A strong self-belief is driving the Indians. In the past the side would have just caved in under the pressure of scoring 400 odd runs. But Viru showed the way and the others simply followed in his path. In Sehwag India have found a true match-winner. He along with Gambhir gave India a rollicking start that completely demoralised the English. After his departure early next day, came Sachin and Yuvaraj to complete the task with 20 odd overs to spare. It looks like 20-20 cricket has surely made the Indians a lot more confident in their own abilities. Fast scoring and aggression which is the hallmark of 20-20 cricket has made Tests much more fun.

For more than 3 days England side dominated the show.They were all set to wrap up the match if India didn’t manage a draw. But the complexion of the match changed with Sehwag coming out to bat on the fourth day. He simply belted the ball all over the place like he was playing in a 20-20 match not a Test match. Soon he had scored 85 runs completely dominating the bowlers and demoralizing them.  Gamhir played more sedately from the other end. With Sehwag’s departure early on the 5th day things looked a little more iffy. Gambhir and VVS added a few more runs and departed soon. Dravid’s luck hadn’t turned yet and he went cheaply putting India under slight pressure. In came Yuvaraj and Sachin to bat majestically and with mastery to script a famous victory on a crumbly pitch.

Getting such a huge score on a 5th day wicket when the ball was bouncing unevenly in such a manner is indeed wonderful. It was fitting tribute to Mumbai after the massacre last month. The Chennai Test will be remembered as one of best come from behind victories for India. Dhoni called it the toughest win of his short career 4 test matches as captain.

This should give every member of the team tremendous confidence that they can win in the most of impossible of situations. Congratulations to the Indian team and management for a famous win.

The other casuality is of course the Champions League which was to have started Dec 03. No dates have been announced yet.

But India is the most powerful cricketing nation in the world. We have thousands of youngsters playing cricket, we have the richest cricketing body in the world, we have the biggest endorsements and biggest cricketing stars, we have the biggest fan base and we have the richest cricketing league. So, not playing cricket in India will suck the life out of cricket. Sri Lanka has had a civil war for years, Zimbabwe has its racial and corruption issues, Pakistan has turned too dangerous but still cricket was not as threatened as it is today.

India is the lifeline for cricket and not having cricket in India will mean the end of the game as we know it today.

So, what direction will cricket take? How will the future of cricket be affected?

Will terrorism spell the doom for cricket and many other things we enjoy as our freedoms in a democratic India?

Share your thoughts.

It’s one more horrible reminder of how vulnerable we are to terrorists. These guys came in boats and started firing on innocent people in hotels, train stations and roads.  Our top police and commandos have been killed in the attack.

But my take is that the teams from the foreign shores have the advantage of a surprise element. We don’t know much about these teams or the players who constitute the teams. So, it’s an even advantage.

The crowd ofcourse will root for the local teams.
So, let’s see how things go.