Wherever the Indian team goes, whatever they do, the injuries are always a part of the side. This time, it is the turn of Ishant Sharma to join the list. According to the latest reports, the Indian selectors have named Munaf Patel as a back-up for Sharma, who has injured his ankle.

So, there is no Zaheer Khan, no S Sreesanth, no Harbhajan Singh, and now Ishant is also out. Gautam Gambhir and Sachin Tendulkar are already missing whereas MS Dhoni’s fingers are slowly breaking down enough to cause issues while behind the stumps.

What is the BCCI doing? Already, they have received a letter from the Indian team management enlightening them about the issues that the side is facing, and the fact that if they play so much cricket, then there could be issues.

However, the key members of the BCCI are busy fighting a case against Lalit Modi. Shashank Manohar, N Srinivasan and the rest of the top officials are all busy in that. How can you expect them to even think of thinking about the good of the Indian cricket as a whole? And therein lies the problem, which is rather difficult to overcome. At least till they are done with the Modi shenanigans.

Trust Dhoni to come up with another set of excuses. What is it with Dhoni and this new-found self, where he just refuses to accept that his team played badly!

After all, after losing a game by 200 runs, one can barely make excuses. While losing the toss or an inexperienced bowling attack can be used as excuses to justify a loss, it is difficult to understand a 200-run loss by any stretch of imagination.

And why would he not answer a question thrown to him by the media. After all, it was not a derogatory question; only related to whether Rahul Dravid’s absence in the team. Dhoni could have easily said that his job was to play with the best team given to him by the selectors. Instead, he shot back that it was a wrong question to ask and that he wouldn’t answer it!

Then, he was asked about Yuvraj Singh’s form and he gave it back, yet again. Why? Isn’t that a valid question? Some may say that Yuvraj deserves a long rope in the side, while others may not. Why cannot it be answered straight?

Clearly, Dhoni is losing his charm.

For the umpteenth time, England’s Stuart Broad would have probably thought that he could get away. So, as he tried his level best to take a wicket in the second England-Pakistan Test match and failed, he thought that he could hit the Pakistani batsman and get away again. After all, his father is a match referee himself!

Thankfully, neither the ball hit the batsman too hard, nor did the match referee Ranjan Madugalle overlook the incident. Broad was charged by the referee and now stands to lose some money or a game. One can be rest assured that he will not be banned for a game, but at least it is a start.

Talking of a start, one wonders whether this is the start of a turnaround for the Pakistanis. They lost the first game by 354 runs to England, and followed it up with an 72 all out in the ongoing Test match.

However, in the second innings, when it looked like the game was going to be decided by an innings win, the likes of debutant Zulqarnain Haider, Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Aamer got together with the bat and ensured that the Pakistanis will fight till the last ball is bowled.

While they may still lose the game, it could just be the start of something new.

© CricPad

It is difficult to define some of the shots that the Indian batsmen played on the third day of the third Test match against Sri Lanka.

While I agree that Virender Sehwag plays his game the way he always does, attacking and aggressive, he also needs to respect the opposition bowler to begin. Especially when his team is in a position from where they can collapse.

Then, there was Sachin Tendulkar. It was early on the third day and he hadn’t got his eye in, and yet, he played a stroke against Lasith Malinga, that, at best can be defined as avoidable.

VVS Laxman got to his half century, but was mesmerized a little by Ajantha Mendis. He could have seen off that period, but what he did was to play the ball straight to the slips. MS Dhoni got hit by Lasith Malinga once, and he tried to pull the next ball to the fence – instead giving a simple catch to the wicket-keeper.

One gets the sense that the top-order should have watched the way the Indian tail, especially Amit Mishra and Abhimanyu Mithun batted. They got hit many times, but failed to get ruffled and hung on for almost a match-saving partnership.

Sachin Tendulkar created history at the start of the third and the final Test match between India and Sri Lanka at the PSS in Colombo. By being a part of the Test match, Tendulkar became the first ever player in the history of the game to feature in 169 Test matches, something that no other player has ever done.

The previous record was held by Steve Waugh, who had played in 168 Test matches for Australia.

Tendulkar’s captain, MS Dhoni also entered the record books on the first day of this Test match as he lost his eighth successive toss and in turn was put into field by the opposite captain, Kumar Sangakkara.

This meant that the Indians had another struggling day in the field and managed to only throttle the Lankans without picking up too many wickets. Sangakkara was dropped early and looked set to get to his fourth successive century before he was dismissed.

The record for most number of successive centuries in Test cricket is held by Everton Weekes who had scored six in a row.

© CricPad

Indian batsman Yuvraj Singh, who was left out of the playing eleven, on Tuesday lost his cool and showed his middle finger at the Sri Lankan fans who jeered him with “water boy” chants during the third Test.

The incident happened during the opening day of the final Test when 12th man Yuvraj entered the ground and made his way towards his teammates with water bottles and some drinks in hand.

But soon a section of the spectators started booing by calling him “water boy”. An enraged Yuvraj then raised his middle finger towards the booing fans. More »

All set to become the most-capped Test player, Indian batting stalwart Sachin Tendulkar says the sky-high expectations of his cricket-mad nation are not a burden.

“It is not a burden. It is god’s gift the passion which I had (to play cricket) I got to work on it for 20 years. I enjoy every moment. I don’t think it as a burden. It was my desire in life that has happened,” Tendulkar said on Monday. More »