The Surfer

His recent form, however, has been up and down, and more often down than up. Cook can never hope to match his resplendent form in Australia two winters ago, when he made 766 runs in seven innings in England's epic triumph, but he has made only one hundred in his past 22 innings and has been out nine times in single figures.

Thankfully he's been able to meet the challenges -- of health and cricketing ability --and has proved everyone wrong; after a long absence playing the Test against Darren Sammy's West Indies at the Eden Gardens in November 2011, Yuvraj made his presence in the Twenty20 against New Zealand in Chennai and the Twenty20 World Cup. But it was his five hour 33 minutes tenure in the Duleep Trophy match against Central Zone in which he made 208 that has reinforced the belief that he is looking to compete with Suresh Raina and have a shot for a middle order slot for the four Test series against England.

Ian Chappell: Would you prefer to get a tap on the shoulder from the selectors, rather than just get dropped?

Ricky Ponting: I don't think it would get to that. I'm a realist and I'll understand that if there's players out there who can play the game better than me, I'll be the first to accept it and walk away. I'm not going to let it get to the stage where the selectors drop me. I think I'll identify the right time. Everyone I've spoken to that's retired have said they've felt when it's the right time, when they can't find it in themselves to elevate their game. I haven't felt that yet at all so I know it's not the right time. I'm just going to prepare for the Brisbane test match, hopefully get a few there and see what happens.

Instead, he phoned in his exclusive from his hotel room and was delighted the next day to see that his paper gave his story front-page billing under the headline "Five Australians seized with mystery illness."

But his joy was short-lived because, on turning to the Daily Mirror, he found it leading page three with the same story (plus an additional casualty), headlined "Test sensation: six Australians ill."

It may not be always easy to convince a system to embrace changes quickly enough but there is no harm in at least getting the message across. Greg Chappell failed in getting the message through in a manner that was perhaps endearing to the bigwigs of the team and also the BCCI, but there was never any doubt as far his intent was concerned. The ongoing season will require a lot of pluck and also firm handling from Fletcher if results have to be achieved.

All the players will be playing seven days in a row. Will the fast bowlers of India 'A', after bowling their hearts out in the October heat, have the energy to bowl in the Ranji Trophy in less than 12 hours? And now that as a part of the strategy no spinner has been picked for India 'A', fast bowlers will be required to bowl throughout the match. The second warm-up match against Mumbai 'A' team will be a farce if some measures are not taken.

It would have been easy for Patil and his team - Rathour, Roger Binny and Saba Karim, all former Test players, and Rajinder Singh Hans - to play it safe, stick to the beaten path and pick a team that went along expected lines and didn't ruffle feathers, especially given that it was their first selectorial adventure. In having defied traditional thinking, Patil's panel has sent out a strong signal and raised the level of expectation among the cricket fans.

Deccan Chronicle had paid only Rs 42.8 crore per year when they bought the team for approximately Rs 428 crore for 10 years. But if one is to look at the standards set during the auction of the two new teams in 2010, it is a mighty fall.

The CLT20 remains an unloved and unlovely thing, albeit a remarkable achievement in its own right as a cricket competition that manages to make even the cricket-obsessed, the cricket-compulsive, the cricket-crazed think to themselves, hmm, maybe there's just a bit too much cricket on at the moment.

"It hasn't been an easy ride. There have been times when I have thought about throwing the towel in. But if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Neil [Burns] has been very, very supportive in terms of some of those challenges, but also in giving me hope. The world's full of external pressures now, more and more so. The support around you becomes more and more important."

Burns offered more than coaching. He offered perspective. "The emotional side, the mental side and the technical side are all interlinked," Compton says. "You've got to be able to bat for long periods of time, and that's emotional. That's mental.