Indian cricket provides a roller-coaster ride to its fans, who seem to be in a perpetual tizzy. Their passion shows not only when the team hits winning ways but also when it is down in the dumps like after the recent World Cup, where India crashed out at the preliminary stage.

The Indian cricket Board has realised that a lot needs to be done to ensure the standard of the game does not go down and that it continues to produce top-class cricketers, but probably is still figuring out what needs to be done.

That one loss to Bangladesh in the World Cup crashed the hopes of millions, rendering even the much-awaited event colourless, come as it did along with Pakistan’s defeat to Ireland and a similar ouster.

Followers of the game have been concerned with the Indian team’s dip in fortunes and surely have their points of view and ideas for the betterment of the game in the country. Cricketnext has taken the initiative to provide fans with a platform to vent their venom, views and more.

So, what are you waiting for? If you have a piece of advice for skipper Rahul Dravid, encouragement for players or some thoughts for cricket administrators to chew on, just blog with the most ‘happening’ cricket site.

Not only is it a chance to showcase your flair for writing and understanding of the game but also to be seen on our news channel CNN-IBN. The best blogger will be selected by our editorial board on the basis of the quality of the blogs as well as the comments on the blog and get to send out a message for Indian cricket on our prestigious English channel.

I commented over on Will’s site during the first devastating and match winning 10 overs of the Aus v SA semi-final, that I haven’t enjoyed watching a one day match this much since 1999 – yep, that other semi-final.

Contrasting means, to the same end though. Many people say “we want good close, exciting matches”. They must be supporters of other sides! When it’s your side playing, I don’t care how much they win by, and just quietly when it’s South Africa you’re thumping – I say bring it on! I’d rather that than a tie any day.

I sat down to take in this game thinking I wouldn’t be able to stay up late enough into the night (with work the next day) to see anything too decisive. Especially when South Africa won what everyone thought would be potentially a match winning toss – I figured they’d post some sort of reasonable total and Australia would struggle. I honestly thought, based on what Botham and other commentators were saying, that 250 odd would be too much for the Aussie’s to chase down, under pressure, late on a dieing wicket.

Well the wicket never got a chance to die, and by the time I was forced to retire to bed, the matched seemed fairly safe. Thanks mainly to a mind melt down by captain Graeme Smith, who seemed to think he was Matty Hayden, walking down the track – twice – missing both, the first nearly an edge and second taking off stump, then disintergration by Kallis, who was completely sucked in by the Aussie’s talk. Kallis fell hook, line and sinker for the talk about “letting him occupy the crease and take up valulable deliveries”, managing to strike one nice four then being cleaned up by a regulation, full pitched McGrath ball, while Kallis was stretching across from somewhere over on the leg side? Mind boggling! Even Andre Nell was seen to be shaking his head – no doubt because bowling to the looming low total was never going to leave him much room for sledging.

McGrath, who many believed shouldn’t go on this tour, moved to front runner for taking out the player of the series. No-one will write him of now, even when he’s been out of the game for 10 years! He cleaned up Kallis, was lucky when Prince chased what, had it not been for his thick outside edge would’ve been a side, then, possibly the most important one of all – Boucher – so often a lower order thorn in the side of the opposition, was dismissed by a ripper, moving away, taking the edged and finished off by big Matty Hayden. At 5 for 27, SA got another let off with Gibbs given not out, from what seemd like a fairly obvious inside edge. 6 for 27 would’ve seen a total around 50 I believe, as it was they only managed to limp to 149.

Australia cruised passed, the one concern – Gilchrist again failing. Surely now, he’ll make up for everything with a classic Gilly ton in Glenn McGrath’s fair well performance, a World Cup Final which could be a “three-peat” for the Aussies.