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February 29, 2008
Posted on 02/29/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
India's tour of Australia may have produced the most riveting cricket in recent times, but it has also spewed venom, anger, even hatred, thereby making it deserving enough to put it in a leaky time capsule and bury it deep somewhere, writes Harsha Bhogle in the Indian Express. Matthew Hayden's 'obnoxious weed' comment on Harbhajan Singh and MS Dhoni's suggestion that youngsters need to learn the art of sledging doesn't do the game any credit. He calls on the ICC to step forward and just ban sledging.
And yet, unwittingly, Hayden may have done us a favour for he has surely taken the game closer to the “zero-tolerance” on sledging that the ICC so happily endorsed last week. It can no longer remain on the agenda, it can no longer require another meeting to endorse. It must be done today. Cricket is on the path to hatred and the ICC needs to pull it back now.
Posted on 02/29/2008 in Miscellaneous
There aren't too many cricketing memories to list under February 29, Leap Day. But for Kenya and (West Indies) it's a day they won't forget any time soon. Mid-Day's sports editor Clayton Murzello remembers when he was assigned to cover the World Cup game 12 years ago.
In the press box, the Kenyans were willed on by a new set of fans — greenhorns and veteran scribes. At the pavilion end, a group of Kenyan students joined the build-up to one of cricket’s biggest upsets. The organisers had thrown open the gates for the second half of the match.
Odumbe led the charge and sent back Chanderpaul, Adams and Roger Harper. Rajab had not finished for the day. Cuffy became his third victim, the last wicket to fall.
Suddenly, the atmosphere was electric. The Kenyans leapt, ran and yelled in ecstasy. If India beating the West Indies in the 1983 World Cup final was a shocker, this was another one which proved sport has little respect for reputation.
Murzello also interviews Leap Day-born Australian cricketer Gavin Stevens.
Posted on 02/29/2008 in Australian cricket
Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald the “moment of decision has come” for Australia and India.
These two cricketing nations must find a way to live together and play against each other without creating these foolish disturbances. A choice must be made. There are only two viable positions: either everything goes or nothing goes.
The Age reports on the reaction to Matthew Hayden’s “obnoxious weed” comments in India and Peter Hanlon looks at the end of an embittered summer.
However, Mark Taylor, speaking to the Daily Telegraph, says this season has been the best he has witnessed as a commentator.
"You'd have to go back to those West Indies days of the late '80s and early '90s where there was fierce competition and also a fair bit of animosity to match the same intense rivalry today."
February 28, 2008
Posted on 02/28/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
Why did Hayden do it? Kadambari Murali has her say in the Hindustan Times.
There was no earthly reason for a smart, experienced player like Hayden to make obnoxious comments on public radio about an Indian player or make fun of another. If you hear the show, you’ll hear him trying to mimic Ishant Sharma’s accent and manner of speaking and given the current atmosphere, that isn’t fun and games, it’s racial. Period.
David Hopps, of the Guardian, believes 'remorseless Hayden revels in bad reputation.'
It is striking behaviour from a man who talks regularly about himself as a committed Christian; presumably more fundamentalist than pacifist. He has just won an award as Australia's best one-day player of the year. His outburst has received predictable approval from many Australian sports fans on web forums.
..He revels in his reputation as Australia's most unforgiving on-field sledger - many England players privately view him as a loudmouthed bully - and now it seems that he intends to rubbish some opponents off the field as well as on it.
Posted on 02/28/2008 in Indian Cricket
'Agent-sharks and youngsters with 'attitood' have queered the pitch for India's promising cricketers,' writes Dileep Premachandran in his Guardian blog.
It was a mundane party in the middle of another nondescript one-day series, and the conversation was inanity itself. A young man who had played for India for a couple of seasons was part of our group, and speaking shyly about his chances of playing in the final that weekend. Out of nowhere, his agent stepped in and caught his eye. "I've got two girls arranged at an apartment," he said, oblivious of the fact that there were at least four others listening in. The player's face went pale, and he was quiet for a good few seconds. "Come on, let's go," said the agent. The player was hardly the picture of enthusiasm, and pointing to his India blazer, he said: "I can't come wearing this."
The agent just laughed. "Don't worry, I've got a change of clothes for you in the car," he said. And that was that. Within five minutes, the two of them had left. The player did little of note in a final that India lost miserably, and it's fair to say that his on-off career has hardly scaled any great heights in the half-decade since he was whisked off into the night.
Posted on 02/28/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
In the Hindustan Times Pradeep Magazine writes that Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the "new Ganguly of Indian cricket."
He did not want seniors in the team and stuck to his guns, much to the chagrin of many. For many, former captain Sourav Ganguly is his mentor. Yet when it came to what he thought was the future of his team, he shunted him out. Today, after the openers' failures, is he missing the presence of Ganguly? Going by what one can read of the man, certainly not. He would rather lose, backing his gameplan than compromise on what he believes is the way ahead.
In many ways, he is the new Ganguly of Indian cricket. May be much calmer from the outside, but someone who is going to be there for those on whom he has faith. Ganguly, through his steadfast support to those who were talented and his aggressive approach, transformed the Indian team.
R Kaushik, writing in the Deccan Herald, dwells on the rapid rise of Dhoni.
Superstars aren't shown the door; time waits for them to call it quits, however belated that might be. To go against the grain, therefore, and insist on the blooding of youth at the expense of some of the biggest names to have graced the cricket firmament called for not just immense conviction, but also great courage. To the cynical several, Dhoni’s successful push for the infusion of young blood was a pointer to his rapidly growing clout within the establishment.
Posted on 02/28/2008 in India in Australia, 2007-08
R Kaushik, of the Deccan Herald, writes that "From a very early age, Tendulkar worked out that the best way to silence criticism was to score runs. Not even 18 years of non-stop adulation bordering on worship has spoilt Tendulkar."
February 27, 2008
Posted on 02/27/2008 in Australian cricket
Malcolm Conn writes in the Australian the country's players are frustrated with Cricket Australia over its lack of support through a regularly heated campaign against India. The latest incident came when Matthew Hayden was reprimanded for calling Harbhajan Singh an “obnoxious weed”.
The players are annoyed that Cricket Australia continues to kowtow to a constantly threatening and whining Board of Control for Cricket in India despite India maintaining its reputation as the worst behaved team in the world.
Posted on 02/27/2008 in New Zealand cricket
Mike Selvey in his blog on The Guardian website ponders Jesse Ryder, a man locals describe as an accident waiting to happen.
Ryder, the fat boy made good in a sport where the levels of fitness required are now considerable, became an instant hero. A Test place beckoned for he played the ball late, technically better than a mere beefy biffer. A bit like Marcus Trescothick thought some. Then, in the Stock Exchange bar in Christchurch, he blew it.
On Monday, Ryder was paraded for the media, arm heavily in a sling, and the sight of his sad, bloated face mumbling out his prepared statement of contrition was genuinely one of pathos. Clearly he was embarrassed, although it was hard to tell if this was because of the deed or the public exposure.
Ryder drinks heavily after games but does so beforehand too. I asked one player about a report I'd heard that he was knocking back tequila slammers in the early hours before a Twenty20 international, and was told that this was the tip of the iceberg and by no means a one-off.
As might any young person who feels the need to drink to excess, often alone, into the small hours, Ryder needs help more than condemnation. This is not to suggest that efforts have not been made, because the cricket authorities of both Central Districts and Wellington have sought to help him, but he has not responded
Posted on 02/27/2008 in West Indies cricket
Antigua’s Recreation Ground was host to some of international cricket’s classic moments, from Brian Lara’s 400 to Viv Richard’s brutal 56-ball hundred. But now it lies forgotten and forlorn, a victim of the obsession with building new, largely characterless, stadiums for last year’s World Cup.
In the Daily Telegraph, Nick Hoult visited the ARG.
The once famous ground is now only used for local football matches, and even hosted a state funeral two weeks ago. The outfield is overgrown and the centre circle cuts across the pitch on which Lara twice set the record for the highest ever Test innings.
It is ironic that the construction of the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium has robbed the ARC of international cricket. The groundstaff for many years were inmates from the local jail, where Viv's father Malcolm was a warden.
Posted on 02/27/2008 in Miscellaneous
Dale Steyn talks of his form over the last year, of Morne Morkel's Twenty20 World Cup performance and his plans to go fishing in Chittagong in this interview with the Dhaka-based Daily Star.
There are always other guys coming through, other bowlers like Morne Morkel who basically does the same thing as me … bowls fast. You can never think that your spot is guaranteed. It's good to have pressure from underneath, knowing that there is someone who can take your place.
Posted on 02/27/2008 in Pakistan cricket
Saad Shafqat writes in the Pakistan daily, Dawn that it makes no sense for Australia to single out Pakistan as a country they are unwilling to tour for security reasons. Since 9/11 Australia are the only team not to visit Pakistan.
The reality behind the canard of safety and security is that Australia have never liked coming here to begin with. Cricket may be a global family, but Pakistan is its poor relative, living in a poor, rough neighbourhood. As with any poor neighbourhood, the place struggles with its reputation. So rich relatives like Australia, nestled in material comforts and stable circumstances, have been loath to visit.
Pick any cricket autobiography from Australia, New Zealand or England, and it will make a point to complain about the drudgery of touring Pakistan. The playing conditions are alien, and there are no bars or nightlife to liven up the evenings. That the cricket can provide intense and satisfying competition doesn’t seem to enter the equation.
February 26, 2008
Posted on 02/26/2008 in Australian cricket
Ricky Ponting’s wife showed off her baby bump as the partners of Australia’s players had their moment on the red carpet at the Allan Border Medal. For the lowdown on the WAGs go here and take a look at our photo gallery. A report on Brett Lee’s medal win is here.
Posted on 02/26/2008 in Australian cricket
Two of New South Wales’ brightest young players have come a long way since Moises Henriques Mankaded Usman Khawaja in the first game they played together. In the Sydney Morning Herald Andrew Stevenson takes a look at the duo’s development, which peaked with a dramatic 90-run partnership against Victoria.
The 21-year-olds - Khawaja was born in Pakistan and Henriques in Portugal - might be an emblematic pair showing off a new face of Australian cricket. They might be great mates who've known each other since they were 10, who've played junior cricket together for Australia and who share a burning ambition to wear the baggy green. But not all the history is good.
"We didn't get along too well to start off," Henriques says in masterly understatement. "The first game we played against each other 'Ussie' kept backing up two or three metres as I was bowling, so, not really knowing the rules, I Mankaded him and he was given out."
Khawaja, who went into the match with two centuries under his belt, didn't say much - and not just because he's too well brought up. "I think he was crying," Henriques says. "Yeah, there might have been something like that," admits Khawaja, who still has a video of the incident. Friendship came soon after.
Posted on 02/26/2008 in Indian Premier League
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The world's rushing to India
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In the past week we've just watched the cricketing world being turned topsy-turvy in front of our eyes, says Paran Balakrishnan in the New Zealand Herald.
Once upon a time the greatest dream of any Indian cricketer was to spend the summer playing with an English county team, getting a taste of pace bowling and walking on the field with big hitters from around the world.
Now many of the world's top cricketers will be picking up their kit and converging on the subcontinent for 45 days a year. They'll brave the Indian summer and the other attendant dangers of living in this part of the world, like the much-feared Delhi Belly. They'll learn to drink only bottled water and avoid raw food if they want to stay healthy - yep, that means no salads.
Balakrishnan highlights the influence of Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president and the IPL's chairman and commissioner.
Modi brought together an unbeatable combination of India's two loves - movies and cricket. So you had movie superstar Shah Rukh Khan as a team owner bidding for cricketers like India's one-day captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni.
Posted on 02/26/2008 in IPL
The impact that the IPL will have on the game is being debated in depth since last week's player auction. Opinions vary from mild concern to a complete breakdown of cricket as we know it. In The Times, Christopher Martin-Jenkins says there is a threat to Test cricket if the Twenty20 machine isn't carefully managed but it should be possible to strike a balance.
There are exciting aspects to the IPL, of course, especially for the lucky few players involved. Twenty20 is still cricket, after all, and the game has always had to keep up with social trends to remain vibrant. But too much will breed contempt. The new beast can still be controlled. The primacy of international cricket, and especially of Test cricket (albeit probably played over four days rather than five), is worth fighting for.
February 25, 2008
Posted on 02/25/2008 in Indian Premier League
According to an editorial in the Business Standard, the IPL is a safe bet for the team franchises and the real test would be for the broadcasters.
The real risk has been taken by the TV company that has committed a little over a billion dollars for TV rights over the next decade. Over the same 10 years, the team owners will get their lion’s share of TV sponsorship fees (80 per cent for the first five years, 60 per cent for the next five) and the title sponsorship fee (60 per cent) which is to be paid by DLF. Each team owner therefore stands to get a guaranteed share of between $80 million and $100 million over 10 years — which makes the teams themselves virtually free for some of the less ambitious bidders (even the highest team bid, by Mukesh Ambani, was for $111.9 million). The team owners also get access to all on-ground and local revenues as well as the obvious branding opportunities, all of which taken together should be comfortably enough to pay the players’ fees (a total of between $3 million and $5 million per team). After 10 years, team ownership is there in perpetuity without any further charges. So what might have seemed like a flaky play by movie stars and cash-rich businessmen is in fact a pretty safe bet.
Subir Gokarn, writing in the Business Standard, dwells on the Indian Premier League and its possible ramifications to the game of cricket as we know.
The main threat comes from the duration of the league and the density of the scheduling. Forty-four days may be a good starting point, but can hardly become a permanent timeframe. The franchise will have to be expanded to at least twice the current number of teams over the next couple of years and the frequency of games will have to be reduced to mitigate viewer fatigue. Realistically, this means at least a four to five-month season every year, which will both eat into the domestic schedules for many countries and reduce the time available for the international calendar, which is set up by the International Cricket Conference several years in advance. If the IPL is to work financially, it cannot but challenge the ICC’s international schedule.
Alokananda Chakraborty, of the Financial Express, believes the IPL will bring back the magic of television.
Writing in the Mint, Ramesh Ramanathan believes the real transformational change in India’s debate on a market-based economy didn’t announce itself on the front page of politics or economics, but sneaked in last week through the back door of the sports pages.
“The untold story is how an opaque monopolist such as BCCI was forced to respond by the competitive threat created by Subash Chandra’s ICL (Indian Cricket League).”
Wait until the tournaments actually start. Imagine the Kolkata cricket team and what it’s going to do to the political debate in that state in the coming years: The aam aadmi lining up to watch his city team promoted by a Bollywood badshah, funded by market capital, featuring marquee players from across the world, and undertaking a daily mark-to-market on Sourav Ganguly. A thousand Montek Ahluwalias couldn’t have managed to pull this off in a 100 years, bringing the common man into the complicated conversation on markets and society.
Srinivasan Ramani, writing in the Post, says the IPL is as skewed as the system. He compares it with the "well-oiled structures" of club-based sports in USA, Spain and Japan.
Posted on 02/25/2008 in Indian Cricket
Sanjay Manjrekar lists Tendulkar's statistics when chasing and wonders why "no one wants to talk about Sachin's failures." Read the piece in the Times of India.
In the last 51 One-day internationals, Tendulkar’s batting average when he bats first is 62.10 in 24 innings. In contrast when he bats second, it’s 26.00 in 27 innings. After a brilliant Test series, it’s not so much his form in this One-day series that is the concern but his contribution, at that crucial opening position when India is set bigger targets to chase. If you look at it, it’s a simple batting issue that the maestro along with the team management should professionally address.
But with Tendulkar, it’s like the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about.
Asking Tendulkar to bat down the order could help India do better, writes Peter Roebuck in Mumbai-based Mid-Day.
Whereas most batsmen move their back foot across their stumps and into line, he gives himself room to play off-side strokes by leaving his right leg in its original perch. That makes him vulnerable to break-backers.
As a result, Tendulkar has been dismissed clean bowled and leg before a remarkable number of times. Often he finds himself forced to play across the ball. His front leg obstructs his bat and causes him to miss deliveries darting back. In his pomp he could adjust his shot and flick the ball away with a late roll of the wrist reminiscent of Viv Richards. But his peak has passed.
Former Indian captain Suni Gavaskar also feels it's time the team changed the batting order.
... which would mean having Gambhir open with Sehwag and Uthappa at three with Tendulkar at four What this will do is protect Tendulkar and Sharma from the moving ball. Dhoni has shown been bold to send Pathan at three and if he shows the same attitude, India may well be able to get a batting order that actually bats deep rather than just being strong on paper.
Read his column in the Hindustan Times for more.
Posted on 02/25/2008 in Australian cricket
In the midst of Ricky Ponting’s century at the SCG, one act of sportsmanship passed almost unnoticed, Peter Roebuck writes in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Ponting could not avoid his partner's shot and diverted the ball into an unpatrolled area. Since the collision was unintentional and the stroke was heading towards long-on, the Australians were entitled to take a run. Instead, the home captain sent his colleague back. It was a small act that passed almost unnoticed. But it showed a sense of fair play. It was the conduct of a man determined to win but not at any price.
Ponting’s men might have fetched big money in the Indian Premier League auction but as Chloe Saltau reports in the Age, they could earn $20 million for a single Twenty20 match if Allen Stanford’s latest plan gets off the ground.
February 24, 2008
Posted on 02/24/2008 in Indian Premier League
Not for the first time English cricket is being left behind as the rest of world is swamped by the riches of the IPL. Due to their touring commitments and county season no England players have yet to join the IPL, buy as Scyld Berry reports in The Sunday Telegraph that could be about to change.
It is only a matter of time - and a few days at that - before English cricketers join the IPL and miss the start of the coming county season. England's top 12 players are on central contracts so they won't be going anywhere except New Zealand in the next few weeks. But that leaves several marketable players who are currently being tempted by offers.
And he says that "when (not if)" players begin to sign it will test the county's attitudes towards the IPL.
There is simply no precedent for a county player going off to play somewhere else during the county season: it is only recently that the economies of the East have boomed.
In The Observer, Jamie Jackson tries to make sense of all the goings on of the past weeks and speaks to some of the main men involved.
Modi, though, hardly seems to care. In a further indication of just who now holds the power in world cricket, he was dismissive of the ICC's proposal, tabled on Thursday, that an official window for the IPL should not be created in the international calendar.
This is due to be ratified next month, but Modi is not moved. 'I'm not concerned. Most countries' season ends in March, apart from the West Indies and England,' he says, apparently dismissive that English cricket's pre-season will prevent Kevin Pietersen and company playing unless an official window is created. 'Our time of year [for the IPL] has traditionally been free, it is a natural window - and I'm sure that will stay.'
February 23, 2008
Posted on 02/23/2008 in Indian Premier League
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Who wouldn't pay to watch this man in action?
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Andrew Symonds has often been likened to Viv Richards, and the West Indian legend is not surprised by the Australian allrounder's price at the Indian Premier League auction. He tells the Sydney Morning Herald:
"I am a great fan of Andrew Symonds, his fielding and the way in which he plays his cricket, with that sort of aggression. Having people like that on board is certainly going to add to the [Indian Premier League] razzamatazz. So if I was as well-connected as those individuals [the league's franchise owners] in business, with the funds they have, why not?"
The Sunday Telegraph says it discontinuing Symonds' column after Cricket Australia gagged it twice.
In the same newspaper, Stephen Corby recounts his experience of playing park cricket against Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Nathan Bracken, Darren Lehmann and Stuart MacGill.
Posted on 02/23/2008 in Indian Premier League
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Support for Mumbai, Jaipur or India?
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Since discovering its own value, Indian cricket has courted money often to the exclusion of all else. The IPL auction was the logical extension of this love affair with the free market, says Sharda Ugra in India Today.
IPL franchises are now left holding their big brood of babies. They have their teams, their teams have an event that begins in less than two months. Already some are feeling frazzled. A Delhi insider said all team owners wanted was to get the first tournament under way and over with.
The impact of such money on young cricketers who traditionally dreamed only of playing Tests for their country is yet to be seen, but they may now go to sleep dreaming of the incredible riches to be made in the short-form competition, says Peter Lalor in the Australian.
Sorry for being a voice of dissent in these times when everyone wants to celebrate the power of India’s cricket economy, writes Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express, but true loyalty is not easy to buy — especially not in a country such as ours, where cricket is linked so closely with national pride.
Liverpool fans who went to Istanbul, despite 21 years of despair, for the Champions League final against AC Milan in 2004, will tell you. Boston Red Sox fans, who waited 86 seasons at Fenway Park for a World Series title, will tell you some more. They had stuck it out through the bad times; that’s why they wept on the streets in the good.
Meanwhile in the Week magazine P. Sreevalsan Menon and Neeru Bhatia wonder how the IPL franchisees fill their coffers.
Posted on 02/23/2008 in Australian cricket
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"It is time to consider what Victor Trumper achieved, to look at the photographs and piece together the way he batted and ask ourselves have we selected the right hero?"
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Mike Coward, writing in the Weekend Australian, tells the story of David Strange, who wants to create a “Trumper Day”.
Strange, 36, married with a three-year-old son named Victor, after the master batsman of the Golden Age, refers to his Trumper passion as a magnificent obsession. "I have to refrain from talking about it all the time," he said.
That Trumper's name has faded from the consciousness of the contemporary cricket follower distresses Strange and he has the backing of the Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust to organise the inaugural Trumper Day for November 2.
"It is curious we have overlooked Trumper," Strange said. "It is time to consider what he achieved, to look at the photographs and piece together the way he batted and ask ourselves have we selected the right hero? While Don Bradman is deservedly loved and respected and will always have a place in the Australian psyche, there are other batsmen out there who can also fit the bill."
February 22, 2008
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Australian cricket
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The run struggles of Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting continue
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It has not been a great time for Australia's batsmen in the CB Series and both Andrew Symonds and Ricky Ponting are suffering from a run drought. In the Sydney Morning Herald, Peter Roebuck details the struggles of Ponting, who "not so long ago a presentable case could be made that he had become the second-best batsman his country has produced."
Now he finds himself scratching around like a backyard chook and relying on more vibrant team-mates to put runs on the board. Doubtless supporters expect more from their captain and heaviest scorer. Old-timers with reliable memories will reflect on their careers and say "welcome to the party!" Hell, Ricky, some of us felt like that all the time.
Just make some runs, is Jon Pierik's advice to Symonds and Co in the Herald Sun.
A report in the same paper says an Australian franchise might be on the cards for the Indian Premier League.
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Premier League
"While a cricketer's value can be determined by a salivating squillionaire, a man's worth can only be determined by his actions," says Andrew Webster in the Sydney Morning Herald while reflecting on Michael's Clarke decision to ignore the Indian Premier League. Webster got hold of a copy of the letter Clarke sent to Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman and commissioner.
"With no disrespect to the IPL, I feel my body and mind needs a break and with the hectic international schedule over the next 18 months, I feel I need to freshen up and a break will do me good," Clarke wrote. "By trying to continue to advance my profile and reputation with the Australian team, I hope to one day become an asset to your tournament.
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Premier League
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Time for some tax calculations
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Amol Agarwal wonders whether a Dutch auction would have been better than an English auction - the probable one that was used, when the Indian Premier League's franchises tried to outbid each other in the race for players. To get what that means, read his article on livemint.com.
Another report on livemint.com ponders whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni is a depreciable asset or stock-in-trade?
Ricky Ponting expressed surprise at his rather low price of US$400,000, but the Australian captain could take solace from this statement:
Ponting might have something to cheer after all, although he attracted a surprisingly low bid of $400,000. Even if his Kolkata teammate Murali Kartik, who is not considered good enough to play for India, will get paid $25,000 more than him, Ponting’s take-home package may be higher as IPL’s overseas players have to pay a basic tax rate of just 10% as against the maximum basic income tax rate of 30% Indian players will attract.
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Premier League
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Will fans of the IPL's Delhi franchise be delighted by watching this sight?
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Kunal Pradhan in the Indian Express feels the franchises of the Indian Premier League will have to strive hard to find a following like their counterparts in other sports, since "it takes time — years, decades — to get such loyalty. And it takes as long for that devotion to translate into good business for those who own the clubs from the day of their inception."
He points out that the auction reflected how franchises sought out Indian players, as most Indians would connect with them, and expresses his doubts whether supporters will opt for country over club.
Picture this: if Brett Lee of Mohali is bowling to M.S. Dhoni of Chennai, sitting in the heart of Punjab, whom will you support? Will you feel enough loyalty for your city that you cheer against a national hero? Will you jump up in joy in Jaipur if, with four runs needed to win, Mumbai’s Sachin Tendulkar is caught on the fence by Shane Warne off the last ball of the match?
The entire auction in Mumbai on Wednesday was a reflection of that same national pride. Ishant Sharma was bought for Rs 3.8 crore and Ricky Ponting for 1.6, Rohit Sharma went for Rs 3.1 crore and Matthew Hayden for 1.5. Corporate India showed where its priorities lay. They wanted crowd pullers, not necessarily the best team available. Nationalism was the mantra, not cricketing logic.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys might have done world cricket a disservice by winning the Twenty20 Cup in South Africa last year, says Suresh Menon in his blog on espnstar.com. The same generated a buzz around Twenty20, and was perhaps the prime driver behind the formation of the IPL. He voices his concern:
If the 44-day tournament (where the top players will make crores of rupees) is a success, then it is not difficult to see India nudging the world in the direction of Twenty20 cricket - to the detriment of one-day internationals and Test cricket.
A reduction in the number of ODIs may not be a bad thing, but if Test cricket and all that it stands for begins to disappear, then the harm done to the game will be incalculable.
The thought of the market deciding what form of the game should survive is at once scary and abhorrent. No sport can be about making money alone. That is why cricket boards, and indeed the ICC itself needs to be old-fashioned and consider themselves the custodians of the game rather than boardrooms where men in suits squeeze every last penny out of it.
Read Harsha Bhogle's take on the same.
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Premier League
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Dilip Sardesai was paid Rs 150 for his first Test in 1961
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Television personality Rajdeep Sardesai recalls how his father Dilip Sardesai was paid Rs 150 for his first Test in 1961. Writing in the Hindustan Times he compares salaries of those days with what the Indian Premier League has to offer:
Cricket has always been burdened by a myth: unlike other competitive sports, we were told, cricket and the men who played the game were doing it for the ‘love’ of the sport. So while footballers were being transferred by clubs for millions of dollars, golfers and racing car drivers were millionaires, cricketers were expected to be amateurs playing a sport for the sheer joy of it. In India, this meant that you were employed in a 9 to 5 job by a public sector bank or through the ‘charity’ of a benevolent business house like the Tatas, even while you sweated it out on the field. Wearing the India cap made the size of your bank balance irrelevant. A Vinoo Mankad was actually dropped from the Indian team for a tour of England in 1952 because he had the ‘temerity’ to try and earn a living by playing professional cricket for a Lancashire club.
In the same paper Pradeep Magazine asks if cricket in India has entered an age of sponsored gambling.
The editors at the Hindu warn that the fears of Twenty20 cannibalising the classical Test format and IPL compounding player burnout are real. The most optimistic view of the IPL, according to them, is of it as a means of induction and culling:
Young cricketers yet to make the grade benefit from competing against the world’s best while those on their last legs refrain from unnecessarily prolonging their international careers.
Posted on 02/22/2008 in Indian Cricket
The Indian Premier League has been shopping for players; India’s cricketers have been shopping for clothes. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph is impressed by their spending habits.
Sachin Tendulkar, Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh turned heads on trendy Oxford St when they walked into the Ed Hardy store in Paddington. In the end, the men, who play Australia on Sunday at the SCG, left with a whopping bill of A$9120.
February 21, 2008
Posted on 02/21/2008 in Indian Premier League
The IPL will make the Packer years look like a storm in a teacup, writes Peter Roebuck in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Cricket is undergoing a radical change, the second in its history. Far from being a passing phase, the franchise system launched in India recently will spread. Before long, Pakistan, South Africa, the West Indies and Sri Lanka will have their own franchises in place. Within a decade the entire structure of cricket will have changed beyond recognition.
In his column in the Australian, Ricky Ponting indicates Andrew Symonds, who was signed for a US$1.35 million in the IPL's players' auction, has been at the receiving end of jokes, but also voices serious concerns over the impact the tournament will have.
Symonds embodies the confused state of world cricket, Greg Baum writes in the Age.
He is, in two senses, wanted in India. He is wanted as a villain is wanted, as he was in India last year when the crowds turned on him, and again in January for his part in the Harbhajan affair. He also is wanted in the meaning of desired; he was the second-most expensive player in Wednesday's unprecedented auction. Symonds' head must be spinning.
In the Australian Malcolm Conn takes aim at the ICC over its lack of action over creating a window for the Indian Premier League.
Posted on 02/21/2008 in Indian Cricket
Long tresses, spiked hair, ear studs, shaved chests - ever since the Indian Under-19 cricketers in Malaysia heard their matches would be shown live on TV back home, they've gone into overdrive enhancing their appearances. Sandeep Dwivedi of the Indian Express catches up with the fashion-conscious cricketers.
Just before a batsman is about to go onto the field, he gets a few last-minute instructions from a teammate. Along with the usual ‘stay cool, play your natural game,’ there is a small bit of advice delivered in half-jest. “And don’t forget to take off your helmet when you complete your 50. How else can everyone at home see your new hairstyle?” he sniggers.
February 20, 2008
Posted on 02/20/2008 in Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League auctions felt “grubby” for the Age’s Greg Baum, who asks who will care about the tournament?
Sport is at its best when spectators feel that players share their cause. IPL cricketers will have time only to learn to love their pay clerks and their first-class seats on the first flight out. The usual tired arguments have been advanced about how sportsfolk have only a small window of opportunity and cannot be blamed for making the most of it. But it is not as if any of yesterday's stock was facing a life of destitution.
The trend of India's cricketers lapping up the lion's share of the money is sure to startle even those who have been tracking this business closely, and anger some Australian cricketers, writes Anand Vasu in the Hindustan Times.
It defied cricketing logic that Yusuf Pathan was sold for more than Ponting, that someone like Ishant Sharma, the flavour of the day but very much a greenhorn still, came in at close to a million dollars.
In the same paper, Atreyo Mukhopadhyay catches up with Manoj Tiwary in Australia who talks about his ambitions as an IPL recruit and what a startling figure like $6,75,000 means for a youngster who has witnessed financial strife.
Thoughts of buying a house for his parents who "struggled a lot to educate their three sons in an English medium school", were obviously there as was the plan to give shape to certain other dreams. Also, there was a promise to help others chase their dreams.
Michael Clarke put that into perspective this week when he said that he'd rather save himself for Australia and spend downtime taking his old man fishing. England's Alastair Cook said he was well enough remunerated for playing for England, and it was not as if he had grown up dreaming of playing for Mohali.
The Courier-Mail surveys five sporting figures on the impact of Twenty20.
Allan Border, who appears in Adelaide’s Advertiser, believes India currently has “too much to say in matters”.
Posted on 02/20/2008 in Indian Premier League
The bids have begun in the Indian Premier League auction, with vast sums of money exhanging hands while franchises scramble to outbid each other for the Dhonis, Symonds and Dravids of the world. But which poor soul has to make sense of this madness? Richard Madley, a lifelong Glamorgan supporter, and the main auctioneer.
Madley, an auctioneer with Dreweatts, the British firm, will handle today's sale of 79 cricketers to the eight franchises in the Indian Premier League (IPL), the new Twenty20 competition that will start on April 18, and anticipation has become feverish.
“I've just been mobbed outside the hotel,” Madley said yesterday. “They say that cricket is a religion here, but it appears to be a bit more than that.”
Patrick Kidd has the full piece in today's Times
Posted on 02/20/2008 in Indian Premier League
The news that Brad Haddin and Mitchell Johnson have turned down the chance to play in the IPL comes like a gust of fresh breeze, writes Sharda Ugra in her India Today blog.
The cynical will say that they have missed the bus to the next big thing in cricket. But what the three Aussies with the best of their careers ahead of them have done is make an eloquent choice between, 'cash and country', to use the words from Symonds' latest column. At the very least, they have also earned the right to express outrage at cricket's cash-rich fat cats.
In the Hindustan Times Anand Vasu speaks to Yogesh Shetty, the CEO of the GMR Group that owns Delhi Daredevils.
Chloe Saltau, writing in the Melbourne-based Age, on Michael Clarke putting his country and family ahead of money.
Shane Warne will leave his former team-mates in the shade by commanding the highest reserve price at today's historic player auction in India, say Robert Craddock and Jon Pierik in the Courier Mail.
Mumbai tabloid Mid-Day tells you why the Indian Premier League will stump you even before the first ball is bowled
Posted on 02/20/2008 in English cricket
John Inverdale in his excellent Daily Telegraph column ponders some other moments of sporting ignominy in the light of Bermuda women's losing inside four balls on Monday. He highlights the game which every stats-obsessed schoolboy football fanatic should recall – Bon Accord’s record 36-0 defeat by Arbroath in the Scottish FA Cup – and offers a new insight … they were actually a cricket club.
The invitation back then should have been sent to Orion FC in Aberdeen, but in a heartening reminder that misdirected post is not an invention of the recent past, it was sent inadvertently to the Orion Cricket Club. Obviously eyeing a spot as a trivial pursuit question in perpetuity, they decided to accept the offer of an away trip to Arbroath, called themselves Bon Accord FC, and arrived without kit or, as history recounts, much talent.
Reading about the match, an enduring image is of the Arbroath goalkeeper called James Milne, who clearly served as an inspiration for Steve McLaren all those years later, because he borrowed an umbrella from a spectator and sheltered beneath it during the match as the rain lashed down on his penalty area while all the action took place at the other end.
Posted on 02/20/2008 in Australian cricket
Peter Lalor, writing in the Australian, looks at the reduction in one-day totals since the Twenty20 World Cup.
It might be the bowlers, the batsmen, the balls or the pitches, but whatever the explanation the facts remain clear: this summer's one-day international series is in the middle of a run drought so severe Al Gore could include it in his next film ... Six months after the ICC introduced a rule to change the ball after the 35th over, an extra power play and allowed a free shot after a no-ball, the batsmen who dominated the game are in such bad touch the administrators might have to ban swing bowling.
February 19, 2008
Posted on 02/19/2008 in Indian Cricket
It’s a travesty that a bowler reported for chucking is sent to the NCA, gets cleared and returns, only to be reported again, writes Makarand Waingankar in the Hindu.
There have been more than a dozen bowlers reported for suspect action and though one of them, Mohnish Parmar, is an offspinner from Gujarat, he has been picked for the Duleep Trophy final in place of classical offie Ramesh Powar.
Posted on 02/19/2008 in Ashes
Having helped England's women side retain the Ashes, Kolkata-born Isa Guha speaks to the Telegraph's Amit Roy about her Indian connection.
Asked whether Isa was English or Bengali, her father Barun thought for a moment before replying: “She is 75 per cent English, 25 per cent Bengali. She cannot speak Bengali but she understands Bengali. She loves to come to Calcutta, and meet all her relations. May be the next trip will be at Christmas.”
February 18, 2008
Posted on 02/18/2008 in Indian Premier League
Adam Gilchrist is surely the flavour of the season. Jamie Pandaram reports the wicketkeeper-batsman will be one of the keenly-contested players during the Indian Premier League's auction on Wednesday. He writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Indians Sourav Ganguly and Yuvraj Singh may combine to make Gilchrist the highest-paid Australian player to bolster their own pockets.
Posted on 02/18/2008 in Miscellaneous
Maths and music have long been linked, but composers seem to have a talent for cricket, writes David McKie in the Guardian. He investigates:
There may be examples lurking in the Wisden Book of Cricketers' Lives, but this has more than 8,000 entries and the only one I've discovered so far is a man called Chadwyck-Healey, "quite well known as a composer of church music". Unfortunately he doesn't seem to have been much of a cricketer: "his enthusiasm greatly exceeded his skill".
The outstanding crossover case in this book is probably Neville Cardus, who within living memory wrote magnificently for the Guardian about both cricket and music. In later years, music seemed the more powerful passion. I can still remember those moments when his handwritten notices would arrive in the features department, brought in by his chauffeur. "From Neville Cardus, Festival Hall", they would say at the top, and at the foot : "please do not cut". One night the concert was cancelled, and his piece of paper proved to be blank; except that it said at the top: "From Neville Cardus, Festival Hall"; and at the bottom, as ever, "Please do not cut".
February 17, 2008
Posted on 02/17/2008 in Australian cricket
Australia had their bowlers to thank for their victory over India in Adelaide and Peter Roebuck in the Age considers the poor form of the team's leading batsmen.
Ponting was scratchy. Usually, smartly executed pulls are his damper and vegemite. When he is on song, such shots are lost in the crowd. Now the stroke stood solitary owing to the company it was keeping. Cricket is a tough game and captaincy can be the hardest part. Previously a constant scorer, the Australian captain might find reassurance in the ups and downs endured by counterparts such as Sachin Tendulkar and Brian Lara. But a man cannot sort out his game until he has cleared his mind.
Andrew Symonds was also tentative. Dangerous in the latter stages of an innings, he has been obliged to bat with more circumspection than befits a player of his power. Batsmen capable of changing the course of a match in 30 minutes are not to be wasted.
Posted on 02/17/2008 in English cricket
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Marcus Trescothick is on tour with Somerset as he rebuilds his life and career
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Marcus Trescothick is about to embark on his first overseas tour since he broke down in Australia with a stress-related condition. Peter Hayter, in the Mail on Sunday, finds out more:
And Trescothick, who last played for England in a one-day international against Pakistan in September 2006, admits: "I won't deny I am a little nervous about the prospect.
"I don't want to pre-empt anything, but I know the beast a bit better than I did when I had my troubles in Australia and India. I know the signs and how to work through them.
"I'm feeling well and things are pretty good, so I'm 95 per cent certain that the trip will be all right for me, but it's a big step and I'm not taking anything for granted."
Posted on 02/17/2008 in English cricket
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When it all went wrong: England let their passion overflow in the first two one-dayers
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England's morale-boosting win in Auckland was testament to a team at last thinking about their game, and not letting their emotions spill over - as happened in the previous two one-dayers. Mike Atherton writes in the Sunday Telegraph:
Paul Collingwood's young England team went through this Fleming-like rite of passage this week at Hamilton and Auckland. At Hamilton, defending a pitiful total, and having been given a last-minute blast by Collingwood in the now-familiar on-field huddle, England came out snarling, looking for a fight. After every delivery of Ryan Sidebottom's first over, Jesse Ryder was surrounded by a phalanx of fielders with plenty to say. James Anderson backed this up at the other end with a barrage of bouncers, and when Owais Shah dropped Ryder at slip, Sidebottom let rip such a howl of anguish it looked like his head would explode.
For a while this was an England team out of control and in schoolyard bully-mode. No one could accuse them of not caring, or not trying, but they were certainly not thinking. Within two overs, it was clear from the sidelines that the bouncer ploy was misguided and that Brendon McCullum and Ryder were happy to feed off the bouncers to the short, square boundaries. Amid all the hoopla, nobody had the wherewithal to step back from the fray, calm things down and demand a different plan of attack. It was as brainless, as witless a passage of play, as it is possible to see. The intention was to rattle New Zealand, but it was England themselves who were rattled.
England's recovery, for want of a better word, wasn't due to extra nets or a physical thrashing by their New Zealand fitness coach. It was, as Stuart Broad tells Atherton, all about talking:
"It was an open floor. It was a case of has anyone got anything to say because that wasn't good enough and we're going to sort it out now. Colly [Paul Collingwood] had some words. KP [Kevin Pietersen] had some words. And we were just open. Then we sat own in Auckland and vowed to sort it out and come out fighting. It proves what honesty can do."
"I'm happy to contribute to those sorts of forums. The way we did it was very good, splitting up into groups and discussing things. It gets the younger lads involved so that you're not just sat in the corner frightened to say anything. You can get your view across without feeling under pressure to say anything and that's what's fantastic about this team. Everyone is good friends with everyone.
Posted on 02/17/2008 in English cricket
13 months have passed since the Schofield Review dissected English cricket’s failings but, says Stephen Brenkley in the Independent on Sunday, no action has yet been taken about the quantity of cricket being played:
A key component of the Schofield Review, however, was that there should be a reduction in the amount of professional cricket being played, domestically and internationally. Schofield was perfectly candid on the point. The report said: "It is essential the ECB act now."
But England are still tied into an arduous future tours programme – they will have no substantial break until 2010 – and the counties will this season play more cricket than last year, not less. More worrying still, there remain no concrete plans for dividing the World Cup from the away Ashes series. Playing them so close together has affected England badly.
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Morris said: "The critical thing is we have to ensure that our players have the right balance between the amount of time they have to prepare, the amount they play and the amount they rest."
In the same paper Brian Viner compares Ian Botham to Mohammad Ali: two brave sporting icons with fears of vertigo and flying respectively.
Posted on 02/17/2008 in Indian Cricket
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Dav Whatmore: in charge of the Indian U-19 side
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On the eve of the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia, the Indian Express' Sandeep Dwivedi speaks to India’s coach Dav Whatmore about the days ahead.
Also read Dwivedi's profiles of four relative unknowns in the Indian squad.
It's quite unusual for India’s ODI captain MS Dhoni to say "Baap re" in response to some stunning strokeplay. But that's exactly what happened last season at Eden Gardens when Jharkhand was pitted against Bengal in a T20 game. As a number of Tiwary ‘big ones’ disappeared into the stands and fielders were nursing blisters in their palms, Jharkhand was celebrating the spotting of Dhoni II.
One of India's U-19 stars, Ishant Sharma, is now making a big impact in the world stage. Read Rohit Mahajan's profile in the Outlook magazine.
Posted on 02/17/2008 in IPL
Michel Platini and Zinedine Zidane were probably the greatest footballers to play for France. Eric Cantona holds a French passport but won fame and fortune at Manchester United. Is the IPL going to create cricket's Cantonas, asks Ashok Malik in The Pioneer.
February 16, 2008
Posted on 02/16/2008 in New Zealand cricket
Worried over the lack of worldbeaters in New Zealand? Well, Paul Lewis has a solution in the Herald on Sunday: Get Adam Parore to have a go at them, like he did at Jesse Ryder over his excess kilos, a move which apparently worked wonders. Parore has also congratulated the man whose selection he had questioned.
In the same paper, Mark Richardson deliberates over New Zealand's selection of Daniel Flynn in place of Paul Hitchcock.
Posted on 02/16/2008 in Indian Premier League
In the Sunday Age, John Harms says although Twenty20 and its add-on gimmicks may draw in the masses, the format itself is not appealing and needs to be modified to balance the order between bat and ball.
So much about being at limited-over cricket is now not about the cricket. The short form of the game has become shorter in an attempt to win back the concentration of those attending, and to satisfy the base passions of a particular type of fan.
Paradoxically, though, Twenty20 cricket will be less satisfying in cricketing terms. The contest between bat and ball is skewed. It so favours the batsman. The games will become a poor imitation of baseball.
Daniel Lane talks about cricket's ticking time bomb in the Sun-Herald.
Posted on 02/16/2008 in Australian cricket
The Indian board has warned Cricket Australia not to cancel its team's tour to Pakistan, which seems under threat over security concerns.
Rajiv Shukla, the BCCI vice-president, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph:
There will be serious consequences because you can't just pull out [of] a committed tour when the host board is giving you assurances about security and so is the government.
If the host board and government is willing to give assurances, you have to accept that. You can't just cancel a confirmed FTP [Future Tours Programme] tour.
Posted on 02/16/2008 in Indian Premier League
In the Australian the columnists Patrick Smith and Mike Coward have different views on the growth of Twenty20. Smith is in favour of the development while Coward is horrified.
“There is room for all types of cricket and the sport must accommodate all of them,” Smith writes. “Twenty20's greatest strength is that it gives access to a new audience. It is attractive to families because it is done with in three hectic hours.”
Coward cannot believe how quickly things have changed.
The avarice and hypocrisy has been breathtaking. Players and governors are kowtowing before the god of mammon and thereby hurting and alienating the loyal shareholders ... Time and again the game's legislators have said the growth of Twenty20 cricket will not be achieved at the expense of the sanctity of Test match cricket.
Yet this week we learn that moves are afoot to revamp existing Test tour itineraries and redesign the future tours program to ensure the Indian Premier League can be held at a dedicated time every year. And the initiative has the blessing of Australia captain Ricky Ponti |
