Great Test Cricketing week

This past week witnessed great cricketing action both on and off the field. While, Murali grabbed most of the headlines after touching the 800 wicket mark and ending his career on a winning note, Pakistan, with a new captain, upset Australia with a historic win at Leeds. Despite being affected by rain, both the test matches produced results, and a good crowd turn-out meant that doubts regarding future of test matches are brought down to some extent for now.

These were some of the major highlights of the week:

• Spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan was given a winning farewell as Sri Lanka secured an emphatic 10 wicket victory over world no 1 India in the first test at Galle. On the way to guiding his team to victory, the spin legend became the first bowler ever to reach the magical figure of 800 wickets. India on the other hand, looked everything but the world no 1 team. While the bowling was obviously weak, the best batting line up failed to deliver when it mattered and were demolished by the in-swingers of slinga Malinga and the magic of Murali. Going into the 2^nd test India will surely feel the pressure and with this bowling line up, picking up 20 wickets is possible only if they have runs on the board in the first innings.
• In Leeds, Pakistan created history when they beat Australia by 3 wickets and thus secured their first victory against the Aussies in nearly 15 years and 13 tests. With this win, Pakistan showed why they are always a dangerous side but they are still consistently inconsistent. For Australia, the dismal English tour continued and after they lost an ODI series to England and T-20s to Pakistan. After getting bowled out for a meager 88 in the first innings against a disciplined bowling line up of Aisf, Aamer and Gul, they never got a chance to come back into the match and despite Bowlinger and Watson bowling their heart-out, they ended up on the losing side. Pakistan can see this match as a new beginning with a new captain Salman Butt and will hope to perform well in the upcoming test series against England.
• Also in England, Bangladesh continued their inconsistency. After stunning England in the ODI, they were unable to win the series against Ireland and last week they were defeated by Netherlands in a thrilling ODI. The only ODI against Scoland got washed out, and thus ended a tour where Bangladesh generated a good amount hope but failed to deliver at the right time and achieve any considerable result. If they continue their inconsistency, the questions on their test status are bound to be raised
• Master blaster Sachin may have failed to save the test match for his country, but he continued to remain in news with the “blood in the book” hoopla. Sachin though has denied of any blood in his upcoming biography, publishers say that maestro’s blood has been mixed in a few special copies which will be sold at a high price. Whatever be the truth, one thing is for sure that, with this controversy involving the master, the book has certainly gained a good amount of popularity, and it won’t be surprising to see millions of copies being sold.

Player of the week: There were some great performances in both the test matches. While Paranavitana, Sangakkara and Sehwag each scored a century, Malinga and Watson shone with the ball. But its Mohammed Aamer who stood out with his bowling performance picking up 8 wickets and leading his side to a historic victory against the Aussies. So, for a man of the match performance, Mohammed Aamer is the “Player of the week”