Off Stump

That was a surprise. Not even the most one-eyed of Australia's supporters would have expected them to make this sort of start to the series. A win (after 4502 days as Steven Smith reminded everyone a few times) would have sufficed. A 333 run win on a surface that was bouncing and turning from day one probably felt (and still feels) like three or four Santa Clauses come at once in a golden sledge. And while the two Steves will get most of the plaudits deservedly, Mitchell Starc with his 91 runs in quick time (in both innings) and the double wicket over of Pujara and Kohli played an equal part in turning the match (especially in the first half of it). If Pujara and Kohli had stuck around for a bit longer and India got to 200 in their first innings, an Australian collapse to double digits in the second innings was not out of the question. Funny the way scoreboard pressure works on modern day cricketers, even in Test match cricket. Australia will be further heartened by the fact ...

The last leg of India's marathon home Test season kicks off in a couple of days, with Kohli and his men a good chance of going into fourth place on the list of consecutive matches without defeat . But while it is tempting to write off Steven Smith's team (like many are doing), the current 8-0 scoreline for the season masks how hard the Indians have had to fight at times. Expect no less from the Australians. Notwithstanding the fact that they got clobbered in Sri Lanka and have lost their last 9 matches in Asia (and 8 out of their last 10 in India), they will fight hard. And Kumble clearly realises this , one of the many reasons why he's the best choice for the Indian team in its current stage of evolution. My India vs. England preview wasn't the most accurate as pre-series callouts, and especially in terms of the best players (Broad and Rahane were mostly injured!!). Here's hoping this one works out better. Thoughts on the factors/players that will make the dif...

Growing up (from a cricket watching perspective) in the 1990s, I am terribly unused to Test cricket being the format in which the Indian team is most successful and looking like potential world-beaters. Still early days, but this is exactly the way things seem headed currently for Kohli and his men. Since Jan 2015 (when Kohli took over as full time captain), India's record reads: P 21, W 14, L 1, D 6. The absurd W/L ratio will of course not last and many critics will point to the fact that most of the victories have come at home. Teams can however only overcome the opposition they are faced with and so far India have ticked off the overseas boxes they have been faced with (in Sri Lanka and the West Indies). And at home they have been utterly dominant, destroying everyone they've met. But most hearteningly, it's the way they have battled back from adversity that builds the most promise for the future. Too often in even the recent past (let alone the 1990s), Indian teams ...

After Virat Kohli's stupendously successful start as India captain (admittedly in a different format), the cries for Dhoni to be replaced as captain for the shorter formats will undoubtedly renew again. And while Kohli might be ready to take over, I think India still have a lot to gain from Dhoni the batsman and captain at the Champions Trophy in England next year. Aside from the fact that we are not exactly rolling in good new limited overs keeper-batsmen and couldn't therefore find an adequate replacement at short notice, Dhoni has looked fitter and fresher since he gave up Test cricket. He has also, in a distinct departure from the recent past, looked keen to get stuck into situations tactically and work out ways to win with newer players. The Zimbabwe tour was a pretty light weight test but it definitely started there and its carried on into the current series against New Zealand. Most hearteningly, he has not been stubborn about his own waning skills as a batsman and ...

Given that I'm a cricket tragic, it won't be a surprise for me to state that I find the beginning of a new season exciting. Notwithstanding that, the upcoming season for India is one I'm particularly looking forward to. For one, I can't recall India having played as many Test matches as they are going to between July and March next year. 17 Tests against a wide variety of opponents will be a true test of what this team is shaping up to be and of Virat Kohli's next stage as captain. Granted that the fact that 13 of these are at home means that the team won't be tested condition wise as much as they might have been. It will however show how much depth Indian cricket really has and who the next generation of match definers (I don't like the term match-winners in Test cricket given how much of a team game it is) will be. The most important questions in my view are - Who are India's best openers? (my current view is M Vijay and KL Rahul) Should Chetes...

The last time India and Australia played a series of four matches (or more) with no changes in captaincy on either side, the Aussies were still a largely all-conquering team and Clarke and Dhoni had just about established themselves as mainstays. The current series is the fourth full one since then (excluding the two match series in 2010) and a combination of injury, retirement, and suspensions has meant that each one has featured multiple leaders. And this time has been one better with changes on both sides. I can't remember when that happened last even in a series involving England :-) Going in, the expectation was that Dhoni would miss the first Test but captain for the rest and Haddin would stand in for Clarke for the full series. Two shocks of varying degrees in Hughes' tragic death and Dhoni's sudden retirement have turned that around on its head and its the future leaders (and currently the best batsman) on either side who're in charge heading into Sydney. ...

Mahendra Singh Dhoni does not come across as a man who lays too much store by Fate but if he did, he could be forgiven for thinking that he's just not destined to captain India to a series win outside the subcontinent any more. His fledgling team came close in both South Africa and New Zealand but could not land the final blows. In England this summer, he's gone against habit and picked five bowlers (though not always the right ones) in three of the four games so far, coaxed a matchwinning performance out of a perennially underperforming pacer, scored the most runs he's ever done in an overseas series , and taken the lead. And yet he now founds his side down 1-2 after successive thrashings and the wheels are starting to fall off everywhere. His record as captain outside the subcontinent is still comparable to most Indian captains of the past (with the exception of Dravid whose W/L ratio is way ahead of everyone else). Dhoni is a proud man though and he will want to impro...

In this day and age where commerce rules most of the time even in sport, its very strange that a Test match should start on a Sunday. Not only does that guarantee fewer people at the ground over the five days, the TV audience also gets affected by the weekend only half utilised. The funny scheduling is only apt though in what has been a strange ol' series in a strange ol' year. In 2013, it seemed like teams had no idea how to win away Test matches any more. Just 3 out of 44 Test matches in the calendar year ended in a visiting team winning and two of those were in Zimbabwe. South Africa were the only team that could claim a creditable away win ( over Pakistan in Dubai ). A lot of teams must therefore have had some serious amounts of "overseas-winnability" magic potion mixed into their New Year's Eve drinks. Or so you would think looking at the results in 2014 so far. Of the 14 matches that have had a result, nine have been won by the visiting team with Sri Lan...

My predictions mostly don't come true so when I wrote that the England-India series was going to be two flawed teams competing for who can play worse, I was not expecting the teams to oblige me straightaway! And while both teams did their best to try and lose the first Test match at different points, the pitch (and astonishing lower order batting) ultimately foiled their suicide attempts. India contrived to lose 4 wickets for 2 runs in their first dig and 5 for 44 in their second turn at different points. South Africa and Australia (or even Sri Lanka in current form) would have stamped them out by an innings. England tried their best to match them by losing 6 for 68 in their first innings but then Root accompanied by the bowlers outdid the Indian tail. If they had batted a second time you can be sure that they would have lost 5 for 30 before being rescued by Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett. Across the three (nearly completed) innings in the match, wickets 7-10 managed an aggregat...

India have not played a five match Test series  since 2002  (which they lost 1-2). They have not played a  five match series against England  since 1985 (which they lost 1-2 as well). The last time they played a five match series in England (in 1959) they were wiped out 0-5. This team has no one who has played a five match series and they have managed to win only one of their last 15 overseas Tests. On the face of it, this series should be a no contest. England have lost six of their last seven Test matches . They have just been beaten in a home series by Sri Lanka for the first time in their history. Their captain can't buy a run and has started to hit back at his critics in the media. Their vice-captain and wicketkeeper has just made a shaky comeback. In the last six months their best bowler (and the best spinner in the world) has retired and they have voluntarily kicked out their best batsman of the last decade. On the face of it, this series should be a no c...

In almost exactly eight months from today, the 2015 World Cup will kick off with India as defending champions for only the second time in the history of the tournament. Barring injury (unlikely given his track record and fitness), MS Dhoni will become the first Indian captain to lead his side into two world championships as the title holders. He will know very well that India struggled mightily the last time they were  defending a world title under his watch  and also the last time  the World Cup was held down under  (though the latter was years ago). He will also know that India don't have a huge number of matches before then to determine the final shape of the squad. That makes the upcoming short tour of Bangladesh and the 'A' team tour of Australia in July even more critical than these would be otherwise. Sandeep Patil and co have done an admirable job again (like  in the past ) and now its up to the groups of men selected to show that they deserve to be co...

Disclaimer: I'm an unabashed fan of Mahendra Singh Dhoni as a player and captain (see here ,  here and here ) and believe he's still the best choice as leader for the Indian team everywhere. New Zealand's astonishing turnaround in the Wellington Test match has (not unsurprisingly) led to a renewed call from Sidharth Monga on ESPNcricinfo for a change in the leadership of the Indian team, ie Dhoni's removal as Test skipper. While I have to admit that Monga has been consistent in his views on this for sometime now and the fact that Dhoni's defensive attitude is what costs India opportunities, it would be better if he strove a little harder to present facts fully and not selectively. I don't usually see the point in picking apart opinion pieces but given his latest tirade had so many factual holes and selective interpretations, I feel compelled to do so. " India will have gone 14 Tests and three years without an overseas Test win. Only Zimbabwe have...

Much is being made of the fact that Mahendra Singh Dhoni now has the highest number of overseas losses amongst Indian captains after Auckland. If Christian Ryan's fantasy came true and the fans had their way, he would have been sacked long ago and one of Kohli/Rohit/Pujara made skipper and that alone would have turned India's fortunes. At the risk of coming across as a Dhoni apologist, that's just pure balderdash in my opinion. First the stats. Dhoni's away win loss ratio is still a good deal better than many captains of the past and of those above him, Wadekar and Kapil Dev's two wins each came in the same year (1971 and 1986 respectively) and they lost the captaincy soon after as losses started to mount. Six of Ganguly's wins came against Bangladesh and Zimbabwe (vs just one for Dhoni) leaving Dravid as the only captain who's undisputedly done better. India (and Dhoni) have taken a severe beating since 2011 and among international captains (with 8 o...

The only breed more inconsistent than the Indian seamers are the Indian fans. If you went by the headlines, fan comments in social media, and interactions with followers of the Indian cricket team, India constantly bounce back and forth between being the best team in the world and worse than Bangladesh/Zimbabwe. There is no middle ground. Reactions over the last three years would bear testament to this: April 2011: India win the World Cup after a good tour of South Africa. All hail the best team in the world. January 2012: Successive 0-4 batterings against England and Australia. India are the pits and Dhoni and all the senior players should be sacked (Dravid and Laxman retire) June 2013: India win the Champions Trophy after wiping out Australia 4-0. Best team in the world again. February 2014: Away losses mount again after defeats to South Africa and New Zealand. Back to being the pits (sack Dhoni etc) Passion is a great quality but when not tempered with patience (as is...

Now that Mahendra Singh Dhoni has essentially announced his decision to stay on as skipper of the side till at least the 2015 World Cup, every ODI series India plays hereon is a stage for defining the plans and alternatives for that tournament. And none of them will be more critical than the current series against New Zealand given its the closest the team will get to play in conditions resembling that in the actual World Cup. A lot gets written about India's poor record in Test cricket away from home even though its improved hugely since the turn of the millennium. Their one-day record away from home is not outstanding either with a win-loss ratio well below 1 (though only Australia and South Africa are better). What is more concerning is the fact that Australia and New Zealand are two of the three worst venues for the team thereby making the title defence even more challenging. Their recent record and especially the win in the Champions Trophy certainly gives cause for hope ...

I can't recall a time ever when I've been this excited about a series which I was certain would end in an Indian defeat. India have won just two of the 15 matches they've played on South African soil and there's no reason to believe that they will add to that meagre tally this time. If an inexperienced batting line-up (the likely top 6 have a combined experience of 59 matches) made things difficult, a thrashing in the ODI series followed by a washed out practice game almost seals the series before it begins. That's where India's best chance might lie though. No one expects them to do well including the opposition and that can sometimes be a tricky mindset for host nations. Smith and his men are experienced enough to pull up their socks if things slip (like they did in the UAE recently) but to a degree they will be going in assuming an easy win and if India's batting can withstand some of the pressure they might at least go into day five. For once though i...

If I had to sum Mahendra Singh Dhoni up in one word it would be equanimous . When you listen to him after a press conference its sometimes hard to tell what the result of the game was, let alone his own individual performance. Its this equanimity too that helps him play the most incredible nerveless innings (like the one described here by Siddhartha Vaidyanathan) and handle the various off-field shenanigans that the world of Indian cricket keeps throwing up. So it wasn't a real surprise to hear him be pretty sang-froid about India's relatively inexperienced squad for the tour of South Africa. Behind the calm though is a man keenly aware (though probably not too concerned) that until he reaps overseas Test success, his detractors will not acknowledge his abilities as captain despite his record being the best by far of any Indian captain. India's next year and a bit which has them playing 13 Tests across South Africa, New Zealand, England, and Australia gives him that opp...

One of the memories of watching Tendulkar over the years is how often he falls over when beaten and hit on the pads and I've always felt that this results in him getting more dodgy leg before decisions than he otherwise would. When you're a short player and you fall over the way he does, umpires can't be judged too harshly for thinking that the trajectory is lower than it actually is. So despite all the protests from the likes of Gavaskar and Shastri on air, I don't think India can complain too much about things given how unsurely they've played the spinners. Be interesting to see how Tendulkar (and the rest of the batters) approach things in the rest of the series and whether they get on the front foot a bit more. It will be good to watch no matter how many runs the master makes.

Given all of the fanfare around Tendulkar's farewell, you'd almost be excused if you didn't realise that there was an actual Test series (or lets just say Test couplet given two Tests is not a series) to be played in a few days. In some senses both teams (and their captains) will be a bit relieved as it allows them to go under the radar mostly and focus on getting ready while the spotlight is squarely on the man its been on for the last two decades and more. The visitors have insisted they will not be distracted and the young Indian squad (the average age without Tendulkar is less than 27) will know that solid performances here will give them a long run in the potentially tougher away series against South Africa, New Zealand, and England coming up over the next nine or ten months. So though the matches are rather rushed, there's plenty to look forward to even apart from the master bidding adieu. On paper, ie if you look at their respective ICC rankings , India shoul...

The BCCI has made many snafus and screw-ups in recent times but one superlative decision they have made in the last year is the appointment of Sandeep Patil (and his four co-selectors). I've  written before  about how they don't get enough credit for the moves they have made in making what is a transitional period for Indian cricket turn into a surprisingly successful one after the post World Cup horrors. And they continue to impress. Maybe its the fact that four of them are domestic stalwarts who never quite made it on the international stage (though Binny had a fair run) and Patil himself didn't fulfil his potential that makes them ideal men to draw out the young talents who will form India's next generation. Or maybe they've just been lucky with their picks. Either way, they've done some really solid work mixing tough decisions with bold ones and most importantly they haven't mixed up formats and let themselves be swayed by the media or former players. ...