cost him his wicket to Raina when only 14 runs were required. Also, Kevin was a bit lucky when Raina dropped a difficult chance at backward square leg.
India started badly after winning the toss when they lost two wickets in the first two overs with one run on board. Ajinkaya went without scoring while trying to drive a Finn delivery but edged to Kieswetter who jumped to hold on to the catch. Next over, Robin Utthapa edged a Bresnan outside the off stump ball into the slips. Both Bresnan and Finn and later Patel and Bopara choked the Indian batting. But thanks to some lusty hitting by Ashwin, India managed cross 100 and give a target of 6 an over to England. The ‘chopper’ (Dhoni) failed to take off to give the side an extra 15 to 20 runs that would have given the home team a respectable total to defend.
“We were 15 runs short,” said MS Dhoni at the presentation podium. “It was the sort of wicket where you’d aim for 150 odd runs. We didn’t get off to a good start. It was very slow, so it was very difficult. They used the slower ball very well. Ashwin played some shots, and that’s why we reached 120 odd runs. No point thinking about the Australian series right now, what’s important is the next few days off and then back for the Tests. It’ll be a good series for the youngsters, especially the bowlers.”

Samit Patel is presented with a motorcycle for his all-round effort

Kevin Pietersen was declared the Man of the Match for his half-century. “Tricky wicket,” he says. “It’s one of those wickets where the first six overs you’ve got to take a risk or two. Luckily I was dropped! It’s a good place to come and play as a batter, but a lot of us underperformed. But believe me, we tried our hardest. We’ve got a lot of work to do technique-wise here in the subcontinent. But we’ll continue to give our best and try to improve. We’ve tried really hard on this trip, although we came unstuck in the one-dayers.”
“It’s been a very tough month for us,” admits Graeme Swann. “We’ve played some abjectly horrible cricket, but it came together today. Finn has been the shining star for us for the whole month, I brought him on today when I needed a wicket and he provided. We know that we played some poor cricket for five games, and one swallow doesn’t make a summer.”

By Ashok Kumar:

The proverbial it’s hard to beat India in India has come true with a comprehensive win at the Eden Gardens,Kolkata tonight.
By the 20th over of England innings, the Indian total of 271 looked an easy one. Cook and Kieswetter were on a roll and for the first time in the series both the openers crossed three figure mark and in the process both scoring their first half centuries in the series. But what happened after that was unimaginable. England losing ten wickets for mere 47 runs! A cakewalk turned into a steep uphill climb and India triumphing by 95 runs.
Their wrecker in chief was Ravindra Jadeja, who made a superb come-back into the side after failing to get a call for the World Cup and England tour.
This series was more of surprises than expectations. The prolific run scorer in England against India, Ian Bell had been sitting out for four matches and by the time he got the call, he had rusted. There was no century from English batsmen and Jonathan Trott was the only one who came very close to the three figure mark when he remained unbeaten on 98 at the Feroz Shah Kotla.
For the Indians, Vaun Aaron of Jharkhand became the second bowler to clock over 140 kmph consistently. Now with the Australian tour round the corner, India can expect to match their rivals. And, we can now say India has the bench strength with Rahane, Manoj Tiwary, Umesh Yadav, Vinay Kumar and Varun Aaron faring brilliantly, at least on home soil.
Another good news is that the chopper has started to fly again. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has rediscovered his helicopter shot in this series and made full use of it in all the matches.
This England team never in the series looked even a shadow of the side that beat India to embarrassment in England. India seemed to have forgotten that and picked up from where they left in World Cup finals.
India should not allow any complacency to set in as after England, the Australian tour will be the next test not that the West Indies tour is going to be of lesser consequence.

By Ashok Kumar

Well, the payback has begun. India thrashed England by 126 runs in the first match of the Airtel ODI series played at the Rajiv Gandhi sports complex in Hyderabad today. India won the toss and elected to bat first. The pitch was slow and the ball was keeping low.
Indian batsmen used to the conditions and played cautiously scoring at 4 plus run rate till the side went for the batting power play. Gambhir and Kohli stabilised the innings after Patel and Rahane fell cheaply. Then Suresh Raina and skipper Dhoni brought up the scoring rate to over five and in the process the former hit the first two sixes of the match. The duo brought the fifth fifty in 22 balls.
After Raina holed out to Peitersen at long on for 61 and a quick fire 26 by Jadeja, Dhoni could be seen in World Cup finals avatar, making full use of his trademark helicopter shot. The skipper was unbeaten at 87 and took the team’s total to 300.
For the first time in recent months, England looked vulnerable and beatable. At the nets, it was reported that coach Grant Flower shouted at one of the batsmen when he was unable to handle low delivery that you are going to face this kind of pitch throughout the series. And, England batsmen failed to handle low deliveries. Jonathan Trott, Graeme Swann and Samit Patel were bowled by deliveries that kept low. Ashwin and Jadeja spun the web beautifully while for the first time, Swann looked ordinary. Both Jadeja and Ashwin struck vital blows, including caught and bowled by each one of them.
A late blitz by Finn was not enough to take England anywhere near India’s total. Once again, India displayed excellent team work and move closer to looking beyond Sehwags and Tendulkars. After Srinath, Umesh Yadav is the first bowler to have crossed the speed of 145 kmph.

With marriage to Sakshi Singh Rawat, Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has become richer by $US42 million ($48 million). Dhoni has, according to media reports from India,  signed the richest marketing deal in the sport’s history, earning him US $ 42 million for over two years.

Dhoni, 29, has signed up with an Indian sports management company Rhiti, which will handle his endorsements, merchandise, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, as well as visibility on social networking sites.

“We have entered into a two-year contract with Dhoni for 2000 million rupees ($48 million),” Rhiti general manager Sanjay Pandey told newsmen.

“We signed the contract a week back. From now onwards we will be handling Dhoni’s endorsements.”

The deal, the richest in Indian cricket history, surpasses batting superstar Sachin Tendulkar’s $US40 million ($45.62 million) three-year contract with sports management firm Iconix in 2006.

Dhoni, often described as India’s most eligible bachelor, married childhood sweetheart and hotel management student Sakshi Singh Rawat at a private ceremony outside the northern town of Dehra Dun last week.

Dhoni is reported to currently endorse 22 leading brands, including Pepsi, Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and Hersheys.

A Forbes study last year on the world’s richest cricketers put him at the top with an annual earning of $US10 million ($11.4 million), followed by Tendulkar at $US8 million ($9.12 million).

Two other Indian cricketers, Yuvraj Singh ($6.27 million) and Rahul Dravid ($5.7 million), were ranked third and fourth, while England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff was in fifth place with ($4.56 million), Forbes said.

Australian Test captain Ricky Ponting was in sixth place with ($3.99 million) a year, the magazine said, adding the figures included club and national team salaries and commercial endorsements.With

The BCCI has accepted Sachin Tendulkar’s request to be rested for the Asia Cup and has not included him in the squad for the tournament in Sri Lanka. Saurabh Tiwary, the Jharkhand batsman, has received his maiden call-up in a 15-man team that is significantly stronger than the side that failed to qualify for the tri-series final in Zimbabwe.

 MS Dhoni returns to captain a team that is bolstered by the return of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra. Yuvraj Singh, however, has not been included in the squad, while Yusuf Pathan has been dropped from the team that toured Zimbabwe.

  Squad: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Pragyan Ojha, Ashok Dinda, R Ashwin, Saurabh Tiwary.