Topsy-turvy year for Indian Cricket

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">NEW DELHI:</span> Some exhilirating wins, and some inexplicable losses -- this about sums up the Indian cricket team''s topsy-turvy journey through the year 2002, marked also by players'' contract issue with the Indian cricketers at the centre of the continuing row.<br />While the improbable victories in the NatWest Trophy and ICC Champions'' Trophy gave the Indian fans much to cheer about, the meek surrender to New Zealand on wickets tailor- made for seamers ended the year on a despairing note.<br />For the third year in a row, Indian cricket was mired in controversy. After the match-fixing scandal in 2000 and the Mike Denness affair last year, came the contracts issue which once again pitted the Indian cricket establishment against the International Cricket Council. <br />With the World Cup just round the corner, the final shot in the latest stand-off between ICC and BCCI, that is centred around certain restrictive commercial clauses in players'' contracts for participating in ICC events, is yet to be fired. <br />Outside the Boardroom manouevrings, the Indian team had a reasonably satisfying year even though a Test series win outside the sub-continent remained elusive for the 17th consecutive season.<br /><br />The victories in the NatWest series in England and the mini World Cup in Sri Lanka marked one of the best years for India in one-day cricket in recent times. A narrow 2-3 loss to West Indies at home was the only tournament defeat India suffered in an extremely busy year, a remarkable achievement by any means for a team that is known for its inconsistency. <br />There were significant performances in the Test arena too, most notably the victories in England and West Indies, but they were overshadowed by the recent 0-2 loss to New Zealand on extra-ordinarily fast and bouncy pitches that many considered were not suitable for Test cricket. <br />The year began with England coming back for a six-match one-day series after a Christmas break. The Indians ran to a 3-1 lead before Nasser Hussain-led side came back to win the next two matches and square the series. <br />The series almost cemented the place of Virender Sehwag in the opening slot after he played a couple of scintillating knocks at the top of the order as the Indians made a bold gamble by breaking the hugely successful partnership of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and demoted the master batsman to provide more stability to the batting. <br />The third series within 18 months against Zimbabwe did not tax the Indians much though the hosts did have to contend with some anxious moments in the one-day series. <br />After comfortably taking the two-match Test series 2-0, the Indians were stunned by a virtually unknown Douglas Marllier who played some unbelievable shots to anchor Zimbabwe to an improbable victory in the first one-dayer at Faridabad. </div> </div>