The Surfer

Two new balls: The use of a new ball at each end is huge advantage to England, now [that] they have such an impressive seam attack. Stuart Broad and James Anderson were missing from the one-day series in India which England lost so heavily, leaving Steven Finn as a lone strike force. Now there is no let up on the Pakistan batsmen, who are anyway technically flawed.

In sport, quite often, not being a genius may be a virtue of sorts. For, the very tag, ‘genius,' might lead you to delude yourself into the belief that nothing is impossible, even after 22 or 23 years of wear and tear in international sport as the country's most celebrated sports icon. A lot has been said — especially by former sportspersons who themselves stayed on well beyond their use-by date — about Sachin Tendulkar's ODI career. Whatever the intentions, these gems of seemingly timely advice are clearly uncalled for. No matter his form in the ODI tri-series down under, Sachin Tendulkar will be the first to know when his time is up.

But one intrigue remains. If he finds he can live easily with this way of bowing out, then he will again submit to the selectors' will as a Test player. If, perchance, he discovers this exit to be demeaning, then he must leap first, choosing his time and place.But when?

On the broader front this tawdry episode might resonate with county committees and the England and Wales Cricket Board when they reconsider – yet again – the Morgan report. Westfield's demise came about in a meaningless match at Durham, which happened to be televised and which was therefore available in the subcontinent. It was the ideal game for a spot of fixing since no one beyond Chester-le Street and Chelmsford cared a jot about the outcome.

As recently as Mark Taylor's captaincy reign, Australia had Ian Healy, Shane Warne, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, all capable of leading the side if something happened to the skipper. In the past couple of weeks, Australia have plucked George Bailey out of the first-class ranks to captain the Twenty20 side and now the vice-captain of the ODI side has been passed over. This gap in the Australian cricket education process needs to be rectified quickly.

Those close to Jadeja remember the more difficult times. He lost his mother Lata in 2005 in an accident; the trauma affected him so much that he wanted to quit cricket. His coach Mahendra Singh Chauhan made sure Jadeja stayed focussed. After India won the Under-19 World Cup in 2008, came the first shower of riches for Jadeja, who was the vice-captain of the team: Rs 15 lakh from the BCCI, a Rs 25,000 monthly salary from Reliance for the next three years, and a Rs 20 lakh contract for two years for IPL-1. “With money, life has certainly improved. It makes you and your family secure,” Jadeja says. He went on to play for the Rajasthan Royals in IPL-1 and was bought by the Kochi Tuskers in the third edition of the league for nearly a million dollars, though he never got to play that tournament. Since then, his net worth has climbed steadily.

“That’s a wonderful thought,” says Harmala Gupta, 58, who was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 33 when she was in Canada, where she got treated. “There is so much negativity about cancer in our country. People say things like, ‘How did this happen to you, you are such a good person!’ As if cancer happens to bad people. Yuvraj has an opportunity to do a great deed, like Armstrong has done in the US. Cancer treatment is very expensive in India, and there’s no health insurance. That needs to change. He can educate people, inspire them.”

"We have to stop thinking of local benefits and have national interest in mind. If we want to perform well overseas on seaming and bouncy pitches, the steps will have to be taken now. I want the juniors to play on such pitches. Look at the pitches we had at Valsad and here (in Indore for the Duleep Trophy). Good for cricket. We have to get our priorities right. Please give us two years..." The board is also launching a scheme to educate the curators. "This is being done on top priority," Jagdale insisted.