Off Stump

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...

An edited version of this piece has been published on ESPNcricinfo here . December 22, 2013 was a sad day for world cricket. Cricketers like Graeme Swann not only bring their talents to the field but their attitude that conveys sheer joy at playing Test cricket is a much needed commodity. Especially in these days when young spinners are choosing to play the IPL over Test cricket (more on that some other time though). Jon Hotten is right in saying that he's the player the rebuilding England side will miss the most, but arguably world cricket will miss him almost as much. With Swann gone, Harbhajan and Vettori having completely faded away since 2011, and Saeed Ajmal and Rangana Herath (who're both nearly 37) not likely to last much longer, the next great (or even really good) Test match spinners are nowhere in sight. Most fans of the five day game would probably rate great fast bowling as the thing they like most followed by fine batsmanship. And its now wonder that in mos...