Sir Ian Botham set to come out of retirement

Sir Ian Botham today tweeted "See you India Winter of 2012" ending days of speculation if rumors of the great man ending his retirement were true. Eventually, it turned out that the rumors were true as the tweet was followed by an official press release by the ECB that Sir Ian Botham will indeed be included in the squad that will tour India on supposedly 'rank turners' during the winter of 2012

Speaking exclusively to Opinions, Sir Botham said, "I draw inspiration from Ricky Ponting as I restart my international career. But more importantly, I recognize this Indian team from my playing days"

As we probed further of his "recognize this team from my playing days" comment, the talismanic all rounder referred to Gautam Gambhir's recent comments as the cornerstone around which he is now re-entering the international scene.

"Look during my days, India knew that they could only win on rank turners and did not allow any stray thoughts to enter their minds about winning abroad. Any away win was entirely an accident", said the beefy allrounder, adding "And what's more I too have won a Test for England while following on". His tongue nowhere near his cheek as he made a caustic reference to Gautam's similar claim about India having won a Test following on approximately a decade ago, when Gautam himself was yet to be potty trained.

"I think this Indian side is a great vehicle for people from my generation to make a comeback and make a few of today's bucks. Who knows we might even be invited at the auction at one of the 546 leagues across the world" he said

We asked him if he is still in touch with his peers from his playing days and he said...."Why yes, just today I spoke to Martin Crowe, Terry Alderman, Javed Miandad, Sidat Wettimuny, Kim Hughes and Zaheer Abbas" imploring them to revive their careers whenever their country is scheduled to play India as per the FTP"

Sir Ian Botham has a tremendous record in India winning the Jubilee Test single handedly in Bombay in 1980 with an overall record of 30 wickets and 554 runs in 7 Tests. More importantly over the 7 Tests England had a winning record over India which they have never had since his retirement.

It is largely believed that Sir Ian Botham may not be the only one making a comeback. There are enough indications that the ECB is seriously considering sending a 'rank seniors' team to India. This opens up doors for David Gower, Allan Lamb, Nick Foster, Gladstone Small, and John Embury as well. Opinions sources in the ECB have reason to believe that this move is largely to keep the series competitive and allow India to draw at least one of the four Tests.