One of those rare celestial alignments at Lords'

The mind-numbing euphoria of India's World Cup victory is long gone. The long afterglow of victory is a distant memory. The IPL acted like a gatecrasher on India's WC triumph party. It was followed by a dour sojourn to the Caribbean. India should have remained unbeaten throughout and should have won all the three tests. Neither good omen came to pass.

Then the Indian squad gathered at the home of cricket. In a few hours, they will be walking out onto the home of cricket to play the 2000th test of all time. It will the 100th test between England and India. Felicitations and ceremonies have been planned. The stage is set. The occasion is taken to a whole new level by the men in white involved.

There has been a lot written about the Indian triumvirate. It started out as a quintet - the big 4 and Jumbo - then Sehwag made it a league of six extraordinary gentlemen for a brief time. Like all great things, six were pruned to four and oddly enough, the youngest of India's golden generation remains unfit to make it a measly triumvirate - a far cry from a heady six!

But, what a triumvirate it is - Sachin, Rahul and VVS. It seems they have 99 test hundreds between them - Sachin has 99 international hundreds of his own and is still searching for that elusive name on the Lords' honors' board. All this imminent theater on the backdrop of an ambitious England outfit out to dethrone the World Champions.


For cricket connoisseurs and romantics alike, this must rank as one of the rarest occasions in cricket history - almost like one of those rare celestial events that can be witnessed from earth - maybe a supernova!

Pundits and fans alike are waiting with bated breath but it would be unwise to lose perspective. India have started the tour predictably - a horribly chalked out schedule with a harried practice match and the most insipid of performances that would put any international outfit to shame.

Still, we love this Indian team! We want them to do well. Indian fans think in a strange manner - yes, they would like to see India maintain the number one rank but they love India for the fact that they make lions of rats - the Indian team can make a test with Bangladesh seem as interesting as a test against Australia. The Indian team has an uncanny knack of leveling the playing field. Which is why the Indian fan always stays hooked!

Which is why, the Indian fan may forgive a loss to the West Indies but will demand a victorious performance at the best theater of cricket - I don't mean just the 2000th test but the series as a whole. As a thumb-rule, India will struggle at Lords' - India always struggles in the first test of a series - Indian fans always like a fightback story. Nonetheless the theater will be at its most vibrant at Lords'.

If India manage unscathed at Lords' we will be in for the most glorious month of cricket. This series shares a lot of omens with the Australia v India series in 2007 - one of the more acrimonious series in recent times. I certainly look forward to hostilities in the forthcoming series but I hope the omens only go so far - I hope the omens do not preclude the results. For all the furor of that ill-fated Aus-Ind series, India still lost it 2-1.

This time around, I would like to see Sehwag come back in the third test and win the series for India, not salvage it!

O India, May the fours be with you!