India v Sri Lanka, 1st Test
Dead pitches killing Tests in India
Why mouth platitudes about the sanctity of Test cricket when matches are played out in front of paltry crowds on pitches designed to drag the game off to the post-mortem table?
New South Wales v Trinidad & Tobago, Champions League final
Bright Trinidad eye a golden future
Long before this tournament started, most people knew that the seedings would count for little. Trying to predict who would make it out of the two group stages and into the last four was a bit like asking Messrs Armstrong and Aldrin what they expected to find before they took those giant leaps on behalf of mankind. In every sense, this Champions League was a step into the unknown - for the organisers, the players and especially the fans
Dileep Premachandran
Superstar Tendulkar writes the perfect script
To score the winning runs in a record-shattering chase was special enough, but when that last stroke also brought up your 41st century, it became ineffably so. Boyhood dreams are made of this, and it says a lot about Sachin Tendulkar that he has never lost that child-like passion for the game
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Fighting chance
So far Yuvraj Singh has been a one-day wonder who has come up short in the long form. Now is his time to prove different... more
The past he could see but not touch
Sourav Ganguly tugged at the heartstrings in a way that no Indian cricketer has before or since... more
Dravid runs dry
He was once the architect of some of India's finest wins; now he's in the middle of a lean patch that has lasted alarmingly long... more
The Kumble quandary
Should India stick with a winning team or somehow make room for their greatest match-winner? The answer lies with one man... more
A blessing and a curse
Perhaps now, with all the records behind him, Sachin Tendulkar can enjoy a second childhood and bat with something of the insouciance that made Brian Lara so captivating to watch... more
The prince with the common touch
Ganguly's enduring legacy will be that of a leader who took Indian cricket out of its feudal past... more
Life in the past lane
India's decline is reflected in the stats of the big four batsmen. The team desperately needs new batting talent, but already they may have left it too late... more
Playing the power game
For India, the Zimbabwe issue is less a moral one and more one of realpolitik... more
The death of the ODI?
The success of the IPL has made it clear that something has to give to accommodate it, and on the current evidence that something will be the 50-over game ... more
Money for nothing
The IPL auction has blown cricket's economy wide open with its astronomical salaries. Will the players be earning their keep? ... more
The second-chance saloon
Would Langer, Hayden and Waugh have been the legends they became if they were playing in India not Australia?... more
Grow up already
The attempts by some Indians to out-sledge the Aussies have come a cropper in this series ... more
England '07: Comprehensive but not emphatic
How does India's series victory in England rank s with other away wins... more
Sydney 2004 minus the pain
England v India, 3rd Test, The Oval, 5th day
For India The Oval 2007 was Sydney 2004 without the pain as India sealed a series win this time round... more
The last hurdle
Will the Oval Test see India's reputation as poor finishers change?... more
No more the poor travellers
England v India, 2nd Test, Trent Bridge, 5th day
Indian teams can no longer be called poor travellers as the record shows that in the new millenium India have won 16 Tests away and 14 at home... more
Squashing glory
How a humble little squash ball played its part in one of the great batting efforts of our times... more
Fuelled by team spirit
Unless things go drastically wrong, Ireland have a Super Eight date with England to look forward to in Guyana a week on Saturday... more
Spin, bounce and turn?
The spinners who could play a big role in the 2007 World Cup... more
Well begun is half the job done
The importance of openers is reflected in the fact that the top two sides have established, performing pairs ... more
Selection but no solution
Six ODIs from the World Cup, India have too many variables for comfort... more
From the sublime to the ridiculous
India squandered a golden opportunity to score an elusive series win away from the subcontinent... more
Sehwag does the hard yards for net gains
India tour of South Africa, 2006-07
With his big scores too infrequent to camouflage his string of flops, Sehwag's well of goodwill is running dry... more
Picking through the wreckage
India in South Africa, 2006-07
Dileep Premachandran picks through the wreckage of India's 4-0 trouncing by South Africa in the one-day series and finds it very hard to pick out many positives... more
AB's blast and a good-luck message
South Africa v India, 5th ODI, Centurion
Any hopes of India turning the corner after the Twenty20 victory was quickly dispelled as South Africa drubbed them by nine wickets to seal a hopelessly one-sided series 4-0.... more
Fatal flaws at the death
India must solve the problem of slog-over bowling
India's bowlers have often been expensive at the slog after making excellent starts to the innings. Their bowlers neither have a good yorker or a slower ball. It is a problem that they have to solve quickly... more
Ponting star the brightest of all
On a night when the stars in the crowd were nearly as numerous as those in the sky above, it was Ricky Ponting that shone brightest as Dileep Premachandran, in Mumbai for the ICC Awards, discovered... more
India must get their ingredients right
India's recent form meant they were praying for a minor miracle to beat Australia. The result was just an affirmation of the fact that didn't play good cricket in this tournament... more
Indian board's attempted own-goal
The BCCI's zeal to rehabilitate Azhar has a lot to do with the ICC and little to do with the man himself... more
Will class out?
Dileep Premachandran previews the chances of Australia, India and England in the Champions Trophy... more
No longer the poor relation
Champions Trophy finds its own identity
Dileep Premachandran on how the Champions Trophy should not be viewed as being an irrelevance before the World Cup... more
Slow-starter Johnson hits his straps
Australia's new pace sensation
Mitchell Johnson decimated India, but has flown back home to Australia as earlier planned. But we'll certainly be seeing more of him in the future.... more
Sachin lights up Kinrara Oval
No matter what the venue, an anticipatory buzz accompanies Sachin Tendulkar's every walk to the middle. And even though only a few hundred turned up at the Kinrara Oval on a gloomy afternoon, there was no mistaking the eagerness with which they settled in... more
Cross-border hero
Dileep Premachandran remembers Wasim Raja... more
Assurances galore but the anxiety remains
The South African cricket team are not happy campers tonight, with the news that an independent security evaluation will decide whether they stay on to play a tri-series or head home... more
Ganguly handed a false lifeline
Just when he might have thought that the way to paradise was barred for ever, a signpost of hope beckons Sourav Ganguly... more
Uniformity is for automatons
Defining a good pitch is about as easy as defining beauty. Yet, the ICC appear determined to go down the Elle-Cosmopolitan route and establish standards for that which cannot really be defined... more
A diabolical capitulation
India v England, 3rd Test, Mumbai, 5th day
Capitulations are rarely honourable affairs, but even by Indian standards this was particularly lily-livered and shameful... more
Chance to rewrite history
India v England, 3rd Test, Mumbai, 4th day
At times this afternoon, it was hard to fathom which team was 1-0 down in the series and going for parity... more
Driving with two flat tyres
India v England, 3rd Test, Mumbai, 2nd day
India's effervescent bowling display was negated by another diffident batting performance... more
At last, the genuine article
India v England, 2nd Test, Mohali, 5th day
A match illuminated by Anil Kumble's 500th wicket and a return to something like his menacing best - match figures of 9 for 145, after the tour of Pakistan where nine scalps cost him 70 runs each - may also be recalled in years to come for the reemergence... more
Turning to the talisman
India v England, 2nd Test, Mohali, 4th day
Abetted by the bounce that makes him such a fearsome proposition in the final stages of a Test, Kumble was back in his element. Not surprisingly, with their talisman to the fore, so were India... more
A man apart
Kumble storms into the 500-wicket club
Even in this brave new world of Indian cricket, Anil Kumble remains a man apart... more
Where now for VVS?
India v England, 2nd Test, Mohali
There is more than a touch of piquancy in the fact that the final day of this Mohali Test will mark the fifth anniversary of VVS Laxman's amble to the Eden Gardens wicket, and perhaps the greatest Test innings of the modern age... more
Munaf embraces the hopes of a nation
India v England, 2nd Test, Mohali, 1st day
'It's better to burn out than to fade away' might sound profound when you're listening to Neil Young, but it's the last thing you want from young cricketers with genuine potential... more
Succumbing to swing
India v England, 1st Test, Nagpur, 3rd day
Dileep Premachandran considers how Matthew Hoggard's swing did for India's batsmen on the third day at Nagpur... more
England's cupful of woes
Sixteen months ago, the cosy little pavilion enclosure at Nagpur was the scene of considerable jubilation as Australia ended an Indian jinx that had lasted 35 years. A week ago, England would have looked to the venue of the first Test and anticipated endi... more
Longest kiss goodnight
If all the gambles pay off, and India triumph at Nagpur, it will be hailed as a masterstroke on the part of the selectors and the team management. ... more
Start me up
The time is ripe to groom another opener for India in one day internationals ... more
Tendulkar the Strong
Pakistan v India, 1st ODI, Peshawar
Dileep Premachandran on Sachin Tendulkar's controlled hundred after coming under much criticism for his failure in the Test series against Pakistan... more
Sophisticated slogging
India in Pakistan, 1st Test, Lahore 2005-06
India scorched the cold turf to the tune of 258 runs in 47 overs... more
Will he or won't he?
Ganguly, and the opening contest
Usually, warm-up matches, especially on the final day, are about as fascinating as drying distemper, but when India came out to bat on Monday afternoon at the Bagh-e-Jinnah, there was an interesting sub-plot that made proceedings particularly engrossing... more
A sordid relationship
What was billed as media interaction day with the Indian cricket team instead became a fiasco of a press conference punctuated by awkward silences and media inaction... more
Huffs, puffs and a fashion crisis
Pre-Test preparations at the Gaddafi Stadium
Even from 50 yards away, the lank hair and the powerful shoulders are unmistakable, as is the shake of the head that gets the locks out of his face as he turns back to start his bowling run... more
Of pitches and prejudice
What if ball dominates bat for a change?
Why is the ICC suddenly scrutinising the pitches?... more
A genius at work
Forget the cynics, Muralitharan is a master
Muralitharan has always lived life with a smile, refusing to be cowed by the poisoned darts sent his way... more
Being there
Years from now, if you're an Indian cricket aficionado, they might ask you where you were at 4:45pm on a wintry December evening at the Ferozshah Kotla... more
Who dares wins
Bench strength is the key to World Cup success
To travel around India the past month has been to come face-to-face with considerable angst over India's rotation policy in one-day internationals... more
The fans deserve better
The real objects of ire and ridicule should be those who drew up such a mindless itinerary in the first place... more
The fighter still remains - Watching Ganguly
India v Sri Lanka, 1st Test, Chennai
Dileep Premachandran watched Sourav Ganguly's return to the ranks as India prepared for the first Test... more
Driven by sentiment
Ganguly's inclusion in the Test squad
The time taken to deliberate on the squad to take on Sri Lanka said much about the different pressures at work on the selection committee... more
'I am sure I will get a chance'
Even from 50 yards away, you can't miss the relaxed stance and the glorious flourish with which VVS Laxman leans into an off-drive... more
From potential to performance
India v South Africa, 1st ODI, Hyderabad
A few more innings like this, added to an extra pinch of consistency, and India may once again whole-heartedly embrace a player who has only flirted casually with greatness since that most eye-catching calling card in East Africa... more
The perils of selective selection
Dileep Premachandran cites a few glaring selection blunders as reasons for the World XI surrendering so meekly... more
Indian cricket's Canterbury tale
That John Wright was able to touch so many hearts so far from his North Canterbury roots tells you all you need to know about a truly remarkable individual... more
Decline and fall
The strength of character that India showed in Australia, and then again in Pakistan, proved to be as fleeting as winter sunshine... more
India need new spin
Bring on the next generation of slow bowlers... more
Forget history
India's cricketers would do well to put the past behind them when they take on Australia... more
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