Kumble - Over and Out

The announcement has come finally. Indeed it is painful. Anil Kumble decided to hang his boots. After an 18-year long spell of bowling for the country, this gentleman had made his announcement when it was not expected. It is agreed that the time has come for the Big Five of the Indian Cricket to announce their retirement; however, this is not too late as the media cries. All of them still have some cricket left in them.

India always boasted about its strength of spin bowling and the stories of spin quartet is discussed much even today. We had sensational spinners in between however, very few of them lasted for a decent time if not long. The state of Karnataka earlier produced another leg-spinner Chandra whose success was much attributed to the problems in his wrist, a blessing in disguise.

This bespectacled engineer, when made his debut, was literally frowned upon by one and all of the media and cricketing critics. It was true that this lad gained his place in cricketing arena as a medium pace bowler. He is not the conventional spinner, who maintained the arc of the flight, tempted the batsman to come down the crease, or teased the player to play half-volley shots over extra-cover to land in a catch – but Jumbo is different.

Anil is not similar to BS Chandra nor could we compare him with other great leggies of India say, VV Kumar or Hirwani! It is also a fact these two talented spinners could not last long in the cricketing arena.

Every time someone talked about Anil, parallels were drawn comparing him to Shane Warne or Muralitharan. Indeed they were class apart but oldies might still argue that Murali lacked the charm of a Gibbs or Prasanna or Traicos (played for South Africa, East Africa and later Zimbabwe). Jumbo cannot bowl a doosra nor he can turn the ball as Shane Warne or Mushtaq used to do.

Despite all these, Jumbo has played this game for eighteen long years. All these years, he spearheaded the bowling attack. It is a fact that even today, he is our trump card. One cannot forget the evening that after breaking his jaw, he came out, bowled and took wickets too. Even in the last leg of his career, he had his fingers hurt, still he came out and bowled and took wickets.

Common Indian sportsmen do not have this killing instinct in them but Jumbo had it in him. He led by example and his attitude was contagious that inspired Indian attack and a spoiled brat like Bhajji.

Every journey has to come to an end and the Era is ended. Indian cricket will be missing this great fighter of the game and it will take quite some time to fill in this void. Anil maintained that it is the body forced him to declare his retirement.

Jumbo kept on fighting critics since his debut, but this time the aging factor added fuel to the fire generated by the critics. The media could not wait for Kumble’s retirement to see their chocolate boy Dhoni donning the captaincy of India. They targeted all the seniors in the team and they got 2 wickets in the process. The other one is in the line. The wall, Dravid seems to be losing his confidence more than his game attributed to the mindless bashing of the media. Kumble or Dravid, never remained in the good books of the media as Dhoni or Sachin did. I feel that media’s mindless critics aggravated the retirement decision of this great cricketer!

Past is Past - let us look ahead!

Any journey down the memory lane is enjoying. I played only street cricket still, when we won the Prudential Cup in 1983, I felt as if I were a part of the Indian team! Till 1979, no team had won the West Indies in the Prudential Cup. When Sri Lanka scored a point against West Indies, courtesy rain spoilt match, Sri Lankan captain Tenekon joked that Sri Lanka was the first team to score a point against West Indies.

June 9, 1983, the World Cup-3 started and produced two great upsets of the cup. Zimbabwe aided by Duncan Fletcher beat Australia. The second upset involved India who had won only one match till then beating East Africa in 1975. The game between India and Windies started late due to rains. Yashpal scored 80+ runs and it was Sandhu’s swing sent Greenidge back home. Earlier, Sandhu dismissed Greenidge in a similar fashion at Trinidad. Then it was Madan and Binny who wrapped the rest of the team on 10th of June (as the play continued for the next day) not before Roberts and Garner gave us jitters with a 71 run stand.

The other league games did not worth mentioning, however, the glaring feature being Sunil Gavaskar turning out to be the Lucky- face of India. India lost both the games in which Sunil Gavaskar was rested. Vengsarkar was hit on the chin by Marshall and he was rested for the rest of the world cup.

On June 18, India faced Zimbabwe, who were all set to stage another upset. India was 4 wickets down for mere 9 runs and sooner it was 17 for five. Kapil dev ably supported by Kirmani, Madan and Binny scored a magnificent 175 of 138 balls with 19 fours and 6 sixes. No doubt, it was the mother of all “victory-steered-by-single-man”. Any defeat in Turnbridge Wells would have ruled out India from the race. Still, it was not over. We have to beat Australia to book a berth to semi-Finals. Srikkanth, Yashpal, Patil and Extras helped us to score a win over Australia.

With five wins from six league matches, England was over-confident to discuss their strategy for finals & not to bother about semi-finals. Though they started off well, the brilliant fielding of India put pressure on them. The direct throw by Yashpal to run out Lamb was the pick of the lot. Kirti Azad who had bowled only 2 overs till then was tried against Botham and he responded well by taking his wicket. This match produced highest opening partnership in the World cup-3 for India. Srikkanth & Gavaskar carved out a nice innings followed by Mohinder & Yashpal. However, it was Sandip Patil with his 32 ball knock of 51 made things pretty easier. England took time to come out of the shock and Gower responded saying, “Indians learnt that fielding can win matches and it was Kapildev’s captaincy brought them their deserving victory!”

The following weekend was so special not because it was the last day of my summer vacation but I got a chance to track the Prudential Cup Final. We did not have a television set at home and was hooked onto commentary. I lived in a place then named Tiruvallikkeni (Triplicane of Chennai) where everyone would discuss on any subject for hours together and if it meant cricket, then would discuss for days! So, we did a community-listening of the commentary.




Obviously, the organizers were not enthusiastic as none thought India would play Windies in the final. The turnout was poor as it seemed to be a one-sided match! Old war horse Clive won the toss & chose to field hoping to cash on the early dews. As expected Marshall got rid of Sunil Gavaskar in the 3rd over however, Srikkanth provided some drama as he hooked Roberts for a four. He was met with a faster bouncer now but Cheeka pulled this one now for a six! The third one was a superb cover drive from Cheeka that was belted to four again! In the earlier over he sliced Garner over the slips for a four! In all, Cheeka scored 7 boundaries and a six in his 38. From 100/4, we kept on losing wickets. Thanks to runs from Madan, Kirmani and Sandhu, and of course extras we posted a respectable total of 183.

The result was written on the wall. The entire cricket fraternity knew it’s a cake-walk for Windies! Kapil set a fielding as if it were a Test Match. Then, Sandhu produced the gem of an in-swinger (banana-skin swinger) that deceived Greenidge (for the 3rd time) and hit the stumps. Richards, the master-blaster walked in & started belting all around. In such an over-confident pull that skied high, Kapil ran behind to hold-on the one-of-the-best catches in ODI history! Richards (33 from 28) was out and the score read 50 for 2. Panic prevailed now in Windies camp. Not used to over-cautious approach, Windies started breaking down aided by tight bowling from Binny and Madan. Bacchus was hit on stumps by a direct throw from Srikkanth however; the umpire could not see it as the bowler came in-between. However, this did not cost us much as Bacchus was out next over! Then Dujon and Marshal started to build the innings for Windies.

Then Mohinder was brought into the attack. In a sense of urgency, Dujon played on and the reaction expressed by him told that Windies have already lost the match. After that it was all ritualistic and India wrapped the trophy in an unexpected manner. It was all fine till here!

The lesson we learn from the history is “we do not learn from the history!” When India won the World Cup, we had no stars but we had a team. The team composition was excellent. Contrasting openers one conventional and the other totally opposite, splendid support down the order from Mohinder, Vengsarkar, Yashpal, Patil. It had performing all-rounders in Kapildev, Kirti Azad, Madanlal, and Binny. Kirmani the keeper with useful bat. Seam bowlers who can swing was our weapon. We had disciplined bowlers in Sandhu, Madan, and Binny to exploit the English conditions.

The typical composition won India another trophy in 1985 at Australia against all teams! Alas! After that neither India got a team nor did it win! In today’s team, we have stars but no team. Cricket has become more of money-game than sports!

We, Indians are famous for basking in past glory. We did the same in hockey, we are doing it to Chess and now it is the turn of Cricket! These trophies should be an inspiration to us but we enjoy this as an entertaining episode! Gavaskar was made to sit out when he did not perform whereas we cannot do this to Dhoni or Sachin! Meritocracy had a place and not zonal quota system of selection.

If we are not ready to learn even now, we can do in what we have the mastery (by doing it again and again) – Basking in past glory!

Unifying teams

The slap of Harbhajan on the face of Sreesanth is shocking news indeed. Punjab XI could not even celebrate their first win in the IPL, courtesy the behavior of Bhajji.

Harbhajan, is notorious for his behavior on and off the field. Even when he was in the Australian Cricket Academy, he was sent back for his misbehavior in the night club. Then he was less than 19 years of age. Since then, Harbhajan, worked hard to prove repeatedly that his behavior is unacceptable to many a portions of the cricket fraternity.

Time and again, Harbhajan was protected by the BCCI stating that opponents are biased against him fearing his bowling (while his bowling is not a killing factor at all). However, here the allegation comes from a fellow Punjabi – Yuvraj Singh himself. This recent incident comes as a shot in the arm of Australian cricket board for their stand against Harbhajan. This incident drives one to think that what Symonds said would have been true also. (Menu-ki as monkey sort of jokes are long forgotten now)

One can expect that BCCI will try to hush up all the things and push it under the carpet. Sreesanth will say, “It’s all in the game and we have long forgotten it” Bhajji would say, “I apologized to him” blah blah blah…. However, the fact that remains is Bhajji’s behavior is unacceptable and it is proven.

Perhaps, Harbhajan is not taught of the fact that “Success is not the destination but only a milestone”. It is agreed that nothing succeeds like success but this success should not rule one’s head. Bhajji was not taught of the ethics of the game or even the basic civic sense. Psychologically one might say the failure of Harbhajan as a person per se, is attributed to the fact that he is treated as a celebrity even at home.

Harbhajan said that he is missing Sachin. My advice to him is, “Do not miss Sachin in your team only for the sake of runs. You are missing him on the behavioral front also. Having been with the likes of Sachin and Dravid, how is that you have not learnt a characteristic called modesty?”

More than all these worries, the very concept of IPL is shaken. Everyone was talking of unification of teams and all differences will be buried and now onwards cricket will be played among friends and all sort of explanations were given. However, this incident is totally opposite to what they expressed.

How can now Bhajji, Sreesanth and Yuvi play in one team without differences? A crack in the mirror will remain a crack always. IPL that is supposed to unify the teams is doing reverse now!

At the cost of Cricket

You may call it a prejudice or a mental-block however, this is true that nowadays whenever I watch cricket games being played, I get a worse feel of watching a well enacted drama.

There is no space for talent any longer. In the name of “Playing to your strengths” blatant cheating is stage-managed in the form of cricket. Slowly the charm of cricket, its talent is being lost. Surprisingly, we give an excuse to every wrong activity we do.

As soon as we were bundled out for less than a hundred in the first innings of Ahmedabad Test, messages were passed onto Khanpur curator as to make a spin-friendly pitch. Then, the selection of the team emphasized the fact that the match will played on a spin-turf.

As I mentioned in my earlier blog, India had won this Test match and the series is leveled. It was a nice illustration for a “win-win” theory. Both the teams won and they ensured that their share of money is not lost in the business. The ICC is now turning a blind-eye to all the activities going on here?

In what way preparing a pitch that suits the local team is different from match-fixing? The act of MS Dhoni, the stand-in captain, after the win, leads to many unanswered questions. He has paid a cash reward of Rs10,000/- to the curator for facilitating a win for India.

Does this not commit to bribing a curator? What precedent the future captain is setting. Will not all the curators follow suit and blunt the talents of young cricketers in India. Mr. Ajit Wadekar did this a decade ago and we lost good batsmen in Vinod Kambli who was conditioned to play in such a worst conditions.

The ball never raises above knee level, it is too slow that one can have a tea and go for strokes, the pitch would crack and turning is too effective. India have lost a handful of matches on such pitches to sub-standard spinners from South Africa and England let alone facing Murali or Saqlain or Mushtaq.

We can give excuses that this money is a contribution from every player and I am sure that BCCI would compensate in multiples this amount to players. If they are ready to contribute the curator here, had they penalized the curator of Chepauk pitch that traditionally used to be spin-friendly pitch?

One can understand a tip being paid. However, if the amount of the tip is more than the substantial amount, it needs to be answered. Will BCCI, MSDhoni take pain in answering this question as this act would lead to blunting the talents of upcoming Indian cricketers.

India has lost the Test Match that too in a humiliating manner. None would have expected this till India were bundled out for 76 in the first day. Even then, all would have thought that we will lose the match on the final day. Salt was rubbed on our wounds when two of the Proteases scored hundreds.

India is notorious for its inconsistency. It has a star-studded team however, the instances of all the stars performing together is pretty rare. All the Indian pitches are belters and the batsmen will have enough time to hit the ball all around the ground. Under such circumstances, it is the openers’ responsibilities to take care that the dew (whatever remains) is taken off and it becomes a batting-paradise for the team to follow.

A team bundling out within 20 overs is a matter of shame. Of late, this is happening at decent intervals. Earlier, we were bundled out for 66 runs against South Africa, it happened in Caribbean islands. Till the time I followed cricket (say up to 1987), the only low score match was 42 against England where Chris Old and Arnold literally bundled us out.

Happened is happened. The media that went gaga over the triple ton of Sehwag (irony is he was compared to Lara and Donald Bradman and SMS contests were held) literally scrubbed the nose of the Indian team after their buckle. I do agree that media has to appreciate and suggest but going over-board on both the occasions would make them lose their credibility.

Immediately after the bundling, Harbhajan Singh commented on the basis of the pitch and recommended for Spin-oriented pitches. The excuse they take is “Play to your strength. Every country is preparing pitches according to their strength and why not we do so?” Ajit Wadekar (under whom the notorious 42 all out had happened) initiated such practice and Azharuddin became the most successful captain of India and Indians were labeled as tigers at home and rats outside. This practice had blunted the talents of all our players and we lost most of them unknowingly.

Similar thing happened to hockey (by playing only on grass and not on turf) led us to be out of the Olympic race. However, we are not learning even now. Kumble immediately contacted the curator of Green Park and recommended spin-assisting pitch. The selection of team confirms this. Piyush Chawla and Ramesh Powar (who was long forgotten) got a call and included in the team.

One cannot say, Indians might win the match at Green Park and take a sweet revenge. Both the cricketing boards are happy because each team won a match the money is shared. If India loses, the profits would shrink. Why to lose money? Let us prepare pitches as to make a fool of cricket lovers, fool of themselves, fool of cricket. All they want money.

In which way preparing a pitch assisting local players is different from match-fixing?
If the umpires can be neutral, why cant the venues be?
Why cant the curators of the pitches be neutral?

Will the ICC listen to this if they are really interested in promoting cricket? If they want to promote business in the name of cricket let the present system continue.

Two stories of TOO MUCH

Story # 1

The Indian Govt had released a stamp on Madhubala. I am perplexed and fail to understand why this was done? Earlier, stamp was released with Nargis’s photo. Are these actresses delivered such a yeoman service to the society that we have to release a stamp on them?

If they had done a good service to the arts (?), which I seriously doubt, then there are better actresses down south who had done better than Nargis and Madhubala. But for acting in the film that created a fantasy world and minting money, they did not do anything that is worth. Neither of the actresses had set an example for the society with their deeds in their real life.

Whether you accept or not, it is a blatant truth that in this profession, actress is a fashion name for expensive-whores. However, the Govt had decided to release postal stamps with their images. It had not thought of Kurien, MS Swaminathan, Udayamurthy, the gentle man who started Shulabh shouchalyas.

All I can say is This is too much!!

Story # 2

Nothing succeeds like success. However, this success should not rule your brain but your brain should rule it. MS Dhoni does not seem to be learning it. Not few months ago, his presence in the team was debated at length for his wicket keeping abilities (or the lack of it). Stars worked in his favor and he is the captain of Indian cricket team for ODIs. His recent remarks on senior players are unwarranted.

He could have kept it simple by stating a team needs younger players for ODIs. Boasting of his recommendations on team selections and chest-beating based on single trophy would not take Dhoni in the longer run. One cannot forget the way we were beaten up in the league matches. Dhoni should also not forget that it was Sachin, the senior player played a pivotal role in India’s winning and it was a collective effort.

Dhoni, single handedly did not win us this trophy. He should learn to be a little modest. There is a lot left in him and he has a long way to go. He may be riding high today, courtesy, the support he enjoys from girls and media. He has not proven yet himself in Test matches or even in ODIs played outside India where the ball really bounces and swings. Never in their career, Sachin or Rahul, despite their great successes (than MS Dhoni) made such remarks. He should learn from them.

I reiterate, nothing succeeds like success but success should not get on your head. Then you will face the similar fate what L Sivaramakrishnan and S Vishwanath faced two decades ago.

Would somebody tell our Dhoni on this?

Basking in past Glory - Part # 2

.....continuation of part 1

If a cricket player visits a salon, he is traced by the TV News channels, if he sacrifices (read – kill) a goat he is traced (surprising that this cricketer is not yet arrested by PETA), if he dates a girl this is tracked, and the only places where a cricketer is not tracked is perhaps his visit to bedroom, bathroom or toilet!

These bring him more money in advts. Cricketers are provided with farm-houses on hill-stations even if they lose not to mention the money they mint in every match they play. While the cricketers sail on Mercs, pity other sports person straddle on local trains. Cricketers were given a juloos yatra for winning 20-20 but Anand was not even given a welcome by Indian Govt when he came to India after winning the World Title.

When a cricketer gets so much of attention why on the earth one should choose a career other than this? How many sports channel had covered hockey matches as they covered cricket? Can an average Indian recognize any of the hockey players who played for India? What is the contribution of these news channels to this who simply flays those hockey players?

All of the media cry shame of this defeat. Did they ever ponder what made this serious fall of one-time-glory? The present day team is full of youth players. They need motivation and not de-moralization. However, our media chose the other way! If a cricketer fails, detailed analysis is done on every news channel but they chose to ridicule when the same happens to hockey players.

The so-called King Khan, who was glorified by the media as the savior of Indian hockey (just for the reason he played the role of a coach in a fantasy-movie), is being asked about the India’s failure? What a stupidity? How can he answer this? In what way he is related to this? He has taken his share of money for the role he played. His relation with hockey has ended there. Now he is busy auctioning cricketers for IPL. Let him do his earning.

The media was stupid to term him as savior of hockey and now they flay these pity players. Simply by declaring this sport as national one does not make it excel in itself. We need a road-map for the improvement of our performance in hockey.

• Stop Basking in the past glory!
• Play to your strengths. Hone the skills of wrist game.
• Learn new skills. This starts from the grounds. Invite sponsors for building turf grounds.
• Government should allow sops for sponsors or pump in funds to their share.
• Identify those kids who show interest and skills in hockey.
• Conduct tournaments for Under 13, Under 15, Under 18 and Under 21.
• Do not limit tournaments to schools. (read – not only urban schools. Include rural ones)
• Priority to Meritocracy!
• No officials for IHF. Only past players can be officials. Limit their numbers from 1 to 3.
• Government should not target profit while telecasting hockey matches.
• Screen Chak De repeatedly. Not as entertainment but as lesson.
• Learn the lessons: India first, no place is granted, importance to meritocracy, Discipline, team-work, no individual is important etc.,
• Invite coaches from Europe (as to learn the tricks of turfs and their new defense style)

It is the high time we stopped basking in the past glory. Only aged people keep thinking of their past. Younger one never does as they do not have a past. They think ahead of future. India may be old but it does not mean we have to keep thinking of the past and let go slip the present and future from us.

If an aged guy learns to look ahead of future (beyond death), he is claimed as Sadhu. Similarly, India should now stop looking at its past. Think ahead! Turn the age as our strong point. Let us learn to be a Sadhu by thinking far ahead.

Bask in the past glory?

Generally, I do not react to any event immediately. I take my own time as to allow the issue gets settled down. This would give me more clarity on the picture, the real problems concerned etc.; Impulsive reaction is the result of heart ruling the brain that is quite common among us, Indians.

India has lost to Great Britain (is it still Great?) in the qualifier round for Olympics. Since 1928, this is the first time; India is not in the race for an Olympic Gold in hockey. Hockey is the national game of India. India has a great track record of winning the most number of Olympic Gold medals in hockey. Now we are not even in the race! Indeed it is saddening, very much. However, it seems that the entire media and the public (initiated by the media?) are going over-board in the manner they react to this.

At the outset, we should now stop the ugliest habit of basking in the past glory! We should start realizing the reality and accept it without any inhibitions. We might have won Hockey gold medals in the past but it does not mean that we are the juggernauts – we are no longer one. Past is past. In the hockey arena, the fact that Indian team does not pose even a mild threat to any of the professional teams is a bitter truth.

I don’t recollect that in the past decade we had won any major tournament in Hockey. The last Gold in hockey we won was in 1980 (7 Olympics ago) held at Moscow where the major half of the globe did not participate and we won over all small rivals. Nor in the recent past, we have defeated any major team in hockey, let alone winning a tournament!

We are forgetting another fact that Pakistan was a part of India when we won more Golds in Hockey. Pakistan is more talented team than Indian Hockey team. We have to accept this fact and there is no place for jingoism in this. Another sad aspect is, we had won the Gold medals when the hockey was played on grass grounds and not on astro-turfs. In grass ground, the wrist play is the key to win whereas in astro-turfs, one has to be athletic enough where Indians are pretty weak!

It would be an imaginary statement if someone said; India had 25 astro-turf grounds for hockey all over India. Let us not talk of IHF and its officials. If at all, we achieved some success, it is not because of IHF and the Govt but despite them!

I can’t help drawing a parallel to cricket. There is no room for a green-eyed monster here! However, the fact is, Hockey is not getting the requisite patronage to it despite being the national game of our country. The patronage to hockey vis-à-vis cricket is negligible. In all fairness, why one should choose a career in hockey? Just for the sake of government quota job and for the quarters (where one cannot even imagine living there) they provide? What other fringe benefits does one get if he chooses a career in sports other than cricket in India?

to be continued....

Time to Blog - Irony of India

I spend almost 10 hours a day at office that includes my commuting time, seven to eight hours in sleeping. With remaining 6 to 7 hours, I spend with my family. Not to mention the daily routines take away 1 to 2 hours in this. No doubt my wife screams at me whenever she finds me sitting in front of my PC.

I just get hooked onto it. She claims, “I don’t know how many of them are reading it or even having a glance at it! You are sitting at it at the cost of your family interests!” She may be right however, every man has a bad characteristic in him and I have the weak point of sitting at net for hours! (Whichever that was left over)

Writing a blog is the easiest thing ever one had but I beg to differ. I always wanted to be different and preferred to convey a message across irrespective some one reading it or not!

I was going through the news of bidding for cricket players in its new avtar of IPL. I remember during my younger days, Kerry Packer was described as the villain of cricket as he pulled all the talent for money. Now the very version of Packer is bringing in lots of money for all cricket boards. Cricket was slowly taking the form of a baseball in the form of 20-20 cricket and the style of selecting teams now have emulated the rugby or soccer teams.

While the vulgar display of money was criticized from nook and corner, I had a different opinion on this. My kid was reading a story of slaves being sold in older days! Just listen through my ears, Are our cricketers are slaves? If so, whose slaves? If some one is paying an hefty sum to a single person, will he win matches single handedly (can he bowl, bat and keep wickets)? What is the role of teams then? If he did not perform will he pay back this money? From where this money will be collected – of course stupid public!

India Cements’ Srinivasan paid whopping Rs 6 crore for Dhoni but did not think it wise to have another ground similar to Chepauk in entire Tamilnadu or Pondicherry! It is the irony of Indian cricket. Had these gentlemen pooled in these hefty sum to build a sports academy all over India, that would have done a world of good to Indian sports but they are not here to encourage sports but to mint money!

Heart-burning news is the comment of Raj Thackrey. His comments convey it implicitly that politicians are above law and so are their activities. Imagine what will happen if these people were made to write laws! When the world is shrinking to a size of ball, Europe is considering treating it as a state instead of multi-nations; we are talking of multi nations despite being a single state. What is the difference between the Kashmiri or Assamese terrorists who demand a separate state and these Thackreys? Can they be allowed to contest elections?

Raj has drawn a parallel with Rath Yatra. Rath yatra was meant to mobilize a movement – to build a temple for Shri Ram on the place he was believed to be born. It was not meant to drive any Indians out of their place in the name of religion, caste, creed or regionalism! What Raj did was a crime! Now Bal Thackrey says Maharashtrians were tolerant enough that they acknowledged a Kannadiga Governor!

What a favor extended by them? Aren’t we in India? Did he ever give a thought that all non-maharashtrians got out of this state and vice-versa, what will happen to this state? Maharashtra slipping from the rankings of industrialization is attributed to the lazy attitude of Maharashtrians and their costly labor. Irony is that they are not realizing and are doing politics in this name!

Lalu has presented a budget. Good one as expected that too in a year when elections are expected around the corner! However, his gimmicks are getting exposed. All his fare cuts in selected trains (the list is yet to be finalized) and fare cut in second class (read not sleepers) are only superfluous. In no way, this is helpful to the middle-class people who used them the most!

It is not a great deal to show profits on books for a monopoly firm that has no competition. Still he is different because his predecessors were unable to do even this. As usual, Lalu has thrown light only on the populist measures and not on the technical part of it. He has no answers for the delayed projects (that would have saved us crores of rupees lost), clean stations, ticket-less traveling in northern part of India, capacity improvement, ex-gratia to accident victims (at tax payers money), etc., Good is that he had at the least raked up the public-private participation. When the world is moving fast at the pace of 300kmph, Indian trains still run at the speed of 40kmph. When will we improve these? What is the status of unmanned railway gates? Unless someone throw light on these issues, we cannot accept Lalu as a success.

Its over! We won and start a new beginning

Once again, India proved to be a spoke on the wheels of win for Australia. Their dream of 17 successive success had a severe blow at WACA. The Australian media predicted a cake-walk for Australians in the same venue by boasting off of the bounce. Alas! It bounced back or boomeranged!

The irony is, Indians should have gone 2-1 ahead in this series but for the sabotage of Steve Bucknor and Benson in collaboration with Australian players. The pressure of 16 successive wins had gone to their head and they simply lost their balance during the match at Sydney. Let us not discuss that here as it was discussed more than it required in the past.

This win is a real treat to all Indians and cricket lovers across the globe. Indians always remained a thorn in the flesh of Australia since a decade when they lost to us at Eden Gardens, a win crafted by Laxman and Dravid.

However, this win is sweet here because; we cannot single out a contribution for the win. If Viru gave the confidence to middle-order batsmen, Rahul, Sachin and Laxman made it easy. The contribution of runs from bowlers also helped us. RP Singh who did not last a ball in the last match (it is a pity that we lost 3 wickets in a span of 5 balls and our tail could not last 12 balls), chipped in with useful contribution.

Indian bowlers always performed well abroad and if the pitch aided, they excelled and this match is no exception. Good that India won after the hype it created after the last match and this win would save every word of BCCI.

Congrats Anil, keep up the good work! Allow this feel to sink in. Let us win in Adelaide also and square the series! Drop Jaffer & Dhoni, pick Dinesh and Bhajji that would balance the team’s proportion!

when will we stop over-reacting?

It is a history now that India has won the 20-20 championship. When cricket is slowly transforming into baseball, winning in such sports makes one wonder whether we are the champions of cricket or baseball or golf (this is because, nowadays cricketing strokes are similar to the strokes of baseball or golf).

As usual, the entire country is reacting or rather over-reacting to this incident. The winning team was received with much fervor and they will go on a victory lap from airport to Wankhade stadium in an open bus.

State Governments after state governments are declaring a bonus amount of Rs 5 lakhs per player for this feat! Maharashtra Government has gone overboard to announce Rs 10 lakhs to the players while their farmers are dying out of starvation! One TV channel went on criticizing mr. Narendra Modi who kept cool and did not announce any such bonus to the cricket players. I may not be surprised if Modi subjecting to such pressures might declare bonus (may be more than any State).

At the outset, why these players need bonus? Are these cricket players are running out funds that they need such bonuses? Have they been to Mars on an expedition and came back with more scientific truths? What have they achieved? Are they contributing anything towards the nation or its development? On the contrary, the BCCI do not pay income tax for the hefty sum they generate and rotate in the name of cricket!

If sports person were to be facilitated, why did not we do this to the Indian Hockey team who had won the Asian cup with comfortable margin (unlike a cliff-hanger cricket we saw). Why not Vishwanathan Anand and Narain Kartikeyan were facilitated? Even Goswami, the only Indian Woman cricketer to appear in the list of ICC awards was not given such a priority by the BCCI. Why this bias?

Let numerous films like Chak De or Goal be screened in India all over! We will neither change nor our attitude towards a sport. This reminds me that during the last scene in film Chak De, a small sikh boy will come forward and erase the word “gaddar” from the wall and he will be presented with a hockey bat. Surprisingly, (or ironically), one of the audience shouted, “Come on Bhajji (Harbhajan Singh, a cricketer) come on”. Cricket has invaded our life indeed!

India 2020 - not of Kalam's but cricket's

At last, the Indians have won the first T20 World Cup tournament in a cliff-hanger thriller finish. Or one can say, the team of 2020 has born. Whether ex-President Kalam’s visionary 2020 India is made or not, but India is capable of building a team for 20-20 at the least!

Now, for another 48 hours, no news is too big for our entire media channels that will cover nothing but the historic (?) win of India in 20-20 World Cup. Even the news of Rahul Gandhi becoming the general secretary of INC (though it is a known fact and was only a matter of time) has taken a back seat. The media even covered the Kabirkhan aka shahrukh Khan congratulating the winning Indian team (dont ask what did SRK do to Indian cricket team)

Nothing succeeds like Success! This is proven in this episode. A man, who was questioned of his wicket-keeping skills or lack of it and was supposed to be dropped from the team, is turned into a sudden hero. He has become wisdom of cricket, leader of future and everybody says now that Indian cricket is in safe hands now!

It is a known fact that we, Indians are highly reactive and when we react we go to the extremes and always go over board! Be it hailing some one or criticizing, we knew only the extreme. Never our comments were in analytical mode. We have stopped thinking by brains and are doing with emotions.

Let’s go hypothetical now. Had the 18th, 19th and 20th overs against Australia had gone the other way – or worse, had Joginder was hit for runs on the 20th over, Mahi, our hero today would have been pulled from all corners for that decision. Even those who knew no cricket would give a comment on his captaincy!

Same way in the finals too! Pakistanis had the match in their way all the time. 6 runs from 4 balls. They could have chosen to take singles and an odd couple, but they thought otherwise. The batsman thought an innovative shot (made popular by Johnson of Zimbabwe) only to be caught! Had the bailed sailed across, today Mahi would have been ripped apart by our media and so-called experts of the game!

Thankfully for Dhoni, Lady Luck smiled on him. He is now hailed as the greatest captain India ever had. Though I agree that he kept his cool, I doubt, he would prove to be a good captain. He still has a long way to go and it is too early to burden him as a captain. He has to learn keeping, has to improve his batting skills (though he literally bullies the ball around, he does not play the game) and most of all, of course, the cricketing skills.

It was good decision that the trio had ruled themselves out of this tournament. Perhaps, they never thought that this game would get so much of publicity! Had they were genuine; they should have said the same no to even the ODIs.

Its all in the game. We have got a good, young team who has potential. Now one has to wait and see, how far this potential takes our cricket in 2020!

T20

T 20 or twenty-twenty is the buzzword that keeps the cricket fans all around the world hooked onto. From a long, tiring, (or sometimes boring) 5 day affair this game has taken changes - sometimes accidentally and at times forcefully into a faster game. Efforts are on as to give a facelift to this game as good as soccer or hockey. The game is fast and so is the result.

Cricket has started taking leaves out of the others books as to make it attractive and entertaining. “Ball-out” is one feature similar to the penalty stroke and so is the “free-hit” concept.

I vaguely remember that 24 years back a tournament (named as Double-wicket tournament with each side having only 2 players and common fielders) was held with similar rules in Chennai Chidambaram Stadium. L Siva was spotted there as a good fielder and Robin Singh was spotted as another Kapil dev (however he entered the national side much later, courtesy politics, is another story).

With newer rules, cricket seems to be attractive and one has to wait and see how long people accept this. However, the purists would find it hard. Why all the new rules are favoring only the batsmen and invariably they are against the bowlers? Would some one be motivated to be a bowler if they are going to be beaten like this?

One should not bowl slightly outside the leg side or else it will be called a wide.
One should not try to bowl a beamer or else you will be warned.
One should not try to bowl a bouncer more than once in a over.
One cannot have the fielders as they liked and have restrictions for them.

Going by this, I would not be surprised if one day the rules would state, the ball should not be pitched before reaching the bat. One should not spin the ball. Or slowly Cricket would deviate and take the shape of baseball so wider reach of audience and more money?

I badly miss those flights, arc of the spin, inviting the batsmen to drive through extra-cover and trap them by catching, those late out-swingers that beats the bat, late-cuts. Those were the days when cricketers would not appreciate ball being hit in air but this is the walk of life in cricket now. I hardly saw ball rolling on the ground and it was sailing all the time in air.

The height of the show is the cheer leaders. More than the players, they would be the most tired members as they have to come shake their booty for every boundary or six scored or every wicket taken.

Indeed this form of cricket is more an entertainment than a game but I miss one thing on the whole – that is cricket, the gentle man’s game. Did I hear some one saying the gentleness is lost years back!