Blogs - Plan B

The most successful side in IPL history, Chennai have played five seasons without ever quite dominating the league phase like they've done in 2013.

Miller's has been the most prominent performance in what has been a very good South African presence in the IPL this year.

Both men have been markedly above the norm, though perhaps counter-intuitively, Gayle's performance in terms of average outshines that of Richards while the reverse is true for the strike-rate.

When Shaun Marsh is fit and available to play, the pressure on Gilchrist to justify his role with the bat will grow exponentially.

What of men like Jalaj Saxena and Rishi Dhawan, part of the Mumbai Indians, a powerhouse of a squad if there's one? True, they did give young Jasprit Bumrah a go, but to break into the XI of a side that is good enough to keep a domestic stalwart like Dhawal Kulkarni on the bench, or not have room for a Pragyan Ojha when only one spinner is required.

The season that began with an innings-and-115-run win over New Zealand in Hyderabad, plunged to the depths and then rose again, to leave India with an unexpectedly flattering record of ten Tests played and seven Tests won, with two losses and one draw.

Every single day, right up until those manically scampered winning leg-byes in the post lunch session on Day 5, was balanced on a knife's edge. For the final 3.2 overs of India's second innings, after Ishant Sharma had become the ninth wicket to fall, it was literally a one-ball game.

A little later, however, is the bit that resonated the most personally. With Dent finding himself at Lord's and in possession of a cricket ball, he feels the irresistible urge to bowl one ball in the centre. The decision taken, Dent stands at the top of his run-up and, as Adams writes, "He was going to do this properly." The ball is polished against his hip, spat on, tossed lightly from one hand to the next, and the ground pawed before he runs in.

There is the other matter that the slightly obscene amount of money spent for the privilege of telecasting a cricket match is not always an entirely good thing. A week ago, a report in Cricinfo stated that Channel 9 had been 'briefed' on Australia's squad selection for the first two ODIs against Sri Lanka - the very same matches that caused the McNamara-Bailey kerfuffle.

Invariably, teams that have had success in India over the past decade have learned to embrace the country as it is. There is no doubt that the many dollars, and opportunities for future dollars, on offer have eased that. But even then, the acceptance has often been a grudging one, of the give-me-my-bucks-and-I'm-out-of-here variety.