Cricket: India Pakistan Series Ends

Oh what a tangled web we weave,
When first we practice to deceive

Nothing has changed.
India lost the 6th and final one-day match and the cricket series by 4-2 to Pakistan.
Through the 90s and till early 2003 India was Sachin.
If Sachin went, India lost.
Nothing has changed now, except that from 2004 India is Sehwag.
If Sehwag goes, India loses.
That's what happened yesterday. Chasing 304 to win in 50 overs, India lost Sehwag early and as soon as Sehwag went, the procession of batsmen returning to the pavilion began.

Since April 2003, in the last two years, India has played 50 ODIs and won only 22 of them.

Weak in batting.
Sachin doesn't inspire the confidence of being a one-man army anymore. He cannot lead India to victory. It's good Ganguly is not in the team and shouldn't be. Rahul Dravid cannot be expected to smash the bowling-that's not his job, and Yuvraj and Kaif on most occasions in the recent past have not contributed enough with the bat, VVS Laxman is not even in the team, and Irfan Pathan from being India's answer for the perfect all-rounder has become a non-entity not able to merit a place in the team.

Weaker in bowling.
In the bowling department, Ashish Nehra takes wickets but always goes for more than 6 runs per over. Zaheer displays brilliance in patches. Spinners - Harbhajan, Kumble, and Karthik can't be expected to prosper on batsmen friendly pitches, Balaji gives lots of runs, Irfan is out-of-form and out of the team.

19th April: Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer praises Virender Sehwag.