India mauled !

Indian cricket at the crossroads again. The Holy Trinity and Co fell like nine pins. Gone are the days of formidable Indian batting displays.

The Kangaroo quickies bowled with fire and India were skittled out for 169.

Dhoni, meanwhile, defended Indian batsmen and lauded the Aussie demon fast bowlers.

He said he is not worried by the lacklustre performance.

Said he "Not really. They are very experienced batsmen. You have to give credit to Australia bowlers for the way they bowled. They kept a nagging line outside the off-stump and that's why they got us."

He also praised the lower order Kangaroo batsmen for making contributions with the bat in Australia's first innings.

"Bowlers brought us back in to the game. We were short by 50-odd runs in the first innings. Their lower-order scored some runs, if we had got them earlier, we would have had 50-60 runs less to chase" he said.

He said India has resilience.

"We are known to be tentative starters, I think in the next game we will be slightly better."

Clarke hailed his pace trio and the experience of Hussey and Ponting.

"Our tail were outstanding with their batting, and we have to give full credit to the bowlers. You always want to have plans against whatever team you play and we were able to execute the plans.

"Credit has to go to Ponting and Hussey as well. India are a fantastic team. It is great to have them here in Australia. We know they'll come hard at us in Sydney" Clarke said.

We have said in our columns that astrologically this is not a good phase for India, with Jupiter in the 10th and Saturn in the 4th. Now it is a real problem Down Under India is facing, despite the Holy Trinity ( Laxman, Dravid & Sachin ).

Cosmic Consciousness through BM !

He had given the commandment " By giving thyself up in heart and soul to me , thou shalt overcome all difficulties by My Grace" !


Ma chittha sarva durgani mat prasadat tharishyashi


The wise man, therefore, tries to reach the state of Tat Chitta, that is reaching a state given up completely to the Supreme. The agitations of the mind, the lusts of the body and the imperfections of the intellect which vex us will no longer be there in the state of Tat Chitta, which is Cosmic Consciousness in toto !

One should therefore surrender completely to Him. Embrace none but Him. Then He will reveal His golden gifts and also the secrets of the Universe to you !

Bridal Mysticism does not conflict with the Path of Wisdom.

To him who seeks Self Actualisation with a clear mind, to him the Lord reveals as I AM THAT ! This is Union via Wisdom and Bridal Mysticism accelerates evolution, so that Man can evolve to Godhead !

Hath he not said " Surrender all actions to Me and I shall deliver thee from all sin and evil?"

Sarva Dharman parityajya
Mamekam saranam vraja
Aham the sarva papebhyo
Mokshayishyami ma shucha

India strike back !

Umesh Yadav bagged three top wickets, as Australia plunged to 27/4. Then Ponting and Hussey played well and the Kangaroos are on a respectable 179/8 !

Hussey is still a thorn in the flesh for the Indians and is unconquered on 79. Ponting was out for 60.

Yadav was the pick of the bowlers with 4/49. Zaheer took 2/32 and Ishant and Ashwin scalped one each.

Earlier Dravid was bowled Hilfenhaus for 68 and Laxman was removed by Siddle for 2. Then Hilfenhaus removed Kohli and Dhoni and India plunged to 282 all out.

Experts say that chasing more than 250 is difficult at the MCG but Sehwag says chasing 300 can be easy.

India 214/3 !

Sehwag scored a quick fifty in reply to Australia's 333.

Zaheer took 4, Yadav 3 and Ashwin 3 and Australia crept to 333.

Later Yadav showed his aggression in scalping 2 early wickets and Australia were 50/2 yesterday. Then Cowan led the fightback with a brilliant 68. Ponting always is a thorn to the Indians and he scored a superb 62.

Then Khan struck removing Clarke and Hussey and Australia were in the doldrums again, at 5/205. Then the latter order batsmen fought for Australia, particularly Siddle who scored 41 and Haddin 27.

The latter order did well Australia and the Kangaroos recovered to 333, after being 214/6.

Sehwag has smashed Hilfenhaus or four and is now unconquered on 65. India, at the moment, are 89/1.

Sehwag perished in the 60's and now Tendulkar is batting with 71 not out and Dravid 60 not out out of a total of 214/2.

Tendulkar fell in the 70s, maybe the nervous 70s for him.

Maiden tons by Tiwari, Pollard !

Pollard and Tiwari took this glorious opportunity to record maiden tons. Tiwari was the Man of the Match, while Pollard with his ten sixes held the audience spellbound.

Needing 268, Wi started disastrously, losing four for just 36 runs, their top order blown by the Indian pacers, Mithun and Pathan. Jadeja then scalped Ramadin, till Pollard and Russell launched a counter offensive, with a 89 run blast off just 79 balls !

Both Irfan ( who dismissed Simmons with the first ball ) and Mithun impressed. And so did the Indian spinners.

Pollard said he hopes to be more consistent !

"I hope that I am more consistent. Thank God, I got my maiden hundred. Wanted the team to win. Didn't happen today.

"Just have to go back and reflect on what went wrong. First couple of games were really close. Hopefully, we'll take a couple of months off international cricket and reflect and come back strong for Australia".

"Significant hundred. I was looking for a different approach after I have had a couple of starts in the earlier matches. Thank God, one of the best fielders (Kohli) in India dropped me on 99 tonight."

"I was looking for singles, and when the ball is in your arc, go for it. Hopefully, I will learn from this innings and do well for West Indies in future also."

Pollard ignored the criticism that he is only a T20 player.

"Everybody has an opinion. As far as I am concerned, I feel that when I go back to my room I should know that I have given my hundred per cent. I can be harsh with myself, if I've played a bad shot. But at the end of the day, what people have to say are just opinions."

The problem with the WI side is psychological.

"It's just a mental aspect or killer instinct. Past West Indian sides had it, then the Aussies had it and now India is doing really well. Hopefully, we'll be better equipped mentally to handle close matches in the future."

Tiwari dedicates century to Kolkotta victims

"I want to dedicate my Man-of-the-Match award to all the people who died in the Calcutta hospital tragedy. It was an unfortunate incident and it should not have happened,"

"I enjoyed it. It wasn't coming onto the bat. Generally I play spin pretty well, so I made sure I took advantage of the loose balls" he said.

He retired hurt at 104.

"I didn't hydrate enough before the match, that is my mistake. I had cramps because of that. I have to hydrate before playing in future" he said.

Meanwhile, Gambhir, the acting skipper, paid tributes to his bowlers who did not allow Pollard to run away with the game.

"We know what Pollard can do on his day, but credit to the bowlers who stuck to their game. It was a matter of just one ball. Every ball he (Pollard) middled was going out of the ground, but you have to stick to your line and length" he said.

"Our bowlers did just that. We missed Ravichandran Ashwin in the spin department. But Rahul Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja bowled well" he added.

"We thought 240 would be a good total. But we ended up scoring 266, thanks to Manoj. Good to see him get the hundred, hopefully he will go on and get many more.

Incidentally, Sehwag was happy with his young team.

"I am satisfied with the young team. Especially with the young fielding and bowling unit. West Indies have some big hitters but our bowlers did well throughout the series. Credit to the players for winning the series 4-1" he said.

"They were all eager to play. I asked everybody can you take a break, they said no, so I had to take the break. I am happy that all of them played in the series and they did well" he said.

"It's a good end to the season. We beat England 5-0, New Zealand 5-0 and now West Indies 4-1".

On the contrary, Sammy congratulated Pollard, who almost pulled it off.

"Congratulations to Pollard on his first one-day hundred. It was really good to watch. We have been paying some good cricket, we have been fighting throughout, but unfortunately we are not finishing things off" he said.

"Everybody expected us to roll over, we did not. We showed our never-say-die attitude. I'd like to congratulate the boys on the effort, the way they supported me in the tough series. We can only move forward from here. Congratulations to Sehwag and his team, but we can hold our heads high" he said.

Rohit Sharma, the Man of the Series, said he had forgotten the past and will make a new beginning.

Australia firm in chase !

Australia are 72/0, needing 241 to win.

Seems to be a cliff hanger.

NZ won by seven runs, in an incredible match. Bracewell took six wickets and the Aussie middle order collapsed. David Warner remained unbeaten with 123, carrying his bat through. This is NZ' first win on these shores after 1985 !

Always believed Viru would score 200: Dhoni

Dhoni was all praise for Sehwag for his 219. He always believed that the maverick Veeru can do it !

"I want to say that others may have said that are a few who could score double century in ODIs, but I always believed Viru could always score 200 on his day.With Viru, it's not just about big shots, but calculative batting," Dhoni said.

He was enthused by the fact that both double centurions are from India.

"I am proud that both Viru and Sachin Paaji are Indians, and would not mind if they score double centuries again" said the whirlwind wicketkeeper batsman.