NEW DELHI, Dec 20: Australia’s great team showed signs of decline and Twenty20 cricket rattled the classic five-day version during a tumultuous year for the sport.

Security on the Sub-continent sent tremors through the game with militant attacks in Mumbai in November adding to the gloom of economic downturn in India, cricket’s commercial hub.

India, blaming militants based in Pakistan for the Mumbai attacks, called off a tour of Pakistan, planned for early 2009, at less than a month’s notice.

England resumed an aborted tour of India, earning widespread praise, after getting reassurances about security following the incidents in Mumbai.

Financial and security concerns were evident when a Twenty20 Champions League in India featuring eight teams from five nations and $6 million in prize money was put off until October next year.

Franchises of the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 League, launched with a fanfare in April, are already said to be tightening their belts ahead of the next edition.

Top-ranked Australia began the year by equalling their own world record for consecutive test wins.

However, that 16th win in the Sydney second Test against India in January caused an uproar when spinner Harbhajan Singh was found guilty of racially abusing all-rounder Andrew Symonds.

The Indian board threatened to call off the tour until the charge was downgraded on appeal to using abusive language and Harbhajan was let off with a fine. Australia won the series 2-1.

The bowler was later given a domestic ban after slapping India team-mate Shanthakumaran Sreesanth in an IPL game.

Indian skipper Anil Kumble accused Australian players of poor spirit after the Test was marred by controversial umpiring and the Australian media attacked the team for lacking grace in victory.Australia lost the next game at Perth, their first defeat for almost a decade at their favourite ground.

A 2-0 loss in India followed in November, exposing big gaps left by the retirements of bowling stalwarts Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne and wicket-keeper Adam Gilchrist.

Australia face second-ranked South Africa in a home Test series this month but the chasing pack, including England, fancy their chances of upstaging them as the number one team.

Pakistan did not get to play a Test at all as teams shunned the country over safety concerns after a spate of suicide bombings. The International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the Champions Trophy in Pakistan until next October.The development was particularly worrying ahead of the 2011 World Cup to be jointly staged in the Sub-continent.

India exploited the Twenty20 craze by launching the IPL, prompting fears among boards that its multi-million franchise model could divide player loyalties between doing national duty and chasing money.

While the IPL matches in the summer were well attended the ICC was concerned about a slump in crowds for tests.England players kept away from the IPL but were lured into a lucrative Twenty20 game staged by Texan billionaire Allen Stanford.

The Antigua event proved unrewarding for England who lost a $20-million, winner-takes-all game against a West Indies selection while the British media denounced the match as a vulgar circus which had sold the soul of cricket.

India’s Sachin Tendulkar bettered Brian Lara’s world-record test aggregate of 11,953, having already secured the most one-day runs and hundreds and Test centuries.

Compatriot Virender Sehwag hit 319 against South Africa in Chennai in March, emulating Lara and Don Bradman as the only players to score two Test triple hundreds.

There was turmoil within the ICC as well.

Zimbabwe agreed to skip next year’s World Twenty20 in England to avert demands led by the former colonial power that the African nation be suspended due to Robert Mugabe’s government.

Malcolm Speed departed as CEO of the ICC after clashing with the top management as he advocated a firm line against Zimbabwe.

The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), custodians of the game’s laws, told the ICC to restore the result of the controversial 2006 Oval Test to a Pakistani forfeiture from a draw. It said the ICC had set a dangerous precedent by altering the result after England were declared winners when Pakistan refused to return to the field in protest at a five-run penalty for alleged ball-tampering.

The unofficial Twenty20 Indian Cricket League (ICL) continued to deplete teams, weakening those with smaller talent pools such as New Zealand, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

Its promoters petitioned the ICC for recognition. National boards have barred ICL players from official games, after pressure from India.

Leading Pakistan batsman Mohammad Yousuf joined the ICL ranks while Bangladesh cricket plunged into crisis when 13 players led by ex-skipper Habibul Bashar signed up in September.

Pakistani fast bowler Mohammad Asif was suspended pending a doping hearing after he tested positive during the IPL. He also spent 19 days in detention in Dubai for alleged possession of an illegal substance before being released without charge.

Indian leg-spinner Kumble, Test cricket’s third highest wicket-taker with a tally of 619, retired at the age of 38.—Reuters