A batsman on his debut innings, displaying an unabashed audacity to play in a manner that challenges the very norms of Test cricket, that’s rare. Shikhar Dhawan has nicely set himself as a non-conformist, rewriting the rules in his very first Test outing. His approach in the very first International innings has left quite a few [...]

The drastic decision to suspend four crucial players—Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Mitchell Johnson, and Usman Khwaja from the Australian Test side has inevitably left the cricketing world at odds. Even as Cricket Australia firmly defends its disciplinary action, many OZ greats consider it to be both lacking correspondence and way too severe. Should failing to [...]

Perform or Perish, the message for Sehwag had been up front and unambiguous for a long time, more so before the start of the ongoing Test series. Unfortunately, the latter is what the fate has decided for him, at least for now. He must go, the selectors have unequivocally ordered, and justifiably so, for his [...]

In 2008 during the first edition of the IPL, Cheteshwar Pujara was sent back home in the middle of the season without even being given an opportunity. While his style of play was more suited for the longer format of the game (he was scoring tons of runs in Ranji even then), the fact that [...]

Much like Captain Cook’s marathon innings in the first Test at Motera, which outlined and steered the course of the entire Test series for England, Captain Dhoni’s scintillating double hundred against the Australians in the first Test at Chennai is also anticipated to have the same impact on this series. After 2 ½ days of [...]

When at 22, Graeme Smith was handed the charge to lead SA cricket, post the Cronje storm and Pollock’s matter-of-fact leadership, not many would’ve envisaged this unorthodox, up-front, untested debutant of a captain to bring back to their cricket, its lost loyalty and pilot the team to 50 Test wins. That is an epic stat, Smith being the first in the [...]

It’s not often that you get an opportunity to see two similar kinds of spinners operating in tandem, for rarely a team fields two leg-spinners or two off-spinners in the playing XI. India did that with Harbhajan and Ashwin in the first Test at Chennai, both bowling parallel on a turning pitch against a batting [...]

It was Australian Test team’s invincibility that became synonymous with its cricket for the longest time. One needed to look hard to expose their weaknesses, for they dominated world cricket in the real sense of the word. They were not only tough at home but also conquered all frontiers overseas. While the mass retirement of [...]

Post the disappointing summer of 2011, Preparation, or the lack of it, became one the most widely discussed subjects with regards to Indian cricket. Most analysis of that Great English embarrassment held our unpreparedness and thoughtlessness in drafting a plan liable for the debacle. We’d failed to prepare, and hence should’ve been ready to fail [...]

That which seemed inevitable, has finally happened. On 22nd Feburary, if India bats first against Australia, it won’t be Gambhir who’d be walking alongside Sehwag to partner and open the innings. Even though this isn’t going to be the first time that these two men wouldn’t go in together in a Test match, it will still [...]