Karthik007’s Blog

Cricket would score over terrorism and more than the outcome, both the teams would hope to apply balm on the wounds of India’s terror-stricken populace when they host England for the first cricket Test in Chennai today (Dec 11).

Since the November 26 Mumbai mayhem, it took umpteen hectic parleys and individual behind-the-door persuasion by both the Indian and English Boards to convince that India is safe enough to continue the tour they had abruptly abandoned after the Mumbai massacre.

To their credit, Pietersen and his teammates, including the reluctant trio of Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison and Graeme Swann, put behind their personal apprehension and decided to board the India-bound flight after security adviser Reg Dickason had given the green signal for the series.

But now that the terror scare has been overcome, weather god poses the most serious threat to the Test with the possibility of rain hovering over the eagerly awaited Test.

Despite England returning with a full-strength team, the match on paper looks heavily tilted in favour of the Indians, who bulldozed the visitors 5-0 in the ODI series.

However all eyes will be on none other than the left-hander Yuvraj Singh, who makes a comeback into the Indian Test squad after the retirement of veteran Sourav Ganguly.

It’s time now for the Yuvraj to step in and show the world that he belongs at the International Test scenario. But filling the void created by Ganguly’s retirement won’t be an easy job.

Riding high on his rolicking form the young left-handed dasher powered his way into the Test team. Yuvraj  will be hoping to translate this form into the longest format of the game. Yuvraj, who had played his last Test against South Africa at Kanpur in April, has been in sizzling form with two centuries in the recent ODI series against England before it was called off following the terror attacks in Mumbai.

So far Yuvraj has failed to establish himself as a Test cricketer having played just 23 test matches since bursting on the scene nearly eight years ago.

Skipper MS Dhoni is hoping to use the southpaw’s all round skills to good effect in the Tests. But pressure will be on Yuvraj to perform and book his berth in the Indian Test team.

Tamil Nadu batsmen S Badrinath and Murali Vijay, paceman Munaf Patel and left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha, who are part of the 15-member squad, have been left out for the first Test beginning at the MA Chidambaram stadium today.

Yuvraj’s inclusion means that the home team will go into the game with seven batsmen and four specialist bowlers. While the in-form Zaheer Khan and Ishant Sharma will spearhead the pace attack, Harbhajan Singh and leg spinner Amit Mishra, who has come into the team after the retirement of former captain and ace spinner Anil Kumble, will shoulder the spin bowling responsibility.