Sensational Sehwag

Use any adjective that comes to your mind such as brilliant, spectacular, audacious, stupendous, and so on. You will find that all of them are suitable to describe Sehwag's innings at Chennai. It was an innings which no cricket lover should miss. Here is a video of the innings:

Gary Kirsten feels 'Indian'

In his latest newsletter Kirsten talks about how it feels to be the coach of India.
An interesting read:

First of all, many thanks to so many of you for the words of encouragement and support I have received over the last few months. From the moment I accepted the job I have been inundated with good wishes, not to mention requests for interviews! Apologies if I have been unable to respond personally to all of you, but I'm still trying.

I was never in doubt about the enormity of the position as coach of Team India but if I had been unsure then I certainly would not be by now. I have only been in Bangalore for a few days but I'm settling in very quickly, as I knew I would. My wife, Deborah, hasn't been to India since the South African tour of 1997 and is amazed by the changes the country has undergone. Having two small children this time around will also ensure that it is a very different experience!

I am delighted to be able to confirm that Paddy Upton has agreed terms with the BCCI to join me as Mental and Fitness Coach to the national squad.

Paddy and I have a connection going all the way back to school days and, of course, he was part of the South African National Team as fitness trainer in the mid '90s while I was playing.

More recently we became business partners when we established Performance Zone 18 months ago, a business focusing on assisting people to improve both business and sports performance.

Our third partner in Performance Zone, master coach Dale Williams, will be looking after our business interests while we focus on Indian Cricket. There are some exciting new projects we are working on and we'll tell you more about them in our next newsletters.

The most obvious question I have been asked about the beginning of my two-year contract has been about the fact that we are playing against South Africa. Whilst I appreciate the fascination and irony about the scheduling, I must say that everybody else seems far more fascinated by that aspect of the contest than I do.

To be honest, having spent three highly enjoyable and productive weeks with the Indian team in Australia, and having maintained almost daily contact with Anil and Mahendra, I feel completely 'Indian' as we approach the series. I won't ever renounce my nationality, obviously, but I like to think of cricket as a completely professional game and I am a professional. But it goes beyond that. I feel passionate about the Indian team, and Indian cricket. The Indian team, given its numbers and resources, should be dominating world cricket. On the field as well as off it! I would love to be a part of that happening.

My time with Sachin, Rahul, Anil, Sourav, MS and VVS - as well as the incredibly talented youngsters in the squad, has been invigorating and inspiring. I can't wait for the real stuff to begin.

We will continue to use this newsletter to keep you up to date on what is happening within our world. With the South Africans coming out to India in the next few weeks, our first challenge is going to take them on with the best that we have.

Thank you once again for your generous support and please pass this newsletter along to anyone wanting to follow our progress in India and keep up with the latest thinking in the world of performance.

All the best

Gary

India Vs SA - A Preview

India are taking on South Africa at home for a 3 match test series kicking off on the 26th at Chennai. A series between these two teams has never generated as much excitement as a series against Australia,Pakistan, or even England. Considering the just concluded high voltage series down under the build-up to this series has been pretty meek.

South Africa have a superb record in test matches against India and they have also won a series in India under Cronje. Hence the hosts cannot take the visitors lightly and this will be a very tight series. The incentive for the team winning the series is the No.2 test spot in the ICC rankings and a chance to close the gap with the Aussies. Both teams are high on confidence and it will be the team that wins the crucial moments which will emerge victorious.

India's game plan will be to pile the runs on the board and attack the South African batsmen with the spinners. South Africa on the other hand will rely on the sheer pace of Dale Steyn to cripple the Indian batting. Paul Harris is their left-arm spinner and India have a history of trouble against left-arm spinners.

Some milestones to look forward to:

Sachin Tendulkar is 171 runs short of becoming the world's highest run scorer and though I wish he gets that in Chennai, it is more likely that he will achieve that in Ahmedabad, where a number of previous records have been broken.
However it is an interesting fact that South Africa is the only country against whom Sachin averages under 40 and I am sure he will be itching to change that.
Sachin also needs just 2 more catches to reach the landmark of 100 catches in tests.

Rahul Dravid is 80 runs short of reaching the 10000 run mark which will make him the third Indian batsman to reach the landmark. It will be a special moment in the career of a modern great and one of the most selfless cricketers India have ever produced.
Dravid is also 46 runs short of reaching a 1000 runs against the proteas. Again it is interesting to note that SA are the only country against whom he averages less than 40.

VVS Laxman needs 4 catches to reach 100 catches in test matches which will be a testament to his wonderful close catching skills.

Overall I am eagerly looking forward to watching some thrilling test-cricket and I hope the rain-gods allow us a full game at Chennai.

Ridiculous Reporting

This was an article that appeared last week on cricketnext.com, just before the selection of the Indian team for the SA series:

Gambhir, Chopra certain to earn Test recall

V Veera Kumar | Cricketnext.com

With Test opener Wasim Jaffer struggling for runs during the recent tour of Australia, in-form opening batsmen from Delhi – Gautam Gambhir and Aakash Chopra are almost certain to be picked for the home series against South Africa starting at Chennai on March 26.

Another Delhi batsman, Virender Sehwag, who give a fine display after being given a chance in the last two Test matches in Australia, is likely to be the third option for opener.

"Jaffer’s form has been dismal while Sehwag has struggled for runs during the Australian tour and with both Gambhir, who was the highest scorer during the tri-series which India won, and Chopra, who topped the domestic run-getters’ list, it is almost certain they will make it to the Test squad for the three-match Test series against the Proteas," according to a selector here on Sunday.

I was really incensed by this piece which claims Sehwag struggled for runs in Australia and that he would be the third option. These were Sehwags scores in the two tests that he played in Australia:

Perth: 29&43
Adelaide: 61&151

Do you call that struggling for runs? Such ridiculous reporting with erroneous claims are really damaging and is an attempt to twist public perception. And if a selector really said that then he does not deserve to be in that position. A cricket news website should not publish articles without verifying their facts and it is really atrocious to see such articles published.

Team for SA Test Series

The team for the first two tests against the proteas has been announced. As usual there were a few ripples caused by the selections.

Jaffer was retained despite performing poorly against Lee and the Aussies. He probably got the nod based on his fine performances at home last year. This will probably be his last chance and he will have a tough battle against Dale Steyn's fearsome pace and form. The fortunate or unfortunate thing is that India have two openers knocking on the doors. One is Gautham Gambhir who despite not having the best technique is in excellent form and his performances in the ODI series have brought him into reckoning for the tests. The other person is Akash Chopra who has had the most phenomenal year in domestic cricket notching up over 1400 runs last year and is somebody who has shown the right temperament to play at the international level and more importantly is somebody who complements Sehwag brilliantly. Opening is about partnerships and based on that Chopra is the best man to open with Sehwag. If Jaffer fails in the first two tests he should be replaced by Chopra.

Yuvraj Singh failed miserably in the test matches in Australia, is not fully fit, and will anyway not be part of the playing eleven. Why on earth the selectors want him to warm the bench is something which cannot be explained. This would have been an ideal time for Yuvraj to get back into shape and play some domestic cricket to get his form back before the next ODI series. Instead a youngster like Rohit Sharma could have been given a spot just to experience the feeling of being in the test side alongside the big players. It would be the best way to give the youngsters adequate feel for the test matches so that they will be ready when the need arises.

The fitness concerns over a number of players is indeed a worrying factor. Zaheer was ruled out, Ishant has been ruled out for the first two tests. Harbhajan and Dhoni are going to take fitness tests to determine if they are fit to play. And spare a thought for the ever-so-unlucky Murali Kartik, just when he gets another chance to wear the India cap he twists his ankle and is ruled out. Luckily RP Singh has recovered his fitness and will lead the pace attack. One hopes he will find his rhythm soon enough because it is never an easy thing to return after a break. Sreesanth will share the new ball with RP and captain Kumble will take charge of the spin duties alongside Harbhajan/Piyush. Irfan will have to sit out unless India want to play five bowlers.

It will be coach Gary Kirsten's first assignment and it will be interesting to see how he goes.

The team for the first two tests:

Squad for the first two Tests Wasim Jaffer, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Irfan Pathan, Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Piyush Chawla, Sreesanth, RP Singh.

Back-up: Dinesh Karthik

Schedule:

March 2008
Wed 26 - Sun 30 10:00 local, 04:30 GMT	1st Test - India v South Africa MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
April 2008
Thu 3 - Mon 7 10:00 local, 04:30 GMT	2nd Test - India v South Africa Sardar Patel Stadium, Motera, Ahmedabad
Fri 11 - Tue 15 10:00 local, 04:30 GMT	3rd Test - India v South Africa Green Park, Kanpur

Chak De India!!!!!!!!!!!!

What an amazing performance for Team India to beat the Aussies hands down and lift the CB Series. It was a brilliant series for the Indians and they emerged deserving victors. The Aussies claim that they dominated the group phase and lost out in the finals but that was not the case at all. All the matches between India and Aus in this series were close affairs with the Indian bowlers troubling the Aussie batsmen in all the matches. The difference in the finals was that the little master turned it on and the Aussies had no hope.

This was a young Indian team and most people (myself included) thought they were going to lose pretty badly and even doubted if they would make the final. They have proved everybody wrong and have played some unbelievable cricket. The stand out point for me has been the performance of some of the young players like Gautham Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma, and Praveen Kumar. When the big players like Sachin,Sehwag,and Yuvraj were not making big runs these youngsters stood up and took the responsibility along with the captain MS Dhoni who has shown immense maturity in his batting this series. This bodes well for the future and Indian cricket and lets hope the youngsters continue to perform in the same vein.

One thing that was evident in the finals was the hunger that this Indian team showed. They wanted to win desperately and that is something we have not seen much of in the past. Some part of it might be attributed to the foolish comments made by Hayden which really worked to spur this team on. Harbhajan was targeted by the players and the crowd and not only did he show tremendous guts to handle that but also raised his level of performance in the finals. That he took the wickets of Hayden and Symonds in the finals really proves the point.

The Aussies were outplayed in totality by this Indian team and their off the field antics did not really help them score any psychological points either. With the great Gilly departing they will be further weakened and their dominance over world cricket is all set to be a thing of the past.

The winning moment:


India's find of the series:


An example of 'Aussie rules' cricket:


Gilly's last act with the gloves :)

Master at Work

Sachin Tendulkar gave a masterly performance in the first final of the CB series to give Australia a thorough bashing. His innings was filled with some delightful strokes and some wonderfully placed shots for singles and twos. It was a very important century because this was his first ODI century in Australia and that was something he definitely needed to get. It brought back memories of his knock against the Aussies in Sharjah in April 1998 which was also a chase in the final. It is hard to believe that a decade has passed since that because that innings still remains in the hearts of all Indian fans.

For those who missed the treat at the SCG here are the highlights of his innings:


I enjoyed this interview after the game:


And just to rekindle memories of his innings at Sharjah:

India U-19 Triumph

The Indian under-19 team are world champions!!!
It was a brilliant performance from the young Indians right through the 2 week tournament. That they did not lose even a single match shows how well they played. There were some outstanding individual performances and a few surely have a bright future ahead.

The captain Virat Kohli led from the front with good runs. His hundred against the Windies was the innings of the tournament. Opener Taruwar Kohli gave the team solid starts in most of the matches which laid the platform for the others to build on. He seems to have modelled his game on Rahul Dravid so let us hope India get another wall for the future. Tanmay Srivastava at number 3 is a tall upright batsman and a clean striker of the cricket ball. He played some cracking shots and was India's highest run getter of the series. Suresh Tiwary played a few responsible knocks and Manish Pandey in the few opportunities he got in the middle showed a lot of style and class and is a big hope for Karnataka and possibly India. Pradeep Sangwan led the bowling attack well and the spinners Abdullah and Jadeja took wickets in the middle overs. In the final it was Argal who bowled beautifully to achieve the victory against the proteas.

Lets celebrate the triumph and wish these youngsters a great future ahead!!!