Payback

Unsurprisingly, that's also the fastest Twenty20 fifty - it came up from 12 balls. Three fours, six sixes.
18.6	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, and he has, Yuvraj leans back and smacks that over wide mid-on ... it was the maximum from the moment it left that bat and the crowd were roaring as it flew
Broad looks like a man who knows he is about to be mauled again ...
Broad looks quizzical ... and miserable. Can he ... can Yuvraj do it ...
18.5	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, down on one knee and larruped over midwicket, that one was more nine iron, it went into the night sky and dropped with a thud in the jubilant crowd ...
England have a team meeting. Shuffling deckchairs on the Jolly Roger though ...
18.4	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, Shiver me timbers!: Broad goes round the wicket, bowls a filthy wide full toss and Yuvraj steers it over backward point and it clears the rope again
18.3	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, he's hitting them everywhere, he steps to leg and smashes the ball over extra cover and it keeps on travelling ... the fireworks start on top of the scoreboard ... they've been going off in the middle for some time
18.2	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, now that really is sweet, no more than a dismissive flick off his legs, swatting a fly, and the ball arcs deep into the crowd beyond backward square leg
The dodgy TV measurement says that's 111 yards ... but as it landed outside the ground how the whatsists do they know? They guess, that's how.
18.1	Broad to Yuvraj Singh, SIX, that's out the ground, super shot over cow corner and it just kept going up

19th over: India 207-3 (Dhoni 7, Yuvraj Singh 50) Yuvraj Singh had to be restrained by umpire Doctrove from getting involved in some verbals with Flintoff at the end of the last over and decides to take out his ever-present anger on Broad instead, absolutely CLATTERING his first ball over backward square for six. Incredible. And the next ball disappears for six as well, this time courtesy of a pick-up/sweep. The camera pans on to Flintoff, who - truth be told - looks a little sheepish. And then Yuvraj lifts Broad's third ball over extra cover for six more! Three in three! And it's four in four as Broad serves up a full-toss that is spanked over backward point. FOUR IN FOUR! And now it's FIVE OUT OF FIVE, this time with an almighty slog-sweep. Stunning stuff! Yuvraj was hit for five sixes in five balls by Mascarenhas at The Oval recently. Now he's taking revenge. And he's done it! SIX SIXES IN AN OVER with a mow over long-on. Quite staggering! And that's his fifty off 12 balls! "Has no one else noticed England are obviously saving themselves for the First official Twenty20 World Cup in 2009?" says Ben Osguthorpe.

20th over: India 218-4 (Dhoni 10) That was some of the cleanest hitting you will ever see/read about. Did Freddie wind him up at the end of the previous over? Possibly. But who cares? That was The Oval-plus-interest, and now he carves Flintoff over extra cover for six. He really is one of the most talented players in world cricket. But there the fun ends as he picks out long-on: WICKET! Yuvraj Singh c Collingwood b Flintoff 58 (216-4) OFF 16 BALLS! Quite brilliant stuff and England are, surely, stuffed.

Today...

The India A squad for the 3 ODI set against South Africa A

Mohd Kaif (capt), Parthiv Patel (vice capt), Cheteshwar Pujara, Karan Goel, Manoj Tiwary, Suresh Raina, S Badrinath, Praveen Kumar, Praghyan Ojha, Ishant Sharma, Yo Mahesh, Pankaj Singh, Arjun Yadav, Abhishek Nayar, Anirudh Srikkanth.
---
Says Rajesh Varma, now secretary of Jharkhand Cricket Association, “He has never captained a team ever except for a district side once in 1996-97. But he’s not afraid if he’s given responsibility. The fact that he could call on Robin Uttappa when India were involved in a bowl-out with Pakistan says a lot about the trust he places in his teammates,” says Varma.
---
Dravid was not a great captain, but with more support, he could have been better, writes Rohit Brijnath
---
Nobody will go on record, but a lack of support from key Board of Control for Cricket in India officials — absolutely necessary for the captaincy — scuppered Sourav Ganguly’s chances of leading again, this time in the upcoming ODIs.
---
Does the choice of India’s new captain for the oneday series against Australia and Pakistan mean anything beyond cricket?
---
When Rahul Dravid, surprisingly, announced that he wasn’t keen to captain India anymore on September 14, the selectors had just 15 days to find a suitable replacement before the start of the seven-match ODI series against world champions Australia.
---

Sanjay Manjrekar

makes a valid point

A final word on the rotation policy that the Chairman of Selectors hinted at; that senior players could be rested. I am not sure that this is such a great decision considering the stage that the senior players are at in their careers. It might have made sense three to four years ago but these are players who have played close to 400 one-day internationals. Is it fair now, to keep expecting them to be there for India for the next two to three years; instead should they just play out whatever is left of their careers in one go and let the youth take over once and for all. The problem with this policy is that the youngsters who get a chance to play once the seniors are rested never feel that they are there for the long haul; theirs is more a makeshift selection and for the crunch games they know that the seniors will be back. Youth can never grow in such an environment and this policy has to be viewed with a bit of scepticism.

and then

I just wish Dhoni's appointment had been for a longer time. I don't understand the logic of giving him the captaincy for just two series. I think the one-day captaincy should have been offered for a year or two, just to show that the selectors commitment towards Dhoni. The Test match captaincy hasn't been announced but I feel that if Dhoni has a good series against Australia and Pakistan he might be offered the Test captaincy too and maybe that's the reason why he has been made e short-term captain.

Question is, forget all the arguments about the workload that comes with being captain, wicketkeeper and batsman in the longer format of the game;is Mahendra Singh Dhoni the best wicketkeeper in the country and its the best bet at #6 or 7?

Does Mahendra Singh Dhoni deserve an automatic place in the national Test team?

I'm all confused

The Indian team for the ODI series against Australia has been announced. Rather, the team for the first three ODIs has been announced.

India one-day squad
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt) ,Yuvraj Singh (vice-captain), Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Dinesh Karthik, Gautam Gambhir, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Ramesh Powar, Piyush Chawla, RP Singh, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh

That is not what is confusing me.

The schedule for the ODI series reads as follows

1st ODI: India v Australia at Bangalore - Sep 29, 2007 Match scheduled to begin at 14:30 local time (09:00 GMT)

2nd ODI: India v Australia at Kochi - Oct 2, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

3rd ODI: India v Australia at Hyderabad (Decc) - Oct 5, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

4th ODI: India v Australia at Chandigarh - Oct 8, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

5th ODI: India v Australia at Vadodara - Oct 11, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

That too does not confuse me.

What confuses me is the fact that the Irani Trophy was pushed back because it overlapped the South Africa "A" tour. And is now scheduled to begin on the 6th of October.

Which is right after the 3rd ODI.

It is going to be an interesting (confusing) team selection for the remaining 4 ODIs/Irani Trophy.

I wonder what gives?

Why Rahul Dravid stepped down

Haresh Pandya knows the answer.... Its those pesky Maharashtrians!

Wheels within Wheels

Sachin Tendulkar has ostensibly been sounded out for the post of India captain. MS Dhoni is the current India Twenty20 captain. Yuvraj Singh is his deputy. Virender Sehwag is an ex-India captain. As is Saurav Ganguly.And Rahul Dravid. Md.Kaif is current India "A" captain. Anil Kumble has never been captain. Ditto VVS Laxman.

With the captaincy debate in full swing on the pages of this blog and elsewhere, here are my two cents -

1. Is the captain going to be appointed on a series by series basis or will he be tenured for a fixed period ( say 2 years)?

Imagine the situation wherein SRT is asked to lead the team on a series by series basis - would SRT commit to something that basically covers the BCCI's backside for the short term given the treatment meted out to him by the BCCI after the World Cup? Ditto SCG. And what about Anil Kumble or VVS Laxman - step children who never got their due?

Imagine a situation too where the selectors are amenable to a fixed term for the captain. What will be the length of that term?

If it is a year, what after that? Does India want to play with a team full of ex captains post that period?

Is 2 years ideal? The last time we had a captain for 2 years, the team was just about getting molded in his image when the tenure ended. Is that what we want? One captain up to the Champions Trophy in 2009 and another till the end of the World Cup? And wont 4 years be much too much for any captain, given the grind that is India's cricket.

And if it is 3 years, what then? Sharad Pawar relinquishes the BCCI presidency to take over as ICC President. The current selection committee's tenure expires in another 2 odd years. Shashank Manohar is set to take over as BCCI President, no one knows what the composition of the new selection committee will be..What are the guarantees that the new set up will honor the commitments made by the previous dispensation?

What are the terms and conditions under which SRT or SCG or anyone else takes over the captaincy and how amenable will the BCCI be to these?

And if someone younger is appointed captain, how much heartburn will it cause - within the team and the country?

2. Are we looking at splitting the Test and ODI captaincy or are we looking at one captain to lead both the sides?

Sachin Tendulkar has gone on record to state that ODI's take a huge toll on his body and that there is not enough recovery time between games.

Imagine a situation wherein SRT is appointed India Test captain and Mahendra Singh Dhoni the ODI captain. Imagine too that India is playing the Champions Trophy and Sachin has made himself available.

What will the selectors do? Do we want to have a situation wherein the Test captain reports to the ODI captain in ODIs and vice versa? And is that a healthy situation?

And if not, is the Lords ODI the last time we have seen SRT, SCG and RD in India ODI colors?

3. Where does the coach fit in?

India does not have a coach as yet. How do team dynamics change once the coach is appointed? Will the coach be pliant or authoritative? Will he be better served having a team full of young hopefuls with stars in their eyes or a team consisting of veterans who have been there and done that and managed wonderfully without a coach, thank you very much.

And how pliant or authoritative must the captain be, given the new coach?

And finally, how does the ICL/PCL fit in into the whole debate? If the money is better there and the set up is more professional ( franchises remember), how does that alter the captaincy debate? Will people, disillusioned or disheartened, jump ?

Plenty to think about for our "honorary" selectors.

Today..

Jhulan arrives to a lukewarm reception

India edge past in bowl-out

Flair meets flint: Two contrasting double-centuries

Chopra and Badrinath double-tons put India on top

'We're trying to change the world order'

Pakistan A facing defeat after huge deficit

Reactions

Rahul Dravid called a close to his captaincy today. Newspaper round up and blog reactions

A thoughtful, intense cricketer has handed back the Indian cricket captaincy because some of the enjoyment had been leached out of his game.

As befits a quiet, dignified man, there was no fanfare. Rahul Dravid wanted to announce his decision on Thursday, then realised it might take some shine off the launch of the Champions Twenty20 League, and instead spoke privately to Indian cricket board chief Sharad Pawar and that was it.

Rohit Brijnath

Till Friday, 14th September, Indian cricket was in search of a coach. Now, the appointment of the coach is a distant second with the quest to find a successor to Rahul Dravid becoming the burning concern. With a seven-ODI series against Australia beginning in just over a fortnight, there isn't much time. What's more worrying, though, is that there aren't too many obvious candidates either.

Anand Vasu

Rahul Dravid’s decision to abdicate the captain’s throne has only raised the brows of the Indian cricket fraternity to unprecedented heights.

The few who matter are treating his decision with sheer contempt as they feel he has abandoned the ship when his stewardship was needed most.

Ehtesham hasan

At the post-match press conference on Thursday, someone asked Mahendra Singh Dhoni about the pressures of captaining the side against Pakistan.

The Indian captain stared nonchalantly into space, smiled gently and with a shrug of his shoulders said: “Pressure kya?”

Amit Gupta

Mobile phone statistics aren't for public consumption but it wouldn't come as any surprise if the number most sought after on Friday' was that owned by Rahul Dravid. The words "Dravid" and "jolt" are rarely used in the same sentence but his resignation has left most in a daze. Dravid the batsman has thrived in adversity, soaking up every ounce of pressure and adopting trench warfare, but Dravid the captain seems to have exhausted his last drop of patience. And he's switched his phone off.

Siddhartha Vaidyanathan

Adelaide, Kolkata, Leeds, Rawalpindi. Rahul Dravid has ensured he will be remembered when, years from now, proud grandfathers tell stories of what had happened in those cities in the early 2000s. It’s his flashing blade that has scripted some of India’s greatest test wins of our era.

Kunal Pradhan

There’s a buzz that key officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), struggling in any case to appoint a coach, have sought Sachin Tendulkar’s availability for captaincy.

LOKENDRA PRATAP SAHI

Just over a month ago, in England, a senior Indian cricket board official asked Rahul Dravid, “Why are you so serious? Your expression looks like the whole weight of Indian cricket is on your shoulders.” The Indian captain laughed wryly, and replied. “You don’t know.” Now we know. After two years of leading a volatile group of cricketers — aggressive smalltown youngsters with an in-your-face attitude that he struggled to understand and insecure veterans desperate to get the script they wanted for the final chapter of their careers — Rahul Dravid last night simply shrugged his shoulders and walked away.

Ajay S Shankar

What was most intriguing about Rahul Dravid’s decision to make himself unavailable for the India captaincy was not just the decision itself, but its timing.

It has come on the eve of what is possibly India’s toughest-ever season of cricket — up ahead are series against Australia, Pakistan and South Africa. It can’t get tougher than this.

Kadambari Murali

For three full months, indeed more, Rahul Dravid guarded his secret zealously. He didn't give any indication of it as he led Team India single-mindedly and passionately, plotting the downfall of England and motivating his own mates to surpass themselves.

Bobilli Vijay Kumar

In breaking news, Dravid resigns as captain of the Indian team. The rest of the year for Indian cricket is not going to be easy with tough tours of Pakistan and Australia ahead. A new coach and a new captain aren’t going to make things any easier.

Mahesh at i3j3 Cricket

The man who gave India Test series wins in England and West Indies, a first Test series win against Sri Lanka in 12 years, and managed a tough transition where many of Ganguly's champions went through the first serious troughs of their careers (Harbhajan, Sehwag, Kaif) and some of the great players showed marked decline (Tendulkar, Ganguly), has decided to quit as India captain. He says he didn't enjoy the job anymore. Like it happened with Ganguly, the captaincy wore him down. Ganguly let it destroy the batsman in him - Dravid is unwilling to do so. It is the difference between the two men.

Kartikeya at A Cricketing View

Don't know if Rahul Dravid's resignation is for real - remember he also offered to quit after the World Cup flop? Anyway, I appreciate his tacit admission of his failings as a captain. The trouble is that the replacement may be worse, because the board has shown poor judgement so far in selection of coaches and captains.

Sumit at Cricketkeeper

Today Rahul Dravid resigned as captain of Team India. Or offered to.
Typically I’d wait till the dust settled and things got clarified about what that means before I wrote a post on something like this but I feel strongly about Rahul Dravid. I even thought he was deserving of the highest compliment at the recent Test series. So here goes.

Sfx at Just a Silly Point

For the second day running, the ICC World Twenty20 moved to the penumbra with two other developments taking centrestage. Bangladesh beat the West Indies on Thursday and Sri Lanka made a whopping 260 in 20 overs against Kenya on Friday but the grand announcement of a Professional Cricket League and Rahul Dravid’s decision to quit as India captain overshadowed it all.

G.Rajaraman at Raj Reflects

So Rahul Dravid has resigned as Indian captain. For what its worth, I have mixed feelings about this decision. Dravid was not a spectacular captain but he was well-liked and respected in the team (says someone who has no idea what goes on in the dressing room!), and could be considered a reasonable talent at bridging the inevitable differences within any Indian team.

Samir Chopra at Eye on Cricket

UPDATE: He wants to be relieved for personal reasons, is the official reason; he wants to be relieved with immediate effect, and he wants to quit as captain from both forms of the game, per the letter submitted two days ago. And thus far, that is all there is.

Flash forward a moment—in two weeks, the Aussies will be here, and the BCCI urgently needs a new captain. Sachin, the current vice captain, or Saurav? Or will the board seize opportunity by its horns and go with a younger leader—assuming there is such an animal ready and waiting in the wings?

Prem Panicker at Smoke Signals

This one was a surprise, but not something that I would not welcome. If anything, Dravid has decided to be smart about this. He's probably chosen not to do something that he's obviously so bad at. In addition, his batting has suffered. While there is no threat to his place in the team, he obviously has goals that he has set for himself that he found himself struggling to meet. In other words, it dawned on him that he was doing a poor job at both batting and captaincy and one had to give. He chose batting over captaincy. And I think its a wise choice.

Vidooshak at Smart Cricket Talk

Not many will be displeased or be taken by surprise. But there are two schools of thought on Dravid's captaincy. This will be debated for sure. I am not a great admirer of his captaincy but his resignation shocked me for the timing.

SoulBerry at The Cricket Watchers Journal

More of the same

So, let us understand this -

India, Australia, England and South Africa have launched an International Twenty 20 league that will feature the top two Twenty20 teams from the above mentioned countries.

The BCCI has launched the India Premier League which will be franchise based.

The tournament wll be played in October of 2008.

Which is all fine and dandy, except for a couple of things

1. Here is India's International schedule till December 2008

India - forthcoming Test and one-day series

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Year	Month/s	Teams/Tournament	Tests	ODIs
2006/07	Jan	HOME v West Indies	-	4
2006/07	Feb	HOME v Sri Lanka	-	4
2006/07	Mar-Apr	AWAY: World Cup (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh, Kenya, Ireland, Bermuda, Canada, Scotland, Netherlands) in West Indies
2007	May	AWAY v Bangladesh	*tbc	*tbc
2007	Jun	AWAY: Afro Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Sth Africa, Pak, Sri Lanka, Zim, Kenya) in
2007	Jun-Sep	AWAY v England	3	7
2007	Aug	AWAY v Scotland	-	1
2007/08	Sep	AWAY: Twenty20 Championship (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh) in South Africa
2007/08	Nov-Dec	HOME v Australia	-	*tbc
2007/08	Dec-Jan	AWAY v Pakistan	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Dec-Feb	AWAY v Australia	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Jan-Feb	AWAY: ODI series (Aus, Ind, Sri Lanka) in Australia
2007/08	Feb-Mar	AWAY: ODI series (B'desh, Ind, Sth Africa) in Bangladesh
2007/08	Mar	AWAY v Bangladesh	*tbc	*tbc
2007/08	Mar	HOME v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Apr	AWAY v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Apr	AWAY: Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Pak, Sri Lanka) in Pakistan
2008	May	AWAY v Zimbabwe	*tbc	*tbc
2008	Jun	AWAY: Afro Asia Cup (B'desh. Ind, Sth Africa, Pak, Sri Lanka, Zim, Kenya) in Malaysia
2008	Jul-Aug	AWAY v Sri Lanka	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Sep-Oct	AWAY: ICC Champions Trophy (Aus, Eng, Ind, Sth Africa, New Z'lnd, Pak, Sri Lanka, W Indies, Zim, B'desh) in Pakistan
2008/09	Nov-Dec	HOME v England	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Dec	AWAY v Pakistan	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Jan	AWAY v South Africa	*tbc	*tbc
2008/09	Apr	AWAY v New Zealand	*tbc	*tbc

The BCCI expects to get six franchises in place and playing against each other, all the while when the main draws for any BCCI mandated game, the Tendulkars and the Dhonis and the Dravids, will be away on national duty.

2. Assuming, by some divine intervention, that these players are available for the duration of the domestic competition and then the International Twenty20, has anyone bothered to factor in their workload?

Is there a limit to the BCCI's (cricketborad@gmail.com) greed and lack of planning?
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The Cricket Board today decided to continue with the existing system of contract for the players till the Gradation Committee gives a final shape to a new proposal.

....
According to the existing contract, players in the A grade get an annual retainership of Rs 50 lakhs, while the amount is Rs 35 lakh and Rs 20 lakhs for Grade B and C, respectively.

erm... remember this

10. Working Committee approved the Performance-based Payment to the players and decided to do away with the present gradation for Retainership. Apart from the payment, the following points would form a part of the contract.

· A player will endorse not more than 3 sponsors / products

· No Sponsor can contract more than 2 players.

· The players will not be allowed to do any sponsor-related events 15 days before the tour and also during the tour.

· Before every tour, all the contracted players have to undergo a fitness test and only those who fulfill the benchmarks will be considered for selection.

· No player shall have exclusive contracts with electronic or print media. Only the captain can write a column or talk to the media but not exclusively.

· The players shall take prior approval of the Board before signing any endorsement contract and will submit a copy of the agreement to the Board. All the players shall submit a copy of the existing contracts with sponsors to the Board.

· All the players will have to play a stipulated number of domestic matches when not playing for India.

· In the event of injury to the player, the Board will compensate him the match fees that he would have earned for a maximum period of six months.
--
Sponsorship of Mumbai teams renewed with National Engg. Coordination Committee for further two years 2007-08 and 2008-09, office bearers to discuss and finalise the terms.

National Egg Coordination Committee guys.. Atleast know who your sponsors are!

Just a thought...

India A (from): Mohammad Kaif (capt), Aakash Chopra, Cheteshwar Pujara, Manoj Tiwary, S Badrinath, Suresh Raina, Parthiv Patel (wk), Ishant Sharma, Yo Mahesh, Pankaj Singh, Pragyan Ojha, Arjun Yadav, Ashraf Makda, Amit Mishra.

India (from): Virender Sehwag, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, Dinesh Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt & wk), Joginder Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Yusuf Pathan, Ajit Agarkar, Piyush Chawla, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Sreesanth.

India (players from the Natwest series not currently playing) : Rahul Dravid,Saurav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan,Munaf Patel, Ramesh Powar, Sachin Tendulkar.

India U-19 Team : Tanmay Srivastava (capt), Ravi Jadeja, Virat Kohli, Manish Pandey, Saurabh Tiwari, Shreevats Goswami, Pradeep Sangwan, Harshad Khadiwale, Abhinav Mukund, Abu Nechim Ahmed, Iqbal Abdullah, GVS Prasad, Shrikant Munde, Amanpreet Singh, KP Appanna

Of the players listed above, onlyAbu Nechim Ahmed has moved on to the ICL. This gives the BCCI a roster of 49 players who have played cricket with International teams. If we are to include the Mumbai squad who played in the Muhammad Nissar Trophy and the KSCA squad that participated in the Top End series and those cricketers who are currently injured, the BCCI has about 80-90 players with some international exposure in the current season.

Enough to form 5-6 franchise teams to play each other in a latter day version of the Duleep Trophy.

We flippin' murdered them

5 debutants and the label of a "second string" team did not deter Mumbai from putting on a sterling performance ( including a follow on) against Karachi Urban in the Mohammad Nissar Trophy.
--

And is Abhishek Nayar ready to make the move up to the national team? Kid has shown guts and gumption in adverse situations, is a left hand bat and a steady right hand medium pacer. The home ODI series is a good time to blood him, unless the selectors, in their infinite wisdom, deem that he needs another season in domestic cricket before he can be considered India material.

Seventh ODI - India versus England, Lords

England outplay India to take the series 4-3 India 187/10 England 188/3

The final game of a long drawn ODI series went the way of the first game. England did not put a foot wrong in comprehensively beating India.

From the outset, there was very little India did right or were allowed to. England had a plan and they executed it to perfection.

Collingwood ( Mr Fat Arse to the rest of us) impressed with his captaincy. England's fielding was excellent, their bowling tight and their batting solid.

Kudos England, a well won series.

And now, gains and losses for the two teams. Firstly England.

England have plenty to cheer about.

In the course of this series, they have unearthed some real talent in Broad and Wright. Bopara and Shah have done enough to show that they will be in England's plans for the future.

Collingwood was a revelation. His captaincy was exceptional. Pieterson was Pieterson. Mascarenhas showed why Warne rates him so highly.

And Ian Bell! Left out by Warwickshire ODI side early on in the Indian summer, Bell has played exceptional cricket. A classical batsman, his shotmaking and shot selection have been excellent. As has been his fielding.

Winning the series will give England the self belief that they can compete and they can compete and win. And they have the nucleus of the side to do so.And that augurs well for the future.

On the flip side, playing Flintoff in the final ODI was daft.

Panesar was ordinary. For someone in whom there is some much invested in, his flat darts were a huge let down.

For India, plenty of gains and a little introspection.

Post the World Cup, there was mass hysteria with everyone blaming everyone for the early exit. And no one thought better to sit back and analyze the root causes for India's failure to compete.

This loss to England has come at just about the right time. It gives pause to the hype about Indian being world beaters and gives India reason to introspect. Introspect about what our approach to the game should be and how best to structure a squad to meet that approach.

India's approach to the modern ODI has been patchy. And it reflected in their game and game plans. Our batting was in spurts, our bowling was scratchy and the less said about our fielding the better.

Seniors versus juniors is the wrong debate in Indian cricket - playing a team who are all below the age of 25 does not guarantee a good fielding side. 7 batsmen and 4 bowlers against 6 batsmen and 5 bowlers is also a futile debate - the non utilization of resources ( both by individuals and by the captain) on the field and in the dressing room is where the problem lies. If Yuvraj Singh cannot be counted on bowling 5 overs every game and if Ajit Agarkar cannot be counted to chip in 20 runs every time he goes out to bat, we have a problem that is more deep rooted.

What has gone right for India is the timing of the loss.

India plays the Twenty 20 World Cup which gives us the opportunity to start putting together a One Day philosophy. There are no expectations from us at the World Cup, we are playing some of the players who may become integral to India's ODI balance in the years to come and it will also give us an idea of performance under pressure.

Following the loss is the 12 ODI set at home against good opposition which then gives India the opportunity to consolidate and quantify this philosophy and the personnel that fit into this philosophy. Which is huge !

As regards personnel, the spin twins have been awesome all through this ODI series. Piyush Chawla has come a long long way from his debut at Mohali in 2005 while Powar has given Harbhajan notice on what works and what doesn't in the shorter version of the game.

Yuvraj, Uthappa, Gambhir and Dhoni played well in patches, Karthik was a disappointment and India has yet to figure out what they want from their number 3 batter and bowler.

Zaheer was excellent ( though overbowled), RP Singh is a good prospect, Munaf and Agarkar have done enough to book their tickets out of the ODI side.

Sachin rolled back the years, Ganguly did his bit with the bat and ball and Rahul Dravid played with gay abandon. And did he lead the side well!

I have been critical of Rahul Dravid because of his tendency to play the game by the numbers, something that works well in the longer format of the game but puts you behind the 8 ball in the shorter version.

But barring that brain fade with Yuvraj bowling the 50th over at the Oval, I was pretty impressed with how he handled the team. He will never be a genius leader, but he did better than expected ( think about the South African debacle and his captaincy there).

The team showed guts ( Old Trafford, Headingley and the Oval) and heart. Which are good foundations to build the team on.

Second String II

Mumbai 325/3 (90.0 ov) Stumps Day 1

SahilKukreja 110
Ajinkya Rahane 143

If this is the best the first string Karachi Urban team could do, Mumbai would have been better served sending their U-15 Second XIs..

Second string indeed!

What must Tendulkar do?

5 times this summer, Sachin Tendulkar's innings have been hacked off by poor umpiring.

Goulded and Darred are terms in the lexicon analogous to Bucknored.

And if India loses this game, the carpers will be out in full force, moaning on the "lack" of contribution from Sachin's bat in crunch games.

What must Tendulkar do?

Interesting

With an eye on the Australia Tour later this year, I found these two scorecards ( 1 & 2) particularly interesting.

Given that the Australia bowling attack will comprise primarily from Brett Lee, Shaun Tait, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Shane Watson, Stuart McGill and Ben Hilfenhaus, it is interesting to see how the next generation of Australian spinners are shaping up.

Cullen Bailey, Dan Cullen and Cameron White have had an indifferent start. It will be interesting to see how they shape up from here on in, especially during the 2 "Tests".
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Interesting also is the fact that the Irani Trophy has been pushed back by 5 days, ostensibly because "The postponement by a few days was necessary as the South Africa A series ends only at the end of September," Ratnakar Shetty, the BCCI's chief administrative officer, told PTI.

And so, what about this -

1st ODI: India v Australia at Bangalore - Sep 29, 2007
Match scheduled to begin at 14:30 local time (09:00 GMT)

2nd ODI: India v Australia at Kochi - Oct 2, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

3rd ODI: India v Australia at Hyderabad (Decc) - Oct 5, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

4th ODI: India v Australia at Chandigarh - Oct 8, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

5th ODI: India v Australia at Vadodara - Oct 11, 2007 (09:00 local, 03:30 GMT)

Or is there a message here about the Indian team composition for the ODI series?