Suresh Menon

Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli

Nothing so terrible as loss of faith

Spot-fixing is not a victim-less crime – the wounds are deeper than physical and what dies is the fan’s faith

Harbhajan Singh may have taken five wickets in the series, but his prediction of the scoreline was perfect. © BCCI

Harbhajan Singh 1, Grand Inquisitor 0

It was impossible to know beforehand that this Australian team was actually just a team from Australia and not much more

Shikhar Dhawan and Murali Vijay. © BCCI

From despair to hope – the Indian journey

The turnaround is hardly complete, but emergence of new stars must be celebrated

Mickey Arthur and Michael Clarke. © Getty Images

Arthur’s doctrine, or Clarke’s?

Australia owe it to players, fans to reveal past misdemeanours of players

Michael Clarke reacts to a message on the giant screen in Chennai. © BCCI

Clarke and the art of inter-personal communication

Most people, when suddenly given the gift of three wishes, end up with banalities. Some years ago, an Indian lost a chance to become the Miss World (especially difficult as Indians were winning all such…

Harbhajan Singh. © Getty Images

Harbhajan Singh, Rattler-in-Chief

So now we know. Harbhajan Singh is the rattler-in-chief of the Indian team. Whether he takes a clutch of wickets or not in the series against Australia, he is expected to keep the…

Tea. © Getty Images

Cup of tea, anyone?

One of the many things about cricket that amused the comic genius Groucho Marx was the fact that at some point in the day, the two teams battling intensely on the field abruptly…

Sarah Taylor plays a shot. © Getty Images

Taylor adds new dimension to woman-power

In the 1980s, whenever an Indian team was doing badly, especially in Bangalore, the cry would go around, part-mockery, part-fantasy: “Drop so-and-so, and pick Shanta Rangaswamy.” In those politically incorrect days, that call…