India's saviour, yet again.

The script for India’s sorry demise in South Africa had already been written. After the meek capitulation at Centurion even more embarrassment was said to be in store for the Indian cricket team in Kingsmead, the fastest and the bounciest of all venues in the country. Haunting memories of the 1996 Durban Test did not help either. On that occasion, India had been bowled out for 100 and 66 in their 2 innings, one Indian batsman after another succumbing haplessly to fiery pace bowling. But this Indian team was not like the one that toured South Africa in 1996. This team was an embodiment of all the positive changes that Indian cricket had undergone in the 14 years from 1996 to 2010. Under pressure of retaining their number 1 status in Tests, the Indian team responded. And how!

Things got off to the worst possible start for India when Dhoni lost the crucial toss yet again. As expected, South Africa put India into bat on a green hard surface. However, to most Indian supporters’ surprise India got off to a decent start. With Sehwag and Vijay riding their luck India reached 43-0. Then Steyn struck. Sehwag was gone and soon Vijay followed him back to the pavilion. Sachin Tendulkar played some good looking shots before falling to the debutant Tsotsobe. An absolute peach from Steyn later, India found themselves at 117-4 with Dravid gone too. Laxman was the only Indian batsman who looked at ease with the conditions, playing shots on both sides of the wicket in his inimitable style. He fell unfortunately, to a stunning catch from Tsotsobe at mid on, but his batting had shown enough signs of things to come. Thereafter, wickets fell regularly and only decent contributions from Dhoni and Harbhajan could prop India up to 205. By no means an imposing score, but on this demon of a wicket it still provided India’s bowlers  something to fight with. And boy did they fight!

I wouldn’t disagree with anybody who says Zaheer is, at the moment, one of the best bowlers in Test cricket around the world. He has become a master of swing and seam and his consistent line and length means he is able to execute his plans to the last detail. Perhaps South Africa were too confident of themselves or they’d forgotten to factor in Zaheer’s presence and the difficult batting conditions, either way they soon found themselves in a gooey mess soon. Zaheer accounted for the openers and Ashwell Prince, while a lucky deflection off Ishant Sharma ran out Kallis at the non strikers end and Harbhajan picked up the crucial wicket of Hashim Amla. Thereafter 3 world class catches by Dravid(this one was truly phenomenal), Pujara and Harbhajan mopped up the Proteas’ tail and they were all out for 131, handing India a vital lead of 74 runs.

In the second innings, India found themselves in trouble at 56-4, but Laxman decided to stamp his authority on the game at this point. He is the undisputed God of 2nd Innings’ and he proved it here yet again. Batting as if he was created only for the purpose of thwarting South Africa on a venomous Kingsmead track, he built up crucial partnerships with Pujara, Dhoni and Zaheer Khan in succession to take India’s lead beyond 300. During his stay at the crease, not once was he hurried by the South African speed merchants; an amazing contrast to the batsmen at the other end who were hurried and hassled throughout by the bounce and pace of the wicket. Zaheer Khan played as important a hand in batting as he did with his bowling, adding 80 priceless runs with Laxman for the 9th wicket. There is something about Laxman that brings out the best in tail enders. India were finally bowled out for 228, a lead of 302 runs, with Laxman falling last for 96.  He richly deserved a century for his efforts but his career will not be measured merely by the numbers against the 100s/50s columns; his innumerable match saving knocks mean his place as one of India’s great cricketing legends is ensured.

Graeme Smith came out to bat with a clear plan. He started counter attacking the Indian bowling and it paid him rich dividends. The Springboks raced to 63-0 at over 5 runs an over. At which point, a bouncer from Sreesanth drew a false shot from Smith and he was caught by Dhoni. The dismissal was well planned by Sreesanth who sought to get under Smith’s skin from the start and the provocations paid off. Zaheer got rid of Peterson a short while later, bowled off his thigh pads, perhaps a touch unfortunately. The dangerous Amla who had been India’s bane last year and also at Centurion then fell to Sreesanth playing a rash far shot away from his body. South Africa ended the day’s play needing 193 runs for victory with 7 wickets in hand. The experienced Kallis and the flamboyant de Villiers were at the crease. The match was evenly balanced at this stage.

The 4th morning started with the Indian speedsters bowling immaculately, leaving Kallis and de Villiers with very few opportunities to score. Then Sreesanth produced the ball of the series to remove Kallis. The ball pitched on good length and just kept rising from then on. Kallis tried his best to get out of harm’s way but all he could do was glove the ball for a simple catch at slips. De Villers and Boucher were then removed in quick succession, both falling to dubious lbw decisions. The South Africans wouldn’t have been too happy about that and it certainly made the case for using the UDRS stronger. From that point on, India were in control as they neared victory. Ashwell Prince played a sedate innings of 39 and Albie Morkel counter attacked his way to 20 quick runs, but that was never going to be enough. South Africa were all out for 215, falling 87 short of their target. India had leveled the series.

The Indians were jubilant and rightly so. But noticeably, none of them were going overboard. Winning has become a habit for this team and they know there is more work to be done before they can start celebrating. The Cape Town Test starts in 2 days time and the Indians will know they have a very good chance of winning their first Test series in South Africa. This was a wonderful Test match and it just goes on to show how important it is to make pitches that offer some assistance to bowlers rather than dead, flat tracks that produce only run fests. Hope the Cape Town test turns out to be as entertaining as this one.

5 months of football and 20 games played would suggest that Mancini is in with an exactly  4/5 probability of making that Manchester City dream come true. City are  1 of 5 teams who look like vying for the Champions’ League spots – Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham being the others. Judging by their form and consistency in recent years, it is fairly certain Manchester United will finish among the Top2, leaving the remaining 4 teams to fight for the 3 available places. Arsenal have the strongest squad among the 4, but their inconsistencies, goalkeeping woes and lack of confidence means they are unpredictable and consistently inconsistent. Yet, I don’t think they’ll finish below 3. Tottenham are playing exciting, attacking football on the back of Van der Vaart (who has been the buy of the season), Modric and of course the irrepressible Gareth Bale. But their defence is plagued with injuries and they still haven’t got that consistency about them that sets top teams apart from the commoners. Chelsea – ah! How the mighty have fallen from their thrones onto the dusty ground. Ancelotti is paying the price for retaining a side which is getting old and for letting too many important players leave over the summer. If things carry on like this, Chelsea may well find themselves in a situation towards the end of the season where they are staring at a 5th place finish. All of which sets us up nicely to take a look at Manchester City.

They have a superb squad, no two ways about that. They have a wealth of attacking options. Yet Mancini has often been criticized for choosing to start with 3 defensive midfielders in Yaya Toure, De Jong and Gareth Barry. The accusations  are true, Mancini has indeed been overly defensive at times this season. Sticking Tevez alone up field compromises their attacking potential and it is a testament to the guy’s form that he has still managed to notch up 12 goals. Young Italian forward Mario Balotelli is starting to find form as his hat-trick last night against Villa would suggest. Adam Johnson must feel that he is being woefully underutilized and rightly so. Given’s frustrations are no secret and it is very likely that he will seek to move away from City in January.  Also moving away would be strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Roque Santa Cruz, paving way for Edin Dzeko according to strong rumours. The addition of Dzeko would mean City have probably the best striking force in the whole of Europe, a scary proposition for their rivals. Their defence is solid for the most part and would be further boosted by the return of left back Aleksandr Kolarov from a long term injury. With two successively convincing wins under their belts and second place in the table(albeit having played 2 games more than their rivals), City seem to be hitting top form at the right time.

So it looks like the race for 4th spot is going to be as tight as last year again. If you ask me, between Tottenham and Man City, I’d back Tottenham to clinch 4th spot but you never can tell. The difference between Tottenham and Man City is not much and taking into account Chelsea’s poor form and the unpredictable nature of the league this season, City might as well gain that much coveted Champions’ League spot. If they fail to however, I am fairly certain it would mean curtains for Mancini’s career as Manchester City manager.

Since the sacking, Blackburn have played two matches. They mustered a draw against struggling West Ham and were soundly beaten by Stoke City. Allardyce sympathizers, of which there are many in Blackburn and elsewhere, are already chuckling.  As it is, the aspirations of the club have never been too high.  A mid table finish comfortably above the relegation zone is deemed a decent season.  Hence the sacking of the club manager at a time when they were sitting pretty at 13th in the table, has left a lot of fans bewildered and some fuming. Now some of them fear for the safety of the club under Steve Kean, who used to be the reserve team coach. It has not been a popular move in the players’ circle as well, with club captain Christopher Samba and New Zealand defender Ryan Nelsen already making their dis pleasures  known over the media. Sam Allardyce himself, who was enthusiastic about the new ownership before getting the sack, was at a loss to explain the developments.

From a neutral’s perspective, how was the move? Well, even though I am not too big a fan of Sam Allardyce and his footballing ways, but sacking him with the club doing reasonably well and what is increasingly looking like without a backup alternative, was naive to say the least. The inexperience of the Indian owners in football business showed to the fullest extent. Media speculation is rife that Venky’s want Blackburn to play eye catching football and hence Sam Allardyce hardly fit the bill for them. Well, it’s all very well to want to play eye catching football, but what do you do if you don’t have the required personnel to do that? Survival is the first and foremost objective.  If you ask me, I can see two factors which might have prompted the inexperienced owners to sack Allardyce so soon. One was the humiliating 7-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester United, the first game that the new owners came to see. Second, Bolton Wanderers, a club which is often clubbed together with Blackburn when describing their style of play(which has been ugly, to put it bluntly) seem to have altered their style of play under Owen Coyle and have been playing really well this season.

Only time will tell whether Venky’s get away with this rather reckless move. But one thing is certain – they are highly inexperienced in football management and henceforth will be well advised to make such important footballing decisions in consultation with others at the club who know a thing or two about football.  One can only hope that other Indian tycoons who are looking at buying football clubs abroad come better prepared.

Here’s hoping for Queen’s Park Rangers to be the ones. Cheers!