He was around for years and years when Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman debuted for Team India. But to expect him to bat on for a similar period after they retired was perhaps asking too much. Sachin Tendulkar announced his intention to retire from Test cricket after his 200th Test, which should happen in the upcoming home series against West Indies. Having already signed off from One-Day Internationals and opted out of Twenty 20 Internationals, this also marks the end of Tendulkar’s international career. It’s also the end of an era of great Indian batsmanship.
Even as Australia surrendered the fourth Test of the 2013 Ashes in a bizarre climax, at least one of their batsmen had something to celebrate at the end of it.
On Sunday, as Australia crashed to a heavy defeat at Lord’s, a venue where they hadn’t lost for 75 years previously, its cricket board apparently couldn’t wait to tell the world what a success the Big Bash League (BBL) Twenty20 competition had been. It waxed eloquent about the success of CA’s strategy for BBL, its appeal for people who had not followed cricket previously and its entertainment quotient.
Australia relived the heartbreak of the Ashes 2005 Test played at Edgbaston, losing by 14 runs to bring down the curtains on a thriller. In five days, the 2013 edition of the premier Test series of the game pooh-poohed naysayers of long form cricket, providing plenty by way of thrills and, er, controversies in a relentlessly see saw opening salvo at Trent Bridge, Nottingham. Australia would only wish, though, they had finished on the right side of it.
N Srinivasan seems to have channelled the James Callaghan spirit as he battles his very own summer of discontent. Or, perhaps, "disarray" is would be more appropriate word than "discontent".
Long before the Indian Premier League (IPL) or even Twenty20 were dreamt of, the Sharjah Cup was a tournament cricket fans from these countries anticipated eagerly.
Lately, England and Australia have both begun to derive pleasure from gloating over the other’s losses to other opponents. England could barely conceal their glee as Australia collapsed to an unprecedented 0-4 whitewash in India. When England returned with a stalemate from New Zealand, it was Australia’s turn to gloat. After all, Australia’s got to be 'superior’ to New Zealand and Kiwi conditions are pretty similar to England. So if Peter Fulton could thrash the Pommies for twin tons in a match, so can Phil Hughes, right?
As I write, New Zealand have given England a rude wake-up call at Dunedin, bowling them out cheaply and piling on runs and more runs. While it looks as though England might get out of jail in the second innings, the so-called Ashes warm-up already seems to have got a bit too hit for comfort. It’s a match that’s instructive for Team India as they sit pretty on a 2-0 lead in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
March 3, 2013 could possibly go down as the day that Michael Clarke’s proverbial honeymoon as Australian cricket captain hurtled to a bitter end. As Cheteshwar Pujara and Murali Vijay piled on the runs at increasing pace in India’s first innings response to Australia, Clarke’s cup of woes spilled over at a worrying rate.
Harbhajan Singh has only just been reinstated in the side in spite of a middling Ranji season, but this has not curbed his enthusiasm for verbal warfare. Perhaps it is easier than warfare of the on-field kind.