u couldn't fathom what the big deal about the weather was anyway.

It was
an endless outdoors time. When time was spent binge-playing cricket or
badminton, with mothers hollering in the background - about staying away
from the sun or at least keeping yourself hydrated, or at least coming in
for meals, or at least not appealing so loudly when people were taking
afternoon naps.

Even when summer holidays became a thing of forlorn memories, there

were summers every few years when cricket offered its soothing balm. As
dusk arrived and temperatures fell to a respectable 32 degrees, the
working populace tuned in, from the relative coolness of home, to cricket
from England. At least a session and a half to be followed with full
concentration. It was often a Test played somewhere cold. We first heard
about it on radio and later saw our lads wearing sweaters, rubbing their
hands in the slips to stay warm. Summer in England was sometimes like
this, we learnt.

The sub headline said '' England bowlers are under pressure''. This is just
an understatement. Which side bowlers were not under pressure? Both 50
over matches scoring around 350, one would not be incorrect to say
bowlers on both sides were taken to the cleaners, the reasons we all know
although they are not totally bowlers' fault, just like a hit & giggle show
whichever side just is able to push the nose head will win. It has not been
a decent affair between bat & ball so far.

The Australia captain and vice-captain walked out for the toss at a venue
they must both hold close to their hearts after their historic Test
win earlier in the year. Steven Smith won the toss for Rising Pune
Supergiant, and expectedly chose to field at a ground where no target is
considered safe. More successful in the IPL than his national captain,
David Warner said his Sunrisers Hyderabad would have done the same.

Both sides made changes. Having had a long break, Rising Pune gave 17-
year-old offspinner Washington Sundar his Twenty20 debut, getting a
game ahead of legspinner Rahul Chahar. He became the third-youngest IPL
player after Sarfaraz Khan and Pradeep Sangwan. Sunrisers were forced
to make a change with Yuvraj Singh falling sick. They replaced him with
left-arm spinner Bipul Sharma.

Rising Pune Supergiant 1 Ajinkya Rahane, 2 Rahul Tripathi, 3 Steven Smith

(capt), 4 Manoj Tiwary, 5 MS Dhoni (wk), 6 Ben Stokes, 7 Dan Christian, 8
Shardul Thakur, 9 Jaydev Unadkat, 10 Imran Tahir, 11 Washington Sundar
Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 David Warner (capt.), 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Kane
Williamson, 4 Moises Henriques, 5 Deepak Hooda, 6 Naman Ojha (wk), 7
Bipul Sharma, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Rashid Khan, 10 Mohammed Siraj,
11 Siddarth Kaul

One of the most baffling lines of English poetry I ever came across in
school was this from Shakespeare: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day?"

How? Why? I mean, you really don't love her, do you? Who compares the
object of their affection to power cuts and the sticky sufferings of Mumbai
or Chennai, or the loo-carrying heat waves of northern India? Surely
Shakespeare did not experience a summer when metallic clothes hangers
expanded in the heat and broke free of their plastic casings. Or know of a
sun which in its free time stoked the fires of hell. Prithee, kind sir, surely
thou jest.

It took a prolonged education to understand that Shakespeare's summers

were slightly different from those experienced by Indian schoolchildren.
The arrival of our summers is marked in alluring ways. For starters, by the
appearance of flowering trees in some of the hottest parts of the country.
There's the blood-red silk cotton (semal), and the crimson of palash, found
everywhere on the subcontinent and uncharitably called the Bastard Teak
elsewhere. The superstars are gulmohar - sometimes copper-pod yellow or
flame-of-the-forest red - and the Amaltas, which comes into its own in
May. The rain tree, forever considerate and comforting, brushes roads
with its white or pink flowers. Wherever flowering trees are seen, their
splendour shimmers.

It is a combined, sustained defiance, the earth ready to pick a fight with

the sun and keep us distracted from the heat. In the cosmic contest that is
an Indian summer, mankind can only hide in corners and shadows. Our
responses are turbans, scarves, umbrellas and shades. City softies even
try sunscreen. Nature, on the other hand, puts on a show.

Our cricket too, like nature, somehow resists the brutality of the seasons.
Even if India's formal season is played out in what is vaguely considered
winter in Asia, cricket is a year-round sport in many parts of the country.
We are, in fact, ingenious inventors of daylight-saving-cricket. Matches
held in the summer begin early, just after dawn. Lucknow's Sheesh Mahal
Summer Cricket tournament, which began in the early '50s, had a 6am
start at one point. Chandigarh's Goswami Ganesh Dutt Memorial,
inaugurated in 1973, would begin at 7.30am, and so too games in Delhi's
major "hot-weather" events, like the Lala Raghubir Singh tournament,
which began in 1976, and the Delhi and Districts CA's own hot-weather
event.

Our cricket too, like nature, somehow resists the brutality of the seasons.
Even if India's formal season is played out in what is vaguely considered
winter in Asia, cricket is a year-round sport in many parts of the country

In 1997, it was time to toughen up the internationals. India held eight

ODIs at home between April and May for the quadrangular Pepsi
Independence Cup, running through the dead heart of its May summer. In
1998, there were 14 ODIs held in April and May as part of two triangular
tournaments, one sponsored by Pepsi, the other by Coca Cola. They
quickly ran out of fizz after public outrage over the greed of the boards,
their obsession with ODIs, and the brutality being heaped on the poor
players. Clubs and kids continued playing in the summer regardless.

Over the last ten years, the IPL with its entertainments, oodles of the
green stuff, and a wild game or two every night has become India's annual
summer cricket festival. It is an extra holiday treat for students, its
forever-rousing soundtrack a constant midsummer night's music. The
players sweat buckets in their Tru-Dry kits, consume energy drinks on the
boundary line and try not to wimp out with cramps. No one is complaining.

With IPL flag and popcorn in hand, maybe there is no better time to
appreciate the more subtle flavours of the Indian summer. Like the best
poetry, Shakespeare or otherwise, India's summers are best savoured in
reflection, mostly indoors.

Reflection on the time when you belonged to the demographic of the

under-18s. When, well into a two-month summer vacation,
yoSTEVEJOHNSON1010 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 14:04 GMT

Virat Kohli : For heaven's sake, please do not play Dhawan tomorrow.
Team would be better off you opening with Rahul, and draft in Pandey in
the middle order.

Also enough of Umesh Yadav. Hope we don't see him again in white or
coloured clothing for IND!

JAHHHAN ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:58 GMT

Not too many other than Indian fans will talk about this but India has got
bating talent that cannot be believed. So many talented batsmen waiting
for their turn............ Amazing. The Golden days of Indian cricket. My last
comment was 13-0 loss for England but now that I know 5 tests, 4 odi's
and 3 t20's so it looks like a 10-0. When the series finishes the Indian fans
will just be sad about that one draw. Don't prove me wrong. make it 10-0
CHUP421 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:51 GMT

best xi for champions traphy 1.rohit 2.dhoni 3.kohli 4.manish 5.yuvi

6.kedhar 7.ash 8.pandya 9.jaddu 10.bhuvi 11.bumrah/shami

DIESEL_LOCO_WDP4 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:36 GMT

This should be a proper sub-300 score-ODI after all the hiding in the first
two ODIs. Not because of the pitch, but because mistimed slogs will NOT
clear the fence, especially with long square boundaries. That said, this
pitch and ground is ideal to suit Kohli's batting style. Flick the ball
towards midwicket with soft hands, or wristily whip it past the cover
fielder and run two easy runs. Would like to see batsmen working hard for
their runs, for once this series. Oh, and i wouldn't be misled by the green
yet, it is probably only to hold the pitch together.

THELUCKYCOUNTRY ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:34 GMT

two average teams with terrible bowling line ups. Neither would score 250
against us.

CRICINFOUSER ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:31 GMT

KL rahul strike rate is looks low in ListA. look at his record. like to see
dhawan play a big innings. but not looking like somehow. probably he is
hiding his injury?

LETS-BASH-OTHERS ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:31 GMT

Dhawan may get another chance as even Rahane failed against NZ. How
ever, I want Rahul to cement his place as, Rohit will retain his place as
soon as he gets fit. Its a shame that all 4 contenders for opening slots are
prone to Injury and bad form. I want to see fierce competition for the first
two spots from these 4 talented guys.

PRINCE GOPALAKRISHNAN ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:30 GMT

s caught unawares by a sharp bouncer from Jordan in the fourth over,

which he could only fend to short fine leg.

Yuvraj top-edged a pull to long leg off Plunkett and Raina was bowled by a
searing yorker from Stokes. Morgan's captaincy should be credited here,
forcing the two left-handers to deal with the kind of bowling they
generally dislike facing, and less so with an innings in jeopardy: fast and
at their bodies. Moeen played his part too, spinning the ball away or
making it skid on, rarely letting himself be lined up. MS Dhoni managed to
stick it out till the end, hitting a couple of fours in the last over, but 147
was nowhere near par.
It showed when Jason Roy and Sam Billings blitzed 36 in three overs at the
start of the chase. India did put a stop to the mayhem in the next over
with legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, picked ahead of Amit Mishra, bowling
both batsmen. But it didn't matter in the larger scheme of things since
England managed to gun down a third of their target within the first six
overs. With that in the back of their minds, Joe Root, returning from a
niggle, and Morgan put on 83 runs for the third wicket and that
partnership was more than enough to seal a straightforward chase. A
further sign of how disappointing India's batting had been on the day was
debutant Parvez Rasool picking up the England captain for 51 and barely
celebrating. He knew it just didn't matter.

, also ended in defeat.

In Cuttack, MS Dhoni became the fifth batsman to score 9000 ODI runs for
India (he also has 174 for the Asia XI).

Yuvraj Singh went almost six years between his 13th and 14th tons - his
previous hundred came at the 2011 World Cup.

During his 104 in Cuttack, Eoin Morgan went past Marcus Trescothick to
become England's fifth-highest run-scorer. Kevin Pietersen is next on the list,
only 16 runs ahead.

Quotes

"There is no pressure on us that the series has been won. But when you play
international cricket you want to win each and every match. One thing is that we
will enjoy the match more because the pressure is not there."
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was not worried about Sunday's contest

"He's a fiery batsman, he's an awesome player. If he gets the role of No. 2, that'll be
great. He's a great guy to bat with - runs hard, plays strong shots and that's exactly
what we look for at the top of the order, just to set the tone."
Jason Roy is pumped about the prospect of batting with Billings

"There is no hard-and-fast rule of understanding the game over a number of games.

You can get a great understanding of the game after 10 one-dayers; it doesn't have
to be 60, 70, 80. The sooner you learn the team benefits from it. This was another
case of the same thing: all the 11 guys believing that we can win from any situation.

Dravid, whose decision to resign from the captaincy in 2007 paved the way for
Dhoni to take over, said it would take Dhoni some time to get used to playing under
someone else, but didn't think it would be a major issue.

Kohli was not oblivious to his team's profligate bowling in the back-end that saw 115
runs conceded in the last 10 overs. "There was a bit of consistency issue in the last
15 overs as bowlers," he said. "We had done well up to the first 35 overs, but were a
little wayward in the last 15. We will address it and try to improve in the next
game."

Sridharan Sriram, the former India left-arm spinning allrounder, will mentor
Australia's legion of slow bowlers on their upcoming Test tour of India. Sriram has
worked with Australia's spinners on previous occasions, including on last year's tour
of Sri Lanka and in the World Twenty20 in India earlier in 2016, and he was also
engaged for the tour of Bangladesh that was ultimately postponed.

Sriram will travel with the squad to Dubai on January 29 for their training camp at
the ICC Academy, and will then work with the side through the four-Test tour that
follows. Australia have picked four specialist spinners for the series - Nathan Lyon,
Steve O'Keefe, Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson - as well as spinning allrounder
Glenn Maxwell.

Monty Panesar has been recruited by Cricket Australia as a spin-bowling consultant

for their tour of India next month, after spending his winter as a club cricketer in
Sydney.

Panesar, 34, played an integral role in England's memorable series win in India in
2012-13, claiming 17 wickets with his left-arm spin in the final three Tests to help
engineer a come-from-behind triumph.

However, he made the last of his 50 Test appearances at Melbourne during the
2013-14 Ashes, and was not considered for selection for England's recent 4-0 defeat
in India, despite making a return to first-class cricket for Northamptonshire last
summer following a spate of well-documented personal issues.

Panesar's recruitment to Australia's ranks came at the behest of Pat Howard, Cricket
Australia's high performance manager, whose team were whitewashed 4-0 on their
last tour to India four years ago, and recently succumbed to a 3-0 loss in similarly
spin-friendly conditions in Sri Lanka.
According to the Australian, Panesar will travel to the Centre of Excellence this week
to work with left-arm spinner Steve O'Keefe, as well as Matt Renshaw, the opening
batsman who was cleared of concussion on Sunday, following the incident that led
to his withdrawal from action during the third Test against Pakistan.

"Having Monty come up is a nice way to kickstart the squad's thinking about playing
in India," Howard told the newspaper. "We want the batsmen to be thinking about
what the bowlers will be trying to do to them over there and Monty can engage
them that way as well as with the bowlers.

"Phil Jaques will run the sessions with Matt, Monty and SOK, Phil has some nice
ideas about how to challenge the batsmen," Howard added. "In Australia we love
big turners, but the successful bowlers like [Rangana] Herath and [Ravi] Ashwin are
more likely to get you lbw or bowled than any other way, their accuracy and their
length is absolutely outstanding."

Panesar was one of nine wickets for O'Keefe during their ongoing Grade match
between Manly and Campbelltown Camden at the weekend.

"He was brilliant on the weekend and must think cricket is an easy game after
taking 9 for 54," Panesar said.

the guys on the same thing - If you are focused on the goal, the target you want to
achieve, you don't necessarily need to think too much about the game - in terms of
your personal runs or where you stand at the game," he said.

"Sri has worked with us on a number of occasions now all across our pathway
system and he is currently in Dubai with our Under-16 team providing his expertise
on sub-continental conditions," Pat Howard, Cricket Australia's executive general
manager of team performance, said.

"He knows our players very well and has a wealth of knowledge on the conditions
that our players will face in India."

Sriram's presence on the India tour has been preferred to that of spin
consultant John Davison, who has

ts Kholi's india.?

FAN1969 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:24 GMT

I am assuming the age factor against Yuvi and Dhoni will not be cited by
Rahane fans after witnessing two amazing centuries by the veterans of
limited overs cricket.
Rahane should not be even in the 15/16 in limited overs cricket with Kedar,
Karun, Manish, Rishabh and hopefully more players coming through in the
IPL.

Rahane is a wonderful Test batsman and would do well to concentrate on

that along with Murali Vijay and Pujara. I wish him good luck at IPL but not
keen to see him selected for India limited overs teams.

PIRATES07 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:17 GMT

@Fan1969 Runs scored by Dhawan in Australia were on flat tracks and a

lean Australian attack. Rahane hasn't performed well either but that
doesn't mean Dhawan's poor performance can be justified. Plus Dhawan
during all this matches has played as an opener while Rahane has been
tried at different numbers.

PIRATES07 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:13 GMT

Ashwin should be tried as an opener. His technique against fast bowling is

pretty good and we will get an option to play another bowler or all rounder
at 7. Team when everyone is available for selection can be Ashwin
Rohit/Rahane Kohli Yuvraj/Pandey MSD Jadhav Hooda/Pandya Jadeja Bhuvi
Shami Bumrah

FAN1969 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:13 GMT

I am assuming the age factor against Yuvi and Dhoni will not be cited by
Rahane fans after witnessing two amazing centuries by the veterans of
limited overs cricket.

Rahane should not be even in the 15/16 in limited overs cricket with Kedar,
Karun, Manish, Rishabh and hopefully more players coming through in the
IPL.

Rahane is a wonderful Test batsman and would do well to concentrate on

that along with Murali Vijay and Pujara. I wish him good luck at IPL but not
keen to see him selected for India limited overs teams.

CRICFAN00049400 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:09 GMT

rahane should open good to hear grass on the pitch last time on the same
pitch bhuvi got a fiver

CRICFAN NO:1 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:06 GMT

hoping Rahul to come good and bumrah to bowl more Yorkers at death

FAN1969 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 13:00 GMT

This is for all Rahane fans. The last good innings in LIMITED OVERS for
India Rahane played was a 79 in 60 balls against South Africa in the 2015
WC. Ever since he has played 24 ODIs and not a single great match
winning innings. Mumbai 87(58) against SA was good but India lost by 200
runs.

Kohli himself made a 105-ball 122 to fire up India's pursuit of 351, but was for once
outscored and overshadowed in a partnership.

"I think it was outstanding, just to have another guy that was willing to believe we
can win from any situation was such a boost for me as well. If you want to give one
man credit, it is Kedar Jadhav," Kohli said after the match. "They had four quick
bowlers and he really tackled all of them really well. He put a lot of pressure on the
spinners so they couldn't come back into the game. I couldn't believe some of the
shots he played. He told me it was instinctive, but such was his talent."

When Jadhav joined Kohli in the 12th over, India were four down for 63 and had lost
Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni. But Jadhav's shot-making instantly took the pressure off
Kohli - he was unruffled by the short balls and executed the pull, one of his most
productive shots, effortlessly, and countered the spinners with lofted drives. With
Kohli at the other end, there were plenty of quick singles and doubles during their
200-run alliance in just 147 balls. Kohli called it one of the best partnerships he had
been involved in.

"Striking at 150 was outstanding and all clean shots; he didn't slog the ball once,"
Kohli said in praise. "He was brilliant and that's why we back him to play at No. 6. I
think it was one of the best partnerships I've been part of. I think the best thing that
came out was to counter-attack. I don't think any of the wickets we lost was
because of good balls; we committed errors.

"Kedar and I had a gut feel. We thought if we get the score past 150-160 together
still with four down, we had a great chance. The pitch was even better to bat on in
the second innings. The ball travels very fast here. We could hit sixes to put that
pressure every now and then on the opposition. We chased 350 a couple of times
before but not from 63 for 4. This is something really special and will stay with me
for a long time."

MSK Prasad, India's chairman of selectors, said that MS Dhoni's decision to step
down as India's limited-overs captain came at the right time and showed Dhoni had
the best interests of the team in his mind.

"Had Mahi [Dhoni] taken the decision one year or even six months earlier, I would
have been a bit worried," Prasad told PTI. "But I salute him for his sense of perfect
timing. He knew that Virat [Kohli] is now a proven customer who has done
exceptionally well as a leader in Tests.

"So it is a correct decision by Dhoni. It showed that he had the best interest of
Indian cricket in his mind."

"Indian captaincy, there can be a lot happening around in Indian cricket - emotions
can go up and down," Dravid said. "For me, he was able to maintain a calm and a
balance through all of it, which was his unique ability and his unique strength. And I
think Indian cricket benefited a lot from that."

History, Dravid said, would remember Dhoni as India's most successful captain.

"I don't think it's very difficult," Dravid said. "From personal experience as well, it
takes a little bit of getting used to and adjusting - of not setting the field and not
running things - but I think you get used to it. And Dhoni spent a lot of time as a
player and not having captained before he started captaining in 2007. So I don't
think it should take him too much time to get used to it. And knowing the kind of
person he is and the personality he is, I don't see it as too much of a problem."

Dhawan and KL Rahul both are under pressure to perform, as there are
many talented players in the queue to open for India. If tomorrow Dhawan
is not selected for the match, he must go back and practice more on
technique and then can make comeback. He is not worth to be in the
squad in the champions trophy, there are many talented players waiting in
line.

ARUN_MATHEW ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 16:09 GMT

i think we should give one more chance to dhawan next match.. but i think
given kohli's nature of tinkering the X1 every mach.. rahane may get a
look-in. kohli should also be pro-active in rotating bowlers. It is difficult to
bowl 5 consecutive overs from 41-50 for any bowler. so it will be better if
he keeps 3 overs for bhuvi in the end, dont stretch him too much.

CRICFAN80772313 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 15:52 GMT

I don't think koli might not change the squard, if he does he will replace
b.kumar for u.yadav and tell we want more pace.we want to feel for
pandey, but he is the pure batsman that's why he was not chosen.doni
makes jadav as a alrounder in last series otherwise koli would have gone
for pandey.jadav is more suitable for that spot.if pandey, considered to
play koli had to drop dawan, but he will not do that tomorrow,if he does
that that would be great.

RAGHU PANJALA ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 15:39 GMT

Before criticizing Dhawan, how can forget his stellar performance in

Champion trophy 2013? He was MoS then. Too much credit is given to
Kohli forgetting his performance other than Asia,Aus is below par. Its
players like Dhawan,Rahane,Dhoni who would win us matches there. When
will we understand players like Rahane,Dhawan are too good for away
matches but not in Ind? There should be some juggling giving chances to
Pandey,Pant etc. Has anyone observed how Dhaw,KL,Dhoni ,Yuvi got out in
1st ODI and KL,Dhaw,Kohli in 2nd? Its same old way they get out. Dhaw
gets out like Raina .Yuvi on leg side with keeper etc.

BRUTALANALYST ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 15:28 GMT

At Kolkata England would be wiser to select Dawson ahead of either

Plunkett or Ball excited to see both Billings and Rahane who should be
both starting regardless.

CRICFAN01508650 ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 15:03 GMT

Inclusion of Bhuavaneshwar made the difference otherwise with umesh

yadav very difficult,yes umesh has pace but he should be disciplined also,

NAMPALLY ON JANUARY 21, 2017, 15:01 GMT

India need to strengthen their bowling to avoid being hit for over 350 runs
in 50 overs. Bumrah seems to lost his Yorkers whilst Hardik needs to focus
more on control in his length & direction. Kumar, Jadeja & Ashwin must
continue their economical bowling in order for India to have a winning
chance. Perhaps faster pitch at Kolkatta might give them little more help.
They also need to improve their opening batsmen whose failure has
caused poor start twice in both the ODI's so far. Rahane is the only other
available choice. Will Kohli go for the change remains to be seen. If the
opening stand carries them over 50, Indian batting gets more stable. With
a slightly green pitch, this appears to be less of a run fest. England have
again kept Bairstow out of the line up. It looks for the first time that a
below 300 may be a winning total. Good Luck to both the sides.

There are 15 odd people i