England's resilience, India's lack of and other views

The cricketing season has started and there is a lot of cricket going on around the globe. Some of the things are expected and some of them are not as expected...

First the expected...

England is a much improved team from the one that was playing some time back. When Nasser Hussain took over the reins of England's cricket team, it was one of the biggest underachievers of the game. There was no lack of talent, but the desire to win was apparently not there. Nasser Hussain changed all that by imbibing a sense of discipline and purpose to the young team. Michael Vaughan built on the foundation that Nasser Hussain built and now the current team and the captain are giving it back to the Australians.

For so many years it was a given that Australia would win the Ashes. The Ashes was pushed down the ladder of greatest rivalry by the one-sidedness of the contest and other rivalries emerged like India-Australia, India-Pakistan, Australia-South Africa that were overshadowing the Ashes.

England's ashes win was credited to home field advantage and aging Australian team. It could still be the case, but the way England have fought back in the series after the pounding in the first test deserves a big hand. Earlier English teams would have just folded up and the series would have followed the same script of heavy defeats in the subsequent tests. No more. Although the test is expected to peter out to a draw, a first innings lead against Australia would definitely be a moral victory and if England can score another 125 runs in the first session, then they can seriously think of declaring and trying to bowl out the Australian. Improbable, but still possible.

Next the not as expected

World beaters one season, bottom dwellers the next. India were on a phenomenal run last season with a great record in One-dayers. Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell were hailed as geniuses to bring about this change. Now that India are losing (3 wins in last 17 games), they are now the villains. I have even heard Chappell say that India have not come to terms with the conditions in South Africa. A lame excuse. What was not expected was the selectors pressing the panic button and recalling Ganguly and Laxman who clearly don't figure (and should not) in India long term plans. What was more unexpected was the honourable MPs (Members of Parliament) raising a hue and cry over India's non-performance as if it was a national calamity when there were other issues where they could have used their valuable time.

They are back

At least I would like to think so though they have a long way to go before they can achieve their unbeatable status of the 1970's and early 1980's. Yes, I am talking about the West Indies. Although I personally think that they can never recapture those glory days, they can come back as a serious contenders in the cricketing world. They have done enough in the past year or so to justify that feeling. They are playing more consistently, their players are willing to stand up and be counted and the desire to win is back. Although Lara is expected to retire after the next World cup, he will be ably succeeded by Ramnaresh Sarwan and Chris Gayle.