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The Surfer

No solution yet for India's rejigged top order

After plenty of experimentation to the top order, India's team management still haven't found a stable batting line-up for all conditions

31-Aug-2015
Writing for Open Magazine, Chetan Narula highlights the perils of an unsettled batting line-up, whether on the field or in training sessions. Narula cites the management's indecisiveness of Cheteshwar Pujara's batting position as an example.
The approach of this new Kohli-Shastri combination is interesting. They want to dominate the opposing team from the get-go. To succeed at No 3, there is some degree of defence needed to counter difficult circumstances, such as those in the second innings at Galle. A temperamental batsman might not be the best option, and the managers realised their error ahead of the second Test. Maybe, just maybe, they had chosen the wrong man all along. What happens if Rohit's inconsistent Test record catches up with him at No 5 as well? How will they explain the re-arrangement of this middle order then?
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'I just knew when he's going to get out'

Kumar Sangakkara's father, Kshema, writes in the Indian Express about being his son's 'harshest critic', their debates ranging from cricket to politics, and why Sanga should take up golfing

Kumar Sangakkara's father, Kshema, writes in the Indian Express about being his son's 'harshest critic', their debates ranging from cricket to politics, and why Sanga should take up golfing seriously
For the world, Kumar was this venerated technician. But in my opinion, he never reached that level. He could have done so much better with the skills he had. Everybody speaks about his average being in the same league of Graeme Pollock and Garry Sobers, but Kumar could have done better. He too often let bowlers dismiss him rather than them having to get him out.
If you truly consider yourself to be a world-class batsman, you should be able to do that. Kumar did well, don't get me wrong. But did he achieve his true potential? I don't think so.
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'There isn't a single day we don't talk or text each other'

Shane Warne records a video paying tribute to his long-standing friend and former Australian captain Michael Clarke, after his retirement from international cricket

Shane Warne, in a video on his Facebook page, speaks about his long-standing friendship with Michael Clarke, who retired from international cricket after the final Ashes Test at The Oval. "There isn't a single day where we don't call or at least text each other," he says. He compares Clarke to former Australian captain Allan Border with regards to his meticulousness and dedication to preparation and training.
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Sangakkara, Kandy's favourite son

The Indian Express' Bharat Sundaresan pays a visit to Kumar Sangakkara's home town to trace the left-hander's early days

23-Aug-2015
The Indian Express' Bharat Sundaresan travels to Kandy to find out about their favourite son, Kumar Sangakkara. Cue stories about college, spending time in libraries and his growth as a man as well
Over the years, it's not just his batting that has evolved to meet the demands of the modern era, it is also his personality. He might still get chided for 'his accent' or his inability to make the same home-grown connect that his bromance buddy, Mahela Jayawardene, has managed to, but his aura and his cult has over the course of his career encompassed these minor disparities
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'Tidy, too tidy, OCD tidy'

Michael Clarke's team-mates and coach pay tribute to their captain, who is set to retire after the 2015 Ashes

22-Aug-2015
In a video on the Cricket Australia website, Michael Clarke's team-mates and coach pay tribute to their captain and one of Australia's leading batsmen of his time. Chris Rogers reflects on Clarke's hundred with a broken arm, Matthew Wade talks about how Clarke helped his career, and Darren Lehmann has high praise for Clarke as a leader, before going on to detail his fastidiousness in the dressing room.
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How a picture launched 'little Sanga' into the spotlight

The Indian Express' Bharat Sundaresan traces a Sri Lankan child prodigy's rise to fame

12-Aug-2015
The Indian Express' Bharat Sundaresan chronicles Sri Lankan child prodigy Shanmuganathan Sharujan's nascent cricketing career, and finds out how a photograph changed the little boy's life
A split second on a split-screen was all it took to change Shanmuganathan Sharujan's life.
It was a balmy September day in 2011 and the five-year-old was at the Sinhalese Sports Club ground in Colombo with his father, dressed in all whites, to watch Sri Lanka play Australia. Michael Hussey, an occasional bowler, was bowling to Lankan star Kumar Sangakkara. In the stands, Sharujan was also getting ready, to play a ball bowled by his father. Both left-handed, Sangakkara and Sharujan struck the ball almost together, both getting down on one knee and dispatching it in elegant cover drives.
Sharu is now the star player in a junior team club, also pitching in as a leg-spinner. Shanmuganathan is at hand, photographing his son's exploits, which can also be seen on YouTube. "It's not just the cover-drive. Martin Crowe was doing commentary once and noted how Sharu plays the hook shot, the sweep and even the flick just like Kumar Sangakkara. Even Kumar has acknowledged the similarity," says Shanmuganathan.
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'Australia must identify guys who can adapt all over the world'

England have hammered Australia 3-1 with a Test in hand to regain the Ashes. Michael Clarke has retired. Reactions following a hugely one-sided Trent Bridge Test

In his column for the Telegraph, Glenn McGrath says Australia play well at home but need to pick players who can adapt to conditions all over the world. He says that is the difference between being good and great.
Australia has plenty of fast bowlers coming through. Pat Cummins is in the wings here, James Pattinson is coming back and Nathan Coulter-Nile has potential - so there are a lot of young guys performing with the ball. The batting is the concern. Nobody is putting up their hand - the reason Voges got his opportunity at the latter part of his career was that he scored more runs back home than younger guys and deserved his chance. Australia play well in their own conditions but it is identifying the guys who can adapt all over the world. That is the difference between being good and being great. There is a chance now for young Australian players to make a mark and grab an opportunity.
In the Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Baum writes on Michael Clarke's decision to retire after the Oval Test: "And so, on a blindingly bright Trent Bridge morning, it all ended in tears. The Michael Clarke story, the Ashes series, the golden age, of which Clarke was the last survivor; all were of a piece, all broken beyond fixing."
As a captain, he was intuitive and adventurous. As a figurehead, he was sometimes surprising. His manful handling of public duties while grieving for his friend Phillip Hughes last November left an indelible mark. In private, he was a tower of strength, too. His final tribute was a Test century made under duress in Adelaide, likely to remain his last for Australia.
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Anil Kumble reflects on his ten-for and bowling with a broken jaw

On the 25th anniversary of his Test debut, Anil Kumble reflects on his 18-year long career and also talks about his role as a cricket administrator

09-Aug-2015
Speaking to DNA's G Krishnan on the 25th anniversary of his Test debut, Anil Kumble looks back at his career, relives his highs and lows and speaks about the changes in the game from the perspective of a cricket administrator.
A team-mate of yours nearly completed 25 years playing international cricket. Would you have preferred a similar way, though your body has taken a toll between 1990 and 2008? Oh no. Eighteen years itself felt like a lot more than 18 years. Hats off to Sachin Tendulkar for having that kind of longevity in international cricket. To me, 18 years was pretty hard on the body and by the time I finished, it was quite challenging to go out there and bowl.
It is a dream for anyone to have a career that coincided with such great cricketers. Rahul (Dravid), Sachin, (VVS) Laxman, Sourav (Ganguly), Sri (Javagal Srinath) at my time and people finishing their careers - Kapil (Dev), Ravi (Shastri), (Md) Azharuddin, a whole lot of people who I managed to play with. I saw an era of three generations in Indian cricket as I went along. It's been really fantastic to have played alongside cricketers who are now possibly slowly getting to the later part of their careers.
And of course, your 10 wickets in an innings (10/74 vs Pakistan in New Delhi, 1999) and you bowled with a broken jaw in the West Indies in 2002 will never be forgotten.
I don't think they were all planned. I was destined to get 10 wickets. And the jaw was something that I always felt 'if my shoulder was fine, I would try to bowl'. That's all. And my shoulder was fine. It was quite painful, though. The thought of getting injured again and not having to play a part perhaps made me go there and bowl."
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Flashy, cash-rich football driving cricket out

Writing for The Guardian Jonathan Freedland talks about how the big money and clout of football is driving people's interests away from cricket

08-Aug-2015
In his column for The Guardian Jonathan Freedland writes about how the big money and clout of football in England is hogging cricket's much deserved airtime with the masses. He feels the ongoing Ashes will soon lose a large part of its audience to the English Premier League which is set to begin August 8.
What could be better, on a warm summer's day, than to see England uncurl those Australian fingers from the urn and win back cricket's most fabled prize?
Except, what's this? In a few hours' time the attention of the nation's sports lovers will swing away from cricket towards football. Yes, even though August is in its infancy and the days are still long, we shall tomorrow hear the whistle of the ref, the outraged howl of crowds baying for a penalty and the protestations of innocence from players who've dived as extravagantly as if they'd leapt from Tom Daley's highest board.
A quirk of the diary it might be, but it feels like an offence against nature all the same. For the football season to begin now, as the Ashes reaches its climax, is all wrong.
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Australia's most wretched Ashes day of all

England led the series 2-1, with two Tests to play. Considering what was at stake, Australia's 60 all out at Trent Bridge made it their most wretched Ashes day of all

But Broad and Co. - Co. were also excellent - could not have reckoned on Australia's meek co-operation. Good balls were made better by hard hands pushing at them. Nearly every batsman was classically squared up, and Steve Smith cubed. Not until the appearance of tailenders Peter Nevill and Mitch Johnson did it seem to occur to the Australians that the leave was an option. It will be a long time before the Australians stop waking in the middle of the night to a translucent image of Broad, a ghostly sighing and a breathy voice-over: "English conditions."
In the case of the beleaguered Clarke, an average ball was made into a wicket-taker by a wild drive at the first delivery he faced from Broad. His thinking? "If he pitches it up, I'm going to hit it as far as I can. I watched guys around me getting out defending. Live by the sword, die by the sword." But first ball? Like compatriot James Faulkner, Clarke should be banned from driving in England.
It was, as Adam Collins wrote in the Independent, "a bloody, crushing, generation-defining debacle".
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