Another Ashes battle begins in England on Thursday. So what's in it for the Indian cricket fan? Plenty if one goes by past record. However weak the contesting teams may be, whatever be their rankings in world cricket, England vs Australia has a certain magic, a definitive aura, that no other series can generate. After 124 years, it still remains the contest to follow.

For us in India, interest in the battle for the Ashes can never wane. Whether it is getting up at 6 in the morning and seeing the telecasts from Australia, or whether it is 11 in the night and staying up late to see the telecast from England, the incurable Indian cricket fan has always been there, even if thousands of miles from the scene of action. Why, I distinctly remember getting up at one unearthly hour to hear Alan McGilvray, Lindsay Hassett and AG `Johnny' Moyes describing the live action in their inimitable style over ABC Radio and staying up late till another unearthly hour to catch John Arlott, 'Jim' Swanton and Brian Johnston on BBC's Test Match Special. This went on for day after day, night after night, series after series in the sixties and early seventies.

I would like to believe that things were the same even before my time. Certainly things have not changed since then. Even the surfeit of cricketing action the world over - and particularly matches involving the Indian team - has, I am sure not diminished interest in the Ashes series as far as this country is concerned. For much of the 80s, for example, neither England nor Australia were the leading cricketing nation and yet the Ashes battles in 1985, 1986-87 and 1989 were followed with more than keen interest in India. So much so, newspapers and magazines had special reports on the matches.

History and tradition have long been part of Indian culture and this has stood good in the world of sport. Ramanathan Krishnan, the Indian tennis great of the fifties and sixties who was once ranked No 4 in the world told me that for the Indian tennis player, Davis Cup and Wimbledon were the two competitions that mattered. For the Indian cricket fan too, history and tradition are all important. And that is why a series between the two oldest foes in the international game has always held a special fascination - and will continue to hold our attention like no other contest.

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