cricket space

Enough Is Enough

2012-01-27T01:51:00.000-08:00

I have been maintaining this blog now for nearly 5 years. At all times I have tried to present my views rationally and tried to take into account all factors before presenting my thoughts.

But today I am going to let my emotions flow. I am going to try and bring out my frustration as an Indian supporter. I don’t care if they are rational, I don’t care if they are unreasonable, illogical and stupid. Because today, I am not disappointed………. I am not depressed……. I am angry. I am very very angry. I have been religiously following the Indian cricket team for close to 25 years now and I have never seen such a pathetic display from a cricket team

Indian Cricket stands at a crossroad. The cricketing world is laughing at us. We have been thrashed and humiliated in the last 8 overseas tests. Forget winning, we have not even competed in these test matches. Our players have been ridiculed for their lack of skill, lack of application and lack of interest in the test game.

India has been let down by a lack of will, lack of planning and lack of preparation in the last few months. It has been let down by the lack of foresight on part of its selectors. It has been let down by a lack of ability to take bold decisions on part of its tour selectors. It has been let down by its three great batsman- who should have taken the high ground and retired after Sydney- certainly Lakshman and Dravid should have. India has been let down by an indifferent captain and an indifferent coach. It been let down by its poor fielding and its poor fitness.

It has been let down by the importance given by its players, supporters and the media to individual landmarks rather than to the achievements of the team. Tendulkar’s hundredth hundred has no relevance now. It is not going to wipe out the hurt and humiliation suffered in England and Australia by the team and its supporters. Kohli’s hundred in Adelaide gave us some hope for the future but apart from that it was of no use.

The IPL has become a convenient scape goat for all of Indian cricket’s problems. Fact of the matter is that the IPL is not responsible for India’s debacle in Australia. The IPL cannot be responsible for Lakshman’s continuous failures since the tour of England. The IPL cannot be held responsible for the technical flaws that have crept up in Rahul Dravid’s game. The IPL cannot be held responsible for Sachin Tendulkar’s inability to handle the pressure generated by the expectations his fanatical supporters in relation to an irrelevant landmark. The IPL cannot be held responsible for Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s poor captaincy. The IPL has plus and minus points but to just blame the IPL for India’s failure is to slaughter the wrong cow.

Bold decisions need to be taken because we cannot have a phase like this again. If we don’t take bold decisions now, we well as might stop playing the game.

Enough is enough. Its time for a change.

Its time for a change

2012-01-07T01:50:00.000-08:00

These are very difficult times for Indian Cricket. India left for Australia as firm favorites to win the Test series down under. After eight days of cricket they have been resoundingly defeated in two test matches and have no chance of winning the series.

The defeat at Sydney means that India has now lost six consecutive tests away from home. It is not the fact that the team has lost but the manner in which they have capitulated that hurts. It hurts that our batting stands exposed, it hurts that our bowling has conceded twice over 650 runs, twice over 500 in these test matches. It hurts that we have not looked at any moment like winning any of these six tests inspite of being the world number one team in test cricket prior to the start of the England tour. It hurts that the cricketing world is laughing at us.

When you consider that Indian cricket was on such a high in the first six months of 2011, with the drawn test series in South Africa and the World Cup win at home, it might surprise a few as to how quickly the Indian team has sunk to such lower depths of performance.

India is led by the most overworked cricketer in the world. M.S Dhoni looks tired, jaded, overworked and lacking in idea and inspiration. His captaincy during the tour and particularly at Melbourne was shocking-there were 7 fielders on the boundary to Ben Hilfenhaus when he was on nought in the second innings. India lost the Melbourne test as much due to bad, defensive captaincy as it did due to bad batting. If Indian cricket wants to preserve Dhoni the batsman- and what a wonderful destructive batsman he can be- it is time for to let him go as a captain. Yes he has achieved a lot as a captain and for that Indian cricket will always be indebted to him. But Indian cricket is in desperate need of a new direction.

Who will provide that direction? It is time for Gautam Gambhir to step up. Gambhir is a fine young man, very intense, very passionate but also very competitive and tactically very sound. He has impressed one and all in his brief stints as captain for Delhi and Kolkata Knight Riders. His form of late has been patchy but I have no doubt that the added responsibility of captaincy will make him more focused and ensure that he delivers with the bat as well. I will also go a bit more left field and make Ravichandran Ashwin, another impressive young man, as his deputy. Ashwin has struggled with the ball in Australia but through out his batting and bowling vigils, he has stood out as a competitor. He comes across as a confident person and that together with his combative streak will ensure a bright future for him as an Indian cricket.

Indian cricket also needs to look at the fact that in the last 12 innings India has crossed 300 only once. That is a depressing statistic and perhaps the fact that its regular opening pair has missed a lot of test cricket this year has contributed to this. But the chief contributing factor to this statistic has been the very very inconsistent form of its famed middle order. The famed fabulous three of Indian batting have their own issues to deal with- one is weighed down by unbelievable hype and frenzy surrounding a landmark. The other has had a fabulous year at the test level but increasingly looks tired and out of place on the cricket field. And the third has produced the odd good innings this year but frankly looks totally spent and physically unfit.

I am a great VVS Lakshman fan but he averages 20 in his last 12 innings and has scored only one test hundred since his match winning efforts at Galle in August 2010. His footwork against quality fast bowling is increasingly looking very uncertain and his fielding, when he is out of the slips is shocking. Irrespective of how he plays in the next two tests- and Sanjay Manjrekar India’s finest commentator has suggested that he should not even be given those opportunities now-the selectors need to have a quiet word with him at the end of the series and chalk out a farewell plan. VVS will be sorely missed but I want to remember him as a player who pulled and flicked fast bowlers at will, not as someone who struggled to score his next run against him.

Rahul Dravid is an interesting case. He has had a remarkable 2011 when he was clearly India’s best batsman in test cricket. His innings in Melbourne suggests that there is still some form there but one should take note that he is dropping a lot of catches at slip and getting bowled very often. Often this is a sign that eyesight is not as good as it once was. Dravid should at the most play the series against England in October and then another farewell plan should be prepared for him.

What does one say about Sachin Tendulkar? Every comment made by anyone on Tendulkar evokes emotion. “You can’t write about Indian Cricket without critising Tendulkar”, some one said to me the other day. I am, like many others, a big Tendulkar fan but to say that he is immune to criticism just because of his achievements is ridiculous. The very fact there is so much discussion and debate around Tendulkar shows that something is amiss. Critics will point that he has gone almost 12 months without an international hundred. Incidentally his last test hundred was an absolute master class against a rampaging Dale Steyn at Cape Town. Tendulkar batted freely without a care in the world in that innings. Contrast that with way he played on the third afternoon at Sydney or the way he played against Clarke and you can sense the difference. It seems that Tendulkar is weighed down by this unreasonable hysteria surrounding his next hundred. However, notwithstanding this hype, the signs are very clear that the end is very near for the Bombay Bomber. Tendulkar, who used to be one of India’s finest and most committed fielders, is a liability on the field on most days. The numbers of misfields are increasing. His batting form may suggest that he has some cricket still left, however the lack of big innings suggest that age is catching up. A farewell plan has to be chartered out soon for him as well.

It will be unreal, say 12 months from now to look at an Indian team sheet and see the names of these three fine cricketers missing. But as ace writer Gaurav Kalra mentioned in his blog “permanence in sport is nothing. Succession is inevitable.” It is time for Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara to occupy the Indian Middle order. It is also time for a new Indian team to emerge.

13 years ago India went through similar horrors when it was whitewashed in Australia in 1999. That was followed by South Africa clean sweeping us at home. A new Indian team under the captaincy of Saurav Ganguly emerged. Ganguly’s era saw the emergence of Lakshman, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Sehwag and Yuvraj. Tendulkar and Dravid flourished and a golden chapter of Indian cricket was written. If this Australian debacle lays down the path for another golden chapter of Indian cricket then all the hurt will be worthwhile.

Who is the real Bharat Ratna?

2011-12-18T21:45:00.001-08:00

So the rules regarding the criteria for the Bharat Ratna Awards have now been modified to include people from all fields. Immediately news channels are calling for awarding this highest civilian honour to Sachin Tendulkar. Infact one leading news channel had a headline which said that the road had been cleared for Sachin to get the Bharat Ratna award.
Does Sachin deserve the Bharat Ratna? Undoubtedly he is one of the greats of modern cricket. Undoubtedly he is living icon and perhaps the most popular sportsman in the country. Undoubtedly his contribution to Indian cricket is immense. But is all this enough to get a Bharat Ratna? For there are other sportsman in this country who can perhaps meet all the above criteria’s.
What about Vishwanathan Anand who is the only Indian to win a world championship four times? What about Leander Paes, perhaps the greatest Indian sports man of the 90’s, having been responsible for winning India its first individual Olympic medal in 44 years and winner of many doubles grand slam titles. What about Malleshwari, brilliant woman weightlifter and winner of an Olympic medal? What about Prakash Padukone and Gopichand, winners of the prestigious All England open? Abhinav Bindra and Rajvardhan Rathore play a sport which is not really television friendly. But it is important to note that they are Olympic gold and silver medal winners respectively.
It is important to note that sportsman like Anand, Gopichand and Malleshwari have been numero unos in a sport that is played by millions in every country of the world. Leander Paes has achieved success in one of the most popular sport in the world in which it is very very difficult to break into the top 500. Whether we can compare their achievements with those of Tensdulkar’s is a debatable point. I am a huge cricket fan but it is important to note that the world of cricket is relatively small arena.
Even within the game of cricket, can Tendulkar skip before Kapil Dev- an outstanding all rounder and more importantly a successful captain and a leader who led India to a world cup victory, something which Tendulkar failed at. What about Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid- two great Indian batsman who in their own ways have contributed to the glorious history of Indian batting?
Without a shadow of doubt Tendulkar is a true great, perhaps the best batsman of this generation though fans of Ponting, Lara and Kallis might have reasons to dispute that. Perhaps he is the greatest Indian Batsman of all time though fans of Sunil Gavaskar and Rahul Dravid might have something to say about that. Statistically he is the greatest batsman off all time but many experts have rated Viv Richards above him.
The most infuriating thing about the recent hype about Sachin is this recent trend by some media agencies and some writers/columnists to refer to him as the god of cricket. Tendulkar, the great cricketer that he is, is no GOD. His career graph is like any other successful sportsman, showing lots of upward movement and some downward trends too. Tendulkar has achieved his greatness through shear hard work and commitment and by referring to him as “God” you are belittling and insulting his hard work passion and commitment.
The Tendulkar obsession in this country is going to insane proportions. It is almost becoming a crime to say anything against the master. If you write a book which has something negative about Tendulkar, the book runs into trouble. If you write an article critising Tendulkar you are supposed to be irrational. If a former cricketer says something about Tendulkar, he is either supposed to be jealous of Sachin or seeking publicity. And if an English or Australian does not acknowledge Sachin’s greatness he is supposed to be racists.

But this blog is not disputing Tendulkar’s greatness. What it is trying to say is that Tendulkar is not the be all and end all Of Indian cricket and definitely not of Indian sports. He is a definitely a “ratna” but in our obsession towards him we shall not ignore other “ratnas”.

A Tiger among men

2011-09-22T23:50:00.000-07:00

I always had this burning desire to meet Tiger Pataudi. In a perfect and ideal world that I often dreamt and fantasized about, Tiger Patuadi was one gentleman with whom I wanted to talk cricket about. Just a two minute conversation about cricket and that would have been everything for me.

Unfortunately I never could meet Tiger. Unfortunately I never saw him play. Unfortunately and frustratingly, he never did much commentary in the last thirty years or so for me to regularly hear his views. But having read so much about him, having him heard him on the odd occasion that he decided to air his views, I have no doubt to admit that Mansur Ali Khan Patuadi was one of my heroes.

For many people of my age the name Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi does not mean much. But for people of the previous generation, Tiger Pataudi was the ultimate cricketing superstar. Mukul Kesavan has described his perfectly calling him a “a republic prince”. He indeed was a prince under whom Indian cricket flourished. But he was no autocrat and definitely no dictator.

There are certain crickets who should not be judged by statistics. Pataudi should be on top of the list. To understand Tiger Patuadi, you need to understand the history of Indian cricket prior to him becoming the captain. India lost regularly at home and were regularly hammered abroad. Patuadi made the team believe in itself. Patuadi gave Indian cricket Bedi, Prassana, Chandra and Venkat. He gave Indian cricket Vishwanath, Hanumant Singh and Farook Engineer. He gave India its first overseas win. He gave Indian cricket an identity and self respect.

And please remember, he played 40 odd test matches with one eye. He scored all those runs with one eye. He made that brilliant hundred at headingly in 1967 with one eye.But the loss of that eye did not deter him. As he once famously said “I lost the sight in my eye but I did not lose the sight of my ambitions”. That one statement summed up Tiger Pataudi.

Ian Chapell had once said that “Tiger talks a lot less but whatever talk’s makes a lot of sense”. But perhaps it is appropriate to quote Mukul Kesavan who writes “death finds him happily embalmed in fond radio memories: still tigerish in the covers, still a prince amongst men.”

There never will be a Tiger Pataudi again.

Don't shoot the messenger

2011-09-06T01:54:00.000-07:00

I was looking forward to this English summer for a long long time. An Indian tour is always a special event in England but this time India arrived in England as world champions and as the number one team in test match cricket. Everyone in England was looking forward to the test summer. Watch India play well in England, read the English press go gaga over them, listen to Aggers and Boycott on TMS were some of the things that I was looking forward to.

Alas that was not to be. Everything that had to go wrong has gone wrong for India on this tour. India have been terrible on this tour and have been ridiculed by all and sundry. Aggers and Boycott have often wondered on TMS whether this really was the Indian team or was it Bangladesh in disguise. My summer was totally spoiled, at the end of the series I could barely listen to TMS or read the British Papers.

There have been many reasons for this debacle. Lack of preparation certainly, lack of fitness certainly but fatigue? I don’t buy that. How can Gambhir be fatigued? He was coming back after a two month break. How can Tendulkar be tired? He missed the West Indies tour and went on a holiday. How can Lakshman and Dravid be tired. They hardly played any cricket after January. How can Zaheer and Sreesanth be tired. Only three cricketers could be excused for reasons of fatigue- Dhoni, Harbhajan and Raina. They were playing non stop cricket and had absolutely no break. The majority of the team were unfit, unprepared and largely unprofessional.

Ideally the BCCI should have a review for this tour and try to rectify the reasons for this debacle. But instead of doing that, the BCCI is involved in trying to ensure that they do not come under the RTI and trying to set up discussions with the English Cricket Board with respect to Naseer Hussain’s comments on the Indian fielders. The entire exercise I should say is needless.

Hussain along with Michael Atherton is perhaps the finest commentator going around. He is definitely one of my favorites. He has the right to express his opinion. Perhaps it was offensive, perhaps it was strong, and perhaps it should not have been said. But he said it in a context. We use various terms for cricketers of different types. Khadoos, slow pokes, plodders, scooter, are terms used very often by different commentators. If we start getting offended by all the terms used we well as might stop listening to any cricket commentary.

I think we are as a country growing increasingly insensitive and intolerant. This was aptly reflected during the Anna Hazare movement. People who did not agree with Hazare’s ideas were considered traitors, corrupt and what not. The basis of any democracy is the fundamental right to express one’s own opinion. If you want the right to express an opinion, you have an obligation to respect someone’s opinion as well.

In cricket particularly, the Indian media has had a tendency to project someone’s opinions and then create needless controversy’s about them. Every individual covering the game has a right to state what he feels. If we disagree with that, we should stop listening to that individual rather than projecting and debating those comments.

And what about the comments that we in India make. A few years ago Star News ran a show called ‘Match ka Mujrim’ in which at the end of each show an Indian cricketer was declared a ‘Mujrim’. Was that not offensive? Saurav Ganguly called Michael Vaughn mad a few days back after certain comments made by the former England captain. Was that not offensive? During the whole Mike Dennesse episode, the Indian media used a whole lot of adjectives to describe Dennesse. Was that not offensive.

If we are frank, we should admit that the Indian fielding on this tour has been an embarrassment. It was terrible to watch them at certain times during the test series. As suggested by some critics our anger should not be at Hussain but at the fact that our team has possibly some of the worst fielders ever. Let us not shoot the messenger please.

2011-06-01T04:39:00.000-07:00

While I did not watch much of the IPL, I followed with keen interest the different debates that were taking place regarding the injury suffered by Gautam Gambhir. Different opinions were given by different people. Bishen Bedi suggested that this was the classic example of financial power taking over the world of cricket. Kapil Dev suggested that at the end of the day it was the players own choice. Arun Lal suggested that this was a sign of the times that we were living in. Times Now ran a campaign for three days which virtually projected that Gautam Gambhir had committed an act of treason.

It was therefore very interesting to note that not many people said anything when Sachin Tendulkar decided to skip the entire West Indies tour to be with his family. Now Tendulkar has done admirable service for the country for the last twenty years and if anybody deserves a break it should be him. But he could have had his break from April 2 to May 28 when India was not playing any cricket. Instead he opted to play for Mumbai Indians, a franchise owned by the biggest corporate house in India which to which he is contracted for a large sum of money.

There is a big difference Gambhir’s case and Tendulkar’s case. Gautam Gambhir is injured and has been advised 6 weeks rest by the physio. Tendulkar is completely fit. If Gambhir was not injured, he would have played the IPL and gone to the West Indies. Tendulkar irrespective of injury or not was going to play in the IPL and never going to go to the West Indies.

People might turn around and say that Tendulkar has given his all for the country for the last twenty years and he deserves to given some leeway. Absolutely. No problem in that. But if he needed to take a break why not take a break when you are supposed to be playing for the Mumbai Indians? Why play in a domestic t20 tournament for 8 weeks and then skip test matches. The way I see it is that Tendulkar after a very hectic season, decided to play for the Mumbai Indians with a view of going on a holiday when the Indian team was going to play.

There is also a bigger question of the double standards of the Indian media. It seems that the Indian media judges different people with different standards. Tendulkar seems to be immune to all criticism. Moreover anybody who dares to criticize him is castigated. A few years ago when Sanjay Manjrekar suggested that Tendulkar’s fitness levels had dropped, he was absolutely torn by the media. Some former players called him selfish while other said that he was jealous of Tendulkar’s success. Manjrekar may have been right or may have been totally wrong but surely he was entitled to his opinion. And after the 2007 World Cup, when Ian Chapell said that Tendulkar need to change his outlook towards the game or retire, one of world’s finest cricket analysts was pilloried in the Indian media.

To my mind if the BCCI is unhappy about Gautam Gambhir opting out of the tour due to injury, then it should also be unhappy about Tendulkar’s decision. No matter how great a player is, the rules should be the same for everyone.

2011-05-03T03:32:00.000-07:00

1992-93 was a landmark year for Maharashtra Cricket. It had been 44 years since Maharashtra had last won the Ranji trophy and in 1992-93 it finally it seemed the drought would end. Santosh Jedhe had a sensational season and Shantanu Sugwekar played a tremendous innings in the semi finals against the two best fast bowlers in the country then ( Ashish Winston Zaidi and Obaid Kamal- they never played for the country but that’s a different story.) It was widely believed that Maharashtra would win the finals but Punjab piped them to the post. The drought has still not ended and perhaps never will.

But that run to final did a lot of good things for Maharashtra cricket. It brought Jedhe, Iqbal Siddique and Sugwekar to the National reckoning. Maharashtra cricket was recognized around the country (at least for some time) and youngsters like me were genuinely inspired.

Why am I writing this? Because a while back someone asked me if I was following the Pune Sahara warriors in the IPL. I have actually never enjoyed watching the IPL as much as I enjoy watching Test, one day or even Ranji Trophy cricket. I have been fortunate and privileged to witness live some great test matches over the last few years. But I have never watched nor desired till today to watch an IPL game. Of course that might change in the future. And ofcourse I recognize that if you keep aside the non- sense about bollywood, cheergirls, SRK, Preity etc etc, it is a pretty decent tournament. Its just that too much importance is given to matters other than cricket and that absolutely pisses me off.

Now coming back to the Pune team. Why should I support this team? It is owned by a corporate house from Lucknow. I have not seen a single Maharashtra based player play a single game for it. It is captained by a Punjabi middle order batsman and its coach is an Australian. It plays all its home games in Navi Mumbai. If the Pune team does win the IPL, it does not benefit the young players of my city, it does not help in developing the cricket infrastructure of my state. Quite frankly this team does not represent my state or my city. It represents a corporate house and I have no affiliation towards that corporate house.

Were Maharashtra to win the Rnji trophy next year or the year after that, it would bring a big smile to my face. Were Pune to win or lose the IPL, I am not sure it would matter that much to me.

LETS HAVE SOME PERSPECTIVE

2011-03-15T01:30:00.000-07:00

I have been very amused by some of the reactions that have followed India’s defeat against South Africa. The general feeling seems to be that India’s World Cup campaign has gone for a toss. A closer analysis perhaps would justify this. India has played two games against major test playing teams, losing one and nearly losing the other. Of the remaining three games, they have conceded 290 against a team that the West Indies bowled out for 58 and were 99/4 and 110/5 against the other two minnows. As Bill Lawry would perhaps say, it’s just not happening.

The main villain in this saga seems to be MS Dhoni. He has been blamed for not picking Ashwin, for sticking with Chawla and most importantly for giving Nehra the final over on Saturday. If Harbhajan would have bowled the final over and India would have lost, then the same people would have criticized Dhoni for not giving Nehra the final over. If Ashwin would have been picked ahead of Chwala and had conceded 70 in 10, Dhoni would have been criticized for favoring a fellow IPL team mate.

After the game on Saturday, news channel around India had a gala time. There were two hour debates, strategies were debated and team selections contemplated. Times Now, a news channel that is never far away from pouring oil in a growing fire, had a debate on whether Dhoni had become complecent. Navjot Sidhu stated that Dhoni cannot carry on thinking that bad performances will not be condemned. Phew. All this after one loss

It is important for all of us to remember that game seems a lot simpler from air-conditioned offices and living rooms. Ian Chappell, master captain, master player and some one who has played a lot more cricket and hence knows a lot more about the game then all of us, made a fitting one line comment- “ Dhoni is the best captain in the competition by far”. I don’t think Dhoni has done anything drastically wrong in this competition, nothing at any rate that seems to have altered the result of any game. In fact like always he has been refreshingly honest and candid in his assessment. ( batsman need to play for the team and not for the gallery, we cant improve much as a fielding team).

India lost against South Africa not because of Dhoni’s captaincy but because for some strange reason, Tendulkar and Gambhir added just about 100 runs between overs 20 and 40. This was followed by the gigantic collapse. These were the major contributing factors to the defeat. Ofcourse conceding 13 runs in the final over was disappointing but that can happen with any bowler.

But we will still debate and discuss and every Indian loss will always be a National disaster and a crisis.

A country little away from us, had 8.9 earthquake. Its coast was hit by a tsunami and the country is going through a nuclear emergency. That is a crisis.

Sometimes, only sometimes, we need to keep a little bit of perspective.

PAKISTAN-TEAM TO WATCH

2011-02-28T21:43:00.000-08:00

There was a stark contrast to the reactions by both captains at the post match closing ceremony after the India England game in Bangalore. Andrew Struass had a smile on his face (partly due to his great innings). Mahendra Singh Dhoni had a frown on his face. The reactions told a story. England had achieved the impossible in making 338 in the second innings and inspite of throwing it away were delighted with the tie. India should have never allowed England to get to 338 and I think Dhoni knew that greater problems now await him.

Nobody claimed before the World Cup that India had the best bowling attack in the tournament. What the Bangalore game has shown that among the test playing nations, India perhaps has the worst bowling attack. If a team cannot defend 338 then there must be something terribly wrong with its bowling and fielding.

India’s fielding was terrible on Sunday (for the first time in 15 years, I saw Tendulkar field terribly) and its attitude and thinking was worse. Dhoni had a shocker as a captain, allowing England easy singles. There was no pressure built on any batsman and it was almost as if the Indian’s were waiting for the English to make mistakes.

This has been in stark contrast to the last two years when Dhoni has been a very positive and proactive leader. His subsequent rant at the UDRS was also very unlike Dhoni and all indications are that he is a man under tremendous pressure. During the game against England one saw Dhoni often in conference with Virender Sehwag. Nothing wrong in that for Sehwag has a very fine cricketing brain. But one has never seen Dhoni lead by committee decisions. Something just doesn’t seem right.

However all is not lost. The tournament is still in its early stages and the one positive is that this game was not a quarter or a semi final. The batting is looking very good and a fit Ashish Nehra will only strengthen the bowling attack.

For it is now becoming very clear that a team with a strong and wicket taking bowling attack will win this world cup. Australia with Tait, Lee and Johnson have looked very good. But the most impressive of the lot has been Pakistan. It was a pleasure watching them against Sri Lanka on Saturday. Typically in Pakistan style they did everything possible to lose a game i.e run each other out, drop catches, miss stumpings etc. And typically in Pakistan style they ended up winning the game. They are the only team in the world who can lose bowlers of the caliber of Aamir, Asif and Tanvir before the tournament began and still have talents like Gul and Akhtar opening the bowling. With Afridi in fine form, they have become a very very dangerous team. They are a team to watch out for from hereon.

2011-02-14T00:56:00.001-08:00

Every World Cup brings a tinge of excitement with it. Particularly in India where the promotions begin at least three months earlier, the whole country is drawn into frenzy. During this period we are reminded very often of the 1983 triumph. And also of the fact that we have not won since then.

To be fair, apart from 1987, we never had a good enough team. If Kapil had kept his head in 1987, India would have probably won the Reliance Cup but that was not to happen. In 2003 we went with a make shift keeper and batting line up in terrible form. The brilliance of Tendulkar, the presence of India’s finest pace attack and the toughness of Wright and Ganguly ensured that the team exceeded all expectations and reached the final. In all other editions it was the heart rather than the head which believed that the Cup could be won.

This time though it is the head and the heart which says that India should win the Cup. India goes into the tournament as unquestionable favorites. The team has had terrific three years where, apart from rising to the dizzy heights of number 1 in the test rankings, the last three years have seen the team win tournaments in Australia, Sri Lanka New Zealand and the West Indies in the one-day version. The batting is strong and settled and generally in the sub-continent strong batting line ups tend to win more one day games.

If there is a cause of concern, it is in the bowling department. India relies too heavily on Zaheer and if he has a bad day, particularly after the league stage, India could be in big trouble.

It will be interesting to see how Sachin Tendulkar fares in this tournament. He had a disastrous 2007 World Cup, largely due to the fact that the team management did not want him to open the batting. But for this edition he will be back opening the batting and he is also probably the best form of his life. The only concern being that he has played only 2 one day internationals in the last two months.

But Tendulkar has always managed to perform at the big stage and it will be a brave man to bet against him being one of the leading batsmen of the tournament. In fact, I would go as fas as to say that inspite of the presence of Sehwag, Gambhir, Dhoni and Yuvraj, India’s fortunes will largely depend on what kind of a tournament Tendulkar has.

It was the same in 1996, 1999, 2003 and 2007.

Somethings never change…………

Whats the fuss all about?

2010-06-07T01:57:00.000-07:00

These have not been the best of times if you are the Board of Control for Cricket in India. As if the IPL scandal was not enough, India’s performance in the West Indies and Zimbabwe has once again given ammunition to the people who were having pot shots at the BCCI.
And then in its wisdom, the BCCI has decided not to send a team to the November Asian Games.
Predictably, there have been reactions galore. Michael Ferreira, never one to hold back when there is a chance to take a dig at the game of cricket, has said that the BCCI is drunk on power. Gaurav Kalra has asked the BCCI “who let you snatch my medal?” (Your medal Gaurav?). Suresh Kalamadi, president of the Indian Olympic Association, has called the BCCI money minded. Anil Kumble, always a sane voice in all situations has said that the decision was disappointing.
In fact Gaurav Kalra in his column has put forward an interesting argument. Comparing the careers of Sunil and Rohan Gavaskar, he has stated that while Sunil Gavaskar played 125 test matches and scored 34 test hundreds, Rohan has a googly that even sneaks through the impenetrable defence of his dad. "I have done what you never have. I played for India in Kuala Lumpur at the 1998 Commonwealth Games, Did you dad, do anything similar in your 2-decade-long career?"
If indeed this argument wins, then I am very surprised. Every young person who picks up a cricket bat or ball in India wants to play test cricket. Every young Indian player wants to score test hundreds, take test wickets and win cricket world cups. The thought of winning gold medals or participating in Asian, Commonwealth or Olympic games never crosses any young cricketers mind. I will take the 34 centuries any day to participation in the Commonwealth games.
W hat people seem to be forgetting that Cricket has never been a main part of the Olympic movement. A would be athlete dreams of winning an Olympic medal, a would be cricketer dreams of scoring a test hundred at Lords. Infact even the Asian Games organization committee has not given much importance to the game. That is why the format being tried is the most recent and the less serious format of the game i.e. twenty twenty. If cricket was such an integral part of the games, then we would have seen cricket being played at every games and in the 50 over format. So if the organizers are not that serious about the game, why should the BCCI be?
The most appropriate reaction to this entire mess was by Dilip Premchandran who writes “Instead of whipping up mass hysteria, the media should be asking the question: does cricket belong on the Olympic or Asian Games stage? Or will it be an imposter, as football and tennis are? An Olympic medal should be the pinnacle of your sport. If it's not, you really don't have any business being there. Premchandran further adds “If you grow up kicking a ball in Stanley Park, you dream of doing the Premier League-Champions League double with Liverpool or Everton, and of winning the World Cup with England. The Olympics don't even enter the picture. A kid tossing a rugby ball around in Pretoria today has visions of Currie Cup-Super 15 glory with the Bulls and of a World Cup triumph in the Springbok shirt. It's nothing but arrogance for administrators and commentators to assume that the Olympics should be the pinnacle of sporting achievement. In sports such as athletics and rowing, it is. In others, like football and cycling [the Tour de France is their gold medal], it is not and never will be.” Well said sir.
The next twelve months are very crucial for Indian Cricket. There is the 50 Over World Cup taking place at home. There are tours to South Africa, England and Australia. Indian crickets main prerogative during this period should be to protect its number one ranking in the test match cricket and to win its first 50 over world event since 1985.
No body, not even the ICC, remembers Shaun Pollock and his boys winning the Common Wealth games gold medal in Kualampur in 1998. However Steve Waugh’s Australians winning the cricket World Cup in 1999 is a part of cricketing folklore.
If we take a poll around the country, most cricket fans in India would prefer a World Cup victory to Asian Games gold. And that’s where this argument should end.
So let us actually congratulate the BCCI for taking a right decision for once.

Before the arrival of Rafa Benitez at Anfield, Liverpool football club were hovering in the mid table of the Premier League. Champion league appearances were limited and minimal. No body took Liverpool seriously in England and in Europe.
In his first season, Rafa Benitez got the Champions league back to Anfield. During his tenure Liverpool were the most feared and the most consistent British football team in Europe. Liverpool scored victories over Juventus, A.C. Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea, Arsenal, Real Madrid among others in Europe. Except in his last season, Liverpool always finished in the top 4 and for a brief period in 2008 were favorites to win the Premier League. Manchester United were thrashed three times in a row in 2008-2009 and Liverpool football club were being taken seriously again.
Hence it is only appropriate that I should say “Thank you Rafa”.

2010-05-12T03:45:00.000-07:00

On a Day when the entire country should have been celebrating Vishwanathan Anand’s tremendous achievement (four time World Champion, which Indian sportsman has ever achieved that?), we all woke up to the post mortems of India’s dismissal performance in the West Indies.
Frankly, India did not deserve any better. They showed lack of respect for the event by turning up late and not playing any warm up matches. This was very evident in their performance. Indians seemed tactically naïve and stubborn. They went in with only two seam bowlers on a quick track in Barbados and seemed reluctant to play Piyush Chawla and drop Ravindra Jadeja. It seemed that the team management was completely unaware of the conditions. The bowling did not create any impression and India probably were the worst fielding team in the competition.
And what about the batting. Many people considered India as one of the favorites for the tournament on the basis of their depth in batting. India has tremendous batting strength we were told, with great depth and great match winners. Truth be told, India has tremendous batting talent only in certain conditions. When the ball is rising and moving around, India has absolutely no batting strength. India’s batting performance against the Australians was shocking and the worrying part about that performance was that the majority of the batting line up were the so called future of Indian Cricket. The so called young stars proved that they have a long way to go before they can be considered in the same bracket as of the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar. A while back there was a movement in this country asking for the so called twenty-twenty players to be given a chance in the longer format.If you are trying to tell me that Suresh Raina should be batting for India at number 3 in a test match, then your understanding of the game is slightly different than mine. Raina is a good player on flat tracks but a very poor player on fast bouncy tracks. The disappointing thing about this is that Raina was a good player on flat tracks but a very poor player on fast bouncy tracks 3 years back as well. There has been no improvement/ change in his game in the last few years. The same can be said of Yuvraj Singh who continues to be a tremendous performer in some conditions and an average performer in certain others.
Hence its time for us to realize that we have been lucky to have the likes of Dravid, Laxman and Tendulkar . Indian Cricket has achieved a lot of success due to these three stalwarts . What the last two T20 World Cups has shown is that the future of Indian batting looks very bleak beyond these great players. So Indian Fans should be ready for post mortems, particularly if we keep treating the IPL as the be all and end all of our cricket.

2010-04-28T04:31:00.001-07:00

And so the IPL is over. Like always it had some great cricket, some great games, some terrific performances and some sub-standard coverage. IPL does some funny things to you. Thanks to the IPL, I know more about the MRF blimp then I do about my family. But that is for another entry……….

But this time the IPL was overshadowed by Modi, Tharoor, Twitter and IPL gate. News channels had a field day. Even Barkha Dutt, normally not associated with cricket, was concerned about the game. Was brand IPL affected? (don’t need to be a Einstein to find an answer to that). Was Indian Cricket affected? (never). There were suggestions that this was the greatest crisis to rock Indian Cricket. The same was said during the match fixing crisis (rightly) and when India was knocked out of the 2007 World up.

There really should be no cause for concern. If you have studied the BCCI’s history, you would realize that this is not the first case of corruption it has been associated with. Modi himself was involved in framing and trading charges of Financial impropriety against, Jagmohan Dalmiya. TV rights deals involving the BCCI have always raised eyebrows and numerous court cases have always been filed against the BCCI.

Fortunately, cricket in India has not been affected by all this. Indian Cricket has grown, thrived and to a large extent prospered inspite of the shambolic administration on the part of the BCCI. Hence to jump to conclusions and state that Indian cricket will be terminally affected by all this is totally wrong.

Now to the IPL. Yes the IPL is a big event. Yes it captures the imagination of the entire country and yes for one entire month the country follows it. But that Cricket in India has never been dependent on the IPL . Cricket in India was thriving before the IPL and it will continue to do so even after the IPL. And IPL as a global brand? I really don’t know about that. No body in England and Australia ( apart from the Indians based there ) watch it and frankly no body really cares about it apart from Indians.. Why even some people based in India find the IPL boring.

It is really strange that the IPL Governing Council was not aware of all the hidden stakes in the various franchisees. It is also very strange that no ‘fit and proper test’ was applied to the people bidding for the various franchises. If Lalit Modi had a problem with respect to the various stakeholders in the Kochi franchisees, he should have raised it before the bidding process and not allowed the consortium to bid. Once the consortium was allotted the team, there really could not have been any objections to their make up.

But that is a different story, perhaps to be ignored or as Harsha Bhogle has said to be commented by people experts in Corporate Governance. This blog is primarily about cricket and we shall talk about cricket, of which there was some good quality on display at the IPL. Sachin Tendulkar was sensational, playing some outstanding cricket shots and showing to all of us that great batsmen will be great batsmen at any level. He was primarily the reason why the majority of the people in India were Mumbai Indian supporters during the final. As long as Sachin Tendulkar is playing, cricket in India will never ever be threatened.

And then there were the others. Anil Kumble bowled magnificently, his dismissal of Saurabh Tiwari during the game at Brabourne was probably the moment of the tournament. But he was overshadowed by Pragyan Ohjha, surely the bowler of the tournament. I daresay that Pragyan Ohja is the best left arm spinner in the world but unfortunately he can’t even find a place in his country’s team. Some body needs to do some explaining about that.

Robin Utthapa showed to the entire country what tremendous ability he had and why all of us showed be frustrated by the fact that this ability has not transformed into performances more often. The same is the case with Rohit Sharma who remains the most enigmatic young cricketer of India. If he is not a regular member of the Indian team by the end of this year, it will be Indian Crickets loss and not his. Yousuf Pathan’s hundred in 37 balls was sensational and there were some stunning catches taken during the course of the tournament.

It is the cricketers of this country who keep the game going. And so long as they are in good health, the game will remain in good health.

2010-01-28T04:15:00.000-08:00

On January 2nd, 2000, India played a test match against Australia at the Sydney cricket ground. Almost predictably, India ended the day at 120/8. Almost predictably India lost the test match in three days. Almost predictably India lost that three test match series 3-0.

On January, 2nd 2010, when the ICC chief executive Dave Richardson switched on his computer and looked at the test match rankings, he would have found India at the top of the pile. It has been a most unlikely and a most amazing transformation in the Indian cricket team. No longer are we poor travelers, no longer are we a team which thrives only in certain conditions, no longer are we short of fast bowlers, no longer do we have timid opening batsman. In the last 10 years India has won test matches at Perth, Jo’burg and Jamaica, a feat that was considered as unlikely as a white Christmas in India. One Indian opening batsman was the ICC’s test player of the year in 2009 and the other is the only batsmen since Bradman to score three 290’s. India has a decent pace attack and 5 of its top six have very very good test records abroad.

Much of the credit for this success has been given- and rightly so- to the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, Ganguly, Sehwag and Kumble. Dhoni, Gambhir, Zaheer and Harbhajan have been significant contributors as well. But the number one ranking has been achieved because India has played as a team and almost everyone who has donned the blue cap has contributed in some form or the other. Over the last 10 years, Ajit Agarkar, Sanjay Bangar, Parthiv Patel, Sreesanth, Wasim Jaffer and Ajay Ratra have all contributed to test victories abroad. Indeed the delightful thing about being an Indian supporter these days is that the team has a number of match winners and match savers- a far cry from the late nineties when the team depended heavily on Sachin Tendulkar.

These are great times for every Indian cricket supporter. Irrespective of how long this lasts, it is an occasion to be proud of.

On a cold evening in December1998, I watched with great enthusiasm as an Indian Hockey Team won a thrilling final of the hockey event in the Asian games against South Korea. The star of the show was undoubtedly Ashish Balal, the goalkeeper who saved a couple of penalty strokes. It is one of Indian sports greatest tragedy that Balal never played for India again. His crime- He gave an interview after the event stating that Indian hockey players deserved better remuneration.

I was reminded of this incident when the impasse between the hockey players and the federation continued for one whole week. If you are supporter of Indian hockey, and I am certainly one, this conflict must have saddened you. The players were asking for better pay, surely this was their right. A game cannot be alive without its players. Unfortunately the hockey India chief did not realize this. As if preventing the players from getting their dues was not enough, Hockey India chief then made the most unbelievable statement ever made stating that players wanted money more than the honour of playing for the country. Bollywood Style, Mr. Mattoo tried to project the Indian players as villains, someone whose greed made them sacrifice National honour. Fortunately the public in general did not fall for this. If Hockey India wants its players to play professionally, then they must act professionally as well.

The State of Indian Hockey is one of the greatest tragedies of this country- no other sport has been destroyed as much by internal politics as much as this game. Once the pride of our country, hockey has now become a subject of ridicule. Don’t blame the players, Don’t blame the coaches- blame the system and the people who run the system.

Just as a matter of thought let us consider a majority of India’s successful sportsmen and sportswomen. The Cricket team, Bhaichung Bhutia, Leander and Bhupati, Sania Mirza, Gopichand, Geet Sethi etc. You will find one thing common in all these sportsmen or teams- They have never depended on the Indian Government for any support. Therein lays a story of Indian sports. Of course Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijeynder Singh provided a delightful twist to this scenario in 2008. But they did well inspite of the system, rather than because of it.

2009-11-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Unlike a lot of Sachin Tendulkar fans, and there have been quite a few around me, I have never been a fanatical Sachin Tendulkar supporter. I have greatly admired his batting and have always stated (to any one who listens to me) that as far as skill and ability goes, Sachin has no peers close to him. But Tendulkar is a perfect player, everything associated with his batting is close to perfection. In a funny sort of a way, that is the one factor that actually removes me from his most fanatical fan list. Perhaps the fault is mine, but Tendulkar’s batting for me has never had the brilliant unpredictability that one would associate with Azharuddin or even with his good friend Kambli. Its never had the sheer unorthodoxy that one associates with Lara or Laxman. Perhaps Tendulkar is too good for some people’s liking.

Tendulkar completes twenty years in International cricket and that is a tremendous achievement. I have been fortunate to follow cricket in an era when SRT played. If one starts writing about his greatest innings it will require huge space and time but two innings stand out for me personally. His 96 against Australia in the 1996 World Cup is probably his finest one day innings where he produced a tremendous counter attack against McGrath, Flemming and Warne. He played a pull of the front foot of the bowling of Mcgrath in that innings and it will be safe to say that he has never played such a stunning shot ever. A year later he made a stunning 165 at Cape town where he and Azhar added 220 odd runs in 100 minutes. It was Test Match Batting at its very best.

But a character sketch of any great sportsman should include his highs and his lows- his good points and his faults. Tendulkar has had his questionable moments as well. His term as captain in 1999 saw a most disappointing tour of Australia , mainly due to some very very questionable selection decisions. Sachin seemed reluctant to pick Azhar and when Mongia was sent to Australia, he was sent back within one week. Mumbai players were making their debuts left right and centre and there was no logical explanation for this. But my most disappointing Sachin moment came in 2004 at Multan, when his stated disappointment at being declared on 194 resulted in Rahul Dravid being made a national villain for a long time.

But Tendulkar fans will defend these moments very strongly and perhaps will even find stronger arguments. That is the beauty of Sachin Tendulkar. For the last twenty years he has been the “be all and end all” of India. The fact that he has sustained this fanatical support for such a long period of time in itself a cause for celebration. He will definitely be India’s greatest ever batsmen and even his greatest critic will have to thank him for the many moments of brilliance that he has provided on the cricket field.

2009-10-06T05:25:00.000-07:00

If you are without your top three match winners for a major world event, you are bound to suffer as a team. Adding to that if your main fast bowler is completely out of form, then you well as might pray for a miracle. It is therefore no surprise to anyone that India was knocked out of the Champions trophy in its first round.

Should we read too much in to this loss? Indian supporters will tell you that this is the first series loss that India has suffered in the last one and a half years. That at any rate is a tremendous success rate and the overall win loss record this season (played 6, won3, lost 2) is not too bad.

However cracks are appearing in this Indian team. The fielding in Sri Lanka was very poor and there was not much improvement in that respect in South Africa. The bowling looks very very fragile. Harbhajan Singh is good one day and very poor the next. Ishant Sharma and R.P Singh have lost his zip and this where questions need to be asked of Venkatesh Prasad. When the bowling looked very good in England and Australia, Prasad got all the kudos. But the pace bowling hasn’t looked too flush in the last few series and by all accounts young Indian paceman have stagnated. If Wasim Akram can point out the faults in Ishant’s action from the commentary box, surely Prasad as a bowling coach can sort them out quickly off the field. Prasad should be the one to tell us why Indian fast bowlers bowl super quick for one year and then become slow medium trundlers after that.

There have been some serious selection issues as well. Rohit Sharma’s exclusion was expected but Subramaniym Badrinath must be wondering what he must do to gain a permanent slot in this team. Badri looked a class act last year in Sri Lanka and did pretty well in the limited opportunities that he had. Rather unfairly he has been overlooked since then and no justification has been given. I am a big Rahul Dravid fan and his inclusion will only add value to the side but it should have been Subramaniyam Badrinath and not Rahul Dravid, who should have been batting at number 3 for this Indian team at the Champions Trophy.

And what about Pragyan Ohja? Is he suffering like illustratious state colleagues because he comes from an unfashionable state team? (read Hyderabad).6 months ago Ohja was India’s best bowler in Sri Lanka. Three months ago he was adjudged Man of the Match in India’s first World T20 game. Unfortunately one bad game and he is out of the team. If the same yardstick was applied to every member of the Indian team, India would have to look for a completely new bowling attack in the series against Australia.

A special moment

2009-06-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

The crowd was waiting for the lead player to come and perform for a very long time. Some had waited for nearly five hours, some a bit less. They had seen Ireland give a spirited fight to Sri Lanka and then seen their team restrict England to 153. Surely, that was not beyond the famed batting line up of their home team, particularly as it contained the one star player everybody was talking about. The English papers were talking about him, cricinfo was talking about him and surely the English cricket team must have been talking about him.

As Gambhir got out, out strode the one man who everybody wanted to watch. Yuvraj Singh’s walk is very reminiscent of Sir Viv Richard’s walk to the crease. Out he strode with a confident swagger, eager and determined to put the English attack to the sword. He was perhaps frustrated, perhaps annoyed because of Jadeja’s promotion ahead of him. He had that steely look in his eyes- he meant business.

As he took guard, the crowd waited with bathed breath. This was the moment everybody was waiting since afternoon. What would Yuvraj do? The first delivery was bowled by Mascharenes- it was slightly pitched up; surely Yuvraj would have a look and knock a couple. Yuvraj had other ideas- he swung that delivery over the bowlers head or a big six. There was delirium in the stands. It took the prince one delivery to give the crowd what they had wanted since early afternoon.

I have been fortunate to witnesses two similar moments in cricket- moments which made my hair stand up and which still give me goose pimples. In 2001 in Mumbai, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid tried to save the test match from Steve Waugh’s Australians on the third day. Tendulkar was unbeaten at lunch and for forty five minutes the entire Wankhade stadium was debating as to what Tendulkar would do after lunch. First ball after was bowled by Jason Gillespie and it was a good length delivery on the off stump. Tendulkar smashed it between cover and point for four and the whole ground went crazy. Then three years later India was defending a meager 105 against Australia. The crowd, wondering whether India could defend such a small total was shouting their guts out. Third delivery from Zaheer took Langer’s edge and the debutant Karthick took a simple catch behind the stumps. “Mumbai has gone mad” said Dean Jones on commentary and it indeed had.

These are small but significant moments which make watching a game of cricket in a cricket stadium worthwhile. They remain in memory for ever and every time I remember them, I get goose pimples. Yuvraj’s first ball six was one such moment of brilliance. Alas his efforts were not enough to lead India to victory. Why M.S. Dhoni considered it fit to send a rookie 19 year old ahead of him is a matter to debate in another post. For the moment, let me just savor the brilliance of the left hander from Punjab.

Back with Random Thoughts

2009-06-09T03:48:00.000-07:00

It’s been so long since the last time I wrote that I was worried I might have forgotten how to write. I have been away from home, but no matter where I am, I can never be away from the game of cricket. It’s been tremendous last 8 months for the game of cricket. Thought I will re start my blog innings by noting down a few general points:

1) Gautam Gambhir has emerged as India’s most important batsman in all forms of the game. He was brilliant against the Australians, but it was his innings in Napier which made people round the world sit up and notice him. For two whole days the Kiwis kept bowling at him and for two days Gambhir kept blocking. This was defensive batsmanship at its very best, comparable to Atherton’s 185 at the Wanderers. Gambhir was always considered a handy limited overs player but with this one innings he announced his arrival among the major batsman of the world. It will be Indian cricket’s major loss if Gauti doesn’t end up among the best batsmen in the world when he finishes.

2) Watching VVS Lakshman bat remains one of the most delightful activities that one can indulge in. Lakshman had a tremendous series against Australia and followed it up with another great effort in New Zealand. His hundred in Napier was a treat to the eyes. The last 50 runs were full of outstanding strokes. Watching Lakshman bat is like watching Madhuri Dixit dance………..It is beautiful, it is classical and yet unorthodox enough to arouse you.. There cannot be a more elegant player in the world and there cannot be a player in world cricket who makes batting such a wonderful art.

3) For the last one year, I have been fortunate enough to listen to BBC’s test match special converge. It has been a pleasure listening to Jonathan Agnew and company, who obviously love cricket as much as anybody. Listening to TMS has been a welcome relief since the commentators paint the perfect picture of cricket and you actually enjoy following the game even though you are not watching it. Particularly as, of late cricket commentators in India have become marketing agents. Somebody please tell Ravi Shashtri that he can shout as much as he wants but the people of the entire world are not going to end up watching twenty twenty cricket game in South Africa. And the last time I checked, the MCC rule book stated that if the ball crossed the boundary on the full it is a six- not a DLF maximum. And everytime the bowler hits the stumps, it is a wicket- not a city moment of success. The IPL coverage was such a sham that I had to switch of the television many a times in disgust.

4) But the IPL also produced some good cricket. My beloved Deccan Chargers were led magnificently by Adam Gilchrist and went on to win the second edition. And like the first edition, there were plenty of players who caught one’s eye. Manish Pandey played two gorgeous innings for Bangalore and hopefully we should be hearing a lot more from this youngster. Shadab Jakati bowled magnificently for Chennai, Pragyan Ohjha was the man of the series for me, Rohit Sharma continued his progress and Suresh Raina indicated that he could perhaps dominate the world stage for the next year or so. All in all the future of Indian cricket continues to be rosy.

5) The Indian winter saw four outstanding test matches played, three against Australia at Bangalore, Mohali and Nagpur and one absolute classic against England at Chennai. For all the noise that T20 makes, there is nothing better than an evenly contested test match. South Africa and Australia were also involved in two absolute thrillers and I cannot wait for the Ashes to start.

6) Virender Sehwag continues to be the most destructive and thrilling batsmen in world cricket. His 83 in Chennai was perhaps the finest counter attack seen from a top order batsman in test match cricket this decade. Else where the world saw Saurav Ganguly cover driving for the last time in a test match field. Anil Kumble said good bye too and it was unreal to see an Indian test match team sheet without these two names.

Lots more to write and discuss………. But that will be later.

A special player

2008-11-04T09:19:00.000-08:00

I am a self confessed VVS Laksman fan. No batsmen, apart from Mohd Azharuddin, has made batting look so beautiful yet so easy. No batsman has made so many people go delirious with his stroke play as much as VVS .And I dare say, no Indian batsman has played as many match winning hands.

Laksman plays his 100th test next week in Nagpur- a tremendous achievement for any individual but even greater one for him since he has been on trial for virtually half his career. In fact I cannot think of any Indian cricket that has been treated so harshly by successive selection committees. Laksman scored 500 runs against the West Indies in a one day series in 2002 but two ODI’s after that he was told that he would not feature in India’s World Cup plans. After scoring 116 against Sri Lanka and a 93 against Pakistan in successive tests, he was dropped from the XI in the next series against England. And let’s not even debate his one day exclusions.

But this post is not about the exclusions- it is about celebrating a glorious career. To watch Laksman in full flow is to enjoy cricket in its most beautiful state. The elegant and easy cover drives, the flick through midwicket and amazingly the flick through mid off. When he is batting Laksman is like a beautiful newly wed bride- you want to keep watching and savoir every bit of the beauty as you never know when it will disappear.

I first heard about VVS in the mid nineties. From his early days he had a knack of getting big scores in domestic cricket but it wasn’t until he made his test debut against South Africa at Ahmedabad that I actually watched him for the first time. He looked allright in that Test scoring a crucial 50 in the second innings (an indication of things to come). It was only however at Kolkotta in 1998 that I first went into raptures over his batting. Against an Australian team which had been shot out for 233, Laksman, opening the batting, made 95 delightful runs. Time and again Shane Warne flighted the ball on his leg stump and time and again he kept flicking him between mid wicket and mid on. Experts will tell you that this is the most difficult shot to play in the game and it is more difficult against Warne who always turned the ball significantly but Laksman made it look as easy as stealing candy from a two year old.

Slightly before that, some one in the Indian selection committee had a bright idea of asking him to open the Test match innings. When you are 24-25 you don’t say no to anything that the selection committee says and hence Laksman opened the Indian batting for a brief period. He was largely a failure apart from one unforgettable innings at Sydney. There on an unusually quick SCG wicket he went on a rampage- playing some unforgettable shots especially of the back foot.

He was out of the Indian side for a bit after that but Laksman did not cry over spilt milk. He went back and did what he does best. He scored 9 hundreds in 11 first class innings including a triple hundred in the Ranji trophy semi final and a run ball hundred against Kuruvilla, Agarkar, Mhambrey and Bahutule in the Ranji trophy final. The selectors had no option but to draft him back.

Everybody knows about VVS and 281. That 281 was special because it was made when his side was a test down, following on and 270 behind. That 281 was special because it made his team win a test match and a test series against all odds against the best team in the world. That 281 was special because it was made on a 4th day wicket against Warne, McGrath and Gillespie. That 281 was special because a failure in that innings would have meant that VVS would have gone back to the Ranji trophy. Surely there cannot be a better innings ever played in the history of the game.

Thankfully for his fans he has proceeded to play a number of gems since then-so much so that it is difficult to pick his best innings. It could be the 148 at Adelaide which was instrumental in an historic victory or it could be the 178 at Sydney where for two hours on the second morning he made Tendulkar look like any ordinary cricketer. It could be the hundred he made against Srilanka at Ahemedabad when he gave a short master class on how to play Murali on a turning track or it could be his innings at Sydney early this year.

And there are those innings which weren’t big ones but extremely crucial in helping his side notch up memorable victories. The 79 at Perth, 72 at Johnsonburg, 69 at Trinidad all lead to unlikely and historic away wins. As did the 69 at Mumbai against Australia where on a dustbowl where the entire Australian team scored 94, it looked as if he was playing an inter-school match.

VVS also perhaps is the most ideal role model for youngsters to follow in these times when cricket is trying hard to keep off the new breed twenty-twenty fundas from encroaching its old traditional values. His cricket is more talked about then his hairstyle; he is not seen in too many endorsements and he does not make flashy statements to the press. Along with Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble he remains the most model professional.

At the post match conference at Delhi VVS in typical modesty said that it was honour to play a hundred test matches. He thanked his family and his supporters who had helped him reach this land mark.

NO VVS-Thank you. Thank you for bringing so many smiles to our faces. Thank you for making this beautiful game even more enjoyable. Thank you a hundred times.

Latest news

2008-08-10T03:26:00.001-07:00

Cricket- Lovely Cricket

2008-08-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

What an incredible weekend of Test Match Cricket. The two test matches at Edgbaston and Galle were a fitting reply to all those who keep on saying that T20 is going to kill test match cricket. The skill, emotions and quality of cricket displayed at Galle and Edgbaston can never ever be replicated in T20. That is why Test cricket is the most amazing and ultimate form of the game and it will remain so.

There is so much to write that I do not where to start from. Which was the better innings – Sehwag’s 201 or Smith’s 155? For sheer audacity and brilliance Sehwag’s 201 will stand out. Second ball, after a two hour rain interruption, from Chamida Vaas, was smashed over the midwicket boundary for a huge six. I can’t think of any player in world cricket who would have done that. But in terms of sheer determination and perseverance, Smith’s must be one of the greatest test innings. Most teams would have folded after being 94/4 chasing 280. But South Africa looked up to their captain who was battling Monty from the rough, Freddie and his invincible delivery. For six hours on Saturday, Smith was in the zone and he played an unforgettable innings.

And what about Paul Collingwood’s innings? He was apparently one innings away from being sidelined back to county cricket. He responded with an innings of character and determination and watching the Edgbaston crowd stand up to him (after booing him the previous evening) was a pretty special.

An apology is due to Harbhajan Singh. I had questioned his credentials in my last post but he bowled beautifully in the Galle Test to silence his critics. And the Indian team also silenced their critics. (Where is Arjuna Ranatunga?) Fellow blogger VM has asked all folks who doubted the Indian team to eat crows. It a sentiment shared by most Indian fans who had faith in their team even after the first test defeat.

There was some riveting cricket played though. The third evening when Rahul Dravid came out to Bat, witnessed test match cricket at its very best. The great batsman was obviously short of confidence after having failed in his previous three innings. He started cautiously, scratched around a bit but slowly, with time spent at the crease, his confidence started growing. He played some lovely shots and just as one felt he was getting back in form he was out. Cricket can be a cruel game sometimes.

Galle 2008 is a good a victory as team India has ever achieved overseas- right up there along with Headingly 2002, Adelaide 2003, Perth 2008 and Johannesburg 2006. If India does manage to win this series, surely, it will be one of the greatest comebacks witnessed in modern cricket.

But for the moment let’s forget winning and losing and lets savor the cricket witnessed by us. Cricket, Lovely Cricket.

Fairly Gloomy

2008-07-27T22:36:00.000-07:00

It was a disappointing effort by the Indian batsmen in Colombo on Friday and Saturday. Indian batsmen have traditionally always struggled in the first test match of an away series. In 1996 at Durban, India scored 100 and 66 in its two innings against South Africa. But that was against Donald, Pollock, Macmillan and Klusenar on one of the world’s fastest and bounciest wicket. Last week the Indians capitulated on a slow low wicket against two spin bowlers. That surely is a matter of concern.

Infact no batsmen apart from VV.S Laksman looked comfortable against Mendis and Murali. Tendulkar and Ganguly, two very fine players of spin bowling, were more intent on sweeping rather than using their feet. Gambhir and Sehwag looked like they were still in the 20-20 mould and the less I write about Dinesh Karthick the better. The way the Indians played Murali and Mendis reminded me of the way the Englishmen played against Kumble, Raju and Chauhan in 1993-Totally clueless and groping for answers.

However the biggest question that needs to be asked is to about the great wall of India- Rahul Dravid. Statisticians will point out that India’s greatest ever test match player has just scored one meaningful test hundred in his last 18 test matches. (Leave aside Bangladesh). Statistics aside, Dravid has just not looked the part since the tour to England last year. At his best, Dravid has always looked solid, assured and confident at the crease. These days he looks tentative and lost at the crease. Twice this year he has been hit by short deliveries (at Adelaide and Kanpur), something that you never associated with the Dravid of the old. Although he received a beauty in the first innings, he looked out of sorts again in the second innings. The question needs to be asked- is the Wall crumbling. I hope I am proved wrong but it seems that it is.

Overall the Indian team looked very listless. The bowling hardly created an impression and maybe it is about time to look beyond Harbhajan Singh as the second spinner. Bhajji has been in the news for all the wrong reasons this year and he has hardly looked threatening apart from the test match at Kanpur. But come to think of it even if we do look beyond him, whom can we turn to. The cupboard of spin bowlers looks very bare.

The momentum gathered after the Perth test win seems to be lost. India looked to challenge Australia for the number one spot after that win but instead it has won just one of the next five test matches that it has played and has faced two humiliating losses.(at Ahmadabad and Colombo).

The future looks fairly gloomy.

2008-07-08T02:24:00.001-07:00

Just a small post. In one of my previous posts i had mentioned that Rohit Sharma and not Yuvraj Singh should be the reserve test batsmen on the Sri Lanka tour. The selectors have done just that. Its a sad turn around for Yuvi but a tremendous development for young Sharma.

2008-07-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

I did not have much idea about the apartheid in South Africa when I was growing up. All I knew was that South Africa as a country did not participate in any sporting event. I had of course heard about Mahatma Gandhi’s struggles there and knew about Nelson Mandela. But I remained largely unaware about the political situation in the country.

About 2 years back I happened to read a very moving biography of Basil D’ Oliveira. For those who are unaware, Basil was a very talented South African colured cricketer. Denied the chance to play for South Africa, he took the long route of moving to England and qualifying to play for his adopted country. He scored five test hundreds for England and ultimately it was his selection in the England team to tour South Africa in 1972 that led to the rainbow country’s ban and sporting isolation.

The book made me realize the absolutely ridiculous conditions that existed in South Africa pre 1991. Blacks or coloured cricketers had to face a lot of hardships. The book recounts an experience of an individual who could not meet his father and mother because they were classified as coloured and he was classified as black. Basil and his friends could not play at a proper cricket ground, could not visit hotels and could not lead a normal life.

South Africa’s isolation meant that better sense prevailed and normalcy (at least on the face of it) was restored. Basil D’ Oliveira was the guest of honour at the opening match of the 2003 World Cup at Cape Town, a match in which Brian Lara inspired the West Indies , a predominantly non- white region to beat South Africa.

Why am I writing all this? Because the issue of Zimbabwe has suddenly taken centre stage in the world of cricket. There is no doubt that there are large scale human right violations happening in Zimbabwe. ( But aren’t they hapenning all over the world). There is also no doubt that the Zimbabwe cricket is virtually non existent- Their first class structure has collapsed- Their international team is made up of school boys and their Board has been accused of corruption by an audit carried out by a independent entity.

The larger point here is whether a ban on Zimbabwe is going to improve the political situation there. In South Africa’s case it obviously worked but South Africa were isolated with respect to all sporting events. There is no obvious movement at the moment to ban Zimbabwe from other sports. Hence the question to be asked is whether a cricketing ban would have any effect on the country?

I am not debating the ability of Zimbabwe cricket in this post. If the full ICC membership of Zimbabwe had to be removed for cricketing reasons then it should have been done 3 years back. If it was not done then, there is no point doing it now.

Now to the role of the BCCI in this entire affair. It seems Zimbabwe’s greatest supporter in this entire saga has been the BCCI. If the BCCI is doing this to ensure a confirmed vote at the ICC meetings then it is a disappointing and needs to be addressed immediately. Mukul Kesavan one of my favorite cricket writers made a very valid point when he wrote “The BCCI has to decide whether it wishes to be the patron-in-chief of a dysfunctional, politically compromised - and in the light of the audit, very likely corrupt - Zimbabwean board. It has to work out whether it wants the ICC to continue to financially subsidise such an organization, a subsidy that, in effect, makes the ICC and the BCCI complicit in the violence of Mugabe's regime (of which ZC is a client). It shouldn't be a hard decision to make.”

But there is another side to this argument.. The English and the South African cricket Boards have decided to cut off ties with Zimbabwe only after they received directions from their Governments. Till date the BCCI has not received any instructions from the Indian Government. Why then should the BCCI act on its own?

Wonder what Basil D Oliveira thinks about all this?

IPL Highlights

2008-06-02T23:42:00.000-07:00

So the Indian Premier league is finally over. The Rajasthan Royals defeated the Chennai Super Kings in a closely contested final and the 45 days old cricketing spectacle was drawn to a close. The IPL has left a lasting impression on the world of cricket. Some of the highlights for me of IPL 2008 were as follows:

1) Ian Chappell said it, Richie Benaud said it, but we never believed it. It took a twenty- twenty league for us to understand what a magnificent captain Shane Warne is. Warne was inspirational throughout the tournament, motivating a young bunch of cricketers to perform above their ability and engineering a tournament victory that seemed extremely unlikely at the start. His inspirational leadership inspired the likes of Pathan, Trivedi, and Watson to perform above their ability. Why, even Munaf showed a bit of passion. Warne was simply brilliant. While hailing his leadership skills nobody should forget the value he offered as a player - no other captain played as many match-winning hands. More than one Rajasthan player has spoken of the boost the side received after Warne's sensational finish against Deccan Chargers, when he carted Andrew Symonds for 17 off the final over. One team-mate has said how his faith in the captain increased ten-fold that evening. Warne was in the middle in the final too and the crack through covers in the penultimate over, when 12 were needed off 7, set up the finish.

2) Shane Watson and Yousuf Pathan were amazing through out the tournament. Watson was largely instrumental in the Royals turnaround, being MOM in their second game against Kings XI. He batted fluently and aggressively and bowled with a lot of pace and purpose. Pathan was brilliant with the bat, almost hitting sixes at will. He played two vital innings in the semi-final and the final but for my money nothing was more exhilarating than the counter attack he and Kamran Akmal launched against Kings XI in the last league match when they score 54 runs in two and a half overs.

3) Gautam Gambhir proved and showed why he is the best batsmen in the country after the big four. Subramnium Badrinath was very good with bat and in the field for the Chennai Super Kings but the man who was the Indian batsman of the tournament by far was Rohit Sharma. Sharma was thrilling to watch, mixing classical cricketing shots with some huge unorthodox hits. He showed composure and maturity which belied his age. When the Indian Test team assembles in Sri-lanka on July 23rd, it should be Rohit Sharma and not Yuvraj Singh who should be the reserve batsman.

4) VVS Laxman’s 48 against Mohali and Rahul Dravid’s 66 against the same team were as good a innings as you would hope to see. Laxman scored 48 in 30 balls without a six, threading the ball between midwicket and mid on like a supreme artist. Sreesanth kept bowling wider and wider of offstump only for Laxman to hit him wider and wider of midwicket. Dravid’s innings of 66 against Mohali was sheer class. A six over extra cover of VRV Singh was surely the shot of the tournament. Alas for some reason these innings never captured anybody’s attention.

5) Hilarious Quote of the tournament: Ila Arun saying on T.V that Krishna Bhagwan has said that always play on the front foot. Wasn’t aware that Lord Krishna carried a copy of the MCC coaching manual with him. But ILA knows better.

6) The flop of the tournament by far was Robin Utthapa. Utthapa seems to be more interested in playing to gallery and having fancy haircuts then in scoring runs. He needs to get his head sorted out otherwise Indian cricket will very soon lose a very very talented cricketer.

7) Undoubtedly the hero of the season is Lalit Modi. You may like or hate his concepts but you cannot disagree that he has launched a product that has caught the imagination of the cricketing world.

8) And finally, did anybody notice that Sachin Tendulkar has not been included in the Indian team for the Bangladesh series on account of a groin injury. For clarity sake, the official word is that he has not fully recovered. But didnt he have the same injury before IPL. I guess the question to be asked is that if he was not fully fit, why did he play for the Mumbai Indians. But nobody will ask this question. Because after all Tendulkar is untouchable in this country.

2008-05-20T02:10:00.000-07:00

Far away from the hustle and bustle of the IPL, one cricketer is on the verge of achieving immortality. Although Mark Ramprakash is of Indian origin, he has all the characteristics of an English batsman. He is technically brilliant and when he does play his strokes, he is classically correct. Above all he has been a run producing machine and his hunger for runs even at the age of 38 is humongous. Ramprakash is on the verge of perhaps becoming the last first class batsman to score a hundred first class hundreds. The British press has been showering all kinds of accolades on him calling him among other things a batting legend and a modern Bradman.

To score a hundred first class hundreds is a monumental achievement and Ramprakash deserves immense credit for the same. However a closer look at Rampraksh’s record will reveal a true story. Only two of his 98 first class hundreds have come on the test field. Unfortunately for his fan’s (and that includes me) Ramprakash has never done justice to his immense ability on the International arena. Statistics will tell you that he hasn’t played test cricket since 2001 and hardly played any test cricket between 1993 and 1997. By being away from the test scene, Ramprakash has had an extended opportunity to display his batting skills at a slightly lesser stage. That he has done an amazing job on this stage is a credit to his skills and his ability.

One wonders how many first class hundreds the likes of Tendulkar, Lara, Ponting, Dravid and the rest would have scored had they played the amount of first class cricket that the likes of Ramprakash or for that matter Graeme Hick has played.. For instance VVS Laksman scored 13 hundreds in 15 innings before being selected for being recalled to the Indian team in 2001.If he had carried on playing first class cricket he well would have been beyond the 100 mark by now.

The point that I am trying to make is that Rampraksh’s achievement, all though significant should be placed in proper perspective for it has been achieved at a lesser stage. Surely achievements at the test match level will always rank higher than any achievement at the first class level.

Ramprakash is a damn good player but he is no Bradman. Bradman is Bradman because he averaged 99 at the test level.

IPL and all that.

2008-05-05T03:12:00.000-07:00

The DLF Indian Premier League (to use its full name) is in its third week. I must admit that inspite of not enjoying 20-20 too much, I have enjoyed watching the IPL. I thought I would outline certain points with respect to the IPL which are as follows:

1) I must say that the idea of going home after work and watching a full game of cricket and yet hitting the sack at a reasonable hour is very good. That’s why T20 is a very good product and is going to improve cricketing audiences all over the world.

2) I have enjoyed watching some of the young Indian players perform. Dhaval Kulkarni bowled two outstanding overs at the death against Kolkotta and Delhi, Pragyan Ohjha continues to impress and Shikar Dhavan and Karan Goel look good batting prospects. Debratt Das went in to bat in front of 75,000 people after his team had lost two wickets in the first over and smashed Ashish Nehra for a six over midwicket- indication that the guy has amazing temperament, and Abhishek Nayar and Ravindra Jadeja have been brilliant in the end overs. The future of Indian cricket is in safe hands.

3) Everybody is telling me that VVS Laksman and Rahul Dravid are poor 20-20 players. The last time I saw them play, Dravid smashed two sixes in the final over which ultimately helped his side win a close game and Laksman scored a 50 in 32 balls. Either I am following a different game or there are certain players who are bound to be criticized in spite of what they do. Unfortunately, the latter seems the case.

4) All though 20-20 is a batsman’s game you need bowlers who can give you control. Step in Glenn Mcgrath and Mohd Asif….. That’s why Delhi has been so successful.

5) I am bored to talk about Sreesanth and Harbhajan. Enough has been said about their behaviour in the last six months or so. I don’t care who slapped who and why.

The true test for the premier league however starts now. People have been watching the league continuously for the last 20 days and if the league manages to sustain interest till June 1st, then the IPL will truly be a mega hit. Many people are predicting that the interest levels will go down and only time will tell whether this ‘Manjoranjan Ka Bapp’ is as loved in its final stages.

Memoirs of a cricket fan

2008-04-28T22:31:00.000-07:00

I still remember the first time; I went to see a live cricket match. It was on 24th April 1991- the game was played at the Wankhade Stadium, a Ranji Trophy Semi- Final between Mumbai and Hyderabad.

The biggest attraction for that game was an 18 year old whose reputation was growing every single day. Sachin Tendulkar had not yet scaled the peaks which would make him the greatest batsmen of this generation, but nevertheless everybody in the country was talking about him. He had played an unforgettable innings in an exhibition match in Sialkot where he had smashed Abdul Qadir for 4 sixes in one over and three months later he had scored a match saving hundred at Old Trafford against England- all this at the age of 17.

For me though the chief attraction was to watch the galaxy of stars representing both sides. My favorite cricketer Mohammad Azharrudin would not be playing as he had left for England to play county cricket. Ravi Shashtri was missing in action for the same reason. But there were some big names on both sides particularly the Mumbai team which I followed with religious affection those days. I can still remember the Mumbai team- Rajput, Hatangadi, Manjrekar(c), Vengsarkar, Tendulkar, Kambli, Pandit (wk), Kulkarni, Ankola, Patil and Mokashi. Hyderabad had Arshad Ayub and Venkatpathy Raju, who was India’s leading spinner at that point of time.

It took a fair bit of effort from me to convince my family to take me too the ground and thanks to my Aunt I was at the Wankhade stadium that morning. Mumbai was batting first and they lost two quick wickets-Hatangadi and Rajput falling early. That in a way was good news since Sachin was one wicket away from coming to the wicket. But Manjrekar and Vengsarkar dug in. Manjrekar was probably India’s best batsmen at that point of time-He had scored lot of runs against Ambrose, Walsh, Marshall and Bishop in the West Indies and then followed it up with a successful tour of Pakistan where on green wickets he had scored nearly 500 runs against Imran, Wasim and Waqar. Everything Manjrekar did looked so correct and beautiful. It was fascinating watching him bat. Vengsarkar on the other hand seemed very flamboyant. Every now and then he would unleash a great stroke and demand applause from the sparse crowd.

Hyderabad toiled hard. Arshad Ayub bowled beautifully-I remember thinking how he managed to bowl so many maidens. But Vengsarkar and Manjrekar built a huge partnership. Vengsarkar fell on the last ball of the day for a well made hundred, Sachin came to bat the next morning and scored a quick 60 and went. A young Vinod Kambli came and scored 126 and went. But Manjrekar kept batting. And amazingly he kept batting till nearly the end of the second day. He was finally dismissed for 377.

That innings by Manjrekar left a lasting impression on my mind. I still remember how he kept going on and on and how correct his technique was throughout the two days. Also watching Arshad Ayub and Venkatpathy Raju bowl to him was intriguing to say the least. The battle between two classy spin bowlers against a technically sound and classical batsmen made me fall in love with the game. Mumbai made a mountain of runs-855 I think. Hyderabad fell well short…. They made only 498.
A week later, Mumbai played an unforgettable final against Haryana. Haryana were led by Kapil Dev and they had Chetan Sharma and a young all-rounder by the name of Ajay Jadeja. Kapil was desperate for a Ranji Trophy win. Haryana dominated the first four days of the final, getting a significant first innings lead. But Bombay, thanks to their pace attack of Kulkarni, Ankola and Kuruvilla (playing his first Ranji game) fought back. The Haryana tail though wagged a bit and it meant that Bombay needed to 353 runs in about 65 overs to win the Ranji Trophy.

“Impossible- no body can score that many runs in one day,” my uncle proclaimed to me and he was right. Scoring 350 runs in 65 overs was unheard of in those days. When Bombay was reduced to 34/3 the game was virtually over. It was then that Sachin Tendulkar joined Vengsarkar at the crease. Both played knocks which I will never forget for the rest of my life.

Sachin walked to the crease with sole purpose of destroying the Haryana attack. He scored 96 in about 60 deliveries, an innings which was studded with some incredible shots. One particular shot will never be forgotten by anybody present at the Wankhade that day. Sachin charged down the track to Kapil and smashed him straight over his head for a six- the ball landing directly on the sight screen- a 17 year old smashing India’s greatest fast bowler over his head for six stunned everyobne. If ever there was a shot of discontempt that was it.

However when he had the balling at mercy, Sachin fell, hitting a full toss straight to midwicket. “Now the game is gone”, I said to myself. However young Vinod Kambli came and played a superb little cameo. Vengsarkar at this stage was batting like a master- giving the strike to the young guys and punishing the bad ball. Bombay was within 100 runs of the target when Kambli fell. The gritty Chandu Pandit couldn’t contribute much and Kulkarni and Patil were needlessly run out. Ankola too fell and at 305/9 the game was over.

Actually, it was not. Vengsarkar, who was suffering from cramps and batting with a runner, launched into a ferocious counter attack. There were some amazing hits to the fence and even Kapil couldn’t stop him. There were about 8 boundaries in 4 overs and quickly Bombay had moved pat 350. But with the score at 353 and with just two required to win, Rajput who was running for Vengsarkar got in a horrible mix up with Kuruvilla and the last Bombay wicket fell courtesy a run out.

Young Kurvilla was distraught and Vengsarkar fell on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes. It was a moment of triumph for Kapil Dev who had finally led his beloved Harayana to a Ranji Trophy win.

I often look back to these two games with great affection. The memory still lingers. These two games were primarily responsible for me getting completely hooked to the game of cricket. Subsequently, I would witness some amazing cricket moments at the Wankhade. But these two games will always remain on the top of my list of favorite cricketing moments.

2008-04-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

If the BCCI has any amount of respect for the game of cricket and cares for the reputation of Indian cricket, it will take strict action against Mahendra Singh Dhoni for gifting a groundsman Rs. 10,000 for preparing a suitable pitch.

Make no mistake, I am a huge fan of MSD. But surely to present a groundsman with monetary gifts is a deplorable thing to do. And even more laughable is the comment made by Rajiv Shukla that the Indian team presents these sorts of gifts to all curators. Did the Indian team captain present gifts to the curators at Chennai and Ahmedabad? And why was a gift presented only to the curator at Kanpur? I would go a step further and question the motive behind giving the gift. Was the curator promised that if he prepared a pitch of a certain kind, he would be suitably gifted?

One only needs to look back at the CBI match fixing report to understand how serious this act is. The report states that the curator of the Ferozshah Kotla was paid a significant amount of money by bookies to prepare a pitch that would suitably influence the game and ensure that a result would be obtained in favour of the home team. While I am not suggesting that MSD had any ulterior motive, surely this act is laying down an unhealthy precedent. In future a groundsman in India might prepare a flat deck simply because a batting captain is in poor form and needs some runs. And surely a curator is supposed to prepare a wicket without expecting any monetary favours. Can you imagine the reaction in India if Ricky Ponting paid a groundsman 100 dollars for preparing a fast track in Perth?

Curators are supposed to prepare tracks without expecting any rewards. I have never heard any captain giving gifts to any curator. Fortunately for MSD, this entire episode will be forgotten because of the hype surrounding the IPL. Plus MSD is currently the golden boy of Indian cricket and he can do no wrong. But this act has sent wrong signals. Curators at Delhi, Bangalore, Nagpur and Mohali will now be expecting to be rewarded if they prepare turning tracks when the Australians turn up in India. And if they feel they are not suitably rewarded then expect grassy pitches the next time a test match is played at these venues. I guess this is what Lalit Modi meant when he said there are a lot of aspects in Indian Cricket which could be exploited to reap commercial benefits.

The great big tamasha , the DLF India premier league has started. I find 20-20 very boring. I enjoyed watching the game between Kolkotta and Hyderabad for the simple reason that it was an even contest between the bat and ball. The most boring game was between Mohali and Chenna which was really a six hitting contest. Cricket loses all its meaning in games like these. For all the T20 action that I have seen I still think that Test Cricket is the most exciting form of cricket. If you don’t enjoy watching Test cricket then you are not a true supporter of the game. You well as might watch Rakhi Sawant on the cricket field then.

Any ways here are certain preliminary observation on the IPL:

1) If I want to watch Sharukh Khan, I will buy a 100 Rs. Ticket and watch a film. When I am watching cricket, I want to watch Ganguly bat and Zaheer bowl. While what King Khan has invested in the game is very commendable, it is extremely irritating when the camera turns towards him three times during an over.

2) Prgyan Ohja is the future of Indian spin bowling. He bowled beautifully, with guile and accuracy, at the death of a T20 game against some top players.. But nobody noticed that. We were more interested in King Khan and his buddies.

3) Please tell Sony that two innings are sufficient for me in a cricket match. I don’t need an Extra inning. This is by far the worst telecast of a cricketing event. If you don’t know the difference between Aasd Rauf and Aleem Dar, then you have no right to cover a cricket event.

4) Finally for all its negative points, I feel a sense of pride every time I watch an IPL game. It was not a long time back that India was considered to be a third world country not capable of hosting a big tournament and not capable of being a cricketing super power. Today, India’s domestic 20-20 tournament is governed by the world’s top umpires and commented by the world’s top commentators. There can not be any more startling evidence of India’s power in the game of cricket. And for that we need to say a big thank you to BCCI.

2008-03-29T04:53:00.000-07:00

So much has happened since the last time I published a post. A bunch of young Indian boys won every game that they played in Malaysia and went on to win the under 19 world cup. A bit farther down under, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, surely the finest leader of men this country has seen since Tiger Patuadi, led India to perhaps it finest limited over triumphs.

But if you are a true Indian sports fan then all the above events should be overshadowed by what happened in Chile last Sunday. While the fact that the Indian Hockey team failed to qualify for the Olympics is frustrating enough, what is even more disgusting is that the chief of the Indian Hockey Federation just refuses to accept responsibility for the debacle. In the last few years Indian Hockey has sank lower and lower and yet there is no accountability. No one is ready to take any responsibility.

The 2008 Olympics in Beijing will have hockey teams from New Zealand and Argentina competing for the gold while India will be missing. That in itself is a reason to be ashamed of. But Mr. Gill keeps insisting that we can’t produce match winners overnight. I am afraid Mr. Gill- you have been saying this for way too long. You said this after Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, and more recently after the Asian Games in 2006.Indian Hockey has stagnated under Mr. Gill and if it has to progress , he needs to go.

Watching Virender Sehwag bat is to watch cricket in its purest form. No complications, no mystery- see the ball and hit the ball. No where was this form of purity more apparent than at Chennai on Friday.

I have always been a big fan of Virender Sehwag. He is a complete entertainer, an uncomplicated cricketer, who hits it as he sees it and who says it as he feels it. His failings as a one day cricketer are mysterious and have driven many of his fans to despair. But surely no one can doubt his ability as a test match cricketer. 309 at Multan, 254 at Lahore, 202 at Bangalore and now 319 at Chennai.

Even by his high standards, Sehwag was nothing short of sensational on Friday. To score 250 runs in a day is incredible. There was a time in Test Match cricket when teams struggled to score 230 runs in a day. Friday was an indication on how much test cricket has changed over the last few years. Players like Virender Sehwag are a major reason for this change.

Some of Sehwag’s stroke play was very very audacious. Get your eye in and give the bowler the first half an hour of your innings- that’s what the coaches said. Sehwag smashed his 8 delivery over thirdman for six. He had scored 25 runs from his first 30 balls and in the the hour or so that India batted on the second day, he scored 52 runs. Mind you, he was batting against the likes of Makhaya Ntini and Dale Steyn and not against some weakened attack of any associate nation. Only Sehwag can bat in the manner that he did on Friday and it is time to acknowledge a truly unique and great player and rest all speculation on whther he deserves to be in this Indian team or not.

And then while I was typing this post, Rahul Dravid completed 10,000 runs in Test match cricket- another tremendous achievement by a truly great player.

A True Hero

2008-01-24T02:15:00.001-08:00

There has been lot happening on the cricket field in the last week. Significant events at Perth and in Mumbai (For those who are not aware, Gautam Gambhir led to Delhi to an outstanding Ranji Trophy victory). There has been a lot happening off the field as well( Ganguly dropped, IPL bidding etc).

I shall be writing about the victory in Perth and in particular VVS Lakshman’s knack of playing match winning inning s bit later. But this post is dedicated to a very moving story of an English cricketer.

The England A team (popularly known as the English Lions) arrive in India this week to participate in the Dueleep Trophy. It includes Alan Richardson, a Middlesex seamer, whose story should inspire every youngster and make everyone believe that happy endings are indeed possible in real life.

Around 10 years ago Richardson was playing Minor Counties cricket for Staffordshire and assembling golf studs at a factory in Stoke, hoping that he would be given another chance to play county cricket after Derbyshire rejected him after just one first-class appearance in 1995.

"I did all sorts of jobs just to earn a bit of money," Richardson said in an interview. "I did night shifts at the Wedgewood factory in Stoke and some landscape gardening. But the worst was assembling golf studs on a production line. You had to get through 2,400 studs in an eight-hour shift, can you imagine how boring that”.[1]

Richardson never gave up, tried his luck at Edbagston and after Warwickshire rejected him, he moved to Middlesex. He has never looked back since and in week’s time he will be part of representative England team playing first class cricket in India.

The door of opportunity will always open if you keep knocking on it .Alan Richardson is perhaps the best example of this statement. He may not have many fans in India but in the author of this blog, he definitely has one.
[1] Source: The Daily Telegraph.

Black Sunday

2008-01-07T03:49:00.000-08:00

I have never witnessed a more frustrating Test Match then the one that unfolded in Sydney recently. An Indian team, which was battered in Melbourne, tried very hard to come back. But every time they tried to rise above the ashes they were pushed down. There is nothing wrong if your opponent keeps pushing down, however if the person who is pushing you down is supposed to be an adjudicator of the contest, then there is a problem.

I tried very hard to recollect a previous occasion when the game was let down so badly by the umpires. Sharjah 1991 came straight away to my mind but Aqib Javed's hatrick was based on three LBW's and although those decisions were iffy, they were not as blatantly wrong as Bucknor's howlers. And the umpiring was definitely not as consistently bad as witnessed over the five days at the SCG.

The bigger question is ,how the Australians keep benefiting from this sort of assistance. Consider this………… Sri Lanka chasing 504 for victory at Hobart are 402/8, Kumar Sangakara ,playing the innings of his life, has added over 70 runs for the 9th wicket and the Aussies are feeling threatened. On 194 he tries pulling Stuart Clarke, the ball misses his bat and gloves by a long way. Yet the finger goes up.

Or consider this. England, who are 2-1 down have fought gallantly to reduce Australia, in their second innings to 120/6 in the fifth Test at Perth. The one person standing between England and a famous series leveling victory is Michael Slater. A run out appeal against Slater is referred to the Third Umpire. Television replays show Slater to be short but claming that he has insufficient evidence, the third umpire rules him in.

Tendulkar at Adelaide in 1999, Tendulkar again at Brisbane in 2003, Murali in 1996, Inzamam in 2005 are several other instances of umpiring in favour of the home team down under.

Either the ICC is completely blind or it is refusing to look at this obvious problem area. It seems Australia always enjoy the rub of the green. They never have umpiring decisions going against them. It is always difficult to win cricket matches when it is 11 against 11…… if you are playing Australia in Australia the way things are, it invariably is 11 against 14. No wonder Australia have such a proud record at home.

Make no mistake, Australia are a champion team. And amidst the frenzy and the furor surrounding the Sydney Test, we should not forget that the famed Indian batting line up could not survive 76 overs on a decent SCG wicket. Irrespective of the umpiring, this should have never happened. Worse, a team supposedly containing some of the best players of spin bowling lost half of its side to the partime spin bowling of Symonds and Clarke. But it is not end result but the manner in which it was achieved that has left a sour taste in the mouth.

Master cricket writer Peter Roebuck has quite appropriately summed up the match by writing today "It was a match that will have been relished only by rabid nationalists and others for whom victory and vengeance are the sole reasons for playing sport. Truth to tell, the last day was as bad as the first. It was a rotten contest that singularly failed to elevate the spirit. Until another shocking decision was made by a 61-year-old umpire, reliable in his time but past his prime, the fifth day of this unattractive contest was offering plenty of tension to put alongside the memorable hundreds contributed by capable batsmen on both sides. Thereafter they might as well have drawn stumps, as all interest had been removed. Once justice and fair play have been ejected there is no point in playing the game."

A match which had hundreds from Hayden, Symmonds, Laxman, Tendulkar and Hussey will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. Therein lies a true story

Australia 16

2007-12-11T23:22:00.000-08:00

Before every tour there is tremendous speculation, particularly in India, with respect to the selection of the tour party. If the touring country happens to be Australia, the speculation increases manifold. In fact previous selections to Australian tours have always been controversial.. In 1992, India took just one spinner and regretted it midway through the tour. In 1999, there was no place for Mohammad Azaruddin in the touring party and in 2003 a young fast bowler by the name of Irfan Pathan was picked out of oblivion and sent to Brisbane.

I am no Dilip Vengsarkar, (one of the reasons why I can write this blog) but here are my 16 for the tour to Australia:

1) Anil Kumble ( Captain)
2) V.V.S Lakshman ( Vice Captain)
3) Wasim Jaffer
4) Aakash Chopra
5) Rahul Dravid
6) Sachin Tendulkar
7) Saurav Ganguly
8) M.S.. Dhoni
9) Dinesh Kartick
10)Yuvraj Singh
11) Zaheer Khan
12) R.P. Singh
13) Munaf Patel
14) Harbhajan Singh
15) Ishant Sharma
16) Irfan Pathan.

There should be no speculation with respect to Dinesh Karthick's place simply because he was India's best player in England and you need a versatile player like him in a place like Australia. Ishant Sharma's five wicket haul ensures that he edges out VRV Singh. VVS will be my vice captain and my number 5. Make no mistake, the Australians fear him more than they fear Sachin.

There is no doubt that Yuvraj Singh should be in the XI. The only way he can be accommodated is if either Dravid or Ganguly agree to open. It will be a bit of a gamble, but then Australia is place where you need to take gambles to win.

T.V Media and Reason

2007-10-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

I have stopped watching cricket based shows on news channels since India's loss to Pakistan in the Bangalore Test of 2004. Then a show titled ' Match ka Mujrim' had declared that Sachin Tendulkar was guilty and needed to be dropped. It was I believe a ridiculous piece of TV journalism. I may not be an acclaimed journalist but i do believe that at all times journalist need to fair, practical and definitely not emotional.
4 years on nothing changed. Surfing various channels I bumped into a chat show on Headlines today. The Theme of the show was whether Rahul Dravid should be dropped. The anchor was hell-bent in proving to the entire world that Rahul was no longer good enough to be in the Indian side. The Panelist in this case was Chetan Chauhan- one of Indian cricket's most respectful citizens. He answered this question in the best possible manner- “Even thinking of dropping Rahul is wrong ". He said. That’s that. Not a thing more to be said about this.
It is a bit amusing and really shocking how public perception in India changes so quickly. Two months ago Rahul Dravid was India’s best batsmen in the one day series against England. His 92 at Bristol was as good as a innings as you would hope to see. For the last two years he has been the most consistent one day player- batting every in all positions for the teams sake. To even think, as Chauhan rightly observed, of dropping Dravid is sinful. To propagate it on National Television is devious, heinous and shows utter lack of knowledge of this great game.
The larger question is the role the Television media is playing these days. Unfortunately these days Public perception is influenced greatly by television media. Harsha Bhogle, master analyst and master commentator wrote this a few days back’ “Far too often these days the truth is becoming too large, too inconvenient, a burden to carry. Quotes are tampered with, conclusions need not derive from facts. And news anchors routinely shout down guests who dare to have an opinion different from the one that the channel seeks to propagate.”
Television news channels and their contents are greatly controlled by the desire to obtain better TRP’s. Whether that is right or wrong is a completely different question and not one for this blog to contemplate on. However there needs to be some responsibility when it comes to commentating, debating and analyzing a role played by someone who has given his all for the country.
Rahul Dravid is and will remain for sometime an integral part of team India. Anybody who thinks otherwise is following a different game. And we really don’t have to listen to people who follow a different game.

2007-09-29T05:22:00.000-07:00

As India won the T20 World Cup in South Africa, there must have been one man smiling in great irony somewhere in Australia. Greg Chappell had always emphasised on youth. He had always emphasised on a team having 11 players, not 11 superstars. He had always emphasised on atheletic cricketers who were good in the field. Funnily enough the team that won the T20 World cup had all the requisites that are mentioned above.

And look at the players who were successful for India. RP Singh, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Sreesanth.............. All introduced under Guru Greg by Guru Greg with a eye on the future. He loved the word process. He started a process which ultimately paved the way for SouthAfrica 2007.

Greg Chappel hada vision for team India. I dont think he was ever against any individual. He had a vision......... unfortunately we doubted his intentions. doubted his vision. I think South Africa 2007 was a victory for Greg's vision. A young vibrant modern day team India won looked great in the field, ran brilliantly betwen the wickets and won a great victory.

Nobody has said it but ill say it...............Thank you Greg

Chak De India

2007-08-13T12:28:00.000-07:00

On Sunday evening, taking some time of from watching cricket, I went and saw ‘Chak De India’. It is a tremendous film, very well directed and capturing a lot of the emotions, which professional sportsmen go through.

But the film made me think. Over the years I have considered my self to be a sports enthusiast. So have a lot of my other friends. We all are lovers are cricket but we follow other sports as well. We all were delighted when Ashsish Ballal saved the penalty stroke which fetched India the gold in hockey at Bangkok, we all were proud of Gopichand when he won the All England Championship. And Leander Paes and his brilliance have made so many of our Sunday afternoons memorable.

But hang on. There is a similarity here. We always watch and support our male sportsman. Or is it just me. ‘Chak De’ is a film about 11 women making the nation proud. India over the years has produced some very fine female athletes. But they are never talked about in the same breadth as their male counter parts.

I did a small survey (this survey included both mal and females) to find out whether it was just me or generally the entire country had an apathy towards female sportsmen. Here is a sample of the survey

Q1) Who is the captain of the Indian Women’s cricket team. Most common Answer: Dunno

Q2) Who is the captain of the Indian Women’s Hockey team. Most common Answer: Dunno

Q3) Who is the captain of the Indian Women’s Football team. Most Common Answer: Do we have a Women’s Football team.

Yes we do have a Women’s football team. They had qualified for 2004 Asian Games (something which their male counterparts couldn’t do). And the captain of the Women’s cricket team is a elegant lady from Hyderabad called Mithali Raj. She has to her credit the highest individual score in Women’s Test Match cricket. Something which Sachin Tendulkar doesn’t have.

Common guys. We need to change our attitude. Sania Mirza apart no female sportswomen are talked about in this country. And Sania is more talked about for her clothes then for her game. Admittedly, sometimes the Women’s game can be a bit slow compared to the men’s game. But at least we can support all those individuals who are representing the Tri -colour.

So next time any women’s team is playing lets cheer them instead of comparing them to their male counterparts and pointing out their differences. Lets really prove to everyone that we are a changed country.

Perhaps that’s what Chak De India is all about.

By the way Captain of the Women’s hockey team is Binita Topo. And Dalia Akhtar is the captain of the Indian Football Woman’s team.

What a game

2007-08-02T11:31:00.000-07:00

To watch Sachin Tendulkar Rahul Dravid and Saurav Ganguly in harness on Saturday afternoon, and then to admire VVS Laxman, was to be transported to a different world: a world of delicacy and enchantment, buttressed by the rock-solid foundations of the straight bat and the clear mind. Michael Vaughan played splendidly, but he wasnt the same.
My previous blog had aroused quite a few emotions. Particularly after Sachin had scored 91 on Sunday. In the circumstances it was a brilliant innings. But was it a normal Sachin innings? We did not see any straight drive. Throughout the innings, Sacin was never his dominating self. He was very tentative and was even hit on his head. Can you ever remember Sachin being hit on his head prior to 2001?

Of course there was some evidence of his class. On Saturday evening we saw a cut and a cover drive to raise the hairs from our necks. On Sunday, we had some mid-wicket deflections manoeuvered by those powerful wrists, sweep shots at various angles to outwit the field placements and, in particular, an exquisite stroke over extra cover to remind us of the genius. But the problem is that these days we need reminding of his class - time does not wait, not even for Sachin Tendulkar.
There are runs left in this mesmerizing cricketer but they will not come with the free spirit that captured our hearts all those years ago. They will come from the mind that allowed it to flourish. This is no bad thing; it's just not quite the same. That’s all I am trying to say.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I had written in one of my previous blog that Test cricket is more exciting than the one-day game. I think the last two Test matches have justified that.
I have found cricket very boring this year. This is largely due to the fact that for most part of the year all we have seen are meaningless one-sided one-day contests. My interest has been revived by stunning cricket played in England over the last two weeks.
The Test Match at Nottingham had some memorable moments, which showed us why this game is such a beautiful game. Memories will linger forever………..of watching Sidebottom bowl beautifully and yet get no rewards,………………of watching Zaherr bowl with such aggression, ………of watching Vaughn make batting look so ridiculously easy………………..of watching the Indians in despair as England fought back through Vaughn and Collingwood and then jump in joy at the fall of each subsequent wickets after the second new ball had done the trick…………. Of watching a famous Indian victory. Oh what a beautiful game.

Time for some tough questions

2007-07-25T11:33:00.000-07:00

I think the time has come to ask some serious questions about India’s famed middle order. Since the Tour of Pakistan in 2004 this middle order, perhaps with exception of Rahul Dravid, has repeatedly failed. However only Saurav Ganguly and VVS Laxman have faced the wrath of the selectors. The bigger Question is..What about SR Tendulkar?

I had written on my blog earlier that for all purposes Sachin Tendulkar (SRT) the Batsmen is over. I have over the years been a great admirer of SRT. A few days after the blog was published Sachin scored a sublime hundred in 70 deliveries against the West Indies in a one day international. Some my friends wrote back telling me to take back my words. However inspite of that and some other performances in non-significant one-day internationals, I still stand by what I said- Sachin Tendulkar should gracefully retire. Otherwise all we shall remember are his failures against quality seam bowling in the latter half of his career.

Apart from one hundred against Sri Lanka on a flat Feroz Shah Kotla track, Sachin has hardly done anything of note in Test Match cricket in the last three years. In the same time period Sourav Ganguly has also hit a low trough. VVS Laxman has also been very inconsistent and hence the pressure invariable has been on Rahul Dravid to perform. The captain has had two very difficult series in South Africa and England and hence the batting has crumbled.

The time I believe has come to take hard decisions. Show the door to Ganguly, Tendulkar and Laxman. They have provided us with some terrific moments on the cricket field…moments, which we shall always cherish and remember. However if Indian cricket has to progress then we need to transform our middle order. Ask Yuvraj Singh to bat at 5 and Mohammad Kaif at 6. Rahul Dravid deserves to retain his place at number 3. And what about number 4? The number 4 slot should be occupied by the most talented middle order batsmen in the country- Virender Sehwag.

The Comeback king

2007-06-06T12:32:00.000-07:00

During India’s memorable tour of Australia in 2003, the great commentator Harsha Bhogle made a very interesting statement. “The door of opportunity will never close on you if you keep pushing it”, he said. He was then referring to Andy Bichel who had bowled and batted brilliantly throughout 2003. One glance around the sporting world and you will notice a lot more sportsman who justified this statement.

My favorite cricketer Mohd Azaruddin was one who always came back from the dead. Every time someone wrote that he was finished, he would come back with vengeance. It happened in Lahore in 1989, at Calcutta in 1992, and many times post 1996. That was perhaps one of the thrills of watching Azza.

Tennis great Boris Becker was similar in nature. Who can forget Wimbeldon 1994 and his semifinal against the then World number 2 Andre Agassi. Becker lost the first set and was two breaks down, before he staged a magnificent come back to win in four. Such tales of comebacks are not rare on the Tennis circuit. Ivan Lendl was down two sets and a break in the 1981 French open final against John Mcnore. Two and a half hours later he was a proud champion a Rolond Garros.

This week saw another great man coming back from the dead. After Germany 2006 everybody including the English Manager said that David Beckham was over. Fabio Capello his manager at Real also thought the same and off went David to the US of A. Everybody heavily criticized this move. The English press laughed at him (Richard Keys of Sky was particularly harsh) when he said that he still hoped to play for England.

How things have changed. Beckham has played magnificently over the last few weeks. Not only has he earned a England recall but he has also ensured that Real Madrid will win their first league title in four years. One of his manager (read Mclaren) had a chance to rectify his mistake. The other (Read Capello) unfortunately can’t.

There is something about great sportsmen, that incredible quality to bounce back just when we think they are finished. That’s why perhaps they are great. ……actually that’s why they are great.

GO REDS

2007-05-08T11:28:00.000-07:00

It’s been an incredible last two weeks or so in the world of sports. Manchester United have won back the Premiership and Liverpool played an incredible game of football at Anfield to qualify for the Champions league final. Liverpool vs. Milan is a mouth-watering clash when one considers what happened at Istanbul 2 years back. Hopefully we shall have a great game and hopefully the Reds will win again.

Oh by the way Australia won the most boring Cricket World Cup ever played. They won it easily with hardly anybody offering them any resistance. Australia’s dominance is not likely to decrease in the coming months particularly in the one-day game.

And India gets back on the field against Bangladesh. That’s a relief in itself. Let the players play. We shall talk about contracts and endorsements later.

Good Bye Greg............

2007-04-04T11:30:00.000-07:00

If you are genuine cricket fan and I really wonder how many of those are really present in India today, you should be very disturbed by what’s happening in Indian Cricket. Every new day brings a new story…….. From a new reliable source. Greg Chappell doesn’t like seniors………. Seniors don’t like Greg Chappell…… Sachin doesn’t like Rahul…….. Rahul doesn’t like Saurav…… Do we really care?

Actually we do. Otherwise we wouldn’t be reading it. And it is sad we do. Because it means that we as a country are looking for all the wrong reasons. Team spirit is an essential ingredient in cricket but it is not the be all and end all. Clive Loyd and Viv Richards didn’t see eye to eye very often, yet this did not prevent the West Indies from being the force that they are. Javed Miandad and Imran Khan hated each other’s guts, yet they were instrumental in Pakistan winning the World Cup in 1992. Every Cricket team has problems, the good ones overcome them , the bad ones use them as excuses.

However the real concern is the way the dirty linen has been washed in Public. Media leaks are very unhealthy and the BCCI should have done something long time back to stop them. However everybody likes their moment in the sun and the BCCI is no different. Why would you want to stop something which is giving all your members 15 minutes of fame?

Greg Chappell tried his best to transform Indian Cricket. Unfortunately his methods weren’t suited for Country and he was too rigid to change his ways. However you cannot deny the fact that he had the conviction of mind to try something. Unfortunately for him it didn’t work out.

Whoever is the new coach, has a tough job. Not just on the cricket field but off it as well.

Dealing with Tough Times

2007-03-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

They did it……. They blew it…………… sad but true………… end of story.

If only Jaysuriya was given out LBW first ball…………If only Sangakara would have been run out first ball……….If only Chmara Silva and Dilshan wouldn’t have been allowed to get away……. If only Ganguly would have kept his head……….If only Sehwag wouldn’t have been a sitting duck to Murli when he had the bowling at his mercy…… If only Yuvi would have kept his head……….. If only………

Unfortunately these days Indian cricket is very an often a story of ifs and buts. And these ifs and buts always hide the real facts. Fact is that apart from a brief period in 2003-2004 we have had a very mediocre team for a very long time. Fact is that our best players are past their best. Fact is that we lost to two teams who were better prepared, better equipped and better balanced in the grammar of the one day game.

These will be tough times for Indian cricket. Some hard decisions will be needed to be taken. Unfortunately the one man who was ready to take some tough decisions will be shown the door. You may agree or disagree with a lot of things which Greg Chappell did. But you cannot disagree with the fact that he had the conviction of mind to take some tough decisions. Unfortunately we as a country always tried to find something sinister
behind his every move.

Indian cricket will need to find its feet again. Take some tough decisions and concentrate on winning matches. Not on making money. It's not the Indian board's motto yet, but as someone once famously said, "Money can't buy happiness but it can give you the kind of misery with which you can live comfortably."
And by the way, please don’t tell me that we are a cricket loving nation. Because if we were, we would have been looking forward to the Australia South Africa game. Rather than burn effigies.

Lets keep our dignity

2007-03-21T01:51:00.000-07:00

Saturday and Sunday apparently showed the world how passionate Indians are about cricket. Cricket is our religion we proclaimed, and hence we burn effigies. We are crazy about the game and that’s why we threatened Dravid’s family. India had lost to Bangladesh and as a consequence Dhoni’s house needed to be ransacked.

I was as devastated as anybody across the country when India lost to Bangladesh. Honestly speaking, we should have never lost to Bangladesh. But that does not give any body the right to vandalize property or threaten the players or their families.

“ Whatever happens we should not lose our dignity”. These were the famous last words of Jock Stein, the famous Scottish Manager. Minutes later Jock suffered a heart attack and died on the football field during his team’s final World Cup Qualifying game. Scotland won that game and Stein never did lose his dignity. Nor did Rahul Dravid or Greg Chappell lose theirs. They were disappointed, perhaps even devastated, but they did not lose their head like some of us did on Sunday.

And what do we say about Bob Woolmer. He was dignified enough to apologise for his teams defeat. And then he went away. His death should be a lesson to all of us. Whatever be the reason of his death, Bob Woolmer did not deserve to die simply because Pakistan lost to Ireland.
For at the end of the day, cricket is only a game played with a leather ball and a wooden bat. Nothing will ever change that and we should never forget that.

The Fun Begins

2007-03-13T05:38:00.000-07:00

I was 10 years old when the 1992 World Cup took place in Australia. It was a wonderful tournament, although i was very disappointed with the Indian performance. The one lasting memory I have of event is of watching India beat Pakistan at MCG. Sachin Tendulkar was the Man of the Match that day and he quite simply carried India's hopes during that tournament. 15 years later not much has changed.

The 1996 WorlCup again had an unforgettable India Pakistan Match at Banglore. Ajay Jadeja was the hero this time . The entire country was in a frenzy as Jadeja made Waqar Younis look like a club bowler and smashed him to all parts of the ground. The Cup though was won by Sri Lankawho were quite briiliant during the tournamenmt.

1999 and 2003 World Cups were dominated by the Aussies. 2003 saw Sachin at his brilliant best. Caddick and Shoiab were smashed for unforgattable sixes in their respective games and it was Sachin at his very best. Ashsish Nehra's spell against England is another unforgattable memory from that tournament.

What about 2007 ? fun for sure. Its the West Indies, perhaps the best place to watch cricket. The format for the tournament is also very appealing. So let the fun begin.

World Cup Favorites

2007-03-05T00:26:00.000-08:00

Are Australia as bad as people are making them out to be? Is Nathan Bracken a bad death over bowler all of a sudden? Is the team suddenly very inexperienced? I don't think so.

The Australian Team that lost to New Zealand was without Ponting, Lee, Symnonds, Gilchrist and Clarke. That constitutes alomst half their team. In such a scenarior , realistically Australia had no chance of winning. 4 of the above mentioned names will be back for the World Cup and will make a huge difference to the side.

All though Australia will miss Lee, the one person who they will want desperately to be back is Andrew Symnods. Symonds with his power full hitting, exceptional fielding and more than use full spin bowling will be a vital cog in the Aussie Wheel. If he is fully fit, Australia will be hard to beat.

Sri Lanka, India, South Africa and Australia are my picks to be in the last 4. An India South Africa final with India avenging the humiliating losses suffered just abt two months back will be the perfect ending.

Ahh and by the Way are Shoiab and Asif really injured. If they are then they should be replaced. If they aren't then the players should not be allowed to be replaced. But who knows what the truth is.

Ranji Climax

2007-02-04T02:50:00.000-08:00

This year the Ranji Trophy has caught my attention tremendously. While my beloved Maharashtra has faded away,( I dont think they will ever win the Ranji Trophy again), i have followed the fortunes of the Mumbai Team. Infact i found myself rooting for the Mumbai Team primarily due to the presence of two men.

These two men are Amol Muzumdar and Praveen Amre. Amol Muzumdar is probably the most unluckiest domestic cricketer never to have played for the country. Year after year he has piled on the runs , only to find that the selection committee has ignored him.

Praveen Amre was another tragic case in Indian Cricket. Even Today his test average is above 40. Nobody can forget his debut Test Hundred on a bouncy Track at Durban. Yet a few test matches later he was unceremoniously dumped.

And what a beautifull game cricket is. Mumbai vs. Bengal.................. Sachin vs. Saurav................... Mhambrey vs. Amre.................... Pawar vs. Dalmiya................well thats a lot to look forward to.

Best and Worst of 2006

2007-01-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

Ad mist the gloom that surrounded India's defeat at Cape Town, my thoughts were searching for the High's and lows of the previous year. Certainly there were moments to remember and forget in the last year. Here are some of them:

HIGH POINTS:

1) Punter's revenge:
When Ricky Ponting was run out at Old Traford , Duncan Fletcher apparently greeted him with a smile. By the Time Ashes 2006 was over it was only Ponting who was smiling. Stung by the criticism which he had to face after last years defeat Ponting made sure that his team was as intense and focused as it ever was. He himself lead the way with some stunning batting efforts. As for Fletcher ,after a 5-0 loss mainly due to some strange selections , there really was nothing for him to smile about.

2) Monty's Miracle:
At Mumbai ,Old Traford and at Perth there was a celebration. A young Sikh playing for England reminded us what a beutifull game cricket was. Monty Singh Panesar did not sledge, he did not fret and rant but still it was fun watching him. Bowling slow left arm spin, Monty had some of the best batsmen in the world viz Tendulkar, Inzaam and Ponting in trouble. With Sharne Warne having finished, Monty could well be the next spin bowling star.

3) Yuvi's Brilliace:
For all the disappointments that the Indian One day team has faced this year, we cannot forget the fact that the same team set a world record by chasing 17 consecutive targets. The man instrumental behind this was Yuvraj Singh. Yuvraj made batting look ridiculously easy and displayed to the World the astonishing talent that he possessed. A cruciate ligament injury meant that he missed the later part of the season and this was a major factor in India's dip in form.

4) Mayhem at Jo burg:
At Lunch time on 22nd March Ricky Ponting must have been a very satisfied man. His team had just made 452 runs in 50 overs and he himself had played a a huge hand in that by scoring a magnificent 163. Enter Herschelle Gibbs to play the most stunning one day innings ever seen. Gibbs scored a magnificent hundred and by the end of his innings he was hitting sixes at will. South Africa won with one ball to spare to make it the most memorable ODI of the year.

NOT SO HIGH POINTS:

1) THE KING IS NO MORE:
And that is a fact that we need to accept. Sachin Tendulkar will never be the same again. The straight drives are replaced by pushes to point, the cheap dismissals are increasing and the injuries are also ever increasing. Enough to suggest that the body, reflexes and eyes are not the same. The fact is that Tendulkar looks like just another ordinary player. No score above 65 in Test cricket this year is a very good indication that this should be his last World Cup.

2) 4th Innings collapses:
At Karachi ,Mumbai and Durban the story was the same. A second innings collapse by the Famed Indian Batting order. There was no second innings century recorded by a single Indian Batsmen throughout the year. Now that's a story.

3) Ashes Dissappointment: With so much hype surrounding it , the Ashes was one series to look foward to this year. However injuries and poor thinking meant that England never really competed. All though Collingwood , Pieterson and Hoggard tried hard England never stood a chance. The result the most one sided Ashes contest witnessed this century.

TEST CRICKET ...........IS IT BETTER?

2007-01-13T11:12:00.000-08:00

Indian cricket now enter perhaps its most significant phase . Two one day series followed by the biggest prize of them all...............the World Cup. If the last World Cups are anything to go by there will be cricket fever everywhere. Sponsors will start cuing up, music albums will be released and the players will make a lot of money. God forbid , if we don't do well, the same will be given as reasons for the non performance.

But before we turn towards the World Cup lets spare a thought to the cricket played over the last two months. The last two months saw two very good test series being played. India and South Africa played some very fascinating cricket and all though Australia won five zip some , the Ashes saw some very good test cricket being played. Convincing me further that Test cricket is the real thing. One day cricket has become very predictable and boring. People enjoy one day cricket because apparently the batsmen are very attacking in that form of the game. Well by that Logic , Test cricket, in which both the Batsmen and Bowlers are attacking should be a better game.

Well anyways lets brace ours elf for 4 months of one day madness.

Happiness is .......... an Indian Victory

2006-12-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

Ok so this blog is coming a bit late. But i was busy with Christmas celebrations and didnt really have time to write.

What a tremendous victory at Joburg. Against all odds, Rahul Dravid and his team did the impossible. It as just not the victory but the manner in which it was achieved , that made it even more memorable.

If you go through India's finest performances overseas , and there have been quite a few over the last few years, the one striking similarity to all of them has been that they have been achieved against all odds. At Headingly in 2002 England were supposed to win in 4 days , at Adelaide Australia were supposed to steam roll India after being 400/5, at Joburg India didnt the Indians were written off even before a ball was bowled.

But it is the sheer beauty of this game that the makes the unpredictable happen. Sourav Ganguly , V.V.S Laxman , Zaheer Khan were all stars. But not as big as S. Sreesanth. Sreesanth made the ball talk in the first innings. And who can forget his dance after smashing Nel for a six.

Well the second test has started and lets hope more good times are in store for the Indian team.

Sad days for Indian Sports

2006-12-12T22:31:00.000-08:00

I know this blog is primarily for cricket. But after our shambolic performance in Doha , i have to put forward my thoughts on the State of Indian Hockey.

The loss to China in Hockey was disgracefull. What is even worse was the constant state of denial that K.P.S Gill is living in. This dictator has ruined Indian Hockey. Quality players like Ashish Ballal , Dharaj Pillay and off late Viren Rasquinha have sufferred from him.

There has to be some minute accountability atleast in sports. KPS Gill has been running Indian Hockey for GOD knows how many years. Aprt from one golden moment at Bangok in 1999 , we have achieved nothing during his tenure.

Something must be done to change the scenario . For starters KPC Gill and his team must go. Have somebody who is accountable. Have a selection commitee which picks players on merits. And please please treat players with respect.

On another note England's miseries in Australia continued while India were absolutely hammerred in the last one dayer. There used to be Marathi show called " Popat Zhala re". After VVS got out first ball , i guess that title was applicable to me.

Two classy players

2006-11-30T10:03:00.000-08:00

Cricket over the years has changed significantly. Batting in particular has become more power based then touch based. You very rarely find players like G.R. Vishwanath , David Gower these days. Instead power players like Andrwe Symonds , M.S. Dhoni etc are dominating the scene.

However Thursday was a great day for two people who still making batting look like an art. One from Hyderbad was elevated to the post of Vice Captain- a subtle but significant achievement. The other from Karachi broke a 17 yeard old Worl record.

Both V.V.S Laxman and Mohd Yousuf are tremendous players to watch. Both are highly highly underated. Inspite of having a stunning year where he has score almost 2,000 test runs , Youuf still is not considered among the best batsman in the world. For all his brilliance , Laxman still has to prove himself everytime he wears an India shirt.

Yet they have continued plundering runs. And they have given me atleast lots of joy. Heres hoping to see a lot more of both of them