In my last post, I had talked about the thrill of watching a keenly contested Test match. I am not sure if the rival captains for the Ashes series, Andrew Strauss and Ricky Ponting, read it. But what better example could there be of a cricket match than the first Test match?

The last batting pair for England, Monty Panesar and Jamie Anderson managed to survive m

I have hardly been watching cricket for the last two weeks. The blame lies, in part, to the overkill of T20 with the IPL and the ICC World T20 over the last ten weeks. So, the India-West India ODI series was a little bit of a washout for me. And I am not referring to the rains and thunderstorms that the players had to brave!

I have been reading a little bit about cricket, though. I had time to read the Colin Cowdrey Memorial Lecture delivered by the former Aussie wicketkeeper Adam Gil

So, the team that did not have any member playing for the IPL has finally emerged champion for the ICC T20 World Championship. I am hardly one to suggest a conspiracy theory against the IPL but I wonder if more should be read into this coincidence.

Am I happy that Pakistan has won? Honestly, I would have preferred to see Sri Lanka win since I always believed that they looked a more complete side. On the day of the final, I must say, Pakistan deserved to win since they played better.

Before the semi-finals, South Africa had everything going for them. The batting had clicked, having scored 211, even though it was against the minnows. The spinners had managed to tighten India into submission. Wayne Parnell had one of the best bowling figures in the tournament and looked to get better with every outing. The batting looked solid and AB de Villiers was having a fantastic run with the bat.

They were unbeaten in the first two rounds of the ICC World T20. Nothing, absolut

So, Team India has been kicked out of the ICC World T20. Predictably, Dhoni is facing the flak from experts, media, former cricketers and, worse, the public. He has even apologised to the public after India lost to England.

The team now needs to focus on salvaging some pride by beating South Africa, which is looking like a champion side. As the Indians take the field, India will need to play like there is no tomorrow. That is the intensity that the team needs to show if it has to give