How about Sehwag in the middle order?

He has always talked about how he would like to bat lower down. Perhaps he should be granted that wish now 

The Indian selectors have done the right thing by including some senior stalwarts of Indian cricket in the India A team against West Indies A. I believe that when you drop players of the calibre of Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir and Zaheer Khan for poor form, you should also be keen to have them back when their form returns.

Dropping established senior players can have two effects. One: the player takes being dropped so much to heart that he never recovers from the jolt, and comes back a shadow of himself. Two: the player comes back with the vigour and intent of old, and the team ends up getting a few good seasons out of him.

Sehwag is an interesting case here. We have heard stories about Zaheer and Yuvraj Singh training hard to get back to peak fitness. Gambhir has gone to England, knowing that good performances there tend to make news in the Indian media, thus putting pressure on the selectors to pick him. But what is Sehwag doing? We haven't heard much about his activities. He seems to have chosen to keep a low profile.

This can be easily misinterpreted as him having no desire to return to Indian cricket, unlike his three colleagues, but we must be careful to not draw such conclusions, just as much as we ought not to be too carried away by Zaheer's and Yuvraj's "exotic" training stints in France. In both cases the judgement should be made on pure performance and fitness, based on the players' showings against West Indies A.

Sehwag has always done things differently. He has batted differently and so also prepared for matches differently. Maybe these unique methods happened to suit his general approach to life, but you cannot grudge a player an approach that has brought him success over 103 Tests in 12 years. He has had a hugely successful run and it is natural for him to keep trusting the process that brought him such incredible results.

I heard a story once of how VVS Laxman was having a knock on the morning of the last day of a Test series, though he had no role to play in the rest of the match. So also Sehwag, who asked VVS, "What's the point of this knock when your next match is two months later?" That's how Sehwag thinks. But while you can easily be fooled by his casual demeanour, for him to have played more than 100 Tests, there has to be a burning desire inside along with some god-gifted talent.

Obviously Sehwag fans are excited that he is back in the reckoning and are hoping that he clicks in the two India A games and comes back into the national team. Well, unfortunately for them, even if he gets two hundreds in those two games, the fact is that there is no place for Sehwag as an opener in this Indian team for a while. Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan have done so well as Test openers lately that the selectors will be obliged to give them a long run even if they fail. For Sehwag, who is 34, time is running out. At that age, one year in cricket is like a decade in another profession.

	Sehwag deserves another break at Test level only if he has done something about his fitness. He must look a lot more youthful in the field than he did against England

So that brings us to what Sehwag has been saying for many years, even when he was getting runs by the ton as an opener: "I would like to bat in the middle order." It's a desire that he seems to have held forever as a Test batsman. I have held the view that for a natural middle-order batsman, he served India amazingly well as an opener when they desperately needed one, so how about granting him that wish before his career finishes?

If for no other reason, at least because there is a chance of an opening for him in the middle order. With India strongly committing towards youth, an experienced batsman with the cheek needed for that position, where you often have to bat with tailenders towards the end of an innings, may be able to add some value to the team. Sehwag could play the kind of innings VVS did for India in Tests.

Of course there is a possibility that he may find batting down the order after 170 innings at the top not so easy after all, but you cannot deny that this is a tempting idea, one you would like to see tried before he is finally let go.

Having said all this, here is what's really important. When Sehwag eventually arrives on the public stage to play in those India A matches, he must look like a player a selector would want to give that opportunity to. It was embarrassing, to say the least, to see in last year's home series against England, balls edged by batsmen hit various parts of Sehwag's body before he could react at slip. That was a serious fitness issue and it worried me more than his passage of low scores. Sehwag deserves another break at Test level only if he has done something about his fitness. He must look a lot more youthful in the field than he did the last time.

The new Indian team under MS Dhoni is big on fitness. We have seen the difference that has made to India's performance lately. The days where only skill mattered in Indian cricket seem to have gone.

If Sehwag wants another crack, he must know times have changed and there can be room only for a fit Sehwag. 

Viru Sehwag came into international cricket as a No 6 batsman who was primarily a bowler as his natural flight drift in his off spinners would bear out. In fact his debut 100 came against the likes of Shaun Pollock,Hayward,Ntini and Kallis at Blomfontin.He was an instant hit as an opener though scoring a breathtaking 100 in Sri Lanka.Because of that and his many exploits at the top against the very best bowling, he remained there.The fact that he is a fearless Jat from Najafgarh added to his unmistakable aura as a great player.In spite of his primarily role now as a batsman he carried on being a very useful bowler as well. I feel he and Jaysuriya were similar in their cricketing abilities. Personally I feel he has another couple of years in the game at the highest level. Since he is a natural, I am willing to wager that the old Haryanvi has a few 100s still left in him. He is therefore worth a try at no 4 in Tests.The thing is when he fires he takes out whole bowling lineups. His USP.

Corruption in the IPL---Sreesanth vows to return from 'biggest setback'

Corruption in the IPL

Sreesanth vows to return from 'biggest setback'

A day after he was hit with a life ban by the BCCI, Sreesanth has vowed to make a comeback. He called the ban the "biggest setback" of his life, and continued to maintain that he was innocent.

"The BCCI action is the biggest setback in my life and I am disappointed," he told reporters in Kochi. "I will try to overcome the crisis and make a strong comeback."

His brother Dipu Santh told ESPNcricinfo that Sreesanth's camp will wait on the court's verdict before deciding on a further course of action. "Sreesanth is not in a hurry to challenge the BCCI sanction," he said. "He wants to wait on the Delhi court that is hearing the case of spot-fixing registered by Delhi Police against him and the other Rajasthan Royals players. The Patiala House Court is expected to hear the case on October 7 and Sreesanth's camp is confident that he would be acquitted of the all the allegations pressed against him by Delhi Police. We will wait for the court decision on October 7 before deciding on our next step."

Dipu Santh said his brother was more surprised than shocked by the BCCI disciplinary committee's verdict: "He thought the BCCI might take action only after the court's verdict. He did not expect the BCCI to take a decision so early."

On Friday, the BCCI had handed Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals team-mate Ankeet Chavan life bans after ruling them guilty of spot-fixing during IPL 2013.

Sreesanth reiterated he was not guilty. "I can tell that I have not done anything wrong," he said. "The only consolation for me now is that I am at home, not in a jail."

On Saturday morning, he tweeted: "Plss have faith in me..I am sure I will prove my innocence soon....I will get through this..I ve full faith ..God is great."

Sreesanth, Chavan and another Royals player, Ajit Chandila, were arrested by Delhi Police on May 16 in Mumbai, for the alleged fulfilling of promises made to bookmakers, along with eleven bookies including Amit Singh. Royals later suspended their players and the BCCI set up an inquiry into the matter, headed by its Anti-Corruption and Security Unit chief Ravi Sawani. Apart from the action taken by the board, the players face possible prison sentences should they be found guilty in a court of law. They were among 39 persons named in the Delhi Police's chargesheet on alleged corruption in the IPL in July, charged with criminal conspiracy, cheating and dishonesty under sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. 

Sreesanth may be guilty, but where is the evidence? After he was arrested, each day media reported that strong evidences are collected by police against him. But nothing had been produced before the court. The court even asked the police that were he was framed. When he was sure to be granted bail, police suddenly came up with MCOCA law which kept him some more days in the jail. The charge was then removed by the court. Then the police requested to change the court and it was granted. I also believed that he was corrupt initially. But after smelling all these foul, now I have my doubts. After all, he was supposed to concede 14 runs in the over. But only 13 was scored in that over. In the first 4 balls only 5 runs were scored. If there was agreement, would a bowler wait for the last 2 balls to concede 9 runs, that too with clearly out of from gilchrist in the crease. And would the bookies pay the money for the bowler who conceded 1 runs lesser than the agreement. I have my doubts.  

At age 30, there will be no comeback for Sreesanth. That is obvious. And as far as guilty or innocent verdict goes I,as a reader and viewer of the media has not seen anything concrete yet. Above all, how can we , accept the continued presence of Sreenivasan in BCCI ? 30 lakhs rupees look peanuts, when we look at the corruption at the higher levels. I am in no way condoning the punishment for match fixing, but why is there no enquiry against Meiyappan or Sreenivasan ? If a genuine and honest ( LOL) enquiry is made, where do you think it will end ?

 

Zimbabwe vs Pakistan... 5 Days to victory: Statistics "Fourth to sixth place in the ICC Test rankings"

Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 2nd Test, Harare

Zimbabwe's rarest and Pakistan's narrowest

Stats highlights from Zimbabwe's rare triumph against Pakistan at Harare

• Zimbabwe's Test win against Pakistan, at Harare, was only their fifth against Test-playing nations excluding Bangladesh. Pakistan have been at the receiving end three times. India have lost two Tests against Zimbabwe. The last time Zimbabwe won a Test against a major Test-playing nation was in 2001, when they beat India by four wickets. This was their 11th win in Tests from 93 Tests; six of these wins have come against Bangladesh.
• The last time Zimbabwe drew a Test series against a major Test-playing nation, before this, was in 2001 against India with an identical score-line. This was only their eighth drawn series against the major Test-playing nations. They have two series wins, one each against Pakistan and India. The series win against Pakistan in 1998 was an away series involving three Tests, which Zimbabwe won 1-0. Zimbabwe had won their first series ever, just over a month before that, beating India in a one-off Test in Harare.
• This was the first instance of two Zimbabwe bowlers taking five-wicket hauls in a Test win. Brian Vitori and Tendai Chatara, both joined Andy Blignaut, Heath Streak and Henry Olonga as the only Zimbabwe bowlers to take a five-wicket haul in Test wins.
• This was Zimbabwe's closest win in term of runs; their narrowest win before this match was against India at the same venue in 1998, when they won by a margin of 61 runs. This was also Pakistan's narrowest Test loss, in terms of runs, beating their loss to England at Leeds in 1971 by just one run. 
• This calendar year is truly a rare one for Zimbabwe: they have won two or more Tests in the same year only twice since their Test debut in 1992. The year 2001 was the best in terms of the number of wins, when they won four Tests, one against India and three against Bangladesh.
• The eleventh hour change of the venue increased Zimbabwe's chances of winning, at least statistically, with seven of their previous ten Test wins having come at the venue. With this win, their tally of wins at the Harare Sports Club has gone up to eight from 31 Tests. Four of their five Test wins against Pakistan and India have come at this venue. Zimbabwe have won only one away Test, against Pakistan, at Peshawar in 1998.
• Misbah-ul-Haq's 79 is the second-highest unbeaten score by a captain in a losing cause in chases in Tests. Clive Lloyd's 91 against Australia at the MCG in 1976 is the highest. Misbah's 79* is only the tenth instance of a captain remaining unbeaten on a score of fifty or more in unsuccessful chases in Tests.
• Misbah's 79 also equals the highest score by a Pakistan captain in a losing cause in the fourth innings of a Test. Javed Miandad also scored 79 against Australia at Perth in 1981.
• Younis Khan won the third Man-of-the-Series award of his career in this series, the most by a Pakistan batsman. He has drawn level with Inzamam-ul-Haq and Mohammad Yousuf. 

Zimbabwe's historic 24-run win in the second Test to level the series 1-1 made Pakistan drop from fourth to sixth place in the ICC Test rankings. Zimbabwe also returned to the rankings for the first time since May 2007 and are at ninth place, 24 rating points ahead of Bangladesh who are at the bottom of the table.

Pakistan, on the other hand, conceded five rating points and dropped behind Australia and West Indies. They had moved to fourth position only last month after England beat Australia 3-0 in the Ashes.

Zimbabwe had started the series unranked and would have finished ninth irrespective of the result of the series. They had pulled out of Test cricket in January 2006 and returned with a series against Bangladesh in August 2011, but could not find a place on the rankings table until now having not played the requisite eight qualifying Tests.

Pakistan's next Test series will be against No. 1 ranked South Africa with the first of two matches starting on October 14 in Abu Dhabi.

BCCI working on SA tour substitute India in South Africa

India news

BCCI working on SA tour substitute

The BCCI is believed to be working on a back-up plan for the trouble-hit tour of South Africa in November and December. It could involve hosting an ODI tri-series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka and the details are likely to be discussed in Chennai on Saturday, when officials from the three boards attend an Asian Cricket Council meeting.

The ACC meeting is scheduled two days before Cricket South Africa chief Haroon Lorgat and BCCI secretary Sanjay Patel meet in Dubai on the sidelines of an ICC board meeting to try and resolve the impasse over India's tour of South Africa.

If a tri-series is organised, it will effectively replace the limited-overs leg of the bilateral series between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the UAE, but it would also mean either a cancelled or severely curtailed India tour of South Africa.

Sri Lanka and Pakistan are set to play two Twenty20 internationals, five ODIs and three Tests from December 11 to January 20. The limited-overs leg concludes on December 27.

India's calendar includes a short series against West Indies in November and a tour of New Zealand from January 19. The only option for CSA is to host India for two Tests, three ODIs and a Twenty20 international from December and ending with the New Year's Test. A tri-series in India would cut into this space.

PCB chief operating officer Subhan Ahmed and SLC secretary Nishantha Ranatunga are expected to represent their boards at the ACC meeting. The ACC is headed by BCCI president N Srinivasan. The CEO of ACC, Syed Ashraful Haq, has also arrived in India.

The schedule for India's tour of South Africa was announced by CSA on July 8 but it immediately fell into problems and the schedule has not been endorsed by the BCCI. Though there has been no official statement, it appears the sticking point seems to be CSA's appointment of Lorgat as its chief executive despite a series of run-ins between Lorgat and the BCCI during his tenure as ICC chief.

  Its really sad to see that India's tour of South Africa is uncertain. As a cricket lover i was waiting for this tour from almost a year now. Now its on verge of being cancelled. I was waiting like other cricket lovers, of high quality battle between great pace bowling of Steyn and Morkel and Crafty Indian batting....whose rising youngsters are yet to prove that they can handle fiery stuff reasonably well.....It was crucial for likes of Rohit, Virat and Murali and Dhawan....If they really are genuine test cricketers...... And we cant take west-indies lightly...how can we? roach and edwards can bowl in region of 90 miles an hour.....I'm sure Indian batsman have tough task ahead....I'm waiting for surprise...Indians are no longer unbeatable at home.

I don't understand the reason why BCCI is trying to cut or cancel the SA tour. There might be a few issues like the scheduling or Lorgat issue but they are not big enough to cancel the entire tour. Actually this series is the much talked about test series since 2 years when India lost 8-0 away to Eng and Aus. They made sure Indian players get acclimatized to SA conditions by even having an 'A' team tour just last month. After all this, cancelling this tour will not make any sense. Fans do need a clarification, otherwise they think it is because of the fear of getting clean sweep in tests. 

Two sons catch the eye in Mumbai Maidans, Arjun Tendulkar

Indian cricket

Two sons catch the eye in Mumbai Maidans

Two debutants were the story of Kanga League's first day. While Arjun Tendulkar stayed guarded in the spotlight, the other, a record-breaking eight-year-old first-timer, lapped it up

As if the pressure of making his debut in the Kanga League, a prestigious club tournament in Mumbai, wasn't enough, Arjun Tendulkar - the son of Sachin Tendulkar, who'll soon be 14 - was sent in to open the batting for his foster club, the Young Parsees Cricket Club. It was a short innings. His only run came off a medium-pacer called Sachin before he was stumped. The posse of television cameras that arrived a few minutes late after wading through a labyrinth of matches at the Azad Maidan had already missed out.

On a day that Sachin Tendulkar would make an impassioned plea to let his son enjoy his cricket without undue pressure, this brief innings' analysis had already reached saturation level. "There were no nerves and he looked very good," Rajesh Sanil, the Young Parsees coach, said. "I asked the umpires as well and they too said that he looked confident."

When the cameras arrived and threatened to get close to Arjun Tendulkar, a portly man in a steel grey safari suit shooed them away. Another man in cricket whites was the only one Tendulkar was talking to, apart from his coach. The coach seemed to be discussing a few finer points with him, speaking in English in a tone reserved for peers. While the rest of his team-mates joked and egged their batsmen from the other side of the pavilion, Tendulkar quietly kept his gaze focused on the action, and only talked with the two men who were also shielding him from the cameras. At lunch, while the rest dug into the buffet, Tendulkar ate from his home-packed lunch box, in the company of his two friends.

The Young Parsees and the United Club of India were playing the first match of division G - the seventh, and lowest, division - of the Kanga League, an annual Mumbai fixture whose start was deferred to the first week of September to avoid monsoon-related disruptions. The top divisions usually feature Mumbai's Ranji cricketers who take to the field for early-season match practice. For Tendulkar, who was part of MCA's Under-14 squad last year but was not picked this year, Kanga League is being seen as an important step in his development.

A kilometre away from the hustle-bustle of Azad Maidan, the Oval, next to Churchgate station, hosted a number of League matches too. On one of the pitches on the south side of the ground, another young cricketer was inviting media attention. Mushir Khan, at eight, is the youngest player to feature in the Kanga League. He broke the record of his brother, Sarfaraz Khan - who recently broke into the India Under-19 team - by two years. Unlike Tendulkar, Mushir was embracing all the attention.

Mushir, captained by his father Naushad Khan, is in the team as a left-arm spinner, but batted at No. 5. He scored only 4, but he stuck around for almost an hour, helping his team, Sportsfield Cricket Club, recover from a bad start. He spent a few minutes posing for a local newspaper photographer before moving on to do a byte for a TV channel. The cameraman asked his reporter to sit level with the lens so that Mushir would look straight into the camera, but when the interviewer started, Mushir already knew what to do. He spoke uncluttered and confident Hindi.

"I feel very good to be a part of the league," he said. "My brother started at 10, and now I have done this at eight. It's the most difficult cricket I have ever played, but I did okay with the bat. The bowlers kept bowling fast at me, and I had some problems with the shorter deliveries, but I managed it okay. One problem with playing in this league is that the outfields are lush, so the ball doesn't travel. I am also learning from my father on how games are planned and saved."

Soon, Mushir, just like an eight-year-old, got distracted by a tablet computer. "Is that a big phone," he asked before flicking through the pages to identify his favourite gaming apps. "Do you have Subway Surfer? No? I like this Temple Run."

Back at Azad Maidan, the Young Parsees were busy with their fielding drills at the changeover. Tendulkar checked the wind direction with a dab of grass, then asked the captain about the end he should bowl from and started warming up. Soon, he opened the bowling.

His run-up was longish, and he bowled left-arm seam a bit gingerly, just like a 14-year-old would. Taller and leaner from what he was a year ago in the MCA Under-14 tournament, Tendulkar followed through a bit like Zaheer Khan and unlike any other bowler around, jogging halfway down the pitch. He had the opening batsman edge to second slip just before tea.

Tendulkar was on his own during tea while the rest of his team-mates dispersed for snacks or for light catching drills. When asked if this was the toughest cricket he has played, he nodded his head in disagreement, saying he had played in England before. He made a couple of calls to friends and family before cutting off the phone as the cameramen approached. "The press people are here," he said before being called back into the team huddle by his "friend" in whites, not by his team-mates.

At the Oval, Mushir had a good first day. He picked up three wickets with his slow loopy spin. He laughed and chatted with his team-mates as he walked back, clearly enjoying his big day out. "Kids of my age don't even last one ball against me. This is better," he said.

Naushad, Mushir's father, told ESPNcricinfo at the end of the day that he is not pressurising his son in search of fame. "You saw it was a tricky situation today. He came in and played 40-odd balls in a low-scoring match. I think he is ready and he enjoys it. The clubs have a lot at stake, so I won't push my son if I felt he wasn't going to contribute," he said.

Sachin Tendulkar was not seen at the Azad Maidan. Speaking at a felicitation by the Sports Journalists Association of Mumbai later in the day, he said, "My son has just played his first Kanga League game. And today, I am going to play a protective father. Even though my father was an author, not once was I asked in my childhood to follow in his footsteps. I would request everyone to treat Arjun as just another 14-year-old kid. I would request you to leave him alone and (let him) be himself."

Rohit Sharma happy with new role as opener "Two new balls a challenge"

India news

Rohit happy with new role as opener

Rohit Sharma, the India batsman, has said his recent stint as ODI opener was the result of discussions with his captain MS Dhoni, who believed he had the skills to handle the moving ball. Batting at the top of the order, Rohit said, had given him more time to get acquainted with the conditions, which helped lend consistency to his game.

"We (Rohit and MS Dhoni) haven't spoken at length about this," Rohit told Times of India. "But whatever little MS spoke with me, he did suggest that I have the ability to open the batting and counter the new ball. I'm glad he finds me capable of it and I've also been working hard on it."

With the new ICC rules of having a new ball at either end in ODIs, Rohit said the job had got more challenging. "Oh yes, facing two new balls is not easy. The new rules have had an impact and we're happy we could manage to do well and adjust to them. As far as opening is concerned, it is about how mentally strong you are, what kind of pressure you can manage to take and deliver."

Rohit first opened for India in January 2011 during the tour of South Africa, but had a lean return with only 29 runs in three innings. He was given the role again during the home ODIs against England this January, and immediately made an impact, scoring 83 in Mohali. Taking into account his performance this year, Rohit has scored 580 runs at 41.42 in 16 innings as an opener, which is nine runs higher than his career average (32.37). He has also struck six fifties during this period but no centuries.

Rohit is aware of how heavy expectations can be. "Well, earlier it was about not getting runs, now it's about not converting 50s into 100s. I'm sure next it's going to be about not converting 100s into 150s. I don't know why people pick on these things so easily.

"Okay, I do understand that challenge is a good thing and it makes you work harder. But I've also just started playing a new role in the team (as opener). It's been just four months. People do expect too much in a very limited period of time. I know people want me to do well. But sometimes, these expectations are just too high.

"I'd personally like to believe that as long as the team is winning, the contributions are in place and players are taking care of the responsibility assigned to them, it's fine. Probably, the next step is to be the match-winner and be consistent at it. It will happen with time. It's a learning process forever."

When asked whether his concentration was a concern, Rohit said: "No. That's not the case at all. There's so much competition, you cannot afford to think like that. If you look at my first-class statistics, I have 16 hundreds and 20 50s, which means I hold an appetite for longer innings.

"I have three double-hundreds and a triple. I like to bat longer. Recently, on the A tour of South Africa, I played 250 balls to get my hundred in the first Test. It has not been my nature to play that kind of an innings. But eventually I was glad I did it. It was very satisfying. It is something I will keep working on."

India's next limited-overs assignment is a home series against Australia beginning on October 10.

 

Brian Lara to assist T&T for CLT20

Champions League T20 news

Lara to assist T&T for CLT20

Brian Lara will travel with the Trinidad & Tobago team for the upcoming Champions League T20 in India, although he will not be a formal part of the management group. Lara had performed a similar role as unofficial adviser to the T&T franchise during the recently concluded Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

"It's an honour to be part of the upcoming trip. I'm happy to be associated with Trinidad & Tobago's participation. We have a team that will make us proud," Lara said. "I am just going to be there, not a part of management but as a former cricketer. I am willing to lend a hand in any way I can. I hope I will have a chance to interact with the guys while in India and in whatever way I can help."

Having recently been called an instrumental adviser by West Indies limited-overs captain, Dwayne Bravo, Lara was eager to continue in such a capacity. "I have always had an open door policy and I look forward to working with you guys (the cricketers), the management, the captain, Denesh Ramdin, and all the other players."

Bravo was optimistic about Lara's role within the team: "Brian's always giving us advice as a team and individually. He also boosts my confidence as a captain and loves helping T&T cricket," Bravo had said at the recently concluded CPL.

Bravo will line up for Chennai Super Kings this edition but Lara was keen to point out that with Sunil Narine, Denesh Ramdin, and other exciting youngsters such as Adrian Barath and Nicholas Pooran coming to the fore, he expected T&T to be competitive.

 

Thanks in advance for lending your support to the T&T team Brian...welcome back home...hope that management gives you a chance to work with this young squad. Your batting knowledge will do well for the likes of guys like Barath, Simmons, Dinesh, Darren and Pooran. These guys are the backbone of T&T's batting attack and I wish you and the team well in India.

If this is the Chapions League T20 page, why does "IPLT20" have a link at the top of it....the IPL is not the ony league contributiing teams to this competition...shows how much disrespect that the indians have for things not theirs....its just disappointing....#thumbsdown#

As a Trinidadian, I think this move is long overdue. I can't exactly say whose fault it is, but I consider it to be water under the bridge for now. I also feel that this is the strongest T&T team to be present at the CLT20, apart from the one that was the runner up in the inaugural tournament. @ BRUTALANALYST, I don't think the batting is as weak as it is thought to be, these guys just need to put up their hands. Ten members of the team have already represented the West Indies senior team including Ramdin, Barath, Bravo, Simmons, Mohammed, Emrith and Narine, all of whom can bat. Rampaul also has an unbeaten half-century against India, which was scored in India. So it's just a matter of putting together good performances. Let's not forget Pooran who can hit the ball a long way at 17 years old. He can only get stronger and better with time. We just need early wins to give us that impetus....Go T&T!!!

@FAB because there hasn't been a CLT20 since the last regional Caribbean T20 T&T won. I imagine next yr Jamaica will be there or whoever wins the next CPL.

On a side note I wonder if Lara will stay on in India for the W.I tour and give support and batting guidance that would be great, I'm sure he will be in attendance for Sachin's last game either way.

A singular icon Sachin Tendulkar--- Greatest Batsman or Second Bradman?

A singular icon

Like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, Sachin Tendulkar dominates his sport comprehensively, but unlike them he is the sole focus of an entire nation and its quest for identity

Of all the emotions evoked by spectator sport, there is one that, for me, supersedes all others. Aware as I have been from an early age that my own sporting prowess was negligible, I have often been touched, when gazing at top-flight competitors, by a sensation of awe. There is so much they do with ease that the rest of us can never hope to accomplish even with the most prolonged, dedicated and scientific preparation.

But the great thing here is that this awe does not leave us feeling belittled or inadequate. On the contrary, the wonder and marvel at what one of our fellow human beings can do is life-enhancing: the intricate coordination of mind and matter, strength and speed, the welding together of eyes, feet and hands in the heat of the moment, all driven by a single competitive purpose, yet somehow making a thing of beauty beyond that single purpose. At their best, great sporting geniuses challenge and extend our notion of what is humanly possible. Normally when this happens outside the sporting realm, it is experienced as disturbing or threatening, but somehow, within that redemptively trivial domain, it is irresistibly seductive.

So thank you, Sachin Tendulkar, for giving me as many of those delicious awe-filled moments as any sporting genius of my time. Tendulkar is one of that narrow stratum of elite sports stars whom people will clamour and even make great sacrifices to watch, regardless of their national identity. If you care for cricket, you must love Sachin (and yes, that feeling can be found across Pakistan as well). In this regard, his peers are few - and mostly found in other sports, and certainly in other lands.

Like Tendulkar, Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods dominate their chosen sports both statistically and stylistically, and like Tendulkar they are a source of joy to fans of every stripe. From an early age, all three have been compelled to cultivate their extraordinary gifts in the spotlight of a powerful and ubiquitous mass media, in an industry whose commercial, cultural and political importance has swollen to outrageous dimensions in the last two decades. Of course, Don Bradman or George Best had their difficulties with the press, and sport has never been a stranger to big business. But in recent times, economic and technological changes have transformed the scale and nature of these pressures. The social context in which the likes of Tendulkar, Jordan or Woods have explored their inner potentialities has altered profoundly.

To achieve greatness in sport has always required exceptional powers of concentration. That is truer now than ever. Can we be sure that the geniuses of the past would have been able to sustain their best form in the relentless glare of today's global celebrity culture? Or that they would have succeeded in negotiating the numerous pitfalls accompanying a degree of wealth and renown previously undreamed of?

Today, Tendulkar, Woods and Jordan are all hugely profitable brand-names - and it is not always easy to reconcile the demands of being a walking corporate logo with those of being a fallible, needy, ordinarily inconsistent human being. No doubt, all three have had to pay a high personal price for their exorbitant rewards. In this regard, they serve as apt reflectors of their era - its exaltation of individual success (even in team games), its neurotic fear of personal failure, and its fond embrace of an ethic of single-minded self-improvement. "Just do it" is the message these icons are used to pumping out to the rest of us - the vast majority of whom, I'm afraid, simply cannot do "it".

Compared to the riches reaped by Jordan and Woods, Tendulkar's stash seems modest, though in India, or indeed in global cricket, it represents something of a breakthrough. All three have proved adroit in handling their financial success, cautious and canny in dealing with the powers-that-be, circumspect, dignified but also accessible to the media. Significantly, all three are studiously neutral when it comes to political controversy of any kind. None, however, can escape the tangle of contradictory meanings woven around the deities of modern sport.

	Tendulkar is one of that narrow stratum of elite sports stars whom people will clamour and even make great sacrifices to watch, regardless of their national identity. If you care for cricket, you must love Sachin (and yes, that feeling can be found across Pakistan as well)

As an African-American basketball player, Jordan embodies one of the most familiar of sports stereotypes. But as an African-American multi-millionaire, Jordan is also one of the least representative of celebrities, as far away from his community of origin as it is possible to get. Yet it is precisely because of his anomalous social status that he has become - in the age of neo-liberal triumphalism - a powerfully symbolic figure. Thanks to his association with multinational footwear giant Nike, Jordan is recognised in countries that can barely distinguish basketball from kabaddi as a symbol of individual success in a deregulated, global marketplace.

Woods carries a similar cachet, but with the crucial difference that he does so in a sport in which the great players were previously all white. Busting golf's racial straitjacket has proved a tricky operation. Woods self-consciously defines his ethnicity as a rainbow amalgam of African, Thai, Native American and white. That is undoubtedly an honest self-description from a thoughtful person; but as it happens, it also eases his passage into a particular north American sporting culture where being "black" is decidedly a disadvantage.

African-American sport celebrities have for many generations carried a complex burden of representation - expected to symbolise both the homogenised American mainstream and the distinctive African-American nation-within-a-nation. In earlier eras, individuals as diverse as Joe Louis and Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, Wilma Rudolph and Arthur Ashe all found their careers profoundly shaped by American racism and the struggle against it. Thanks not least to their efforts, black sports stars of more recent vintage have reaped hitherto unimaginable rewards for their talents. They have also continued to face the challenges of an enduring racial divide, though in subtler forms than in the past. Jordan and Woods are both global icons, but the connotations of their icons vary both between the USA and the larger world, and within the colour-conscious USA itself.

Some of what makes all three of these living Olympians distinctive is revealed by a comparison with another contemporary sporting hero, David Beckham, England's innovatively coiffed football captain. Without for a moment underestimating the Indian media's appetite for sensationalism, it can be safely said that Britain's tabloid celebrity culture has a peculiar brutality and coarseness, one mirrored sometimes by its football crowds. Neither Tendulkar, Jordan nor Woods has ever had to endure the kind of mega-decibel sexual and scatological abuse hurled at Beckham by thousands of English football fans. (You have to remember that within the breast of the average English football fan, hatred of Manchester United rivals support for the national team). Then again, none of the aforementioned triumvirs has married a high-profile pop star or posed as a fashion icon. It's probably unfair on Beckham, but there are times when he does seem an apt symbol of Tony Blair's brain-dead Britain, or at least of its febrile, philistine cult of the rich and famous.

Though he is as much a household name as the others, Beckham does not, and would never claim to, dominate his sport as they have dominated theirs. He has always been more fallible, and therefore perhaps more human and approachable. And while there is no doubt that Jordan, Woods and Tendulkar will be remembered as the defining performers of their eras, it is not at all clear how history will end up viewing Beckham.

Nonetheless, like Jordan and Woods, Beckham is now something of a multinational enterprise, a globally recognised brand name. He endorses products in Singapore, Malaysia and Eastern Europe. In this respect, it is Tendulkar who is the exception. As a saleable icon, he remains confined to his national market and its diasporic extensions. No one in North America, continental Europe or East Asia is going to pay good money to put his name on a pair of trainers or sunglasses. Even within the cricket world, companies sponsor him specifically because they seek access to the South Asian, and in particular the Indian market.

Of course, in itself, that's no mean demographic. But Tendulkar's uniqueness resides in his

peculiar importance within that vast market. Jordan, Woods and Beckham may cross more boundaries, but nowhere do their performances carry the weight of expectation that Tendulkar's carry in India (and among the Indian diaspora). Nowhere are they the focus of the kind of fervour that greets Tendulkar when he strides to the crease at Wankhede, Eden Gardens, or the Chidambaram stadium. It has been argued that Tendulkar is the beneficiary and victim of a specifically Indian culture of hero-worship, but in my view this theory severs Tendulkar from his times, and therefore obscures his significance.

Tendulkar has flourished during a long drought for Indian cricket. In a team that has persistently under-achieved, especially away from home, he has had to shoulder an enormous burden. Often it seemed left to Tendulkar alone to salvage national pride. Somehow he has risen above the scandals and the corruption and the incompetence swirling around him. In a demanding context, he has conducted himself with probity and dignity.

It's the image that Jordan and Woods aspire to, and which they work carefully to craft, but one wonders how successful they would have been if they found themselves in Tendulkar's shoes. After all, if Woods or Jordan or Beckham fail, sports fans in the USA or even in Britain have a variety of other world-beaters to whom to switch their emotional affiliation. When Tendulkar stumbles, Indian sports fans find the cupboard nearly bare (which is not to deny the excellence of other Indian sports performers, but merely to note the over-riding and disproportionate importance of cricket in India in comparison with other sports).

Nevertheless the intensity of the Tendulkar cult in India is about much more than just cricket. Unwittingly and unwillingly, he has found himself at the epicentre of a rapidly evolving popular culture shaped by the intertwined growth of a consumerist middle class and an increasingly aggressive form of national identity. National aspirations and national frustrations are poured by millions into his every performance. It's a tribute to his strength of personality that he has not burst apart under the pressure.

As the inheritor of the classical tradition of Mumbai batsmanship, Tendulkar has seamlessly blended power and grace, efficiency and elegance, conscientious craftsmanship and quicksilver improvisation. He is the greatest run-maker the one-day format has yet produced, as well as a complete master of the long-established disciplines of Test-match batting. More importantly, he stands at the intersection of the two forms of the game; through him we have seen one enrich and extend the other. He is a modern man playing a modern game in a modern style in the modern world - and that's what makes him of supreme importance to his fellow Indians. He's a homegrown genius excelling in a global game, a world-beater bred in the heart of Mumbai's status-hungry middle class.

During this summer's football World Cup, there was much talk in Britain about the immense burden of expectation that Beckham carried whenever he stepped forward to take a penalty for England. As I tried to point out to football's somewhat parochial devotees, Beckham's World Cup burden was as nothing compared to the weight Tendulkar has carried throughout his career. I also tried to indicate that this weight was more than just a question of numbers. Yes, Tendulkar belongs with the Jordans, the Woods and the Beckhams as a high-value icon of personal success in a globalised economy. But his specific historical significance resides in his relationship to India and in India's relationship to the world.

In a sense, for non-Indians like myself, the joy of Tendulkar comes unadulterated. The awe he inspires belongs to no culture, carries no nationalist overtones, and is at once both intimately personal and transparently universal.