India, South Africa Happy to Pip Australia In 2009

Things to expect in 2009—completion of Australian fall, India and South Africa beginning fight for No. 1 position, and turmoils in English cricket.

If 2008 was the year of beginning of Australian fall, 2009 will be the year for the long-term top dogs to watch India and South Africa fighting it out for the top spot, which they once thought would be reserved for them for the eternity. Time has changed, so has other teams and time has come for Australia to learn from other teams.

The major tours to watch out for are Australia touring South Africa (Feb-April), India touring New Zealand (Mar-April) and Australia reaching England in June for a five-test Ashes battle. However, it appears it could be a battle of ailing teams and not a clash of Titans. While Australia is yet to come into terms with the retirement of a bunch of all-time greats in one go, England's dressing room is a total mess, a cesspool of mistrust, mutual disrespect and egos.

Both the captain and coach lost their jobs and their differences were as subtle as a sledgehammer. If England doesn't get its act together, the Ashes can give Australia the chance to once again crawl up the top spot with a comfortable lead—at least for the time being. I feel jealous of Paul Lewis for telling "its all-important quest to regain the Ashes, look about as menacing as a melted marshmallow"—before I could.

However, before Australia reaches England, Ponting and co. have tough battles to fight in the South African frontiers, against an inspired bunch valiantly led by Graeme Smith. Smith will be more than happy giving Australia a clean whitewash, which they missed down under. Australia would never be happy going to England with a 0-3 humiliation, which is very well on the cards.

India, which has started 2008 by sending major shivers down Australian spines, has shown it can be the world beater. The newfound ruthlessness seen in their approach can make India way too hot for New Zealand and West Indies, when they reach out to them in March and June respectively.

Pakistan suffered the biggest losses in 2008 and in the beginning of 2009, by not getting any cricket at all. While Australia and India pulled out of Pak tours, ICC is concerned about Sri Lanka's security, which has agreed to play in the most politically unstable cricketing nation. Fans have already begun forgetting Pakistan as a cricket team—signals from all parts suggest Pakistan continues to loss, despite not playing a single match.

ICC World Twenty20 slated for June too can see some thick fireworks, after teams learning from Indian Premier League and adapting to the demands of pressure cooker cricket. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will be keen to maintain the supremacy, while Graeme Smith, Daniel Vettori and Ricky Ponting will be happy to make their bids. However, as it seems, it is another Indian summer.

With the cricketing world anxiously waiting for the dethroning of Australia from the cricketing empire, every team can learn from the mistakes made by themselves and by others. When they kept winning, Ricky Ponting and Co. behaved as if they had all the powers to bark at anyone.

When they got kicked, heads started dropping and team-mates started pointing fingers at each other. When captain and coach are in different boats, it affects everyone—the captain, the coach and the whole team, as has been proved by Ganguly-Chappel, Pieterson-Moores, in the latest of episodes. Setting aside egos and rowing together can take the boat forward—otherwise, it will be a suicide bombing.