And then head straight to breakfast, before taking a cruise and gorging on spicy street food. There’s a lot to do in and around Kolkata

Deep Dasgupta11-Nov-2010Party in night clubs
This is for the young at heart. There are plenty of nightclubs – Tantra, Roxy, Shisha. Unlike other cities where everything shuts down at 11pm or 12 midnight, Calcutta is a place where you can actually get out of a night club and go straight to breakfast. You can have a really nice night out and then head to a place like Flurys in the morning.The underground music scene in Calcutta is perhaps the best in the country. The bands from Calcutta are loved throughout the country, and are must-haves in music concerts anywhere. Especially Bengali bands. So mark down a visit to Someplace Else. Every night of the week live bands perform there. And they are really, really good. Anyone who is in to rock music goes here. Bengali bands usually play in auditoriums. So if you can’t catch them at a concert, there is always Someplace Else.Visit the north-east

The north-east of the country has some of the prettiest places not only India, but perhaps the whole world: places like Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Gangtok and Shillong. Darjeeling and Kalimpong offer stunning views of Kanchenjunga and Everest. You have to take two days off and go to one of these places in the north-east, and enjoy the lifestyle, language, culture. It will be laidback, will give you a couple of days off the hectic schedule, and you will love having spent time there.Take a boat ride
Cruise down to the Sunderbans through the Hooghly. Calcutta was built on either side of the river. You can see old buildings, small towns on the banks through the cruise.Visit Santiniketan
Bengali people are very proud of their culture, and there is lots of to see in and around Calcutta. If you have come here, it is worth driving down for a coupe of hours, or a taking train, to Shantiniketan, the university town established by Rabindranath Tagore. The best part is they have kept it exactly as it was. They haven’t commercialised it at all. You still get that old-world feel. It is known for its celebration of the festival of Holi, or as we call it. You have got to experience Holi here at least once.Indulge in some street food
Calcutta is famous for its amazing food: tandoori, continental, Indian, all of it, but its speciality is the street food: , the Bengali version of Bombay’s and Delhi’s , is a fried hollow dough ball filled with potato, grams, and spicy tamarind water. You can’t miss it when in Calcutta. You have many variations of it. with (yoghurt), with water and with sweet water. What’s common to all is that they have a basic potato filling. Then there are the : the , the and sweets. Another street-food favourite is the (rice with meat and spices), which is completely different from its other cousins, the Hyderabadi and Lucknowi biryanis. If you are a food freak you cannot afford to miss the Calcutta . What makes it unique is that it has potatoes as well as meat. It caters to various palettes, so to say, ranging from the extremely rich, oily ones, to the less spicy ones for the health-conscious people.

And while cricket was not part of the entertainment, a butt-crack was

Trish Plunket15-Jan-2011Choice of game
Black Caps, at the Basin, the day after my birthday. What option did I have but to go along and have a birthday party on the bank – replete with silly hats, cake, streamers and a party dress?Team supported
We all supported New Zealand. At least once I had educated some of my less cricket-wise friends into which ones New Zealand were.Key performer
Ross Taylor earned his tag of million-dollar man by actually making it past 50.One thing I’d have changed

Top-Order Collapse are GO! Again. And it was the pretty ones who got out. If I have Brendon McCullum as party entertainment, I want him to stay in longer than six balls. And Kane Williamson did not take me up on the offer of cake.Wow moment
It says a lot about a day’s play when you just can’t pick one. Maybe “wow I didn’t need to see that” as a man in a blue dress, showing four inches of butt crack, bent over to, erm, accommodate a hotdog stick in said crack.Player watch
Maybe the Pakistanis were scared of us. They didn’t come near us at all. But Cameron Merchant was the local drinks boy, and he sat there all day being smiley. Perks you right up, a smile like that.Shot of the day
Ross Taylor’s glorious four-not-4. Hit hard, and like golf ball in a sand trap, hits the ground juuuuust inside the rope and bounces absolutely nowhere. He and Guptill run four. The crowd was baffled but amused.Crowd meter
The crowd was awesome! There was that guy in the butt-crack dress and all his similarly clad mates, and a guy who hid in a rubbish bin scaring people who wanted to dump their rubbish. How can you get that stupid on light beer? I mean really, that takes a special effort, that does.Entertainment
I love this idea that you go to a game and get entertainment that’s not the cricket. I think it should be implemented here as soon as possible!Banner of the day
Tim Southee got a lot of banner-loving. I counted three saying just how hot he is. Girls in the capital seem to be lining up to snog him.Our own chalkboard offered a “Will pay 4 runs in K.F.C” ploy to get a little on-field action happening.Overall
Apart from the wind and my subsequent sunburn, it was a great party er, I mean day at the cricket. I blew out all my candles, but I’m not gonna say what I wished for.

ESPNcricinfo recaps all the occasions when there has been trouble at Eden Gardens

Akhila Ranganna28-Jan-2011Fans were angry after India collapsed in the 1996 World Cup semi-final at Eden GardensIndia v West Indies, 2nd Test, 1966-67
Trouble at Eden Gardens started outside the ground after local authorities had sold more tickets than there were seats. Angry ticket-holders who were denied access stormed the fences and set fire to stands and the pavilion roof. As innocent spectators were forced onto the outfield, police lathi-charged them and fired tear gas. The crowd counter-attacked and when the outnumbered police force fled, the mob carried broken benches to the middle and started a bonfire as well as gouged holes in the pitch. Against this backdrop, Conrad Hunte was reported to have climbed the flagpole to save the West Indies flag, before fleeing on foot. The second day’s play was written off.India v Australia, 4th Test, 1969-70
The 1969-70 Australia series was played against a backdrop of widespread violence. On the fourth (and final) day in Calcutta, tragedy struck when around 25,000 people who had been queuing all night tried to rush the ticket counters before they opened. Riot police fired tear gas and were met in turn with a hail of bottles and stones. Six died and another 30 were injured. Although play started on time, there was further trouble when spectators in a stand pelted stones at those in a lower tier, forcing them onto the pitch. The police eventually persuaded them to stay on the boundary edge so the match could be concluded. After Keith Stackpole hit the winning runs, the Australian batsmen flanked the Nawab of Pataudi as he left the field to protect him from missiles.India v England, 3rd Test, 1984-85
Public sentiment was already against India captain Sunil Gavaskar after he reportedly backed the decision to drop Kapil Dev for the Calcutta Test. To make matters worse, India took 200 overs to make 437 for 7, with Mohammad Azharuddin and Ravi Shastri adding 214 for the fifth wicket at under 2 runs an over. A section of the crowd hooted and booed, shouting “Gavaskar down, Gavaskar out” when he appeared outside the dressing-room while Manoj Prabhakar and Chetan Sharma were batting, and he was pelted with fruit when he led India out to field. Play was held up for eight minutes while ground staff cleared the outfield. Gavaskar, who decided to continue India’s innings from 417 for 7 at lunch time on the fourth day, later denied that police had warned him there was a threat to law and order should he delay the declaration any longer. Gavaskar was believed to have vowed never to play at Eden Gardens again.India v Sri Lanka, World Cup semi-final, 1995-96
Chasing 252, India slumped to 120 for 8 after a dramatic collapse during which seven wickets fell for 22. That proved too much for the capacity crowd, who began hurling bottles on the field and setting fires in the stands. Match referee Clive Lloyd took the teams off the field for 15 minutes to try and let the crowd cool down, but an attempt to restart the match proved futile and Lloyd awarded the game to Sri Lanka by default. To this day, the picture of Vinod Kambli crying as he walked back to the dressing room remains one of the iconic images of that tournament. India’s captain, Mohammad Azharuddin, bore the brunt of the wrath for his decision to field first, and his house had to be placed under armed guard.India v Pakistan, Asian Test Championship, first Test, 1999
The first three days of the Test passed without incident. On the fourth afternoon, chasing 279, India were well placed on 143 for 2. Sachin Tendulkar was on 7 when he clipped Wasim Akram to deep midwicket. He took two runs and was on his way back for a third when substitute Nadeem Khan hit the stumps with his throw from the deep. In the ordinary course of events it would have been a straightforward third run, even with the direct hit, but Tendulkar collided with Shoaib Akhtar, who was waiting close to the stumps to gather the return, and as a result was out of his ground, even though he may well have been just inside the crease at the moment of the collision. Steve Bucknor referred it to the third umpire, KT Francis, who, after a long delay, gave him out. The huge crowd erupted and started chanting “cheat, cheat”, pelting Shoaib with bottles and other objects as he returned to his position in the deep.Eventually the umpires took the players from the field for an early tea and it was only after personal pleas from Tendulkar and ICC president Jagmohan Dalmiya that the match was able to resume. However, trouble broke out again on the final day when India were reduced to 231 for 9. Wisden reported: “Spectators started burning newspapers in the stands and hurled stones, fruit and plastic bottles on to the field. The match was held up for over three hours as about 65,000 people were removed by police and security men. The crowd’s anger was still concentrated on Tendulkar’s run-out, but there was little viciousness in the riot; it was born of disappointment rather than anti-Pakistan feeling..” It only took Pakistan 10 balls to complete their 46-run win, but they did so in a surreal atmosphere of only 200 spectators in a ground that could hold 90,000.Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers, IPL, 4th match, 2008
Despite a low-scoring thriller in which Kolkata Knight Riders overcame Deccan Chargers, the pitch at Eden Gardens came in for much criticism during the inaugural season of the IPL. It displayed uneven bounce, and looked more like a fifth-day pitch. VVS Laxman, who was struck on his gloves by a delivery from Ishant Sharma, said it was “shocking”. The floodlights also failed during the final stages of that match. Kolkata needed 22 from 20 with five wickets in hand when one of the light towers went off, holding up the game for 30 minutes. The two teams – Kolkata and Hyderabad – were tied on Duckworth-Lewis calculations at that point. The lights did come back on later, allowing the home side to clinch a thrilling win.India v Sri Lanka, 4th ODI, 2009
Once again it was a floodlight glitch that halted play. Sri Lanka were 307 for 6 in 49.2 overs, when the floodlight tower at the High Court end went off, halting play for 26 minutes. Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president, said a technical snag had caused the lights to malfunction. Among the other theories was that there had been a “voltage fluctuation”. However, a spokesman of the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) said that it was not their fault and that “bulbs in the tower developed a snag and it is a maintenance problem.”India v England, World Cup, 2011
The ICC ruled out Eden Gardens as the host of the game between India and England on February 27. The ICC’s inspection team felt the venue would not be ready in time. “Regrettably, Eden Gardens has not made sufficient progress to justify the level of confidence required to confirm that the venue would be ready in good time,” Haroon Lorgat, the ICC chief executive said. No international matches had been held in Kolkata since the Test between India and South Africa in February last year as the stadium was being renovated.

ESPNcricinfo presents the Plays of the Day from the IPL game between Kochi Tuskers Kerala and Rajasthan Royals in Indore

Siddhartha Talya15-May-2011The revamp
A play even before a ball was bowled. At the toss, Shane Warne announced Rajasthan Royals had made six changes to their line-up. Shaun Tait, Pinal Shah, Jacob Oram, Ankit Chavan, Nayan Doshi and Faiz Fazal were the recruits for this must-win encounter. Their total contribution was 32 runs and two wickets.Sreesanth’s proud moment
It could well have been a Test match; then the victory for the bowler would then have been sweeter. Sreesanth bowled a lovely outswinger to Rahul Dravid, and it proved tempting enough for him to try to chase it down. It landed on a driving length, produced the outside edge and was pouched safely at slip.Bangladesh revisited
Shane Watson made merry dispatching every Bangladesh slow bowler who came his way not too long ago. P Prasanth became the latest in a series of left-arm spinners to be left scarred by a Watson assault as he was smashed for three sixes – two off long hops and one off a full toss – in an over that marked a rare high point for Rajasthan in their otherwise listless effort with the bat.Oram’s nightmare
A horrible first game of the season for Jacob Oram. A lazy push against Brad Hodge resulted in his dismissal for a duck, and he was welcomed to the bowling crease by his New Zealand team-mate Brendon McCullum with three towering sixes, each more powerful than the other, and all over the bowler’s head.Tait’s misfortune
Tait overstepped in the first over of Kochi’s chase to concede a free hit, and was promptly swatted next ball for a massive six by McCullum. He got his man two balls later with a searing yorker, or so we thought. Tait has had trouble with the back foot no-ball for a while now, and replays showed his heel had brushed the side crease as he got into his delivery stride. McCullum got a life, and though he lasted just a couple more overs, he was able to inflict enough damage in his brief stay to leave Rajasthan deflated.

Sri Lanka march into their second successive final, and the fans are delirious with joy

Guyanga Weerasekera30-Mar-2011Choice of game
For a country where superstar musicians like Bryan Adams and ABBA only come to perform well into their retirement, any place that gathers more than 30,000 people is either a political rally or a cricket match. With no political influence at Kyazoonga, I managed to win two tickets through their ballot process, and then who wouldn’t choose this game, eh?Team supported
Just typing “Sri Lanka” is an understatement. I rooted for SRI LANKA.World Cup prediction
Sri Lanka have the edge, with good temperament of the top order and the bowling unit.Key performer
Tillakaratne Dilshan sneaked in with, first a wicket from five overs, and then an important 73.One thing I’d have changed

Mr Chamara Silva. Tim Southee did the home crowd a favour when he bowled Silva out for a depressing 13 from 25.Face-off I relished
After Ross Taylor won the Shoaib Akhtar battle, I was waiting for the Taylor-Malinga face-off. Taylor just got one boundary off Malinga and was beaten by Mendis later on. It was not quite what I hoped for.Wow moment
Jesse Ryder’s crazy catch to send Upul Tharanga back. For those few seconds, I forgot which team I was supporting.Close encounter
Tharanga’s family and friends were sitting in front of me, and coincidence or not, the man himself was stationed at the boundary in front of us. He turned to us and waved and the whole section of the crowd went nuts.Shot of the day
The injured Angelo Mathews’ 47th-over six. His lofted on-drive could not have come at a better time. After Silva’s lack of heroics, Mathews made the final sprint over the finish line.Crowd meter
There were some South Africans (who had presumably booked tickets in advance), Pakistanis (probably got the semi-final days mixed up), Indians (because Indians are everywhere) and only about 35,000-odd Sri Lankans. They came in all shapes and sizes, gave the great Murali the biggest cheer he could get when bowling his final over in Colombo. There were some high-profile fans in attendance too, including Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan president.Entertainment
The PA system kept the crowd going, but it was the local bands, in full flow, who were the main attraction. If you haven’t heard the , you haven’t been to Sri Lanka.ODIs v Twenty20
The ODI is like a ten-course meal, while Twenty20 is like KFC. An ODI requires technique, talent and temperament, whereas a Twenty20 only needs Yusuf Pathan. ODIs are Mercedes Benzes where the Twenty20 is a Subaru STI.Bye bye Colombo
I’m definitely going to miss the World Cup action in Colombo. I truly believe this was the best World Cup so far. It had its fair share of upsets, but the favourites pulled through. Paring future World Cups down to 10 teams will only hurt the game; 12 should be ideal: divided into four groups of three, with two teams qualifying from each group to play the quarter-finals.Now I can’t wait for the Twenty20 action to begin here next year.Marks out of 10
8.5. Dilshan, Murali, Sangakkara and Ryder were largely responsible.Overall
A World Cup semi-final, with the host team in full flow – what more can we ask for? Great fielding kept the Kiwis in the contest till the last few minutes, and in the end Sri Lanka pulled through. An unmatchable World Cup experience.

The selection of Nathan Lyon in Australia’s Test squad continues the panel’s haphazard approach to choosing spinners under Andrew Hilditch

Brydon Coverdale26-Jul-2011Five years ago, Andrew Hilditch began his tenure as chairman of selectors by throwing an unready South Australian offspinner into Test cricket. If the Argus report into Australia’s performance recommends Hilditch’s removal, he’ll have ended his career the same way.Nathan Lyon is unquestionably a talented bowler, and it is encouraging that he flights the ball and searches for wickets. But sending him to Sri Lanka next month risks doing him more harm than good. Asking Lyon to bowl to Kumar Sangakkara, Mahela Jayawardene and company in their home conditions, in Test cricket, is unfair on him.Lyon is no doubt thrilled by the prospect, and good luck to him. But he has only four first-class matches for the Redbacks to his name, and wasn’t considered good enough to play in Australia A’s recent first-class matches in Zimbabwe, where Michael Beer and Jason Krejza were preferred.How can things have changed so quickly? Less than two months ago, Beer and Lyon failed to win Cricket Australia contracts. Krejza, Nathan Hauritz, Xavier Doherty and Steven Smith were on the list.Hauritz is injured, although he should be the Test spinner when fit again; Doherty and Smith are now viewed as one-day specialists; and Krejza, according to Hilditch, was poor in Zimbabwe. But what Krejza does have, besides a contract, is experience. He has taken 12 wickets in a Test in India, and he was the most logical candidate for the Sri Lanka Tests. It was also odd that Steve O’Keefe, after a solid Sheffield Shield season, was not considered.Hilditch was full of praise for Lyon, whom he noted “bowled beautifully during the one-day component of the A squad’s recent tour where he was named player of the series”. Choosing a player for Test cricket based on one-day form is not new for Hilditch and friends.But after the way their selection of Doherty, who impressed them in a one-day match against Sri Lanka, backfired during the Ashes, you’d think they would have learnt their lesson. It’s hard to avoid a sense of foreboding on Lyon’s behalf, given the number of spinners who have become collateral damage under Hilditch’s reign.It all started with South Australia’s Dan Cullen, who has hardly been sighted since making his Test debut in Bangladesh in April 2006, barely a fortnight after Hilditch replaced Trevor Hohns as the head of the selection panel. With 19 first-class games to his name, he was much more ready than Lyon, and his promotion was still premature. Cullen is now only 27, but has fallen so far he doesn’t even hold a state contract.Cricket fans have heard plenty from Hilditch during the same period. He pops up whenever a squad is announced, usually with a line about how much promise the spinner du jour has shown.”We look forward to watching his development during the course of the tour,” Hilditch said of Beau Casson’s call-up for the Caribbean tour of 2008. Casson played a Test, performed adequately, and was dropped for the next series, shattering his confidence and ruining him for the next few years.”We feel that Cameron’s right-arm leg spin and experience in Indian conditions … will provide a good balance to our slow bowling attack,” Hilditch said of choosing Cameron White to tour India in 2008. In 17 matches since that trip, White has taken six first-class wickets at 74.16. He barely bowls now.”The national selection panel believes the left-arm orthodox variety Xavier Doherty provides against a predominantly right-handed English middle order is the better option,” Hilditch said of axing Nathan Hauritz for the Ashes. Doherty did not prove to be a Test wicket-taker.”Michael Beer replaces Xavier Doherty … and we expect he will bowl very well against the English on his home ground,” Hilditch said ahead of the third Ashes Test in Perth, where Melbourne-born-and-bred Beer had hardly played. Beer didn’t get to play until the Sydney Test, and took one wicket.And so it goes. Now, Beer and Lyon have been chosen for the Sri Lankan series. Between them, they have 43 first-class wickets. Neither has managed a five-wicket haul.Fortunately, there was more talent to choose from in the pace department. Trent Copeland deserved his call-up, after being unlucky to miss out on a Cricket Australia contract, while the likes of Patrick Cummins did earn deals. Copeland, 25, has put together two excellent seasons of Sheffield Shield cricket and has four five-wicket hauls from his 17 first-class games.Importantly, he’s been match-hardened at club level, and hasn’t been steered through the now traditional youth pathways. The axing of Ben Hilfenhaus shows the established fast men that they must perform to keep their places, and Copeland would be a ready-made replacement.James Pattinson was fortunate to be picked, although the trip is likely to be intended as a learning experience for him. Last month when Pattinson won a CA contract, his state team-mate David Hussey said he felt Pattinson, who has played only six first-class games, had “a little bit of a way to go to play Test cricket”.In the batting department, Shaun Marsh is in serious Test contention for the first time, which is reward for several good seasons. Although Marsh has made only six first-class centuries in a ten-year career, he has a first-class average of 52.15 over the past four seasons. He deserves to be the back-up batsman.But the real worry in the squad surrounds the slow bowlers, as has been the case since Stuart MacGill unexpectedly retired in 2008 and forced a rethink of the selectors’ plans. Perhaps Lyon and Beer will grab their chances, but after all these years it seems Hilditch and his panel are still spinning their spinning wheels, and getting nowhere.

Plays of the Day from the Champions League T20 match between Somerset and Royal Challengers Bangalore

Siddarth Ravindran at the Chinnaswamy Stadium03-Oct-2011The drop
Jos Buttler had plenty of attention in the run-up to his participation in the Champions League T20 but his first contribution to Somerset’s campaign was reprieving Chris Gayle in the second over. When on 4, Gayle lunged down the track and top-edged a slice over cover. Buttler had to sprint back to get under the skier, and never looked like catching it as he tentatively moved around when the ball hurtled downwards. He got both hands on it but spilled it, and Gayle went on to waylay the Somerset attack.The double-miss
That drop wasn’t the only life Gayle had early on. In the fourth over, he clipped a full ball on leg stump towards square leg and set off for a single. The non-striker, Tillakaratne Dilshan, took his time before deciding he didn’t want one, by which time Gayle was several yards down the pitch and had given up on making it back. Arul Suppiah rifled in the throw, which was wide, but with Gayle only beginning to run back to his crease, there was still time for the fielder backing up, Nick Compton, to have another go from point. Compton also missed. Two overs later, Somerset had two directs hits but Gayle completed the scrambled singles on both occasions.The turner
Roelof van der Merwe isn’t known for getting the ball to spin big. When he came on in the fifth over, Dilshan and Gayle were hammering the bowling. He got his first one to spin a mile outside off, and beat Dilshan with his second. The third was the best of the lot: it was a fullish delivery that pitched on leg, Dilshan moved across the stumps and tried to sweep. He missed and the ball ripped off the turf to take off stump. Hitting off stump while bowling a batsman around his legs? No wonder van der Merwe was thrilled, letting out an impassioned scream and pumping his fists to celebrate the wicket.The straight six
For the third consecutive match in Bangalore, the press box at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was in the line of a massive six. Kieron Pollard’s just missed on Friday, a cameraman deflected Colin Ingram’s on Sunday but there was no stopping a howitzer from Gayle. The brutal hit off George Dockrell comfortably cleared the sightscreen and headed straight for the glass-front of the media enclosure. A journalist in the front row made a panicky dive as the ball approached but the glass proved sturdy enough to withstand the full impact of the powerful shot.The revenge
Peter Trego was clobbered for 50 runs in his three overs – the worst bowling analysis in his Twenty20 career – and Gayle played a big part in it, clouting two sixes and a four. Trego had his revenge later in the match, though, clubbing two sixes and two fours in the one over Gayle bowled. That over went for 24 and Somerset were back in the game as their run-rate rocketed beyond 10.

Ricky Ponting is in his home state, Tasmania, in search of a score that will end his century drought

Brydon Coverdale in Hobart07-Dec-2011The last time Ricky Ponting played a Test in Hobart he made 298 runs. It is the most he has scored in a Test. In the near two years since then, he has averaged 28.74 and hasn’t posted a century. It is the longest such dry spell he has endured. Will the drought break in his home state, in front of family and friends, at the venue where he last made a Test ton? Maybe, maybe not. At least his scores have been heading in the right direction.In Sri Lanka, Ponting made a few starts without turning any into a half-century. In South Africa, he began the tour with scores of 8, 0 and 0, before his second-innings 62 in Johannesburg helped Australia to a memorable victory. He followed that with 78 at the Gabba, again missing the chance for a hundred when he was lbw to a Chris Martin ball that angled towards him.During his lean period, Ponting insisted that he was still batting well, just without luck. A little bit of good fortune came his way at the Gabba. For most of his career, back-to-back fifties would hardly be newsworthy; now, they have left spectators wondering if that big, elusive three-figure score is on its way.”It is just that the hard work I have been doing is starting to pay off, which is nice,” Ponting said ahead of the Hobart Test. “I felt comfortable at the crease during the innings in Brisbane. Though I was obviously disappointed with myself not to go on and make a hundred that I have been striving for for a long time, I know that if I keep doing the things I am doing, and more importantly applying myself out in the middle when I need to, then that big score is not far away.”[It’s] very rare that I get the chance to come back and play international games down here in front of my home crowd. It always has a little bit of extra meaning to play this game. It took me a while to get used to coming back here and playing international games. I never had much success early on but the last couple of visits down here have been pretty good. I am looking forward to the week.”It seems Ponting now looks forward to every match with renewed enthusiasm. He turns 37 later this month and his lean run highlighted to him that any Test could be his last. Already he is looking forward to the Boxing Day challenge against India, every game now an opportunity to score runs and win matches without the weight of captaincy on his shoulders.This time last summer he was the leader and No. 3. Now he bats at second drop, behind one of Australia’s most inexperienced top orders of all time: David Warner (one Test), Phillip Hughes (16) and Usman Khawaja (five). The captaincy has passed to Michael Clarke, and when asked about adjusting to the change, Ponting smiled and said it was “a lot of fun” not being in charge.”Actually it’s a lot more relaxing for me just to be an everyday player and just to turn up and get my batting and fielding work done and go and sit in the change room and not have to think about the wicket conditions or picking teams and anything like that,” Ponting said. “It’s a bit of a load off my plate to be an everyday player again.”I don’t have any regrets about standing down. I did it because I felt it was the right time and I did it to try and make myself the player that I wanted to be. By standing down after the World Cup and the Ashes, it gave the incoming captain a lot of time to get experience and knowledge under his belt for the next really big series.”If you look up what we’ve got coming up against India, Michael has got seven Tests under his belt and that’s really good experience. Then we’ve got the Ashes and Champions Trophy around the corner, so he’ll be a very experienced captain by the time those tournaments come around.”Ponting expects to still be around for the India series. As for the Champions Trophy and the next Ashes, who knows. For now, he just wants to enjoy his seventh Test in his home state. Pakistan couldn’t stop him last time at Bellerive Oval, when he scored 209 and 89 in January 2010.That double-hundred was his 39th Test century. He’d love nothing more than scoring No. 40 in Tasmania as well.

ESPNcricinfo presents Plays of the Day from the third ODI between New Zealand and South Africa, in Auckland

Andrew Fernando03-Mar-2012The catch
A loose ball from South Africa’s new-ball pair was a rarity New Zealand could not afford to miss out on in the early exchanges. However, when they did stray, brilliance from South Africa’s infielders minimised, and often prevented altogether, any damage. When Martin Guptill cut a wide ball from Lonwabo Tostsobe in the fifth over, Faf du Plessis took things a step further and ensured the opening bowler was finally rewarded for a terrific spell, pulling off a stunning take backward of point. Fully stretched and airborne, du Plessis plucked the ball from behind him and Guptill, not a bad fielder himself, gaped on in disbelief before heading back to the hutch.The run-out

Having already pulled off the catch of the afternoon, du Plessis’ fielding heroics continued through the middle overs, when he ended Kane Williamson’s innings with a fantastic throw. Williamson had set off for a single from the non-striker’s end, gambling on the fact that the swooping du Plessis could not go down and deliver an accurate throw at full pelt. The batsman was wrong. du Plessis’ horizontal, mid-air throw found AB de Villiers’ gloves inches from the stumps, and Williamson was out by a metre.The set-up
Having roughed up Brendon McCullum and Rob Nicol with short stuff at startling pace in his first spell, Marchant de Lange reaped the reward for the tactic only several overs later, at the start of his second. Expecting another a ball at his throat, McCullum was moving onto the back foot almost before the ball was bowled, and was in a woeful position to play the full one that de Lange delivered. The ball caught the edge and looped to backward point to leave McCullum walking back three runs short of fifty.The freebie(s)
It wasn’t a good game for bowlers trying to hit the blockhole on free hits. After Wayne Parnell overstepped in the 31st over, he floated a length ball on middle stump that Colin de Grandhomme blasted over cow corner for his first ODI runs. Later, during South Africa’s innings, Kyle Mills’ knee-high full toss disappeared to the same part of the ground – only this time, it bounced before it crossed the rope off Hashim Amla’s bat.The false restarts
The groundstaff had the crowd on the edge of their seats with their cover-removing antics during the 40-minute rain delay during the New Zealand innings. They first brought the covers on, and were in the process of piling more on when the weather suddenly cleared and the umpires asked them to begin preparing for play. They then took them all off, but just as the pitch was completely uncovered, another squall washed through Eden Park and the umpires were eating their words. This routine continued for a further ten minutes while the weather made up its mind before, finally, the rain clouds blew over and stayed away for the remainder of the evening.Edited by Nikita Bastian

Sixty-four years ago an Indian batsman made all of Australia applaud with two hundreds in a Test against Bradman’s feted team

Ashley Mallett22-Jan-2012Like Tchaikovsky’s immortal , Ray Lindwall’s movement was all rhythm and grace – a crescendo before a delivery of sublime power. If you looked closely, you caught a glimpse of the bulging muscle at the shoulder. As he delivered the ball it was a wonderful finale to a co-ordinated attack of body and mind. The great Indian batsman Vijay Hazare was more than up to the task, and he launched into a ball of full length and caressed it with the wave of his magic blade, sending it screaming past Neil Harvey at cover before it slammed into the boundary pickets. It brought up Hazare’s historic second century of the Adelaide Test match in 1948.The crowd rose as one, and among them was Hazare’s mentor, a little man in a suit and grey felt hat, his hands clasped in victory above his head where he stood in the press gallery near the players’ change room, high in the George Giffen Stand. It was none other than Clarence Victor Grimmett, the , who was at the Oval to see his protégé Hazare perform his greatest feat on the Test match stage.Grimmett’s last Test series was under the captaincy of Vic Richardson against South Africa in 1935-36 and he took 44 wickets in the series at an average of 14, but he never played for Australia again. He had his heart set on the 1938 touring team but had not selected been. In the wake of that disappointment, Grimmett was offered £2000, plus expenses, to sail to India and coach His Highness the Rajah of Jath. He gladly accepted the offer, for that sum of money was a veritable fortune in 1938, and more than double the fee Bradman’s tourists received for the England tour that year.Apart from coaching the Rajah and his younger brother, Grimmett also took an enthusiastic young allrounder under his wing, the promising 23-year-old Hazare. The old legspinner had always considered himself a pretty good batting coach. Once, he handed me his Jack Hobbs autographed bat and asked me to play a drive. Upon my saying I couldn’t bat and wanted to learn about bowling, he replied: “Ah, I taught a young man to play the back-cut on the boat to England in 1930… and Don Bradman was a fast learner!”During training in India, Grimmett threw tennis balls from close range at Hazare, who later always maintained that the Australia’s coaching and encouragement helped him tighten his defence and learn to execute his strokes efficiently. Just before World War II broke out, Hazare wrote to Grimmett:

“Let me note here that this little success of mine in the cricket sphere is entirely due to your valuable instructions which I will never forget, at least in this life. I will also be thankful to you if you will in future, as in the past, kindly help me by giving necessary instructions.”

World War II hampered Hazare’s progress and he didn’t play his first Test until June 1946, against England at Lord’s. England debutant Alec Bedser stormed through the Indians with 7 for 49 and 4 for 96. Hazare, batting at No. 4, hit a modest double of 31 and 34. He took 2 for 100 off 34.4 overs in England’s 428 – his victims Bedser and Bill Bowes.Down Under a year and a half later, Hazare hardly troubled the scorers with the bat, until the fourth Test, in Adelaide. It was a game of firsts: Neil Harvey, arguably Australia’s best batsman since Bradman, debuted; Lindwall took a career-best 7 for 38 in India’s second innings; Bradman hit 201; Lindsay Hassett was unconquered on 198; and Sid Barnes hit a solid 112, but the match belonged to Hazare, after whose two majestic centuries, 116 and 145, Bradman was moved to say: “Hazare is the most graceful batsman it has been my pleasure to watch.”

Hazare’s double in Adelaide brought him hero status back home and huge respect in Australia. Grimmett invited him to his home, some 10km east of the Adelaide Oval. They spoke animatedly of their time together in India and enjoyed much laughter. Grimmett stood at the dinner table and raised his glass: “Vijay, a toast. You have made me a proud man today”

It was a terrific compliment, for Bradman had seen first-hand the artistry and style of Alan Kippax, whose batting was said to have been close to that of Victor Trumper for beauty and style; the glorious England left-hander Frank Woolley; the brilliant George Headley, and many others between the wars and just after hostilities ended in 1945.Hazare’s hundreds came against quality bowling. Lindwall and Keith Miller were at least as good as, if not the best among, all the great Australian fast bowling partnerships – the others being Ted McDonald and Jack Gregory in 1921, and Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thomson in 1974-75. Hazare also had to negotiate the left-arm medium-fast stuff of Ernie Toshack, the offspin of Ian Johnson, and the legbreaks of Colin McCool.Hazare walked to the wicket with India a precarious 69 for 3 in the first innings – and they were later 133 for 5. With Dattu Phadkar, who made 123, he set about restoring order. They hit 188 for the sixth wicket, but India followed on, since Australia had made 674. In the second innings Hazare came to the wicket with India 2 for 0 and batted like a man possessed. He cruised to 50, playing deft cuts and pulls and wristy shots off his toes, the ball appearing to gain pace the further from the bat it travelled – not unlike the magic of VVS Laxman when he’s in peak touch.Hazare’s double in Adelaide brought him hero status back home and huge respect in Australia. Grimmett invited him to his home, Dundula, in leafy Firle, a suburb some 10km east of the Adelaide Oval. They spoke animatedly of their time together in India and enjoyed much laughter. Grimmett stood at the dinner table and raised his glass: “Vijay, a toast. You have made me a proud man today.”Hazare played 238 first-class matches in which he scored 18,784 runs at an average of 58.38, with 60 centuries and a top score of 316 not out for Maharashtra versus Baroda in 1939-40. In 30 Tests he hit 2192 runs at 47.65 with seven centuries. Against Yorkshire at Bramall Lane in 1946, Hazare scored an unconquered 244. Grimmett too liked playing against Yorkshire. In 1930 he took 10 for 37 against them. Opening with Gul Mahomed and playing for Baroda against Holkar in 1946-47, Hazare figured in a world-record stand of 577 for the fourth wicket.Hazare was one of the modern torchbearers for excellence in Indian Test batsmanship. India’s first “great” batsman was Kumar Ranjitsinhji, who played for England at the turn of the 20th century. Hazare came much later but was nearly just as influential, leading the way for Indian batting pride as represented by the likes of Chandrakant Borde, that immaculate and brilliant player of pace bowling; Sunil Gavaskar; the moustachioed and disciplined Ajit Wadekar; and Gundappa Viswanath.India’s batting heroes now include Rahul Dravid, Laxman and Sachin Tendulkar. Only, the modern champions’ batting away from home has been cause for concern of late. On this tour the three have batted like shadows of their true selves. In 1948, Hazare made history in Adelaide. Oh for his like at this year’s Test. Maybe the cricket gods are waiting for Adelaide to be the venue for Tendulkar to get his 100th international hundred. That would be a fitting finale for the little master’s Australian adventures. At any rate, let’s hope some of the Vijay Hazare flair and batting steel revisits this Indian team, and soon. Vijay Hazare letters from Clarrie Grimmett’s personal papers, as quoted in by Ashley Mallett, 2008