From the publishers of THE HINDU VOL.31 :: NO.52 :: Dec. 27, 2008 • Contents
	YEAR-END SPECIAL / CRICKET/TESTS & ODIS India, a vibrant force Despite the hiccup in the Test series against Sri Lanka, Indian cricket acquitted itself well in 2008. S. Dinakar takes stock. K. R. DEEPAK Sachin Tendulkar... bettering Brian Lara’s record. Experience and youth blended wonderfully well. India was largely a vibrant force in the cricketing arena. The Test debacle in Sri Lanka notwithstanding, India ended the year as a powerful unit with various options. There was a change at the helm. India packed a punch under Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The confident batsman-keeper had led India to victories — two of them as stand-in captain — in his first four Tests as captain. India held the second spot in the ICC Test ratings before being edged out by South Africa. Dhoni’s men are poised to regain the No. 2 ranking, though. The side also believes it can replace Australia as the best Test team in 2009. The year was neither short on emotions nor gripping action. The Anil Kumble-led India’s 72-run victory in Perth — in the context of the acrimonious Test in Sydney — was the high point. Here was a team that consistently bucked the odds. Australia was expected to nail the Test series at the paceman-friendly WACA. The surface in Perth has slowed down over the years, but it still offers a fair measure of lift and movement to the pacemen. India beat Australia at its own game. The Test also witnessed the duel of the year — Ishant Sharma versus Australian captain Ricky Ponting. In a spell of relentless intensity, the lanky Ishant probed Ponting around the off-stump with pace, lift and sharp inward movement off the seam. He also straightened the odd delivery. His technique searched thoroughly, Ponting eventually succumbed to Ishant. It was a year when the Indian pace pack was humming. And Ishant was clearly the find of the year. The paceman has a fluent run-up, his wrist and seam position are excellent, and he delivers from a high-arm action. From youth to experience. Maestro Sachin Tendulkar took another step towards immortality by surpassing Brian Lara’s mark for the highest run-getter in Tests. During the year, the legendary batsman delivered at the crunch — he was a match-winner. Tendulkar’s unbeaten hundred at Chepauk — India chased down 387 on a dry, dusty and scarred pitch — exhibited his resolve and technical excellence. He continues to build timeless monuments. Earlier, Tendulkar’s century at Mohali set the stage for a famous Indian victory in the second home Test against Australia. Tendulkar, defended, created, innovated and another masterpiece was conjured. That was a Test where India, on a seemingly placid track, bowled with persistence and craft. The bowlers hit the right areas. Leg-spinner Amit Mishra spun and flighted his way to seven wickets on debut. The Aussie batsmen struggled to pick Mishra’s googly. The youngster holds promise. The Test also saw Ishant and left-armer Zaheer Khan bowl with controlled hostility on a dry, sub-continental track. It was a wonderful year for Zaheer who cut the new ball and reverse-swung the old. He bowled with control and heart. India’s 320-run win over the Aussies at Mohali was achieved with resolve and aggression. The pressure on Australia was maintained all through. The Indian reverse swing hogged headlines. Ishant and Zaheer bowled cross seam on the sub-continental tracks, roughed up one side of the ball and achieved reverse swing as early as in the 20th over. The right-left pair has the making of a formidable pace combination. Another Indian right-left pair hurt the opposition. Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir provided the innings tempo and starts. Sehwag dismantled the opposition with clinical blows. The quick-footed and quick-thinking Gambhir cut, pulled and drove for back-to-back three-figure Test knocks against Australia. He is a vastly improved player; Gambhir is batting with greater solidity without compromising on his flair. Sehwag notched up an astonishing triple hundred at Chepauk against the South Africans. His onslaught on the English bowlers — an astonishing innings of 83 — is bound to become stuff of folklore. There were batting capitulations as well. The Indians were blown away by the South African pace pack in Ahmedabad and succumbed to mystery spinner Ajantha Mendis and Muttiah Muralitharan in Sri Lanka. The focus shifted to the seniors and their continuation in the Indian team. Speculations abounded. Subsequently, leg-spinning giant Anil Kumble, a cricketer and a gentleman, drifted into the sunset. The Delhi Test was the last international match for India’s biggest match-winner. Sourav Ganguly, solid and resilient, underlined his value to the Indian team after being shockingly dropped from the Rest of India squad for the Irani Trophy. India’s most successful left-hander, who crossed 7000 runs in Tests, departed in a blaze of glory at Nagpur. Ganguly’s replacement, the gifted Yuvraj Singh announced his latest arrival in Tests with a Test-clinching effort at Chepauk. Strokes boomed from the southpaw’s willow at the crunch. The heat was on Dravid but the technically sound batsman fought back with a battling innings against England at Mohali. It was a rather ordinary year for Dravid yet he constructed a match-winning 93 in the high profile Test at Perth. V. V. S. Laxman walked in for his 100th Test at Nagpur. Earlier in the series, his wristy double century soothed one’s senses even while bringing old memories back to the Aussies. Harbhajan Singh crossed 300 Test wickets at Nagpur; after Kumble’s departure, the off-spinner is India’s spin spearhead. Harbhajan was a mixed bag; he requires to rely more on flight, drift and deliveries spinning into the right-hander. Dhoni displayed tactical flexibility as captain. His 8-1 field on the third morning at Nagpur — the pacemen were asked to bowl outside the off-stump — strangulated the Aussies when they were seeking to lift their run-rate. The Indian captain led the team with courage, passion and tactical acumen in the triangular ODI series in Australia. The Indians peaked at the business end of a long, tiring competition. The controversies and the acrimony of the Test series spilled over to the tri-series and Harbhajan Singh was under intense scrutiny. Like Kumble in the Test series, Dhoni handled the situation well. The seniors delivered and the youngsters bloomed under Dhoni. The skipper himself batted with resolve in the late middle-order. The strokeful Rohit Sharma took centrestage. Praveen Kumar swung them in and out off an awkward wrist action. And Tendulkar took flight in the two finals. In a historic triumph, India clinched the last triangular series in Australia. It was a summer of Indian sizzle down under. The Indians stumbled against Mendis’ spin in the Asia Cup final in Pakistan but regrouped well to nail the ODI series in Sri Lanka. The left-handed Suresh Raina was back in business. And Yuvraj Singh cut loose against the Englishmen in the ODI series. The series was reduced to a five-match duel from seven after the terrorist strike in Mumbai. But the rampaging Yuvraj ensured that India still clinched the series by a mile — the host won all the five matches. India promises more in 2009. Printer friendly page   Send this article to Friends by E-Mail Contents • Daily Sports • The Hindu • Business Line • Frontline • Publications • eBooks • Images Copyright © 2008 Sportstar Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of Sportstar.