Yuvraj really saved the day for the Indians. His impact is not new to Indian cricket and on Indian cricket. Some years back it was Sunil Gavaskar, then the Record Master, Sachin Tendulkar ruled and is still doing so, showing his vintage form. And as his career is coming to a glories end, his place will not be empty - so thinks Yuvraj. From his sensational partnership with Mohd. Kaif against England in the Natwest Series while chasing a near impossible 320+ score, to his 6 sixes in an over in the T20 World Cup match against England, from mind boggling catches to sensetional piece of fieldings to run batsmen out, we all have seen what Yuvraj is capable of. A true one day specialist and a one man army.
A one day specialist, a one day specialist ! How long will we hear this? And really, who wants to hear it? If he is a one day specialist, then does this mean he is no good for Tests? How good he is at one dayers - and even better in the shortest form T20 - we all have seen. And how important he is in Tests , this fact he has proved himself. And each cricketing buff has seen it, and knows it. He was ignored for the Tests all these many months shows in the fact that Yuvraj has played only Test in more than 12 months now. There was a time when Sachin Tendulkar was understood in the team. That was because of his merits. No one ever questioned his inclusion. Again because that was because of his merits. But had he not been included, then the selectors were surly questionable. First Sachin was ''selected'', then the captain + 9 others. Such an impact this little Champ possesses. The same can and should happen now the Yuvraj. He has proved himself time and again. With his bat doing the talking, he silenced his critics. He literally made them dumb. His exquisite cuts, drives and pulls are a cooling stuff to the eyes. Ears love to hear his bat coming hard to the ball. His fielding abilities are second only to the great Jonty Rhodes. Known as the Indian Jonty Rhodes, he has proved his point at point all the time. His back to back centuries agaisnt England in November can be remembered at this stage.

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India succumbed to the pressure and lost to West Indies in a crucial Super 8's match - the first for India. India's batting was let down for the first time in this tournament and the bowling just was not enough to defend the total of 153. West Indies won the match by 7 wickets. M S Dhoni won the toss and elected to bat first. But he did not get the start that he had in his mind. The makeshift opener in Rohit Sharma failed to a rising delivery from Edwards. He attempted a pull shot just the very next delivery after hitting a boundary. One down Raina came in at his usual spot but could not do what he usually does. He did not trouble the scorers much and was castled by Edwards again. And again this was a short-pitched delivery. Both Sharma and Raina were castled by Edwards for the individual scores of 5. The team total read 2 for 27 in around 4 overs. Yuvraj then walked in to give company go Gambhir. Bravo was the first change bowler for West Indies. And it worked straight away. 2 runs later, Gambhir was yet another victim of a short-pitched delivery from Bravo. Simmons took his second catch to send Gambhir back. Simmons ran some 8-10 meters back and took a stunning catch almost single-handedly. The Indians were searching for some space and were poorly placed at 40 for 3 in 6 overs. Yuvraj and Dhoni tried to steady the ship caught in the hurricane created by the pace trio and batted cautiously. Such slow was the batting of the Indian skipper that he managed only 11 from 23 balls. Yuvraj on the other hand as usual tried to make things happen. He took some risks early on. And they paid. Playing safely, he started to increase the run-rate that had fallen miserably which at one stage was over 7. Bravo removed Dhoni's gloomy innings when Fletcher caught him on the square boundary. Then walked in Yusuf Pathan. When the Indian total was 75, Yuvraj hit the first six of the Indian innings and then things started to happen. In the meantime, Yuvraj got a life from Fletcher when he could not hold on to a seemingly easy diving catch again on the boundary line. Otherwise it would have been difficult times for India. Fours and sixes started raining and except Irfan Pathan all the remaining batsmen scored good to take the Indian total past the 150 run mark. Yuvraj hit fiery 67 off 43 while the injured Yusuf braving his shoulder injury hit 31 in little time. Harbhajan hit 3 fours off the final 3 balls of the India innings. But it was a whirlwind innings from the Mumbai Indians' team member Dwayne Bravo who his 66 off just 36 balls to dampen the Indian hopes of a surprise win. He hit 3 huge sixes. After getting Gayle and Fletcher speedily out quite early in the innings, the Indians might have fancied their chances. But the speed-breaker called Bravo came between the Indians and the win and made sure that not only the wickets remained intact but also the scoreboard was kept moving. He along with Simmons took the score to the three figure mark.

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Without doubt yes. I would say, India is presently in such a mood that even the Aussies failed to stop them. I would say especially the bowling department has improved a bit. Because that has been a concern for India over so many years - the bowling. And as usual the batting too is on a high. In the last ODI played, when India scored a mamoth 392, in that match, Sehwag had failed very miserably. Honestly, he did not scored according to his reputation in that match. Then destructors like Sachin, Yuvraj, Dhoni and Raina did the job for India. The point to mention is that when someone fails the other does the job for his team. Even Gambhir was not in the best of the touch. But he too showed why is among the best of the Indian batsmen in the 4th ODI scored a sound half-century. But Sehwag was in his discructive mood scored a super fast century with half a dozen sixes.To come back with the point that you are mentioning, Saurav Ganguly in a statement said that the current team is not the BEST EVER. While Sachin on the other hand has said that the current batting line is the best ever - that is of all time. However, our fielding department is still too weak. And this needs to be improved by Kirsten and Robin Singh in tandem. Otherwise there is no stopping the Men in Dark Blue!

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It really rocked to see the Pathans bat India to victory. It was the equation of 46 off 26 when I changed the channel with all the batsmen back in the dug-out and India looking and staring at a defeat. When India was first rocked at 14/2, the third wicket partnership looked so strong that, it seemed that Yuvraj and Raina would finish off the job in a matter of time. But the double stroke that India suffered losing both Yuvi and Raina one after the other gave the Islandrs a good chance of a comeback and a fightback. Actually the way Raina got out was very disappointing in a spectator's point of view. The shot to which he got out was really not necessary at that stage. Because he had already hit a six in that over and was looking to go over the top once again. Then Dhoni too got out cheaply. And India really really looked quite hopeless with 7 down and the target suddenly looked ages far. But the way Yusuf and Irfan batted was just breath-taking. I was so disappointed at seeing the Indian plight that I no longer wished to watch the match. But just took a chance to see the score as I couldn't help myself. And I was so lucky to see the reamining match that, I thanked the heavens a million times. Had I not switched the channel, I would have missed a lot of great action which you do not get to see. What was more satisfying was the way Lankan fans were responding. There were so crest-fallen. But all the credit to the Pathans. Congratulations to Team India!

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India looks well set for the no. 1 spot. With both the bowlers and batsmen in form, it doesn't look too difficult now. And India has marched towards this spot by dethrowning Australia from the No. 2 position. Now, SA is no. 1, India is no. 2 and Australia is no.3. But still in the longer version of the game, it's Australia who is still at the top. It will take some tough cricket from Dhoni and his men before his dream of taking India to the top in both the versions of the game is realised. And I think, that day is not too far when it will materialize.
But the loss to Sri Lanka in the final ODI pushed India to the third spot once again. As SA was just for some days at the top of the ICC Team rankings, so was India. But there was a double blow. The first was that, India lost to Sri Lanka. And there Down Under, OZ defeated NZ. So Australia could climb up a spot again.

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Yes. Everyone would advocate this stance taken by the captain. And as far as I know that was not the instance to happen in this series. I think, but am not sure, that something wrong had happened even to Ishant Sharma. This was in one of the previous matches when the 24th over by Yusuf Pathan was on. I am not too sure as to what had happened, but there too play was stopped for a while. Incidents like these were not expected of the Lankans, at least. And when the same thing was repeated the second time, then it was right on the part of Dhoni to lead his team out. And as far as I know, the fielding team's captain has every right to lead his players to safety. Because safety comes first for everyone. And when Dhoni led his team out even at that point of time, Team India's position was strong. It was not as if Dhoni and India wanted to duck away from the match. So I think whatever Dhoni did was absolutely right.

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Of course. There is not even an iota of doubt in this fact. TV replays very loudly screaming that it's Haddin and not Clarke who had bowled out Broom. So, I whole-heartedly agree with what Vettori had to say. Vettori is a very mature and seasoned player. He has been around for a fair bit of time and he knows what is right and wrong to say in front of the media. If the Australians were so aware about public speaking then why did a OZ player in a radio interview speak against McCullm. Was that right then? It does not look good for the Aussies to speak about being honest on the field. All know what had happned there. How the Indians were cheated repeatedly. And along with the Australian team there was Bucknor too. Then there was Andrew Symonds to had openly confessed to being out on 30. And in the same innings he went on to score one of his best scores. So Aussies, please stop complianing now. Learn to accept defeat. I tell you these Aussies don't know how to be greacious in defeats too.Meanwhile the Indians too are suffering again at the hands of poor and childish umpiring. I there are whimps doing the umpiring for the Indo-SL series. First it was Sachin Tendulkar - well not once but twice. One of them at the hands of Kumara Dharmasena. He forgot his dharma - his duties - and gave the best batsman on the earth out. It makes the number game for all very very difficult. Then in the second ODI it was Yuvraj who was given out by Gamini Silva who might need an eye surgery to see properly.I wanna ask why doesn't the ICC use the third umpire and the other technology to adjust the decisions. Rather than depend of stupid people like Gamini Silva, Kumara Dharmasena or Steve Bucknor.

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It is difficult to predict the result so early. So early? The series is already 2 matches old. But yes, still it is not easy to say who will win and by what margin. But I think one thing is for sure, India has a golden opportunity to win the series now. By having worked so hard, they have only themselves to blame for and play bad bad cricket to lose a series from here on. Before the start of the series though, even the media had said that the Lankas are better prepared than that of India. Becase Sri Lanka had played as many as 11 matches in the last two months as against only 5 by India. These 5 matches were all played against only one nation - England. But Sri Lanka played these 11 matches against 3 different opponanats. So, that gave them more variety to Sri Lanka. But the Dhoni led team again made magic and did the unthinkable. They proved all the critics wrong and gave a new hope of becoming the world no. 1 even by toppling SA. They have got a clue of playing Mendis, who I believed was never a real threat. See Ajit Agarkar. He has the record of capturing the first 50 ODI wickets, the fatest. But now what is his plight? I am not accusing or pointing fingers. But I am saying that Indians have studied Mendis quite carefully. That's why he has only 2 wickets in 2 matches. And these two wickets too were of the tail-enders in the second ODI. He went wicketless in the first match. Moreover Yuvi played him better than anytime else. Well as far as the world No. 1 spot is considered, I think, the problem will arise then, when India takes of SA. Till now like me many have suppored SA to play against and defeat OZ. But when India plays SA then it will be a real test. All I can then say is BEST OF LUCK TO TEAM INDIA!

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