With India's international commitments over for the 2008 calendar year, we look back at Indian cricket in the first of two parts.
India in Australia
India went to Australia with a real chance of toppling the world champions from their perch. After being routed in the Boxing day Test match at the MCG, they came to Sydney with their morale down and what followed was hard to believe.The Sydneygate/Monkeygate, as it is now famously referred to, threatened to split the cricket world. India issued an ultimatum to the ICC to tone down the charges of racism levelled on Harbhajan or it would scrap the remainder of the tour. Finally better sense prevailed and the tour continued, but that did not mask some of the unforgettable action of the Test which the Aussies snatched from right under the Indians' noses.
The match also witnessed some dubious umpiring from Bucknor and Benson, and India suffered ultimately. So two down and with so much chaos, with their morale at an alltime low, India arrived for the Perth Test. No one even in their wildest dreams would have imagined an Indian victory at Perth. But what followed was one of India's greatest Test wins. It was a total team effort with everybody chipping in handsomely. It also brought an end to the sixteen match unbeaten streak of the Aussies, more importantly the lion had been tamed in it's own backyard.
India gamely held on to a draw at the Adelaide oval thanks to some wonderful rearguard batting from Sehwag in the final innings. The series had been lost 2-1 but India returned home with their heads held high. This series also saw the emergence of the tearaway fast-bowler Ishant Sharma, the 19 year old from Delhi, who bowled one of the finest spells of the year to Ponting at Perth and has dismissed him 5 times since.
The Test series will certainly be most remembered for a long time to come, whether it was the controversies or the action on the field, it kept the audience spellbound and speechless.
After the euphoria of the Test series, the young Indian side led by Dhoni comfortably reached the finals of the CB series and then in the best of three final series, Sachin Tendulkar took over and crafted two masterpieces in both the finals to help India sink the Aussies. The win was the perfect way to finish the tour on a high and also marked the beginning of Australia's slow decline.
South Africa in India
South Africa came to India on the back of some great form. Having crushed New Zealand and West Indies at home, they even boasted of defeating the Pakistanis in Pakistan before mauling Bangladesh in Bangladesh.
India were on a high after their spirited performance in Australia, both in Tests and in the one-day series that followed. It was going to be an intriguing series.
The first Test at Chennai will always be remembered for Virender Sehwag's magnificent triple century. He plundered the South African attack to all parts of the ground and became only the third cricketer in Test history to register two triple hundreds as the game turned out to be a high-scoring draw.
India capitulated to an embarrassing 76 in exactly 20 overs in the first innings of the second Test and unsurprisingly South Africa completed an innings victory.
With India needing to win the last Test of the series, a dustbowl greeted the Proteas at Kanpur. MS Dhoni triumphed in his first Test as captain after Sourav Ganguly scored a gritty 87 to give India a priceless lead.
Dale Steyn proved he could take wickets in all conditions, Neil McKenzie's dream run continued and Hashim Amla continued to prosper.
India and South Africa have since been involved in a tussle for the second place on the Test rankings but it appears that India might have to wait a little longer after South Africa's stellar performances down under.
Indian Premier League
The IPL lived up to all the hype it generated, and then some more. The launch of the IPL marked cricketers being sold like stocks and eyebrows must have been raised when some of the lesser known players earned fatter pay cheques than their more illustrious counterparts.
Apart from some wonderful cricket on the field which included Brendon McCullum's pyrotechnics on the opening night and a final which went down to the last ball, the tournament was rife with off the field controversies as well. Topping the list was the infamous incident of Slapgate which involved Harbhajan Singh slapping India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth right across the face. The former was banned from the rest of the tournament and both players involved literally kissed and made up before the incident was brushed aside.
The IPL proved to be a platform for Shane Warne's captaincy, which was earlier witnessed by only a handful who had seen him leading county side Hampshire. It also threw up a number of young talents including Shaun Marsh, Manpreet Gony and Shikhar Dhawan.
Kitply Cup - Bangladesh tri-series
India had earned the reputation of making it through to the finals of one-day tournaments but faltering at the final step but when they toppled the Aussies in their own backyard in the CB series, it looked like India had turned the corner. But it wasn't to be. Having defeated Pakistan comfortably in their league encounter, they fell short in the finals by 25 runs giving cricket-starved Pakistan something to rejoice about.
India in Australia
India went to Australia with a real chance of toppling the world champions from their perch. After being routed in the Boxing day Test match at the MCG, they came to Sydney with their morale down and what followed was hard to believe.The Sydneygate/Monkeygate, as it is now famously referred to, threatened to split the cricket world. India issued an ultimatum to the ICC to tone down the charges of racism levelled on Harbhajan or it would scrap the remainder of the tour. Finally better sense prevailed and the tour continued, but that did not mask some of the unforgettable action of the Test which the Aussies snatched from right under the Indians' noses.
The match also witnessed some dubious umpiring from Bucknor and Benson, and India suffered ultimately. So two down and with so much chaos, with their morale at an alltime low, India arrived for the Perth Test. No one even in their wildest dreams would have imagined an Indian victory at Perth. But what followed was one of India's greatest Test wins. It was a total team effort with everybody chipping in handsomely. It also brought an end to the sixteen match unbeaten streak of the Aussies, more importantly the lion had been tamed in it's own backyard.
India gamely held on to a draw at the Adelaide oval thanks to some wonderful rearguard batting from Sehwag in the final innings. The series had been lost 2-1 but India returned home with their heads held high. This series also saw the emergence of the tearaway fast-bowler Ishant Sharma, the 19 year old from Delhi, who bowled one of the finest spells of the year to Ponting at Perth and has dismissed him 5 times since.
The Test series will certainly be most remembered for a long time to come, whether it was the controversies or the action on the field, it kept the audience spellbound and speechless.
After the euphoria of the Test series, the young Indian side led by Dhoni comfortably reached the finals of the CB series and then in the best of three final series, Sachin Tendulkar took over and crafted two masterpieces in both the finals to help India sink the Aussies. The win was the perfect way to finish the tour on a high and also marked the beginning of Australia's slow decline.
South Africa in India
South Africa came to India on the back of some great form. Having crushed New Zealand and West Indies at home, they even boasted of defeating the Pakistanis in Pakistan before mauling Bangladesh in Bangladesh.
India were on a high after their spirited performance in Australia, both in Tests and in the one-day series that followed. It was going to be an intriguing series.
The first Test at Chennai will always be remembered for Virender Sehwag's magnificent triple century. He plundered the South African attack to all parts of the ground and became only the third cricketer in Test history to register two triple hundreds as the game turned out to be a high-scoring draw.
India capitulated to an embarrassing 76 in exactly 20 overs in the first innings of the second Test and unsurprisingly South Africa completed an innings victory.
With India needing to win the last Test of the series, a dustbowl greeted the Proteas at Kanpur. MS Dhoni triumphed in his first Test as captain after Sourav Ganguly scored a gritty 87 to give India a priceless lead.
Dale Steyn proved he could take wickets in all conditions, Neil McKenzie's dream run continued and Hashim Amla continued to prosper.
India and South Africa have since been involved in a tussle for the second place on the Test rankings but it appears that India might have to wait a little longer after South Africa's stellar performances down under.
Indian Premier League
The IPL lived up to all the hype it generated, and then some more. The launch of the IPL marked cricketers being sold like stocks and eyebrows must have been raised when some of the lesser known players earned fatter pay cheques than their more illustrious counterparts.
Apart from some wonderful cricket on the field which included Brendon McCullum's pyrotechnics on the opening night and a final which went down to the last ball, the tournament was rife with off the field controversies as well. Topping the list was the infamous incident of Slapgate which involved Harbhajan Singh slapping India teammate Shantakumaran Sreesanth right across the face. The former was banned from the rest of the tournament and both players involved literally kissed and made up before the incident was brushed aside.
The IPL proved to be a platform for Shane Warne's captaincy, which was earlier witnessed by only a handful who had seen him leading county side Hampshire. It also threw up a number of young talents including Shaun Marsh, Manpreet Gony and Shikhar Dhawan.
Kitply Cup - Bangladesh tri-series
India had earned the reputation of making it through to the finals of one-day tournaments but faltering at the final step but when they toppled the Aussies in their own backyard in the CB series, it looked like India had turned the corner. But it wasn't to be. Having defeated Pakistan comfortably in their league encounter, they fell short in the finals by 25 runs giving cricket-starved Pakistan something to rejoice about.
No comments:
Post a Comment