Time to be tough

Like our victory in 1983, our victory in 2011 was a matter of pride for the nation - well at least on that day. Of course, there were major differences with the main one being India's chances to win the World Cup. In 1983, there was a 1 in 1000 chance of us taking it. Twenty eight years later, the team went in as one of the favourites. India was ranked No 1 in tests, had won a T20 tournament, had drawn an away series in South Africa and had generally played decent cricket.
And then we went and lost 4-0 to both, England and Australia.
But then, that has always been the way India has played its cricket. Whenever you look at the way that we've played, there has been a period of high and then a massive dip. Indian cricket is like a sound wave, if it were to put it metaphorically.

If the BCCI and the players continue to hibernate and
be indisciplined, don't be surprised if you see Bangladesh
holding a trophy like that in an away series in the future

But then, if you look at it, the scenario in Indian cricket has always been the same. Just because we've drawn many away series in the last decade, it does not make us good. We could have won some of them, like the 2003 series in Australia or the 2010-11 series against South Africa. Since 2000, we have won a series in England, two in West Indies and one in New Zealand. I will not count Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and Pakistan here because Zimbabwe's political turmoil began when we toured them and Pakistan and Bangladesh are within the subcontinent. We still haven't managed to beat Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka for a long time and I don't see that happening for a while either.
People have spoken about the transition happening in Indian cricket. However, this transition has been happening since Ganguly became captain in 2000. It's now 2012 and unless the BCCI takes some rather drastic measures - and I speak about players, wickets, domestic competitions, sending our players abroad to play in Sheffield Shield, Pura Cup or English County, as well as the use of technology, India will soon find itself back where it was in 1990.

A roller coaster fortnight.

Cricket is unpredictable. We've seen that time and time again. The sport that we've dubbed the gentleman's game is in reality, a game made of paranoid schizophrenics, who can alter a game just like that *snaps a finger*. The last fortnight has seen that there is as much of madness off the field than there is on it.
Whether I should start writing about the madness off the field or the madness on it is debatable, but my love for the game prompts me to write about the on field antics.

First: test cricket could never have been more awesome. The first test between Australia and South Africa defined madness. Mayhem, chaos, clutter, crash, boom, bang, wallop and then suddenly like nothing, South Africa won by 8 wickets in the fourth innings, chasing 230-odd. It was like the reverse pitch effect. 1st day played like a 5th day and third day, the wicket had eased out. Imagine what would have happened had the match lasted five days. Either team would have chased 500-odd runs.

What still baffles me is that this is a two-match series. Quite tragic, in my opinion. However, given the way Australia is playing, I think that they're glad that it's a two-match series. Although I like the look of Patrick Cummins. He's young, he's raw and he's fast. India, beware. He's going to come at you and how.

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Speaking of Indian cricket, following the claims made by Lord Paul Codon about every team being involved in match fixing, Vinod Kambli decided to open his mouth and claim that there was something 'suspicious' about Mohammad Azharuddin opting to field in the semi-finals against Sri Lanka during the 1996 World Cup. 

Azhar, naturally, denied the rumours and all of us on Twitter, along with some of his teammates backed him and his decision to field. 

However, with Sharad Powar coming into the picture and criticising Kambli, I have some reservations about the match. Having said that, Vinod Kambli is an idiot. He wanted his five minutes of fame. Like a friend told me, he would probably have been broke and wanted some money for that sex change he so desperately needs. He got some money during Sach Ka Saamna, but maybe sex changes are way too expensive nowadays. 

Having said that, it will be interesting to see what the High Court decides regarding Azhar's alleged involvement. The majority believes that he's guilty, but we can only wait for the result to come out. 

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And now for the general belief that cricket is a boring sport. One of the guys that lived up to the sentiment, Basil D'Oliveira died at 80. I've never seen him play, but my sister has. She described his batting as 'more boring than paint drying up.' However, that kind of pissing off batting ensured that England didn't lose too many test matches. D'Oliveira was gutsy and had balls of steel, just like Peter Roebuck.

Roebuck's death saddened me. The allegations of sexual harassment pissed me off even more. Let's face it, a 26-year-old guy claiming that a 50-plus man forcefully buggered him makes no sense at all. It's like Arnold Schwarzenegger claiming that he got buggered by Hornswoggle

So my theory is that like Vinod Kambli, this guy wants his five minutes of fame as well. Maybe he can fund Kambli's sex change and both of them can live happily ever after. 

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And it's also Ranji Trophy time. I'm glad that Irfan is getting wickets and Harbhajan is not. Sadly, however, Harbhajan will go to Australia because they need someone with 'experience.' It doesn't matter if he bowls shit, but the experience matters. Personally, my 16-man squad for the side will include: Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Kohli, Ranane, Dhoni (wk), Patel (wk), Ashwin, Ojha, Rohit Sharma, Yadav, Zaheer, Ishant and Irfan. 

Who will you pick? 

This Ranji Trophy, focus on the player and not the team

I wrote this piece on the Ranji trophy for www.sportshero.com. 
Here it is on the blog

The Indian Domestic Season is here again. It’s ironic that it has to be called a season, given that the players are playing cricket all through the year. If it’s not an international match, then it’s an IPL game or an India Red Vs India Blue Game. The bottom line is that our cricketers – international or domestic – are always playing cricket. So using the word ‘season’ does not seem appropriate.

This year, the Ranji Trophy will be a test for several cricketers. Until last year, however, and unfortunately, it was not. The reason was simple. Selection procedure was based on a cricketer’s IPL performance. It was no longer based on a domestic tournament performance. RP Singh is living example of this. A talented bowler, RP created headlines for his performance in the inaugural T20 World Cup in South Africa. He also impressed in England in the 2008 series under Rahul Dravid’s captaincy. He had a five-wicket haul in a game against Pakistan in a test match in India. And then, he disappeared and played only IPL matches. He was selected for the tour of England, following Zaheer Khan’s injury, thanks to his IPL performance. Selectors failed to ignore that he had a poor 2010 Ranji season, but persisted with him. He looked out of sorts and unfit during the third test match. And although he managed to take a few wickets in the ODIs, he went for a lot of runs.

Thankfully, the Indian media has realized this and thanks to international experts, which include former cricketers, are realizing that players who wish to play cricket at the highest level should be selected on basis of their endurance in local domestic tournaments that are played over a period of 3-5 days. This is why someone like Harbhajan Singh will have a lot to prove to justify his selection, even though he is the current leading wicket taker in the world, who is still playing.

The Ranji Trophy begins this November. The competition will be intense. Players will want to prove their mettle and earn a place in the test side. Furthermore, the selectors will be keenly observing players who will replace Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman after they retire. They have Kohli currently. Players like Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina and Rohit Sharma, will have to slog it out to earn their place. Having said that, it’s not going to be easy for Kohli either. He  didn’t impress in the test series against West Indies, so he will have a lot to prove as well.

This Ranji tournament will not be about the teams. It will be about the players grafting their way to play for India. And the player has to realize that before it is too late.

Greed and the Indian cricketer

 So this piece in the Indian Express hit me hard - and it wasn't in the right way.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has rejected an informal request by the Indian team for greater rewards for winning the World Cup. 

BCCI president Shashank Manohar had announced that each member of the 15-man squad would receive Rs 1 crore, while the support staff would get Rs 50 lakh. But a couple of days after the victory, a few players asked for more. 

The players were demanding Rs 5 crore each, said a senior BCCI official. A top India player, on condition of anonymity, argued the team’s position: “If you see, only the top players benefit, and there is no doubt that we earn more than anybody, but what about players like Munaf Patel and others? These players make the Indian team and the BCCI earns so much because of them.” “We are not greedy for the money,” said the top cricketer. “But these (junior) players have made the BCCI rich and famous. There is no harm in asking for more especially since the Board will earn thousands of crores after India’s victory. A player’s life is very uncertain. Who knows what will happen next?”

The players also think that some members of the support staff might have got too much for doing very little. “Gary (Kirsten) and Paddy (Upton) getting Rs 50 lakh is fine. But even the logistics manager getting Rs 50 lakh? By that yardstick we should be getting more,” said the player.

BCCI secretary N Srinivasan was unavailable for a comment. But another top official said, “Do you think these players really need to be given so much money? One crore is not a small amount.”

For once, I agree with the BCCI. Here's my problem. Rs 1 crore isn't a small amount, but that's not all the money that they are making. Sahara and Nike, two of India's main sponsors will give each player more than what the BCCI has given. In 2003, each player received a similar amount and a house at Amby Valley just before the finals and look what happened.
For me, the average Indian cricketer is indisciplined. Yuvraj Singh's party pictures after the World Cup is a living example of that. It's great that he won the Man of the Series award during the tournament, but none of us can argue that he's a modern day sportsman with the physique to rival Arjuna Ranatunga.
For me, modern players like MS Dhoni, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, Zaheer Khan, Mohammad Kaif and Sourav Ganguly have made me feel proud to be Indian. When I look at the others, I feel embarassed. Sreesanth, Sidhu and Harbhajan Singh are prime examples of players who I see and want to cringe in embarassment.
In a way, when I look at it, I feel that people like Anna Hazare going on a hunger fast was the best thing that happened to Indian cricket. Otherwise, we'd still be having lead stories on who won what after the World Cup. And yes, they would have been Page 1 stories.

The new age spinner

In his book Spin and Other Turns, cricket expert and historian Ramachandra Guha speaks of how BS Bedi, EAS Prasanna and BS Chandrasekhar were the holy trinity of the Indian bowling attack. Bedi and Chandrasekhar, Guha wrote, were good natured and would usually have a good rapport with the opposition. Prassana, however, had the attitude of a fast bowler and hated the batsmen and giving runs away.
The only Indian spinner I saw with the attitude of a fast bowler in the 90s was Anil Kumble. But then, Kumble was considered an inswing bowler by many of his opponents, until he reinvented his game later in his career.
England never relied on a spinner too much. Phil Tufnell was a very good bowler, but I think England gave him way too little credit and relied more on their seamers and medium pacers. They would use their part time spinners.
Warne was great because he was a genius. I, however, would argue that he didn't have the attitude of a fast bowler. He'd outwit a batsman through guile and get  his wickets. The same goes with Daniel Vettori.
The Pakistan spinners have always been a crazy lot. Abdul Qadir, Saqulain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed have been wicket taking bowlers because of their attitude. They hate the batsmen as much as Prasanna did.
Today, spinners across the world seem to be badass.

Suleiman Benn is one of many
spinners who has a fast bowler's
attitude

Sulieman Benn of West Indies, Ray Price of Zimbabwe, Shahid Afridi of Pakistan, Imran Tahir of South Africa, Graeme Swann of England and Harbhajan Singh of India have been more fast bowler-like in their attitude rather than the general assumption we've had of the spin bowler for most part of the previous decade. Now they're giving back to the batsmen; there is more sledging on part of a spinner than a fast bowler; there are more onfield arguments between batsmen and spinners, while the fast men generally bowl and go home. Sreesanth is an exception here because he'll fight with anyone.
But the good thing is that it's the return of the spinner. This World Cup has shown that. The need of a spinner in a squad is a must, as most teams have shown. They're opening with spinners and making fast bowlers first change guys. It's good to see these changes.
The funny thing is that India now insists on opening with fast bowlers when 30 years ago, we'd have Abid Ali and Eknath Solkar bowl an over each before going to the spinner.
What was mocked then is employed now. And India still wants to be different, despite knowing that it still has spinners who are waiting across the country.

The curious case of the Indian fast bowler

I read a piece on Varun Aaron in the Indian Express.
It's always been the case of the Indian fast bowler. We haven't had a long-lasting one since Srinath retired.
Zaheer was fast when he began, but he relies more on experience and guile nowadays. Sreesanth is fast, but he's got an attitude problem and cannot control the direction of the ball when he bowls. This is despite the fact that he has the best seam position in the business.
Irfan was fast, but Gregg Chappell told him to cut out on pace. He's not playing for India anymore
Munaf was hailed as the next big thing, but fitness issues made him a reliable medium pacer who is an excellent first change bowler.
Nehra is quick on his day, but he needs to be 100 per cent fit when he bowls.
There were also names like RP Singh, VRV Singh and some names that came and went, which I cannot remember.
So we have fast bowlers. Varun Aaron is one of them, but will he last? Will he be the next Srinath? Will he not breakdown and go before his career begins? This is a question not just for him, but for the entire crop of Indian kids who want to bowl fast.
Two years ago, Youtube had this video of this kid called Atul Sharma. Atul was, and this is assumption here, a rich kid, who wanted to do whatever it took to bowl fast. So there was a video of him working out and having a Shaoaib Akhtar-like action. He was supposed to play for The Rajasthan Royals, but he's disappeared like several other kids.

Srinath has been India's only genuine
fast bowler in the last two decades

In the subcontinent, India is one country that hasn't produced a fast bowler who has lasted a while. Sri Lanka has Lasith Malinga, the new kid Thisara Perera and people like Dilhara Fernando as backup. Pakistan keeps on producing fast bowlers like India produces batsmen, while Bangladesh rely more on spin that the fast men. Unfortunately for India, Harbhajan Singh is the only guy who is amongst the best in the world. The others are treated as part time bowlers. Also, it's cooler being a fast bowler. India can no longer ask someone to bowl two overs of seam and then call the spinner. Kapil Dev broke that trend in the late 70s, but he was an one-man army. Kapil created the trend for several people dreaming of bowling fast and Srinath was one guy who managed to be consistently fast throughout his career.
Srinath, started off as a vegetarian, but began eating meat to give himself more physical strength. Today fitness is a key in any sport, but the Indians keep breaking down. Zaheer has had several injuries, Nehra and Munaf are either in or out because of some strain, Irfan and RP are looking to make a comeback, while Sreesanth needs to focus on self-discipline.
Diet and fitness have been an integral part of a fast bowler. India keeps breaking stories about the next big thing, but they tragically die before they are born. Plus going by the wickets this World Cup has produced, would it be fair on the fast bowlers if they're going to be hit all across the ground? There is only so much they can do and if the administration doesn't get its act together in providing sportier wickets, people like Varun Aaron will fade away just as quickly as they came into the news. 

Rankings and test cricket

A lot of people are calling it India's final frontier.
Ever since the Indian cricket team were ranked number 1 by the ICC, the expectations have obviously gone higher.
One thing that I have noticed about the present Indian side is that they are slow starters. Ever since they got the number 1 ranking, they have lost most of the first test matches of the series in the last one year. The one against Australia at Mohali was almost a loss, if it weren't for Laxman and Ishant's heroics at the end. They got rammed by South Africa last year at Ahmedabad and it was a similar case against Sri Lanka, when we toured earlier this year. The first two matches against New Zealand were boring draws, before the Nagpur match turned things around for them.
So where does this leave them in the series against South Africa?
South Africa themselves haven't been doing too great. They drew with a Pakistani team that is desperately hoping that they don't get banned from the international cricket arena; earlier in the year, they drew with an English side that seems to be getting better by the day and they drew with India in India. It's nothing to write home about, but funnily these two sides are ranked one and two by the International Cricket Council.
England on the other hand are actually playing like a number 1 side. They have been consistently good; have been playing competitive cricket and are no longer the whiners that they were. It's almost like role reversal when I see them in the Ashes today.
Cricket today is viewed in a different way. It's more about the T20, as Chris Gayle said, which is unfortunate. Thankfully, you still have packed stadiums during an England and Australia match and Indians have colonized the world, so even if India were playing Zimbabwe in a test match tomorrow, there would be a decent crowd present.
I'm looking forward to this test series. India's fast bowlers have always done well abroad. Hell, someone like Venkatesh Prasad managed a 10 wicket haul against South Africa in 1997, so it'll be no surprise (unless of course, they decide to bowl like shit) that these guys do well.
My only concern is about the batsmen. They've done well in Australia, England and NZ, but South Africa has always been a problem. Hopefully, they rectify this problem.
As for England, let's just hope that there is a time that they have a test tri series between England, India and South Africa before the rankings take a whole new turn.

A cricket ramble

The India-NZ series has begun.
I had wanted to write a number of things between India-Australia getting over and this one beginning, but unfortunately time wasn't on my side.
New Zealand looks crap at the moment. They lost to Bangladesh, which is like getting a bamboo shoved up your posterior without any lubricant applied to it.
And on day one of the first test match at Ahmedabad, which has one of the shittiest pitches that I've see, they get raped by Sehwag and Dravid.
I love Dravid, but he's been playing rubbish off late, so getting a century was good for him and I'm happy that he did.
However, I was happier when he got that 70-odd against Australia.
Let's face it. We may all hate the Australians under Ponting and Clarke, but you have to accept the fact that they play tough cricket, whether they win or lose.
They're currently getting screwed by Sri Lanka at home, which probably makes England excited about their chances to regain the Ashes.
But KP, surprisingly KP, made what is perhaps the most intelligent sentence he's ever said about the Australian side
But the beauty of the whole thing is that test cricket is alive and well and the Ashes should be fun to watch, as well India-SA.

Meanwhile, the Rajasthan Royals is screwed. (Sorry, Shoeb)
Kings XI Punjab is fucked.
Kochi looks like it is going before it arrives.
And Lalit Modi could die.
Somewhere in the middle, Sunil Gavaskar runs his mouth about how he has nothing to do with Kochi and Anil Kumble discusses a career in cricket administration.
If that happens, I see hope for the BCCI, unless Kumble succumbs to the dark side of the force and becomes another administrative stooge in the larger scheme of the Indian cricket body.

Oh yeah, before I sign out, I dedicate this piece to Abdul Rassaq, who played a brilliant innings that day and was honest about his and his teammates position in the Pakistani side. "We play every match as if it's our last," he said. He is quite right. Going by the spot fixing and the beauty of the CCTV camera, you never know what to expect from that team

Rankings and rants

The Dambulla stadium is Sri Lanka's Sharjah

Before the Asia Cup began, Aakash Chopra said that India will be playing Sri Lanka for the millionth time this year. It was casually mentioned on Twitter, but I think it was retweeted several times. And why not?
Right now, I'm bored of watching the Tri-Series. I follow the game on CricInfo, but that is also limited. I'd rather follow the score for the England-Pakistan test match, which looks to be another good game of cricket.
Dambulla has become the Sharjah of Sri Lankan cricket. Every limited over or T20 game played in Sri Lanka seems to be in Dambulla. Again...it's understandable, as it is probably the only sporty wicket Sri Lanka has, considering their rubbish test match wickets.
So how do two teams deal with strategy when they meet each other so often in a year? It eventually comes down to luck on who wins the toss in the shorter version of the game. In the longer version, especially in the subcontinent, you need to bat first, put up a total of 600-plus and play out a draw. Unless of course, you're Virender Sehwag, who decides to make 288 in a day.
The boards need to be criticized for this. They schedule so many matches with the same side during the year, that most of the players find it hard to adjust to alien conditions when they play in countries like Australia and South Africa. India's record abroad has improved over the last few years, but it's still a long way from giving us the Number 1 test ranking. We're good, I agree, but we need to be more consistent.
I tend to agree with Kumara Sangakkara about the ICC rankings. If we play in subcontinent-like conditions throughout the year, barring a series abroad, then on what basis are we judged? India has been doing well in tests, but its ODI and T-20 (which I don't even count as proper cricket), haven't been the best in a while. Yet we're number 2 in the ODI rankings. The biggest tournament that we won in the last three years is the VB Series in Australia, which was three years ago. We haven't reached the semi-final of any major tournament involving all the cricket playing nations in the last two years.
My only theory is that since we play so much cricket, the probability of us winning more matches is greater. It's probably why the BCCI decided to work on the test itinerary for 2010, fearing that India would lose the Number 1 ranking. More matches played means the probability of more wins. Thus the ranking. If that is the case, then the ICC has some serious rethinking and restructuring to do.

Consistency in the time of chaos

It's been a while since I've written anything.
During this period, Murali took his 800th, Pakistan managed to finally beat Australia, Sachin and Uncle J-Rod have plans to release books filled with blood and semen and Mohammad Azharuddin is reportedly banging some badminton player who is half his age.
Suddenly cricket seems more interesting than the football world cup
Now, I wrote my last piece a few days before the first test match and since then, so much has happened, which makes the cricketing world chaotic once again.
In two weeks of cricket, despite having so much chaos, there is one thing that has been consistent.
That is India's fast bowling problem.
We have two guys: one a relatively new guy and the other, who is bowling shit. The rest of the crop are injured or learning how to bowl.
How on earth can a country, whose general population multiply like rabbits, not produce a single fast bowler, who can consistently bowl fast without getting injured?
The fastest bowler we've had till date is Srinath and he has bowled at 90 mph on a consistent basis.
The guys today find it difficult to touch 85 mph.
Okay, speed isn't everything, but these guys are bowling like a bunch of retards. It's like Intakab Alam's comments should be used on the Indian bowlers, now that Pakistan has beaten Australia
And we're the number 1 side in the world?
I agree with Sangakkara and Harsha Bhogle. What do we have to show to be the best side in the world. For a better part of the 90s, we depended on one guy. In the early part of the 21st century we depended on 2 guys batting well abroad and one guy bowling well at home.
If we win this match, it'll be a miracle. The best we can do is draw it, unless Sehwag does something maniacal like he did in the Mumbai test match and win it for us.
That will bring some chaos to a pretty consistent performance by India.

What does the ICC give us for its 10 years of match fixing anniversary? Sharad Pawar

It’s been a crazy month in the cricketing world. It’s been 10 years since Hansie Cronje confessed to the world about his role in throwing matches away. Heroes became villains and the cricketing world was in turmoil. Ten years on, with T20 cricket gaining popularity and the IPL’s success, there have been allegations of match fixing once again.I’ll be naïve if I’ll say ball-by-ball betting never went, but it’s done in a smarter way today. Paul Condon, the outgoing head of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit himself told Andrew Miller in a CricInfo interview that match fixing would never be eradicated. “Fixing needs really two things: a cricket match and the ability to bet on it. It is the most bet-upon sport in the world - no other sport gets close, not even horse-racing. The sums of money are phenomenal. You can have up to a billion dollars being bet on a single match, and in that respect, it's no surprise that a tiny number of players get lured into malpractice. The challenges that world sport now face around gambling, in a way, are similar to those involving performance-enhancing drugs in the 1970s and 1980s. In a way, it was never entirely overcome but it was certainly controlled.”
And in the middle of this madness, Sharad Pawar takes over as ICC chief.
Considering that India is such a cricket crazy nation, I’m surprised that very few newspapers highlighted the fact that Sharad Pawar is going to be the next ICC president. I read it on CricInfo myself and most of the newspapers the next day were going gung-ho about Wimbledon and the Fifa World Cup.
Now I have serious problems about Sharad Pawar taking over the ICC. I’m sure that the guy is an astute politician and a brilliant administrator, but his alleged links with Dawood Ibrahim isn’t what the game needs, considering that there are new allegations of match fixing with respect to the Pakistan side. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has in fact gone on record to say that there could have been instances where players were paid to lose the series against Australia. We’ll never know the truth, of course unless someone’s phone is tapped like they did for Hansie Cronje.
There are allegations against Pawar and some may say that he is innocent until proven guilty, but I don’t see that working here. In 1995, a report filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs alleges that there was a definite nexus between underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's associates and Pawar. According to the report, Mool Chand Shah alias Choksi—a hawala racketeer also involved in the Jain case and "close to Dawood Ibrahim and gang"—had, on various occasions between December 1979 and October 1992,transferred or paid Rs 72 crore to Pawar.
Cricket is still the most popular game in India, but fans are more cynical. They love Tendulkar, but question whether the opposition was paid to bowl badly when he made all those centuries. They see India lose a final and question the integrity of the players.
A friend of mine, who was an ex-student of the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai did a report on the match-fixing situation in cricket today. She spoke to several people, including bookies and C Sridhar, the DCP, Crime Branch Chennai police, who all agreed that betting was still huge in India. Sridhar actually went on record to tell her that, the minimum betting amount starts from Rs. 500 and runs into crores. Most of those, who invest large amounts, are the businessmen. “As opposed to belief, it’s not the anti-social elements that place money,” he states.
But here, we don’t know the businessman’s history. We don’t know the kind of links he has. We don’t know why he’s betting so much. There are a million questions that we have, but there are no answers. Even the Bombay police, which has been busy targeting betters, can’t find anyone guilty today.
But we’re back at Pawar. There are a number of things that we have to take into consideration here, even if we don’t look at his alleged underworld links. Will his being president help Lalit Modi in any way? Will there be a new twist in the Lalit Modi-BCCI drama? These are questions that will be answered in the next few weeks.
But my biggest concern is whether his alleged connections will the underworld see their role in the game once again? I’m sure that they never left, but they’ve not been in the spotlight since Sharjah was scrapped as a playing venue.
Are there any good things that will come out of his becoming ICC president? In my opinion there is one and it’s a big one. He has asked the Prime Minister to reshuffle the cabinet so that he can balance his work. Hopefully, we’ll get a new agriculture minister, who can do some work.

The comeback kid

I could write about how badly India played today.
But that's something I write about all the time.
However, I'm glad that Zimbabwe is slowly finding its way back into the international cricket arena.
I just finished reading A Corner of A Foreign Field and in it, Ramachandra Guha, on more than one occasion, stressed that when sport and politics go together, it can tarnish the entire essence of a game. It was seen in the days of the Raj, during the quadrangular and pentagular cricket tournaments, where the players of different religions and opposing faiths would clash. They might have gotten along, but the crowds most certainly did not. It was also seen post-1947. India and Pakistan have never gotten along as neighbors in the political circuit, but the sportsmen and women have made up for it. True that there are altercations in the heat of the game, like we've seen in hockey or in cricket, but at the end of the day the players are friends off the field, or so they claim.
While there is still turmoil in Indo-Pak relationships and the cricketers are barely playing, I can say this in writing that despite everything, the fan would die to watch an Indo-Pak game. Hell, there will be a packed stadium in Siberia if they played.
Politics also came in the way of South Africa's cricket. Their policy of apartheid resulted in them getting debarred from all sporting activity for over 20 years. Great players like Barry Richards and Mike Proctor could only make a name for themselves on the county circuit, despite dominating Australia in the 1969 series, which was South Africa's last series for a while.
A similar thing happened when Robert Mugabe became president of Zimbabwe. Mugabe won the elections in 1980 and served as prime minister till 1987. After that, he decided to take law into his own hands and made himself the ruler of Zimbabwe in 1987. His rule, people say is tyranny; some have even called it reverse apartheid. Several players, particularly the Flower brothers, Heath Streak, Henry Olonga and Pommie Mbwanga, migrated to England for a better life. Flower and Olonga, during the 2003 World Cup released a statement saying,

“

In all the circumstances, we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to stop the abuse of human rights in Zimbabwe. In doing so, we pray that our small action may help to restore sanity and dignity to our Nation.

”

The duo had to escape to England and since then, the Zimbabwean side lost its focus and a lot of burden was left on the young shoulders of 19-year-old Tatendra Taibu. And credit must go to him because he captained, led by example and kept wickets. Unfortunately for him, the team had a bunch of players selected purely on the basis of the color of their skin, rather than talent. Just for the sake of minority, a couple of white cricketers would be thrown in. The result was disastrous, with the ICC finally giving up and debarring Zimbabwe from playing test cricket.
This was four years ago and thankfully for the sake of cricket, the side is slowly getting back to playing good, competitive cricket. Sure, there is no Andy Flower or Heath Streak and Mugabe is still going strong, but the players are showing that they are no longer minnows and are working hard to be better with every game they play.. India figured it out in this tour. For all you know, this could be a Sri Lanka vs Zimbabwe final. And for the love of the game, that makes me very happy.

India says no to Asian Games

Now here's the surprise of the century.
The BCCI has said no to India playing the Asian games.
I think I have a fair idea why they have said no.
It's simple, actually. When cricket was introduced into the Commonwealth Games at the end of 1998-99 (correct me if I've gotten the year wrong), India had Sachin, Jadeja and a third guy I can't remember as part of the India XI.
The rest of the side was in Toronto losing to Pakistan. They lost 4-1, if my memory serves me right, with Sachin flying for the last game and making 77.
He batted awesome in that match.
But he played shit in the Commonwealth, like the rest of the Indian side.
Come to think of it, India lost everything in that tournament or the matches were abandoned due to rain.
So the BCCI, according to that logic, doesn't want to look like a bunch of cunts if India loses to Nepal, Japan or China.
It'll make the loss to Zimbabwe more believable.

From the failed ballad to a rock concert

When India played Australia in the T20 Cup, they looked like they were going to die because of the fast bowling.
I don't blame the side. You have Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson bowling at 150 k at your head, despite a helmet most modern-day cricketers would be scared.
But then came Rohit Sharma and batted like it was net practice.
He made 79 awesome runs, which Uncle J-Rod calls the Ballad of Rohit Sharma.
The ballad continued the other day against Zimbabwe.
No offence to the Zimbabweans, but if Rohit's ballad against Australia was Bridge Over Troubled Water, then the ballad against Zimbabwe was as bad as Unbreak My Heart.
India should not have lost that match. It was cuntish, overconfident  behavior that cost us the game.
However, today, Sharma changed the ballad into a sizzling rock star performance.
I call the performance Shoot To Thrill  

A must read

I'm currently reading A Corner Of A Foreign Field by Ramachandra Guha. This is also the first time I'm incorporating an image into this blog and it's not a photo blog, which makes this post all the more significant, although the layout might look crap by the time I'm done with this.

But that's not the point.

While I'm not done with the book entirely, I'm not in a place to do an overall review of it, which is why I'm just raising a few issues regarding the way the game was played then and how it is now.

If you read the book, barring technology and the use of protective gear, the game hasn't changed. 

In fact, it has gone back to it's original form, with a few tweaks here and there. 

For example, the type of umpiring then. If a decision was given against an Englishman, he had the right to appeal against it. However, it wasn't the same for the local players, but despite that they wouldn't fare so badly. There was an instance of a match an English batsman, refusing to walk claiming that the wicketkeeper had dislodged the bails when he was actually bowled. Harris was declared out, but the media particularly the Times of India, which was owned by the English at that time criticized the local umpires and claimed that only the English could umpire the matches. 

Eventually in the quadrangular, there were neutral umpires for each game i.e. a Muslim would officiate a game between the English and the Hindus and the English and Parsis; Hindus would officiate games between the English and the Muslims and the English and Paris and so on. The ICC eventually changed the rule of one local umpires in a test match early this century, which is quite bizarre, considering that the Raj was okay with it in the early 20th century.

The book, however, mainly speaks on the Palwankars, probably the first great cricketing family led by Palwankar Baloo, India's first great cricketer. People of course speak of KS Ranjitsinhji as India's first great cricketer, but Ranji himself played for England and had always felt that the Indian style of playing the game was not the right way, in terms of technique. This is probably why Guha narrowed down on Baloo while writing the book.
The book on the whole is more caste and history that went around the game. There are no scorecards or statistics, except for Baloo's and probably CK Nayudu's. It's an evolution of the game to the religion it has become in India. Guha doesn't disappoint again, which is why I recommend the book to both cricket and non-cricket lovers

Good on Bangladesh

I like this English side.
Although they started poorly and are playing against bottom three lowest ranked test teams, they haven't taken their opposition for granted.
Unlike the Indian side, whose players deserve to be walloped.
They scored 505 on a fairly shitty wicket at Lords.
But Bangladesh fought back. And they've done a good job of fighting back.
I know it's day 3 of a test match and a lot can happen over a session.
I am also aware that the Bangladeshi side is known for batting collapses after showing that they are capable of playing with the best sides in the world.
But they need to convert these brilliant bursts of cricket to something more relevant, if they are to have results in their favour.
Right now, they are three wickets down, but I hope they reach a score where they don't follow-on.
England, of course, are living off their T20 high and have done the transition from T20 to test cricket quite well.
And yes, in Bangladesh's defense, they had a good home series against England, although they lost. They fought and could have won one of the test matches.
India, on the other hand, need to grow some balls and need to stop being aggressive.

India outclassed

So India lost to Zimbabwe.
As an Indian, I should be pissed and disappointed, but instead I am laughing.
This is the best thing that could happen to Indian cricket.
We know that our bench strength is full of shit, but losing to Zimbabwe is like a slap on the face.
Like Ayaz Memon tweeted, it's because of overconfidence.
I hope Gary Kirsten breaks their balls.
Freaking wankers

The older man syndrome in Indian cricket

I have a theory.
I could be perfectly wrong, but nonetheless it's a theory and theories are meant to be proved otherwise.
Why did Sachin Tendulkar fail as the captain of India?
I wouldn't call him a bad leader. He did quite well in the recently concluded IPL - both as a leader and as a batsman. When he led the Indian side, he led from the front. He scored 1,000 test runs in a calendar year during his first stint, despite critics saying that he was out of form.
He bowled a last over against Australia to secure India a place in the finals of the Titan Cup, thereby saving Robin Singh's career.
I don't blame his captaincy when India lost 3-0 against Australia. Even Wasim Akram, who captained Pakistan quite brilliantly in the series before, fell short.
We keep saying that India and Pakistan played crap. India probably did, but at that time, the Australians were invincible.
So why criticize Tendulkar's captaincy?
The same can be said of Dravid's captaincy.
He started off well, but then Greg Chappell came.
Now, I'm sure that Chappell is a great coach, but he would work for a team like Australia.
For India, it's a big no-no.
My thing about Tendulkar and Dravid's captaincy is that they are ahead of their times, when it comes to Indian cricket.
So was Anil Kumble.
All three players are thorough professionals, but what worked for Kumble that didn't work for Tendulkar and Dravid is that Kumble was the oldest member in the team.
The subcontinent has a tradition of 'respecting their elders.' Kumble was no exception, which is why making him captain late in his career is probably the smartest thing that the BCCI has ever done. Sri Lanka had that with Ranatunga and Pakistan had that with Imran Khan. India had it with Kumble
Had he been captain earlier, he would have never played for India again, had the team done badly.
It's what has happened to Rahul Dravid. And Dravid has always been a bigger role model than Kumble, although I believe that both are in the same slot when it comes to being professional.
During phase I as captain, Sachin was the youngest member in the team and during Phase II, India was a shit team, with players woefully out of form.
When Dravid was captain, he couldn't transfer his professional attitude to the rest of the players. Dravid that way is very Australian in his approach to the game. There is a lot of hard work put in and the results show.
I'm not discrediting MSD's captaincy here, don't get me wrong. Nor am I criticizing Ganguly's type of leadership. Dhoni is street smart, while Ganguly was so self-absorbed that the team doing badly meant that he was doing badly.
It's also the same reason why their team does well.
I'm not going to blame the IPL for India's poor performance. I'm going to blame it on overall lack of discipline
But again, that's the problem with us as a nation as a whole. We're okay with being mediocre. We have a very talented side, but they are inconsistent and not very hard working. Dravid and Kumble were probably less talented than most of the guys in our team, but their hard work and perseverance paid off and they are respected the world over. Vinod Kambli, people say was more talented than Tendulkar, but Tendulkar's hard work paid off. The talent was there, yes. But so was hard work.
It's the same reason why he's been in the team for 20 years and players come and go.
So, like I said in my previous blog post, if India needs to achieve the same level of proficiency and consistency like an Australia, South Africa or New Zealand (I mention NZ because despite them having a shitty side, they are always competitive), the BCCI and the players need to seriously rethink their sole purpose of being involved in the game.

BCCI and PCB need to analyze

I was going to write about Mark Boucher today.
But I think the Pakistan team tape story is one of the funniest I've heard in a very long time.
Intikhab Alam calls them 'mentally retarded' and a board member calls Shoaib Malik 'a termite'
I say that it's funny because when I think that Team India and the BCCI act moronic and you think that nobody can fuck up anymore, the PCB comes and says, "Hey, you cunts. Beat this!"
I don't blame the players entirely. Most of them are a bunch of talented, but direction-less kids taken off the street and given a chance to represent their nation.
They become famous overnight and think that they can do anything.
Like Anil Kumble mentioned in his article in Hindustan Times the other day while referring to the BCCI's role in guiding youngsters, I feel that the PCB should do something similar.
That is, if they have a bunch of educated people in that unit.
Otherwise like my brother put it, Shoaib "Genital Warts" Akhtar has a new friend -- Shoaib "Termite" Malik. they both used to play for the Pakistan "mentally retarded" team.
And in the process, Boucher, despite his wonderful wicketkeeping has been forgotten in my thoughts as well.

Azharuddin speaks of Team India fiasco

So, after he received a life ban, this is the first time Mohammad Azharuddin has spoken to a cricket website.
"Obviously if you stay up the whole night, it would affect you. Players should be responsible enough. The game is more important than the parties. Excuses like these cannot be given after you lose. For a player, cricket should come first and everything else is secondary."
Mohammad Azharuddin is appalled by Dhoni citing the hectic IPL schedules, on and off the field, as an excuse for the side's performance.
It's funny. This is from the same guy, who was banned for life for fixing matches that involved his country.
It doesn't matter whether he's guilty or not. It does matter that he was banned and disgraced from the game.
Then he decided to enter politics and stood for elections using a Congress ticket.
Suddenly, without realizing it, he won and became a member of the Lok Sabha. 
Ideally, he should have become union sports minister and legalized betting in all games. At least, we'd know that the IPL and professional wrestling would mean the same thing. 
Now, the media wants his expert opinion on the game and how things are in it. 
Considering his oratory skills, I'm sure that he would be as clear as the Great Khali. At least in Khali's case, we know 100 per cent that he fixes matches. It's his job to do so.
Personally, I blame the media as well for interviewing Azhar. They have no right in doing so.