At Kingsmead, Durban, in the Test between England and South Africa, Graeme Swann, twirling and tweaking England to a massive win, proved to be our unlikely benefactor.

Against all odds, India end 2009 on top of the ICC’s Test rankings, and England’s win means the reign of Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s men at the top will extend longer than one would have thought.

South Africa needed to win their four-Test series against England 2-0 or better to displace India. With the first match of the series drawn and England winning the second on Wednesday, South Africa – yapping at India’s heels in the Test rankings – have no way of toppling India. At least not for the moment.

The other contenders, Australia, who dominated the last decade, have even less chance of catching up with India. Currently at No. 3, Australia thrashed Pakistan in Perth to take a 1-0 lead, but they need a 3-0 whitewash to just hang on to their current position. Not bad, to be on top as the decade ends. Can anyone say it wasn’t well deserved?

Gautam Gambhir’s prolific run of form since the start of 2008 has earned him a national honour from the President of India, Pratibha Patil. Gambhir on Saturday became the 41st cricketer to be felicitated with the Arjuna Award, instituted in 1961 by the Indian government to recognise outstanding achievement in national sport.

Since the start of last year, Gambhir has averaged 75.19 in Tests with five centuries – he has scored six in all since his debut in November 2004 – and seven fifties. Two of those hundreds came against Australia in the home series towards the end of 2008, which India won 2-0. He followed that up with two centuries in India’s 1-0 Test series win in New Zealand and played a critical role in drawing the second Test in Napier after India followed on. In 41 ODIs during the same time span, Gambhir averaged 44.31, scoring four centuries and nine fifties.

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag are among the other cricketers to have received this honour. Gambhir is the first cricketer to receive this award in three years; Anjum Chopra, the Indian batsman, who represents the women’s team was the last recipient of this honour.

“I am not pleased yet with what I have done,” Tendulkar, who has scored a record 12773 Test runs at an average of 54.58 from 159 matches, said in an interview with the Wisden Cricketer. “Sunil Gavaskar has told me that I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn’t. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim.” His other big cricketing ambition is to “win the World Cup in 2011″.

Tendulkar, 36, also spoke about how he has been consistently playing with pain. “I always play in pain, all the time. I played with a broken finger for the last three months, but you know when pain is manageable or not, and most of the time I can do it,” he said. “I can still do what I did when I was 25 but the body is changing, so your thought process has to change too. I have had to change how I think, which is about taking less risk.”

Tendulkar also disagreed with John Buchanan, former Australia coach, who felt Tendulkar had become susceptible to the short ball early in his innings because of a lack of footwork. “It is only his opinion; John Buchanan doesn’t have to be right all the time. If I couldn’t handle short deliveries, then I wouldn’t still be scoring runs,” he said. “Maybe he needs to change his opinion. There must be something very wrong with all the bowlers around the world that they have allowed me to score so many runs.”

Don Bradman had said Tendulkar reminded him of himself and the Indian batsman was the only modern player in Bradman’s all-time XI. Does Tendulkar think the same way about anyone? “I would say Virender Sehwag comes closest to my style.”

Tendulkar said he was not thinking about retirement yet but he would know when to quit cricket. “I will know when it is the right time, I won’t have to be dragged away. I am the person who will make the decision and I will know whether I still belong.”

He admitted life after cricket wouldn’t be easy. “It’s a scary thought. It has been there for my whole adult life, it will be difficult, I have been around for a long time, I can imagine when I finish I will long to face just 10 more balls but you have to move.”

There are trends developing in world cricket that are of concern to the future of the game, including in India, Indian coach Gary Kirsten said here, saying Team India has to decide its priorities in terms of test cricket and other forms of the game, like T20.

Kirsten was speaking Saturday at a gathering here organised by the Indian mission here for local and visiting captains of business and industry who had attended the Doing Business with India Conference.

‘It’s quite interesting that we’ve got a Twenty20 World Cup in April next year in the West Indies and Team India don’t play one T20 game until that tournament starts.

‘What should be happening is that we should be going on tour and playing six T20 games and one or two 50 over games. I think that’s going to happen – it’s just a matter of time.

Kirsten said he believed that 50-over games were ‘here to stay’.

On test cricket, Kirsten said: ‘The worrying side that I’m seeing is that a guy like Andrew Flinthoff as a high profile cricketer has now made the decision to leave test cricket because he feels that he can get more longevity out of his body and earn a much more money by moving away from test cricket and playing one day cricket and twenty over cricket.

‘He’s perfectly right in his decision. Why not?

‘The one area that is concerning me about where test cricket is going is that if you are going to be paying playing substantially more to play IPL as opposed to playing a test match for their country, it’s a natural progression that the guys are then going to say ‘I’m not interested in bowling 25 overs in a day when I can bowl four over a six-day period and earn three times as much.”

Kirsten said the ‘bottom line’ was that every country needed to look at test cricket and say how important it was to them.

‘Team India plays six tests this year. Is that sufficient or are there other priorities? I don’t know.’

‘We do need to look at the economics, but if we are going to keep test cricket going like we wanted to, we need to sort out the priorities of test cricket and (whether it) stands above anything else (like) T20 cricket.’

Gautam Gambhir had no idea he had just become the world’s best Test batsman when HT contacted him on Wednesday. Once he was sufficiently convinced that he had indeed topped the latest ICC rankings, the satisfaction in his voice was palpable.

“I had no clue about it, but yes, it sure feels great,” Gambhir said. “It feels great to have contributed to the team’s success. We have played some great Test cricket in the past and the fact that I played a part in that makes the feeling even better.”

Despite not having played a Test in more than three months, Gambhir on Wednesday became the first Indian since Rahul Dravid to top the rankings for Test batsmen. The Delhi opener, who was third on the last list, moved up after the previous No. 1, Pakistan’s Mohammad Yousuf, failed in both innings of the second Test against Sri Lanka. With Gambhir’s rise, Indians are on top of both the ODI and Test rankings for batsmen. M.S. Dhoni is the No. 1 ODI batsman currently.

Gambhir heaped praise on his opening partner Virender Sehwag, saying batting with him made things easier for him. “It always helps to have your best friend at the other end,” Gambhir said.

“I think the partnership we have, the understanding we share helped the team,” Gambhir said. “It is always great to be batting with him.”The fact that he is now the No.1 batsman in a format in which his ability to last, let alone succeed, had been often questioned, made the feeling all the more special for Gambhir.

“There were many questions about my technique and whether I could cut my teeth in Test cricket…With that in mind, to be at the top feels even better,” he said. “The New Zealand series was my first full Test tour outside the sub-continent and to have done well means a lot,” said the left-hander.

Gambhir might be the best Test batsman, but his recent form in limited-over formats has been scratchy. He, though, did not read too much in to it. “I am not looking back. I am concentrating on scoring runs in Sri Lanka,” Gambhir said.

Kingston (Jamaica): Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has urged his team-mates not to hide injuries, niggles and any other ailments ahead of the one-day series which begins here on Friday.

In what could be a blueprint for Dhoni’s regime as skipper of the Indian team from now on, the wicketkeeper-batsman gave his team members a dressing down in team hotel on Sunday, it’s reliably learnt.

In a meeting which lasted well beyond its’ schedule, Dhoni came down hard on the injury status within the ranks and stated boys need to be more truthful when it comes to injuries or any other personal issues which could affect a team’s performance.

“For me, it’s the team first and then the individuals and I’d hope it’s the same with everyone else in the group,” Dhoni is said to have stated to the other members of his group.

Besides injuries, there are other issues which Dhoni has decided to take head on.

He has urged his team members to take a break from the game in case they feel fatigue or injuries are stopping them from giving off his best for the team. If rest is the cure for an injury, a cricketer ought to opt for it rather than let fatigue or niggle become a major setback to him and to the team.

Dhoni must have had his deputy Virender Sehwag in mind while laying down this rule. Sehwag is not in the West Indies because of a shoulder injury which could take up to 16 weeks to heel. When the Delhi dasher arrived in England, he was said to have only a niggle in the shoulder. Subsequently, it was diagnosed to have a Grade 1 tear and now after a surgery, it’s turned out to be far more serious.

“If anyone wants to take a break from the game, please let me know or the BCCI,” has been Dhoni’s advice.
Dhoni was also critical of the lack of sufficient inputs from the seniors for the team’s welfare.

“I would urge seniors to give more and more inputs for the betterment of the team,” stated Dhoni.

A lot of senior cricketers, including Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag, are not in the squad to the West Indies. Still, quite a few, such as Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Harbhajan Singh are in the West Indies and can chip in with their valuable advice.

Alongside the warning to the seniors to get their act together, Dhoni has also urged juniors to take up more responsibility and chip in with their inputs.

“Remember, winning is a habit, losing is a process and nothing is a disaster,” was the parting shot of Dhoni to his team.

Suddenly the present series against the West Indies has assumed uncommon significance to Indian team. Dhoni wants his men to do well and gain a consolation win over the hosts after the disastrous showing of his team in the ICC World Twenty20 where despite being the defending champions, they lost all three of their Super Eight games and failed to make the cut for the semi-finals.

Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, in a confessional mode, blamed himself and his mates for not clicking as a unit in the ICC World Twenty20 but refused to blame fatigue as the reason for it.

“If three bowlers were on target then others were not, if some batters clicked, the others failed. A few individuals did well but as a unit we didn’t,” was Dhoni’s candid admission after his side had made a mess of a small target of 131 against South Africa here on Tuesday.

“The truth is we normally perform 80 per cent of our collective strength. Here we didn’t perform even 50 or 60 per cent.”

Dhoni was inclined to blame batting as the main falling of his side-rather than fatigue which has been the viewpoint of his coach Gary Kirsten.

“Key players, including me, were out of form. Our batting struggled and that hurt since we are always known for our batting.

“However, I never felt I was tired. You have to play 20 overs and you can manage it. It wasn’t like Sri Lanka (last year) where I thought I needed break and opted out. That was when I was really tired. Here I wasn’t even close to it.”

As for Kirsten’s suggestion that he might consider suggesting to BCCI to pull cricketers out of IPL ahead of national duty, Dhoni said the call ought to come from cricketers themselves.

“We cricketers are intelligent. I think we would know if pulling out is a better option. If you get injured, you are out of the game for three to six months. However, if you take a month’s off, you miss only a few weeks and that’s a batter option.

“I think more and more cricketers might do it so from now on.”

The Indian skipper admitted his side had niggles and injury but cricketers are battling it all the time.

“If you are looking for 100 per cent fitness then a cricketer might not play more than three or four series in a year.

“Sure very few were 100 per cent fit. Some had ankle, some shoulder injury. That’s why they were also not giving off their best in the field. But I am not sure if fatigue is the reason for it. These days you have rehab and can quickly come back to fitness.

The crowd, at the presentation ceremony, actually booed Dhoni but the Indian skipper was unaffected by it.
“It’s not the first time I have been booed. When we lost in 2007 World Cup, “mera antim sanskar” (my last rites) were also done. But I don’t feel bad. It shows the expectation levels of fans.

“I was told by a senior a few years ago. He said if somebody is appreciating you, don’t hit seventh heaven. If you fall on floor, it wouldn’t be good for you. So adopt a central path.and I try to do so.

India captain MS Dhoni accepted the blame for India’s exit from the ICC World Twenty20 but called it an overall team failure. “We stand up and say we didn’t perform well as a team,” a dejected Dhoni said after the defending champions crashed out following a three-run defeat to England.

This was India’s second straight loss at Lord’s in the Super Eights, the previous one coming against the West Indies. Dhoni sent England in to bat and, though the hosts set a par target of 154, India’s batting failed to cope with the pressure and the asking rate. “We stopped them at a decent score. But we don’t have a practical excuse. Our performance was not up to the mark,” he said.

However the controversial issue at the press conference, which went on for 26 minutes, was the elevation of Ravindra Jadeja. Playing his first game of the tournament, he walked in at No. 4 and finished with 25 off 35 balls. Dhoni explained that Yuvraj Singh, who had scored a brilliant 67 against the West Indies, was the natural choice but he didn’t want Yuvraj to keep walking out to a pressure situation – yet that’s exactly the situation he faced.

“We expected Jadeja to play a few overs and stabilise the innings and then we could go after their bowling,” Dhoni said. “We never really wanted the run-rate to increase to around 9-9.5. He [Jadeja] was still playing his shots but the short balls were bowled really well at him. The run rate climbed from there and the momentum shifted to their side.”

By the time Yusuf Pathan walked in to join Dhoni India needed 67 off the last six overs. It was never going to be an easy task especially when the ball was reversing. “By the time Yusuf and I came together it was too late as the ball was reversing and it was difficult for even Yusuf to hit.”

Jadeja’s inclusion for this match was a surprise as it came at the expense of Pragyan Ojha, the left-arm spinner who had been impressive through the tournament. Dhoni said the aim was to strength the batting without having to lose a fast-bowling option with RP Singh also replacing Irfan Pathan.

“We were looking at the combination and at the same time we were looking to chase. In the 2007 World Twenty20 we batted deep down, so we wanted depth in batting,” Dhoni said. “He [Jadeja] is an excellent fielder, he can bat well and bowling-wise he did the job. It also allowed us to pick another fast bowler so it actually increased the overall strength of the side.” The result, though, suggested otherwise.

Not for the first time, Dhoni added that fielding was another key area where there was room for improvement after showing problems through the tournament. “Fielding is an area we need to work on. This was the best side with our best fielders. We can’t complain but we can definitely improve.”

The final game with South Africa is now a dead rubber, but Dhoni tried to play down the importance of India going out early and already had one eye on next year’s World Twenty20 in West Indies. “This loss is disappointing but the loss in the 2007 ODI World Cup was the worst loss of my career,” he said.

“Cricket never tests your character when you are doing well, it always test you when you are not doing well both as an individual and as a team. It is a testing time for us. It is not the end of the road for us – we are going to the West Indies shortly and we can repair the damage.”

Nagraj Gollapudi is an assistant editor at Cricinfo

India 113 for 2 (Rohit 52*, Gambhir 37) beat Ireland 112 for 8 (Zaheer 4-19, Ojha 2-18) by eight wickets…

Zaheer Khan did most of the damage as champions India inflicted a chastening eight-wicket defeat on Ireland in the final ICC World Twenty20 Group A fixture at Trent Bridge.

William Porterfield’s men managed to muster only 112 for eight from 18 overs, after being put in first in a rain-shortened match.

They dug in admirably to make even that many, against some high-class pace bowling from Zaheer (4-19) among others – but were unable to defend their total as India raced home with 15 balls to spare, on the back of another half-century from in-form opener Rohit Sharma.

The mitigation for Ireland was the absence of injured pair Niall O’Brien and Trent Johnston, who both expect to be fit in time for tomorrow afternoon’s Super Eights opener against New Zealand at the same venue.

The evident gulf in class was nonetheless a stark warning of what Ireland will be up against for the remainder of the tournament.

Without O’Brien, their prospects of posting a challenging total were always going to be compromised – and it was discouraging to see opener Jeremy Bray’s struggles before he was comprehensively bowled for a seven-ball duck by Zaheer.

Bray’s opening partner Porterfield soon slashed a catch to slip off Zaheer – and after Andre Botha had also guided a delivery to the same position from the same bowler, at 17 for three it seemed a short match could well be in prospect.

If Ireland were to make a fist of it Kevin O’Brien, who had hit so powerfully to hasten their six-wicket victory over Bangladesh here two days ago, was the likeliest lad.

It was not to be for him this time, though – because he fell cheaply and unluckily when he dragged a pull at Pragyan Ojha’s first ball on to his stumps.

Gary Wilson would also have gone on 12, had Suresh Raina’s throw from mid-off hit the stumps.

He survived to help add 20 for the fifth wicket until Harbhajan Singh defeated an attempted drive and hit off-stump.

A ‘cheerio’ wave from the off-spinner to the departing batsman did Harbhajan no credit, however.

More honourable was another hard-working partnership for the next wicket – between top-scorer Andrew White and John Mooney, whose dismissal in the 15th over to a needless reverse-sweep at Ojha was a disappointing end to a resourceful effort.

Regan West was caught on the hop, ambling in for a second run but unfortunately airborne when Raina’s throw ricocheted off the wicketkeeper’s pads on to the stumps.

White continued to keep India at bay, and a hook for six off Irfan Pathan was just reward for his industry and determination – before he eventually edged behind to give Zaheer his final wicket.

Ninth-wicket pair Alex Cusack and Kyle McCallan accumulated 20 more runs from the last 10 balls to try to give their side something to bowl at.

It was a target which was always unlikely to tax India too much.

On a dank night, Boyd Rankin and O’Brien found enough in the pitch early on to each beat the bat – but it was not long before Gautam Gambhir and Rohit were finding the boundary with anticipated ease and regularity.

After 10 overs of milking the gaps, it was a surprise when Gambhir cut West’s left-arm spin straight into the hands of backward-point to end a stand of 77 and at least ensure Ireland’s margin of defeat was not the maximum.

Rankin returned to win a couple of minor moral victories over Mahendra Singh Dhoni – whose attempt to hit the 100th six of this tournament in the next over resulted instead in a fine, tumbling catch in the leg-side deep by Bray off McCallan.

It was nonetheless still a matter of awaiting the inevitable – and after Rohit had hit an undeserving Rankin for a towering six over long-on, the only questions remaining were whether he would reach his half-century or register that milestone maximum before the match was done.

He managed the former, with his fourth four from the 44th ball he faced, but not the latter – passing the baton on to Ireland and the Kiwis tomorrow as he finished on an unbeaten 52.

Virender Sehwag has been ruled out of the World Twenty20 in England after failing to recover from a shoulder injury he sustained during the IPL in South Africa. He will return to India after consulting specialists in England and will be replaced by Dinesh Karthik, who was in good touch during the IPL. Karthik, who last played a Twenty20 for India in January 2008, also doubles up as a reserve wicketkeeper, something the squad was lacking.

A BCCI media release ended days of speculation over Sehwag’s fitness – the opener has been a peripheral figure during Indian practice sessions. He wasn’t present for India’s optional training session on Monday at Lady Bay and didn’t bat on the tour until Tuesday morning, often watching his team-mates go about their routines from the sidelines. The uncertainty over his injury led to reports of a rift between him and the captain MS Dhoni, which prompted the team to make a dramatic public show of unity and emphasise their team spirit through a statement read out by Dhoni.

Things weren’t much clearer today, either, at the pre-match press conference – in fact the drama descended into farce. Dhoni refused to clarify the ambiguous situation, saying “anything related to fitness there will be a press release from the BCCI”. Following repeated inquiries and flared tempers among the media, team manager Chamundeshwar Nath intervened to try and defuse the situation. However, he too stopped short of saying that Sehwag would indeed be returning home.

“If Sehwag has got pain in the hand, he might not bat,” Nath said. “Today he tried and he was in some discomfort. Tomorrow, we will take a final decision on him. If he is not fit enough we will inform BCCI and they will issue a press release. How much pain Sehwag is having, Dhoni cannot answer when he is batting in the nets.”

Minutes after that, the BCCI had issued a release ruling out Sehwag.

Under normal circumstances, the loss of Sehwag, a proven match-winner in any form of the game, would be a massive blow to India’s strategy. While India’s campaign will be weaker, they will benefit from Rohit Sharma, who has made the transition from middle-order batsmen to opener successfully in the three games in England so far. Rohit scored 31 and 80 in the warm-ups against New Zealand and Pakistan, and made 36 in India’s first group match against Bangladesh at Trent Bridge.

Not having the bowler-destroying skills of Sehwag to call upon if needed, however, is a blow, as is the loss of his part-time offspin in a tournament that has seen the slower bowlers play a significant role. Sehwag sustained the grade one tear to his shoulder during the IPL and the coach Gary Kirsten said that he had been kept in the squad in the hope that he would not miss the entire tournament. “If a player of the caliber of Sehwag can be available for any part of the tournament, we want to keep him there.” That however hasn’t come to pass and India will have to hope that Rohit’s good form at the top continues even against tougher opposition and more potent new-ball attacks.

That the injury to Sehwag was such a closely-guarded secret was perplexing. An injury is after all merely an injury and a more transparent dissemination of information from the team management would go a long way in diffusing the ambiguity and speculation that often surrounds the Indian team. Perhaps they could follow Ireland’s example – moments before Dhoni addressed the media, William Porterfield had spoken at length about the injury to Niall O’Brien.

George Binoy is a senior sub-editor at Cricinfo