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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.