Couldn't connect, we lost our players during Indian Premier League: Coach

The Indian team arrived in London two weeks ago, punch drunk on success and the confidence that comes with it. Riding on 39 days of manic Indian Premier League action, they were the men in form, the side that had figured this format out. So what went wrong for Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team? Bad form? Bad planning? Bad luck?

Coach Gary Kirsten had one answer today: the IPL.

He was quite clear that the scheduling of the IPL, squeezed in between the New Zealand tour and the world Twenty20 championships, had a lot to do with the team’s disappointing showing. “We came into a tournament without being able to connect with the players at all. We got two days with the players,” Kirsten said this evening.

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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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They bury the biggest ghost

"YEAAAAAAH... Come on now, Jai Hind. Ek Sikh kaafi hai sab ke liye (one Sikh is enough for all)." For all the abuses hurled at him, all the controversies he landed in, Harbhajan Singh had the last laugh - it was more of a shriek, and probably of relief - as he turned to the crowd, clutching his India jersey and waving the Tricolour.

India ended their troubled tour of Australia on a high note today, defeating the hosts by nine runs in a thriller to wrap up the best-of-three triangular series finals 2-0. Needing 13 runs from the last over, Australia were bowled out for 249 as James Hopes's brave innings came to an end with only two balls left.

For Indian cricket, this is a red letter day. This young side has done what no other Indian team has done before - a series victory in Australia against Australia. Probably, better than the 1985 World Series when India became champions. Sunil Gavaskar, who was the skipper then, walked up to Mahendra Singh Dhoni today: "Congrats skipper, really well done."

Dhoni called the entire team on stage to lift the trophy. "I think all 17 players reacted well. As a skipper, all you do is just transfer the pressure to individuals. I go up to Bhajji and tell him, get me a wicket. I think Bhajji has been superb. For all the things written about him, I felt he was almost like Michael Jackson. He was followed wherever he went, everyday his photos were splashed. But I think all these controversies and the backlash worked for us. Harbhajan is a very aggressive and expressive guy, the controversies made him tougher," Dhoni said.

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