What if Sachin drops down?
When sorrows come, they come not single spies, But in battalions. – Shakespeare, Hamlet, IV, 5 It's a typical story of luck turning tyrant. Call it unfavourable constellations, this Indian team is just not getting a breather from a string of mishaps. As if the on-field marauding and ruckus back home are not enough, the side’s most reliable bat, Rahul Dravid, has hit the darn thing – a finger injury. This inopportune blow could, once again, fatally expose India’s frail middle-order should Sachin Tendulkar perish early. ....
Posted by Deba Prasad Dhar at | 61 comments
Hello, is this Gambhir?
Nobody expected a seismic turnaround in India’s fortunes. After the neat drubbing at Durban, the third ODI was all about India's quest for self-esteem. We wondered what we would see of the side: a premature meltdown in steel or some fortitude. Scribes tried every conceivable combination for Cape Town. We knew it would be a tough sledding for Rahul Dravid. After all he does not possess the capital in batting to plug the dark, gaping holes in the form of Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina and Dinesh Mongia. ....
Posted by Deba Prasad Dhar at | 16 comments
Heat and bust
“Cannons here, cannons there, roaring thunder.” That’s what Indians must have felt as Andrew Nel’s short-stuff (and verbal slaps) clapped past their ears. At the time of writing, Bengal, too, has rammed into familiar wrecks. Punjab’s Gagandeep Singh has cut a swathe through Bengal’s middle-order. The wicket, Mohali: the only wellspring of life. Thus, the disaster at Durban should not distress us as much as the next scary 10 years of Indian cricket. The sores stain deep down, not that we need to be told. Ninety-one runs....
Posted by Deba Prasad Dhar at | 12 comments
From Presidency to Pentangular
A cricket romantic would not be oblivious to the game's history. If cricket has swum upstream from a traditionally British sport to a national obsession in India, we owe it to the era of 1892-1946. It is said the Presidency, Triangular, Quadrangular and Pentangular tournaments, played in Mumbai during the time changed forever the skyline of Indian cricket. Arbi, the veteran sports journalist of Calcutta, says about the transition: "It was the indeed the Quadrangular that gave us the courage to seek entry into the international arena, an....
Posted by Deba Prasad Dhar at | 3 comments
