Blog Posts by Bikash Singh

(Note to readers: 'The Enemy Camp' will be the tongue-in-cheek name for Yahoo! Cricket's coverage of the English press during India's tour of England.)

Stuart Broad inspired England with his first-ever hat-trick after Rahul Dravid's 34th hundred as India were bowled out for 288 in their first innings on Day 2 of Trent Bridge Test. Dravid equalled the record of fellow India great Sunil Gavaskar and his second in as many matches after his 103 not out at Lord's. All-rounder Broad, who rescued England in their first innings with 64 from 66 balls, took five wickets for no runs in 15 balls to finish with a Test best of six for 46 from 24.1 overs.

Paul Weaver in his piece England's Stuart Broad begins to live up to his promise against India for The Guardian explains how the pacers' dramatic intervention rocked India at Trent Bridge.

When Broad, early in his England career, was likened to Sir Garfield Sobers by Geoff Boycott, eyebrows were raised. And they have remained raised ever since. But

(Note to readers: 'The Enemy Camp' will be the tongue-in-cheek name for Yahoo! Cricket's coverage of the English press during India's tour of England.)

Indian seamers had reduced England to 124 for eight at tea on the first day of the second Test at Trent Bridge when Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann came out and showed they can bat a bit. England's top scorer Broad (64) and Swann (28) added 73 runs for the 9th wicket as India look to level the four-match series at 1-1 after losing the first Test at Lord's by 196 runs. Sreesanth, Ishant and Praveen Kumar ripped through England line-up in the seam-friendly conditions to hand India initiative on the opening day of the second Test.

Vic Marks explains how Trent Bridge got the reputation for being a haven for swing bowlers and how Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar and Ishant Sharma merrily went about their business in this piece for The Guardian.

This is what we have come to expect here. The ball keeps swinging; the pitch is hard and has sufficient

Former cricketer Chandu Borde, who played 55 Tests between 1958 and 1969, feels Indian batting, bowling and fielding is superior in comparison to the English team and backs the MS Dhoni-led team to come out on top in the upcoming four-match Test series.

In 2007, you were suddenly faced by the huge task of managing the Indian team. Were there any apprehensions about accepting the responsibility?

(Laughs) Frankly I like challenges. See I am a practical person and not a theoretician. I was not acting as a coach to them...instead I helped the players with few tips. Being a senior cricketer, who had played for the country before, they respected me and implemented those ideas to good effect.

We won the Test series in England 1-0 then; do you think India can better the result this time around?

We have a better team now and I am very impressed with our pace bowlers this time around. Zaheer Khan is one of the best left-arm bowlers in the world at the moment; Ishant Sharma has got his confidence

Darren Sammy: Wearing boots too big for him?

Darren Sammy: Wearing boots too big for him?

First, their ego problems kept the in-form Chris Gayle out of the team. Then, they tried to beat the No. 1 Test team with three-and-a-half bowler — the half being captain Darren Sammy himself. Had situations in Caribbean cricket not been so contrived, Sammy would struggle to break into the team, forget leading it. Having to keep out express pacer Kemar Roach for his captain will haunt coach Ottis Gibson till he finds the cure to quieten the frustrated voices of Caribbean fans.

"Our history has been built on fast bowling but we do not have the kind of fast bowlers that we had in the past. Therefore we have to find the right combination," Gibson clarified when asked if the West Indies skipper deserved a place in the team. It's unfair on Sammy. He wants to win. But he doesn't know how to. He's earnest, gives it his all, and takes questions about his inadequacies head-on. "My family sends up prayers and the blessings come down," he says. "The

There have been a handful of players who have been able to get their way with selections for the Indian cricket team despite lacklustre performances. Harbhajan Singh for one doesn't face any threat of losing his place in the side until our selectors overrule themselves and give Ravichandran Ashwin - a move which is more likely to pay-off given his aggressive mindset - an opportunity in the national team. The recent performance of both these bowlers, during the World Cup and Indian Premier League, is something that breeds a healthy debate between the two. The cracks are more visible than ever in Bhajji's limited stocks while Ashwin, with his exceptional abilities and confidence, provides exactly the change needed.

Both the off-spinners back themselves bowling in the powerplays or at the death, and they also have the guts to toss the ball up against the likes of Chris Gayle or Virender Sehwag. However when it comes to playing for the national team, one enjoys tremendous backing of

The feeling hasn't sunk in just yet...

Yuvraj's arms were spread wide before skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni clouted that six which had 'India are the World Cup champions' written all over it. The whole nation erupted, some emotional and some over the moon. Social networking sites connected many together on Saturday night as Team India gifted them with a feeling which even Sachin couldn't describe. My colleague Princy James wrote with a disclaimer "this euphoric feeling is crazy. If someone says I love you, I might reply back love you too dude!" Nice aye...

After Sehwag and Sachin got out, I thought 275 would need some serious chasing and then I saw Rajinikanth.

The 28-year long wait was over and like they had promised earlier, Indian players gifted Sachin Tendulkar the World Cup he had been chasing for 21 years. They carried him high on their shoulders - with crowd going wild in excitement at Wankhede. Youngster Virat Kohli, one of the players carrying Sachin said, "he has carried

One ended Australia's unbeaten 34-match run while the other stopped their 12-year run as champions. Both India and Pakistan defeated Ricky Ponting's men back to back to set up a mouth-watering semi-final clash at Mohali.

Dhoni's India booked their World Cup semi-final berth defeating defending champions Australia by five wickets in the quarter-final while Pakistan had it easy against a sorry West Indies - who lost the match by 10 wickets.

So what did the two semi-finalists do for their famous victory over Australia?

Unlike previous editions, cricket pundits were sure Australia won't go far in the tournament without the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. They missed them dearly, didn't they? Afridi and Dhoni were closely monitoring Australia's unalterable decline and took full advantage of the inevitable cracks. The huge call for Ponting's head - at just about time - contributed to the eventuality. (Ponting stepped down as Australia's Test and

Long story short, if India are to beat defending champions Australia on March 24th, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni has to bring back his old-self. With time, the Indian captain has become defensive in his approach - which at times has cost our cricket-mad country. Sure we won the World Twenty20 under him and challenged Australia's hegemony at the top - but those attacking instincts have somewhat perished.

He probably has the best team right now - batting wise. Bowling wise, the pitches here in sub-continent will always suit the batsmen. If our bowlers can't perform in England, Australia or South Africa we have a case for worry - not here. Did anybody say anything about fielding? We are improving.

Coming back to Dhoni's captaincy; his wasted attempt of making a bowler out of Piyush Chawla (in what appears to be an attempt to prove critics wrong) cost India 174 runs in three matches before sense prevailed in Chennai. He doesn't lack the nous.

He's got to bring his attacking style