Since making his debut, Phil Hughes has played 5 tests; 3 against South Africa and 2 against England in the on going Ashes series.

The Australians cannot be serious!

The first test of the Ashes, and the first of the three tests I predicted to lose overs due to rain; good start I say to the Ashes Prediction Competition!

I was surprised to find myself upset at the fall of Phil Hughes' wicket in the first over.

Over the last 15 years, I have never been upset at the fall of an Australian wicket. However, today, I am shocked at how upset I was while watching Hughes, Katich, and Hussey walk back to the pavilion.

Despite the fact that I have admired how the Australians have played cricket over the last decade and a half, I have never left it a secret that I've hardly ever supported them - only to see someone spring up an upset.

There is something about the underdog, isn't there?

I was firmly behind South Africa, despite my hatred for them, when they toured Australia. I was delighted to see South Africa win the first 2 tests and wanted to see them dislodge the Aussies from the number 1 spot in tests.

Coming into this series, Australia are definitely the underdogs. South Africa the firm favorites.

And strangely, I find myself supporting Australia.

I don't want to see them lose.

I smiled and sighed with relief when Ponting pulled Ntini for four in the 2nd over.

Hughes didn't have a memorable debut, but I'm hoping North will.

Not since Australia had to beat the West Indies in 1992 to ensure Pakistan get a spot in the World Cup Semi Finals, have I supported Australia.

Till yesterday I was looking forward to witnessing Australia's continuous fall from the top.

This morning, however, all that changed.

I don't know what it was - a hapless 20 year old failing on debut, a vulnerable captain walking out in the 1st over to save a sinking ship, McKenzie pulling of an Australiaesque catch at gully, or the mortalization of Mike Hussey - but something triggered this change of heart.

Here's hoping the Aussies beat the South Africans.

Related post by me - Debutant Openers & Jo'burg is like Karachi.

If it isn't today then it should have been.

The Husseys did it for the Aussies, while the Pathans did it for the Indians.

From 101-3, the Husseys took the Australians to 216 leaving them less than 30 to get off the next 34 deliveries.

The Pathans bettered that.

Chasing 172 in 20 overs, India looked down and out at 115-7 in 15.1 overs.

But such is the confidence of this Indian team that despite losing Jadeja on the 1st ball of the 16th over, Yusuf Pathan smashed 17 off the next 5 deliveries.

Imagine that.

The Pathans added 59 off only 25 deliveries to take India home with 4 balls to spare.

A day for the Husseys. A day for the Pathans.

A day for the Brothers!

About a month back I wrote about the downfall of the big 3 and the reaction to that was unanimous.

Everyone thought that Ponting would bounce back soon and that it was pretty much over for Dravid and Kallis.

A month since that post and Dravid has ended his 20-innings-without-a-century drought, while Kallis has scored a 63 and a 57 in a historic test win for South Arica.

And Ponting?

A first ball duck, a scratchy 30 odd, and captaining a side that conceded the 2nd largest run chase in the history of cricket.

Not looking good for him.

He's not alone in that sinking ship though.

Jrod tells me that Hussey is averaging 33 in his last 12 tests. 33! Thats like half his career average.

Hayden has a sorry tale to tell as well.

As does Lee.

So where do these Aussies go from here?

The way Ponting goes?

As long as Ponting was successful and the leading batsman in the world, Australia were dominating all teams.

With Ponting's recent failures, Australia's status has also been on the decline.

Everyone talks about the lack of a McGrath and a Warne, but is there more to it?

Is the team as good as the captain or the captain as good as the team?

If Ponting is able to come back to his form of old, will the Aussies dominate again?

Take your punt.

Matthew Hayden and Harbhajan Singh, the 2 who went head to head over the Australian summer when monkeys, bastards, and obnoxious weeds were the order of the day, come face to face again tonight.

But its not Australia taking on India. Its the Chennai Super Kings against the Mumbai Indians.

Whats even more intriguing is that Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who was instrumental in pumping Bhajji up for his assault on Hayden, will actually be on Hayden's side this time around.

Well into its first week and the Indian Premier League continues to dish out lip licking match ups.

There's another great contest on the cards tonight, and if it happens during the match, it will surely be one of the major highlights of the game. Its Sanath Jayasuriya taking on Muttiah Muralitharan. One has tormented bowlers the world over and the other has bamboozled batsmen the world over. Both have done it for over a decade for Sri Lanka, but today they will be on opposing ends. Who will come out on top?

Sachin is a doubtful starter, but if he does walk out for the toss he would be doing it against the boy he recommended for India's captaincy - Dhoni. One a failed former Indian captain and the other a successful current one. One the only senior Dhoni wants in his Indian team, and the other who has nothing but admiration for Sachin. It will be an intriguing battle.

Other players to watch out for today are:

• Micheal Hussey who hammered an unbeaten 116 in the Super Kings' first match.
  
• Suresh Raina whose strokeplay in the same game was unmatched.
  
• Robin Uthappa who stood out in Mumbai's 1st match with swashbuckling 48.
  
• Shaun Pollock who was miserly in his 1st match and smashed a few 6s lower down the order.
  
• Luke Ronchi whose 2 hits to the fence the other day showed that on his day he could be a destroyer.
  
• Dwayne Bravo who could make his debut for Mumbai today.

It all goes down at Chennai tonight at 230pm GMT.

Pakistan played Bangladesh today in the 5th and final ODI of the series.

But everyone I know, including myself, were watching the Chennai Super Kings take on Kings XI Punjab, and later Rajhastan Royals vs Delhi Daredevils.

Salman Butt was playing a magnificent innings, but Micheal Hussey was playing a better one.

Would it have been different had Pakistan been playing Australia? Probably not. ODIs are a dieing form of the game. The fact that the 2 Indian Premier League matches had more TV viewership than an international one day match is an indication of cricket's future.

I'm not going delve into why ODI cricket has become increasingly uninteresting, but following are some the reasons why the first 2 days of the IPL have been appealing to me.

• Ganguly informing McCullum to be careful against Praveen Kumar as he nips the ball sharply.
  
• Boucher's stares at Kumar and Noffke when they bowled wide ones down leg.
  
• Zaheer subtly showing Ganguly the way and celebrating with Kallis.
  
• BRENDON MCCULLUM !!! 158 of 73 balls in any form of the game against whatever opposition is a remarkable achievement. As is 13 sixes.
  
• David Hussey c White b Noffke. An Aussie Threesome.
  
• SRK, Gauri Khan, Juhi Chawla, Karan Johar, and Arjun Rampal in the Knight Riders' kit supporting their team.
  
• SRK and Rampal bowing down when McCullum got to his 150.
  
• Ishant Sharma uprooting Dravid's stumps.
  
• Ganguly getting his revenge and bowling Zaheer and celebrating with Ponting.
  
• AB DINDA. Only the name would send shivers down the batsmen's spines.
  
• Greg Chappell at the toss with Dhoni and Yuvraj.
  
• Hayden thumping Lee for 4 straight down the ground.
  
• Lee going through Hayden's defences (didn't get the wicket though, it was a FREE hit).
  
• Hayden hitting his Queensland team mate James Hope for a 6 and a 4.
  
• MICHEAL HUSSEY !!! Lee, Sreesanth, Pathan, and Hopes is nothing less of an international quality pace attack. Hussey ripped them apart.
  
• Yuvraj hugging Hopes after he trapped Dhoni right in front.
  
• Suresh Raina's strokeplay - it was the same form that he displayed when he first played for India.
  
• Hayden back slapping Murali after the Sri Lankan made an amazing attempt at a catch at mid off.
  
• Priety Zinta cheering her team on.
  
• Murali bowling to Sangakkara. Dhoni keeping. Hayden at 1st slip.
  
• James Hopes - What power play!
  
• Delhi Daredevils uniform - Red and Black by Adidas!
  
• Daniel Vettori and Glen McGrath chatting before McGrath's first delivery.
  
• McGrath's 1st ball - Doesn't look like he's been retired from internationals for a year.
  
• Taruwar Kohli, India's U19 world cup winning opener, charging McGrath on the 4th ball of the innings and being beaten for the 4th time. Kohli must have been in his diapers when McGrath made his international cricket debut.
  
• Kohli smashing McGrath for 6 over the covers of the final ball of the same over. McGrath getting Kohli 3 balls later.
  
• McGrath smiling at Watson after he leaves his 1st ball to him. McGrath doing the same when Watson hits him for 4.
  
• The look on Watson's face after being hit for 3 consecutive 4s by Sehwag.
  
• Shane Warne - the oohs and aahs and the deliveries. Its all there. Great to see him bowl again.
  
• None of the 6 high profile captains in the 3 games played made any impression.

Great batting, power hitting, good bowling, sharp fielding, 200+ scores, capacity crowds, international cricketers, Indian stars, Bollywood stars, cheerleaders, mascots, its all been there. The IPL is underway, and its looking great to me.

I didn't like Lalit Modi being chummy with Priety Zinta but then not everything about an event can appeal to everyone.

I'm still unsure about the loyalties of the Indian fans to their city teams, but for the global audience the interesting pairings and match ups the IPL promises between cricketers is its USP in my opinion.

This is exactly what has appealed to me besides the exciting cricket.

Has it appealed to you?

3 days ago I asked you "How Good is Dale Steyn?"

Last evening the ICC answered that question when they released the latest international cricketer ratings after the conclusion of the West Indies - Sri Lanka test match.

Dale Steyn is the new number 1 in the test bowler ratings and he jointly leads the table with Muttiah Muralitharan; both having a rating of 897.

Steyn took only 22 matches to reach the top of the ratings, which I reckon is one of the fastest if the not the fastest time to number 1. Please share any facts and figures of bowlers who have gotten to the top of the rankings faster than Steyn.

I believe that the ICC Player Rankings uses the best ratings system around to rank players. Better than ESPN, Samsung, and all the other useless ones that have come up. But even the ICC Rankings seem to function absurdly at times.

Kumar Sangakkara's disappointing performance in the tests against the Windies pushed him down from the number 1 spot to 4 in the batsmen's ratings. Fair enough, that understandable.

But what I find absurd is that Micheal Hussey, without having played a test match for 3 months, is suddenly number 1. Is that right only because Sangakkara slipped down?

How can a player become number 1 without playing a test? Is it fair for someone to be number 1 only because others have not done well enough?