A face saving victory

India won the third match against the proteas to level the series and prevent an embarassing series defeat at home. The pitch lived up to the expectations providing turn and unpredictable bounce for both the spinners and the pacers. Excellent batting from Laxman and Ganguly and a gritty last wicket stand helped India get a lead of 60 which demoralised the proteas. On the third day the pitch got into the minds of the visitors and Harbhajan and co. made the most of it to bundle them out cheaply.

There has been a lot of debate on the pitch with people questioning whether the pitch was fit for a test match. I firmly do believe that this pitch really tested the abilities of the players and we do need to play on such pitches once in a while especially in India. India need to make spinner friendly wickets when playing at home not sporting pitches which help the opposition. This needs to be done in the first match of any home series so that the opposition is immediately put on the backfoot. India need to win at home and the best way to do that is by making turning tracks. Ofcourse that does not mean that we need to make underprepared wickets like this one. The red soil in India is conducive for spin and all that needs to be done is to use a higher proportion of this soil in the making of the pitch. With the right amount of watering these pitches with start turning from day 3 and days 4 & 5 will see the ball bouncing from a length of the spinners. And these wickets will not keep low and hence runs can also be scored. These were the type of wickets we used to see in the 90s when India hardly lost a match at home and that is how it needs to be.

Sporting pitches need to be made for domestic matches which will ensure the all round development of the youngsters so that they will ready for the challenges abroad. When youngsters play on both kinds of wickets they will be completely ready to face all conditions that they encounter. Spin is as essential a component as pace bowling is and if India does not develop that then who will?

Coming back to the test match, Ishant Sharma made a big difference to the Indian attack. Coming back from injury he initially looked rusty but quickly hit his straps. He showed a new facet to his bowling which was not seen earlier - the ability to reverse swing the ball. The abrasive nature of the pitch meant that the ball reversed quite early in the innings and Ishant's bursts with the old ball made the difference. His 5 wickets in the match eased the pressure on Harbhajan and kept the pressure on the proteas. Sreesanth also bowled well and his opening spell in the second innings when he got the initial breakthrough was superb.

Finally a word on Dhoni, there are already many people saying that he captained brilliantly but it would not be judicious to pass a judgement on his captaincy skills after just 1 test match, especially one on such a wicket. It is easy to captain on such pitches but considering that it was his first match he did do a good job. I still feel he needs to mature more as a cricketer and as long as Kumble keeps going he will have time to learn.

India managed to retain the No.2 spot in the ICC rankings at the end of the cycle. It has a been a wonderful effort from this team. The next test series for India is only in July when they visit Sri Lanka. Now it is time to relax and party with the IPL!!

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.

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