India is running out of questions to answer

India has lost the Border-Gavaskar trophy 2011 barely a test match and 2 days into the second one, 10 days into a test series scheduled to be played just over a month including 4 test matches.

The best possible outcome save a miracle in this test match can only be a loss for India after a good long fight. Some analysts say the entire series was lost in the 1st and 2nd sessions of the 2nd day's play at the SCG when the Indian pacers, instead of steaming in and strangulating the Aussie batsmen for width, kept bowling clueless half volleys and short pitched throw downs to set batsmen of international repute albeit one of them is probably trying to answer more questions than a literature graduate in an exam of molecular cell biology.

This opportunity( the series) was touted to be India's best chance and Australia's sternest test. Now, barely 7 days worth of play into a potential 20 day contest, India is not just staring down the barrel, it has mostly arranged for its own coffin to be lowered into each of Australia's test venues with most of the nails already wedged in tight by its own premier batsmen.

I might be found with a huge foot up my mouth for this might seem too premature a time to speak of the outcome of the series so early on, but the current series looks to be headed down the exact same road as that of the recent England tour and I really cannot be blamed for sounding cynical as I too am an ardent and passionate fan of Indian cricket.

I have never switched off my television once Sachin got out though. I have always believed our team has had the ability to come out of tough situations with admirable displays of character because I know and I've seen it happen.

1999 Australia was expected. Although painful defeat seemed inevitable, we all pushed and cheered, wiping our eyes of the tears of disappointment. 2007 was tough but good cricket though. Defeat is not unacceptable for some of us cricket lovers. Shit happens, we get it. 2011 England was an aberration perhaps.

We all watched haplessly as day after day after day, India sank from one low to the other with just one man actually looking like he was aware of the grievousness of a test match resulting in a loss while the entire team gasped for breath by a colossal powerhouse of a team as if an inmate being water-boarded by a ruthless warden at Abu Ghraib.

Ok. We had our front line bowler missing after 8 overs into the 1st test hurting either his hamstring or knee( am not sure which, it didn't matter. Zaheer was in no condition to play a test match against possibly the best English team in a long time and his waist clearly gave away that he'd had one ice cream too many in the lead up to the series), an alleged front line spinner withdrew with an abdomen strain, a formidable yet struggling opener knocking himself out cold with a Hemorrhage while another in the form of Sehwag being called in a measure of hopeless desperation, gifting the English a golden pair in his first test back.

We were short on practice it was said. We only got one warm up match before the test series commenced. Perhaps we needed a warm up 4 match test series before the actual test series just to get the players accustomed to the environment and the pitches. We were coming fresh off world cup glory and a lengthy and tiring IPL season. Down with the T20 format, cries were heard.

Once could be an aberration, twice an emerging trend . 2011 Australia is 'undigestible'. A possible 6th loss in its 6th outing away from the subcontinent is not just pitiful but tragic for a team ranked No.1 in the world not longer than 8 months back.

This time everybody got what they wanted.The batting line up was picture perfect. Except Gambhir, everyone was riding on success with Sehwag returning fresh from a belligerent 219 against an admittedly weaker bowling attack but a double century in any international match is bound to pump you up with good adrenaline and confidence if not the temperament to see the new ball through the 1st half hour at least.

Virat and Rohit Sharma seemed to be jostling healthily for a No.6 spot in the batting and Umesh Yadav picked himself on the tour on the back of impressive performances back home and on his ability to consistently hit close to 145 on the gun. R Ashwin had probably finished Harbajhan Singh's test career for good at 98 tests with a century and 22 wickets in his debut series back home including two 5-fors.

The test specialists arrived well before time, taking down throw downs with every possible gadget invented by cricket pundits using all kinds of balls from tennis, plastic, wet leather in short run up, half pitch and god knows what else. Two warm up matches were arranged this time around both of which saw the participation of all players of the squad that boarded the plane from India. It was all good.

At least it looked all good till it all went bad in the same manner we've come to be so used to watching collapses and hapless leather chases every time we switch on our TV sets in the morning. The only batsman who's looked like he still owns the world is Tendulkar but with wickets crumbling at the other end like dried leaves off a tree on a chilly autumn morning, he too invariably ends up either mis-driving to gully or dragging one on to his stumps attempting expansive drives with valiant yet vain intentions of merely trying to keep the scoreboard ticking along.

I am not trying to take credit away from the infallible line and length maintained with alarmingly consistency by the Aussie pacers. It's not ferocious fast bowling. It is effective fast bowling and consistently effective fast bowling at text book lengths usually sounds the death knell for edgy top order batsmen trying to find answers to innumerable questions, more often than not.

The most important aspect of this potentially humiliating loss is not the manner in which it seems to be headed to transpire but the number of times acclaimed batsmen of impeccable service records have proved fodder for the same strategy executed by the opposition time and again. Why have we stopped adapting? What is it that we're lacking in? We seem to have everything. We have won test matches in more difficult conditions with the same men from more precarious scenarios.

Have the stakes dwindled? What has made some of the men care lesser? And if they still care as much, what else needs to be done for fortune to favour the allegedly brave? At the end of the English tour, we were all bursting with solutions and suggestions. We knew heads needed to roll. We knew mostly whose too. This time I stare at the television screen and I don't even have a scapegoat in the form of a poster of Sharad Pawar, a Shashank Manohar or an N Srinivasan to scream at.

The IPL is Scott-free too. It had nothing to do with this series whatsoever. If anything, with so much cricket in all three formats being played, everyone is so off T20 mode that its hard to believe IPL 2011 was held only 7 months back.

I don't know whom I would have pretended to call to my fictitious board room office and scream at for letting me down because I loved him and expected from him so much as a fight. I still love the squad. I just don't know what to expect out of them anymore.

My feelings at this time can be mildly compared to that of a desolate father holding his son's report card and not knowing whether caning or 'giving space' is the ideal way to tackle the poor showing. I take so much pride and a sense of belonging with the Indian team because, I, like so many others have also uprooted an invisible stump off the ground and run around the corridor at home imagining myself to be soaked in the same champagne as that of my heroes, every time Dravid hit his final boundary at Adelaide to win us a test or Yuvraj holding Tendulkar aloft in his arms after the Chennai test.

Where, I have believed that Anil Kumble sat on my shoulder too when he waved his final good bye. Where, when Sachin hits a ton; takes off his helmet, looks skyward and waves, I have always believed he's smiling and waving his bat at me too. I have cried with so many others when Rahul Dravid almost lost his place in the test squad at the back of two poor years. My heart has skipped beats at every one of Sachin's straight drives and also at the sound of the bails dislodging every time an India batsman is merely at the crease. Ganguly took off his shirt at Lord's to make a statement on my behalf too.

I don't personally care of Sachin's "100th 100". I frankly do not know what else it stands for but another invented milestone for the blood thirsty media to make more money out of and apply unnecessary pressure upon a legend trying to win his one away series against his most favorite opposition for his team. Its not like the close to two dozen 90s he's hit in his international career stand for anything less or that his 97 against Pakistan in the 2003 world cup was any less important than his 200* against SA at Gwalior.

What I do care for is to see him smile at the end with the result of the test series reading in India's favour. I care for Dravid to scream at the end of a test match off a cover drive and hug his partner and for the mates to jump over them in a huddle and cry in ecstasy. I don't mind crying in the despair of loss too. But I'd rather take the frustration of losing a closely contested match between equal opponents that could have gone either way than watching in horror, undisputed surrender. All I have ever hoped for is for us to give more shit than we appear to be giving.

I am not really privy to the core of the functioning of the BCCI and the recruitment processes it follows in order to ensure that the resources that are allocated not just justify the budgets it sanctions at the commencement stage of any particular term but also raises the quality of cricketers that are churned out through its massive gates. Every time, the BCCI provides convenient fodder while this time around, except the continued trust bestowed on Gautam Gambhir, no other reason comes to mind to blame failures on it either.

Gautam Gambhir has more
 than outlived all his lives © AFP 

I don't even know what I would have done if by some weird miracle I see myself in the board room of the BCCI in a post-series meeting looking for suggestions because quite frankly, I don't know what questions to ask. I am tired and exhausted.

I am not sure what's going to happen exactly in the 2 tests to follow but to start off, some changes need to be brought in. Gautam Gambhir has got to leave. Even if he hits something fighting in the 2nd innings, he has more than run his time.

Rahane and Rohit Sharma should both be given chances instead of Gambhir and Kohli as Kohli too has failed in 3 consecutive away test series since debut. There is only so much faith that can be bequeathed. If nothing, at least Gambhir needs to shift down the order with Dravid's magnanimity in gamesmanship again being called into service.

Inspite of all these changes, unless there's intent to fight and kill , shuffling batting orders can't fetch you test match victories at world class stadia against unforgiving oppositions.

India needs to at least be willing to put up a squabble. Victory, as usual, seems a distant dream.

Money over matter

As soon as an Indian contigent departs for a global sports gig,a question most thinking heads consider is if the tank would go beyond even the half-stage.Vishy Anand continues to dazzle whilst achieving newer heights with every passing year and is probably the only true global sport icon India could boast of, apart from the Pankaj Advanis,Saina Nehwals,Tendulkar(this one is always singular),Karthikeyans or the Paes-Bhupathi duo.

Jeev Milkha Singh is already an Asian legend.Although his purpose seems to have recently drifted from being an Asian Golf superpower to a business brand he's made out of his name because of the stereotype association of luxury real estate and the imperial sport of golf,he's already a hero in his own right.Vijender Singh appears to have been created by the one up there with the rationale of giving the country-most associated with heritage muscle sports such as the 'Khusti' ,mud wrestling and traditional body building,the elusive 'Indian Mohammad Ali'.But with the amount of parties,talk-shows and ramp walks one could only wonder if the Indian boxing arena is headed the IPL way.

Could one blame over night stars like himself or the Karun Chandoks to have given into the lure of fame and gliterrati?A magnanimous superstar such as a Sachin Tendulkar or the cleanest, boldest face of Indian sports such as an Anil Kumble is looked upon to take over the mantle of chief damage controller.Kumble's gone.Sachin is almost done but with the exception of the 2011 World cup and tests.Dravid's fading.Who now?

Not every Irfan Pathan picked off rural Vadodara or a Sushil Kumar spotted toiling hard in the alleys of Najafgarh can be expected to prize fame and adulation in a positive,heart warming manner every time it arrives knocking on their door frames.

Not every human being is a Tendulkar.Not every wrestler,a Sushil Kumar.

In the last 8 years of International cricket,India has not won a single important global tournament but with the exclusion of the T20 World cup in 2007.In 2002,we were joint winners of the Asia Cup with Sri Lanka.If you go back further still,since 1995,when we last won the Asia Cup,it has been more than 15 years since we won any major tournament in a global event neglecting a tri-series here,a quandrangular there.

The rise to No.1 in the Test rankings has been devised with toil,guile and sweat over the last decade by some of the most head strong of champion campaigners in the form of Sachin Tendulkar,Rahul Dravid,VVS Laxman,Virender Sehwag,Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh under the belligerent leadership of Saurav Ganguly and Dravid and in the latter stages of Kumble himselves.Ganguly converted warhorses and emerging talent into hounds capable of destructing anything.Dravid seamed the unit into a tireless,professional unit leading by example or merit of track on most occasions while Kumble made brilliant statesman and transition captain.

The platform has been ably utilized and a marvelous 'super-scraper' seems to be evolving from it under skipper Dhoni for whom,the last 6 years has been nothing short of an abstract work of art and panache to the top.Like the ones at the top have said and maintained,it is always easier to reach the penthouse than put up tent there.

Countless debates have ensued of what would happen to this team after the 'big-uns' departed.Dhoni seems to have an answer for that with the ice cool head and the 'will never quit for nothing' demeanor.The No.2 in ODIs having being achieved too,why is it still a predicament for the fans,selectors or the team tank itself to promise victory with the supreme confidence that should ideally emanate from a country that boasts of the richest boards,bodies and players?We lack of nothing.Still every time a group of cricketers heads out,there is more than just apprehension.

There's fear.

There is despair.Negativity.An aura of self-destruction.Seemed to have brought upon the team by itself.With flash,drama,glamor and self proclaimed invincibility.When was the last time someone watching a telecast of an ODI or a T20 really feel the attitude in the body language of the athletes of the descending order of importance of a game of cricket,that being of Country-Team-Unit-Self.

Does the team deserve it?The very 'spirit' of the team always being of supreme most importance appears to be left back in the huddles preceding an innings or before the ride to the ground from the hotel.Sometimes,as Dhoni pointed out,even that hour long ride on a fully air-conditioned bus following business class tickets on air,and being paid gazillions of currency to represent your country also boils down to being a mere chore.

Comparisons with boards and cricketing/sports units outside of this country would not be fair.Does this not happen elsewhere?In other sports?With other athletes?If someone like a Tiger Woods could be reported on record saying that he thought he deserved the perks that came along with being the No1 in what he did best,how could we be of any capacity to question the ethics and morals of people from far tougher and humbler backgrounds not anticipating the F of Fame or the P of Paparazzi,only to run into it all at once,head-on?

All the adulation of the No.1 ranking in the commander of all formats of the game wilts with the disgrace of the shambles that is Team India in other formats.It wouldn't be correct to blame the glitz and allure that accompanies success in an International sport for miserable failings on the field.Who wouldn't like a little good time?But at what cost?

Had Dhoni's remarks on the parties and the candor of righteousness come a little early,say the beginning of the tournament,his views would've been taken in a different light.Then,it would've made for a bold leader calling a spade a spade.Now it reeks of self-pity and cowardice.

The flaws of a system that made the people what they've become cannot be utilized as cover for failing in a game,for which the team's collective responsibility seemed zilch.

Yuvraj Singh was by no possible stretch of imagination fit to be present in the team representing the country in a world tournament.He was grossly overweight and his field presence itself was demotivating and miserable.Ravindra Jadeja could barely make it to the local Deodhar trophy with the skills he's equipped with on current form while for some reason unfathomable,Robin Uthappa was ignored over Murali Vijay and Dinesh Karthik.

If the current disaster that was the T20 cup results in Dhoni being axed as skipper,Krishnamachary Srikanth should be be sent to the gallows,Lalit Modi should be gunned down and the entire BCCI headquarters should be burned down with all its occupants,so desperate a blame deflecting stunt would it seem.

It's up to the management to look forward and get their heads out of places not suitable for mention in public forums,or we could keep having internationally un-recognized money enriched tournaments with all the melo and curry that is Indian cricket while we,the fans,watch India play 2 tests a year and start our descent into being slightly above the West Indies on virtues of home and away victories against Sri-Lanka, Bangladesh or the WI itself twice in a single calendar season.

Cricket needs this finale

We've had so much of Twenty20 action in the last three odd months that the final of the World Cup at Lords will be anticipated by most for both relief as much as for an end to a long continuing saga of skill,money,entertainment and most of all cricket in itself-something that might not be in today's "slam bang thank you mam" terms as important as the others but indispensable to keep them running nevertheless.

Why Sunday's final is important to this non stop T20 action,which started out right from the time IPL-2 went under way is also because of one very special reason.It is going to be a match pitting two teams from the sub continent that were torn apart mid way through an on going series.As a matter of fact an on-going match.The Lankans were on their way to a test victory riding on Samaraweera's double ton and Mendis's first go on Pakistani soil in tests.The Pakistanis were fast losing credibility as a bankable team,better yet trustable hosts.After the Lahore attacks,both these nations had unfinished business in various degrees to tend to.

How time catches up.

Sri Lanka have almost rummaged through teams this season on their way to the final on the 21st while the Pakistanis-besides probably the semis to some extent,have had a roller coaster ride,as has been their cricket story in the last 2 years.Players failing dope tests like they were taken straight out of sleazy pubs,bowling actions going wrong,management turmoils and so on.

The Lahore attacks have made them a certainty for at least the next year or so to not host a major tournament on their soil,for no nation would be willing to field their players,worried more about how they'd make it back to their hotels safely without having to see themselves or a mate blow apart with their team buses.

What that incident did do was set fire in the belly of one of the most underrated and the most dangerous cricket playing nations.Diplomatically and monetarily hurt enough on the world stage,the one thing that the Pakistanis do hold very dearly to their heart,as do all sub continental teams is cricket.It wasn't something they wanted anyone to take away from them just as one thing after another was being snatched away or forsaken by them under pressure or willingly either around the border or to the union of 50 states some 7000 miles to the east.

Sri Lanka on the other hand were traumatized.More physically yet even more so mentally.Theirs is also a nation traumatized by wars and naxalites.Sri Lanka is also a nation that doesn't have much to boast about than their cricket.And god help those who were going to stop them from playing it with mere bombs and bullets.More than pride and glory to redeem,the Lankans are trying to ascertain yet again of their weight on the global stage as a powerful cricketing nation that can win games away from home,as small a format as it might be.

The Pakistanis have no choice but to force the impression on the nations that do comprise the entity that is the ICC,that theirs is a respectable unit and a singular unfortunate event shouldn't end any chance of further negotiations for an international event to be held on their turfs.For this,they seem determined to go any distance.And that is good for cricket,if not merely for the confidence of the 11 men who comprise the squad on a given day.

Sunday's event is going to be huge.Given the intricacies of how things have unraveled,and considering Afridi has already played out his all his luck for the entire year against the Africans,the Lankans shouldn't have much of a problem lifting the cup and being T20 world cup winners for 2009.

But considering it's going to be Pakistan Vs Sri Lanka,it's any body's guess who the real winner is.

For the time being,let's just take it to be cricket itself.

Urn-est spirit conquers all

Come this July,one of the most anticipated sporting events in world sport shall commence.Monetarily or star valued,it may not be as big as the IPL or the coinciding Wimbledon,but the Ashes will more than easily make up with toil,sweat and pride at stake alone.While Center court accommodates Roger Federer as he gambles on one of the last few chances of his professional life to prove the last year and a half was merely bad luck,some of the most picturesque cricketing grounds in Europe will be witnessing a battle,that for the first time in many years-in fact decades,promises to be evenly fought.

Australia's dominance in all forms of cricket was slowly dismantled by South Africa's methodical claim to the throne with aid from India to break them down brick by brick.With most of the war horses either retired or sacked,the Aussie team is as vulnerable as an infant snatched from a mother and wounded as much within.Without Ricky Ponting himself,none of the top or middle order speaks of much experience or class,not counting Micheal Hussey's first class dexterity or Micheal Clarke's energy to be gunning to usurp the inevitable throne vacancy.

England seem to have found themselves a brutally determined statesman whose bat seems to have suddenly picked up to speak from Pietersen's seems to have suddenly halted.Pietersen is still batting only marginally less than what he is usually used to.And by that,it means a singular century every series and a 50 every alternate match.That is still top notch by English standards,but only few could truly swear of Pietersen's ancestral belongings as being genuinely English.

Andrew Strauss has been able to come up with spectacular colors that in all probabilities even he wasn't aware of until recently.In the last year and a half,he has scored 7 of his 17 centuries and averages a good 10 runs higher than his career stats indicate.The Pietersen drama led the crown to find it's way to a person's head,where it should have rightfully landed even before he took over for the Pakistan series,resulting from Flintoff's injury.Not to say that under Strauss,the 5-0 drubbing could've been avoided in Australia as even under Strauss himself,Sri Lanka did exactly that and so too on England turfs.

Places for the seamers are up for grabs in the Aussie camp like never before and even though they don't have an official spinner,Nathan Hauirtz's veteran 4 match Test record not withstanding,2 of the spots are already guaranteed.Ponting would be labeled insane to let go of Peter Siddle,so earnestly has he flung the Kookaburra and it would only be fair reward if he at least got one end to do the same with the red Wales cork.Mitchell Johnson could do only so much to not make skipper if both Ponting and Clarke failed to get up to the alarm on match day.

As far as the other 1 or 2 places,Stuart Clark and a fitter looking Lee will be dueling with Hilfenhaus while a triple threat ensues on the sidelines between Watson,McDonald and Marcus North for the No.6 position.

With most or all of the finest of players that made Australia the team it was for more than a decade missing from the current squad,Ricky Ponting will be riding against time to get his hands on the urn in England-the one achievement still missing from his impeccable list of achievements.He has been part of 18 Ashes triumphs,7 of them in England and 10 as skipper but never once has he led the team to win in a series in England.

Another worrying factor is that of the 7 he did lead the team in,his average is a dismal 32 with only 1 ton.That's one of many rare blemishes that'll haunt him to his grave if he finishes unfinished this time around.

While Strauss seems to have suddenly found a hunger that has only come in great timing for the English camp,Ponting seems to be on a downward spiral for his standards.Since 2008,he has added only 4 tons to his mind numbing bank of centuries and averages around 10 lesser than his career average-in complete reciprocal of Strauss's new found drive.

As like Strauss,Ponting too has an outstanding record playing as captain against England(as against other countries)and like some eerie co-incidence both of them average close to 60 as captains,a different deal being that Ponting has been captaining his side right from around the time Strauss made his debut for England as player.

England will be missing the services of some of their star players from 2005 as well with the likes of Simon Jones,Matthew Hoggard and even if Flintoff plays,one can't be really sure of his contribution with recurring injuries worse than when Ashish Nehra once donned the Indian colors.In the midst of all this confusion,one man the England camp might trully miss is the man who actually led them to their only triumph in almost 2 decades-Micheal Vaughaun.They might not only miss the best 1 down player to ever play for their team,they might well miss out on the best strategist they could afford on field to go along with Andy flower off it.

Ian Bell has been awfully shaky at No.3 and is a safely assumed omission from the playing eleven and while Ravi Bopara has proved his presence in the team with 2 centuries in not a lot of tests both home and away,an Ashes series with a resilient and wounded Lee and an agonizingly disciplined Siddle is going to be very different than facing a Fidel Edwards concentrating more on breaking an 8 down James Anderson's visor than providing break throughs for the country he plays for.

England are on road to redemption.Suddenly,they seem to finally possess the sort of spirit they never believed they had for the last 4 years and that too only marginally while the Ashes was still on then.Under a determined new captain and a pack of wolves gunning for the middle order,they'd be foolish to not let momentum take them forward from here and not regaining the trophy they so miserably gave away only an year after having earned it so remarkably.

Australia on the other hand are also on the road to redemption.Although,probably not in the exact same way,they're riding high on handing back the stick to South Africa on their home turf.They are still the world's best team.It's going to take quite an effort from a resilient English camp to dislodge them from their mantle and let the Africans rule the world or Dhoni's newly manufactured unit start dictating terms.All said,guards shall be taken and prides set on the tables.Lips shall be smacked and Adam's apples shall wobble.

For this is one contest the queen wouldn't want to miss.Least of all us-the mere spectators.

Canny resemblance

Gautam Gambhir is the best opening batsman in the world today.There are no two ways about it.There are 2 men who come real close in comparison of form in the current category-Virender Sehwag and Graeme Smith.Both of them have played around thrice the number of tests that Gambhir has played and have as many times the number of runs but are not a lot older.Gambhir has a long way to go.But there's another story that needs telling.

Not very long ago,another man made his test debut for a country which was then the indisputable number 1 cricket unit in existence exactly a year after Gambhir made his.While Gambhir was only 23 years when he was called in to represent the tri-color,the other was 30,following mammoth first class scores totaling in excess of 15,000 runs.That man in the frame is Micheal Hussey,as must've been easily guessed by now.

While many might dispute the theory of resemblance between the two batsmen,one can't help but notice the string of scores that Hussey made as soon as his sojourn with the national team started back in 2005.He was already a veteran then.A veteran of around 180 four and five day matches at the first class level.Critics and former cricketers,while welcoming him with open arms,could only do so much by not hurling themselves at selectors asking them as to how such a talent could not have been spotted earlier.

Hussey made century after century,piled up the runs by heaps and went on to become an indispensable vertebrae of the Aussie spine.Mr.Cricket-he was called and no one dared to dispute it.Heck it wouldn't have been shocking to see a score card carrying a batsman's name on the left followed by a "ct.Mr.Cricket b.Lee" on the right.

Hussey's rise was almost destined.There was a stigma attached to every one of his innings.Much like Rahul Dravid's in the mid 2000s.Or when Gavaskar made sure the West Indians cursed their career's time span co-inciding with his.Australia breathed easy every time a 3rd wicket went down.Their pulses settled at the sight of a brisk,responsible looking Hussey with his trademark sunscreen on the nose,striding-in fact hopping to the crease,taking his guard,rubbing his foot to mark it,flashing the thumbs up sign to the umpire,ready to face the first ball,all in a single sweeping moment.

Michael Hussey was branded to be the next Donald Bradman,and so he seemed to-age on his side or otherwise.The way he was going,Sachin Tendulkar's test records and stats or Ponting's mercurial centuries burst after 2001 or Rahul Dravid's world wide acclaim as the strongest pillar of any batting team in the world seemed to be in grave danger with the way Hussey was headed.He was invincible.Nothing seemed enough to stop him.

Hussey avenged his late calling into the team with every opportunity he got in the form of a test innings or an ODI or a T20.He made the best of everything.And the opposition payed.They payed dearly.In a way,it was almost like the selectors of the national team had done more good than bad by calling him in so late.They had unleashed a run machine on the world.A machine that demanded redemption by churning out run after run with dizzying consistency.

Over time,something else seemed to stop Michael Hussey's dream run.Something gradually stopped every innings of his that seemed to grow from single to double to triple digits in no time.Something seemed to be creeping into those eyes that never betrayed fear,concern or dismay if any.Something was stopping him from taking off his helmet after yet another century and saluting a standing crowd at Colosseums all over the world.Something was turning Hussey from coming up with unbelievable herculean antics to measly human failings.

Something to the tune of reality.

While Hussey battled with the harder face of test match cricket,another relatively smaller boy with equal amounts of determination and focus started making rapid strides in the world of bigger names and flashy flamboyant styles of stroke making.The other added dis advantage that Gambhir faced as far as his own notice in people's eyes was concerned was the fact that his partner was none other than Virender Sehwag himself.A man,considered by most to be the most destructive player of any kind of attack on any surface,provided it was his day.

The advantage was also the very fact that it was Sehwag that Gambhir had as a partner to open with.After all,Sehwag was a monster with the bat but a gentleman with his mates.He aided Gambhir's growth and enjoyed his sucess.The chemistry was sizzling.The coordination-exemplary.The result being that India,under MS Dhoni,is arguably the best team in world cricket today.

Why it is also important to notice along the eerie co incidences and comparisons is the fact that Hussey's and Gambhir's graphs have met mid way through their careers.But not after starting at the same point and continuing along.It has now met after Hussey's graph has spiraled down from what people refer to as "bradmanesque" standards to more humane platforms.An average of 55 from over 90.While Gambhir's has grown from 32 in 2007 to 54 right now.In the last 12 tests he has 5 centuries and 7 half centuries.Gambhir punches his bat on his pads with disgust when gets out after scoring 167 on the most grueling of cricket grounds,at not having been able to make a double hundred.That's the standard he has taken himself to.Whilw Hussey is scared now at being out to 40s and 50s.He is desperate to convert.And that's where his graph has met that of Gambhir's.

Gautam Gambhir will never be talked in the same breadth as a Sehwag or a Gavaskar.Well,not if even his career spirals down the Hussey way.This is not to say either that Hussey's time is over.But with not a lot of years to go,it would be but wise to at least question his dominance in the world charts if not completely write him off.

This is a tale of two differently rated individuals.One a little over rated perhaps and the other well lesser than deserved.But it's a tale of two heroes.Two men with hearts larger than their chests can fill.One seems to be on his way to write history in his own uncluttered,unassuming,calm,mature,responsible manner.Just like the other opening south paw after being once dropped from the national side many many years ago.Someone called Matthew Hayden.

Whether Gambhir can go on to become India's greatest opener is dependent on two crucial factors.1)Virender Sehwag's sanity,2)Gambhir's own ability to keep going.By the time Sehwag is finished,assuming he finishes on his own and not because of the team believing he is too dangerous for his own cause,he would definitely finish around in excess of 10,000 test runs.And that would put him in a completely different league,if stats and prowess alone haven't already.Calculating all that,it would take more than just will and focus that Gambhir currently has in abundance to be talked in that very league.

If he doesn't it still wouldn't be too bad,considering his focus is to help his team get starts and not to overshadow a man most consider Sachin Tendulkar's more dangerous clone.One can only hope he doesn't have to end his career,finishing off where he started exactly a year and a half ago,averaging 32.If that does happen,other comparisons will take place.That with a man called Vinod Kambli.Or a certain Sadagoppan Ramesh.

And it won't be as pretty as being compared to men allegedly at spiraling downward curves of their careers,still averaging 55.

The sword has fallen.One final time.

Edward Aloysius Murphy wouldn't have dreamt in his most bizarre hang-overs that there will be an extension to his proposed philosophy by some margin-"What was always waiting to go wrong,will be forced to,by the people knowing that it could."

The fate of a country producing one of the finest cricketing talents in the world in the past many years has been at least officially sealed.By only 6 masked gunmen representing metaphorically,the hordes of people running the most debilitated political and social systems in the history of modern civilization.

Before this year,test cricket was organized in Pakistan 14 months ago.Some of the most ardent cricket lovers I am friends with,had difficulty making out a full 11 man squad of players from the team they last saw when asked to.Teams were petrified at the idea of flying down to Karachi International airport at the prospect of their planes being either hijacked or shot down by unassuming militia of either the Taliban or the LeT or the hordes of other so called "men of god".

It wouldn't be fair to just say that this marks a black day in the history of Cricket in general for it seems like competitive cricket was almost phased out from Pakistan,step by step,as easily as Hutch turned from orange to pink and from Cellforce to Vodafone,without most people even realizing it.People have almost come to terms with the fact that there shall be no cricket held in or around Pakistan(not counting Gujarat,but that's in India!)and even if there is an ODI series involving the 9th most failed state in the world,it'll probably be held close to some desert in a country,most people would ask for your bat to try and dig up a well of oil.

For the next many more months,or probably years to come,there shall be no cricket in Pakistan.At least with players of countries who still want their citizens to live on with all the parts of their bodies intact.There shall be many more Nadeem Ashrafs either made to be the proverbial scapegoat or actually taking a dip in the country's misery like it was all part of a "plan".Mumbai attacks or Ahmedabad blasts not withstanding,Pakistan in itself is going down to forces it probably has fed with fertilizers with it's own hands.Or so we should be thinking,for even this could be a neatly devised political agenda to attain the world's sympathy under whose scrutiny it faces immense diplomatic and military pressure.

But this has come a far way from Politics.Beyond any possible stage of repair.I only shudder to fathom the enormity of the repercussions had India decided to keep sports apart and toured the country like England did to us.Try to think of the kind of pressure Pakistan would have had to deal with had a bullet even scratched the shirt of someone like a Sachin Tendulkar.This is not to say that the lives of equally talented players from a Sinhalese kingdom far south are less important.No.But in that scenario,we could have possibly faced the prospect of an all out war.Mohammad Asif's drug sojourn and Shoaib Akhtar's night club brawls seem to deserve a reprimand from a kindergarten teacher in comparison.

It's the end of many a tumultuous decade;it's even surprising to say that turbulence can last so long.World cup,Champion trophies being far cries,a Rahul Dravid Lahore or a Virender Sehwag Multan seem like being one off events lost permanently to history.There shall be no such orchestras in the land of the Pathans.At least not in the foreseeable future.Pakistan can try harder now and promise even further security or even arrange for the Border Security Force to form a wall around the boundaries,if only a decent test playing nation wishes to tour.

But then it won't be cricket.No one wants to be in or around a playing field,where a batsman looks in circles trying to spot a sniper in the stands than look for gaps in the field to get some runs at the depth.

It's all over for a country indispensable for a powerful and selfish few,and hated by most for reasons including cricket alongside politics.But in hindsight,Pakistan cricket was the bad boy of world cricket.Everyone wanted it to be in the bar and loved to pick fights but still wanted it to stay.Now it isn't the same anymore.The end has come.It had to sooner or later for sure.But it still hurts.

For reasons even I can't comprehend,it hurts to know that a land where histories were re-written and symphonies orchestrated,there won't even be a band anymore.

It hurts.Truth always does.

Who's going to refer the referral?

Ever felt the sickening nausea hit you when you realize a system you have planned and built meticulously has boomeranged so hard that people find it hard to believe someone actually let you build it in the first place?

That's the kind of feeling the guys over at the ICC chambers must be feeling rushing through every bit of their nervous system after almost 10 months since the referral system was introduced,allegedly on a trail basis and heaven-knows-why,directly at the biggest arena of the game,a player,spectator,writer and everyone associated with the game aspires to be-test match cricket.

Enough has been debated about this referral system by now but quite frankly cricket is already in enough turmoil,what with the management at the Caribbean seemingly having resigned to the fact that there shall be an incident every single time an important tour takes place there.Viv Richards must've wanted to erase all memories of him taking his bat out in the field,arms swinging,gum chewing,splitting balls in two and in the process getting a tribute by means of getting a whole stadium built in his name.And what happens?Oh,well someone forgot to make sure it wasn't built on a beach.Big deal.Scmucks!!Keeps happening all the time at the Caribbean fellas!

Fast forward to test no.4 at the newly laid out lush green Kensington Oval.1st Innings,WI trailing England by more than 300 runs,4 wickets down.Anderson bowls to Chanderpaul,batting on 70.Ball hits in line,nips back,Chanderpaul raises his arms,doesn't offer a shot on the front foot;Ball clips the top of the pad way above the knee roll and the umpire gives this one out.Shiv,as does everyone watching the match on their sets,thinks the on-field adjudicators have gotta be kidding their wits.So he decided to use the newly laid out system supposed to usher in an era of justice,where no one goes back to the dug-out at least,unfairly.

The rule book states that,unless the 3rd umpire has absolute and "conclusive" evidence so as to clearly know of their being no discrepancy in the on field umpire's decision,only then can he revoke a decision.The catch here is,even after the 3rd umpire is allowed the use of technology,for some unimaginable self-righteous code,he isn't allowed the hawk-eye,or at least the movement of the ball after impact.

Now, Daryl Harper,the 3rd umpire is forced to make a decision on the basis of the half-available hawk eye and the rule book stating there to be no revoke in case of credible evidence not being present so as to overrule,this in spite the other fact that clearly there was no need of a man to have attended any geometry lessons in his entire school and college life to know the ball was going over the top .So forced to make a decision,in spite of knowing it to be the wrong one,Mr.Harper asks the guys on field to stick with the earlier decision.

Similar incident,half an hour later with the new batsmen at No 6.Brendan Nash.Struck in line,ball not doing much,seems high and given not out.This time Andrew Strauss and company appeal.Out of some un-foreseeable reason,where in Harper seemed to have suddenly grabbed his own hawk from the sky,allows for a sudden change of plans in the "conclusive evidence" part and judges it to have been a wrong decision by the guys at the middle.Aleem Dar crosses his arms at his shoulders(a sign of revoke,but more a sign of disgust to the game in reality)and gives it out.Where did the evidence of the sudden surety of the path of the ball come in from suddenly?Who cares?It's the Caribbean.No?Yeah.That's right.It's test match cricket Sir.

Now,either there is an additional rule in the ICC book not everyone is aware of.Or 3rd umpires get to have a drink or two occasionally as and when time permits while the game is still in progress for this sort of a bias to be explained or someone has got to come out with a system where in a re-referred referral could be referred to a 4th party,may be on the Internet while the game is conducted in the most shameful of ways possible,while people on the other hand still keep coming up with ways to make a test match possible on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean aka Viv Richards stadium.

It's a very simple logic that people still decide to play a game of cricket with human beings.Technology can go only so far as to make things more believable while even 'it' can't actually ascertain in totality,an occurrence of an event which never did occur in reality.There are only two ways as far as even thinking about implementing this new system goes.Start from the county level(something tested not satisfactorily)and make sure every possible resource is available to the 3rd umpire after a referral is made.

To put it in simpler words,if a referral is indeed made,the decision on whether or not it's out should be allowed to be taken by the new adjudicator in his individual capacity,by providing him with the latest in gizmos and technology and not ask him to having to be a judge on whether or not the previous decision was right or not.If a revoke is indeed made,the previous decision automatically becomes void as not having been taken with conclusive evidence on the mere merit of it having being over turned by the 3rd umpire!!If not,forget everything and let the guys in the middle use all their impulse as it has been happening for a century and a half and let's have a game in our hands!

Some one's got to make a referral on this new referral system.Cricket's having it's own tough times.Zimbabwe is virtually extinct.No one's wanting to watch test matches.Cricket is slowly becoming a movie show with 3 hour matches.Australia are going downer by the day(which in more ways than one is actually good for cricket).Pakistan hosts tests in leap years.Test matches are being played on make shift pitches on beaches and like the proverbial cherry on the cake,we have the referral system being used by the 3rd umpires who need to have to carry the rule book along and still not being able to tackle the "conclusive" evidence part.

We already have enough on our plates so far as knowing what things are to be sorted out to carry the legend of the game ahead.Adding in newer and bitterly confusing methods to an already struggling form of the game is like actually telling the handful of audience to make sure they surf through live broadcasts,acting as if a match never really was in progress.

Put an end to this now.At least it'll be a beginning away from the end.