Dileep Premachandran

Time was on the minds of many Indian cricket fans on Sunday night, as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid graced a field together for the final time. For Tendulkar, it was a final game in a Mumbai Indians shirt. For Dravid, it was his last competitive outing. It really was the sort of occasion that made you sit up and ask: Where did the time go?

Virender Sehwag in his pomp was as natural as they come, the most uncomplicated of ball-strikers. While others swore by notions like 'giving the first session to the bowler', Sehwag did what his eyes told him to.

When the Indian squad was announced for the first World Twenty20 in 2007, during the tour of England, there was no Sachin Tendulkar, no Rahul Dravid, no Sourav Ganguly and no Anil Kumble. The eminences of Indian cricket were to put their feet up after a gruelling tour that had seen them seal a first Test series win in the old country in 21 years.

The numbers reveal as much as they conceal - 87 wickets from 27 Tests, at an average of 37.59. What those figures don't tell you, though, is how he could change a game. At the end of the South African tour in January 2007, Allan Donald said that he had not come across any bowler who could hit the pitch with seam bolt upright ball after ball as Sree...

Great works of architecture have the power to move you deeply. Most sporting venues aren't really comparable to the seven wonders in terms of architectural excellence, but there are aspects to them that can take the breath away. At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, especially when it's nearly full, it's the Colosseum-like atmosphere that gets you. I...

Make no mistake, Indian cricket needed this tour of South Africa. A team of young and inexperienced batsmen yet to prove themselves needed this journey to hell - playing the best team in the world in their backyard is as close as you'll get to sporting purgatory.

When India toured Australia in 2003-04, David Frith, one of the most formidable of cricket historians, told me that it was the finest batting line-up he'd seen in Australia, even better than the West Indies of the 1980s.

Steve Waugh won eight of the nine Ashes Tests in which he led - the Sydney loss in 2003 came with Australia 4-0 up - but his approach to the contests was shaped by his first experience of them, in 1986-87. He scored 310 runs and took 10 wickets at 33.6, but England won 2-1 on Australian soil.

A generation on, the developed Adelaide Oval will play host to another India-Pakistan contest, the first for both teams at the 2015 World Cup. This time, the TV audience alone will be over a billion, with thousands more journeying to South Australia to witness a rivalry as intense as they come.

The Ashes didn't stay relevant through a century of tumultuous change only because of the ties that bound the old empire and one of its farthest outposts. It mattered because it gave the fans something to look forward to.

The optimists might point you to the summer of 1989. Australia arrived for the Ashes having won just one Test in the previous 12 months, a dead rubber against West Indies in Sydney. Their ODI record in the same period was a middling 6-6. England, who had won the last two Ashes series, were scalding-hot favourites. Australia won 4-0.

The four boys on stage were closer to Virat Kohli in age than they were to any of us. Most of those watching were also young, and it didn't seem as though they were casual listeners either. As is often the case, we're so quick to pass judgment on the young.

While an older generation debates spot-fixing and keeps its eyes on the police investigations in Mumbai and Delhi, these kids play on. No bookies have got to them yet, and they worry not so much about the deliberate no-ball as about it disappearing over the compound wall and out of reach.

Nearly a century has passed since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, when eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting $5000 each to lose baseball's World Series. The biggest of those names was "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who still has the third-highest batting average in the game's history. A year after the scandal, Jackson was hound...

Siva's election ahead of May was certainly a surprise to many. May has been at the forefront of the players' struggle for rights, whether through chasing delayed payments or negotiating with cricket boards for more sensible itineraries. As for Siva, we have no idea whether he's a champion of players' rights - India haven't had an association worth ...

Time was on the minds of many Indian cricket fans on Sunday night, as Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid graced a field together for the final time. For Tendulkar, it was a final game in a Mumbai Indians shirt. For Dravid, it was his last competitive outing. It really was the sort of occasion that made you sit up and ask: Where did the time go?

Virender Sehwag in his pomp was as natural as they come, the most uncomplicated of ball-strikers. While others swore by notions like 'giving the first session to the bowler', Sehwag did what his eyes told him to.

When the Indian squad was announced for the first World Twenty20 in 2007, during the tour of England, there was no Sachin Tendulkar, no Rahul Dravid, no Sourav Ganguly and no Anil Kumble. The eminences of Indian cricket were to put their feet up after a gruelling tour that had seen them seal a first Test series win in the old country in 21 years.

The numbers reveal as much as they conceal - 87 wickets from 27 Tests, at an average of 37.59. What those figures don't tell you, though, is how he could change a game. At the end of the South African tour in January 2007, Allan Donald said that he had not come across any bowler who could hit the pitch with seam bolt upright ball after ball as Sree...

Great works of architecture have the power to move you deeply. Most sporting venues aren't really comparable to the seven wonders in terms of architectural excellence, but there are aspects to them that can take the breath away. At the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, especially when it's nearly full, it's the Colosseum-like atmosphere that gets you. I...

Make no mistake, Indian cricket needed this tour of South Africa. A team of young and inexperienced batsmen yet to prove themselves needed this journey to hell - playing the best team in the world in their backyard is as close as you'll get to sporting purgatory.

When India toured Australia in 2003-04, David Frith, one of the most formidable of cricket historians, told me that it was the finest batting line-up he'd seen in Australia, even better than the West Indies of the 1980s.

Steve Waugh won eight of the nine Ashes Tests in which he led - the Sydney loss in 2003 came with Australia 4-0 up - but his approach to the contests was shaped by his first experience of them, in 1986-87. He scored 310 runs and took 10 wickets at 33.6, but England won 2-1 on Australian soil.

A generation on, the developed Adelaide Oval will play host to another India-Pakistan contest, the first for both teams at the 2015 World Cup. This time, the TV audience alone will be over a billion, with thousands more journeying to South Australia to witness a rivalry as intense as they come.

The Ashes didn't stay relevant through a century of tumultuous change only because of the ties that bound the old empire and one of its farthest outposts. It mattered because it gave the fans something to look forward to.

The optimists might point you to the summer of 1989. Australia arrived for the Ashes having won just one Test in the previous 12 months, a dead rubber against West Indies in Sydney. Their ODI record in the same period was a middling 6-6. England, who had won the last two Ashes series, were scalding-hot favourites. Australia won 4-0.

The four boys on stage were closer to Virat Kohli in age than they were to any of us. Most of those watching were also young, and it didn't seem as though they were casual listeners either. As is often the case, we're so quick to pass judgment on the young.

While an older generation debates spot-fixing and keeps its eyes on the police investigations in Mumbai and Delhi, these kids play on. No bookies have got to them yet, and they worry not so much about the deliberate no-ball as about it disappearing over the compound wall and out of reach.

Nearly a century has passed since the Black Sox scandal of 1919, when eight players from the Chicago White Sox were accused of accepting $5000 each to lose baseball's World Series. The biggest of those names was "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, who still has the third-highest batting average in the game's history. A year after the scandal, Jackson was hound...

Siva's election ahead of May was certainly a surprise to many. May has been at the forefront of the players' struggle for rights, whether through chasing delayed payments or negotiating with cricket boards for more sensible itineraries. As for Siva, we have no idea whether he's a champion of players' rights - India haven't had an association worth ...