Off Stump

All the ruckus around how the Fab Four (Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and Laxman) plus Kumble are finished and showed be shown the door en masse is so typical of the Indian cricket fans and media. This is not a case in their defence but I think the issue needs to be looked at logically and the right cricketing decision made. Of the five, Tendulkar is the only one who remains in the ODI team and I think its time he realised that since he's not going to play in the 2011 World Cup, this is as good a time as any to retire from ODIs. Playing ODIs can only lead to more injuries for him and more importantly he really doesn't have anything left to achieve in that format of the game. The Test team is an entirely different kettle of fish though, for a couple of reasons. One, the next series is against the Aussies, which is no time to make wholesale changes to the team. Secondly, even after the series against Australia, I think at least Tendulkar and Laxman need to be in the Test team for a ...

After a fair bit of rumination on what the first post on my first personal blog should be about, I decided that it couldn’t be about anything other than my favourite XI. From the time I started following (or obsessing as some would say) about the game, I’ve always made lists of XIs of different kinds. One of the first books on cricket I bought was called ‘The Book of Cricket Lists’ and that was what started me off. Left Handed XIs, Bespectacled XIs, Tomato-hating XIs (ok I made that last one up :-)), but you get the point. So another XI it shall be. A few notes before I start the list. I’ve restricted the list to players I’ve seen in action, hence the post 1990 bias. Also, these are not necessarily my favourite eleven players of all time. Picking a balanced playing XI necessitates having two openers, three or four middle-order batsmen, a wicketkeeper and four or five bowlers. So within these limitations, these guys are amongst my favourite players. And of course, I’ve picked a Test XI....