Saurav Ganguly's Swansong ....

The fourth cricket test match starting today (6th November 2008) at Nagpur between India and Australia has all the makings of an absorbing one. With Anil Kumble's unexpected retirement in Kotla Test and Ganguly's final test match here in Nagpur , a glorious era in Indian cricket is coming to an end. And most probably in a year or two Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS laxman will also hang their boots creating a big vaccum in Indian cricket. For those of us who have grown up watching Sachin and rest of the 'Fab Four' cricket watching would not be the same again.I remember when India and Pakistan used to play in Sarjah quite frequently in 1990s , a Sachin hundred used to be the ultimate treat and he seldom disappointed.
For all his follies on and off the field ,Ganguly has been the best cricket captain India had.He gave the youngsters confidence and made the team into a winning combination.Before he took the reins hardly any Indian test team used to win abroad in test matches and that too with fair regularity.The Indian cricket needs to go one step forward under Dhoni's leadership where they are not satisfied winning just a one off test match abroad but try and win the test series.Hopefully , India will make the scoreline 2-0 in its favour in Nagpur and make Ricky Ponting and the rest of his gang of ugly Australians eat crow.What is very disappointing is Adam Gilchrist's baseless accusations in his (fictional)autobiography, now Gilchrist was a really good cricketer but it seems he has left all his sportsmanship on the cricket pitch and suffering from some kind of delusion of persecution.Psychotherapy seems to be his only hope !

Great Win !

Nobody would have given India any chance of even giving South Africa a tough fight in the test matches after their insipid performance in the one-dayers.But the way Indian team regrouped amidst all the criticism and hullabaloo,most of which was media`s creation,has been nothing short of inspirational.They took the bull by its horns and its apt that India`s first ever test win in South Africa has come in the wanderers which is called the 'bull ring'.Now the same media will go overboard in its praise and Guru Greg would be back in currency.
No doubt , the Indian team has accomplished a great victory but the work is by no means over yet.There are two more test matches to go and South Africa would come hard at them.In the past Indian team has been guilty of squandering away the lead in a test series all too easily.This time the team would do well to stay focused and secure a series win to wash away the ignominy of the drubbing in one dayers.
This test match has been a privilege to watch for a variety of reasons.The positive mindset of the team was conveyed when Rahul Dravid decided to bat first after winning the toss on a pitch that had a lot of sting.The openers did not score that many runs but they stayed put for ten overs or so which again was a morale booster.The application and exquisite batting by Dravid and Tendulkar laid the foundation for a good total.The positive intent shown by Laxman and Ganguly got India to reasonably good scores in the two innings with good support from VRV Singh and Zaheer Khan.
But the man of the match and that too by a big margin was Sreesanth who rocked the South African boat with his incisive spells in both innings.No one would have imagined that an Indian bowling attack could dismiss South Africans for a paltry 84 runs .Sreesanth has a bright future ahead of him and he gives his hundred percent every time he has a ball in his hands.
Hopefully,the media as well as the fans would keep a sense of proportion while celebrating this fine win.India has a very good chance of winning the test series and must not get complacent with this win.