In the days leading up to the first Test match between India and England, one could almost feel the Indian team’s pain inflicted by England a year ago. India was beaten comprehensively in all three departments during the course of those four one-sided Test matches and every statement from the Indian camp in the last [...]

The news that the BCCI has decided to dole out a large sum of money earned from IPL playoff games as rewards to ex-cricketers is wonderful. Contrary to popular perception, cricket wasn’t always rich in India. In the old days there was very little in the game by way of financial reward, and in fact, cricket asked [...]

The greats of the sport have called Mankading ‘shameful’ and ‘petty behavior’, ‘infant school’ cricket. Yet, it continues to occur, sparking a fair degree of outrage, and stirring an inevitable conflict between cricket’s legality and ethics. The cricketing world seems to be divided on this; the likes of Ian Chappell believe “stupidity must be punished”, and that [...]

Statistics are known to hide a lot more than they reveal, yet when they do the talking, they can be pretty unforgiving. A look at India’s report card overseas, since June 2011, tells us just that. Two whitewashes in England and Australia made the score line 0-8 in Test matches, while a whitewash in England [...]

What describes ‘Indian Cricket’ the best? – Its honors, its medals, its records, its eleven illustrious men who don the Tri Color and win the country its accolades? Or its grit that has endured all to make it rise from the shadows of subjugation, stand up, challenge the odds and fight the existing hegemony and [...]

Indian cricket, of late, seems to have completely wrapped itself around the idea of ‘Rotation Policy’—what is it, after all? The concept took form when Australian cricket reached its crescendo in the early 2000s. These were times when they were not only indomitable at both home and away, but the manner in which they decimated [...]

When Duncan Fletcher took over the reigns of the Indian cricket team, it was, perhaps, one of the most enviable jobs in the cricketing world—the Indian team had not only won the World Cup after 28 years, but was also the best Test team in the world. Moreover, India had a stable captain in Dhoni [...]

Images of India winning the toss on an overcast morning and electing to bat first on a dampish wicket summon. Batting was going to be hard work but the Indian team knew that it was their best way of winning the Test match and getting back into the series—batting was our strength and the bowlers [...]

While batting is undoubtedly India’s strength, it’s not possible to make an impression without having the arsenal to take 20 wickets in a Test match. After all, winning a Test match isn’t all about scoring more runs than the opposition, that too, but more importantly it’s about dismissing the opposition twice. In fact, our batting [...]

‘Opening’ is the key to success in Australia. It’s important to set the right tone, since the quality of the start is bound to influence the final outcome of the match in most cases. If you give Australians an inch, they are sure to take a mile. If you give them a good opening, rest [...]