Is Sachin pushing Father Time too far?

One of the greatest moments in modern Indian sport came to be on the 2nd of April, 2011 in Mumbai. Chasing down a challenging total in front of billions of spectators, India beat Sri Lanka in the finals of the ICC Cricket World Cup to take world cricket's most coveted prize for the second time in history. It's almost like yesterday in the memories of a billion Indian cricket fans. For others, it was a closely fought battle between two of Asia's cricketing heavyweights.

There were a number of inspiring scenes at the Wankhede that night - Mahendra Singh Dhoni's trademark helicopter six off the last ball, the barrage of blue-shirted Indians rushing out on to the field to embrace their skipper and perhaps more significant, the Indians carrying Sachin Tendulkar on their shoulders with the Tricolour draped around him. It was an emotional moment. The greatest cricketer in world history had finally won the greatest prize of them all, and to add to it, he'd done it in front of his home ground. Young colt Virat Kohli summed it up when he said, "Sachin has carried the burdens of the country on his shoulders for 22 years. It's time we carried him on ours."

Sounds romantic, doesn't it? But Tendulkar's 22-year-old international career wasn't done yet. There was something else - he had 99 international hundreds to his name. "Only" 99. No human had ever come within touching distance of that figure. But there's something about mathematics and psychology that seems to make 100 much greater than 99 compared to how great 99 is to 98. Sir Donald Bradman, the legendary Australian batsman, had an average of 99.94 in international cricket when he retired. He needed a mere four runs in his final innings before little known Eric Hollies decided to carve his name in the pages of history by getting the most famous wicket of all time. The Don saw his stumps fly out as cricket's most awaited innings was done and dusted in just two balls with a blob on the scorecard. Tendulkar certainly didn't want to do that. And so, it took him more than a whole year to go from 99 to 100, scoring a century against little Bangladesh in the Asia Cup of 2012 in a game which India shockingly lost. TIME published a cover story on Tendulkar after that explaining why he was the "greatest sportsman ever". But the sheen was gone. The man himself had been made tired by all the number chasing.

I learnt two things from the whole episode - for one, the astronomical distance between 99 and 100 was reinforced and two, imperfection is legendary. Tendulkar is undoubtedly the greatest man to have ever held a bat in his hand (some may bring up the name of the Don to counter that) but there is something more mystical about 99 as compared to 100.

The Falling Timber: Tendulkar is bowled, yet again

Following Tendulkar's magnificent achievement, people started asking him when he was to retire. But Tendulkar brushed them aside. "You don't retire when you're on top; you serve the nation when you're on top." It was a novel thought. But he wasn't quite on top at the time. Following the fairytale World Cup win, India went on to get walloped in England and Australia. Tendulkar was a part of both squads and he watched helplessly as his team was getting slaughtered. It was hard work representing India on the cricket pitch. Patience was running out back home with over a billion people wounded by the drubbing. So two of modern cricket's legends and Tendulkar's closest comrades, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman stepped down to let young blood take over. But despite his past glory, Tendulkar's own stats weren't doing him much good. The reflexes were slowing down, the stamina was disappearing, the energy was waning, and the shoulders that had carried a whole nation's sporting hopes for over two decades were starting to droop. People started to inevitably beg the question - "when?"

With England giving Tendulkar a hard time on pitches he had grown up on, the time is running out. One of the marks of a great athlete is that he steps down from the podium at the right time. It's hard to say when the "right time" is. But Steve Waugh did it. Pete Sampras did too. And so did Usain Bolt. Tendulkar's legacy is one that is unparalleled in world sport. No man has ever carried the hopes of so many passionate people on his shoulders with so much success for such a long period of time. No man has so single-handedly dominated the record books of any sport with such consummate ease. Tendulkar hasn't just broken records - he has set new ones at another level altogether, often asking of humanity if anyone born of flesh and blood can ever go so high. It would be a real shame if such a heroic icon was to outlive his own legacy, taking away some of that sheen as he walks away. He deserves a glorious exit, and to be fair, he's had plenty of opportunities to have had it before.

Return of the Pirates

The world erupted last week as the West Indies lifted the World T20 cricket cup in Sri Lanka. It was for the first time in 33 years that the boys from the Caribbean were lifting a World Championship tournament. Although the West Indies did manage to win the Champions Trophy of 2004 in England, never since Clive Lloyd's legendary team of 1979 had they managed to put in a belligerent and flamboyant enough performance to take home a World Championship trophy.

When India beat Australia in an ODI triseries in Brisbane 2008, the world believed that was the end of a decade of Australian dominance in world cricket. Time proved that although Australia didn't collapse as dramatically as the world expected them to, they certainly had lost their golden generation of cup-winning conquerors. On that historic day, one opinion writer summed up global emotions beautifully - "When the Australians lost in Brisbane, the world celebrated. But when an equally dominating West Indies team collapsed in the late 1980s, the world mourned."

Caribbean Calypso: The Windies celebrate their T20 win

The grand emotions that one saw following the West Indies' win were a direct continuation of that idea. Yes, the world loves underdogs. But the world also loves the West Indies! Gayle's Gangnam dancing was part of the Caribbean culture, said Pollard, following the win. They love to party, it's in their blood. But is it, really? Prior to the tournament, Sir Vivian Richards made his thoughts rather clear - "Look at them! They're always listening to music, laughing, dancing!" I suppose Sir Viv has a point. The West Indies didn't dance and fool around in the 1970s like they do today. They didn't bathe in champagne following a win or listen to boom box music in the dressing room. Neither did they roll on the floor laughing at a teammate nor prance around the field whilst the opposition looked on haplessly.

But there's something about West Indies cricket that appeals to the world when it's at its best - it's simple, straight forward and succinct. They don't beat around the bush, playing mind games, building up to a tournament. Nor do they waste their time stuffing their heads with colossal game plans and strategies. They don't cheat, sledge or irritate the opponent like the Aussies did when they ruled world cricket. Nor do they pick on their opponents, screaming and yelling at their face after getting them out. They just play their cricket - simple as it gets - and they play it hell hard while they're at it. Whether it was during the era of Andy Roberts and Joel Garner or today, with Chris Gayle and Marlon Samuels, the West Indies are so wonderfully entertaining to watch while at their best. They cut straight to the point - playing plain, unabridged cricket and enjoying themselves thoroughly while at it. They're never 'gentlemanly' in the true English sense but they're not unnecessarily brat-like either.

That's when the West Indies are at their best - when their players aren't away on strike and when their cricket board isn't playing 'Big Brother'. And that's what exasperates the world when it comes to West Indies cricket. When you have the ability to enthrall the global audience with plain, unabridged cricket, why deprive them of it? Why put yourself into petty fights? It's hard to say if the World T20 win will signal a new era of Caribbean dominance in the sport but what's for sure is that the world is keenly hoping it will!

Doctor Laxman at Your Service

The World of Cricket is undergoing generational transformation. Great players the world over are stepping down, satisfied at having given their respective countries the best they've got. Australia lost a line of all-time legends over the last few years. Ricky Ponting was the latest to join the list. The Indians too have lost all their Golden Era torchbearers, save the most revered Sachin Tendulkar. In such a situation, it almost becomes customary for sports writers everywhere to devote extra time and effort in writing tributes to the passing greats, enumerating their many achievements and counting their many qualities.

You could look at this post as yet another of those many tributes flying around at the moment. But I simply had to write it - for it isn't often that one sees a man, known as a legend, not for his super numbers, but for his pure indulgence under pressure. One such man is the now retired 'Physician of Indian Cricket', Vangipurappu Venkat Sai Laxman, or VVS 'Very Very Special' Laxman.

Operation Impossible: Laxman crafting a flick

VVS Laxman was not quite the sort of sportsman who went professional right from his little kid days. He was a student of medicine. A few more years in medical college and perhaps the world would have missed out on seeing the finest cricketing physician yet. To the mighty Australians of the early millennium, VVS Laxman needs no introduction. In 2001, Kolkata was to witness what many call the greatest Test match of all time. It was the legendary Australian team of the time, the erstwhile world champions, record breakers, benchmark setters of world cricket, running on a rampage. In fact, Steve Waugh's team was unstoppable. They were on the threshold of making history, holding the most number of consecutive test wins in all time. And nothing seemed like it was going to keep them from winning as many as they felt like. Certainly not India, in the first half of that game. The Australians piled on a massive amount of runs on the hosts and then got them reeling in their second innings. Until Doctor Laxman walked in to cure the terminal illness. With Rahul Dravid by his side, Laxman played the most breathtaking of strokes against the likes of Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath on a rapidly deteriorating pitch at the Eden Gardens. Warne tried to weave magic with the ball. But the Doctor made him look ordinary. "To all you kids out there, don't try this at home," Matthew Hayden later said recalling Laxman's strokeplay. After a day and a half of the most elegant and classy piece of batting, Laxman made 281 runs. The Australians couldn't get rid of him. To their horror, they ended on the losing side. The dream run was over, and in the most improbable way.

That innings sparked off something inside VVS Laxman. He seemed to feast on Australian bowling, at home and away, anywhere, anytime, every time he felt hungry. In 2004, Brisbane, Laxman steered India to a historic ODI win over the Aussies. He wasn't brash. Never really flashy. He has hit a total of 9 sixes in 220 international games, unfortunately, none of which I have seen. But Laxman didn't need to hit sixes, unlike others, to make himself devastating. He had the knack of beating the opposition black and blue through fluid strokeplay and unerring calm. And he did it more so when the case was lost and his team was packing up. In Mohali, 2008, he delivered the most perfect example of that, once again with the Australians at the receiving end. Chasing down a tricky score, once again on a deteriorating pitch, India were in deep trouble. The top and middle order, and almost every recognized and recognizable batsman, had gone away for close to nothing. Doctor Laxman was left with the likes of Pragyan Ojha and Ishant Sharma for company and over a hundred runs yet to get. But the Doctor didn't need much assistance. He carried out the surgery all alone - carefully and craftily. History was recorded. India had beaten Australia to nil in a test series for the first time. The Australians looked on sulkily. Doctor Laxman smirked in the background.

But Laxman could do what he did against the Aussies with equal ease against everyone else as well - South Africa, England, New Zealand, West Indies. It caught more attention that he did what he did against Australia, almost unfailingly, all the time. For they were the finest of all time. They played hard. They believed that to defeat the opponent, you had to break him apart. They tried the strategy on Laxman on innumerable occasions and in innumerable ways. But he was unflappable. He seemed to like it. And that irritated the Australians even further. He was a stoic on the pitch. Nothing annoyed him. Not even the pitch itself, never the playing conditions. The Doctor believed he could cure any disease and he rarely faltered. Today, Indian cricket has been made poorer by the retirement of a Very Very Special cricketer. It might be customary to call a retired cricketer 'irreplaceable'. But it's not often that you have a Doctor around, always at your service.

London 2012 - Mirroring a New World

The games are on in good old London! Thousands of athletes from all around the world shall compete in the XXX Games of the Olympiad in England, with the iconic city in the background. As always, each edition of the Olympic Games brings in with it something new and unique, extra and different.

So what does London 2012 have to offer? Quite a bit, in fact. London 2012, in more ways than one, mirrors a new world - one that is fighting for liberalism. Over the last year or so, various regions of the world have risen up against restrictions. The Middle East is revolting. Afghanistan is limping back. The world economy is struggling. The world is looking forward to a new dawn - it is changing gears. London 2012 stands for all of that.

Take for example, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has always been one of the most conservative naitons in the world. Liberties of various sections of the society have long been on hold, particularly the rights of women. But Saudi is changing. In September 2011, King Abdullah announced that women shall be allowed to vote and run in municipal elections in the Kingdom. Following that, Saudi also allowed women to take part in the Olympic Games at London for the first time ever in history. Controversy ensued, with the International Judo Federation forbidding Saudi's female judo competitor from wearing a headscarf. Enraged, the Kingdom snapped back saying that they would boycott the Games if their judo fighter wasn't allowed to compete. But better sense prevailed as the two warring factions finally came to a compromise. As a result, in what was a historic moment for Muslim women in the Middle East, long repressed by their men, Saudi's women athletes took part in the Olympic march at the opening ceremony of London 2012.

A similar story is up from the Paralympics, where 18-year-old Afghan swimmer, Malek Mohammad, shall be representing his country. Malek lost both his legs very early due to a Soviet landmine while walking through a field near Kabul's airport. What he didn't lose was his spirit. An American traveller noticed Malek and took him to America where he got prosthetic limbs made for himself. Malek didn't look back, training hard at aquatics. Today, Malek embodies every bit of his country - torn by violence, fighting for survival.

Blade Runner: Oscar Pistorius takes off

Double amputee 'Blade Runner', Oscar Pistorius, is yet another who shall make history in the 2012 Games. The South African will be the first ever amputee in history to take part at the Olympics, representing his country at the individual and relay 400 m race. Pistorius' participation wasn't without controversy either. Many have raised doubts over whether his prosthetic limbs shall give him an unfair advantage at the sprints. But how many of us shall dream of running at the Olympics after losing both our legs? Pistorius is one, heralding a new world.

The Olympic Games have often reflected the troubles of their times, from the killings at the Munich Games of 1972 to Tommie Smith and John Carlos' joint protests against racism at the Mexico Games of 1968. The Games have often awakened the world to the sufferings of many. London 2012 is now doing its bit, through the likes of Malek Mohammad and Oscar Pistorius. The Games are mirroring a new world - one filled with possibilities. As Pistorius himself said, "I'm fed up with it! I want to prove them wrong."

Roger Federer and the Art of Indulgence

One of the strongest barriers in the world of sport is that of Age. Those who breach it walk into Legend and carve a special niche of their own in History. There are many sportsmen who play their respective games way past the primetime age. But few remain successful at it as they grow old.

Over the last couple of years, men's tennis has been in the middle of a very special era. The world has been enthralled by some of the most talented sportsmen to have ever walked the tennis court - Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray. These guys have weathered the tennis world's turbulent storms with dogged resistance, squeezing their opponents and rivals and going into a league of their own. But one man has stood out amongst them all - the legendary Pete Sampras says he is getting rather used to this man breaking his records - Swiss Master Roger Federer. Roger Federer has more often than not made history whenever he's walked out on to the court ever since his shock defeat of Pete Sampras at Wimbledon in 2001. But as it did with other great sportsmen like Sachin Tendulkar, Michael Schumacher and Muhammed Ali, Age soon caught up with Federer. The stamina disappeared, the running slowed down and the body started giving up. Many wrote off Roger Federer, as they did back in his earlier days after his form dropped rather phenomenally following the historic win over Sampras. People said that the height of achievement had gotten the better of Roger Federer - that he didn't have any real motivation or cause to go on.

But Roger Federer was no ordinary sportsman. He was a Legend. Fact was that there really weren't enough people out there who could defeat Roger Federer. While the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Murray had suffered the odd upset defeat, Federer had hung on. The only people who really looked like they could defeat Federer were those at the top three. The others - they were mere students, watching their Master at work. Watching Roger Federer often reminds me of watching a dextrous artist at his painting - carefully sculpting a picture with masterful strokes and striking concentration while others watch in awe around him.

MasterClass: Roger Federer at work

Yes, Roger Federer has proven that he is special. He is a Legend. He can beat Age, he's been there and done that. But what makes the Swiss Master such a quality sportsman? Is it his energy, his intensity or is it just the collective incompetence of a whole generation of tennis players that makes him what he is? Well, every artist is known for his art. And so is Roger Federer. It is everything that Federer does on and off the court that makes him such a role model and such a quality sportsman - his nonchalant demeanour, his child-like smile, his intriguing yet magnetic and attention-drawing concentration while at work. Yes, when you watch Federer play, you know he's enjoying himself. He is enjoying himself not because he is not being challenged, but because he simply loves what he is doing. It is like a child being liberated from the restrictive hands of his parents and out on to his favorite play field. Federer indulges like there is no tomorrow. He doesn't care much for the scorecard or for his opponent. He just delves into every moment of his time on court. The longer, the merrier. There is no fuss over naive facts, no arguments with the umpire, no hassles, no stops. It is pure indulgence, heartfelt and soulful. In fact, most men who've watched Federer play, and are true fans of his, pay little attention to the scorecard or the opponent. They are too engaged in this breathtaking display of class and elegance. For it is as compelling as it is intoxicating.

Last Sunday, as Roger Federer notched up his seventeenth against Britain's Andy Murray, he said that he never felt the trophy had left him for three years. He was far too engaged in his soulful indulgence at the game to notice! Centre Court heartily cheered and applauded a man who had just beaten their local boy and home favorite - the first Briton to reach the finals of Wimbledon in 70 years. For a moment, they forgot all of those patriotic emotions. They were indeed completely drawn in by a skillful display of greatness - a true Legend at work.

For indeed, Art is compelling.

Wimbledon 2012 - Anybody's game

Barely a week has passed since Day 1 of this year's Championships at SW19 and already, there are some high-profile guests boarding their early flights back home from Heathrow. The ladies singles draw has lost the most superstars. Australian Samantha Stosur, Chinese Li Na, Danish Caroline Wozniacki, American Venus Williams, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli have all gone out the exit within the first two rounds. The men's game, which is generally very predictable, has also been hit hard by upsets. Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, France's Gilles Simon and Spain's Feliciano Lopez, all seeded players, are now gone. Perhaps the grandest upset in the year yet was World No 2 Rafael Nadal's second round loss to the Czech Republic's Lukas Rosol - a man who in just a few hours turned himself into a household name!

Women's tennis has been rather unpredictable for a fair period of time. With the Williams' sisters losing their dominance, Sharapova having been hampered by injury and the other younger crop of players unable to keep up consistency in Grand Slam tennis, the phrase 'upset win' has lost its value. The last 6 Grand Slams have seen 6 different women players holding the trophy. Rather clearly, there are no favorites in the women's game. Now there can be a number of reasons for this. One that I've already stated is that no real woman player in the last few years has been able to sustain herself at the highest level. Take Kim Clijsters for instance. Clijsters came out of retirement and went on to win the US Open in 2010 followed by the Australian Open in 2011. Serena Williams' respiratory troubles and sister Venus' indifferent form, coupled with Justine Henin's retirement, worked well for Clijsters as she scripted one of the emotional runs in modern day international tennis. However, the joy didn't last long. A certain Chinese woman named Li Na had just announced herself on the world stage. Li Na, the flagbearer of a new generation of Chinese, and indeed Asian, tennis won her first Grand Slam in the form of Roland Garros 2011. She'd already begun sneaking in to the top of women's tennis by reaching the finals of the Australian Open just prior to that tournament. However, again, she couldn't manage to win any other Grand Slam thereafter. Other young ladies stepped up to the task - it was anybody's game now! Czech girl Petra Kvitova clinched Wimbledon the same year but had to give way to veteran Aussie Samantha Stosur at the following US Open. Meanwhile, World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki continued to search for that elusive maiden Grand Slam win of hers (that was a very curious case indeed!). However, the anomalous situation didn't last too long for her as Belarussian Victoria Azarenka started 2012 by winning the Australian Open and dethroning Wozniacki from the top. Maria Sharapova then made a rather unprecedentedly strong return from injury troubles by winning a string of titles on clay and finally topping it off with Roland Garros and thereby reclaiming the World No. 1 spot. On current form, Sharapova looks the most potent in the women's game. But the volatility continues. This certainly still is anyone's game.

Knocked Out: Nadal in his loss against Rosol

The men's game, meanwhile, has been far more stable. The top four of Serbian Novak Djokovic, Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Swiss Roger Federer and Briton Andy Murray have been fairly consistent at making the semifinals of each Grand Slam over the last couple of years or so. However, Wimbledon 2012 has challenged the predictability. Within 24 hours on Days 4 and 5, Nadal was knocked out, Djokovic was down by a set to Radek Stepanek and Federer was trailing two sets to love against Julien Benneteau. It isn't so much that the top three have slumped in their game as it is that a number of other men have re-invented theirs to match the top layer. In the last few tournaments, various players including David Ferrer, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic and Juan Martin Del Petro have challenged the might of the top four. In an ATP tourney in Madrid before Roland Garros, Nadal and Djokovic were in fact knocked out by Fernando Verdasco and Janko Tipsarevic (some think Verdasco and Tipsarevic are 'mirror images' of the other two!). That was followed by a rather intriguing Roland Garros which saw a number of hard-hitting Spaniards (Ferrer, Almagro, Verdasco and gang) dominate the court.

However, despite the strong challenge, the top four have largely prevailed. The consistency and variety of their tennis has only made the game better - compelling their rivals to lift themselves further and further. The others have responded well, adding spice to the game and pushing the top four to do even better. Women's tennis, meanwhile, seems to be in transition. The young bunch of Kvitova, Azarenka and Sharapova are likely to play musical chairs in winning the trophy while fighting off the strong challenge coming from the likes of Sara Errani, Tamira Paszek and Nadia Petrova.

Wimbledon 2012 certainly seems anybody's game.

Why Indian sport needs a kick start

India - 1.2 billion people, 1 individual Olympic gold medal, 1 individual Olympic silver medal, 3 individual Olympic bronze medals

United States of America - 300 million people, countless Olympic medals - of all kinds at that...

What a stark difference! The difference is so stark that India doesn't even bother competing with the United States or China on the Olympic medals tally! Indeed, India is not by any means regarded a Global Sporting Power as it is regarded a Global Economic Power.

While it's worthwhile to talk Olympics since London 2012 is just 7 weeks away, I choose to compare the sporting accolades of two countries by drawing a comparison between their Olympic statistics simply because the Olympic games are the most comprehensive instrument with which to measure the sporting potential of two nations.

However, some Indians counter my argument by citing the example of cricket. India is a true champion at the sport of cricket and the statistics prove it: 3 World Cups and a 2-year reign at the top of the World rankings. We can boast of stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Kapil Dev and Mohinder Amarnath - men who have been rightfully coronated as All Time Legends of the game. In fact, cricket is such a big phenomenon in India that many accuse it of 'stealing the limelight' from other sports, thereby not giving other sports their due place in society. Virender Sehwag gets 10 lakh rupees from a state cricket association for breaking the world record for the highest individual ODI score in world history while the national soccer team gets a small fraction of the sum for winning their maiden Nehru Cup! But then, I ask, can we truly reduce the spirit of sport and the love for the game down to mere materialistic gains? Did Virender Sehwag score 219 runs for money? Did Saina Nehwal win the Commonwealth Gold for a few rupees? 

So why does India performly extraordinary well (atleast most of the time) at the game of cricket while hardly holding onto the limelight in other sports? Are we characteristically and genetically constructed only to excel in the game of cricket?

Let's look back into history to trace India's extraordinary rise in the cricketing world. As a colony of the British, Indians learnt the game of cricket from their political rulers. Being a game of sophisticated sporting gear, cricket was available only to the rich and wealthy - the likes of CK Nayudu, Nari Contractor and Farookh Engineer to name a few. Cricket was hardly known to the vast majority of Indians who were largely poor and uneducated. Post-independence, in 1983 however, a wonderful thing happened. A small group of young men, led by Kapil Dev, snatched the Prudential World Cup from Clive Lloyd's legendary West Indies unit. The whole country was wonderstruck! Here we had a group of unknown youngsters, from the poorest of Indian families, winning the country glory and making it proud. Cricket became a superhit in India! Inspired by the highly spirited performance, many wanted to emulate what Kapil's Devils had just done. And hence was the advent of cricket into the Indian society. The foundation had been laid and Kapil's successors did well enough to keep the passion going for a long time - a passion that grew many fold and continues even to this day.

Hockey, as a sport, also had its era of glory and triumph. Dhanraj Pillay and his band of daredevils were once the Invincibles of the hockey world. However, with Pillay and Viren Rasquinha, the aura disappeared and hasn't returned even to this day. Would hockey continued to be India's game of glory if Pillay and Rasquinha had been succeeded by worthy flagbearers? Perhaps, but that would be a question too hypothetical to answer with surety.

However, the contrasting examples of cricket and hockey show that for a sport to survive and thrive continually in the Indian society, success must be constant. The Tendulkars, Dravids, Gangulys and Laxmans ensured that the foundation built by Kapil Dev, Sunil Gavaskar and Mohinder Amarnath didn't go in vain. Perhaps hockey lacked a Sachin Tendulkar and a Rahul Dravid, which resulted in a slippery slide that couldn't be arrested. The success that cricket brought to India eventually brought money to Indian cricket - a resource that only helped build the popularity of the sport in India and a resource that Indian hockey unfortunately lacks.

Man with the Golden Gun: Abhinav Bindra

Having delved into the topic of team sport, let's now switch over to individual sports. Shooting takes the cake in this department. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore wreaked havoc in 2004 by winning Silver in the Athens Olympics and 4 years later, Abhinav Bindra kept the juggernaut going with a Gold in Beijing. A number of awards at the intermediate World Championships only kept the game alive and shooting remains India's greatest hope in any international multi-disciplinary sporting events even to this day. Badminton has fired in fits and starts for India, with Prakash Padukone and Pullela Gopichand in yesteryears and Saina Nehwal and Jwala Gutta today. Badminton is a perfect example of how the euphoria surrounding a particular individual sport can't be maintained at the optimum level by fielding just one or two successful players who disappear into retirement and don't have anybody to carry their legacy forward. For the moment, if badminton must live on India, Saina Nehwal needs someone to carry it on in the future.

Tennis and swimming have been rather disappointing, notwithstanding the likes of Leander Paes and Virdhawal Khade. India has never had a long-standing, comprehensive singles player who can challenge the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, nor have we been able to yet produce a successful swimmer who can give the records of Michael Phelps and Mark Spitz a run for their money. Frankly, with all due respect, Paes and Khade can't be classified as legends of the game.

Athletics, perhaps, has never been India's forte, barring a few including PT Usha and Anju Bobby George. However, hope is now being rekindled here with PT Usha's band of women working wonders in the recent past. PT Usha's athletics academy in Kerala is a story of fantasy for Indian sport. With inspiration and dedication, Usha has been nurturing young talent in the state and pushing them beyond barriers in every manner possible.

Having seen a brief account of the various sports in the country and how they fare on the international stage, let's now get down to analyzing them. Quite clearly, India's success in any sport is nowhere in competition to the success of stalwarts like the USA, China or Australia. If only India can emulate the success it's had in cricket elsewhere as well! But how?

Some say India lacks elementary sporting infrastructure to nurture young talent in most sports. But there's a flip side to that too. Virender Sehwag was a milkman before he came to the Indian team. He certainly had no access to world-class infrastructure as a kid! Praveen Kumar had to be content with playing in his sandy neighbourhood playground as a kid. He didn't go to the MRF Pace Academy! Mahendra Singh Dhoni was nothing but a ticket collector before he broke into the Indian cricket team. Nobody coached him as a kid! So how did they make it? The answer's quite obvious - pure passion, inspiration and unbreakable dedication to one's childhood dream. 

There is no doubt that there are a number of Indian kids out there who are equally dedicated to football and tennis as well! So why don't they go on to achieve historical landmarks? 

Some believe that sports other than cricket aren't 'broadcasted' enough in order to arouse public interest in it and hence capture the imagination of young athletes, inspiring them to achieve glory and make history. Indians, by nature now, have a mental orientation towards cricket, and cricket alone, in the field of sport. Millions across the country take to the sport, watch the sport, and idolize the sportsmen. The same is hardly ever done in any other sport! But then again, cricket is what it is today only because Kapil Dev did what he did! Maybe other sports need the same super-achievement to get them going! Maybe, India needs to produce a Roger Federer to inspire the other budding tennis players in the country! Maybe India needs to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, atleast once, to do the same for football in the country!

But administration (or the lack of it) might also be making the difference between cricket and non-cricket in India. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has been pouring in millions of dollars into the game, bringing in the IPL, constructing the National Cricket Academy and richly rewarding any and every achievement made in the game. Many blame the BCCI for not allowing other sports to develop. But then again, the BCCI is in 'Control for Cricket', and cricket alone, in India. The Sports Authority of India (SAI) is largely responsible for the 'non-cricket' part of the country and to tell the truth, it is in complete shambles. So what's the difference between the BCCI and the SAI? Well, one's private, and the other is run by the Government. As in most other fields of Indian life and living, privatization does a far more efficient job than Governmental administration. So must the SAI be privatized as well? Going by the BCCI's success story, it certainly might be a gamble worth trying! Privatization of SAI might bring in better administration, more funds, state-of-the-art infrastructure, greater marketing of the sport, and hence, higher dividends on the international stage. Hypothetical, but highly possible!

Administration having been taken care of, there would be a different, more complex issue at hand. Adam Gilchrist, the legendary Australian wicketkeeper-batsman, at a press conference in Bangalore recently said, "As a young athlete, it's really hard to choose between sport and education in today's professionally competitive world. I think we need to work out our sporting structure in such a way that it allows academically-oriented athletes to pursue their studies without compromising upon their love for the sport." Gilchrist spoke about working out the "training schedule" of budding athletes in such a way that they would not just get the time to play and train for international competitions, but also to pursue their education at all times. For the first time, an athlete (one no less in stature than Adam Gilchrist) had spoken out on Indian sport's age-old problem - the battle between sport and academics. Thousands and thousands of young cricketers, footballers, tennis players and hockey stars eventually step out of the game in order to complete their education. By the time they complete their higher education and graduate studies, they have been out of touch with the game for such an awfully long period of time that they are no longer competitive enough to achieve their childhood dream of representing their country and achieving glory.

Gilchrist described the problem and its solutions in very simplistic and optimistic language. But is the problem itself so simplistic? Is Indian sport really capable of drawing itself beyond borders, overhauling barriers and coming out successful? Will we ever have a world-number one tennis player representing India in the singles final of Wimbledon? Will we ever see India win the FIFA World Cup? Will we ever look at the Olympic medals tally and admire the word 'India' at the top of the tree? Will India ever become a Global Sporting Power? Perhaps. But there's more hope there than certainty at the moment. But as Gilchrist said, challenges can always be overcome!

Will Rod Laver's Grand Slam record stand unparalleled?

Rafael Nadal has beaten Bjorn Borg's record of most number of titles at Roland Garros, Paris, making his tally seven and continuing to be invincible on the French clay court. But that apart, Nadal has done one more thing - he has thwarted Novak Djokovic's attempt at joining the great Australian legend, Rod Laver, and becoming only the second man in the Open era to hold all 4 Grand Slams at the same time.

But Beside The Point, I consider the latter record to be more important than the former. For Nadal, his supremacy on clay being largely untouchable, would have beaten Borg, next year, if not today, or the year after that, or maybe even after that. Question always was: will Rod Laver's Grand Slam record stand unparalleled?

Djokovic's defeat today has further strengthened the already strong case for the affirmative. They all tried - Pete Sampras, Mats Wilander, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl, Jim Courier, Roger Federer, even Rafael Nadal. But Rod Laver's record stands unmatched in the Open era. Modern day men's tennis has been fairly predictable with the top three or four being marvelously consistent. But each man has had his nemesis - Federer struggled to win in Paris with Nadal building a fort of his own there; Sampras had troubles on the clay court, unable to pull off a win in Paris which would have given him a Grand Slam; Nadal wasn't potent enough on the hard courts of Melbourne, thereby losing out on the Grand Slam; and now Djokovic has run into Nadal's little fort in Paris which is beginning to look completely impenetrable.

It is amazing that three of the above four mentioned legends (for want of a better word as some might say Novak isn't one yet, and I'd agree) have hit roadblocks at Paris. It is no coincidence, for clay court tennis can often be a completely different sport compared to tennis on grass or cement. Few players with great stamina have been able to make it big at Roland Garros on a consistent basis.

But going back to our question - will Rod Laver's Grand Slam record stand unparalleled? For the moment, it seems most likely. Let's have a look at why by taking the three major Grand Slam contenders of today into purview:

Chasing Legend: Nadal, Djokovic and Federer

Novak Djokovic: He looks the most complete tennis player in the world right now. With immense power and classic technique, Djokovic has been able to adapt to different conditions and different opponents. Djokovic's greatest strength has been his ability to come back from behind - his self belief and determination. However, Djokovic's all-round game hasn't been enough to challenge Nadal's abilities on clay so far. He has come short of answers on clay and hasn't been as potent as he has been on the other surfaces. Furthermore, Djokovic is still some distance away from establishing unquestionable consistency, despite his remarkable run in the last 20 months or so. But circumstances make him the most favored.

Rafael Nadal: The number two seed continues to display an unending reservoir of energy everywhere, all the time. Despite possessing a rather imperfect technique (as some experts say), Rafa has been able to blow away his opponents with sheer power. However, Nadal has found it difficult to counter Djokovic's more polished game play on quicker surfaces, making him second to the Serb at Wimbledon, Melbourne Park and Flushing Meadows. His knee has also been taking quite a toll due to the ruthless style of play.

Roger Federer: Undoubtedly the greatest player of the three on an all-time scale, Federer has been ageing, making it difficult for his body to stand the rigors of high-level tennis demanded of him by the two men above. Roger Federer is the kind of player who can win games comfortably even while sitting down on a chair in the centre of the court, eating into the opponent with sheer class, skill and mental supremacy. However, the power-packed tennis thrown at him by Nadal and Djokovic has pushed him beyond the limits. Five years back, he would have blown them away. Today, it's a different story.

As of today, Rod Laver's record seems strongly secure. But will Future take on History and throw on to the court another Rod Laver - strong enough to meet the challenges of modern-day tennis? Only time will tell.

IPL 5 - My XI

The league stages of the fifth edition of the Indian Premier League are over! Whilst 4 teams qualify, the others shall look back at what has been and what should have been. But meanwhile, I'm going to get down to doing the hard, rather risky job of selecting the 11 best players of DLF IPL 2012. And here it is -

1) Christopher Gayle -

Can you ever not have him in your side? With over 700 runs massacred all around the park, in different venues against a variety of bowlers, Henry Gayle bagged the Orange Cap for the leading run-scorer a second time on the trot. His pyrotechnics failed to ensure that RCB went through to the play-offs, but that won't stop me from giving him the opener's slot!

2) Virender Sehwag -

With Ajinkya Rahane, Shikhar Dhawan and Gautam Gambhir being strong contenders to partner Gayle, this was always going to be a hard one. Gambhir's innings have often buoyed KKR, but with Sehwag scoring half-centuries at will at 160+ runs per 100 balls, my favorite player here.

3) Rahul Dravid (c) -

Probably the biggest surprise in My XI! Five years ago, when Rahul started off with T20 in the IPL, it seemed like he was far from capable at the game. Five years hence, The Wall (if he permits me to call him that) has reinvented his game and brought in refreshing new ideas to his style of captaincy to win the all-important No 3 slot and get the skipper's cap. Rahul's resourcefulness and success at extracting the best out of a squad devoid of big booming superstars has been more than remarkable this season and for that, he must take this place.

4) Kevin Pietersen -

Kevin played a bare 8 games this season but what an impact he made! Pietersen's 103* against the Deccan Chargers set the tone for the Delhi Daredevils and the devils haven't looked back since. Not even after KP's departure.

5) AB de Villiers (wk) -

I've often been against giving AB Devil the keeper's gloves, thereby missing out on his fielding heroics. However, considering that no other wicketkeeper batsman in the IPL has made as much of an impact as AB has, I'd be forced to put him behind the stumps.

6) Cameron White -

The Australian had a rather indifferent start to the tournament. However, as time went by, he found his footing and the ball began to take off. Pasting balls to different parts of the country, White has been the only significant contributor to the Deccan Chargers' batting, apart from Shikhar Dhawan, and his ferocious strike rate of 149.68 ensures that he gets the No 6 spot to up the ante towards the end of the innings.

7) Mayank Agarwal -

Mayank hasn't quite made it to the higher end of the run-getters' list but that's more because he hasn't had much batting to do than anything else. However, this guy really did charge up RCB in hard situations. Recall his innings against CSK at Chepauk where, while opening the batting with Gayle, Mayank smothered Bollinger and his comrades to all parts of the park, racing away to a quickfire 42 while his famous Jamaican partner was on a mere 6 runs. Ever since, Mayank has chipped in with many a useful cameo for RCB, most famously, the 30-ball 64* against the Mumbai Indians.

8) Irfan Pathan -

I've always been a big fan of Irfan's right from his debut for India. Over the years, many things have happened to the fairly pacey swing bowler from Baroda. However, the hunger for success hasn't disappeared. Wickets or not, Irfan is always a handy all-rounder to have in your side and his odd cameos with the bat have always helped Delhi raise the bar further.

9) Dale Steyn -

He might have taken a beating or two at the hands of AB de Villiers, but Dale Steyn has been one of the most lethal pacemen in the tournament. With swinging balls delivered at 150 km/h and unrelenting accuracy, Dale Steyn has made life difficult for the batsmen every time he's come on. The lone warrior in the bowling attack of the Deccan Chargers.

10) Sunil Narine -

How can you ignore him?! With his funny action and mind boggling tricks with the ball, the Trinidadian wonder boy has almost single-handedly taken the Knight Riders into the play-offs. They still can't read him, they say. And when you have a man who can take 3-4 wickets every game at an economy rate of 5.14, you're bound to be favorites!

11) Morne Morkel -

He has been Virender Sehwag's go-to man all through the competition. Every time the opposition looks to get on top of the Daredevils, Morne Morkel has come up with the most beautiful yorker or unsettling bouncer to get rid of the opponent's hopes. His fine spell of death bowling against the Rajasthan Royals shall always come up as one of the highlights of the tournament - DD won that game by one run.

Old is Gold - Veterans adding spice to T20

When Twenty20 started off in England, many saw the new instant-coffee-style format of the game to be one for sheer entertainment - "not serious cricket". Many believed that the old classics of the game would be frustrated no end by it. And sure enough, as T20 spread across the world, the coaching manual kept getting thrown into the litter bin. With Eoin Morgan's reserve sweeps, Dilshan's scoops over the keeper and David Warner's right-handed slog sweeps over extra cover, purists like Glenn McGrath and Shaun Pollock were becoming increasingly bemused. And with time, many of them came to the conclusion that this was not their cup of tea.

The Indian Premier League revolutionized the World of Cricket. It brought T20 to the high table and it became increasingly clear to everybody that T20 was here to stay, whether the legends liked it or not. The first few editions of the tournament quite certainly belonged to the adventure-loving, new age ball hitters of the game - the likes of Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers and Yusuf Pathan. It was all about hitting the ball to the fence and over it; didn't quite matter how you did it. The older greats of Jacques Kallis, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Sanath Jayasuriya were quickly drafted away into the sidelines. They were branded 'beyond expiry'. Yes, this was not their cup of tea.

However, cricket is cricket. Whether you play 5 overs, 10 overs, 20 overs, 50 overs or 500 overs, cricket shall always be cricket - the rules never change. You might put the ball into the fence off the inside edge, but on a different day, you'd find your leg stump go miles back. You might try to be cheeky with the keeper and scoop it over his head, but he might get his gloves in the way some day. What really matters is to be consistent and last the long haul. And that's where the old, 'beyond expiry' legends came in.

Watching it fly: Jacques Kallis

The most economical bowlers in the IPL's history, quite fascinatingly, are Anil Kumble and Daniel Vettori, both by no means T20 specialists (both, infact, spinners!). The most consistent run-getter in the IPL's history is Jacques Kallis (he also hit a 95 metre long six last night!). Rahul Dravid now scores at well over a run a ball; infact, he's been outscoring his much younger partner Ajinkya Rahane this season! Brad Hodge, well over 30 years of age and one of Australia's erstwhile classics, has become the most valuable finisher in the IPL this season, winning games for his side from direst of straits. Mahela Jayawardene has become quite a revelation, some even calling him a 'devastating opener' these days! And Muttiah Muralitharan, true to his name, picks up a wicket almost every over.

One can go on about the old legends striking back with refreshing vigour at the game of T20. But what makes them so much more delightful to watch as compared to Chris Gayle's baseball whacks and Kieron Pollard's brutal thwacks is the way in which they go about their play - retaining the same old aura, elegance and glory. Jayawardene's late cuts past short third man are just as effective as Pollard's flat hooks to the fence, only more easy on the eye. Kallis' open-chested inside-out shots over long-off go as far as Gayle's rooted-to-the-crease clobbering, only that they are more soothing. Rahul Dravid's leg glances go as quickly to the fence as Yusuf Pathan's murderous drives past cover, only more classic and attractive. And as time continues to flow by, one is becoming increasingly convinced that the erudite legends of old are the most reliable in the game of cricket, irrespective of the number of overs of play or the number of fielders outside the 30-yard circle. Old is indeed Gold.

Christopher Henry Gayle - Somebody stop him!

Christopher Henry Gayle - the name says it all. A Pirate from the Caribbean, Jamaican to be precise, Gayle, unlike most of his countrymen, decided to take to cricket rather than win medals in Olympic events. And what a fine decision that was! For two reasons - one, the Gayle winds blow rather consistently these days in different parts of the world, in the KFC Big Bash League, the Bangladesh Premier League and of course, the Indian Premier League, and two, Gayle can never run more than two runs on a given ball - he prefers sending them into the crowd instead.

Chris Henry's story is rather fascinating. For most part of his international career for the West Indies, despite being a regular feature of his national side (if you can call it that), Gayle seemed to be amongst the most inconsistent players around. Things seemed to change when he was made the captain following Brian Lara's retirement and Ramnaresh Sarwan's failure at the job. Gayle pummeled the first hundred in a Twenty20 International during the first game of the inaugural World Twenty20 championships against hosts South Africa and it became instantly clear then that this man enjoyed the new format. Gayle then marauded 333 fantastic runs against Sri Lanka in a Test match. But following the World Cup of 2012, Gayle ran into trouble with his mercurial, often whimsical, West Indies Cricket Board. Following some disputes over contracts with senior players and a spicy radio interview, Gayle and some others were left out in the woods. The result - the West Indies plunged to an all-new low while playing a side without Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo and Kieron Pollard. 

To his credit, Gayle didn't let all of that hurt him. He started with the IPL of 2011. After being ignored in the auctions, Gayle got picked up by the Royal Challengers Bangalore as a replacement for injured Dutch-Aussie paceman Dirk Nannes. And Gayle made that place in the eleven his own. With a century against the Kolkata Knight Riders in his first game, Gayle took off, blowing away hapless opponents with a long, thick club of a bat and taking the leading run scorer's Orange Cap in half the time. Gayle then made an appearance Down Under in the Australian Big Bash League, playing for the Sydney Thunder, fittingly opening alongside Pocket Rocket David Warner. Gayle winds blew all around the Aussie coastline ensuring that Thunder put on a strong fight despite losing Warner to international duty, but unfortunately, the side couldn't win the League. Back for RCB at the Champions League, Gayle made a mockery of the Somerset Sabres in a must-win game, taking his side all the way to the finals of the tourney from a situation where most had written them off. Then came the Bangladesh Premier League. Turning out for the Barisal Burners, Gayle burnt the pitch wherever he went, sending white balls into the Bay of Bengal rather frequently.

Clearly, T20 has caught Gayle's imagination and he no longer needs the West Indies team. But what makes him such a phenomenon? Firstly, fear in the mind of the bowler. When you've got a beast of a man, six and a half foot tall, standing at the other end, knowing that if you don't hit the bottom of his bat, it's going to be out of the ground, bowling becomes an act of great daredevilry. Gayle doesn't need technique to hit the ball. He plays it the baseball way. Stand in the crease, wait for the little white ball to come and tonk it with all your might. Back foot, front foot don't matter at all.

Few have mastered the art of bowling to Gayle without losing the ball. Jacques Kallis seems to be one of them. His yorker in the KKR-RCB game of the Champions League to send Gayle's stumps flying back a mile was quite a sight. As a result, KKR went on to win that game. More recently, Kallis had Gayle caught at mid-on in the ongoing IPL, bowling a straight-as-a-dart bouncer at Gayle's body and cramping him for room and once again, KKR went on to win. Kallis exploited a rather well-known but rarely used feature of Chris Henry's batting - he can never pull a cricket ball with reasonable success. 

Having watched Gayle's batting fairly closely, I have come to certain conclusions about him. The pull shot doesn't exist in his book, so bowling short and straight at his head annoys him very much. Further, being as tall as the Eiffel Tower, anything you throw down at Gayle is most unlikely on most pitches to reach high enough to make him pull it; if you don't have enough pace, the ball shall just sit up on him and say 'hit me', which he would love doing. Anything you bowl, no matter where you pitch it, would either be a length ball or a half-volley and God help the bowler then. So the only real option you've got against Gayle is to bowl him yorkers, 6 out of 6 balls, and with pin-point accuracy. If you miss your line or length by an inch, it's going to be in the second tier. Worse is to give him room to have a free swing. You let a foot's distance between Gayle's feet and the ball when it reaches him, and it won't be in the second tier - it'll be in the neighboring town.

Obviously, when your team isn't at the receiving end of the Gayle winds (thanks to Kallis, the Kolkata Knight Riders haven't so far), you want to see the ball be blown for as far as the eye can see. But for the larger good of the bowling community, will somebody stop him? Like always, only the West Indies Cricket Board seems like it can.

IPL 2012 - The Heroes and the Dopes

The IPL frenzy is here again! Most teams sport a newish look following the expulsion of the Kochi Tuskers Kerala, many having beefed up their resources well.

Here's my take on who the favorites are and whom I'm backing -

1) Kolkata Knight Riders -

My favorite and the team of my choice, KKR, have roped back in Brendon McCullum. But McCullum this time around would be greeted by a stronger, more potent batting line-up to work with. With Bradley Haddin already in the dugout, many believe that bringing in McCullum makes him redundant. Well, there's a simple flaw there. McCullum isn't equal to Haddin. McCullum is McCullum. Remember his ferocious fireworks display from the very first game of the League's history?

So why do I believe that McCullum would be more effective this time round than he was during his previous stint? It's for the simple reason that McCullum has the solid, comforting cushions of Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir around him this season. With two of the most solid batsmen going around in world cricket today around him, McCullum would be able to flash away at the opponent with greater freedom. A start of about 25-30 runs from the first 3 overs would be his task. Kallis and Gambhir would take over from there on with Shakib al Hasan's blistering form in the middle order and Yusuf Pathan's mad mauling to boot.

The bowling isn't empty either with Aussies Brett Lee and James Pattinson and South African Marchant de Lange in there. But here's the trouble. The team can only play four foreigners. If KKR decide to field McCullum, Kallis and Shakib, only one of the pacers can play. But with Kallis, Yusuf, Iqbal Abdulla, Rajat Bhatia and Laxmi Ratan Shukla giving him options, Gambhir might be able to breathe easier. But bowling is the biggest drawback of the Gold and Blacks/Violets.

2) Delhi Daredevils -

They were Team Virender Sehwag last season. This time around though, DD are playing World XI. Here's an excerpt of the team sheet - D Warner, V Sehwag, K Pietersen, M Jayawardene, R Taylor ... Anyone wants to bowl to the Daredevils? With many teams willing to let off some big guns during the transfers, DD have taken full toll!

They're currently a depleted outfit with all of the above, except Sehwag, out on tour or out on injury. But they still field a side with Irfan Pathan, Aaron Finch, Umesh Yadav, Roelof van der Merwe and Morne Morkel in it! That's fantastic bench strength. And that's why I pick them as number two for the season.

T20 is entertainment and Sehwag is skipper here. Do the crowds need more?

3) Royal Challengers Bangalore -

Chris Gayle is in town. And that's all they need. With Gayle scoring 100 runs in 10 overs all on his own, RCB have the freedom to play the worst XI they can think of, and still win. But if the Caribbean Pirate were to be called away by his whimsical cricket board, they have reinforcements - AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli, TM Dilshan, Dirk Nannes, Zaheer Khan and Magic Murali. Led by Danny Vettori from New Zealand, I'd say RCB seem the strongest on paper. But will they live it up?

4) Mumbai Indians -

Lasith Malinga has dedicated his life to this team. That counts out 4 overs for the opposition. For Malinga, flying in to fling the ball hard, is as mean as a miser. So will the opposition's batters make the most out of the other 16? No wait! Pragyan Ojha and Harbhajan Singh are in this side too! So count out another 8 overs.

Would batting be MI's weakness then? I wouldn't say that about a line-up which has Sachin Tendulkar and Kieron Pollard in it! So would I back MI to win this season? Well, to me, backing a team which has Harbhajan Singh as its captain would be rather unethical.

5) Kings XI Punjab -

If I had an IPL team, Adam Gilchrist would be in it and he'd be skipper. That's exactly what KXIP have got. Given a chance, these guys can field an all-Australian XI in every game - Adam Gilchrist, Shaun Marsh, David Hussey, Ryan Harris, Nathan Rimmington, James Faulkner. They've got one of the best bowling attacks in the competition, with Praveen Kumar and Stuart Broad amongst their ranks. Nonetheless, things simply haven't clicked for them in the IPL. They start minnows to me.

6) Chennai Super Kings -

It's Team India playing on the field. With MS Dhoni, Suresh Raina, Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin wearing their jersey, CSK is to the IPL what Barcelona is to the Spanish football league. They've also got Albie Morkel, Mike Hussey and Doug Bollinger! They've lost Big Matt Hayden and Wily Muralitharan and that meant they lost my support as well. But they're the defending champions. And that counts for a lot!

7) Rajasthan Royals -

RR will miss Shane Warne and that means Rahul Dravid would be leading them. A gritty team, but far from being amongst the strongest. Rajasthan still do have Watson, Botha, Hogg, Hodge and Tait. But the idea of letting off Ross Taylor so that the Daredevils can play a World XI, still baffles me.

8) Deccan Chargers -

Flamboyant is the word for them. Kumar Sangakkara, Cameron White, Dale Steyn, Jean-Paul Duminy and Dan Christian are part of their dugout. They've also got a guy whom I've often held to be one of the finest T20 bowlers around - Juan 'Rusty' Theron of South Africa. But why on Earth would one let away Kevin Pietersen in a T20 league?

9) Pune Warriors India -

Pune will be the Kolkata crowd's darling with 'Dada' Sourav Ganguly at the helm. Yuvraj Singh's unfortunate cancer means PWI would miss their flamboyant trumpcard. But don't count them out! In their dugout, when all players are available, would be Graeme Smith, Michael Clarke, Mitchell Marsh and another guy whom I hold up to be the finest T20 bowler around - Alfonso Thomas. Murali Kartik's T20 experience would come in handy as well.

Bangladesh Cricket - Lessons of Passion and Team Work

It was the 18th of June 2005, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom. Former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds strolled around the pleasant little town ahead of Australia's first game of the NatWest series. "It's only Bangladesh!" he thought. As the teams entered the Sophia Gardens and the crowd filled in (a small crowd), many expected a stereotypical mauling from the all-conquering Aussies. They made 249 runs in their 50 overs batting first. Many thought they might as well have declared for 150! But the 'minnows' were in a mood to upset the applecart. Riding on a phenomenal 100 from Mohammad Ashraful, Bangladesh roared their way to 250-5 in 49.2 overs. The most shocking game of cricket had just been played out. And as Aftab Ahmed and Mohammad Rafique celebrated one of the finest and most inspiring wins in the history of the game, Adam Gilchrist looked on from behind. He knew he was witnessing a new chapter in world cricket - one that despite lacking in statistical strength, was by far going to be one of the most inspiring.

Bangladesh weren't done yet. Dav Whatmore (their coach back then) had just started his magic. (Remember: Whatmore coached Arjuna Ranatunga's Sri Lankan team to a World Cup title in 1996) Two years later, at the Queen's Park Oval, Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, Bangladesh shocked India out of the World Cup 2007. Batting first, an already under-turmoil Indian team was shot out for a measly 191. After that, there was little doubt about who was going into the next round and who was going home. Bangladesh's team work had done it again!

But was that all? By no means! Later the same year, Bangladesh chased down a challenging 165 against the West Indies (they had Christopher Henry Gayle in their ranks back then) in the World Twenty20 in South Africa. Once again, skipper Ashraful showed off his fantastic abilities with the bat, hammering 61 runs in 27 balls. But to me, the Man of the Match yet again was Bangladesh's team spirit.

The long journey is not over yet. Qualification to the Asia Cup finals of 2012 having beaten both the World Cup finalists in back-to-back games is perhaps Bangladesh's greatest cricketing achievement yet. But I expect more in the coming years.

But what makes Bangladesh special? Do they have big names? Habibul Bashar, Mohammad Ashraful, Mashrafe Mortaza and, now, Shakib-al-Hasan were and are certainly great players in their own right, but in the cricketing world, they'd hardly qualify as big names. So why have Bangladesh succeeded in doing what Zimbabwe, Kenya and others like them haven't been able to do in so long?

What makes Bangladesh such an inspiration is that they're probably one of the only teams in world cricket in a long time who've understood and highlighted the fact that cricket is a team game. Dav Whatmore, to me, deserves a lot of accolades. Remember his stint with Sri Lanka. When Sri Lanka entered the World Cup of 1996, they were barely the favorites! They certainly did have Ranatunga, Jayasuriya, Muralitharan, Aravinda de Silva and Vaas amongst them, but again, at the time, not really big names. Sri Lanka won the World Cup of 1996 through the greatest of great strengths - team spirit. And as Whatmore flew into Dhaka, he brought in with him the same old idea of 'team spirit', teaching his young kids that to win a game, it wasn't enough if you performed alone - you also have to back the others and make them perform just as well.

Watching Bangladesh on the field is a treat. They're certainly nowhere close to being a skilled and crafty unit. But they play intense. They wear their hearts on their sleeves and give 105% in all that they do. They're not easily satisfied by personal milestones of hundreds or five-fors. They want the same for their fellow teammates as well! They're passionate about their cricket and fearless against the Big Boys. They're out there to enjoy their game and keep it to that - short and simple.

Like Symonds said, "they're only Bangladesh," and that's why they're so special!

Virat Kohli - An Extraordinary Batsman! But - let him be

Virat Kohli is off to a flyer! The kid is just 23 years old but has played 8 tests and 85 ODIs, blasting his way to 11 hundreds in limited overs cricket and boasting of statistics that the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Ricky Ponting, Brian Lara and Stephen Waugh would have envied at his age. He's even played two World Cups, winning both, one as captain and the other as an irreplaceable player. He's the fastest to 11 hundreds in ODI cricket in terms of games played and on comparison of his stats to the great men mentioned above when they were his age, he's miles ahead. He's now the talk of the town in the World of Cricket. Many call him the 'next big thing' and say he's destined to become a legend!

Well, there's not much to disagree upon there! But nonetheless, Kohli's just come in. He's getting settled, seems to be in his comfort zone, is in the form of his life! But - let him be.

India's fanatic cricket-loving public often tend to blow things out of proportion, making mountains out of molehills and finally decrying it all when things go wrong. Kohli is fantastically well talented. He's got the intensity to make it big at the highest level. He's got commitment in bundles for his team in whatever he does. He's got the aggression that the team desperately needs in these dire circumstances.

But with great power comes great responsibility. With Rahul Dravid gone and Sachin Tendulkar growing old (yes, he's mortal), Virat Kohli shoulders the responsibility of holding together a batting line-up that represents 1.2 billion hearts. The last thing he now needs is added pressure from his followers, goading him to do some number-chasing and unfairly comparing him to great legends of the past and present.

Virat Kohli is young and is learning everyday. He's got his own troubles - a tendency to get easily frustrated when things are going awry and a loose tongue (not to mention his fingers) on the field. In short, he's hot blooded. But then, every youngster is! A youngster becomes a stalwart only when he grows out of it, depending on simple self-belief to get in top performances rather than on expletives and fiery fury.

But what makes Legends like Tendulkar, Ponting, Lara and Waugh? Is it their numbers? It certainly is. But Legends go much beyond just mere numbers. They are men who have stood the test of time and the rigors of changing tides of international cricket not for one year or two years or three years, but for over a decade and more! They are men who have played a variety of bowlers, faced a variety of oppositions in a variety of conditions over more than just one generation of players and have still come out on top. But have their careers been flawless? Certainly not! A man whose career has been flawless is not a legend. He simply hasn't played enough.

Kohli's times of tension shall come. They must come, inevitably. If they don't come, it means he's still just a 'new kid on the block'. Many talented young men like him have come and gone - causing strong ripples across the World of Cricket, just like he does today, but fading away with time, all too short-lived. Kohli must guard himself against that. His primary objective right now is to play his heart out for his country. The world must not divert him from that and push him into number-chasing. One does not set out with the intention of becoming a legend. One sets out with the intention of winning his country glory against the test of time, hence becoming a legend. But for now, Virat Kohli is an extraordinary batsman but nothing more.

Super Sachin buried under the Stats

"When I was 10 years old, I used to sleep with my bat under my pillow. I used to visualize myself waving my bat at a cheering Indian crowd after scoring a century. I believe in childhood dreams."

Sachin Tendulkar said the above line in an interview to the Times Of India on the completion of 20 years of international cricket for India. It's now March 2012 and Sachin Tendulkar is into his 23rd year of living his childhood dreams. Tendulkar's comment above is one of the most inspirational lines ever. Tendulkar's statistics are even more mind-boggling - 15470 runs in 188 Test matches with 51 hundreds at an average of 55.44, 18260 runs in 461 ODI games with 49 hundreds at an average of 44.64. I wouldn't go into the world records. They are far too long to type out and there are far too many to cover. In a nutshell, Sachin Tendulkar has done everything a man made out of flesh and bones holding a piece of willow in his hand can do on a 22-yard-long piece of land.


But Beside The Point, Sachin Tendulkar's super-stats quite often tend to become bigger than the man himself, leading fans and followers to forget the man behind the big figures.


On reaching his 100th international ton against Bangladesh at Dhaka (that's 10000 runs in hundreds alone!), Tendulkar looked up into the sky, symbolically dedicating yet another milestone to his long-gone inspiration - his father. And as he lifted his bat in the air, the exasperation of 370 days of going century-less showed rather clearly on his face. At the end of the innings, Tendulkar made himself clear - 

"It's been a tough phase for me. I was not thinking about the milestone, the media started all this, where ever I went, the restaurant, room service, everyone was talking about the 100th hundred. Nobody talked about my 99 hundreds."

Tendulkar has often been compelled to change his natural game in order to break records. He's never enjoyed batting in the 90s. He's never enjoyed batting 10 runs short of a world record. 100 often seems twice as good as 99. 10000 seems thrice as good as 9999! Tendulkar's career has often been reduced to numbers. Often, the number-chasing not just bogs down Tendulkar, but it also hurts the team. 


Sample this -


Tendulkar, apart from his 100 international hundreds, has been dismissed in the 'nervous 90s' 10 times in Test matches and 18 times in ODI cricket. That in itself is a world record! Out of the 49 hundreds that Tendulkar has scored in ODI cricket for India, the team has gone on to lose 27% of the time. That compares rather poorly when contrasted against Ricky Ponting (Australia has won 86% of the time when he scores a 100), Sanath Jayasuriya (Sri Lanka has won 86% of the time) and Virender Sehwag (India has won a whopping 93% of the games in which Sehwag scores a 100!).


There seems to be no doubt that number-chasing hasn't worked too well for Tendulkar. It's led to a lot of turmoil! So why can that be? Well, he said it himself! "The media started it." Tendulkar's performances have very often been blown beyond the team. The country and its people often look at the player as an individual rather than a team-man. Indians don't really care if India loses the game in case Tendulkar breaks records in it. There is constant pressure on the man to go from 10000 to 15000 to 17000 to 18000 to 20000 and beyond. It's all about numbers. It's all about stats.


When the records don't come, he is out of form. When the team loses, it's because of him. For many, Tendulkar is Team India. His stats are the stuff of legend and he is buried under them. But how many times have we looked at Tendulkar, the team player? How many times have we looked at the man behind the numbers? Allow him play his natural game while he's at it. Because that's why he's there!

Irfan Pathan - Another Instance in a Growing Trend?

Irfan Pathan is back! And he's back in 'full swing'. After a long hiatus, Irfan, who also happens to be my favorite Indian all-rounder in a long time, has fought off almost everything a cricketer can find in his way. "In life, you have more bad days than good days. I just try to enjoy every moment," said Irfan on his comeback tour to Australia. It's hard to dislike somebody like Irfan Pathan. He's out there giving 100%, whether in form or not. He never lets his famous smile fade away even in misery. And his unending reservoir of energy certainly does quite a bit to fire up the others around him! For Indian cricket today, he is the Comeback Kid! And it's about time too.

But Beside The Point, Irfan's comeback tells a story about Indian pacemen. Irfan isn't the first to make a remarkable comeback of this sort after a long holiday from the Indian dressing room due to injury, form issues or other unknown/concealed reasons.

Rewind back to early 2006, when Zaheer Khan was dropped after continually dismal performances. In the 2003 World Cup final against Australia at the Wanderers in Johannesburg, Zaheer, opening the bowling, bowled an unending string of wides in his first over, granting the bulldozing Aussies a flying start which they gleefully capitalized upon to end up with 359 mammoth runs for the loss of just 2 wickets. Zaheer failed to improve and, in 2005, the BCCI dropped him from the Grade-B contract to the Grade-C contract. Zaheer got flayed during the 2006 tour to Pakistan. Many proclaimed the end of his career. Zaheer struggled to find rhythm and control in his accuracy, variety in bowling and menace in his pace and skill. All in vain. Zaheer ended up in the wilderness for nearly a year, during which time he went over to England to spend his time playing cricket for Worcestershire.

That holiday did the trick! Zaheer came back into the team late in 2006 for the tour to South Africa due to injuries to mainstream pacemen. The Zaheer who flew into Johannesburg then was a completely different Zaheer to the one who was earlier flayed by batsmen in different parts of the world. He decided to pick on Graeme Smith and the poor South African skipper had trouble playing more than 4 deliveries from the rediscovered Zaheer Khan. The man swung it a mile! But the harder part was that you could never tell if he'd swing it into you or away. Zaheer bowled with extraordinary ease, getting wickets at will and making the ball dance in the air. All of a sudden, in a matter of a month or so, India had gotten back its premier fast bowler - smarter, sharper and slier.

Munaf told a similar story, finding himself in the dark woods after a string of terrible performances, before making an extraordinary return during the 2011 World Cup at home. Munaf went on to become one of India's many successes in the World Cup triumph - frustrating the opposite end with nagging accuracy.

Looking into Irfan's story, one finds on comparison with Zaheer's and Munaf's stories the wonders that a short holiday of sorts can do to a young Indian paceman who seems to have lost everything. Instead, on bringing him back a year or so later, you tend to rediscover an all new lethal weapon - more skillful and full of guile. The new Irfan Pathan seems to bowl with greater adaptability. He seems to sense the pitch and the conditions early and decide on what sort of a role to assume - wicket-taking or run-containing. He's regained some of that spectacular swing that he'd seemed to have lost after shocking Pakistan in Karachi with a Test hattrick. He's hungrier and fitter, smarter and sharper.

But next on the list - can we do the same to Shanthakumaran Sreesanth?

Rahul Dravid - Putting Indian Cricket First

"If you play a lot of games, you can pile up a lot of numbers."

That comment above puts, in a sentence of his own words, Rahul Dravid's approach to cricket. Dravid didn't care much for big, astronomical figures. He wasn't interested in adding zeroes to his run account or boasting of world records. To him, the team came first. India was paramount. The Indian fan was paramount. He never considered himself to be beyond the game or beyond the team, even. To him, he was a representative of India and strived to add to its glories.

His comment at the Don Bradman Oration in Australia late last year put in a nutshell the reverence he had for the country, its cricket and, more importantly, its diverse people -

"Indian cricket is not all about money and power, it is something else. It is the only dressing room in the world where 15 players speak 15 different languages and yet play together for the love of cricket".

But Beside The Point, what strikes me most is his willingness to lead from the front, time and again, putting Indian Cricket first. Recall the incredible 2001 Kolkata Test against Steve Waugh's rampaging Australians - can there ever be a greater Test victory for the Indian team? Walking in to join VVS Laxman in a situation where even the most optimistic fairytale prince would have given up hope, Dravid, ill and on antibiotics, demolished Australia's well-founded hopes with a classic 180, snatching victory where there seemed to be none. Or in 2003, in Adelaide, once again against Steve Waugh's legendary Aussie team, when Rahul Dravid with his trusted sidekick, VVS Laxman, plotted the downfall of the Kangaroos in their own backyard. Who would have thought that India would ever win a Test match on Aussie soil against that incredible unit! Dravid made the impossible. But again! In 2002, against England on a green turf at Headingley where you'd rather graze cows than bat, Dravid dug in, sweating out over 400 minutes, making 148 runs, putting India first, giving them an extraordinary victory on English soil. Nasser Hussain, the English skipper, was flummoxed! But for Dravid, it was nothing new. Yes, Dravid believed in the impossible. He believed in standing his ground for hours together, tiring the hapless opposition with a stubborn straight bat, hitting the ball onto the ground ball after ball, over after over, session after session, day after day. McGrath, Akram, Lee, Flintoff, Akhtar, Harmison, they all came running in, but the Wall would not be breached. Not until the Wall decided to let go himself! Laxman said his friend suffered from dehydration almost all the time. Well, the reason is all too obvious, isn't it?

But Dravid's credentials at putting the team first go much beyond his batsmanship. They, rather controversially at times, influenced his captaincy as well. On the famous tour to Pakistan in 2003-04, Dravid, as stand-in captain for an injured Sourav Ganguly, declared the Indian innings with Sachin Tendulkar on 194*. Many cried foul and called it 'sacrilege'. Mumbai, almost immediately, went ablaze. Tendulkar himself came back to the dressing room rather sulkily. But that's how it was for Rahul Dravid. The team came first, irrespective of who or what is batting out there in the middle. Dravid won back some captaincy credentials later on though, beating Sri Lanka 6-1 at home in 2005. Dravid then won 14 ODI games on the trot, as captain, to beat the earlier record set by the West Indies for most consecutive ODI wins. But all was to be forgotten as India got pummeled and pasted, pulverized and punished in the 2007 World Cup. India exited at the end of the first round and on arriving at home, Dravid exited the Bangalore Airport through the cargo gate. Angry fans shouted slogans, calling for his axing. Dravid, the captain, was all but over. Dravid, the batsman, though, wasn't done yet. He went on to amass runs on the tour to England and remained India's most dependable, putting Indian cricket first.

Dravid retired from international cricket on the 9th of March, once more, putting Indian cricket first. The team is in crisis. Young talented men are having to be satisfied with a seat on the bench for months together after having traveled nearly half the world across to England and Australia. Selectors are struggling, lacking the guts and determination to phase out the senior citizens of Indian cricket, much in contrast to their Australian counterparts (they threw away Ricky Ponting without a second thought!) But Dravid decided to put his hand up, lead from the front, selflessly stepping aside and setting a much-needed trend for his other legendary comrades to follow. "It's time for the next generation", he said.

Rahul Dravid takes his willow into the sunset. Indian cricket just lost its most selfless servant. The world of cricket just lost its most dignified citizen.

Indian Cricket - Basking in Glory One Day, Rolling in Mud the Next

When you look at the Indian Cricket Team's sky blue (or is it marine blue?) jersey, towards the top right corner, just above the BCCI's much famous emblem, you'd see a new addition post the 2011 World Cup win - three golden stars - standing for the three greatest (arguably) achievements in Indian sport - World Cups 1983, 2007, 2011.

Indian cricket, through its extraordinary fan base at home, has been able to raise a simple game into a huge commercial market - one of the biggest corporate industries in Indian history. As a result, the BCCI has been able to make its name, breaking records, becoming the world's largest and richest sport governing body yet. Players here, are not just players. They are sought after celebrities! There is hardly any commercial on television these days in the country which doesn't feature a cricket star.

In 2008, the BCCI, emulating (atleast in an attempt to do so) football's English Premier League brought in the Indian Premier League - done with an intention to discover latent hidden talent in the vast hinterland of the country. Well, atleast that's what the BCCI said at the presser! Here's my take - the BCCI wanted to choke out the rebel Indian Cricket League set up by Zee Network's Subhash Chandra which had the big, influential support of Kapil Dev. Here's how the ICL started - Zee Sports was denied broadcasting rights by the BCCI for a particular India series. Zee Network vowed revenge, and they had it. The ICL took the stuffings out of Indian domestic cricket, pulling young talent out and mocking the BCCI. The BCCI had enough! They let loose Lalit Kumar Modi and his fantastic brainchild - the IPL. The IPL was a big hit! It had everything that a business enterprise in India ought to have to succeed - Cricket, Corporates and Celebrities. Millions of dollars in cash were being doled out by the Rich and Famous of the Indian society, and players were being sold like goats in a butcher's shop. In short, Indian cricket and the Indian Rupee, both, were losing their value, being mocked at.

In the 2009 edition of the IPL, lured by the whopping success and the astronomical digits of currency that featured in the previous edition, many in the ICL fold began to leave, and through the generous and humanitarian 'amnesty' offered by the BCCI, joined the IPL and started to count the cash. The IPL moved to South Africa - due to security concerns following the 26/11 fireworks in Mumbai. Well, again, that's what the BCCI said at the presser. But LK Modi had bigger ideas - he was moving out to capture a whole new market, one that promised more cash to the kitty. Another success, and Modi promised South Africa that he'd be back one more time. He came back alright! But this time, not with the IPL. He came back with something completely new! Something at the international level - modeled (or so he claimed) on football's Champions League. Now, South Africans, rather than supporting Mumbai and Bangalore, got the chance to support Cape Town and Durban! 

Yet another success. Lalit K Modi was becoming a phenomenon - one that was growing even bigger than the BCCI itself! The BCCI now had enough of him. "How on Earth could one non-cricketing individual take over attention from the sporting world's largest governing body?! Who the hell is this idiot?!" They let the cat out of the bag. Scams started flying all over the place! In a couple of days' time, Lalit K Modi, the phenomenon, was becoming the Most Wanted Man to sleuths across the country. Lalit K Modi was finally dumped into the nearest gutter. He was gone. And to this day, he lives in a God foresaken locality, somewhere in the world where none shall trouble him (only he can trouble others!)

Meanwhile, the players were basking in the glory, bathing in money. Some of them bought motorcars, aircraft and choppers with the money, some others used it for hair transplant and still others threw it around the house, not knowing what to do with it. Young men 17, 18, 19 years of age were earning in a day what Sunny Gavaskar and Kris Srikkanth earned in half their careers! Money took centrestage, cricket followed it closely behind. 

But the IPL wasn't all bad - it threw up raw, young, energetic talent that might have gone to rot if it hadn't been detected. Meanwhile, the national team sat in the sidelines. Gary Kirsten, the erstwhile coach, cried from behind the stage that his players were slowly tiring out, getting exhausted and losing match fitness. India failed in a couple of World Twenty20 tournaments, ironically, both held immediately after the IPL. What was supposed to be training for the World Championship, became the cause for failure! Foreign legends like Ricky Ponting and Michael Clarke wisely chose to stay away. "Australia is more important than Mumbai or Kolkata," they said. It was out in the open - 50 days of non-stop, rigorous, competitive T20 was taking its toll on what people finally discovered to be 'human bodies'. "T20 letting down the nation!", people cried.

In 2011, India entered the World Cup tournaments as hosts and frontline favorites. The team prepared hard, Gary Kirsten worked hard, trying to help India win the Cup after 28 years. The world, seemingly, was behind India. They were fascinated by India's meteoric rise - dethroning the all-conquering Australians and claiming the top spot in Test cricket. Legends and experts warned India against lowering their guard. Sir Vivian Richards famously said, "I'll tell you from experience that the favorites don't have a divine right to victory." Finally, by God's grace and by some fantastic display of guts, grit and gamesmanship, Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the World Cup trophy on the 2nd of April, 2011 at the Wankhede in Mumbai. Sachin Tendulkar made a record 99 international hundreds (a figure on which he remains to this day). Amazingly, Rahul Dravid was left out of this historic squad (not that he was ever under consideration in this form of the game). The talk of senior citizens to be phased out from Indian cricket was immediately overshadowed by what is today the third Golden Star on the Indian jersey. Gary Kirsten resigned as his contract came to an end. Many begged him to stay him on, some even offered him citizenship! (not a bad idea) But Guru Gary was homesick and wanted to go back to Cape Town. At any rate, he'd done for the Indians what he had initially promised he'd do! 

But as summer comes to an end, winter follows on its heels. And so, Indian cricket quickly ran into trouble. No sooner had Gary Kirsten's flight landed in Cape Town than the Indian team lost quite remarkably and most shockingly in England, meekly surrendering their top spot to the Poms, only after a week or two ago, beating the Caribbean schoolboys black and blue in their own backyard. A whitewash of the cleanest proportions! Indian cricket's weaknesses were quickly exposed - their senior citizens (or the Terrific Trio) were aging faster than the speed of light. Their young batters, fed well on flat tracks back home, couldn't cope up with the swinging fortunes of the Duke ball in England. The Indians returned without a game in the bag, but the troubles were downplayed and quickly forgotten as the Englishmen came over to India, only to get pummeled. Shortly afterwards, the Caribbean schoolboys came over as well, and left with fractured ambitions, taking quite a beating at the hands of a suddenly furious and ferocious Virender Sehwag. "Yes, I need to get some runs. I will now go get some runs," said Sehwag a day before he decided to, not just surpass, but shatter to pieces Tendulkar's record for the highest ODI score. 219 - Sehwag was basking in glory. Gayle called the mauling 'child abuse'. Pietersen said he hadn't played like that even in his dreams! And so, just a few weeks after the England mauling, Indian cricket was back, basking in the glory. It became certain that the Indians were tigers at home and cats outside. 

Soon, the Australia tour followed. The recent successes at home pushed the Indians to think that this was 'India's best chance to win in Australia'. After all, the Aussies had just gotten thrown out of South Africa, made to break dubious records, before neighbors New Zealand came over to aggravate the tensions and add insult to injury by winning a Test at Hobart! 

The Aussies are angry and wounded. Their ego had taken quite a beating! And who better to pour out the emotions on than the Indians? After all, it was the Indians who, the last time they'd come over, beat a legendary Aussie team in the Commonwealth Bank! It was the Indians who, just last year, dumped them out of the World Cup Quarterfinals! Going back even further in time, it was the Indians who, in Kolkata, had ended Steve Waugh's amazing run in Test victories! The kangaroos waited at home, sharpening their knives, looking to slice away at the famous Indians who were still basking in the glory of having stamped their authority back home. The Indians, sure enough, landed at Melbourne. And the Aussies, sure enough, feasted on them. It was nothing short of a pasting! Another whitewash of the cleanest proportions - and the Aussies had undone all that the South Africans and the New Zealanders had done to them over the last half year. Michael Clarke basked in the glory as the Indians, for the second time in less than a year, rolled in the mud. Clarke broke all his personal records at will as his teammates had a ball. The out-of-form senior citizen of Australian cricket, Ricky Ponting, won back some pride towards the sunset of his career (hasn't retired yet, mind you!).

The Indians called for reinforcements. The senior citizens ran back home as people called for their sacking - all except one - the man who was above all scrutiny, perhaps even above the team - Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin, the Legend, was still on 99. And even though his friend Shane Warne predicted with definite certainty that the magical 100 would be on Australian soil, Sachin unfortunately proved the famous fortune teller wrong.