Saurav or Dravid?

In a few hours from now India will know who their cricket captain is. Will Dravid continue in his new role or will Saurav be made captain again.

It would not be fair to judge Dravid based on the triangular in Srilanka alone as it is too short a period for any captain to prove his worth. To his credit, Dravid performed well with the bat in the triseries and was on the attack even when India were looking to defend low totals. However, it must be said that the way he handled his bowling resources left a lot to be desired. Inexplicably, mistakes were repeated in two consecutive games against Srilanka and India never gained any momentum in the tournament.

I for one for feel that Saurav Ganguly must be made captain again for it is in India's best interests. It would be very unfair to Saurav if he were dropped from captaincy after one bad series against Pakistan. The selectors had no alternative but to name Dravid captain for the triangular as Saurav had to serve his 4 match ban. At the end of the day its not about Dravid, not about Ganguly, its about who would do a better job in leading India.

A word about India's performance. India's fielding left one with mixed emotions. At times they were quite sharp and effected quite a few run outs. However the ground fielding and catching was pathetic at times with Virendar Sehwag in particular having a horrible time. I also reckon India never managed to get their balance right. If they did play only 6 batsmen, numbers 7 and 8 should be bowlers who can bat. Pathan would be a good number 7 but none of the other bowlers India played in the finals (Zaheer,Nehra,Bhajji,Kumble) would make a good number 8. Ideally India should've played JP Yadav who could bat at 8 and also bowl his quota of overs. Great one day teams cannot be made with one dimensional cricketers. You have got have atleast 2-3 players who can contribute with both bat and ball, and a top fielding outfit. India have some brilliant fielders (Kaif,Yuvraj) and some very average ones.

Greg Chappell must be given some time to settle into the new job, and Zimbabwe will provide India an ideal platform for India to experiment with their combinations and gain momentum ahead of a crucial season. I am confident that India will be able to put their indifferent form behind and Chappell-Ganguly lead India to a new era, one where Team India should aim towards the goal of becoming the best team in the world.

Cricket the winner at Edgbaston

An absolute thriller of a contest, two giants exchanging powerful blows and a deserving win for one of them at the end of it all.In the larger picture of things, the game of cricket was definitely the winner. No,oh no, I'm definitely not talking about the Indian oil cup here, its all about the ashes. Thats right,a series which has lived up to every ounce of the expectation that preceded it.A superhuman effort from that giant amongst giants, Freddie Flintoff, all but clinched the test match for England, until the never say die Aussie spirit came to the fore. When Australia were 7 down chasing 282 needing more than 130 to win, Michael Clarke kept taking singles and 'exposing' Shane Warne to a fired up English attack. I thought that it was a bit mundane, given that he should have tried to face as many balls as possible himself, but the aussie approach, almost, proved us wrong yet again. They were positive till the very end. England were given a scare, to lose from a position of near invincibility would have shattered the english morale no end and it might well have been the end of another Ashes dream. However, like the phoenix, England have emerged again from the Ashes and are ready for battle.



After the win, the sight of Freddie consoling a battered Brett Lee (physically and mentally bruised) emphasised the good spirt the game was played in. On the field, during the game, not an inch was asked for, and not one given. The moment the game ended, Freddie walked up to a shattered Lee and offered him words of comfort. Great game, cricket.

Until the final day, it was a test match comprehensively dominated by England. They pulverised the Aussie bowlers into submission, ending up with a 400 plus total, after punter ponting perhaps took a wrong punt on the pitch. Trescothick got England off to a brilliant start, Pietersen and Freddie laid the foundations for the test match win. After bowled Australia out and securing a 99 run lead, England were 'Warned' by Australia but Flintoff was having none of that. He crucified Kasprowich and belted Lee to all parts of the ground. The Aussies, set 282 to win, never looked in the contest, with England looking inspired on the field until their lower order flourished.The tension was unbearable as Lee and Kasprowich raced towards the winning target. With Flintoff unable to provide the winning breakthrough, Harmy did with an absolute ripper to Kasprowich and a good catch by Geraint Jones resulted in a 2 run win for England and the end of a great test match, one that shall be remembered for decades to come.

'Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust, if Freddie doesn't get you, Harmy must'...and he sure did

Karthik

The ashes are alive and kicking

What a marvelous series this is turning out to be already! England, for all their bowling efforts, were pummelled in the first test by Mcgrath and Warne. If this was the English team under Athers or Stewie, there would definitely have been changes in the team, for no fault of the skippers whatsoever. However England retained their playing eleven, a step which has given all the confidence in the world to their players, not least of all, the much criticised Ashely Giles.

The moment England discovered that Mcgrath was not going to play in the test match they must have felt a huge sense of relief. For once, the luck was favouring them. Ask Nasser Hussain: Simon Jones suffered a terrible injury in Australia which put him out of the whole series, Flintoff and Thorpe hardly played against Australia, in fact this is Freddie's first ever series. The luck off the field soon spilt into it as Strauss was dropped by Warne at slip. From that moment on it was all England. It was a sensational day of test cricket with some of the cleanest hitting you will ever see. Marcus Trescothick played an innings full of gorgeous drives and took the attack to Shane Warne. The key to playing Warne, is to make him think harder by taking the attack to him, and thats precisely what England did. Pietersen and Flintoff came in at a crucial stage of the game and their partnership established England's dominance in the game. Flintoff used his power to good use, thumping some hige sixes. The shot of the day came from Kevin Pietersen when he flicked a delivery outside the off stump to the midwicket boundary with minimal effort. It oozed class and would have done VVS laxman proud.

England have bowled well and restricted Australia to 308 with Ashley Giles coming to the party. Under tremdendous pressure, Giles gave a fitting reply to his critics with 3 fine wickets and a good spell of left arm spin. England are now 124 runs ahead with 9 wickets in hand. This is too big an opportunity to be missed and England have to go to Old Trafford with the series level.