hey he hey......India Wins !!!!!!!!!!

The win abroad (in Australia) at last !!!!!!!!! Most of us cricket fans are very passionate abt the wins and losses of the Indian cricket team. It was evident from the gathering at my place during the ICC championship, World Cup and now for the India-Aus series. The fact that they have been played at odd times (early mornings) but still we had a good crowd watching the games. The best part was the India-Pak game when we had 50-60 people in Vikas's and my house !!!!!!! But now with India beating Aus in the test match I am sure that those numbers will be crossed in this series.

It was really great to see India win a test match in the Kangaroo land after 21 year and for the first time in the Indian Cricket history we won a match in Aus to go ahead in the series !!!!!!!! That is quite an achievement in itself and speaks volumes of the dominance that AUS team has had over the years. But now things will be changing pretty soon I guess. BUt we need to guard against complacency......thats been a factor which has brought down Indian teams many times over the years...be it Cricket, Hockey, football or badminton etc....we get over confident after a single victory....thats when we overlook the strengths of the opposition and take them lightly....AUS has not won 50 games under Waugh for no reason......they are a great side (probably the best team ever in Test History).....yes you have read that correctly....this AUS team has been the most dominant team ever to have played cricket in both versions. They are talented, hard working, agile on the field, have a never-say-die attitude and confident.......just this one loss will not make them a bad side.....no team can be perfect...they are bound to lose some games......so Indian should watch out for a spirited comeback....watching the Indian team play has been very very encouraging over the past couple of years......whatever people may say (that includes me) or might have said abt Dada (Sourav) they are being proved wrong....he has transformed the team with his attitude and backing of the players. That has been his strength.....gaining the confidence of the players......they respect him for what he does for them and for the team not becoz he is the captain....he gets into the mind of the opposition teams and frustrates them....this has never been the attitude of the indian captains......

The team now has a talented and aggressive batting line up with some good bowlers to back them up. We have always been a good batting side but now we have bowlers who want to perform and at the same time learn more with every match. That has been the difference.....
there has always been a debate as to whether India is Tendulkar's team but now we can say no!!!!!!! he has been a dominant batsman in the one days but has never been the same player in tests (people may feel free to refute....this is my opinion)......he is too aggressive to last for long time at the crease.......he can be devastating and demoralise the bowlers but in test cricket its the ability to last and at the same time score is waht is important....I have been a fan of Azhar, Dravid and Laxman (of course sachin and sourav too) over the years......but I feel they never get the credit they deserve. People may have different notions abt Azhar.....thats a different debate altogether.....but the point is on the field u evaluate a person by his skills.......not by his actions off the field........people say he has fixed matches and alll........still he scores 9400 runs.....just imagine how much he would have scored otherwise....I am not very sure abt the whole issue as to why only he is being made the scapegoat of all this when others were involved too....agreed that he has made a mistake.....but u should not take it away from him that...... he was, is and will be one of the cricketing greats of India ......

Dravid the poor guy....never gets the credit he deserves........people talk abt laxman's 281, it was a great innings no doubt, but no one talks abt Dravid's 180 from the other end, people mention Ganguly's 183 at Taunton but never mention Dravid's 153 from the other end (one more funny incident.....Ganguly was dropped by Murali in the outfield and his throw gets Dravid run-out....what rotten luck)....people talk abt Sachin scoring 186 like God!!!!!!!!!!!! but who was at the other end......ofcourse Dravid with 153 !!!!!!!....people made Kaif hero (he deserved that)....abt his century in the ICC trophy but no one mentioned Dravid's 71.....what abt the world cup!!!!!!! he was there every time the team needed him.....people said that he scored very slow and all that stuff.....is that important when ur team is 30/4 ??????......or when the team is on the brink of losing with the last recognised pair in the middle???? people
talk abt the devastating 98 by sachin against PAK in the world cup......but what abt Dravid's 44* to take the team to victory????? hello is anyone getting the point??? one more interesting stat abt his test performance is that of the 16 centuries he has scored 15 have been meaningful "It often escapes all attention that only one time out of 16 when India's best Test batsman has made a century have India lost the match. Nor have these been centuries, bar one in New Zealand, scored once the match has died. It is hard to know about God and stuff, but few human beings have reached Dravid's levels of recent accomplishment. "

Laxman.....man!!!!! lesser mentioned abt the bad-luck he has had the better it is. First of all he is a good middle order batsman....he is sent opening in West indies....of course its hard to perform there especially in a position u are not accustomed to....he "failed" (had a 50 and couple of otehr good scores).....he was dropped from the team......then he makes a comeback and then establishes a spot in the team......he is still shuffled in the batting order with Dravid.....hello???? is anybody with brains there ????? when a batsman is in form u want him in the middle saving the game for u and not a batsman out-of-form. People agree that Laxman and Dravid are good players but when they are not making runs.....they have to be dropped and that we should not go by past performances!!!!!!!!!!!! but the same people say this when Sachin is not getting runs "he is out-of-form he needs some time in the middle".....isnt that unfair???? Not to take away anything from the great batsman but shouldnt the treatment be same for the talent. Laxman can match sachin in most of the strokes......but remember Sharjah !!!!!!!! Sachin was playing like a God but Laxman was made to take singles to give sachin strike.....how many times have u seen that happen otherway around????? why should Dravid's and Laxman's sacrifice their natural flair and ability for the team when otehrs are not ready to do that?????

I guess this is an endless debate that can go on and on.....but the best part is....INDIA is WINNING, thats what matters

I got my grades.....I am happy that I got more than i expected in a course....