For a change, the Indian government would do well to consider having three cabinet secretaries at the Centre, a member of the IAS to handle administrative matters, a member of the IA&AS to oversee economic affairs and a member of the Foreign Service or the IPS to deal solely with national security.

Ishant’s season

• This refers to ‘Just like Ishant’

India will be playing a lot of cricket in the near future on dead tracks which will also test Ishant. The lanky bowler has to maintain his fitness in order to survive the grind of Indian cricket. Therefore, the BCCI should use him only for quality matches instead of wasting his talent on every tournament.

Beyond belief

• Harsha Bhogle is right when he says: “When confidence accompanies opportunity, when the mind is driven by visions of success, defeat can be stopped in its tracks.” In Australia, India cricketers showed what they were capable of when they took a chance on themselves. The rest, of course, is history.