I first heard the news, via a text message, as I stood on a busy platform at Cuttack railway station a little before midnight on Wednesday night.
It read simply: "Shooting at "
As I've learnt during numerous trips to India nasty incidents do happen from time-to-time out here and, as I fell asleep on the train to Kolkata, guessed this was another of the sporadic bouts of violence that occassionally hit India's cities.
However, the early editions of Thursday's papers that greeted me on arrival at Kolkata's Howrah station quickly, soberingly and shockingly, showed the gruesome
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Welcome to Ask Bearders, where Test Match Special statistician answers your questions on all things cricket.
Below are Bill's responses to some of your questions posed at the end of his last column and if you have a question for Bill, leave it at the end of this blog entry. Please do include your country of residence - Bill loves to hear where all his correspondents are posting from.
Bill isn't able to answer all of your questions, however. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport staff will choose a selection of them and send them to Bearders for him to answer.
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Watching England in one-day internationals away from home is rarely easy but, after two heavy defeats and , the next five games and the long hours spent between games are starting to look tougher by the day.
But away from the cricket itself the first week of England's epic odyssey across the length and breadth of India has thrown up the usual array of the fantastic that tend to become the norm on a tour of this amazing country.
Take my TWO TV appearances for instance...
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In the same way that there are plenty of people who can stomach neither Wagner's nor a concert, there is some middle ground between the elegant sanctity of Test cricket and the streetwise kid that is Twenty20.
Step into any of the seven grounds where India host England in the next three weeks - more likely, catch what action you can on TV, - and you too might be re-captivated by the thrills and spills of 50-over-a-side cricket.
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and regaining the . Very few people gave a chance of beating but India not only defeated them, they did it in convincing style. India outplayed the best team in the world in every department.
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The Indian batting shone in almost every innings and made the Australian attack look toothless. The openers set the tone in almost every game and the middle-orderÌýbarring built on that. Dravid's form is perhaps the only area of concern for the Indians but he's too good a player to be short of runs for too long.
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The Australian bowling-attack never looked like taking 20 wickets in a match, which is obviously aÌýminimum requirementÌýto win a Test. They managed to bowl India outÌýtwice only once in four Tests which underlines their ineffectiveness.
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If Kevin Pietersen was concerned with the way his team in the warm-up match against Mumbai's reserves, he was determined not to show it, preferring instead .
The 124-run defeat will have been a lesson to England: primarily not to drop their concentration levels in the wake of , and to respect the opposition.
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The first thing that engulfs you when you arrive in is the smell: it seeps through the air cavities of the walkway as you step off the plane; it hits you flush in the face when you emerge out of the and into the heat of day; it's a heady mix of sweat, spices, car fumes, and 13 million people crammed into one intoxicating city.
At least that's what I was led to believe from reading several travel novels about India. In fact I found the smell much less pungent than I expected. What struck me first as I pushed my luggage trolley into the dazzling yet hazy sunshine was the line of quaint, with bench front seat, waiting hopefully in line for their next passengers.
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Quell your excitement, England fans. Australia's , their first Test series reverse since the 2005 Ashes, will have many cricket enthusiasts on these shores salivating over what might come to pass next summer.
In case you needed reminding, England and Australia resume rivalries in the next Ashes series in less than eight months time.
However it would be foolish to draw too much from Ricky Ponting's surrender of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. There may even be one or two long-term positives to emerge for the Aussies once they have had time to reflect on their failure in India.
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Once again it's the issue of crowds, or more specifically lack of crowds, at Test matches here in India that has raised its head as the four -Test series comes to a conclusion.
Turn on your TV and you'll have seen block upon block of empty seats in the brand new here in .
Oddly though the low crowds at the Test shouldn't offer any indication that there is a lack of interest for the visit of India and Australia to India's City of Oranges.
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Welcome to Ask Bearders, where Test Match Special statistician answers your questions on all things cricket.
Below are Bill's responses to some of your questions posed at the end of his last column and if you have a question for Bill, leave it at the end of this blog entry. Please do include your country of residence - Bill loves to hear where all his correspondents are posting from.
Bill isn't able to answer all of your questions, however. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Sport staff will choose a selection of them and send them to Bearders for him to answer.
Read the rest of this entry
All good things come to an end, but endings are usually sad, and it was emotional for me to see Anil Kumble bowling his last over in Test cricket for India.
An injury to his left hand limited his participation in the third Test against Australia and prompted him to call it a day immediately after .
He bowled with a heavily bandaged left hand in Delhi after receiving 11 stitches and he will be remembered for his bravery as well as for his immense skill.
Who can forget his spell against West Indies in Antigua in 2002 when he after originally planning to fly home to India to have it operated on.
Once he that Sachin Tendulkar was getting the ball to turn and a possible Indian victory was in sight, he decided to ignore the pain, got Brian Lara's wicket and left the field only when the chance of an Indian win was gone.
Such was the courage of the man - he has always been a fighter and lived up to it even in his last outing
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