India finds a fresh entry into the Guinness Book with Tirtha Kumar Phani etching his name in the prestigious almanac of world records for his astounding feat of running more than 22,000 kilometers spread over a year. Phani, who hails from Lalgola in Murshidabad district of West Bengal but has now settled in the metropolis, got his name printed in the Guinness Book 2004 under the heading 'greatest average daily mileage run'. Phani ran an average of 61.824 kilometer a day from August 1, 1996, to July 31, 1997, completing a total of 22,565.76 km, says the entry on page 227 of the latest edition of the globally famed annual.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times, January 16, 2004

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Bowling coach Bruce Reid, who did not give the Indians much of a chance before the Test series against Australia, is now a huge admirer of the team and believes other Test nations could learn a lot from them. Reid initially did not think the Indians would offer much challenge to the Australians but he is now a convert and admires the work ethics of the visitors. "I was so impressed with their mindset. There is much to learn from the Indians for the other Test nations," Reid said:

"They were just not worried about individual reputations. They just played as they saw it. At team meetings they barely mentioned the names of the Australian bowlers." Reid found Indians less worked up about their techniques even though some of them possessed the best-organised methods to play pace or spin bowling. "For all their technical mastery, the Indian batsmen backed their instincts and were not overtly obsessed about making technical adjustments to cope with conditions and pitches. They never got technical about things at all. In the nets, you would never hear them talking about their backlift or where their top hand was. They just played." Reid is extremely impressed at how much the team members stuck together during the tour and always seemed intent on helping out each other following guidelines set down by Wright.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, January 13, 2004

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There are bright new stars on the horizon and most of them can be seen with the naked eye - in the Indian middle order. A match that had long since slipped the surly bonds of earth finished in Sydney on Tuesday with everyone still absolutely flying. A record fifth-day crowd of more than 27,000 roared their appreciation all the way to the end of the amazing contest between Australia and India and for nearly an hour beyond as Steve Waugh was chaired round the ground by team-mates at the end of his 168th and positively last Test.

Yet the game itself, the fourth and final Test, was drawn. Indeed it had been almost certain for hours beforehand that it was going to be drawn. The series itself was drawn, 1-1. But everyone was enthralled for five days solid. (Explain that to your nearest American.) India, meanwhile, now believe that, if they can put together the renewed confidence of Kumble, who finished with 12 wickets in this match, with the Harbhajan Singh, when he is fit again, they will have the basis of an attack to match their outstanding top six. Australia are not dethroned as world champions yet but for the first time since the mid-1990s, there is at least a contender who can look them in the eye. Perhaps the Australians did get diverted by the tidal wave of sentiment. But this would have been one of the most brilliant series of the modern era, perhaps of all time, even if Waugh had opted out exactly a year ago after his century on this ground against England. There are bright new stars twinkling in cricket. And a remarkable constellation of them can be seen with the naked eye in the Indian middle order -Rahul Dravid, the man of the series, Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and Sourav Ganguly. It seems now they might be lighting Test cricket for years to come.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, January 08, 2004

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