England, your test begins now!

English cricket has seen a remarkable rise in past two to three years. From a weak, timid side they have transformed into a ferocious and a ruthless unit. I was looking at some statistics. These statistics reinforced the dominance of England in past few years. In the past three years, England has played 35 matches and have won 18 of them and lost just 6 games. English team has great mix with enormous depth in the fast bowling unit. They have found a solid opening pair to whether the new ball and also a decent middle order. They have also found a very good off-spinner - a species which is very rare in England. With Swan, England get a great balance. Even the famous team under Vaughan had a spinner in the form of Giles, whose role was merely to contain. But now they have a spinner who can get the very best into trouble.

But if one looks at the statistics more carefully, one would find that, England have played 18 of the 35 test matches at home and have won 14 of them.  3 of the wins came in the Australia during the famous Ashes win and 1 in South Africa. All the wins in the past few years have come in conditions favorable for the faster bowlers.I am not trying to take the sheen away from the growth of England but they have not yet been tested in conditions which they do not enjoy very much. They are yet to win in the sub-continent. The hammering they received at the hands of Pakistan opens up the question if England can be the same dominating force in a place where the conditions are exactly opposite to what they find back home in the UK.

England find themselves in a juncture very similar to what the Indians found themselves last summer, just before their tour of England. India had come to England with a couple of 2-0 victories against Australia 1-1 against South Africa at home and away, victories against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka and in the West Indies. England was the first real test and they failed miserably and the slide carried forward to Australia. England would be wary not fall into the same trap as India did.

Playing spin would be the biggest test for the English batsmen

Clearly, England have been fantastic in conditions which assist fast bowling. Their pace attack has a lot of depth and have found a great mix in the team which makes them a near-invincible unit. But, for the first time in quite sometime they are put in a very alien place. The English batsman have real tough task ahead of them- that is to play the spinning ball. Their batsmen are not used to the ball turning square, keeping low and 3-5 men around the bat making life even more uncomfortable. They need to figure out which ball spins, which does not and which one goes the other way. Spin at both ends with men around the bat on wearing pitch is the dish England have not tasted lately and it will be interesting to see how they react to it.

While playing Pakistan, their bowling will not tested to the same extent as their batting owing to the fact that the Pakistani batting is still very fragile. But if they come to India the test would be bigger. Suresh Raina would look a completely different batsman in India and Anderson will not get that vicious movement. Even Shane Warne did not make a huge impression in India, and Swan may not either.

England have a huge test in front of them. For this team Asia is the place where they are yet to stamp their foot and leave a mark. Will this English turn around and stamp its authority in Dubai or will they succumb to spinning ball?

One thing is assured. England would be one of the closely watched teams in the cricketing fraternity. Everyone would be looking forward to see if they can translate their dominance at home to the sub-continent. A huge test lies ahead of England and the question everyone is asking is will England conquer the 'Final Frontier'?

Don't blame the IPL now!

After the humiliating loss for India at the Perth Test, reactions have started pouring in. Many former players like Micheal Vaughan and Bishen Singh Bedi seem to blame the IPL for the slide in Indian Cricket.

I am pretty certain, I will disagree to it. On the contrary, I believe that IPL will help Test Cricket grow and survive. The purists see the IPL as the manifestation of this rich monster called BCCI, which would eventually kill the game's purest version. But far from being the monster, it may well be the panacea for many of the woes of test match cricket.

India loosing abroad is not new. In fact India spent the entire decade of the 1990s without a single test match win overseas. India went, lost, came back and then forgot. There was no IPL then. So, suddenly these defeats cannot be attributed to the IPL. Before we start pointing our fingers to the IPL, it is worth looking at all the good it has done.

IPL is a huge platform where everyone gets to showcase their talents. From playing Ranji cricket in front of empty stands suddenly these young Indians are moved to packed stadiums. All of a sudden they start playing along side the best in the world.

 Let us also not forget that it is courtesy IPL that we have players like David Warner are coming up. It is this new and exciting brand of cricket that will keep test match cricket in great health. Warner has showed that success in T20 format can be translated into Test Match cricket as well. Traditionally opening in test match cricket meant that one had be technically exact with the book. Openers were expected to score not more than two and half runs an over. They were expected to bat long and take the shine away from the new ball. With the advent of players like Sehwag, Warner, Dilshan and Watson there is transition to the openers being the game makers. They now make use of the new ball by crunching it t different parts of the ground. Now they make use of attacking fields and hit over the top. This radically new approach to cricket would have never come to being if we did not have shorter versions of the game.

 Cricket is unique sport which is played in three different formats and each one of them helps the other in improving the cricketing standards. For instance ODI cricket brought speed into test match cricket and we started getting more and more games with results. Similarly, T20 and IPL are likely to benefit improve the other two forms of the game.

Indian cricket has also benefited from IPL. It was here in IPL that Suresh Raina got back into form. India unearthed Ravichandran Ashwin from IPL. Rahul Sharma who has not yet made a mark in international cricket but who seems to have the potential is an IPL product.  Players like Irfan Pathan get a chance to come back because of this tournament. Ravindra Jadeja who has real future in the Indian team was also spotted in the IPL. IPL is a format where the young Indian players, who would never have been noticed get a chance to rub shoulders with the legends of them. They get to compete with them. They get a stage where playing well would leave a huge impression. I am pretty sure, IPL has done more good than bad to cricket and Indian cricket in particular.

IPL allows players from Netherlands (like Ryan Ten Doeschate) to play at big stage get recognized. Such, opportunities for these talented players from non-test playing nations do not come easily. If  Ryan Ten Doeschate can take his game to a new level in IPL, it will encourage the other young talents from Holland to take the game seriously. This could be the stepping stone to spread cricket around the world.  Surely, we cannot take a 5-day match around the world. It is this shortest format, which can get people into cricket. Once, they are into the T20 cricket we can hope that the interest percolates into test matches as well.

IPL in the long run has some great things to offer. At the same time there could some aspects which may not be so good for cricket. For instance it may allow the wounds of defeat in test match cricket heal far too early. But, that does not mean we throw it out of the window. We need to find a way to work with it such that we can reap all the benefits of IPL and yet not loose anything from it.

Perth Test: Day 3

After the 4-0 loss in England, one must have felt that this was the lowest ebb, Indian team could go to and there was only uphill from here. But in Australia India have continued their woeful form overseas and have gone further down.

Just over 7 sessions is what it took for Australia to maul the Indians and take a 3-0 lead in the series. Before the series began Australia were the side which had issues to be sorted out. This was considered one big opportunity for India to finally win a series down under. Many even considered India to be favorites coming into the series. Far from being able to win here, India have failed to compete in this series except for the first 3 days at the MCG. In fact, India have failed to recover from 4th Day collapse at MCG and it has been downhill since then.

After being 88/4 at stumps, a miraculous effort was required if India had to fancy any chances in the game. Dravid and Kohli batted solidly for the first one hour before Rahul Dravid was yet again bowled in this series. Now, he has got bowled the maximum number of times in the history of Test Match cricket. After the fall of Rahul Dravid, the rest of the Indian batting collapsed within 36 runs. MS Dhoni failed yet again to make an impression on foreign soil. He was caught in the slips by Ricky Ponting.

After the Lunch break, Hilfenhous picked up 3 wickets in the same over, reducing India to 171/9. In the very next over Siddle dismissed Kohli and with it sealing the series 3-0.

The only positive for India has been Virat Kohli. He has showen real skill and ability at the Test level. He has also justified the long run given to him by the team management. I have no doubt, he would be turn out to be a fantastic test match player.

Umesh Yadav is another positive from this game. He seems to have all the ingredients to be a very effective fast bowler. But, the worry is in the recent past there have been so many Indian fast bowlers who after showing some promise have gone into wilderness. One should hope that Yadav does not fall into that trap and he should become the bowler he deserves to be.

Like every time, the question is 'what now?' Clearly, changes are required in the side. I am certain Rohit Sharma would get a game ahead of Laxman. Kohli may bat at 3 and Dravid may go down the order. I also expect Adelaide to be Rahul Dravid's last test match. I also believe that Perth would in all probability be Laxman's last test match.

Indian management have a lot of thinking to do. There is great pool of young and talented Indian batsmen. By not giving them an opportunity we are letting that talent go waste. They have to be harnessed and modeled into great batsman.

Where is the Laxman we know?

VVS Laxman over the years was the man to look forward to when the team was down and out. He was the one who thrived under pressure. When the going was tough, he would pull out something magical. Laxman became synonyms to grit, determination and fight. He had used his bat like a magic wand and left the bowlers, fielders and the spectators gasping at his pure magic. He was the one who played when everyone faltered. When the entire team was back in the hut, worried there was Laxman with nerves of steel rallying with tail-enders and elegantly bailing the team out of any situation.

But this time in Australia, his magic wand seems to have lost the charm. It has not cast any magic spell. It has remained really quiet even when the situation cried for something special. Whether it was Melbourne, Sydney or Perth the Laxman we knew would have played one of his typical magician-like innings. In all the three test matches, Laxman arrived at a platform which used to get the best out of him. But, in all three matches, he left the stage without performing any famous rescue act. Calm, composed, gritty, determined and yet so stylish is Laxman we all know. He was the one had blended the qualities stylish and grit which were otherwise thought separate. In this series, though he has shown none of those qualities.

The lack of runs doesn't worry me as much as the fact that the Laxman-like qualities are not being seen on this tour. The question that arises is does Laxman now not have the same hunger to perform and get his team out of the most precarious situation. Is he eating away the time of some youngster like Rohit Sharma to play in foreign conditions? Is it time for him to make way for the young blood?

If we keep all our emotions attached to Laxman aside, sadly the answer we arrive at to all the above is affirmative. As Siddharth Monga in his piece at Cricinfo(http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia-v-india-2011/content/current/story/549433.html) says, we saw a very un-Laxman innings today. He has neither been at his attractive best nor has he been in his gritty and resolute avatar. The Laxman-ness in him seems to have vanished in this tour. Even in the worst of forms, grit and the hunger to stay at the crease was always a feature of Laxman.

The problem for Laxman is the fact that despite his amazing ability, age is not in his favour and he has youngsters breathing under his nose to get a spot in the team. It may seem unfair to him that just after one bad series we have all these comments about Laxman, but that is how the sport is. After sportsman arrives at an age which is okay for retirement and there are a talented bunch of youngsters waiting for a turn, then one bad series is enough for the youngsters to get a chance. If Laxman, was three years younger, it would have been worth investing some more time on him to allow him to get back into form. The fact that he 37 and is at the fag end of his test career, it is not worth waiting for him to get back the Laxman-ness.

As harsh it seems, it is about time Rohit Sharma steps into the boots of VVS. It is time for the baton to be passed. It is time for the old to make way for the new.

Perth Test: Day 2

It is just two days into the test match, and we almost have a result in our hands. Indian batting collapsed yet again, and it almost seems a matter time before Australia seal the series 3-0 at Perth.

Indian bowlers showed a lot of heart today. They had come with a plan and they stuck to it which allowed India to dismiss Australia for 369. Umesh Yadav in particular was really impressive. India seem to have unearthed a genuine fast bowler in him. But, it is very important that the management uses him wisely and makes allows him to become the bowler he should be. Zaheer Khan was as usual extremely good. He got rid of both Clarke and Haddin with balls leaving them. He bowled with not much luck. On some other day he might have easily had a five-for. Warner was dropped by Kohli at the first slip in the very first hour of the day of his bowling.

When India got a chance to bat, they faltered yet again, tumbling to 88/4 at stumps. At one stage it seemed as if we might have a result on Day 2 itself. Gambhir fell to rising ball from Mitchel Stark. He was in no position to play the ball. He had both his feet in the air when the ball hit the handle went straight to tell gully. Sehwag soon followed him falling to a Hilfenhous' ball with extra bounce and movement away from him. Stark then got Tendulkar.

Australia seem to have an unlimited reservoir of genuinely good and young fast bowlers. These are great signs for the future. Pattinson, Cummins, Stark, Harris, Siddle, Hilfenhous, Johnson form a great fast bowling pact. These players have it in them to revive fast bowling and may be bring back the memories of the great Caribbean bowling unit. It will be very exciting to see the growth of these young fast bowling unit.

The collapse of the Australian batting to 369 after being 214/0 highlights the importance of Warner's innings at the top. He had blown the Indian bowling away with unbelievable stroke play. It just goes to the importance of having someone so destructive at the top of the order. Players like Warner, Sehwag or Dilshan might not click every innings. But, when they click within no time the balance of the game shifts completely. These are the batsman who give nightmares to the opposition captains, keep them awake in the nights and create a fear in them. These are the batsman who can bring life to any game from no where. It is very unique brand of test match cricket coming which is very special and it has to be preserved. It is this brand that will pull the crowds and keep test cricket in great health.

So, again the big question is where do India go from here? Again, like in so many past few overseas games, they have to hope for some miracle. But, this is huge opportunity for Kohli to show his metal in the test level. It is an opportunity for Dravid to come back among runs and regain the fluency. Common sense says that the game would be over by 2nd session tomorrow. But, this game has a habit of pulling some amazing surprises. Is there a surprise waiting for us at the WACA? The optimistic Indian supporter hopes for one.

Perth Test: Day 1

As the Day 1 at Perth comes to a close, India are already staring at defeat. It was complete massacre of a team which was not long ago supposed to be the best Test Team in the world. Batting was the strength of this team which held it together. Batting allowed the team to blossom. It was the Indian batting which made the oppositions wilt. But now, far from scaring the opposition it has failed to make any impact.

It all started with Sehwag's departure for a duck. He got a very good delivery, but it was no where near unplayable. He would have rued his dismissal because he might have enjoyed batting on this fast wicket with true bounce. After his departure Gambhir batted positively trying to continue his form Sydney. Unfortunately for India he could not cash in on the start he got and yet again perished poking outside the off stump. Though Gambhir has shown a lot of heart he after a lot of hard work he throws it away by poking at one without being able to resist the temptation.

It is never easy to come back into a Test match after being bundled out for 161 especially when the pitch was pretty decent. Even if India had fancied any chances of a miracle saving them, David Warner blew it away in just one session. He batted without mercy and butchered the Indian bowlers to every corner of the WACA.

The four pace-man strategy is always a risk. In this case it has backfired badly for India. The very fact that the Indian camp chose a four pace-men shows that there psyched out by all the hype surrounding the pitch. It was also reflected in their batting. All of them looked circumspect and were avoiding the positive strokes.

It was another disappointing innings from Rahul Dravid. It has been a pain to watch him bat. He was the one who held the Indian batting together for so many years. He was the one who set up the stage on which middle order used to party. Now he has grown old. He is not able to deftly weave the platform which he used to do with amazing consistency. There seems to be a big crack in the wall, which I fear might me beyond repair.

Ben Hilfenhous again ripped through the Indian batting. It was a combination bowling with extraordinary consistency and batting with almost zero confidence and belief.

The only positive for India on an otherwise gloomy day was Virat Kohli. Kohli showed a lot of promise but missed out on a big opportunity to make the start count. He seems to have the makings of a very good test batsman.

MS Dhoni's poor record overseas continued. He fell poking at ball outside the off-stump which is a cardinal sin on Australian pitches. In test matches Dhoni seems not be yet clear with the dilemma he has, whether to play his natural aggressive game or cut his stroke play.

Australia had no problem in wrapping the tail. In fact it was a procession once Kohli departed.

Where does India go from here? They need find inspiration from somewhere. There is no doubt that this is a very capable team which has been under-performing. It is team which has nearly 500 test matches between them. It deserves to do better things and put up much better shows.

Perth Test: Preview

India seem down and out. Australia have dominated the better part of the Test Series. As India look to regain life in this series, a bouncy, slightly green and fresh with life Perth pitch awaits the visitors. These are perfect conditions for the home side to seal the series at the WACA who without a shadow of doubt start as outright favorites in this game. The series has just started getting heated up of the field with Haddin's comments about India's fragility and the allegations of a rift in the Indian team by the Aussie media.

At the MCG, India might have sniffed victory now and then, but were deprived of the elusive win with a combination of some great bowling, inactive captaincy and poor batting on the final day. In SCG though, it was total annihilation. After Sydney, India have come to Perth with a fear of another 4-0 looming. It has been long since they have tasted success in foreign soil.

Suddenly, Dhoni's captaincy is under the pump. Except Sachin, India's batting looks fragile. Sachin though has played like a teenager. Except while playing a session out he has looked more assured than anyone else who took guard. Albeit the 100th hundred is still elusive it has just been a great pleasure to watch him bat. If Sachin has been the delight in the Indian team, it is hard to say but it has actually been painful to watch Rahul Dravid struggle. It almost seems as if he is not as quick on his reflexes as he was when younger. With the fluency and solidity not of the same degree, India's no.3 has become a bit fragile. Sehwag is yet get a proper hit in this series. But, the Indian fans should be happy that it is not short stuff on to the body that is getting him out. So, there is every chance of a big innings around the corner. Gambhir and Laxman found some runs in the 2nd innings at Sydney and they would be hoping to continue their form. Laxman might enjoy the bounce and pace at Perth while Gambhir is yet to sort his problem of poking at deliveries outside the off stump. Perth would be a real test for him with the movement and bounce. Gambhir needs to keep his temptation of poking out of the window and must play with more assurance. He has looked pretty circumspect on many occasions. Despite the cries from some experts it is very difficult to expect a change in the top 5. The number 6 spot is still a big concern for India. We may expect Rohit Sharma to get a chance. It might be slightly harsh on Kohli because he has not played that badly. He looked good in the first innings at Sydney before he got ripper and got a ball which kept really low in the 2nd innings.

As far as the Indian bowling is concerned they would be happy with way Zaheer Khan has bowled. More importantly his fitness would bring a cheer to the Indian supporters. Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav have looked good in patches but they would need to step up their consistency when they bowl at the WACA. For Ashwin it would be another challenge where the pitch may not have much in offer for them. He might have to play the containing bowlers role which he is not very used to when he plays on the home soil. Except for one spell at the MCG in second innings, R Ashwin's bowling has looked pretty ordinary. He would be hoping to carry the form with the bat while bowling at Perth. He should enjoy the extra bounce at offer here, but it would be very difficult for him to find any spin.

Australia on the other hand are gradually getting getting all their issues sorted out. Ponting and Hussey are back with runs which would really heartening to the Australian camp. Clarke has found his magic touch and though early days his captaincy has won a lot of praise and has even been compared to Mark Taylor. Pattinson's absence would hurt them, but they should be all set to bring in Ryan Harris and Mitchel Stark leaving out Lyon who has failed to make any impact in this series. Their real worry would be their top 3. The openers and Marsh are yet to be among the runs. Another concern for Australia is their keeper. Haddin behind the stumps has been really sloppy with not enough footwork. They have been fortunate that his drop catches have not effected the result of the game till now. Haddin would be wanting to get neat behind the stumps and get some runs with the bat.

Bowling though for the Australians has been really impressive and penetrative. They have got a great mix with Siddle bringing the energy, Hilfenhous who has been in a great wicket taking form and inclusion Mitchel Stark providing more variety with a left arm bowler coming coming in. Peter Siddle's energy is huge plus for Australia. On a hot afternoon at the WACA, having a bowler who is ready to run in a give his 100 percent is priceless for any captain. Harris would be hoping to continue the work done by Pattinson who not only moved the ball really well but bowled with real pace.

Australia start as clear favorites, but one can't write India off. It is when their backs are to the wall they come up with something special. There is no doubt that the Indian lineup has the ability to put up a great show at the WACA. I am certain we are in for 5 days exciting and breath taking cricket at the hot and lively Perth.