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November 28, 2008

Letter to Mr. Hilditch

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/28/2008 in Australian Cricket

Recently I have been sending down some useful deliveries on the industrial carpet at our office and was far too good for one of our employees, a Spanish lass named Lorena. Furthermore, I have also been bowling at Anderson Park after work on Friday afternoon where I managed to land nearly every ball on the pitch, which I understand is a pre-requisite for selection.

While I have never actually managed to ever turn a delivery, either to off or leg, I don't think this should hinder my chances as neither Cam or Nath have ever turned one either and which affords me to believe that this is no longer a requirement of an Australian Test Spinner. Another skill that I can bring to the team is my ability to get through the overs rather quickly. After bowling two overs the other day, I reverted to the short run up of one pace, where I was still able to land the ball on the cut portion of the synthetic wicket fairly consistently. This I believe will enable us to get through our 90 overs in day and as such reduce our fines.

When I was younger, my brother and I would often get through 152 overs in the backyard after school until Mum had dinner ready. I also have a Certificate IV in workplace training and assessing, and as a qualified trainer I am willing to put in some overtime to provide some assistance to Mr. Ponting in this regard. My movements in the field have been referred to as gazelle-like by myself and I am confident that I would stop most balls hit directly at me and a reasonable portion of those a metre or so either side of me as well.

As a part time umpire, I am well versed in the tactics of intimidation and this coupled with my recent foray into acting as an extra in a TV ad, leaves me with no doubt that I would be convincing and melodramatic on camera whenever things don't go my way. During my umpiring career I once received some invaluable advice from Stuey Macgill who told me all I had to do was "f***ing well watch and listen" advise that I am more that willing to pass onto Rudi or Billy Bowden during my first spell. As an added bonus I have a short temper and swear profusely - an attribute my work colleagues and manager could attest to and one which surely will enable me to fit in with your organisation's culture with a minimum of fuss.

There are some areas of my game that I need to work on such as my batting and although I was unlucky, I managed to get dismissed via every method possible last Friday in the dozen or so balls I faced. However, with the strength of our 1-10 in the batting order, I don't see this as a major issue. Besides, like for like, Chris Martin is only marginally more adept than me and I can't see this as being a major obstacle to my pending selection. As for my personable attributes, I believe that I have always been a pretty good bloke and have always made myself available for drinks on a Friday afternoon with my teammates from work - although it is to be noted, I have never gotten into a fight at the pub, and I wouldn't drink on match days if that was a requirement.

Would you be kind enough to advise me ASAP of your decision, as I need 24 hours notice to tell my boss Sue-Anne that I would be unavailable till Wednesday, However I do have 30 days annual leave up my sleeve and as such I can avail myself for Perth Melbourne and Sydney Tests as well. I look forward to discussing this further at an interview; if you wish and I can get referees from some of the guys at work upon request. Yours Sincerely

Comments (25)

November 25, 2008

The best bowling attack in the world

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/25/2008 in Indian cricket

The ingredients are intoxicating to say the least. A left-armer who can make both the new as well as old ball talk. Zak has shown a terrific understanding of the use of the angles whenever he comes on to bowl round the wicket to the right-handers. And his phenomenal ability to reverse swing early only means that the batsmen can relax at their own peril. Add to that the tall lanky Ishant who with his nagging accuracy and the ability to extract disconcerting bounce even on the most placid of wickets has made it amply clear that he is a force to reckon with at all times. The pressure exerted by these two is unbearable which forces batsmen to commit errors.

The performance of Hayden and Ponting, the two bulwarks of the Aussie batting line up, against these two is a testimony to this fact and had a massive bearing on the ultimate result in the most recently concluded Border-Gavaskar series. Both these bowlers make it very easy for someone like Bhajji to come and bowl to the new batsmen who have not yet got settled in the crease. Furthermore, we are spoilt for choices too and can pick anyone from Mishra, Munaf, RP Singh and Sreesanth to name a few more.

India has a long and impressive history of producing good batsmen, but sadly we have never had confluence of great bowlers at the same time which explains our poor win record. Agreed , that the quartet of Bedi, Prasanna, Chandra, Venkat had their time in the sun, but even they will admit that they could not win as many matches as they would have liked particularly abroad and the presence of a good fast bowler would have definitely helped them.

Kapil Dev shouldered the burden of bowling throughout his career and only K Ghavri and M Prabhakar lent him some support for a brief period of tme. The story was the same with Anl Kumble who ploughed a lone furrow but nevertheless still did a fabulous job as a strike and stock bowler throughout his career. But now I feel that the tide has turned and now we have a bowling Attack that can take 20 wickets in most conditions and on most wickets.

Bowlers are the unsung heroes of this game and it is a misnomer that bowlers will win you only Test matches. Australia has won the last 3 World Cups because their bowlers had pulverized the batsmen into submission. And take the latest ODI between England and India at Bangalore which was a curtailed 22 over match. The magnificent performance of Zak, Munaf and Ishant in the 3 powerplays was decisive. A new dawn is being quietly ushered in Indian Cricket which I feel will be the best in its history.

Comments (13)

November 24, 2008

England's opening woes

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/24/2008 in Extras

Comments (0)

November 21, 2008

Time for Cricket 2.0

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/21/2008 in World cricket

Irrespective of the form of cricket, we need a clock like in soccer or basketball. There should be a certain amount of allowed "injury time" like in soccer. And the clock should stop for unforeseen delays or delays caused by the batting side. The clock refreshes after every hour. And if 15 overs are not bowled in that hour, the main bowler of the bowling team should not be allowed to bowl the rest of the innings or even better, the number of overs a team is short by should be multiplied by one more than the current run-rate of the batting side and those runs should be added to the batting side's score.

Also, umpires must be allowed to make a judgement before the start of play about whether they think play will last the full day. This should be done in conjunction with local officials and weather-people. There's no point going on like nothing has happened then all of a sudden whipping out light meters. That doesn't make the slightest of sense and literally casts a poor light on the professionalism of the game.

Further, cricket should be about maximizing resources: if there are lights installed at a stadium, they must be used at any cost if needed, irrespective of what the captains agreed to do. (This will prevent farces of the kind that happened in Kanpur recently). And the ICC must also scrap the rule that you need at least a one-hour delay to be able to shorten a lunch-break. The lunch-break should be shortened to 20 minutes in my opinion anyway. Similar rules are also needed in Test cricket. Why is the morning break shorter than the afternoon break? That doesn't make any sense whatsoever. They should be equal and absolutely symmetric.

There are a lot more things cricket needs to implement to make sure that focus is kept on cricket. Instead of referring close boundary balls to the third umpire, what cricket needs is linesmen standing close to the boundary. They should easily be able to tell. And calling front-foot no-balls should not be the prerogative of the field umpire. They should be concentrating on caught-behinds and lbws. No-balls should be called by the third umpire - institute the free hit in Test cricket too, so that the batsman can take advantage of it.

Also, if the field umpire makes a blatantly wrong decision, the third umpire must be allowed to overturn it immediately. All this talk about "cricket is a great leveller" or "it's like life, you take the rough with the smooth" is more suitable for enthusiasts who're locked in the Victorian age in my opinion. I'm a modern fan and I want to see the game be played properly, and the right decision to be taken no matter what. It seems almost farcical to not maximize the available resources in order to preserve some "time-honoured" traditions...I for one am not for tradition.

If people think the review system takes time, a good idea may be for the field umpire to have some kind of miniature hand-held screen which relays videos from the third umpire of the current delivery, so that he can have a look again (possibly with Hawkeye assistance for lbws) to be absolutely sure he has made the right decision. Of course, there should be a time-limit to that too. I mean if people can use iPhones how hard is this to implement? Also, sightscreen delays: I think they are really uncalled for. I think all stadiums should have a huge fence or wall of some kind built around the back and sides of the sightscreen.

Last but not the least: The umpires themselves. Not the umpiring, but umpires. First of all they should dress for the weather. It's stupid to see someone in dark trousers and a dark shirt umpiring in searing heat in the subcontinent. He's an umpire, not a business executive or something. What's more, that means that he is not in a relaxed frame of mind and affects his decision-making. Soccer referee wear is fine with me. Also, please, umpires, stop ambling around the field to get things done. Life moves quickly, so should you and the game. It takes an eternity to get those light readings done and it doesn't help when you walk like you're in the park for God's sake. Walk faster, and get on with it.

Comments (0)

'Third world' facilities

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/21/2008 in Indian cricket

It all started back in 2001 when Sourav Ganguly got to Steve Waugh's nerves. His simple but effective ways of irritating Waugh (by turning up for the toss late, or wearing the track suit instead of the team blazer for the same) really frustrated Waugh to no end. And by the end of that series Waugh admitted that Ganguly was a tough nut to crack. The foundations for a great rivalry, on and off the field, were laid. Since then each BG series has produced not just fascinating cricket to watch but also quotable quotes to quote and listen to. But while these verbal (or mental) battles were healthy for a brief period of time, the acrimonious Sydney test at the start of this year changed it all.

Since then the remarks from both sides have been either sarcastic, or satiric or clearly insinuating. Kumble quoting a famous quote first uttered by an Australian captain - Bill Woodfull- "There were two teams out there today and one of them was trying to play cricket", after the Sydney test definitely irked the Aussies so much that they were itching to get back at the Indians. Hayden first called Bhajji an "Obnoxious Little Weed" and later apologised. When the Aussies touched Indian shores for the latest series, Ponting was quick to point out that Indians played an outdated version of Test cricket. But the Indians were not going to stay quite either. Sehwag first accused the Aussies of "cheating" in Sydney. Zaheer and even the usually diplomatic Laxman took a dig each at the Aussies' negative approach.

Meanwhile, Gilchrist lambasted Sachin in his autobiography. Symonds did the same to Bhajji in his book. And the most arrogant of them all, Mr Ricky T. Ponting, whose book is the latest to have hit the stands, pulled even Sunny Gavaskar into the murky waters. His arrogance is so profound that he even failed to acknowledge India's gradual ascent in world cricket and labeled Dhoni's men "fit only for T20". Well, maybe, as rightly pointed out by Harbhajan, while Ponting and his men were busy writing their books, Dhoni's men were busy preparing for the upcoming series. The result is there for everyone to see.

I understand its difficult to acknowledge that you are not the best anymore. Especially after being at the summit for such a long period of time as the Aussies have. But comments like "There is so much luck involved in this shortened form of the game; it's not always going to be the best team that wins" or "Teams that are outclassed in five-day matches and even 50-over games are much more competitive in Twenty20. India offer a good example of this", only highlight his arrogance and refusal to admit the truth.

Clearly (and fairly by all means), it was Ponting's team that was thoroughly outclassed in the recent series. And they were also defeated in the 50 over format VB series earlier this year. But Ponting is not the only proud man. Matthew Hayden, as soon as returning to the safe haven Down Under, blamed his team's defeat and failure to meet the over rates on the poor facilities and various distractions caused during games because of India being a third world country. It was no surprise that the remarks generated strongest of reactions from the Indian captain, BCCI personnel and others but none so more than those by Wasim Akram who retorted by terming Australia as being "no more than a village" and India being "hundreds of years ahead of Australia".

Hayden, although, has since clarified that he didn't mean to disrespect the nation and everything. But it made me ponder. Isn't what he said is actually true?

We are a prestigious nation. And we are proud of it. But that doesn't change the fact that we ARE a third world country. A majority of us still live below the poverty line. We are a non-aligned country. And our economy is still developing. But, this is in the literal sense. What about the cricketing sense? Well, we are a third world country even from that perspective. Ironic, isn't it? Considering that the BCCI perhaps has more money than all the other major cricket boards put together. And that is because India is still underdeveloped in terms of cricketing infrastructure.

Hayden had a point when he said that there were invariably, delays and stoppages because people kept moving in front of the sight screens. In this age when even Zimbabwe and Bangladesh have moved to electronically controlled sight screens and score boards, India still persists with manual labor. And that's not it. Even the rollers and pitch covers are pulled on to the ground with six men at tow when mechanical machines are used for the same in the rest of the world. Forget super-soppers, in case of rains, we have numerous children running on to the ground with buckets and sponges in hand to dry the field. The media boxes at most of the venues are pathetic.

I've lost the count of the number of times the television broadcasters have complained to the BCCI about heir expensive equipment getting damaged due to poor facilities at the venues. The venues themselves paint a very sorry picture. The Green Park at Kanpur is a classic example. It looks more like a playground for children rather than a Test centre. The entrance walls are plastered with posters of local political leaders or cheap bhojpuri films. And the street that leads to the stadium smells like cattle feed. And the major venues are no better.

The Chinnaswamy at Bangalore is a sore to the eye with plastic chairs strewn all around at the end of a game. It needs a serious renovation. The Wankhede was a similar case till not too long ago and thankfully its being taken care of now. Most of the venues get ready for a game just hours before the start with some quick stop gap arrangements. Contrast this with the stadia in Australia or England or South Africa and you would have to think that Hayden is right.

Fortunately, there's a silver lining in the form of stadia like the PCA Mohali, or the Eden Gardens, or the brand new stadia at Nagpur and Hyderabad that are truly world class. Even the Motera in Ahmedabad has improved significantly in recent years and is now rated amongst the best in India. The FerozeShah Kotla has been renovated and the Wankhede is undergoing renovation. This shows that the BCCI is at least addressing the issue. But the ODI venues strewn all across the country are still substandard.

Unless the above mentioned problems are addressed at the earliest and sorted out, India will, unfortunately, remain a third world country.

Comments (7)

November 18, 2008

Who's Yuvraj?

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/18/2008 in Indian cricket

Comments (0)

November 14, 2008

Dashing Durani

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/14/2008 in Extras

He is sitting a yard across from me and when the waiter comes to ask him what he would like, I see a bemused look in his rheumy eyes. He is not a frequent flyer and will have to pay for his drink. With not a trace of self consciousness, he asks for the card because he fears the drinks here are expensive. He goes up and down the list agonizing over the various drinks and their exorbitant prices. After much humming and hawing he asks for a small rum with a lot of soda to make it last longer. A few minutes later he says he should not have ordered a drink, and then almost to himself says that we keep making mistakes in life. There was - or am I imaging it – a fleeting shadow of great sadness on that time ravaged face. It still was a very handsome visage.

But that somber moment was soon gone because I narrated a story that quite made his day. This came – as do most of my cricket stories - from my friend Raghunath who played cricket almost good enough to make the Ranji squad. I remember every word of this story though it was narrated a good 24 years back. Fielding for Indian Gymkhana, 1969, Raghu had the privilege of watching Salim Durani at his imperious best. The captain set a field of deep third man, deep point, deep cover point, deep cover….every fielder just yards from the other and yet Durani kept uncorking a series of cuts, square drives and cover drives that left them standing. Word spread that “Durani mood mein hai” and within 30 minutes more than a thousand enthusiasts had come all agog to watch the genius at work! And then I had my first glimpse of this man’s generous nature. He was curious about Raghu, when did he play, was he a left hander too, where is he nowadays…..nothing about his own batting but all curious about the person who had such a nice story on him!

Over the next 45 minutes we covered a variety of topics and cricketers. And each time one saw Durani, generous with praise, large hearted, never a sour word about any player. Sample these:

“Venkat…bahut intelligent cricketer…Engineer tha (and you could see in that hushed tone great respect for that educational qualification)”. “Prasanna…much greater than his contemporaries, I could wait the whole day just to see him beat the batsman with his floater”. “Gavaskar….the finest among all he hated getting out even after making 150.” “Sachin….God made him and said, tu jaa cricket khel…that is genius.” And on a it went, a good word for everyone.

I then ask him to tell me about his own game. And I realize that he has greater pride in his left arm spin than in his batting. It was the only time during the entire conversation that we saw Durani assertive. I could spin the ball anywhere; I used a lot of change of pace; I used to release the ball in a variety of ways; my arm ball would hustle off the pitch….do you know that on the first day of a test match in 1964 on the dead Madras Corporation wicket, I reduced Australia from 99 for no loss to 211 all out? Two years earlier I had Dexter’s England in a whole lot of trouble with my bowling…9 wickets here, 6 wickets there….Durani loved recounting to us his bowling exploits. But he was strangely very modest about his batting. I almost think that even to this day Durani is torn inside by the realization that he did not use his enormous batting skills very sensibly.

I then ask him, how did our tail enders in those days play the fearsome fast bowlers without a helmet and without getting hit. These days even the best batsman keep getting hit on the helmet. Durani’s explanation is all arms and gestures. Those days even the fastest bowlers used swing more than bounce. These days actions are also more suspect (Aha! At last one disparaging word from the gentle genius) but don’t think people did not get hurt. I finished with cricket in 1974 after being felled by a bouncer in a Ranji match. They had to operate on me. And he parts his black hair (dyed or natural?) to show me where the surgeon had to do his stuff.

Our flight has been called. His rum is still half full and he has managed to spend an hour in the company of a fan who cherishes his exploits of 40 years ago. Should we offer to pay for the drink? No we don’t think Durani would like that. As we are getting up in walks Saba Karim, the former India keeper and they greet each other, Salim in fact getting up to clasp a fellow cricketer’s hands. I think Salim has some more good company till his flight is called.

Comments (1)

For the love of the game

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/14/2008 in Extras

The first time I represented my school was when I was 14. I was studying at the time in a boarding school where the cricket team only had one match a year. It was the first time I saw a ball swing and also the first time that my best friend (very fast bowler) would try and knock my head of during practice. When I was a child, I dreamed of being Javagal Srinath, the sole bearer of pace in the Indian teams of the 90's. By the time I was 14, I had to settle for medium pace with a bit of swing and being a handy batsmen. The game we played against another boarding was strange in a way because it was the first time I had played on a matting wicket. We were beaten, and every attempt by our bowlers to intimidate the opposition resulted in a reply somewhere along the lines of "Good ball" after it had flashed past his nose.

The following year we beat them on their home turf in front of 300 of their students and cheerleaders! I hardly played a role in either of these two games, scoring one run of the last ball of the innings in the first and being run out for 2 in the second. The run out was shambolic I might add. I did not get an over in either of these games. When I returned to Mumbai, after changing schools, I was quite shocked at the lack of decent cricketers on our team. I was drafted in as a no.4 batsmen (too high a number for my skills) and the teams opening bowler.

My recent record speaks volumes for what has happened to our team. I have had two golden ducks in successive games after being given the responsibility of the captaincy and have failed to understand why wickets have bounce below my knees. Trying to dig a ball in short and get it above the height of the batsmens chest is virtually impossible. My bowling has not been as bad as my batting but I think cricket is a team sport and my perofrmance should not matter all that much. (Our total in the second games speaks volumes of our batting talent: all out for 103 chasing 170, no.10 was the highest scorer.)

For a lot of people like me, cricket is not all about winning or losing, it's about enjoying the game and so for me scores will not matter. I will try to keep going as captain although my tenure is nearing its end and also will try to keep enjoying the game and not worrying about international cricket. It's the passion in people that drives them toward the game, not entertainment like a Twenty20 match. That will always remain part of me.

Comments (0)

A plan for Tests

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/14/2008 in Extras

What has not been mentioned though is that the timing and arrangement of Test matches in India always seems arranged in a completely ad-hoc and seeming random manner. Let me explain why I bring this up here. Almost all sports all over the planet has fixed routine that lets the fans anticipate their commencement and even perhaps plan their schedules around it. Having lived in the United States for the past half a dozen years, I have come to know that if the leaves are turning colors and the air is cool, it must be time for football. Or if it is October, the New York Yankees are wondering how much more money they have to spend to win some play-off games. The first weekend of February means skiing on Saturday (just a personal tradition) and Super-Bowl on Sunday. March equals college basketball. Similarly, boxing day and I am always scouring for news from the MCG and come NewYear's day it will be Sydney.

In contrast to all of this, the schedules for Test match series in India and without fail decided on only at the eleventh hour, told to the public at eleven thirty while the actual stadium are only readied at 11:50. By that time it is entirely too late or useless to even contemplate trivialities such as the paying fans. Further, we are told there is a rotation system for allotments of matches to grounds in a big country such as India. So why can somebody not publish a schedule which shows for instance that Nagpur hosts a Test match every third year in the second week of November? Or that Mumbai hosts a Test every three years in the first week of December etc?

The point here is that the sporting events mentioned previously are so much better recieved than Test matches in India because it lets followers be part of a tradition. Lets them be part of a fraternity of fellow cricket lovers. More importantly it lets for planning in lives getting ever busier. For instance if the people of Nagpur knew that a Test match will be played every three years on the fourth week on november, I am ready to bet good money that many would arrange to save their vacation time for those days, buy tickets in advance, plan to meet up with friends at the grounds and indeed do show up to watch cricket.

Now, there are some historical reasons behind the ad-hoc cricketing schedule of almost all countries bar England and Australia which first established their cricket seasons and all new comers to Test cricket had to work around it. But surely Indian cricket is now in a position to enforce a well defined season of its own. Now more than ever, when we actually have a team (almost) worth their fat paychecks. More importantly, India being the generator of the greatest share of money in cricket owns the responsibility of nurturing and promoting cricket in all forms including tests at home. A diminishment of Test cricket in India in all likelihood will not be good for the game elsewhere. So will the BCCI please stop wasting its energies fighting the ICL, ECB, CAB or any other organization with a three letter acronym and tell us what games to look forward to for the next couple of years?

Comments (2)

November 13, 2008

Flying high with Sachin

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/13/2008 in Extras

There was a general sense of doom in life for the past few days. Dada is going, Jumbo is gone and Dravid is struggling. These are the guys I grew up watching. (Technically, I was 15 when Dravid and Dada made their debuts, but still.) It was a stark reminder of the end of middle class cricket. Sitting around in a canteen,discussing the latest Sportstar, trading posters, going to National College, Basavangudi grounds and watching Kumble play for Bangalore Cricketers (Circa 1991), I even remember meeting Javagal Srinath, whose sister lives down the road. I was elated when I saw his shirt marquee - Peter England. How typically Jayanagar! Cutting edge Bourgeouis Elegance. So overwhelmingly inclusive it felt.

I have just noticed that my general tendency to meander has caught up with me again. Back to the flight.

I stuffed my arm with newspapers and got in. A quick "Good Morning" to the graceful, middle-aged stewardess was followed by a side step to the right to find my seat, and more importantly, stowage area.

Around this time is when time froze. Sitting right in front. Seat number 1F was Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. I shall not trivialise his greatness (Or make this piece tacky) by using loose adjectives of sobriquets here. He is Tendulkar. I'm sure you get it.

I really didn't want to stare. There were already a few pot-bellied trader type guys who were giggling like 12 year old girls. Sachin, now that I was already 25 seconds into my short peek at him, seemed a lot more, what's the word, pink than he looks on TV.

I was going to warm my behind in 1D! Same row, two seats away from the greatest, God-dest, cricketer ever! (Ok, I said no corny adjectives. I thought God-dest was a nice touch)

I said a quick prayer to ensure no loser makes a grab for the middle seat. I shoved my bags under the seat and looked askance to see if Sachin was checking me out. He wasn't. He was busy signing autographs, but I'm sure he did. You can tell these things.

The steward then put on his best accent and made the safety announcements. I was cursing myself. I really really wish I had taken a bath. Now I wasn't sure if the deo was working. What if Sachin wanted to change his seat? Imagine if he calls the stewardess and tells her, in his warm, endearing, boyish voice " This guy stinks. Give me window on the 30th row". I decided to avoid this scene by aborting my plan to hug him.

Five minutes into the flight, a middle aged guy wearing an ill-fitting Ed Hardy Tee and a wild pair of jeans came to our row and started blabbering in Marathi. I 'm not sure what he was saying, but he used a lot of names and had a wide grin throughout. He was uniformy fawning and utterly deferential.

Imagine the horror on my face, when instead of brushing him off by looking outside the window, (like we do to avoid shelling out change to beggars on trains) Sachin patiently replied in Marathi.

It was all so poetic. The syllables seemed carefully measured and worded. I could make out ("Barobar"- Right, Right) and "Ani"- And. Marathi is a beautiful language, Especially in Sachin's voice.

He signed probably 40 autographs at least in the hour long flight. He even blessed an infant. (I remember the name, I am going to track his progress. He's going to be huge.)

I kept thinking to myself," This guy is seriously polite. If he had no talent and wasn't a cricketer, he would have been a great hotel receptionist. Or a Front Desk executive for Air Deccan. No wonder McGrath could do nothing to him. How dare Gilchrist say all those things about him. Should I ask him something?"

I kept quiet and concentrated on the Economic Times Supplement in my hand throughout, except for the occasional stare with my tongue out. What could I tell him? I know so much about cricket. Why can't I come up with a good line to start the conversation? Maybe if I had a bath I would have been more confident. Then I would definitely have impressed Sachin. Maybe he would have called me his friend. Sigh.

'Accentboy' then announced landing. It was now or never. I swallowed hard. Time to go hell for leather, I thought.

"Excuse me, Sachin. Pradeep here, big fan." (D-uh!)

"Hi Pradeep" (Hand comes out.)

I don't shake well. Too soft sometimes, too hard sometimes. But this time, I just wanted to touch. Ideally, I should have hi-fived Sachin. I high-five well.

"Have you checked out the new stadium before?"

"No, that's why I am going early."

I felt quite kicked. It was a reasonably smart question I thought. Maybe it would have looked smarter if I was a girl. People always think girls don't know cricket.

The aircraft thudded and made a fierce landing at Nagpur airport. For a split second, I thought Maybe I could get to save Sachin's life.

Sachin seemed in a hurry to get out." Excuse me", he said, as he made his way to the aisle to pick up his bags. Why is he requesting me? I would grimace in joy if he stood on me and picked his bags.

I caught him one last time and took his autograph for my little nephew." Good luck Sachin for Nagpur", I said loudly as if I knew him. I tried to get a quick snap, but in my nervousness only caught his right shoulder on his way out.

I made a quick mental note to send a box of sweets to the travel desk for booking me in 1D. I also congratulate Naresh Goyal for discontinuing the Jet flight and pushing us into Jetlite. I salute all airlines with no business class.

I'm glad I did my MBA. I'm glad I joined my organisation. I'm glad they gave me MP state to handle. I'm glad there are no direct flights to Jabalpur and the only way is Nagpur. I'm glad I travelled today and not tomorrow.

I really doubt I'll ever sit side-by-side with my hero again. In case Sachin is reading - It was a pleasure traveling with you. Every single one of us on that flight was destined to have a great day on November 4, 2008. Nothing can go wrong today. And thanks, finally I have a story to pick up chicks with.

PS - I really wish I was less emotional about the whole thing, But it's Sachin Tendulkar. I'm sure you understand.

Comments (34)

November 12, 2008

In praise of Ishant Sharma

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/12/2008 in Indian cricket

Comments (7)

A call for more cricket

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/12/2008 in Extras

Comments (2)

Gambhir is only partly correct

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/12/2008 in Extras

Comments (2)

Sledging 101

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/12/2008 in Extras

When the Indian team complained about an Aussie player calling them 'bastards' during 'Bhajjigate', it first seemed like a bad joke, a distasteful tit-for-tat manoeuvre. But when you think about it, any derogatory remark about parents or spouses is quite offensive to people from India, particularly when it comes from people they don't know or like. I can't imagine going to someone like Kumble and questioning his parentage without feeling like I've done something very, very bad.

But Gambhir gets suspended because he took things to 'another level'. Why should the Western definition of 'another level' be addressed but not the Eastern one? The Aussies baiting of Gambhir till something had to give reminds me of Samuel L. Jackson smirking in the movie Shaft: 'Oh there you go, you just touched me! That's assaulting a police officer. You're under arrest'. (OK, I just admitted to watching the Shaft remake but let's not go there.) So which side is right? Who is stuck up and needs to lighten up? Does it matter? I don't blame the Aussie players, they are playing by the rules. It is just that the rules suit them more than others.

I believe the ICC Code of Conduct - Spirit of Cricket-whatever thingy needs to be overhauled to represent the sensitivities of all the cultures represented in the game. But this cannot work in a one-size-fits-all manner. For example a ban on the word 'bastard' will result in the entire Aussie team being suspended. Nope, there need to be very clear cut and customized rules for what one set of people can say to another.

Here are two that I can think of, would love to see more suggestions. 1. Never call a black man a monkey, especially if you are not black. Go ahead and call an Indian one, he will probably take that to be a comparison to the god Hanuman, and will then buy you a bottle of scotch, after having hit a century/ taken a five-for. (If he looks angry, repeat to make sure he doesn't think you're talking about his mother.) 2. Never physically touch Aussie players. But feel free to discuss the sexual exploits of their wives and /or parents, just make sure they are cancer-free.

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November 11, 2008

Celebrating Rahul Dravid

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/11/2008 in Extras

I used to joke that only 2 people in India knew when to quit at the top of their game, Gavaskar and Sonia Gandhi, and was sure Dravid would be an addition to that list. As I write this piece Dravid has played possibly his last Test innings (3 off 14 after a second ball duck to Jason Krezja-). In the 25 test matches since that Jamaica masterpiece he has averaged half his earlier career average of 58, has been dropped from the one day side, and will hopefully go before he is shoved from the Test team.

He has endured misery in the 2007 World Cup and humiliation in the IPL, and gave up the captaincy abruptly to the great benefit of thousands of conspiracy theorists. Well, you know what, I actually blame myself for this. We hear sportsmen are superstitious, but very little has been written about the superstition of sports fans. When I moved into my apartment in Bangalore in August 2002, the first Test match I watched was the Headingley one, where Dravid's masterful 148 led India to victory. The Jamaica Test mentioned earlier was the last match I saw in that apartment.

My new house is nice, but unlucky for Dravid The aim of this piece is not to bemoan his fate , or to urge him to go, but simply to celebrate the greatest match winner (batsman) India has ever produced. Before you sharpen your knives, read the phrase again 'match winner'.

From the start of the Ganguly era through till that Jamaica game in 2006, Dravid averaged 96 runs an innings in the 17 matches India won. It gets better - he averaged 108 in the 7 overseas wins in that period, 111 in the 12 wins under Saurav Ganguly, and played masterpieces such as his double hundreds in Adelaide and Rawalpindi, 2 hundreds in the same game at Calcutta, the 148 on a Headingley green top and that epic partnership with VVS in THAT match in Calcutta in 2001. Just by comparison Sachin averaged 55 in that same period in India wins and 52 in wins under Saurav. Almost every major overseas win in that period seemed to be shaped by Dravid. That doesn't necessarily mean that he was a better batsman than Sachin, simply one whose performances meant more.

I read an article by Salim Yousuf on Gavaskar's epic knock of 96 at Bangalore in 1986. Yousuf was the Pakistani wicketkeeper who scored the second highest score in that match (45 not out) - and he mentioned "I batted despite the pitch, played my natural game and took risks, while Sunny played the perfect game for that pitch." So while a Sachin backed himself to hit Shane Warne over deep mid wicket, even if was bowling leg spinners into the rough from around the wicket, VVS would hit a sharply turning leg break over cover, and follow up with a flick over midwicket from an identical ball, and Saurav would back himself to beat the most populous off side cordon, Dravid would play in a risk free fashion - with a perfect technique.

A Sanjay Bangar watching Dravid at the other end at Headingley, would probably feel that he could try to play the same way as Dravid. However watching Sachin collar a perfectly good ball over extra cover, would probably leave him awestruck. Dravid has the record for the maximum number of 100 partnerships, and it is my theory that a lot of it has to do with the way he bats.

I also felt Dravid was a lucky cricketer. His 233 in Adelaide was backed up by the most unlikely bowling performance from Ajit Agarkar, when he scored 180 at Calcutta in that partnership with VVS, Harbhajan Singh and Sachin Tendulkar bowled the Aussies out in the last session, Kumble won India the Calcutta test against Pakistan, after Dravid had scored hundreds in both innings ( and Dinesh Karthik's 93 too).

In contrast, Tendulkar has often been a tragic hero. An epic 100 at Madras against Pakistan was wasted by India's spineless lower order, when the 4 of them couldn't muster 15 runs between them, and many of his best innings have been lone hands. We have lost more matches than we have won when Sachin has scored a hundred.

As captain, Dravid was probably a disappointment. I thought he would bring his obviously immense cricketing acumen to the captaincy, and his start in one day cricket was encouraging. He was the only captain who knew how to use power plays and super subs- and he was willing to be adaptable - The one day series against Pakistan was won 4-1 without a single over of spin being bowled, for instance.

Funnily though, I have always felt that the conventional wisdom of Dravid's captaincy was completely off the mark. We have often heard that Dravid was a 'weak and defensive' captain. I felt it was his endeavour to be strong and aggressive that actually cost India. Would Saurav Ganguly really have declared when Sachin was on 194? Would a defensive captain have gone in with a 5 man bowling attack and put the England in at Bombay when all India needed was a draw? What about that audacious attempt to steal the Nagpur Test against England at the end? I felt Dravid's biggest failure as a captain was not being able to figure out when to be defensive.

And finally Rahul Dravid, the man. There is so much speculation and guessing we do based on things we see on the field, but you often hear the words 'A perfect gentleman' said about Dravid. I will only go by what I have heard directly, and a couple of things come to mind. Firstly his practice at the end of every series to specifically thank the opposing captains and team, for either their hospitality (or their visit as the case may be), and secondly his reaction to how he felt about being dropped from the one day side early in his career. In an interview with Rajdeep Sardesai he said "A lot of people did come and say to me that I deserved to be in the side, but I knew that I had to improve my all round game."

Unfortunately in inane diatribes about 'New India' , we seem to feel that innate decency conflicts with the willingness to win and determination. Ask the bowlers who tried to get Dravid out in his pomp, whether his was a soft wicket. He may not have been much of a sledger, but the bowlers knew that they were in for a hard grind when Dravid was around.

Dravid will not end his career with the record for the maximum matches, runs, centuries or even catches. His departure will be quiet, overshadowed by Saurav Ganguly and the exultation following the series win. People in Bangalore have never stopped trains or burnt effigies in his support. He may still have the contractual obligation to tolerate the idiosyncrasies of Vijay Mallaya and Ray Jennings. However, he will leave the game as India's greatest match winner with the bat and conclusively proved that good guys don't necessarily finish last.

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Twenty20 or Tests?

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/11/2008 in Extras

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Ponting's failure

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/11/2008 in Australian Cricket

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How the mighty were felled

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/11/2008 in Indian cricket

India lost the plot at times during this series, particularly in the field, and undid the hard work their bowlers put in. Ishant Sharma was a worthy man of the series as he was yards ahead of the rest. He bowled manfully and was a constant threat, unlike Zaheer who floundered on the increasingly highway-like pitches, and has now established himself as a world class opening bowler.

India's big problem this series was their inconsistency. They dropped off when they could have had the foot on the throat, and they only barely escaped from threatening situations due to the Australian team's ineptitude, case points being Bangalore and the final Test at Nagpur. Gautum Gambhir and Virender Sehwag batted well on tracks that allowed the ball to scream hit me. As did the middle order at times, although Laxman was clearly the standout. Dhoni had his moments and the tail provided some spunk. Everything clicked at least once during the series.

As for Australia, well, only Mike Hussey came away with his reputation enhanced, with Simon Katich probably not far behind him. All the other batsmen had a touch-and-go series. Ponting himself made a century at Bangalore and then seemed to struggle as Ishant and Harbajan continued to expose his weakness against the ball that moves back in. Clarke had a woeful tour. He fell at critical times and was a shadow of the player that made his presence known here four years ago. His century at Delhi secured the draw but he never really asserted himself. Neither did the dominating Hayden, who struggled for form following a long injury lay off. His 77 was a grand gesture however and gave India a fright on the final day.

The remaining players had brief moments that provided little in the end to write home about. Brad Haddin struggled. He had four starts during the series and failed to convert every single one of them into a fifty or century. His glove work was at times rusty and he comes across inexperienced in unfamiliar conditions. Watson was a real conundrum. A player of genuine talent, he was thrust into this tour following the ridiculous dropping of Andrew Symonds and was real hit and miss. He managed a defiant 78 in Mohali as his team crumbled around him, but he achieved better results with the ball, being by a long way the best of the Australian pace men with 10 wickets at 32.10, with a best of 4/42 that gave Australia the slightest of hopes in the final Test.

Australia's biggest problem was their bowling, which never really looked like taking 20 wickets. Their biggest mistake was picking Cameron White, who himself rarely bowls at first class level in deference to Bryce McGain. White never looked threatening and his value with the bat was minuscule at best to compensate for the lack of penetration. The pace attack also floundered. Lee should never have gone on tour. He was never in the right frame of mind and lacked rhythm. Stuart Clark was the only one of the bowlers to keep the batsmen in check, but at the same he wasn't able to penetrate.

Don't get me started on Johnson. I am firmly convinced he should not be playing Test cricket. He was erratic and never looked threatening with a new ball, due to the fact he couldn't swing it to save his life. How he continues to play at the expense of Bollinger or Siddle bemuse me, as they are both far superior bowlers to Johnson. Siddle did little in his test debut but it was a tough ask bowling to strong batting lineup on a pitch so flat my grandmother could have scored a century on it. His time will come, he has the talent. Krejza is yet to discover his worth, despite an epic 12 wickets in his debut test. He needs to lower his economy rates and keep getting picked. He may be the player we were searching for.

Australia has some deep soul searching ahead of a tough 12 months on their cricket calendar. India too must address some problems within their makeup, such as their inconsistency, the loss of several old hands (Dravid is on borrowed time, but luckily they have the impressive Vijay to take his spot if needed) and a tendency to get defensive when they have a series lead. India are still a strong side and the better side during this series, but a lot more work is needed if they are to overtake Australia as the number one nation.

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November 4, 2008

A new formula for Test cricket

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/04/2008 in Extras

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November 3, 2008

Who's next?

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

Well, it can, as it is proven here. And so who's next to quit? Rather, who next for the media to target? Well, this is not even a 1 dollar question and the answer is obvious. 'The Wall' cracking brick by brick, 'The Wall' crumbling, feeling the pinch, the only one of Fab 4 who has not fired, and so on. A lot is written about him, a lot is being discussed about him, and I am pretty sure a LOT is going through his mind. Otherwise, you don't see him miss a straight ball and get castled (2nd innings, Delhi).

As experts say, it is tough to score when you're not in a relaxed frame of mind. So, will he be back in runs in a new stadium, a new pitch, and significantly in his wife's city where he averages 65+? I don't know. But, all I can say is he is one big innings away from finding his touch. When I say 'BIG', I mean a 100+ score.

The upcoming Nagpur test will be remembered for events like Dada's last test, Laxman's 100th test, Dhoni's first as official captain, India regaining the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Harbhajan's 300th test wicket (on 299 now), the Fab Four playing together for one last time and Kumble being with the team for the last time (maybe to lift the trophy). But, this could also be a last for the man I am talking about it. Will he call it quits if he fails twice in the next test? Should he? Does he still have something to offer to Indian cricket?

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It's all about wickets

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

Kumble's very style of bowling revolves around NOT turning the ball big; it is not highly relevant whether it was motivated by a relative inability or was by design. I have not played cricket at any serious competitive level but through years of watching the game intently - and also watching the master in action through the years - I have stumbled upon what I think is a good example to demonstrate not only the effectiveness of Kumble's style but also how incredibly difficult it is to emulate it.

Hold the ball seam-up and aim to hit the middle stump off a full length at moderate pace. Two, repeat One. Three, get the ball to bounce a few centimeters closer to the offside than where it pitched previously. Four, now repeat One through to Three with leg-breaks! As hard as turning the ball a long way is, it is even harder to achieve pinpoint precision and near-absolute control over how you want to bowl the ball. This is exactly what Kumble achieved and repeated over 18 years and over long spells, relentlessly building pressure on those at the receiving end.

For, while Kumble knew exactly what he wanted to do, the batsman would have no way of reading his mind. He might be able to pick him off the hand and spot the googly before it was bowled, but how would he be able to foresee extremely subtle variations in line, length and pace? Combine this with fastish pace and the ability to generate disconcerting bounce almost at will, seemingly like a fast bowler bending his back and it is easy to see what a hard time batsmen must have had at the crease when facing Kumble.

This is why, for all the video-analysis that batsmen must surely have done to deconstruct Kumble and for all the fool-proof theories that were thought up time and again to counter Kumble - the most popular being to play him like a medium-pacer - he was as effective and successful as he had always been right up to the India-Australia series played in Australia earlier this year. And that's not all. He combined an indefatigable body with a brilliant cricketing brain and used his lethal accuracy to work batsmen into an inextricable position which would seal their doom before long.

The flipper would trap them plumb when they launched into an extravagant sweep and a startlingly slow, flighted one would catch them groping from too far back inside the crease. To this fan of chess, Kumble's bowling was the closest you could get to a marriage of chess and cricket. Ironically, it was his fast-bowling contemporary and towering legend Glenn McGrath who came closest to emulating Kumble's approach, although in his own inimitable way. This unfortunately feeds the cliche but it is also interesting to note the similarity in the approach of two of the most effective bowlers of their time.

Before I conclude my humble tribute, perhaps the greatest testimonial one can offer to Kumble's achievements is the way the masses, as opposed to the purists, viewed him. The masses did not fail to perceive the 'lack' of spectacular turn in his bowling but on the other hand, they, unlike purists, were obsessed with results rather than aesthetics. Therefore, Kumble's effectiveness was not lost on them, which was largely glossed over by purists until his 24 wicket haul in Australia in 2003-04 forced them to sit up and take notice.

Much like the hope of a Sachin special would be expressed when India faced a daunting target, the hope that Kumble would run through the opposition would be expressed when India had to defend a low total on a crumbling wicket. Long before Kumble's indispensability to the Indian cricket team was recognized by experts as equal to or more than Sachin's, the Indian cricket-loving public had already understood how crucial he was to the team's fortunes though they may not have spelt it out in write-ups with copious words.

Like the man himself has put it so eloquently, it's all about wickets at the end of the day and in the wicket-taking sweepstakes, Kumble towers over all but two bowlers in the history of Test cricket.

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The Gentlemanly Sportsman

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

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The 5th element

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

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Goodbye Jumbo

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

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The Jumbo has landed

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/03/2008 in Indian cricket

Even as the rest of the Indian batsmen got out or gave their wickets away, he stood their at one end determined to fight it out till the end. With his limited technique he defied the Aussies, focussed on playing out every ball and taking India closer to safety. However as fate would have it, with just five minutes to go three wickets fell in one over leading to the defeat. How much it would have hurt the man is for anybody to guess.

And then with the whole Indian and Australian press waiting for his sound bytes after the most controversial Test of our times, he kept his cool and came up with one single statement which said more than a five minute speech would have.

Determination, commitment, composure and dignity are words which cannot be strung together to define any other sportsman better than him. Not many Indian cricketers have left the game on their own terms, but then the timing of Kumble's departure has been spot on, much like his deliveries.

Never once has he given less than 100% on the field and the moment he's recognized that there were factors beyond his control which would not allow him to do so, he's stepped down. Memory doesn't serve up any names of Indians who have retired as captains and he definitely deserves to have done so.

There are two kinds of great players. There are those whose very presence lights up the arena and then there are those whose absence speaks more about their contributions. India have been lucky enough to have one of each kind play in the same era.

It is only fitting that he should have been carried on the shoulders of his team mates on his farewell lap, on the ground which has been lucky enough to witness the great man at his best, time and again. Goodbye Jumbo, and thanks for all the wickets.

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November 1, 2008

ICL v IPL

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/01/2008 in World cricket

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They too played for India

Posted by Cricinfo - on 11/01/2008 in Indian cricket

But then you pause and ask yourself, wont they feel happy that at least they played a test while many of their colleagues were not even that lucky? Would not those dozen other players have given their right arm to have played just once for India? Who do you think is more unlucky? Whom do you think did fate treat more cavalierly? Whose was the greater chagrin? Who is the more unrequited player? Is it the ‘one test’ player for whom the door to Shangri-La was opened tantalizingly briefly only to be shut in his face? Or is it the player who waited 10, 15 even 20 years in vain for the door to open so that he could just have a glimpse of Shangri-La?

And I start listing in my mind cricketers who ended their careers never having played for India but were perhaps just a selector’s vote away from eternal glory. Rajinder Goel, Padmakar Shivalkar, Amarjit Kaypee, Bhaskar Pillai, Hari Gidwani, Michael Dalvi, V Sivaramakrishnan, Satwender Singh, Kanwaljit Singh, Pandurang Salgaoncar ... the list seems endless. Their records and their performances were no less than that of their contemporaries who played for India. It just seemed they were not destined to wear India colours. It takes us just a couple of players’ stories to understand that it is often just a hair’s breadth between fame and obscurity.

Let me begin with a batsman from the North, Hari Gidwani who did so much in Varsity cricket that he was touted as a sure shot test batsman. It is the winter of 1974 and West Indies have come to India to play 5 tests. India has just received the drubbing of their lifetime in England (remember we were shot out for 42 at Lords?) and the team is in complete disarray. Things worsen as Lloyd’s men pulverize India in the first two tests. 0-2 down and three tests to go; Indian selectors patience with the regular players is running out. Batting places are up for grabs and the selectors are ready to take risks. And so it is in this scenario that Gidwani plays for Combined Universities against the touring West Indians. It is clear that if Gidwani scores runs in this game he would walk into the test team for the third test. But Gidwani fails in this match. Instead, a dour, bespectacled batsman from M S University Baroda less gifted than Gidwani but who hated to give his wicket away scores runs and grabs that batting spot in the Indian team. He proceeds to play for India with some if not remarkable distinction over the next 10 years. That stodgy batsman was Anshuman Gaekwad. Gidwani, well he never got a look–in again. He kept playing for Delhi and scoring runs; he went to Bihar and again piled up tons of runs for them; he scored almost every time he went to bat. But he never played for India. Does he agonize over what might have been? Can one game, one ball, one error decide your fate so irrevocably. For Hari Gidwani it did.

My next story is about Padmakar Shivalkar and Rajinder Goel. Between 1960 and 1980 India had 4 left arm spinners, any of whom would have walked into any test side in the world except India. Except India, because this was the period when Bishen Bedi played for India. All four were test match material but there was only place in the Indian team for a left arm spinner. Padmakar Shivalkar plugged away relentlessly and remorselessly for Mumbai in Ranji Trophy and was the most crucial cog in their bowling wheel. And Rajinder Goel did identical duty for Delhi and Haryana. Over after over, season after season, from their teens, into their prime, and then into their late thirties, age catching up, shoulders getting sore, they toiled on. How strong must their will have been? How much must they have loved this game? How stoic and accepting must they have been? Knowing that the peerless Bedi could never be toppled from his perch they plugged away. Devastating and lethal on turning wickets, brave and skillful on heartless wickets they epitomized what cricket and team games are all about. What these two remarkable cricketers demonstrated over decades was a rare equilibrium and tranquility combined with limitless self confidence in their abilities.

It is quite the fashion these days to create “All time Great XI” or “The Best XI test players of my generation” but I think we would gladden the hearts of these wonderful but unlucky warriors if we could create the Best XI from among players who did not play for India. And if you set them up against an Indian XI they will make a real good fist of it. Of that I am sure.

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