The ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat said when the two-day ICC History Conference looked back at the past 100 years of the game as part of its centenary year celebrations, it was clear that the sport was “resilient, strong and still developing”.

“Exploring the history of the ICC and cricket over the past 100 years has been a fascinating and educational experience. What I believe it has shown us is that cricket is resilient, strong and still developing,” Lorgat said at the end of the conference.

“The conference showed that our great sport has faced challenges and some of those challenges have been substantial.

However, it also showed that cricket has always coped with those challenges and has adapted to the extent that it is now stronger and more diverse than ever before,” he said.

“We have three formats, the ICC has more members than ever before – 104 of them – and within those members there are more people playing the game than at any time in our history,” he added.

One of the strongest childhood images for a generation was Sunil Gavaskar, frozen in his stance, having left the ball alone, bat pointing down the pitch, holding the stare of a glaring fast bowler. Since then he has been an earnest leader,  trenchant columnist, decisive official and all-round icon. Thankfully, he didn’t shoulder arms when the HT asked him a few questions on his 60th birthday.

When you started, where did the self-belief come from and what made your success possible?

To be honest, I did not have plenty of self-belief when I made my debut. But I was optimistically confident and maybe that helped me. The fact that I was an opening batsman from schooldays helped me enormously in developing a method to combat attacks. The fact that I had to wait so long to play for Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy made me determined, and I think determination and concentration were the key.

No Indian can forget the 1983 World Cup and the 1985 World Championship of Cricket.

Yes, the 1983 World Cup win is the greatest win in Indian cricket. To be a part of that is really huge. The 1983 win made 1985 easier because we had the belief that we could beat anybody anywhere.

Like you, Kapil Dev was a pillar of Indian cricket. A word on Kapil the cricketer, the person and your relationship.

Kapil was the greatest match-winner in Indian cricket. He could turn the match around with bat or ball. I have rarely seen anybody with such natural athleticism. He would have been a champion in any sport that he had chosen. He is also instrumental for all the new-ball bowlers we have today. It was only after youngsters saw what he did that made them take up quick bowling in a country that was keen, till then, only on batsmen and spinners.

As a person he has matured fabulously from the uncertain and diffident youngster to the man of the world that he is now today. Contrary to public perception, we got along very well during our playing days and now he is one of the handful of cricketers (that can be counted on fingers of one hand) who I call on their birthday. He calls me too.

Looking back, how do you view the 1981 Melbourne walkout?

I regretted doing that. Even today I feel that, as the captain, despite the abusive provocation, I should have kept my cool. It wasn’t the bad decision but the abuse that I got when I was making my way to the pavilion that made me turn back and ask Chetan (Chauhan) to leave with me.

If the abuse hadn’t happened, I would’ve carried on to the dressing room and taken my anger at the wrong decision in there. After all, it wasn’t the first time I had received a bad decision, or the last.

You are taught at an early age to accept the umpire’s decision and that’s exactly what I would have done. What you aren’t taught, however, is how to deal with abuses.

It must’ve been tough for Rohan to grow up in cricket with the famous surname. How do you view his achievements?

Yes, he had to grow up with a surname which can be a huge burden. But more than that, he had to contend with people who were trying to get even with his father for perceived slights, imaginary or otherwise. Considering all that, he didn’t do badly at all. The other problem was that his father used up all the luck, so he didn’t have much when it came to close decisions, which could have made a difference.

How genuine are the fears of T20 cricket swamping other forms of the game?

Test cricket has been around for more than a century. When 50-over cricket came in, doomsayers predicted the death of Tests. But the 50-over game made Tests more aggressive, and galvanised Test cricket. Hardly a Test is drawn today. Just like ODIs energised Test cricket, T20 will energise the 50-over game.

Source : Hindustan Times

The match started an hour late following heavy rains just after India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni won the toss and elected to field, forcing the umpires to reduce it to a 49-over-a-side affair.

West Indies were 27 for one when rain interrupted play for the second time after they had lost the crucial wicket of skipper Chris Gayle for a duck.

Runako Morton (12 not out) and Ramnaresh Sarwan (12 not out) were at the crease when play was called off.

With this victory, India registered only their second bilateral series triumph in the Caribbean. Last time they won a series in West Indies was in 2002 under Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy.

India had earlier won the first match of the series by 20 runs, while West Indies cameback strongly in the second, hammering the Dhoni-led side by eight wickets.

However riding on Dhoni’s brilliance, India took the unassailable 2-1 lead, winning the third ODI by six wickets with a ball to spare.

Electing to field, Ishant Sharma gave India the dream start, picking up the vital wicket of Gayle in the second ball of the innings, caught behind by Dhoni with the hosts failing to open their account.

From there on, the West Indian batsmen found runs hard to come by against the accurate bowling of Ishant and Ashish Nehra. The hosts’ struggle can be gauged from the fact they failed to struck a single boundary in the 7.3 overs theyfaced.

Yuvraj smashed one of his typically dazzling centuries and comeback man Dinesh Karthik struck a solid 67 as India set the West Indies a stiff 340-run target.

West Indies put up a brave fight with a 65-run first wicket stand between C.H Gayle and R.S. Morton and a third wicket 51-run partnership between R.R Sarwan and S. Chanderpaul, though losing wickets at regular intervals.

The match tilted towards India after Chanderpaul was out for 63 in the 36th over bowled by Yusuf Pathan.

However, a promising eight-wicket stand of 44 runs between D.E. Bernard and D. Ramdin kept the West Indies hope alive at the end.

But Indians quickly came back into the game and bowled out the West Indies for 319 with 11 balls to spare.

Earlier, Yuvraj (131, 102 balls, 7 sixes, 10 fours) and Karthik (77b, 1×6, 6×4) set the Indians on course for a big total with their 135-run third-wicket partnership.

It was further consolidated by an 86-runs fourth-wicket stand between Yuvraj and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (41, 41 balls, 1×6, 1×4) off who earlier won the toss and decided to bat.

In the rear, Yusuf Pathan chipped in with 40 not out (38b, 2×6, 2×4) and Harbhajan Singh 21 not out (13b, 2×6) to swell the total to 339 for six.

The start, however, was not encouraging with both Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma succumbing to short-pitched deliveries, trying ambitious shots. Gautam top-edged a hook off Jerome Taylor and Sharma perished failing to control a pull off David Bernard.

Yuvraj’s spectacular innings fetched him the man of the match title.

Sarwan also said his team will have to click as a unit as they tackle the Indian bowling attack.

“We’ve got experience within experience and hopefully we’ll come together as a unit. Over the years, we’ve tried to rotate the strike as much as we can but we know how good Harbhajan Singh is and he’s been a very good performer for India over the years,” Sarwan said.

The Guyanese felt the key to his side’s success in the series beginning at Sabina Park, would be how well it could work on the ball.

“It’s important that (the West Indies) stay positive against him as well and the rest of the bowlers that we’ll be playing against but I think the key when we play India is to try and work the ball as much as we can,” he said.

Sarwan also felt that irrespective of their recent Super Eight match win over India in the Twenty20 World Cup in England, Indians will be “a handful in the Caribbean”.

Dyson said they have chalked out strategies to tackle key Indian players, though he admitted the new members in the side could spring a surprise.

India would take field in the first of the four ODIs at Sabina Park here Friday, with key players like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan missing from the series.

“We will play aggressive cricket, we will play to win as always, and we will aim for consistency of performance,” Dyson was quoted in the media here Wednesday.

“The players love the sunshine on their back, they like the warmer temperature, the local food. Of course, they like being home. They missed their families while they were away in England and getting back to the Caribbean will suit them down to the ground,” said the former Australian Test opener.

West Indies are high on form and confidence after reaching the semi-final of the World Twenty20 in England.

Skipper Chris Gayle led the side from the front with some smashing knocks as West Indies demolished Australia in the group stage and then went on to upset India and England in the Super Eights to become surprise semifinalists before falling to Sri Lanka.

Dyson said they are ready with a plan to combat the Indians.

“We always look at the opposition and try and determine who the key players are for the opposition and think of ways that we may combat those key players. What we don’t know, of course, is from the lower-profile players, how they are going to perform and perform consistently throughout a series. So that’s something we have to monitor as the series progresses.”