The High's and Low's

Last few weeks have been very sad for a fan of the Indian cricket team. Team India has gone through one of its worst phases in more than a decade. A number of reasons could be attributed for this dismal show. Most prominent being the hectic schedule planned by the BCCI. BCCI has treated the cricketers like the 'Golden eggs laying Goose'. Everything has been done to kill the Goose.

Main driving force behind such planning is that BCCI is filled with industrialists, politicians, etc. in key positions. Though their organizational and management skills have helped promoting and acquiring required infrastructure for the game, they have put the cart before the horse by making cricket a pure business.

Dhoni, the captain cool has looked clueless while all his henchmen are getting injured. Most probably, the current tour of England has witnessed the biggest team India squad ever for a single tour. Life can really be hard sometimes.

All said and done, I think the Indian cricketers, fans and BCCI should look at this as a lesson. A new start with the premise that 'Resting on laurels is not the way forward'. We need to prioritise quality of cricket over the financial gains. If quality of cricket is compromised, we stand to lose in the long run.

Take a leaf of Stuart Broad's book. He was hammered for 6 6's in an over in the T20 WC of 2007. He has come a long way since. No matter where we stand we can always bounce back. Just that we need to be honest with ourself and be realistic but ambitious. We have the ability but that alone is not enough. Planning and efforts in the right direction are very important.

I am sure, not just the Team India but everybody will go through a slump. The slump is not "The End". We need to take a lessons from our yesterday and live to fight again tomorrow. A fighting/sportive spirit is a prerequisite to victory.

World Cup and beyond

First of all congradulations to team India for winning the World Cup. One generation has grown up since we the world champions last. It has been long since we lifted the cup last and it has been a special moment. Especially at a time when there have been so much more going wrong in this world, world cup victory has been a rare moment when the entire country celebrated together.

Though out then tournament I have had my reservations about the format of the tournament. I felt that this tournament did not reward consistency as much as the previous editions. I believe this tournament was about rising to the ocassion especially in the knock out stage. Though one might feel a team like New Zealand, who had a complete whitewash in the sub-continent prior to the World cup was an unlikely semi-finalist. I think this format tested how one handles pressure.

Though skills help you win most games, it is temprament that helps you become champions. South Africa demonstrated, no matter how consistent you are you have to rise to the ocassion to be world champions. And what a pity, they have not won a single knock out game in the world cup inspite of being one of the top 3 talented sides in each of the world cup they have figured in since 1992.

I feel both the format and the venues gave India the best chance of becoming the world champions yet again. And the most important part of this tournament was the elimination of Australia in the Quarter Final stage. Yes team India tamed the big bully and heralded end of an era. Though I feel team India had an ordinary preliminary stage in terms of performance. The preliminary stage gave India the best preparation for the big games. Team India got the best possible opponents in the knock out stage to prove its worth as the world champion. It does take some performance to beat Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in a row.

Now that we have won the World Cup, I hope the success story of India as a country does not end here. I hope the players stay focussed and work hard to achieve greater goals in years to come. The cricket fans take this as a motivating factor to play sports and learn how to be competetive and sportive at the same time. I would ideally like our culture to evolve into a sporting culture where every person plays sports and that in turn builds his/her overall personality. I hope the cricket board does not kill the goose that has hitherto laid golden eggs by keeping them busy through the year. Also I hope we look at a sport as a sport that helps bring people closer. Let us not politicise it. The moment we make sport a devisive factor, the whole purpose of sport is defeated.

With IPL starting within a week of the World Cup, I feel the players have not got enough time to bask in the glory. Though I feel the show must go on. It should not keep running to the point where we get bored because of excess. And talking about IPL, I feel like most others confused about who to support. The auctions have jumbled the regional heroes of all teams into so many different teams. Thats for another day. For now lets bask in glory of the World Cup just gone by.

A lively weekend and its aftermath

Last weekend was an eventful one. On saturday, I booked my 1st car. After months of indecisiveness, I finally decided to go ahead and book a Hyundai i10. For now, it looks like the best car cnsidering my usage and other factors. Last few months I have been thinking about so many cars but just not able to take a decision. Now that I have decided, I am happy with it and looking forward to having it with me next week.

Sunday was a day packed with cricket. There were two great matches in the world cup(to watch) and a couple of great matches played as well. In the world cup, it was England/South Africa and India/Ireland games played in Chennai and Bengaluru respectively.

The encounter in Chennai made the world cup even more interesting since Englishmen managed to defend a paltry total of 171 runs against the tournament favourites South Africa. It was a great fightback especially after losing to Ireland. The encounter in Bengaluru was a rather expected result where the men in blue beat the Irish pretty easily. However, the win was not as easy as it should have been. Indians were pretty much cautious after the tie against Englishmen and Irish were upbeat after beating the Englishmen. But you don't expect Ireland to win everyday. Now, it looks as if the world cup is getting interesting especially the group involving India.

That was about the cricket world cup. On sunday there was a cricket tournament organized in my company. It was an intra-account tournament. The account that I belong to(CITI-CLRS) has atleast 120 people and 4 teams were made out of these 120 guys. SAS/WINS, Legal, SPIDER and Trade Surveilance. It was a knock-out tournament. It was 2 Semi-finals followed by the finals that took place at ITPL grounds. I played for the SAS/WINS team.

The 1st game was between us and Trade surveilance. Lokesh,our captain won the toss and chose to bat 1st. It was a 12 over game where we managed to score 89 runs. Personally I was satisfied to carry my bat through the innings as an opener. Though Im not sure how mch I scored, it was just such a satisfaction to play cricket after so many days. Though we were the underdogs in the game, we managed to defend the 89 runs we scored. The credit goes to the spinners in my team they just turned it around when it mattered.

The 2nd game was between Legal and SPIDER. SPIDER-men batted 1st and scored 89 runs. Their star was Ramesh and Manju. After the 1st match we pretty much knew it was a challenging score and SPIDER-men did a great job to defend it.

Now, we played the SPIDER-men in the final, where SPIDER-men managed 81 batting 1st. They scored atleast 60 out of their 81 runs in their 5 middle overs. One of them bowled by me. I was pretty satisfied the way I bowled to begin with, but was hammered in my 3rd over. Perhaps trying to hard cost me dear. Manju was their star again. In response we managed to stay in the game till last ball and lost the game by 1 run.

Though it was the fun that counted, losing the final still feels like a job half done. But to take positives out of the weekend, I feel we did a great job to keep the tempo in-spite of the heat and physical strain. Though most of us had played after years.

It is already Wednesday, Still the pains in my body remind me of the fun I had on sunday. It is so satisfying having stayed at the crease for 17 overs and bowled 6 overs almost at 100% effort. A win would have made the pain sweeter, but it is participation that counts. I truly hope, we have more such lively weekends where we play and remind ourselves that there is still some time for us to grow old.

Though the aftermath is painful, This pain is much better than the continuous stress one associates with  the software world.

Who's cup will it be?

The world cup has begun and the Indian team could not expect a better start. Lovely knocks by Virat and Veeru. The men in blue proved that they do not take anybody lightly. Complacence cost them the cup last time. This time hopefully it will be different. Sreesanth had a bad game but he will have his moment if he learns from his mistakes. All he needs is to control his aggression rather than let his aggression control him. Having said that, I still feel India is better off with two spinners in the home conditions. Lets see what approach they take as the competition progresses.

Who is the best team? In my opinion apart from destiny, there are two factors that decide the winner. One being class and the other is the temperament. A classy team may win most of the group matches and qualify for the knock-out stage. But it is the temperament that will help a team to handle tricky situations it might face in the knock-out stage.

Though the first round might not be as decisive, performance in the first round will definitely decide who one meets in the quarter finals. Since the top team from each group meets the 4th team from the other group, it is fair enough to say that even if a team did not have a great start it can bounce back, and what a bounce back it will be by beating the top team of another group. In the end it is about the team that handles the pressure best. In particular, the team with the ability to win 3 in a row is the champion. Though one bad day might spoil the party for any of the teams, it is rising to the occasion that will decide the winner.

Aussies have proved through the last decade, that they fight back hardest when they are pushed against the wall. They have not been challenged enough in the last decade. They have a mountain to climb. History proves, that they are not one's to be taken lightly.
Indian team has always shown class, but somewhere it has not measured up to the temperament. Dhoni's leadership however promises to change this fact.

The South Africans have time and again chocked when it really matters. Their class is there for the taking but their temperament is what will be tested. Same holds good with the Englishmen, they might win all 6 group matches, but might be found wanting in the knockout stage.

Sri Lankans have proved to be big match players in spite of shortage in terms of class(barring few exceptions).

Pakistanis' have also proved to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat and also the vice-versa with consistency. They are the least reliable of all teams though one of the most talented.

I feel among Indians, Aussies, Pro-teas, Englishmen, Lankan's and Paki's the team that rises to the occasion will lift the cup. As a cricket fan I hope, may the best team win. As an Indian, I hope the best team is India.

Here comes another World Cup

Even before I realise, four years have passed and another world cup is round the corner. It feels like yesterday that the Indian team threw away their chances against Bangladesh and the Paki's lost to Ireland. Bob Woolmer died. At a venue where one wanted to witness an India-Pak clash, one had to be content with a Ireland-Bangladesh ODI.

Four years have passed in a flash and lots has changed. Aussies are no longer the invincible unit that they have been for more than a decade now. England are no mere pushovers. They are the reigning T20 champions. Kiwi's were beaten in 10 consecutive ODI's in the subcontinent. The Paki's have been in middle of all controversies. In particular, the spot-fixing. Even they are not able to choose their captain. Exception to the long list of changes is the little master Sachin Tendulkar. He graduated from the little baby of the Indian cricket team in the 1992 edition to the kaku(uncle) of most players in the 2011 edition. His passion has been the same for this many years and it is the best opportunity for him to be a part of the world cup winning team.

This world cup does promise to be a tournament filled with surprises. As far as I am concerned, the format is not the perfect one. First of all, both the groups have 4 top teams and 4 minnows. It is highly likely that the 4 top teams will make it to the quarter finals. After that, anybody who can win 3 in a row will lift the cup. The previous editions of the world cup(outside the subcontinent) valued consistency. Atleast the 1999/2003 editions where the super6's gave chance to the teams with a poor start to comeback. At the same time, those editions were helped the consistent teams qualify for the semi-finals. 2007 was a big drag with the super 8s.

Though there is a grey area in the system, it gives a dark horse a chance to turn the tables. All the sub-continent teams that won the world cup did so as dark horses. I truly hope it is a tournament filled with surprises and a tournament where some great cricket is played and where a new world order is set.

Will the aussies rise from ashes (ashes debacle)like they did last time after a 3-0 whitewash by the kiwis in 2007? Will the men in blue live upto their favourites tag? Will the Englishmen take their ashes form into the WC? Will the Proteas lift their tag of chokers? Will their be another surprise? Not easy to tell. All I can hope for is a well faught world cup and may the best team win. Hopefully it is the men in blue. Whatsay?

2010 a mixed bag

2010 has gone and what a year it has been. It has been a year filled with lots of excitement and drama. It has brought an end to a very exciting decade through which entire world has gone through a facelift.

If I were to give it a name, I would call it a scamster's year. We have seen all kinds of scams come out in the open. Right from 2G spectrum, Adarsh housing, stone pelting, land grabbing, and CWG mess. It had all the ingredients for a bollywood masala potboiler. Just to spice up everything Sheila and Munni did their bit. So much so that two sisters in Maharashtra(coincidentally named Munni and Sheila) got their names changed. After all the scams the power structure of our country stays unchanged. Though one doesnot expect a change of guarg so fast. I personally hope and pray atleast this leads to a introspection throughout. I hope 2011 is a year when there is a resurgence of conscience and thought.

All said and done, not everything was dark. Damage caused by the polity was slightly overshadowed by the sportsmen/women of India. Indian atheletes performed like never before in the commonwealth games. Though one may think that the scams and stink kept best in business out of the game. Still the performance was outstanding. In cricket, We saw the Indian cricketers perform out of their skins. They achieved the no.1 test ranking. Hope they retain the same once they are done with the series in South Africa.

2010 also signalled a change in world order. At the beginning of last decade, we had a single superpower calling the shots in world affairs. Now the hegemony is challenged and the emerging powers are taking over. Same story with the cricket world. After almost a decade of arrogant dominance, Aussies are being challenged in their own backyard. In short it has been a year when there has been resurgence of the dominated powers who have now started to dominate.

The wheel of change has been very interesting and has proved that the only thing constant in this world is change. The baton of power changes hand. One can only gain/retain the baton of power by being dynamic and constantly in tune with the changing environment.

Personally it has been a year when I have moved from singlehood to being a married man and after 2 years I have managed to not get bored at work just as yet. I have completed a year plus with HCL technologies and it has been a really interesting phase.

I am looking forward to working hard and also play harder in the years to come. I am hoping the next decade is going to be one where everybody rises and rises because there is a resurgence of ethics, conscience and peace.

What a weekend...

This weekeknd was fun. Enjoyed cricket, swimming and also went out go-karting with my cousins Sakhib, Zafar and Nayeem bhaiya.

The weekend started brilliantly. Got to know earlier about my company's cricket team that practices in VET ground on weekends. Had not found time till this saturday to join them. Went to the ground at 0630 hrs early in the morning. It was a repeat of school days when I used to play cricket more regularly.

We were forced to only hold fielding practice as very few team members were available. The fielding practice was a bit of an eye opener for me. My ground fielding was below par to say the least. I was not able to bend and catch the ball when it moved at some speed. Though, close and high catches were much better. Managed catch more than drop. Hope to attend cricket practice more regularly and in the next session I am looking forward to bat and bowl. Let me see if I can play comfortably.

Soon after the fielding session, I left for a swim in Jayanagar swimming pool. Though, I have been swimming atleast few times every week, the feeling of swimming in the morning is unmatched. The pool is relatively empty and there are no baricades in the deep end. Both cricket and swimming remind me so much of my school/college days. Hope to keep these habits alive for many more years to come.

I feel through last few years of professional life I missed many opportunities to do things I really enjoy. Though I have been pretty busy, I should somehow find time for sports to keep me fit and stress-free. I feel there is no better stress buster for me than smimming or cricket. I feel completely liberated from all the pressures and worries when I am in water. In short, I need to manage my time much better.

Watched the first Ashes test match after the swimming. It was an amazing game of cricket. The aussies gaining control on saturday and the Poms getting back in the game on sunday. Though the game is most likely to end in a draw, it is a game which had immense competition. The battle between bat and ball is the characteristic of test cricket. In my opinion, T20 will never replace test cricket for this reason.

Another fun event this weekend was meeting Sakhib, Nayeem bhaiya and Zafar. I had lunch with Sakhib today and decided right there that we need to do something fun. Been a while since we enjoyed together. We quickly decided to go-karting. Found through "Just-dial" about a track around Kanakapura road. We guys left around 1630 hrs in the evening, reached around 1715 hrs after some expedition. The races were fun though I did not win any. What was most important was the adrenaline rush it gave and truly Sakhib was the deserving winner.

The weekend was pretty action packed and I enjoyed it completely. One thing however is that Ruqu is still in Hyderabad. I am expecting her return next week. I am waiting to have her home and planning more action packed weekends with her.

Now I am feeling so tired and sleepy. I am definitely gonna sleep well and get back to work afresh with a formatted hard drive between my ears.

Another reason to celebrate the children's day

Twenty years ago on the childrens day(nov 14th) a child(almost) announced his arrival in international cricket. He was a 16 year old and stood 5ft 5in tall. Everybody said he would make it big and he has lived up to every unrealistic expectation our nation had. Twenty years have passed and he has the same child like enthusiasm towards the game as he did on day one. He is Sachin Tendulkar a legend and an inspiration to everyone.

Sachin was picked into the national side within one year of 1st class cricket which included debut centuries in Ranji trophy, Irani trophy and Duleep trophy. He is the only Indian cricketer to have such a start to his 1st class career. His first international tour was a visit to Pakistan. He faced the fiercest fast bowling attack fearlessly and had moderate success but showed his true potential in an exibition game at Peshawar where he wallopped Abdul Qadir for 28 runs in an over. The kid had now arrived.

Soon after he scored test centuries in Perth and Manchester. Indian cricket team was considered pretty weak against fast bowling, especially in alien conditions. However, the real turn around to his international career was when he opened the innings in an ODI in Aukland. He smashed 82 off 49 balls. There was no looking back since. Though he got his first ODI hundred after 73 ODI's, he made up and scored hundreds in dozens. He was such a high impact player for close to a decade that if Sachin fired India won else the Indian cricket team was pretty ordinary. Many other young cricketers had similar starts to their career but few stood the test of time.

He had a brief stint as Indian test/ODI captain. He was not that successful as a leader just to prove that he is a human after all(contrary to belief of many cricket fanatics). Even his batting form slumped(only by his standards). During that transition phase from Azhar to Ganguly era many felt that this is the end of Sachin. That was when the best opening partnership of ODI cricket was born. Sachin/Sourav broke all possible records possible and Indian cricket touched new hieghts under Sourav's leadership. Sachin played a pivotal role as a senior member of team India. Sourav was a great leader who must take the credit for making most of the young cricketing talent of India.

Many players like Yuvraj, Zaheer, Harbhajan and Dhoni came in and made a mark for themselves. India was now a team that did not completely depend on Sachin's performance to win. Sachin adjusted his game as per the teams requirements. That was a phase where his genius was a bit overshadowed by the overall team performance. We have seen so many stars get carried away with stardom and lose sight as cricketers and as team members. But Sachin has always been a cricketer par excelence who played for the team, records just came along.

The innings of 175 last week silenced his critics in a big way. He was criticised for being the old man of the team. A selfish player who scored only when it did not matter. He was considered a failure in finals. He played some of the best innings under pressure in the last couple of years. The team might have lost but he certainly did his job. When such criticism is made, it is often forgotten the number of victories were set up because of his start and opener is not the one expected to finish a run chase.

A lot was written about his injuries, age and fitness levels but he has been the greatest ambassador of the game. He has been one of a kind who played with total dedication and discipline. One of the qualities anybody could imbibe in professional life.

When I reflect on my career at this moment I feel the need to stay focussed on achieving excelence at my craft. There is a lot to be achieved but there is no shortcut to success. It is easy to get carried away with some success but consistently achieving and striving for excelence is what matters.

PS: All these things are possible if and only if one loves and enjoys his work.

Bottoms up

If a phrase could summarise IPL 2009 it would obviously be "Bottom's up". We saw the bottom most teams from the 2008 IPL make it to the finals and the bottom most lift the cup. Even last year the least favourite team lifted the trophy. This unpredictability is what makes T20 such an exciting form of cricket. It was a very closely fought competition and it was anybodies cup till the last few league matches. I was personally disappointed when Rajasthan Royals lost to KKR. But, they were not the real consistent types. Their performances were not consistent enough. In short they were unpredictable.

Talking about the unpredictability, who would have expected two hatricks from Yuvraj and another one from Rohit Sharma? And such an utter failure from Robin Uthappa. Bangalore getting into such a comfortable position and throwing it away from there. The most unexpected hero of last night was Harmeet Singh. Nobody expected such a dibly dobly bowler to pick crucial two wickets and take a blinder when guys like Dravid and Uthappa were dropping sitters.

It has been a fairy tail journey for Gilchrist. It is a great victory to add to his tally of three world cups. The Aussies have proved time and again they are born to fight and to win. It is an honour not even the great Sachin or Kumble could achieve.

I would have hoped an Indian captain lifting the coveted trophy but lets hope next time. Looking at the existing trend we can hope Mumbai Indians and KKR in the finals next year. And hope to see dada lift the trophy. Very unlikely if you apply logic. But much more strange things have happened in the past.

Royal Disappointment

Finally, We are through the league stage of IPL and we know the four semifinalists. I am disappointed by the exit of Rajasthan Royals. They were a great team because they played really well under pressure. But they were inconsistent. You can not be a team of just three or four good players and expect them to win every match for you.

Anyway, whats gone is gone. But kudos to KKR. They found form a bit late but atleast they proved thay are no mere pushovers. Their win against Rajasthan Royals reminded me of the scene in Bazigar where Shahrukh pushes Shilpa Shetty off the roof to settle old scores.

Now I better shift my focus from Royals to Royal Challengers. I have not been faithful to my own city so far. Its hard to explain why. Today's game against the Deccan Chargers was an awesome break for Manish Pandey. The stage is now set for a great showdown. I hope Royal challengers are not another royal disappointment like the Rajasthan Royals.

Lets wait and watch whats in store. Let the best team win.

Naachbo gaibo haarbo re

IPL fever is on and the most popular team Kolkata Knightriders has been in a mess right from the word go. They have got into all kinds of controversies. From multiple captaincy theory to the fakeiplplayer blog ( fakeiplplayer.blogspot.com ) each one has been more interesting than the other. Their game has never matched up with their anthem "Korbo Lorbo Jeetbo re". Rather there has been lots of song, dance and defeat. SRK might have to change their anthem to "Naachbo Gaibo Haarbo re".

Apart from the KKR team Bangalore Royal challengers have also been very disappointing inspite of the money spent on them. For some reason I dont feel like supporting them even though I belong to Bangalore.

My team has been Rajasthan Royals right from IPL 2008. I just love the way Shane Warne motivated youngsters to play out of their skins. We see guys like Yusuf Pathan, Asnodkar and Kamran Khan perform well even under pressure. I believe Shane Warne's leader has played a big role. He maybe a dog off the field but sure is a lion on the field. They will keep winning and the franchise owners will be happy as long as Shilpa shetty doesnt give Warnie her cell number. It will suit their team the best if his communication is limited to Mr. Raj Kundra(co owner).

Everything said and done, I think there is lot more to play for in this IPL and the points table can get reversed in next 5 or 6 matches. I am hoping to see the best of every team but my support has been with the Royals. They may or may not win the tournament they have won many hearts including mine.

"Benson'd & Bucknor'd" the order of the day

Having seen many new words and phrases like "Bangalore'd" added to the dictionaries and our vocabularies over the last few years, I feel Benson'd & Bucknor'd should be the latest addition, Especially after the Sydney test match in the ongoing India-Australia cricket test series. The match has been full of umpiring errors. One off lapse can be termed human error but as James Bond once said "Once is chance, twice is coincidence and more is enemy action". More so, when the error has favoured only one of the competitors.

When the Indians were bowling Ponting and Symonds benifitted by poor decissions early in their innings. Especially Symonds got a reprieve when on 30 and went on to score a big hundred. To add insult to injury he admitted at the day end press conference that he had nicked it. The very next day when Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar were fighting to bat India out of trouble, an exchange of words between Symonds and Harbhajan took place(very common in cricket these days). On the face of it looked like a friendly fire. The Australian team complained about Harbhajan's comments being racist. They found the word monkey to be racist(if Harbhajan actually said that). I remember, Symo had warned India of a "searing hot Australian summer" earlier this year when they played ODI's in India(maybe just a coincidence).

I remember few years back Glenn McGrath called Sanath Jayasuriya a "black monkey". That appeared in the papers no action by ICC or anybody. Perhaps, we Indians, Paki's, Bangladeshi's and Srilankan's still have a colonial hangover and dont want to raise these silly issues especially against the gora's. Reminds me of a famous urdu couplet " Hum aah bhi bharte hain to hojate hain badnaam, Wo karte hain khatle aam aur charcha bhi nahi hota"(tough to translate this in english)

That was earlier in the test match. This morning I have not slept after my morning prayers just to see India fight and win this test match. I was happy till I saw Saurav and Rahul play a fighting innings till Rahul was given out caught behind. The ball might have nicked the pad the bat being miles away. Gilchrist went up immediately and Mr. Bucknor had no hestation in raising his finger. It was the same Gilly so well known for walking away whenever he felt he was out. I wonder is being honest only a virtue when you are winning? Mr. Honest of cricket let everybody down. Yuvraj got out two balls later. It was a close one but the replays showed it was out and Yuvi walked(no doubts there).

Next shocker was the decission of Sourav being caught on slip by Clarke off Brett Lee. Sourav nicked it and the ball clearly fell short of Clarke. He went up right away having taken a bump ball. To everybodies surprise Mr Benson clarified with Ponting if it was out. The same Ponting who stood his ground earlier in the test match when he nicked a ball down the legside straight into Dhoni's gloves. I wonder is the fielder ever credible enough for an umpire to take a decission. He should have consulted the square leg umpire then the TV umpire. But these umpires seam hell bent on making a big blooper out of this test match.

I can see this Benson & Bucknor factor everywhere in the world. Be it the war for petrodollars or politics anywhere in the world. Injustice seams to be the order of the day. Sometimes I wonder if its the colour of your skin, nationality or your faith that determines the degree to which you get justice. I experienced that while getting my US visa. But thats another story.

I can only pray to God that we are "all" guided towards truth, justice and fairplay. Lets say Ameen to that.

PS: I wrote this while watching the last session of the test match. Michael Clarke just took the last wicket and Australia win by 122 runs. They have won 16 tests in a row(a world record). Indian team is disappointed but there is much more to this match than what the scoreboard reads.