New Delhi, January 29
The very thought of Sachin Tendulkar and his contemporaries being shown the exit door would have been dismissed a year ago, but the majority of the Indian cricket fans are now convinced that the 'golden generation' should make way for new blood. After a decade-and-a-half of blind worship, fans believe their demigods have been rendered immobile by feet of clay and are ready to thank them for the memories and move on.

The last time Tendulkar featured in a newspaper poll was when readers were asked who should be the first sportsperson to receive India's highest civilian award, a Bharat Ratna. As India succumbed to their second straight overseas whitewash in Australia, the Hindustan Times newspaper carried a poll this weekend in which more than 36 percent opined the 38-year-old 'Little Master' should hang up his bat.

Quite a significant percentage, considering the man in question has virtually been the sacred cow of Indian cricket since his first test century in 1990. The results were even worse for the two stalwarts Tendulkar sits sandwiched between in the batting order.

More than 58 percent favoured 39-year-old Rahul Dravid's immediate departure while 82.6 percent would prefer not to see VVS Laxman (38) in India colours again. "Age is conspiring against them," former test player Ravi Shastri wrote in a column that appeared in Sunday's Times of India newspaper.

"A bad series or two at the start of your career is almost a given. A series or two at the end is a catastrophe. Everyone is in an unforgiving mood."

From India's perspective, the Australia tour was a disaster, where anything that could go possibly wrong invariably did. The biggest letdown was the batting order where Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman - who have more than 37,500 test runs between them - made a collective contribution of 636 runs in the four-Test series.

Dravid, who alone had scored 619 in the drawn 2003-04 series, managed just 194 runs at an average of fewer than 25 per innings. His legendary defence, that earned him the moniker of "The Wall", was breached seven times in eight innings, including by a Peter Siddle no-ball in Melbourne.

Some other hard-earned reputations were also sullied. Laxman was a pale imitation of the batsman who has been Australia's nemesis for so long and scratched around for his 155 runs from eight innings to finish with an embarrassing sub-20 average.

Only Tendulkar averaged 35-plus in the series and regularly middled the ball, but his desperate bid for a 100th international century seems to have become a millstone around the neck of cricket's most prolific batsman.

Almost inevitably, India hurtled from one defeat to another and many believe the humiliation could have been easily averted had the selectors shrugged off their timidity and took a long-term view of things. "I can understand the fans being in awe of big names. But sometimes the selectors and officials are also too much in awe of the big names and that's why not able to take tough decisions," former test player Sanjay Manjrekar told CNN-IBN channel.

His views were echoed by former Australia captain Ian Chappell, who recommended a thorough review of Indian cricket. "The star system is well and truly ingrained in the Indian team and things won't improve, certainly not on the overseas test match front, until this is changed," Chappell wrote in a column that appeared in Sunday's Hindustan Times.

"India is currently a side full of individually bright stars and it needs to become a group of cricketers who perform as a team. It doesn't help when a number of those individually bright stars are playing for their own survival. ... the star players have held sway for too long and surely eight successive losses, some of them total capitulation, is confirmation that the system is not working," Chappell added.

To make it work again, the Indian cricket board has no other choice but to confront the transitional crisis they have been avoiding for too long and their task has been made easier by the fact they finally have the country's fans on the same page. — Reuters

Melbourne, January 29
Defending champion and world number one Novak Djokovic beat second seed Rafael Nadal 5-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 to win his third Australian Open title on Sunday. The epic final lasted five hours and 53 minutes.

Djokovic, who won the title at Melbourne Park in 2008 and 2011, has now won five Grand Slam titles in total and continues his recent domination over the Spaniard, having beaten him in their last seven meetings, all in finals. The final broke the record as the longest match in tournament history when it hit 5hr 15min.

The match was also the longest Grand Slam final on record, outstripping the 1988 US Open final between Mats Wilander and Ivan Lendl, which lasted 4hr 54min.

The previous longest Australian Open match was the 2009 semifinal between Nadal and Fernando Verdasco, which lasted 5hr 14min.

Nadal saved three break points in the eighth game of the fourth set then waited out a 10-minute rain break before he levelled the match by taking the fourth set 7-6. Nadal had been facing the distinct possibility of defeat within five minutes when he was reduced to 0-40 while trailing 3-4 in the set but produced a fantastic backhand pass and three massive serves to claw his way back into the match, which prompted the crowd to break into tumultuous chants of "Rafa".

The players were then forced off the court as officials shut the roof on Rod Laver Arena after rain swept across central Melbourne and the ball boys and girls scrambled around on their knees with towels to dry the court. — Reuters

A second title eluded Leander Paes at this year's Australian Open as he and Elena Vesnina ended runners-up in the mixed doubles event after being outplayed by Horia Tecau and Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the summit clash here today. The fifth seeded Indo-Russian pair lost 3-6, 7-5 (3-10) to eighth seeded combination in one hour and 48 minutes at the Rod Laver Arena.

Paes was chasing a rare feat of winning two Grand Slam titles in the same tournament for the second time in his career but fell at the final hurdle. In the 1999 Wimbledon, he had won both the men's doubles (with Mahesh Bhupathi) and mixed doubles (with Lisa Raymond) titles.

Yesterday, Paes had won the men's doubles title with Czech Radek Stepanek to complete a career Grand Slam. It was Paes' fourth Australian Open mixed doubles final, having won two and lost two. Overall, Paes has six mixed doubles titles with the French Open trophy missing from his Slam cabinet.

The combination of Tecau's strong serve and Mattek's stunning and powerful ground strokes, proved too hot to handle for Paes and Vesnina. Mattek hit some breathtaking winners, specially with her crushing forehand while Tecau hardly erred on his serve. — PTI

Karachi, January 29
Impressed with Pakistan's dominance of England in the ongoing Test series, former captains Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik said the English were psychologically struggling to cope with the resolve that their team has shown so far.

Both the all-rounders, who remained captains in recent years, credited Misbah-ul-Haq for leading intelligently and making the team a winning combination. Pakistan currently lead the three-match series 2-0. "I think the credit for this great series win and the recent form of the team goes to the Pakistan Cricket Board for reposing so much confidence and supporting Misbah and to the team management for creating an environment where the players are performing as a unit," Afridi said.

He said beating the world's number one Test side was a big achievement and more satisfying as Pakistan cricket had turned itself around after the spot-fixing scandal.

Afridi, who will join the team for the one-day series, said the spot-fixing scandal had badly hurt the image of Pakistan cricket but the players with their positive performances and results had raised the prestige once again.

"I think we will soon be hearing more good news from the cricket field as this team is doing really well and the players now want to perform and figure in their team's victories," he said. — PTI

Lahore, January 29
The PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf is in a dilemma whether to retain interim coach Mohsin Khan on a permanent basis or go ahead with discussions to finalise the deal with Australian Dav Whatmore. Under Mohsin, Pakistan won three Test series against Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and England and there has been a considerable amount of support for the former Pakistan opener.

A few eyebrows were raised when Ashraf while praising Misbah for his captaincy not for once took MOhsin's name raising speculations about whether he wants the former opener to continue.

"It is strange that the PCB chief didn't even once mention Mohsin's name although he (Mohsin) himself after the match told reporters that he was still interested in continuing on permanent basis and wanted the job," former Test player, Iqbal Qasim said.

A lot of people in Pakistan cricket fraternity widely credit the combination of Misbah and Mohsin for having built on the good work done by former coach Waqar Younis and bringing stability and contentment to a Pakistan dressing room so often driven by conflict.

Waqar resigned in September due to personal and health reasons and since than Misbah and Mohsin have struck a winning partnership.

On Saturday, when asked if he wanted a full-time job after the series win over England, Mohsin said,"I don't want anybody to take me for granted although I am always available to serve my country." — PTI