When I was younger, my friends and I were asked to find jelly beans in an open field and as kids, we loved it. Times have changed, we are all older and we don’t crave jelly beans anymore. In other words, we have become mature. But, the English don’t seem to be mature enough and still act like infants.

It was appalling to see professional cricketers act like kids by strewing jelly beans around the playing area. It may have been an act of desperation but professional means “you hide it all”. The Brits might have had a chuckle when the innocent looking Zaheer walked towards the slip region like a child complaining, but on the world scene, it’s a shameful act of cowardice.

Maybe the England team has resorted to illegal ways of swinging the cricket ball by smearing the stickiness from jelly bean onto the ball. Cricket administrators have never doubted the integrity of the white teams in International cricket and I doubt they would it this time round.

Keeping the jelly bean episode aside, the victory at Trent Bridge although expected is sweet especially when you almost lost the first one. Indian players deserve this victory just for sheer team work. They gelled as a team during the entire test, fought as a single unit which brought about the ever-sweet victory.

India should go with the same intensity in the final test at the Oval. A series win is something India has been eying for a couple decades and lets accept, we have the best chance now. Now or not for a very long time.

It is unfortunate to see top news channel powered by nation’s most powerful news paper reach a new low to “create” heart throbbing stories. The channel had publicized that Sachin and Ganguly were not consulted by Dravid before opting them out of the Twenty20 World Cup. It was stated that the duo were angry with Dravid over his decision and this had something to do with India’s poor showing in the Lord’s test.

Dravid was visibly unhappy with the news as it had no evidence or truth in it. This has not only hurt the sentiments of the national captain but the sentiments of each and every Indian who rests his confidence in the integrity of the news coming from the popular news channels. Such news might bring up TRP for the channel but for a nation that follows cricket religiously, it has derailed the hopes of a Times Now’s future stories.

Dravid and other cricketers involved in this saga shouldn’t be too bothered about this report and they should completely concentrate on the cricket ahead of them. The most important thing for Indian cricket is to win the test series in England and it has be at prime importance.

The Government of India should bring in amendments and policies to regulate such non-sense in journalism.

Disappointment is the word of the day when I look at the Indian team that has been chosen for the 2nd test at Trent Bridge. Coming from an average outing at the Lord’s, it was important to get rid of extra baggage and get some live wires to recharge the entire team.

Jaffer was a non-sense man at Lord’s and he should have been replaced with either Gambhir or Yuvraj. Jaffer was clueless against the moving ball; my maid servant would have played better than him in the English conditions. Yet, he boasts of several hundreds in first class matches. Selectors and senior cricketers often talk about the good technique that Jaffer possesses. How can a person have good technique if he can’t cope up with the moving ball? Hitting the ball thats not moving laterally takes hand and eye co-ordination more than technique. Sehwag would’ve done much better here in England and he never talks about his batting technique. Jaffer is lucky to be in this match and my bet is that he would score less than 20 in both the innings.

The rest of the team selected themselves on merit and performance from the previous game. The injury scare to Ganguly would have opened the doors for Yuvraj whose inclusion would have thrown some excitement into this game.

Indians love to live up to their expectations especially when it comes to starting poorly on overseas assignments. Today at Lords, India displayed the grit to start in a fashion that is expected of them. What surprises the most is the inability of the Indian bowlers to bowl at a decent line and length. The ball stayed either too short or too straight. More often than not, they drifted it down the leg side. Every bowler including the deadly Kumble faltered and faltered badly. The presence of a specialist bowling coach has done more bad than good.

If Indians have to get back into this test match, they need to bowl accurately and steadily. They need to use Tendulkar more often and bowl the faster bowlers in short spells. It was evident that faster bowlers were getting wayward after bowling for half hour or so. Kumble should be used extensively as he has already been.

Talking about the sitter dropped by Dinesh Karthik just before the end of first session, what was he thinking? It was one of the most simplest catches. Even my house maid would have caught that while mopping the floor.

As for England, the top three batsmen played brilliantly. Their positive thinking was key to their success which led to punishing the Indian bowlers whenever they drifted. It was evident that the English batsmen were brimming with confidence from the victory over West Indies couple months ago.

Mudhsuden Singh Panesar is the latest English sensation who has destroyed some formidable batting line-ups since he made his debut last year in India. He is in a Bishen Singh Bedi mould and has the potential to incapacitate batting line-ups that are known to play spin bowling the best.

Is this Indian Origin English Sardar good enough to beat the Indian willow? There are arguments on both sides of the track. Indians have traditionally played spin the best and have kept all leading spinners at bay. Shane Warne who is one of the best traditional leg spinners came a cropper against the Indians whenever he played against India. Success against India was like finding an oasis in the Sahara. The spin charmer, Muttiah Muralitharan, has left unforgettable memories in the minds of many great batsmen but does not have a great tally against India.

But, India have always surprised everyone including themselves. Beginning with the triumph in the 1983 World Cup to the shocking exit in the 2007 World Cup. The Indian team could be giving nightmares to people who bet on cricket. Indians tend to be callous and have known to take the opposition easy and have faced many humiliating defeats both at home and away. Against Monty, they could just fall like ten pins.

So the question of Monty devouring the Indians or the Indians making a curry of Monty cannot be answered until the end of the series and I am surely not betting on anyone.

One of the most important series in Indian cricket itinerary is set to begin this Thursday at Lords and there seems to be a dilemma regarding the players comprising the XI. It’s not the openers slot that is being tossed up but the name of the future captain of India, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

There have been several speculations that Dhoni would be dropped for the first Test against England at Lords to adjust Yuvraj Singh and VVS Laxman in the side. VVS Laxman booked his place in the side with a defiant 97 against Sussex while Yuvraj’s fighting 50 against the Lions made the selection process complicated for captain Rahul Dravid.

Dhoni is one man who can turn any match on it’s head. This man can take the mantle of the entire team and can change the fortunes in a matter of few overs. He is tipped to be the future captain and in all certainty will be captaining India in the Twenty 20 World Cup in South Africa. We would not like to see this youngster’s confidence dented by dropping him from the XI. A player with Dhoni’s stature should be able to walk into any format of the game as he is deemed precious in all conditions.

If I was to leave out somebody, it would be VVS Laxman. He is old, slow on his legs and doesn’t contribute with the ball. Yuvraj is talented, young, great fielder and can chip in with a few overs. Having VVS in the team would not do any good if you are trying to build a team for the future.

Here’s the team that should probably play:

1. Dinesh Karthik
2. Wasim Jaffer
3. Rahul Dravid
4. Sachin Tendulkar
5. Yuvraj Singh
6. Saurav Ganguly
7. Mahendra Singh Dhoni
8. Anil Kumble
9. Zaheer Khan
10. S Sreesanth
11. R P Singh

What would be your team?