Cricket, cricket, cricket....

This post shall cover some last thoughts on India's historic 2-0 win over Australia, and other articles found while trolling through the web. After this, I shall blog on topics other than cricket (until the next Test series against England next month), I promise.

1) After India drew the first Test match, I was mad at the defensive mindset of the Indians. Back then I had written:

India are the home team, with 5 batsmen who have scored about 40,000 Test runs, with two spinners who have taken more than 900 Test wickets, and three fielders who have collectively taken over 370 catches. The Aussies have one batsman who has scored more than 10,000 runs, another great who has over 6,000 runs. One bowler who has taken more than 100 wickets (Lee has 291), and their lone spinner making his debut. And we are celebrating the fact that we drew the first Test? Seriously, those that are afraid to win are indeed condemned to repeatedly fai

It took a change in captaincy (forced by injury to Kumble) to inject some sense into the team. The Australian team that dominated the world for almost two decades is NOT this motley collection of individuals who came to India. Once the Indians figured this out, they took on a new persona and charged to a series victory. The Fab Four have lots of "experience" but that experience comes with a price - they have tasted lots of defeats, too. When things start to go wrong, they seem to remember those bad days and forget to play their normal, natural, wonderful game. The worst offender, by a country mile, is Sachin Tendulkar. For a batsman who has played so long, he has the deer in the headlights look way too many times. The sad part is that he drags the rest of the team down with him. Luckily, the new breed (dare I say New Age cricketer?) is immune to Tendulkar's fraidy-cat routine. MS Dhoni made a 50+ score in the 4 innings of the two Tests he captained, leading from the front. His attitude rubbed off onto the rest and India won a Test series that, in hindsight, was theirs to win all along. A 2-0 result should not surprise you. The Australians did not take 20 Indian wickets until the last Test, and even when they did, the Indians put on 736 total runs. Pshaw! If the Aussies did not have Michael Hussey in the middle order, they'd have caved to a worse fate than they did. The real test for the Indians will be when they are favored to win, as will be the case henceforth.

2) A couple of post-series analyses from CricInfo:
First up, the Australians are found wanting in most categories.

Secondly, most of the Indians come out well, except for some surprising names at the bottom of the list.

Sambit Bal sums up the series and its implications, rightly contending that India won more because the Australian standards have dipped and not so much because the Indian standards have gone up.

The battle between two Test giants was played in front of empty stands and the BCCI has to shoulder a large part of the blame. In their haste to make money they ignore the most basic needs - that of the spectators. Chasing after the T20 golden goose has seriously compromised their stance on promoting cricket.

3) The first great to retire was Kumble. Ganguly announced his retirement earlier, but did not retire till later. A week into the retirement, Sharda Ugra found Anil to be at peace with the decision and in a happy frame of mind. A few days later, in Nagpur, he gave a really wonderful speech, thanking his teammates individually, that must be read in its entirety.

4) Sourav Ganguly left on a high, captaining the Indian side for a few overs thanks to a wonderful gesture by MS Dhoni. Along the way, he had the satisfaction of helping beat the Aussies in the very city where the first seeds of discontent with his captaincy were sown. A full circle provided proper closure to his career - one in which he underachieved in the Test arena, made his mark in the ODI stage, and brilliantly overachieved in the captaincy stakes (more for the attitude he brought than just the wins). The tributes have been pouring in and CricInfo does a good job of rounding up some of them here, saving me some time.

Some others that deserve a separate mention are:

Peter Roebuck takes his time and tries to decipher what made him so revered in India.

Sachin Tendulkar talks in depth about his feelings for Ganguly and Kumble.

VVS Laxman talks about Ganguly in an older interview.

Finally, Harsha Bhogle comes out with his assessment of Ganguly's contributions to Indian cricket.

5) At the end of the Nagpur Test, Ricky Ponting came under heavy fire from the media for his seemingly inexplicable decision to let India off the hook on Day 4. Rather than accept that he may have erred in judgment, he has taken the moral high ground and is being supported by his coach. I guess if you repeat something often enough, people will think it is the truth. Finding articles that slam his captaincy are dime a dozen these days, so I;ll let you troll through the web for those on your own. Instead, I shall direct your attention to this nicely written piece by Gideon Haigh where he believes that Ponting deserves a modicum of sympathy from us.

The Nagpur Test was also MS Dhoni's first Test as a full-time captain and he led from the front, and impressed everyone with his acumen. Chloe Saltu admires MS Dhoni for having the guts to be his own man and not back down from criticism for a defensive 8-1 field placement.

Suresh Menon is a lot more effusive in his praises and reaches into the past to find comparisons.

Not surprisingly, some reporter tracked down Dhoni's childhood friends and found out that he has not changed much since then. The article is nice as it provides a lot of insight and background to the BMOC of Indian cricket.

Peter Roebuck is at the top of his game, a fine return to form after a few insipid articles, with this extended description of MS Dhoni.

6) Considering how cliched and, even worse, how predictable the cricket commentary on TV was, re-reading Amit Verma's observations made me realize that I am not alone in my low regard for some of them.

7) And if you are still reading this, here's a treat for VVS Laxman fans:
a) An interview with the Times of India on the eve of his 100th Test match, one that was doubly special because India beat the Aussies in it.

b) Rajan Bala goes back in time and compares Laxman to ML Jaisimha and MA Azharuddin.

c) VVS Laxman lists his top 6 innings. Note how three of them are 50's, and are integral to an Indian victory.

d) Finally, Gautam Gambhir looks to VVS Laxman for a final seal of approval.

"VVS Laxman told me in Sri Lanka that my biggest challenge will be playing against Australia and I need to pass that test. I met him in Nagpur and asked him if did clear that test, he told me, 'you have not only passed the test but passed it with a distinction.' I don't think I need any more approvals from anyone."