Punjab Cricket Association Stadium

Ground profile

Punjab Cricket Association, PCA Cricket Stadium, Sector – 63, SAS Nagar, Mohali – 160059 (Phone: 0172 – 2232300/1/2)

Established 1993
Floodlights Yes
End names Pavilion End, City End
Home team(s) Punjab
Curator Daljit Singh
Current local time 17:07, Fri Nov 07, 2008 (UTC +0530)
External links Weather

What was a swamp with deep ravines in 1992 was turned into India’s best stadium within a span of two years. The Punjab Cricket Association Stadium at Mohali, on the outskirts of Chandigarh, is a truly world-class venue with excellent practice facilities, spectator-friendly outlook and sufficient provisions for the media. The pitch at Mohali had the reputation of being the livliest in the country – India were even rolled over for 83 on the first morning against New Zealand in 1999 – but it changed complexion drastically over the next few years and turned into a dead pitch producing high-scoring draws. There have also been some cracking one-dayers played on this ground, the most thrilling being the World Cup semi-final in 1996 when Australia squeezed past West Indies in a nail-biting finish.

Oct 19, 2008 A poor turnout for the Test © Getty Images

Oct 25, 2006 Smog envelopes the ground at Mohali © AFP

Oct 6, 2006 Indian police patrol outside the Punjab Cricket Association ground © Getty Images

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M.Chinnaswamy Stadium

Ground profile

M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Karnataka State Cricket Association, Mahatma Gandhi Road, Bangalore – 560001

Also or formerly known as Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium
Established 1969
Capacity 40,000
Floodlights Yes
End names Pavilion End, BEML End
Home team(s) Karnataka
Curator Narayan Raju
Current local time 17:02, Fri Nov 07, 2008 (UTC +0530)
External links Weather

Originally named the Karnataka State Cricket Association Stadium, the ground was eventually renamed after M Chinnaswamy, who was the president of the Indian board from 1977 until 1980, and was involved in the administration of Karnataka cricket for close to four decades. The foundation for the construction of the stadium was laid in May 1969 and building began in 1970.

The stadium was given Test status in 1974-75 and hosted West Indies in the opening match, although the stadium was only half-built. That match was also the debut of two West Indian greats, Gordon Greenidge and Viv Richards. The stadium also played host to Sunil Gavaskar’s swansong innings – a masterclass on a minefield – when India went down to Pakistan in the series decider in 1987.

The stadium was renovated before the two sides met each other again in another titanic encounter; the World Cup quarter-final in 1996, when floodlights were installed for the first time. Since then, Bangalore has proved to be a lucky venue for visiting teams with South Africa, Australia and Pakistan winning crucial games. South Africa’s historic series win in 2000, Michael Clarke’s sensational hundred on debut, Inzamam’s century in his 100th Test and Anil Kumble’s 400th Test wicket have been the highlights over the last decade.

Latest Photos

Oct 11, 2008 Fans wave their support © Getty Images

Oct 11, 2008 Fans cram in at the Chinnaswamy Stadium © Getty Images

Oct 7, 2008 An overview of the nets session at the Chinnaswamy Stadium © Getty Images

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October 22, 2008

Ricky Ponting Captain Age 33 years 308 days Playing role Higher middle order batsman Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium		Doug Bollinger Age 27 years 90 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast
Stuart Clark Age 33 years 24 days Playing role Bowler Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast-medium		Michael Clarke Age 27 years 203 days Playing role Lower middle order batsman Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox
Brad Haddin Wicketkeeper Age 30 years 365 days Playing role Wicketkeeper batsman Batting Right-hand bat		Matthew Hayden Age 36 years 359 days Playing role Opening batsman Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium
Michael Hussey Age 33 years 148 days Playing role Opening batsman Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium		Phil Jaques Age 29 years 172 days Playing role Opening batsman Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Left-arm medium
Mitchell Johnson Age 26 years 355 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast-medium		Simon Katich Age 33 years 62 days Playing role Batsman Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Slow left-arm chinaman
Jason Krejza Age 25 years 282 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Brett Lee Age 31 years 349 days Playing role Bowler Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast
Shaun Marsh Age 25 years 105 days Playing role Lower middle order batsman Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Slow left-arm orthodox (added 22nd October)		Peter Siddle Age 23 years 332 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast-medium
Shane Watson Age 27 years 127 days Playing role All-rounder Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast-medium		Cameron White Age 25 years 65 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak googly (added 4th October)
Bryce McGain Withdrawn player Age 36 years 211 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak googly

November 3, 2008

MS Dhoni Captain/keeper Age 27 years 119 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium		Subramaniam Badrinath Age 28 years 65 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Rahul Dravid Age 35 years 297 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Gautam Gambhir Age 27 years 20 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Legbreak
Sourav Ganguly Age 36 years 118 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium		Harbhajan Singh Age 28 years 123 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Zaheer Khan Age 30 years 27 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast-medium		VVS Laxman Age 34 years 2 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Amit Mishra Age 25 years 345 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak		Munaf Patel Age 25 years 114 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium-fast
Virender Sehwag Age 30 years 14 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Ishant Sharma Age 20 years 62 days Playing role Bowler Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast
RP Singh Age 22 years 333 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast-medium		Sachin Tendulkar Age 35 years 193 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak googly
Murali Vijay Age 24 years 216 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Anil Kumble Withdrawn player Age 38 years 17 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak googly

October 1, 2008

Anil Kumble Captain Age 37 years 350 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak googly		Subramaniam Badrinath Age 28 years 32 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
MS Dhoni Wicketkeeper Age 27 years 86 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium		Rahul Dravid Age 35 years 264 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Gautam Gambhir Age 26 years 353 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Legbreak		Sourav Ganguly Age 36 years 85 days Batting Left-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium
Harbhajan Singh Age 28 years 90 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Zaheer Khan Age 29 years 360 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast-medium
VVS Laxman Age 33 years 335 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak		Amit Mishra Age 25 years 312 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Legbreak
Munaf Patel Age 25 years 81 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm medium-fast		Virender Sehwag Age 29 years 347 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak
Ishant Sharma Age 20 years 29 days Playing role Bowler Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm fast		RP Singh Age 22 years 300 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Left-arm fast-medium
Sachin Tendulkar Age 35 years 160 days Batting Right-hand bat Bowling Right-arm offbreak, Legbreak googly

Tour Match v RCA Centre of Excellence at Jaipur – Sep 27-28, 2008
Match drawn
Australians 218; RCA Centre of Excellence 122

Scorecard | Articles (3) | Photos (14)

Tour Match v Indian Board President’s XI at Hyderabad (Decc) – Oct 2-5, 2008
Match drawn
Indian Board President’s XI 455 and 292/4d; Australians 314 and 127/2

Scorecard | Commentary | Match home | Articles (13) | Photos (67)

1st Test v India at Bangalore – Oct 9-13, 2008
Match drawn
Australia 430 and 228/6d; India 360 and 177/4

Scorecard | Commentary | 3D Animation | Match home | Articles (45) | Photos (142)

2nd Test v India at Mohali – Oct 17-21, 2008
India won by 320 runs
India 469 and 314/3d; Australia 268 and 195

Scorecard | Commentary | 3D Animation | Match home | Articles (49) | Photos (129)

3rd Test v India at Delhi – Oct 29-Nov 2, 2008
Match drawn
India 613/7d and 208/5d; Australia 577 and 31/0

Scorecard | Commentary | 3D Animation | Match home | Articles (41) | Photos (140)

4th Test v India at Nagpur – Nov 6-10, 2008
Stumps – Australia trail by 252 runs with 8 wickets remaining in the 1st innings
India 441; Australia 189/2
SM Katich 92* MEK Hussey 45* A Mishra 9-1-31-0 Harbhajan Singh 16-0-57-1

Scorecard | Desktop scorecard | 3D Animation | Match home

October 26, 2008

	Kumble or Dhoni? The Mohali Test has made the decision all too easy © AFP

Former Australia wicketkeeper Ian Healy is a sceptic when it comes to captaincy. He believes any suggestion it plays a significant role in achieving victory is purely self-promotion by the fraternity of skippers.

For the benefit of the court I’m displaying Exhibit A, a video of Australia’s second innings at Bangalore. Specifically, the period in the game when Anil Kumble was off the field and stand-in captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni led a vibrant India, a team that looked far superior to the one that performed in pedestrian mode a few hours later when the appointed captain was back in charge.

For the true non-believers this is Exhibit B: a video of the second Test, when Dhoni had the captaincy all to himself and a rampant India won by the biggest run margin in their history. Your honour, I rest my case for Dhoni to be appointed captain of India, not just for limited-overs and Twenty20 matches but Tests as well.

Yes, that’s right, a change of captain mid-series.

It’s not such a dramatic move if you consider the original reason for choosing Kumble as captain of the Test side. He was the ideal person to fill in for a short period until Dhoni was ready to do the job and also to avoid burdening the young keeper-batsman with a tough tour of Australia as his opening gambit in the Test captain’s job.

Anybody who watched the Mohali Test and still thinks Dhoni needs more grooming has attended too many dog shows. Dhoni is not only ready, his captaincy in Mohali was a major reason why India currently holds the psychological upper hand in this Test series.

If India doesn’t make the permanent change to Dhoni, they risk handing Australia a get-out-of-jail card. Whether Australia is in the right frame of mind to put that card to full use in this series is another question, but why would India want to dig an escape tunnel and chance their opponents stumbling upon it?

The best way to beat a good team is to attack them and try to provoke mistakes. In Bangalore, Kumble played a waiting game and Australia prospered, while in Mohali, Dhoni went on the offensive from the moment he won the toss, which helped send his opponents crashing to defeat.

There’s no doubt winning the toss made a huge difference, and having Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir set off aggressively also helped, but Dhoni did plenty to assist his own and the team’s cause. Most importantly he created an atmosphere where the players enjoyed the contest. Sehwag was a classic example. He had a smile from start to finish, enjoying his team-mates’ success and revelling in the fact that India was playing an aggressive brand of cricket. Dhoni is wise to involve his team in an exciting contest where victory is sought from the first ball, because it galvanises the better players in his team.

Zaheer Khan was like a man possessed, heavily involved in placing his field, and Sachin Tendulkar behaved like an exuberant 18-year-old when he took a vital catch in the second innings. However, the most conclusive evidence that Dhoni had created a winning atmosphere came from the opposing captain.

After the match Ricky Ponting said that India had outplayed his side from start to finish in all aspects, even fielding. An aging Indian side outfielding an athletic Australian side – the next thing you know, Dhoni will be turning water into wine.

Whether the Indian selectors choose Kumble as a bowler for the third Test is dependent on whether he’s fit enough to perform near his best. If he is, then he returns to the team because he has been a warrior for India and has brought great credit to himself and his country.

It would be a blessing in disguise to relieve Kumble of the captaincy so he can just concentrate on bowling well and rounding out a wonderful career in a manner befitting a successful and classy cricketer.

It has been said that good captaincy is like pornography – it’s hard to define but you know it when you see it. Usually when you do see it, a victory soon follows and after Dhoni’s great performance at Mohali, it might be the right time to ask Healy if he still thinks good captaincy doesn’t affect the result of a match.