The new world order in cricket

It’s always painful to see a champion in decline. The opponents once you had muscled down with ease are today toying with you. World cricket goes in cycles and after being undisputed champions for more than a decade, Australian cricket team endured its most dismal year in about three decades. The Aussies were in perennial decline in 2010. They were blanked 2-0 by India but the humiliation was felt more because traditional rivals England exposed this naked truth in front of Australia’s home supporters in the Ashes.

Sharad Pawar became the ICC president but it was not smooth sailing for the Indian politician. Within months of taking over the job, the Maratha strongman had to deal with the unsavoury spot-fixing scandal swirling around Pakistan cricket team. It did ICC’s reputation no good that it needed a sting operation of a British tabloid, The News of the World, to expose the murky dealings.

During Pakistan’s tour of England earlier this year, captain Salman Butt, and pace bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer were accused of spot-fixing during the Oval Test. The tabloid claimed that Aamer and Asif bowled deliberate no-balls during the match, apparently under instructions from skipper Butt.

The Pakistan team started the year on a wrong note when they controversially lost the Sydney Test amidst unproven allegations of fixing. Eyebrows were raised when the team lost the game after taking a 206-run first innings lead. In their second innings, Australia were 49 runs ahead with just two wickets in hand, but managed to extend their advantage to 176, thanks to an obstinate 123-run ninth-wicket partnership between Michael Hussey and Peter Siddle.

For the first time, Pakistan did not have a single international game at home — the fallout of security concerns following the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team at Lahore in March, 2009.
Bangladesh cricket had a lot to celebrate in the limited overs format. In a stunning performance, they blanked New Zealand 4-0 in the one-day series at home and went on to win the gold medal (Twenty20 format) at the Asian Games. However, their Test performance remained dismal.

Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan bowed out of Test cricket in July. It was a fairytale ending as he claimed his record 800th wicket in his final match at Galle and bowled his team to victory over India.