Next Change

Now that the water has flowed and the dust settled, Ricky Ponting's words before the CB series finals glow a rich crimson and stand testimony to the age old but oft forgotten truth that those whom the Gods would destroy they first make proud: "I think 2 finals will be enough ..." indeed.

The men in blue have shown the power of youth. Now it remains to be seen if the Rohit Sharmas and Uthappas and Ishants go the same way as so many other youngsters (think Kaif, Raina, Balaji and so on...) or whether they carry on to forge a truly world beating side. As for Australia, no replacement will come for Gilchrist and there doesn't seem to be a single spinner anywhere in sight who can play a role, especially in slow conditions. Haddin may be competent as a batsman but to go from having the world's best 'keeper-batsman to arguably no. 4 (after Sangakarra, Dhoni & Boucher) leaves a big hole not easily filled and the absence of a competent slow bowler only adds to the woes. To have 4 of your strike bowlers as pacers is a clear lack of variety and not every pitch would be a WACA...oh but hang on that didn't help either! :-)

On to South Africa now. It will be interesting to see how resurgent RD, SCG and VVS are, especially considering the doors to the ODI team have more or less been permanently shut for all 3 of them. What will also be interesting is who will partner Wasim Jaffer now? And will Yuvraj find a place in the team? More than anything else however, I am looking forward to the return of RP Singh who I've always felt has the pace, swing and seam to trouble anybody. Zaheer's form too will be interesting to watch out for.

And April 18th, Bangalore will witness its first IPL T20: Bangalore Vs Kolkata... rest assured there'll be many of us there with beers, banners and much banter too!

Champs again

For all the talk of Indian cricket being in the dumps (if one were to believe certain comments left on this blog) and only a money spinning machine, India has cornered the second among what I believe are the 5 crowns of Cricket globally (the other 3 being 50/50, Test cricket and the Champions Trophy). The Under 19 team played some glorious cricket to nudge out South Africa in winning the junior world cup. This is another big step in India's march toward becoming the top cricket team in the world. Of course there's a long way to go yet but yesterday offered some glimpses into the future.

The combination of a cricketing master class by SRT left the Australians floundering, misfielding, over throwing and finally folding in the face of the SRT - RS combo. If SRT displayed why he is still SRT, then Rohit Sharma was not far behind, playing some audacious strokes on the way to a match winning innings. The big disappointment was Uthappa again but one hopes he will be persisted with and will come good eventually.