“I have seen God, he bats at number 4 for India.”
Mathew Hayden

“Nothing bad can happen to us if we’re on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.”
- Hashim Amla, the South African batsman, reassures himself as he boards a flight.

“Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.”
- Yaseer Hameed in pakistani newspaper.

“To Sachin, the man we all want to be”
- Andrew Symonds wrote on an aussie t-shirt he autographed specially for Sachin.

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar, to roam a territory of sport that, forget us, even those who are gifted enough to play alongside him cannot even fathom. When he goes out to bat, people switch on their TV sets and switch off their lives.”
- BBC on Sachin

“Tuzhe pata hai tune kiska catch chhoda hai?”
- Wasim Akram to Abdul Razzaq when the latter dropped Sachin’s catch in 2003 WC.

Sachin is a genius. I’m a mere mortal.
- Brian Charles Lara

“We did not lose to a team called India…we lost to a man called Sachin.”
- Mark Taylor, during the test match in Chennai (1997)

“The more I see of him the more confused I’m getting to which is his best knock.”
- M. L. Jaisimha

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Lara has his 400*, now Sachin has his 200*. Both are great players, with hardly anything to choose between them. Lara maybe holds an edge in Test matches on account of his 300+ scores and his 400, Sachin now holds the same edge in ODIs on account of his 150+ scores and his 200*. How fitting that these two guys should have the highest scores in the 2 formats!

Sachin’s innings was breathtaking, I have seen lots of Sachin innings, but I have never seen him treat bowlers with such disdain for an entire innings. Steyn, the best fast bowler around, was manhandled in the 35th over. He bowled couple of full balls way outside off, and the next ball Sachin just walked/hopped across and creamed a similar delivery to mid wicket for four. The look on Steyn’s face said it all… today was Sachin’s day and Sachin’s day only.

There were 25 fours and some sixes as well, inside out hits over cover of balls outside leg stump to fast bowlers, fours and sixes over mid wicket of balls way outside off, pin point placement through the ring of fielders in covers and point region. He was simply toying with the South African bowling, which is probably the best in the world right now.

On Feb 24 in 1988 Sachin and Kambli set a world record with an unbeaten partnership of 664 runs, in 2010 22 years later Sachin is still setting World Records and batting with the same boyish energy and enthusiasm. He is really just one in a Billion!

PS: Last 12 months have seen scores of 163, 175, 200. Sachin did well in 1996 (India reached semi final), 2003 (India reached final) World Cups, and did not do so well in 1992, 1999 and 2007. World No 1 ranking has been achieved in Tests. Sachin badly wants a World Cup win. I think other teams who want to win the 2011 World Cup need to be worried, very very worried. Its time for Sachin to do well in a world cup and win it!

Its the World Test Championship series, if South Africa does not lose the second Test they will go to the top of ICC Test rankings and India will drop to the second spot. However India needs to win it to stay on top. That Bangladesh tour has not really helped India’s cause. Dravid, Laxman and Yuvraj got injured and as a result India ended up losing the first Test by an innings. Laxman is expected to be back for the second but with the kind of form Steyn is in Dravid is also needed at number 3.

Even with Laxman back there are 2 spots still open. Badrinath should keep his spot, I dont expect Vijay to play. Karthik has opened in the past and did well in England. I would go with Karthik at number 3, as he is a gutsy player and tends to do well in the one off opportunities. I would keep Laxman at number 5 as pushing him up the order makes the batting line up top heavy, a couple of quick wickets and you are in trouble. India had so successfully employed the tactics of spreading out Sachin, Sourav and Dravid in ODIs in the early 2000s, there was always a senior pro batting with an inexperienced guy. The batting line up should be Sehwag, Gambhir, Karthik, Tendulkar, Laxman, Badrinath, Dhoni. Laxman’s return should also put an end to the nonsense of Paul Harris. In the first Test Sehwag and Tendulkar were under too much pressure to really go after Harris, if Indians are batting even slightly freely Harris would start leaking runs in no time.

The bowling remains a concern for India. Harbhajan has not really ran through a side for some time now, he has not had a spell where he just picks up 4-5 wickets in no time. While Kumble was around, he used to take most of the responsibility. Harbhajan has to step up now and perform the role that Kumble was doing, pick up wickets in a heap atleast at home. In the first Test Mishra and Harbhajan were played too easily by the South Africans, they need to make a bigger impact in the second game.

Finally the pitch, it needs to be a rank turner. The turn needs to be fast, and it should turn from day 1. There were reports that the curator is not going to prepare such a pitch, but I do hope that things have been sorted out with him, else what home advantage do we have. There is no chance of South Africans playing spin better than Indians. Australia could not chase 100 in Mumbai, on that ‘proper spinning’ pitch South Africa would not go beyond 50.

I cant wait for the match to start…

Ok so Mickey Arthur has resigned from the post of South African coach. He had a pretty successful tenure as a coach as South Africa reached number 1 spot in both Test and ODI rankings… so what? Was South Africa successful because of Arthur? I don’t think so. I even question the fact that South Africa were successful at all.

Let me explain, since their readmission to cricket in 1992 South Africa have been one of the better sides in the world. They field better than most teams, produce good fast bowlers at a regular basis, and their batting always has a certain doggedness about it. Under Hansie Cronje they won a lot of matches, under Smith also they are winning a lot of matches. Barring a brief period in early noughties, when they had quota based selection policies and the after effects of the match fixing saga, they have generally won more than lost. And yes there were those tragic or I should say comical losses in World Cups.

That’s what I am trying to get at, nothing changed with Mickey Arthur’s coming, and nothing will change at Mickey Arthur’s going. Anyway he seemed to have run his completed his time as a coach, 4 and a half years is a long time. It is also a good time to go, had he gone 6 months later, it would have been too close to the World Cup.

With Arthur gone, I wonder how long will Smith last. Smith has been captain since 2004, he is still young, but its a long time to be in captain’s role. Most captains do not last this long. But I guess a lack of better replacement should keep Smith safe for some time.

PS: There have been reports of rift between Smith and Arthur, and also of pressure from the South African Board. This one could turn into a soap opera!

No Pakistani player got picked up, were the reasons purely cricketing? I don’t think so. Afridi is a better pick than Pollard. So is Gul better than the injury prone Bond. Umar Akmal is the next big batsman from Pakistan. Atleast these 3 should have been picked. But they were not. I wonder why?

Franchises say doubts over availability, security concerns, Shiv sena threats, uncertain political situation. Ok point taken. But why did not they raise it earlier? What the hell was Lalit Modi doing? And what the hell was Indian Government doing? I just don’t know.

In India guests are treated like gods, but this was the case of inviting Pakistani players and telling them to get lost the moment they knock on the door. Quite un Indian behavior. If there were concerns, the invitation should not have gone out in the first place.

BCCI, IPL, and Lalit Modi are making lot of money, but they act in the most un Indian ways possible. India is getting more bad name than good name because of them. World wide India has the image of being a nice guy, but these entities are creating an image of a bully. Not good, not good at all!

This was the right time for the Indian Government to step in and rap them on the knuckles but they have distanced themselves from IPL saying its a private tournament. Private tournament or not, its an Indian tournament, and when it spoils relations with other countries and stops the peace process with Pakistan, BCCI and Modi need to get a good rap on the knuckles.

The IPL auction happened in a very un Indian way, and without the World Champions Pakistan it is certainly not premier, so this year we are just looking at an ordinary Cricket League. This is not good, not good at all!

A lead of 296 going into the final day with Gayle still there… West Indies are in the drivers seat. Had Taylor been playing this match, I would have said that Australia are in big trouble, but though Australia can draw this match, winning is going to be a tough ask.

This performance from West Indies is also a snub to the entire Australian media who lambasted West Indies after the first test. Tony Cozier has been proved right that the media outburst was unjustified.

Whatever the eventual result the fifth day is setup beautifully, all 4 results are possible : WI win, Aus win, draw, tie. It should be an exciting day of Test cricket.

On another note, I would really like Ponting and his team of wild dogs to lose this game. I am shocked that Ponting has not received a few matches ban for showing dissent to the umpire which also contributed to Benson going home in the middle of the Test match.

Finally.. India is there, at the top spot in the ICC Test Rankings. This team deserves it, has worked for it for a good part of the last decade, and came quite close to it on a few occasions. But India is there now. The tough job of maintaining this ranking starts now, but for now lets enjoy this! (Next India plays Bangladesh, so maintaining this position for a while should not be a problem)

On their day this Indian team is just unbelievably strong. The batting line up itself it just mind boggling, Sehwag and Gambhir to give fiery starts, Dravid the Wall or India’s insurance policy. Sachin and Laxman playing effortless, risk free cricket and piling up tons of runs. Yuvraj and Dhoni to provide a blast lower down the order. The bowling attack is very well balanced. Zaheer is in top form, Sreesanth seems to have found some sense, Ishant will definitely come back. The spin department is also looking healthy, Harbhajan, Mishra, Ojha, with Chawla waiting in the wings.

Though India reached the top under Dhoni, the foundation of this journey was laid under Ganguly’s captaincy by those 5 special men of Indian Cricket : Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman and Anil Kumble. India has never had such a nucleus of  great players in a same team. The foundation was laid on the fourth day of a test in Kolkata in 2001 when Laxman and Dravid showed its never over till its really over, the foundation was laid in 2002 at Lords when Ganguly twirled his shirt bare chest essentially saying to Flintoff and England f*** you. The foundation was laid on March 1 in 2003 at Centurion when Sachin hit the shot of the century dispatching Shoaib Akthar for a six over third man, and then carrying on in the same vein for the entire World Cup. The foundation was laid later in the year when Dravid and Laxman did it again in Adelaide, and in Sydney when Sachin fought internal demons to score a ‘scratchy’ 241 and when that man Kumble bowled beautifully to take 12 wickets in the match. Sehwag began to join this group when he got the 309 and laid the path for this team to win the first series in Pakistan. The foundation was laid when Dravid declared the innings with Sachin on 194, telling everyone that the team is important, and Sachin saying yeah its a team decision. India reached No 2 position at this point but slipped back in the coming years. But the foundation of a great team was laid.

The foundation continued to be laid in 2008 in Australia when Kumble lead the team with so much dignity after Sydney controversies. The foundation was laid when a 19 year old fast bowler, Ishant Sharma, made the best batsman of the opposition, Ponting, look like a complete fool for a good part of 1 hour at Perth. But the march to the top really started last year when India thrashed Australia. Zaheer produced the sledge of the century after saving the Bangalore test with Bhajji, ‘The Aussies could not get me and Harbhajan out, what will they do’. Subsequest 2-0 victory made everyone sit up and realize that this Indian team is the best in the business. South Africa took advantage of this and defeated the Aussies to go to the top for a while but now the India is there. India has been the only team to have challenged the Aussies in this decade and truly deserves the number one ranking.

We have 5 very special men to thank for this. Two of them have gone but their contributions to this team will always be remembered.