Right arm... over

Like his bowling, and his personality, the end of his extraordinary career was understated.

In the serenity that comes on the fifth day of a drawn Test, the batsmen practising their shots, the bowlers perfecting the line for the next match — after India had done enough to ensure there were no mishaps, and not well enough to pull off a miraculous win — Anil Kumble revealed to the world what he had decided the previous night.

As the Sunday afternoon crowd was getting in a festive mood, relishing VVS Laxman’s elegant flicks and Sourav Ganguly’s last few silken drives at the Kotla, a sign went up on .the two giant screens in the stadium. It read: “Anil Kumble has decided to retire after this Test match”.

The applause, at first muffled, became a deafening roar as Kumble waved from the dressing-room balcony, and reached a euphonious crescent do as the Indian captain walked on to the field through a corridor lined by his teammates,raising his faded Test cap.

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Aussies very down under in Mohali, India’s perfect end to perfect Test

Stand-in skipper, stand-in blazer,” Mahendra Singh Dhoni beamed at the post-match press conference, on a charm offensive after an aggressive India had completed a whopping 320-run win to take a 1-0 win in the Test series against Australia.

The fact that Dhoni walked out for the toss in an oversized jacket, after Anil Kumble had to pull out on the morning of the match, was the only blip over five days in Mohali where everything else fit just right. Needing five wickets to wrap up the game on the last day, Dhoni threw the ball to Zaheer Khan first thing in the morning. He could well have been throwing the left arm pacer a pair of boxing gloves.

Brad Haddin saw the first five deliveries of the day pitch on middle and leave him, but he quite clearly didn’t see the one that pitched on middle and hit middle. His bat hung limp in his hands, searching for contact at least six inches off target.

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India spin a win in Kanpur, clear Test before IPL carnival

Like a commuter on a rush hour Virar Fast, Virender Sehwag is hanging on to the SUV as Team India gets ready to start yet another victory lap. Coach Gary Kirsten smiles as he watches his team test the capacity of the vehicle, the prize for the man of the series, that has the stand-in skipper and the unofficial team driver for all such occasions at the wheel.

Sehwag shouts in an exaggerated accent, "Gary, come along." The coach doesn't oblige as he has a television interview to give. But watching the new coach in a sea of happy faces around him, it was clear that the Kanpur trip has helped the coach hop onto Indian cricket's bandwagon that has been on a roll for some time now. Dhoni spoke about Kirsten's rapport with the team. "Of course, it is too early, but I think he is hitting the right areas," he says.

It isn't just the coach who's hitting the right areas, but the entire team did that here after being totally off-target during the three-day loss at Motera. They travelled to Kanpur with a lot on their minds. Sunil Gavaskar had spoken about IPL distractions during the Test series and asked Kirsten to crack the whip. Injury had hit the bowling department hard. There was a question mark over Ishant Sharma, who was retuming after an injury.

Intrigue was speculated as shorter-version skipper Dhoni replaced injured Test captain Anil Kumble. The moming that had started with television visuals showing Kumble leaving the team hotel with interpretations of a senior-junior divide in team ended with a number of happy family frames around.

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