'When you are doing well you need to keep addressing the weaknesses. This is something that the Indian team has never done,' former Test spinner Maninder Singh tells Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com
Following the dismal showing on the recent tours of South Africa and New Zealand, the calls to strip Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the Test team's captaincy are growing. Bikash Mohapatra looks back on how the predecessors of India's most successful captain were relieved of the mantle.
After impressive scores against New Zealand, Australia and West Indies on docile Indian conditions, Cheteshwar Pujara has a chance to prove himself on the challenging tracks of South Africa, writes Bikash Mohapatra.
Where did India go wrong in the second Test? How did England win in four days? Bikash Mohapatra, who was at Trent Bridge for the Test, identifies the turning points in the game.
A spineless India surrendered their No 1 status to a ruthless England as they slumped to an innings and 242-runs defeat, allowing the hosts clinch the completely lop-sided four-match series by taking a 3-0 lead at Edgbaston.
The No. 2-ranked Test nation in the world was expected to have it easy against the Black Caps, ranked No. 8. Instead, they will return empty-handed from the trip. Here's a look at how the 11 Indian players -- there was no change in the team for the second Test -- fared in the just-concluded series.
Replacing a coach like Gary Kirsten, who was a massive success with Team India, was never going to be easy for Duncan Fletcher. Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra points out that Fletcher doesn't have a report card that makes for great reading but he still enjoys the backing of captain MS Dhoni.
James Anderson claimed five wickets for 65 runs as England beat India by 196 runs in the first Test at Lord's on Monday.
For once the Indian win was not crafted by just a couple of players. Barring a couple of failures, virtually the entire team contributed to the Chennai triumph. Bikash Mohapatra identifies the three heroes who led the Indian charge to victory.
Bikash Mohapatra analyses the performances of the Australian pace brigade that completely exposed the chinks in the Indian batting.
Bikash Mohapatra looks back on India's victory at Trent Bridge, in 2007, which started a glorious run of results for the now world No 1 side.
By not fielding the fringe players in the squad in the first three ODIs, Bikash Mohapatra says, the whole point of accommodating a trip to Zimbabwe in Team India's already hectic schedule was defeated.
Ace batsman Rahul Dravid's aggregate of 461 runs in eight innings (@ 76.83) -- a quarter of the total runs scored by the India -- may be good for personal gratification, but it was not good enough to save Team India from a humiliating series defeat in England.
Bikash Mohapatra looks back on the only instance of the Indian team securing a Test victory at the home of cricket.
R Ashwin is in line for another player of the series award, says Bikash Mohapatra. After the first two Tests against Australia, has already a tally of 18 wickets, four more than he finished with against England.
After the first Test against England at Motera, M S Dhoni was categorical about the kind of wickets he would like to see in the remaining matches of the series. It won't be a surprise, says Bikash Mohapatra, if the curators appease him with rank turners.
Bikash Mohapatra, in an attempt to diagnose what ails Indian cricket, identifies what we are well aware of, but hate to admit!
The comparison first started when Australia last toured India in 2008. The question was simple: Has an India-Australia Test series become bigger than the Ashes?
If Suresh Raina appeared rehearsed, repetitive and restrained in his first major interaction with the media since assuming his role as the captain of Team India, he can be forgiven.
Where did India go wrong in the third Test? How did England win in four days? Bikash Mohapatra, who was at Edgbaston, identifies the turning points in the match.
Virender Sehwag doesn't need to look anywhere for inspiration when he leads India in the fourth Test against Australia. His persevering innings the last time he played at the Adelaide Oval, says Bikash Mohapatra, is enough to give his batting the fillip it desperately needs.
'Team India's strategy -- rather the lack of it -- boomeranged in the game against New Zealand. It's because of the T20 generation's lack of patience to counter spin,' feels Bikash Mohapatra/Rediff.com
India, replying to England's 591-6 declared, were 103 for 5, 488 runs adrift, in the first innings, at stumps on Day 3 of the fourth Test.
Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen slammed fluent centuries as England put themselves on course for a clean sweep, taking complete command of the fourth and final Test against a hapless India at the Oval on Friday.
The auction for the seventh edition of the Indian Premier League will feature 219 capped players (169 Indians and 50 overseas cricketers) and 292 uncapped (255 Indians and 37 overseas players). Bikash Mohapatra picks the key Indian players likely to be pursued by the franchises.
With Zaheer Khan out of the series, former India stumper Kiran More tells Bikash Mohapatra, the Indian team has a tall task ahead.
"We have three days, but I am not 100 per cent sure whether he will play or not," skipper M S Dhoni said, adding, "It is a long series and we don't want to risk any individual."
Erapalli Prasanna and Bishan Singh Bedi, arguably the greatest off-spinner and left-arm spinner in cricket history, tell Rediff.com's Bikash Mohapatra why R Ashwin does not do well away from home.
MS Dhoni looked a satisfied man after his team beat Australia in the first Test. Bikash Mohapatra says his decision to persist with spinners and bat up the order played in India's favour.
The year, which started offering dual hope for Indian tennis fans, ended up serving double disappointment instead.
Bikash Mohapatra singles out at a few players whose performance, rather lack of it, cost India the title.
The hoopla surrounding Sachin Tendulkar's farewell, says Bikash Mohapatra, has completely camouflaged what could be a mismatch series, as the West Indies team neither has the pedigree nor players to get past M S Dhon's side.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni goes into the third Test against England aware that a win will help him equal Sourav Ganguly's record at the Eden Gardens. Bikash Mohapatra on the landmark that awaits.
Bikash Mohapatra analyses what went wrong for India, and right for England, in the just-concluded second Test in Mumbai.
Ajit Wadekar, who led India to its first win on English soil, tells Bikash Mohapatra that it was team effort that gave them that historic win at The Oval in 1971.
Stating that the decision to allow Ian Bell to bat again after he was given out was in sync with the spirit of the game, Rahul Dravid explains India's stand on the controversial decision.
Bikash Mohapatra rates the 175 against Australia at Hyderabad in 2009 the best he's witnessed from the batting icon's blade, and prays for at least one more similar one before he calls it a day.
Bikash Mohapatra catches with former English captain Ted Dexter on his visit to Kolkata. A chat with Rediff.com about his career, his memories of India, the England team and, of course, Sachin Tendulkar.
Rediff.com looks at a few innings that redefined Test batting this year, and, in the process, upheld the tradition of the five-day format.
India were 17 without loss at stumps on Day 2, in reply to England's first innings of 474 for eight declared, in the first Test at Lord's.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances