India's next BIG Three : Future of Test cricket.

After Sachin's 199th test man, this gotta be a much needed discussion in Indian cricketing world. What is gonna happen to the India Test cricket. The most crucial format of the game, the format that earns the respect for any team in the cricketing world. Test cricket needs classy players who excel the game, who can give 120% every time they step into the field be it the department of batting, bowling or fielding. The focus after the exit of India's FAB4 was certainly on the replacements who can take the team to the same pinnacle that once the Fab4 took India, and was an example to the whole world. Every time they stepped into crease to bat they carried a billion hopes, a billion prayers, and a billion expectations, which was beyond imagination. No need to elaborate on the success the 4 has brought into the team. Be it Perth, Eden Gardens, Lords etc.. The list goes on n on. So whoever is to fill in these shoes had to have a more than good enough in them. India has been struggling since the exit of Ganguly(First of the FAB4 to hang boots) to find replacement. Laxman n Dravid exited in quicker time phrame and it all ends after the Mumbai test when the God of cricket retires from active cricket. Many batsmen came in went out, but could not make the impact on the game to match the expectation of a billion cricket fanatics. Gambhir, Yuvraj, Sehwag to name a few. Even though there are examples these have shown of their capabilities, but could not endure the same success as the FAB4. It needs more than good players to even come close to, if not match, the excellence the FAB4 exhibited. Lets hope we can India produce some extra ordinary cricketers to keep the India's success in the game and the most important format of the game.

In the current team, we can see some of the budding players who are showing the glimpses of the hope that Indian test cricket success can be endured in the coming years. Players who can be relied upon. Ones have the capability of excelling the game and delivering what is required. Lets go one by one to see what they are made of and how they position themselves.

1. Virat Kohli.

      The very first name than pops to my mind when we talk of performance in the batting department of the current Indian cricket team is Virat Kohli. Kohli made an impact right from the time he has earned the India cap. After leading India-U19 to a World Cup victory, Virat was chosen into the senior team very quickly as expected. And he has stood to perform to every expectation he carried. The thing most impresses me about Kohli is the passion and dedication with which he takes the game. He is emotionally connected to what he does on the Cricket field. Kapil Dev once commented on Indian young cricket payers of the time, a couple of years back. His opinion was then young players are extremely talented bunch India has ever had in terms of number of good cricketers. But he went on to say that, passion for the game is what lacks in the players. I could have not agreed more at that time. we have seen players who had taken the field just to do a job. Virat Kohli was the exact answer for Kapil's concerns. Time and we have see how passionate Kohli is about the game, how emotionally connected he is. Not only did we see the commitment and determination of his towards the team's victory and the game itself he is also a kind of person who inspires the passion around him. Be it the example of the Hobart game against Sri Lanka(Malinga in particular) of the recently concluded IND vs AUS series. With the cool, ignorant, devilish attitude of the delhi boy, it looks as if 'Impossible is Nothing' for the lad.

2. Shikhar Dhawan.

       The next two in the list are relatively newer than my first pick but somehow has made the impact that influenced me in including them in the list. Its not premature judgment if the talent is so apparent to see. Dhawan had to wait longer than expected to get his Test cap after being debuted in ODIs in 2010. Though not very effective in the initial days, he needed some time to get an actual good start. With Indian Opening pair being formidable at the time, he really had to wait for a longer time to start being a regular. But the losing form of Sehwag n Ghambhir helped him in 2013. After being chosen as a regular opener for the ICC Champion trophy he made his impact on the International stage for the first time. Earlier he was one of the top players in both the India Domestic Leagues, IPL n Ranji. He is a combination of talent and hard work. Thats what make a cricketer special. One needs to have healthy respect towards the game to excel at it. With the right attitude and similar hard work the lad is here to make his mark.

3. Rohit Sharma.

       The last one comes as no surprises to most. The sheer talent, the gifted one, the next big thing, call it whatever but the ability of the guy has got this one so far and i wish he carries it on till the last. It is kind of a Mumbai mania with the India Test cricket. First it was Sunil Gavaskar, who was the pinnacle of batting talent of his time, then came along Sachin Tendulkar, for whom the only words that make any justice to his value is calling him 'God of Cricket'. Just when Sachin is exiting the active cricketing world, mumbai had to produce one of its utmost precious talent to the Indian Test team. And we are seeing the apparent in Rohit Sharma today. No doubts the guy has got the talent. The eye to watch the ball, the elegance of stroke playing, the ability to get on top of the opposition bowlers' game is simply mind blowing. He was really unfortunate at the beginning steps of his career. Though he was chosen to make the debut for India way before Virat Kohli, he had to pull out of it coz of injury he suffered during practice the previous week. After that it was a injury stuck period for Sharma, which time and again kept him from making his debut in test cricket. I agree that most of the crowd still do not believe Rohit can make it big on the international stage. And its only fair to understand the feeling as well. Rohit is not a kind of player who looks like to be so involved in the game. People have not seen his anger on field, nor the body language that speaks for the commitment. He has always carried a loose attitude of himself on the ground. But looks can be deceptive. Its just the body language he carries does not convince the passion he has within. After the like of what i have seen in his ODI performance that has totally changed for me. Time and again, he has performed at crucial conditions and proved his worth. Especially after making 177 on his debut, before given out for a very questionable decision. But the more important part is the time at which it came was when India were 6 down for mere 156 and looked in all certainty to fold within 200. The statement was clear. This lad is here to stay and make a mark on the game of cricket. But i would go on to say that he would require to keep a check on his commitment level though. In no point of time you can afford to loose a bit at the international level, playing the highest for of cricket. 

All in all, The trio is doing a good job in leading Indian Cricket team to carry on its success as of the moment and have shown the potential to keep doing the same in coming year. 

"Form is Temporary, Class is permanent."

The Myth : India looses when Sachin scores a hundred.

      Hey guys, we all have been hearing this from quite a while again and again. The great "Myth" of the Indian cricketing world. "If Sachin Tendulkar scores a century, India will loose the match".(Bear with me if i use the word "myth" to refer to this statement repeatedly) This myth reached its pinnacle when he scored his 100th International 100 of his career. 51 in Tests and 49 in ODIs. In here, we ll see whats really been happening when he scores a 100. I mean the man is know for scoring 100s so easily n so effortlessly, its the best you can ever expect from a batsmen. And he's been doing the job to the fullest but still been criticized , i mean thats just not fair. Now we will break down the 100s in his career and see what really happened. I mean, how did he manage to score a 100 and why did India still went on to loose the match.




      Lets just talk about ODI 100s. In tests there is no real argument which can speculate the myth. In ODIs, however there has been few points which revolve around strike rate, making use of the correct overs etc etc . Lets first start with the numbers. Sachin has scored 49 ODI 100s. Lets jus leave out the 18 90+ scores. Yes its the number. Out of 49 occasions where he has scored a 100 India has won in 34 occasions. Thats 4 more than the second best in the list of all time most 100s in ODI. The centuries also include one N/R and a tie. So that means India has lost in 13 matches where Sachin has scored a 100. Thats 26.53%. Thats means the statement can be pulled out for discussion only 26.53% times sachin scores a 100. The above statement what we are talking about here already stopping to make sense. 


     Let me talk about the matches where in sachin has scored a 100 and India went on loose the match. 


1. March 2, 1996, vs Sri Lanka, World cup Group stage match : 
        The Group stage match between India and sri lanka happened at the very famous firoz shah 
kotla stadium in Delhi. Sri lanka winning the toss put India to bat. SR Tendulkar scoring 137 at a strikerate of 100, personal high score, 2nd highest ever for India in ODIs at the time. SR Tendulkar and M Azharuddin put up 175 for the 3rd wicket partnership. But India could get only till 271 in their 50 overs. curse it on the sloppy India batsmen prabhaker(7 out of 36) or no ability of indian batsmen at that time to slog in death overs. A devastating assault by their openers, prabhaker(again) conceding 47 of his 4 overs , Ranatunga and Tillekeratne stand of 131, resulted SL winning with eight balls to spare. I dont understand how one can defend the myth in this case.


2. August 28, 1996, vs Sri Lanka, Singer World Series, second qualifying match : 
      Tendulkar launched himself into captaincy with a century. But his 110, off 138 balls, was made to look pedestrian by Jayasuriya, who scored an unbeaten 120 off just 128. After Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana had raised Sri Lanka's first-wicket record to 129, De Silva scored a composed 49 not out . This  saw Sri Lanka home with nine wickets and 5.4 overs to spare


3. April 22, 1998, vs Australia, Coca-Cola Cup - 6th match :
       Australia won by 25 runs, India's target having been revised to 276 from 46 overs. Toss: Australia.

At stake was whether India or New Zealand would join Australia in the final. Spectators and organisers were eager to avoid an all-Antipodean final, but Australia were less keen to oblige. Bevan, scoring his third century in one-day internationals, and Mark Waugh took advantage of a true pitch and slipshod fielding. India then had two targets: 285 to win the match, 254 to qualify on run-rate. After a dust storm accounted for four overs, these were revised to 276 and 237. Their success was thanks to a glorious 143 from Tendulkar. His highest score in limited-overs internationals (and the third highest for India) took 131 balls and included nine fours and five sixes. India lost the match, but achieved their main objective. This counts as a win in my book. 

       This match reminds me of the famous sachin vs warne rivalry. Both players had etched themselves into cricketing folklore. Both were legends who had little but their egos at stake. Shane Warne, injured shoulder ignored, round the wicket to Sachin Tendulkar on a Sharjah track offering some assistance was one such intriguing contest. Before the ball could come down and do its trick, Tendulkar had got to the pitch of it. And once the ball had been reached and the spin smothered, up came the heavy bat with lightning-quick speed to send it straight into the billboards at long-on. Warne had been conquered, Warne had been decimated. And he had been left with a vision that continued to haunt him. Warne, wiping the sweat off his face in frustration, desperation, or bewilderment and appreciation, perhaps. The great Shane Warne, for once in his life, had thrown in the towel. Tendulkar had well and truly won the contest of the titans. And soon, India the Coca-Cola Cup.

4. October 20, 2000, vs Sri Lanka, Coca-Cola Champions Trophy - 1st match :

          Tendulkar's 26th hundred in one-day internationals was not enough to set up an Indian victory. Only Robin Singh offered him significant support - they shared a century stand for the fifth wicket - and the loss of four wickets in the last four overs squandered the possibility of a more challenging total. India ending up at 224 in their 50 overs. Gunawardene finally made up for dropping Tendulkar on 26 by breaking his stumps with a direct hit, one of four run-outs in the innings. Jayasuriya negotiated Sri Lanka out of a shaky start, hitting seven fours in 53 balls, and later Sangakkara and Arnold added 95 as the Indian bowlers struggled to control the wet ball in the evening dew. .

Sri Lanka won by five wickets. Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar. 

5. December 8, 2000, vs Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe in India ODI Series - 3rd ODI :

        India  compiling an eminently defensible 283 and then reducing Zimbabwe to 52 for three. Tendulkar hit a brilliant 146 in 153 balls, with 15 fours and two sixes, his 27th century in one-day internationals, and the final over cost 27 runs as Zaheer Khan smashed four sixes off Olonga, reaching 32 in 11 balls. The Flower brothers, however, fought back with 158 in 30 overs, then a Zimbabwean fourth-wicket record. Later, Nkala hit 36 in 27 balls and, when he was run out in the final over, last man Olonga scrambled the winning single with one ball to spare. If you have a look at the match scorecard you can see there was little support for the masterblaster from the other end and also bowlers failed to make any impact.

6. October 5, 2001, vs South Africa, Standard Bank Triangular Tournament - 1st match :

      Ganguly and Tendulkar hit centuries to help India to the biggest total in a one-day international at the Wanderers but, with Kirsten in marvellous form, South Africa immediately broke that record with ten balls to spare on a batting paradise. Apart from the two centuries at the top of the batting line up, there was no contribution from the indian middle order.India's bowling was equally ineffective

7. March 16, 2004, vs Pakistan, India in Pakistan ODI Series - 2nd ODI : 

      Shahid Afridi, out of the Pakistan team for a year since the World Cup, made a glorious comeback, spanking 80 from 58 balls and rattling up 138 in 19 overs with Yasir Hameed. And late hitting by Abdul Razzaq and Shoaib Malik saw 50 runs flow from the final five overs. Pakistan mounted up a mammoth 329 in their 50 overs. Tendulkar scored a superb century, India's first in a one-day international in Pakistan, and became the first player to reach 13,000 one-day runs. But his dismissal, sweeping to deep mid-wicket in the 39th over, galvanised the bowling; seven overs later India slumped to 284 for eight when Shoaib Akhtar fired out two in two. The valiant hitting of Balaji and debutant Ramesh Powar showed some resistanceIt also kept India in the game until the penultimate over, when Sami theatrically defeated last man Nehra's uncalculated swipe. Once again Middle order failure.

8. April 12, 2005, vs Pakistan, Pakistan in India ODI Series - 4th ODI : 

      After winning the toss and electing to bat first, India put on a score of 315 on a flat ahmedabad track. Thanks to some fine batting display by SRT, Dhoni and yuvraj in the final overs. One more front line bowling failure with Z.Khan, A.Nehra, L.Balaji going for 6.2, 8.3 and 7.3 runs/over respectively. Never before had Pakistan successfully hit a one-day target above 300, and this game was two overs short. But the chase was constructed with methodical skill that had all the hallmarks of coach Bob Woolmer. After Shahid Afridi knocked up a manic 23-ball 40, the middle order added 123 between the 15th over and the 35th, but struck only four boundaries. Pakistan crept forward until Inzamam's unfussy 60 saw them through an unexpectedly nerve-racking final over from Tendulkar, with just three needed

Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar.

9. February 6, 2006, vs Pakistan, India in Pakistan ODI Series - 1st ODI :

     Bad light had the final say in a simply astonishing opening game, as Pakistan sneaked to a seven-run win in a high-scoring cliffhanger at Peshawar. In a match where it rained 639 runs, india could manage only 23 runs in their last 5 overs coz of the tail collapse. If roamers are to be believed, thanks to R.Dravid(capt) for his poor judgement when lights were offered. and also tipped pakistanis the result if they refused the light offered from umpires. The match also marks for the infamous dismissal of Inzaman-ul-haq for obstructing the field. 

10. September 14, 2006, vs West Indies, DLF Cup - 2nd match :

     Tendulkar built a fine century - his 40th in one-day internationals - in his first long innings since elbow and shoulder problems in February. His unbeaten 141 was not enough for victory, as West Indies made another hurricane start, and had fortuitously just completed the minimum 20 overs when rain brought Duckworth/Lewis into the equation. The high run-rates were achieved despite the presence of a dent on a good length at one end, caused when a roller sank into the partially prepared surface some days before the tournament. It was more of a problem for the right-handers, and contributed to the dismissals of Dravid, Sehwag and Dhoni, all defeated by deliveries which kept low. When everyone fails one man stands tall. SRT, rose above the imperfections to strike 13 fours and five sixes, and later said he would remember it as a "special" hundred because he had to overcome the pitch and his injuries. India's bowlers were alarmingly loose in the early overs, and the batsmen took advantage before the rain.

Sachin During his epic 175 against aussie,
where he single handedly almost chased down a
mammoth 350.

Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar.

11. November 5, 2009, vs australia, Australia in India ODI Series - 5th ODI :

     Nobody does solos better than Sachin Tendulkar, nor, perhaps, has anyone endured as much heartbreak during those solos. It was India of the 90s all over again: Tendulkar almost chased 351 on his own but, with the target in sight, he got out and the rest choked, falling short by three runs with two balls still to go. In Chennai in 1998-99, Tendulkar, having played an innings as incredible as this, left the last three wickets 17 to get; tonight he left them 19 off 17. Before this, aussies had pile up a huge 350 on the board in their 50 overs. But the indian batting order continued their march of shame. SRT got very little support only from V.Sehwag and S.Raina. Result, India fell 3 run short with 2 deliveries remaining but no wickets.

Man of the Match: S. R. Tendulkar.

12. March 12, 2011, vs South Africa, ICC Cricket World Cup - 29th match, Group B :

     After a fantastic start by Sachin, Sehwag ans Gambhir, Indian foolish/over-confident middle order, india were reduced from 267-1 to 296 all out . India lost 9 wickets in a span of 29 runs in 9overs. If only india would have built on the strong foundation laid by the top order we would have piled up a min of 350,360 runs, which would have definitely sealed it for us. 

13. March 16, 2012, vs Bangladesh, Asia Cup - 4th match :

    Clearly a bowling failure, in death overs. The bowling was below ordinary . Clearly we miss the likes of Zak n bhajji. Also the inclusion of dinda in the team in place of V.Kumar. Yes we might have been 20-30 runs short in the end, but allowing a team like Bangladesh to chase down 290 is what i call a clear bowling failure. 

Even after reading the detailed analysis of the losses in-spite of sachin's 100s in each of these matches, its very evident that Sachin Tendulkar is a great batsmen of all time. Even when the times are tough and everyone else have given u he still stood there fighting alone. There are matches i would like to talk about where india has won only on sachin's effort. Nobody talks about them, all people want to talk about is the myth. lets just give up complaining about the myth and let him do what he does the best. score centuries. There is a very little time left of his career. As Viv Richards said, "Enjoy Sachin while you can".

Retirement plans in Indian squad..!!??

Retirement plans.. this sounds familiar to all of us, but here i am talking about the Indian cricketers who should be planning one or forced to plan one. we have VVS , Dravid The Wall , master blaster SRT, sehwag , Zak,  MSD to name a few. with the recent dip in their(some, not all) forms and the age(yes they are called old at 30+) they are bound to think in this direction. I know it may be a lil too early for some of them but its inevitable. Thats not the only reason for it. With the current young talent emerging in indian domestic leagues and they way they are doing overseas it shud be made convenient to the youngsters to settle into the unfavorable conditions and get some good experience so that they dont get embarrassed when they are thrown a bigger challenge at them. V kohli , Vinay Kumar, Suresh Raina and so on have got good ability and talent but they are constantly failing to deliver overseas, what they have been doing with so much ease in the sub continent.

Pillar of Indian Batting Line up

VVS Laxman

1.VVS Laxman:
                      Yes guys, we all know that VVS has got the least lifetime in the current Indian test squad. We have all seen the bravery acts of him in getting india out of the worst situations and produce a respectable result and sometimes even won the match. Remember the eden garden test against Aussies. Yes such is the caliber of the man i'm talking about. But if you look at his current form he has consistently failed to deliver at the International level. He has been regularly failing to find back his form back, be it the india tour of england or home series against WI or the ongoing Border-Gavaskar trophy. The form dip is not the only reason he has been rated top in this list. The never ending problems due to his back injury is also the reason he is thinking of or being forced to retire as early as possible.It may not be a fair with vvs for BCCI to take any bold step of dropping him from the team, but unless he perform and prove his worth to the team, i think BCCI is bound to take action. According to my gut feeling he'll announce his retirement at the end of the Adelaide test , the forth and last match of the series. With the Indian cricket schedule in mind, yes we are not playing any test match in another 6 months, it will be a good on the part of VVS to retire right now.

2. Rahul "The Wall" Dravid:

Rahul Dravid

                       Rahul Dravid, "The Wall". He is the second in this list and most probably next person to exit after VVS Laxman. He had wonderful 2011 year as a batsmen, even though india suffered humiliations at the hands of England. He has scored around 1200 runs in the last year with 5 hundreds at an incredible average average of around 60. But he failed to continue doing the same down under. as like VVS even he is aged and is in the twilight of his career. He retired from ODI n T20(played only 1 of it anyway) at the end of england tour. but he is expected to do good in test matches till he keeps playing(rather enjoying) it. Having the previous years record to back him he has bought in some more time to stick around play his left out International cricket peacefully. But this is the right time for Dravid to think about his retirement. Even though BCCI has its eye on his retirement it cannot force him into retirement as it can easily do in the case of VVS. But still he will always be in BCCI's RADAR. couple of bad series and he might be packing his backs earlier than he had planned to. India's very infrequent test match schedule in the future also can work out in Dravid's favor since the age has already started to show its signs on him, e might get lot of much needed breaks between series so that he can rejuvenate himself and be ready for the next challenge. Having said all that i cant see him playing him beyond 2012 any more. Max he may retire in first half of 2013. I would love nothing more than to see him bat like the text book definition of batting.


3. Sachin Tendulkar:

Sachin Tendulkar after his famous knock of 200* against
South Africa.

                      As expected the next on this queue is our very own "master blaster", the go of Cricket, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He enjoys the liberty of not being frowned upon by BCCI for his inconsistency(if any) nor has the worry of his form going down. In the entire of his career(as much as i have seen), he has never let his form go down considerably, except the time he had his injury(The back injury and the infamous Tennis elbow), during which he had get used to much lighter bat than what he used to. Any one on this earth is vulnerable to such changes. But he stuck in there hard and determined and what we see today is pure magic. The way he can tear the opposition into pieces , i hardly see any one in the entire cricketing world doing it for so long time. Having said all that he also one day face the inevitable. He has already reduced playing the ODIs considerably and he never played any T20s after his first one. Talking about Tests he has scored more than 2200 runs in last 2 years at an average of more than 58 which also includes 6 110s. As far as i can see, no body in the world can influence him on his retirement other than him. as said even he has to retire one day and that day might not be very far away. The whole world is speculating him to retire after the much hyped 100th 100. but the way he is playing currently there are no guarantees of this as such. From what i can see he might not play anymore cricket of any for at any level after 2013. Yes he can continue playing cricket as long as he is enjoying it. I would hope that day when he stops enjoying playing cricket might not come at all. As we all know he is the kind of person who gives youngsters much encouragement. But still the team INDIA will be needing him at each and every major competition they enter.

Is Clarke an Australian Cricket team captain...??!!

The era of cricket i grew up watching i have seen many captains come and go. The most significant of them are the Aussie captains, namely Waugh and Ponting who have won the "World cup" as captains. The thing i most respected them for their attitude as a captain. Ponting in particular for his aggressiveness in the field. Ponting , "The Punter" , as they call him was in particular was a treat to watch his captaincy in the match. the "win it no matter how" attitude was the most significant one. The kind of aggressive field setting, the belief that your team is capable of handling the most of the difficult situations were few to name. But we cannot for get the infamous sydney test against India in 2007-08 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But that adds to the message i'm trying to convey here.

       On the other Aussie captain i'm talking about here , i think we all(at least most of us) have witnessed the 1999 World cup. How the Aussie were down without carrying any points into super six stage. Being defeated by Pakistan and new-zealand in the group stages,they were required to win all their matches in the super sixes facing strong teams like India and South Africa, which they won both in a very convincing fashion. Then Waugh led the Australians to a epic semi-final win(Yes, it was a tie but i would like to call it a victory). Honestly it was one of the best cricket matches in my list. Then they went on to massacre the Wasim Akram(Another great personality in the Cricketing world, both as a player and captain) led  pakistani team. Even though there are may other occasions which proves the capabilities of Steve Waugh but i would rate this achievement of his the best.

      Coming to their current successor Michael Clarke.To start with i dont see a leader in him to be able to lead a cricket team, that too one like the Australian cricket team. The Australian cricket team are like the Brazil of Football(some can call it Soccer). Even a second string would be competitive at the international level. To be able to lead a team like that you need someone who the team can look up to when they are in crisis, like the Waugh or the Ponting.I know its a little too early for this but i dont feel Clarke is truely capable of doing what Waugh and Ponting did for so long. He had been named the captain of the australia Twenty20 cricket much before than the ODI and Test, i would like to skip that part because of the little respect i have for the shortest form of the game. Micheal clarke took over as a captain of the Australian cricket team after Ricky ponting was sacked from the spot when they ended their rien on the World Cup in the 2011 Cricket world cup held in India. Many(including me) still think that punter should have been continued as the captain of the Aussie since he had that calibre to lead the team like that. But thats another story including the form dip , age etc etc. Lets talk about the first venture of clarke as the captain. The Australia tour of Sri Lanka was a rain struck tour. Yes they managed to win the test series 1-0 but to the australians standard and the current shape the Sri Lankan team is post world cup, we would expect aussie to win much more consistently. but they some how managed to win it. thanks to the excellent batting performance by M.Hussey and the formidable australian (pace)bowling attack. Also they were very less competitive in the ODI series. The next venture of australa was the SA tour. I think i need not remind you of the 2nd test match in the tour. Even though SA choked for 98 in their first inning, you would not expect Aussie to fold for as a low total as 47(Nevermind the fact that they were 21/9). Many may blame it on their batting failure, or the kind of wicket they were playing on but still the captain has to take responsibility for his teams actions and the consequences from it. Result series drawn 1-1, which according to me Aussie should have won quite convincingly. Atleast against the low confident South African team after they once again proved their "The Chokers" title in the World Cup quarterfinals against New Zealand. Here again the the ODI series was won by Aussies , but not very convincingly. Here thanks to Shane watson's good all-round performance.

      Then came the worst of all. The new zealand tour of australia. According to me looking at the NZ team Aussies should have won the test series convincingly 2-0. But they managed only to draw the series 1-1. The second test match in particular in Hobart was the clear evidence for the fact that Post-ponting(As i would like to call it now) australian cricket team doesn't seem to working together as a single unit anymore. It looks as if each one is just bothered about their own business. They no more are bound by one strong leader that the Australian cricket team has been used to for so long a time. The likes of Waugh and Ponting had made the australian team to always look up to your captain when things are not going the way you would have appreciated. Each entity in a team has to be kept together and co-ordinated with at most interest by the captain of its team. The captain should be a person whom everyone in the team respects and obey his orders. And the captain should take responsibility of the whole team. Frankly i dont see clarke is doing a good enough job of leading a team like australia. You dont see that presence of a leader in the team that is constantly leading his team. Yes they are doing good against India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, but i blame that in indians performing poor rather than Aussie doing great here. This leaves us with the question Is Clarke a competitive captain who can lead a team like australia. Will he be able to lead the Aussie to the top of Test Ranking again..?? Can clarke lead Australia to yet another world cup victory(Yes, next one is in 2015 in Australia and NZ). Can he bring back that murderous australian team back in to the world of cricket. Well its too early to make conclusion yet, but i dont see all these happening in the near future. Only time can answer these question. Lets wait and see what the new captain can do in his term. For now, enjoy the Border-Gavaskar trophy.