Gains and losses

Test 1 between India and Bangladesh ends in a draw

India 387/8d & 100/6d
Bangladesh 238 & 104/2

Who gained what? Who lost what?

Your thoughts..

On captaincy..

Test captaincy is like kite flying - you should know when to give, when to rein in and all the time you must be in control.

Some fly kites better than others. Ditto captaincy.

And like kite flying, captaincy is a lot more involved than what we think or see.

PS:- Continuing on the Kite analogy - could the difference between Australia and India's approach to the game be encapsulated by the difference in details between the bridling techniques - here and here?

Both methods work however, the first method takes away the guess work that the second method requires.

India and the Art of Losing the Initiative

As India were going for the win, the possibility of slowing things down, a common tactic when tailenders are thriving, was ruled out. Kumble was missed too. All those failings could just be hindsight for an outside observer, but on reflection, hindsight is foresight for great captains and teams.

Aye.

Muddled thinking

Two overs, two wickets, declaration - the whole point of this exercise was what?

On England

Or why I wont lose any sleep if Andrew Strauss walks out with Rahul Dravid for the toss on July 19, 2007.

On Bangladesh..

Or why declaration is not an option for India.

Unless conditions change dramatically in favor of the bowlers, India should not even consider the "D" word as an option.

Right now, after 3 days of play ( 2 part days and a washed out day), Bangladesh has taken 6 Indian wickets for 384 runs. Including 2 centuries and 2 fifties.

A declaration anytime today will give the Bangladeshis batting practice ( 20 wickets in around 5 sessions is pushing it). And quite frankly, I do not see any merit in giving them an opportunity to bat. Especially when they have 5 of their players carrying ailments and/or injuries.

I would rather our guys bat as long as possible, the longer the better. If numbers 8,9, 10 and Jack can keep the Bangladeshis on the field for a prolonged period of time, it puts the Bangladeshi bowling in perspective. And if numbers 8,9,10 and Jack accrue a few runs between them, it puts the Bangladesh bowling in greater perspective.

And if they are unable to get us all out for whatever reasons, Habibul Bashar should be a worried man.

With back to back tests, he will have to come up with a backup plan, quickly, to counter the impotence of his bowling attack.

And if India plays out 5 days and wins the toss in the Test at Mirpur, Glory be!!

Losing momentum

You are 241/3 with both your batters going well. There are 18 more overs to go in the days play if the light holds. Light being iffy means an early start on the morrow.You lead by 357.

Your spinner has taken 6 of the 10 opposition wickets to fall in the first innings. You have the opposition at your mercy.

What do you do ?

Bat on, lose 3 wickets in 2 overs, hand over the initiative to the opposition and lose momentum in the process.

Great going Andrew.

168 overs to go

England 553/5 decl

West Indies 437 all out

116 ahead, 168 overs ( -2 in case of a declaration) to go. Rain forecast for later today and tomorrow.

5.5 sessions to go.

What gives?

I would say Advantage West Indies.

England, overwhelming favorites at the start of the series, odds on favorites to win this test after posting 553, have now to set the pace and score enough runs as quickly as possible to force a result in this test.

Today..

Despite Whatmore’s interest, board asserts that they’re not in Bangladesh to talk to him

Amit Gupta on India's new coach.

Chittagong: Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah yesterday said two separate teams will be picked for the ODI series in Ireland and the bilateral visit to England, but denied any specific instruction had been given to the selectors. “There will be two teams selected for the series in Ireland and the tour of England,” said Shah.

Sirshendu Panth on India's team selection

Team India’s dismal performance in the World Cup has bowled out not just game enthusiasts but sponsors too.

The Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) is finally waking up to the ground realities of an underperforming Indian cricket team. It is scraping the bottom of the barrel to ensure that the four one-day internationals (ODI) in Ireland and Scotland aren’t complete no-shows from the advertising community.

"We issued a tender but there was no response. So, we went to the sponsors directly," he said.

Unfortunately, old hands in the industry are confident, the BCCI will be too slow to act. "The board is very good with raising money," goes one cynical voice, "but very unimaginative at spending it."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Niranjan Shah hinted on Saturday that Bangladesh may feature in a tri-series during Pakistan’s tour of India in November

Does the BCCI's arrogance know no bounds? Does player welfare and player comfort mean anything at all to the starched white shirts in Mumbai?

When is enough money enough? When are enough ODIs enough?

When does enough mean enough in BCCI jargon?

'It's always important to look outside yourself, outside your own horizons,' he says. 'If all we did was look inside cricket all the time we'd just operate in zones of certainty. It's important to try to get external input.

John Buchananspeak.

First, this means recognizing successful sports policy must come from within sport, not without. The success of Australian sport goes to show that when it comes to revitalising grass-roots participation, spotting talent and nurturing it, and ensuring that sporting facilities remain first-class, we should put our trust in schemes run and operated by those who work on the frontline.

David Cameron

It is of course early days in the Peter Moores regime. So far, however, the emphasis seems to be on creating an atmosphere in which players give plenty of energy to their team-mates, rather than taking it away. In order to do that, the coach has to have plenty of enthusiasm of his own, and that certainly seems to be the case. He is a man who is unafraid to get his hands dirty, and that ability to lead by example is clearly imperative.

Andrew Strauss

The evil that men do lives after them, the good is often interred with their bones, so let it be with Inzamam.

MU Haq

The Indian team is in Bangladesh, and having won the One-Day Series quite comfortably, is looking to sweep the Test series too, and unless something goes drastically wrong, they should do it without too much trouble.

Sunil Gavaskar

Michael Vaughan is clearly indispensable, even though he never plays. As he said himself last week when invited to discuss the notion of a split captaincy between Test and one-day cricket: 'The best thing is to get Michael Vaughan fit and playing well.' Note that third-person singular. Cricketers rarely use that. Does this hint at an unhealthy self-obsession?

Vic Marks

Do we need constant loud, usually banal, ball-by-ball vocalisations from the man with the gloves? And does such meaningless noise actually motivate? I doubt it.

A fielding side is more likely to be inspired by the keeper's reliability and brilliance than by his vocal volume and perseverance.

Mike Brearley

I'm an Ashes-winning captain with a huge amount of knowledge on a lot of things and I wasn't used at all."

It seemed to outsiders, given that Vaughan's injury problems were long-term, that he was around too much rather than too little, but the inference was clear: things would have been a damn sight better had he been in charge.

Mike Artherton

After the gluttony of the first two days, all eyes turned to Steve Harmison whose winter was not so much of a feast as a famine. Blue skies greeted his return to international cricket, following a post-Ashes break, but there the resemblance to Australia ended as a cool, fresh breeze blew across the ground. Many of the winter cobwebs had been seemingly blown away by Peter Moores' new broom during the first two days, and we wanted to know whether the coach's much-touted 'magic dust' would have a similar effect when sprinkled on Harmison and the other bowlers.

Mike Artherton.

Be prepared on Thursday for a puff of smoke, a flash of mirrors, the unveiling of the Schofield Report into the ills of English cricket, and the ECB's response that they have got it all sorted.

Scyld Berry

Captaincy conundrum, Wicket keeper conundrum, Michael Vaughan, Stephan Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, the Schofield Report, Michale Vaugahn - plenty of topics to sledge the Poms this summer.
And to think we are not on their shores yet.

The more things change..

Why we Lose

The disaster down under proves natural talent cannot hide the hopelessly antiquated Indian cricket system

By Rohit Brijnath

If cricket evolves into a contact sport, where lips cut open and blood run down noses, the Australian would die with a smile on his face. But even he, this Australian who early morning brushed his teeth with a glass of beer, was ready to hold your hand. For, like an actor arriving for a Broadway show every evening having forgotten his lines, the Indian team was an embarrassment. If there was laughter it had died down, if there was glee it had vanished, for to heckle the handicapped seemed uncouth. In the Herald Sun, Robert "Crash" Craddock, reflecting a national need to resuscitate the Indians, wrote wonderfully: "Come on India. Get angry. Get aggressive. Shake a leg. Fight back. For goodness sake, do something." The taxi drivers, the hotel receptionists, even the bloody chambermaid all said every morning: "You guys going to win today?"

How could you tell them that full-grown, world cricket travellers, were still being told at nets that if they moved their heads while throwing, the direction went awry?

How was it possible to explain, as a player said, "that what 13-year-old Australians know about backing up at the wicket is taught to the Indians when they arrive in the national team"?

How did they know that Kapil Dev actually told Javagal Srinath, after he batted like a man in a coma against Pakistan in Hobart, "What's the point of giving you batting practice at nets anymore?" And later said wearily, "Common sense is missing?"

It meant that when the chambermaid looked at you for an answer to India's chances that day, the word "yes" stuck like a fishbone in the larynx.

Then 66 days after it all began sometime in late November -- after losing to Queensland and the Prime Minister's XI and all three Tests and the first four one-dayers -- as the church bells in Adelaide echoed across the ground to signal that even an impartial God was moved to intervene, India beat Pakistan. It was like a dying man given a breath of oxygen, and there was something both tragic and uplifting in the forgotten smile that came to rest on Sachin Tendulkar's face.

Twenty-four hours later, savaged by Australia by 152 runs, the grimness had returned.

India arrived in Australia with three batsmen with a Test av-erage of over 50. In the Test series Tendulkar averaged 46.33, Saurav Ganguly 29.50 and Rahul Dravid 15.50 (Justin Langer, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, Adam Gilchrist all averaged over 50). It would seem uncommonly arrogant to call this the best batting line-up in the world ever again. The bounce rested in India's subconscious like a restless demon. But if Devang Gandhi -- and he was not alone -- was made to look more like a boxer evading punches, a fellow player responded: "In India he's never played a ball that's bounced so high." Domestic cricket is played on sham wickets where batsmen close their eyes and play on the front foot; it breeds a mediocrity so apparent here, but so deep is the BCCI's stupor they are committed not to change. If pace undid us, what further stupefied Mark Taylor was India's reluctance to challenge Shane Warne: "Why didn't you try to take him on and jump out, he's still bowling with a round red thing when I last noticed?"

Caution, that seemed tattooed even on Tendulkar's forehead, seemed to be some invisible rein, perhaps conscious as India were, said a player, "that the team doesn't have the depth to absorb the failure of Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly". Even in the one-dayers. Indeed, as Abdul Razzaq hit Glenn McGrath for five successive fours and Azhar Mahmood sent Robin Singh up to kiss the clouds, and Andrew Symonds and Shane Lee hit the ball with all the fury of lumberjacks felling trees, India's second-level batsmen seemed to be playing some foreign game. Pinch-hitter Samir Dighe had scores of 6, 3, 2, 11 not out and 25; V.V.S. Laxman 9, 2, 2, 7; Kanitkar 0, 6,and 0; Srinath 0, 5 not out, 2, 4 and 0. Even Don Quixote would have played for another team, I mean what sort of tilting at windmills was this?

For the bowling, two stories suffice. The first was about Glenn McGrath. On his first tour to England, hammered in the opening Test, he asked himself: "If I was a young academy bowler what would I have been told? The answer, keep your line and length. I did that and got eight wickets the next Test." Moral of the story: discipline. While McGrath kept his ball in the channel, the Indian fast bowlers, though menacing in patches, seemed to drift off, no one fine spell ever replicated. The second story is Ian Chappell standing in a bar one night, cold beer in hand, and asking, "Mate, why the hell aren't you going out and finding spinners? You're clever, cunning people, that's your style." Kumble had taken 5/450 in three Tests and though he found occasional form in the one-dayers, leg spinner and Warne-mentor Terry Jenner moaned: "He disappointed me. Our pitches are different in each centre and I expected more flexibility, but Kumble bowled the same everywhere."

And here's what's truly frightening.

DOWN AND OUT

»Vs Queensland Lost by 10 wkts »Vs New South Wales Won by 93 runs »Vs PM's XI Lost by 164 runs »Vs Australia, First Test, Adelaide Lost by 286 runs »Vs Tasmania Drawn »Vs Australia, Second Test, Melbourne Lost by 180 runs »Vs Australia, Third Test, Sydney Lost by innings and 141 runs »Vs Pakistan, Brisbane, (ODI) Lost by 2 wkts »Vs Australia, Melbourne, (ODI) Lost by 28 runs »Vs Australia, Sydney, (ODI) Lost by 5 wkts »Vs Pakistan, Hobart (ODI) Lost by 32 runs »Vs Pakistan, Sydney (ODI) Won by 48 runs »Vs Australia,Adelaide, (ODI) Lost by 152 runs

This is the list of players who haven't played for Australia this summer: Darren Lehmann, Adam Dale (played one one-dayer), Andy Bichel, Jason Gillespie, Simon Katich, Matthew Elliot, Matthew Hayden, Matthew Nicholson, Stuart Law, Ian Harvey (first played in Australia's second-last one-dayer), Colin Miller, Tom Moody. It is why Symonds says, "I've got a long way to go, I need to play well every innings because look at the guys out there."

This is the list of players who didn't play for India: Ajay Jadeja.

The team we brought is the best we have. There is, believe it, no one else. No fast bowler, no spinner, no opening batsman waiting on the bench.

To crucify Tendulkar for his captaincy, rubbish the batting, scorn the bowlers, sneer at the fielding, is to see this tour and this team in dangerous isolation. A fragile history abroad suggests a flawed team is but an offspring of an incompetent system. In a professional world, we seem to preen in our amateur status, steam engines puffing wildly in a jet age. When Steve Waugh says, "I have so many players to choose from, I might as well pick names from a hat", he's acknowledging not some bizarre cricketing gene pool but a substantive system.

To follow Waugh's team is to wander into a modern sporting machine. Coach John Buchanan, who carries on his gangly frame the air of a philosophical Oxford don, starts with his computer. Pictures from television flow into it, and a technician records every ball, where it lands, the length, where it went, how the batsman plays it. So at lunch time during a Test if McGrath wants to see those deliveries that beat Tendulkar, or Ponting after a one-dayer wishes to note the short balls he missed, the computer can immediately display those exact deliveries. Buchanan, who airily suggests that this present computer system is "second class" compared to the one he used when he was Queensland coach, confirms that every Australian state has one.

The Indian team is left with only dinner-time conversation posing as analysis. If Tendulkar, with Kapil, must play technical adviser, he is resident nursemaid too. Asked once what his batsman lacked, he admitted, "It's self belief." For the Aussies, fear and insecurity find a harbour in the Scottish ear of sports psychologist Sandy Gordon. He is a reflection of Steve Waugh's understated reputation as a thinking man. As he once said, "If cricket is 80 per cent mental then why do we place so little emphasis on it?" Gordon meets the players at the start of every series, working with them for an hour individually, "helping them identify what makes them tick, letting them speak about issues both in cricket and outside, assisting them in setting goals". Always, he stresses, there is a need for "positive mental momentum". In contrast the Indian team struck Mark Taylor as quite the opposite: "You've got to think win, win, win. But I didn't see that, I saw draw, draw, draw."

But where cricket has evolved the most, and India stands as Neanderthal man to Australia's Homo sapiens, is in the peripherals of cricket. Indian trainer Andrew Leipus says players still feel lifting weights will make them stiff -- ignorance in a world where even fluid golfers pump iron. The running between wickets is a comedy of "yes", "no", "damn" -- Ganguly learnt nothing after failing to ground his bat in Melbourne and being run out, for in Adelaide against Pakistan though not in any danger he again failed to slide his bat into the crease, grounding it only inside. India seemed to require six standing stumps to manage a direct hit in run-outs, the Australians, off balance, managing to hit a single one with laser-guided regularity. The Indians' distinct unathleticism warrants a session with human-movement expert Bernard Savage, who says, "The way they move and their general speed needs improvement." Savage works with cricketers from the Commonwealth Bank Cricket Academy (CBCA), teaching them how to run "more efficiently", by developing simple exercises. He places three markers on the left, right and in front of a player; then as a player walks in, as if during a game, he screams "right": and watches how quickly a player changes direction and manages to accelerate into a full sprint. Considering more than 50 per cent of the Aussies have been tutored at the CBCA, his method is working.

Australia's secret does not lie in vegemite but in the simple commandment of good facilities, practice and a ruthless fitness regime. All Australian grounds have 5-10 practice wickets, all outside the main stadium; in Hyderabad the Indians said there wasn't even one. Australian players are given an off season fitness programme, are tested for strength, flexibility and fat in a lab at the start of a season and fined for being overweight. At practice, routine is accosted by fun. This season they rowed in the Yarra river, had a mock Ironman triathlon on Sydney beach, went cycling, and had an egg-throwing contest to see how far they could throw an egg to each other without it breaking. If it exercises different muscles it's also competitive, Buchanan splitting them into teams, like country boys versus city slickers, and in net sessions, grouping them in fours with each team supposed to look after and encourage each other.

All this also incorporates a fine sense of team, diverse warriors -- Warne and MacGill don't speak to each other -- welded together by a common cause. Every evening that bond is celebrated; it may be a cigar and beer to herald the arrival of McGrath's first child, or to have in attendance a bevy of guests -- champion swimmers or women hockey players or Aussie Rules footballers. It is dismaying then they see India more concerned with individual accomplishment. Taylor who wrote in his autobiography, Time To Declare, that subcontinental fans were bemused when he declared at 334 not out last year in his team's interests rather than chase Brian Lara's 375, tells an interesting tale. On the day when Tendulkar scored his Test century in Melbourne, a huge crowd of Indian fans gathered outside the hotel, and as Taylor says, "Sure it was a great century but you were just about to lose a Test."

The implication of all this is obvious, the BCCI is an inept outfit, content to leave Indian cricket stagnant, collecting money by the bushel, but leaving it in some unknown safe deposit rather than invest in the national game. Much like hockey, Indian cricket is being left behind, plodding ahead as the rest of the world sprints. To walk into the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) and into the friendly handshake of Grant Wyman, the coaching and development manager, is to understand India's remoteness from reality. Wyman, unlike any Indian counterpart (coaching and development manager in the Delhi and District Cricket Association, that'll be the day) is paid and thus accountable. He hands you a 100-page brochure on which is written "Vision Statement", and Sunil Gavaskar flipping through it later points at the word "Vision" and says, "That's it, what we need."

Wyman must oversee an under-13, under-14, under-15, under-17, under-19, SA Academy, Second XI and state teams. Everywhere there is the smell of professionalism. The state team, coached by Greg Chappell, has a fitness consultant, two physiotherapists, an assistant coach, sports psychologist. Such is the intensity of state cricket here that New South Wales requiring its young batsman Michael Clark urgently, recalled him from Sri Lanka prior to Australia's semi-final at the under-19 World Cup!

The thoroughness of their organisational ability is evident in the squeak of a mouse, for Wyman can pull out of his computer a file of any player from any team that rates the player's skills, physical levels, mental make-up, tactical ability, competition record, home life, social interests. Each of his players is videotaped every month, and they are broken into spin bowling, fast bowling, wicketkeeping squads where a 13-year-old quickie and Jason Gillespie will train at the same net, under the visiting guidance of Dennis Lillee. The pyramid goes even lower. Clubs organise primary-school cricket, then pick the best of the youngsters for their club teams, which are under-14, under-16, under-17 and A, B, C and D elevens. The best of this lot is grabbed by Wyman. If a player shows exceptional ability he is kidnapped by the CBCA, where Ian Chappell arrives for a week to teach captaincy and batting, where young kids are taught not just cricket, but public speaking and even umpiring and coaching courses should their careers not go the distance.

India waits, still, year after year, for its cricket academy; India won't invite Sunil Gavaskar for nets, or Bishan Bedi; India's state and junior teams have no modern-day qualified fitness trainers. India waits, one supposes, for a miracle.

There is a lethargy that has embraced us, a belief that such is our karma. That if we beat the visiting South Africans our glory will be restored. It is a fallacy. We forget that in almost every sport we count for nothing, that cricket alone has been our sporting passport.

But for how long?

7 years later, what has changed?

Today 2..

The spectators had hardly settled in their seats, the scorer in the press box was yet to write down the names of the Indian opening batsmen and the media was in the process of opening their laptops when suddenly, Bangladesh pace spearhead Mashrafe Mortaza made a dash towards the point boundary. His teammates were running after him but he was unstoppable.

Amit Gupta's first day match report

In the pre-match interaction with the media on Thursday, Indian captain Rahul Dravid had said that he would like to keep the final XI as surprise while disclosing that the team would perhaps go in with five bowlers at the Bir Shahid Ruhul Amin Stadium for the first test.

Amit Gupta on the Laxman exclusion.

“No matter what Dr Wallace suggests, we now want Manoj to go back to Mumbai and again consult Dr Joshi. Whether Dr Wallace suggests surgery in London or not, Manoj should finally seek the opinion of the Board’s own doctor — after all, he represents the Board which will give the final certificate on his fitness,” a visibly-concerned senior CAB functionary told The Indian Express this evening.

Nadim Siraj reports.Is this for real?

Then, of course, is the larger question: three injuries already, a packed schedule, will India be able to come up with 11 fit cricketers by the time they take the field in Australia this December?

Ajay S Shankar on India's fitness worries.

In cricket-crazy Chittagong, you don’t really need to be inside the stadium to know which way the game is swinging. All you have to do is keep an eye on this giant tree just outside the white, scarred wall, square off the wicket.

Ajay S Shankar's first day match report.

After India’s debacle at the World Cup, cricket is not what it used to be for advertisers, and therefore, for broadcasters. Those who pay big money to ride on popular telecasts are seeking rebates and wondering how they will recover huge amounts paid to win broadcast rights. A TV ad that goes with cricket usually costs Rs 4 to 5 lakhs per 10 seconds.

Gurbir Singh reports

Mumbai, May 18: Catching an evening local from Dadar, dripping in sweat and a kit bag over her shoulders, 19-year-old Sneha Warge gets ready to leave for home, after she's spent a rather tough session facing wannabe fast bowlers at the Shivaji Park nets.

Devendra Pandey on womens cricket in Mumbai.

Yet Calcutta never got a chance to watch the two old favourites firm up India in the first Test at Chittagong today, lifting the team to 295 for three at stumps on the first day with an undefeated stand of 163.

Doordarshan didn’t show the game apparently because it felt the fans wouldn’t be interested. Neither did the cable operators tie up with Neo Sports, which was beaming the game. TataSky said Neo Sports was “not available” with it.

Nilesh Bhattacharya on the Sachin Saurav partnership.

In a first ever for Bengal cricket, ex-player Satrajit Lahiri today achieved a unique feat, becoming the state’s only Ranji Trophy panel umpire to also become a qualified Level III certified coach.

Yay!

The way Bangladesh team trudged back to the dressing room after end the play, it gave clear indication as to how tough their return to Test cricket after thirteen months has been at the Chittagong Divisional Stadium yesterday.

View from the other side.

In cricket, perhaps more than any other game, there are times when your patriotism for the nation that bore you is overtaken by patriotism for the greater nation of cricket. It felt like that as I watched England seizing an inexorable control over the first npower Test match at Lord’s. It wasn’t the fact that they gained a decisive advantage; it was that they did so without playing terribly well.

Simon Barnes on the Windies decline.

Graeme Smith has undergone surgery on his left knee and now faces a careful period of rehab before he will be considered for a return to action.

Today..

Collateral Damage

It Won't Go Away

TEST CRICKET CANNOT EXPAND — IT’S A DINOSAUR’

Ishant Sharma to replace injured Munaf

Target 952

54/1 in 8.3 overs on the first day of a Test match..

953 anyone?

Thanks Skip..

Personally, I was not sure Dravid would stick his neck out and opt for Karthik .

He did that.

Crow has never tasted better :)

Today...

“It’s never easy to drop anyone, especially when someone is playing well. But in this case, we have to... it’s a part and parcel of the game. You have to take these decisions keeping in mind what is the best combination under the circumstance and what will help you win the game. All of them are good batsmen and so someone has to miss out and be unlucky,” Dravid said.
--
Johannesburg, South Africa - When African leaders nominated Zimbabwe – a country with 2,200 percent inflation, looming famine, and authoritarian tendencies – to chair the UN Commission for Sustainable Development this past week, they may have been sending the world a message.
--
I am not surprised at all that there are few takers for India’s unnecessary venture to Ireland. If anything it gladdens me because it suggests, as the financial analysts like to say, that there is a full blown correction on in the cricket equity stakes. Sponsors are asking for quality, they are unwilling to back lame horses, and that is a sign of health, not despair.
--
Going into Friday’s first Test against Bangladesh, Rahul Dravid must feel like an airline official dealing with an overbooked flight. Everyone has a ticket, but there are only so many people you can accommodate.
--
To be, or not to be? Skipper Rahul Dravid find himself on the horns of a Hamletian dilemma on the eve of the first Test match between Bangladesh and India that is scheduled to get underway at the Bir Shrestha Ruhul Amin Stadium, on Friday.
--
The Australian government's cancellation of its national cricket team's tour of Zimbabwe, which had been scheduled for September, has re-ignited a passionate debate about whether politics and sports should mix and about what happens when they do. Tendai Maphosa has more about the effects of sports boycotts in this report for VOA from London.
--
India’s biggest headache on the eve of the first test wasn’t the opposition or the conditions — it was who to pick
--
He is, however, a bit critical of the Patiala center for not updating their course. “Earlier a lot of students from Bangladesh used to go there, but because they have not revamped their course content people have stopped going there now,” he lamented. “The institute has not been able to catch-up with the technological advancements. But I still feel that it’s just the right place to get your basics right.”
--
His arms folded, eyes hidden behind dark shades, Rahul Dravid started poring over one of the toughest answer sheets that he may have ever come across as skipper. Under the dripping heat, one question after another walked up, hovered around in the practice nets before him, was replaced by another.

Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh: whom do you drop?

--
The discolouring of the white ball in one-day matches and the shrinking size of playing fields will be two of many issues discussed by the newly-constituted ICC cricket committee, which meets in Dubai later this month, former Australian captain Mark Taylor has said.
--
Sponsors' no to BCCI: It was due for long, but probably BCCI was oblivious to it. The apex body of Indian cricket simply does not believe in any "worst case scenario". No surprise that it was too late to react.
--
EMBARRASSMENT for international cricket continues apace, with drug cheat Shoaib Akhtar making himself available to play for Pakistan again.
--