CSK and India Cements owner, N Srinivasan hops into the hall in an India Cements sack, followed by Kris Srikkanth and the resident CSK astrologer, also in their cement sacks.
Srikkanth: Wadducallit ImGoingHoppingMadInSacks…
Astrologer: Shhh Sri sir will hear you, shhh...Sri Sir…you’re enjoying hopping
Srinivasan: I have not digested my lunch only
Astrologer: For team morale sir, we must lead the ways
The CSK team is gathered in the hall, they start to get into their CSK India Cements' sacks.
Srikkanth is excited, he's just spotted his son, and makes an effort to run-hop to him in his sack…
Srikkanth: Wadducallit MySon…Anirudha
In his excitement, Srikkanth trips himself, and falls over in the sack; Anirudha embarrassed titters weakly at his mates…
Astrologer: Aaah there you are Mathew Hayden..I was telling Sri Sir that like you played lucky mascot in IPL you will play lucky in semis
Hayden: But I don’t wanna play, mate….ummm Hussey should play…
Srinivasan: Should we start the sack race…boys
Hayden: Can I hit the sack, mate…don't wanna play nuthin no more
Badrinath in sack, tries to get off the bench but falls..MSD reprimands him
MSD (to Badri): Areh, you don’t need an early start…you will come later
Badri sullen face sits back on the bench
Srikkanth can be seen pushing his son forward, while the son tries to shrug him off. Vijay tries to hop ahead – not hopping straight, he attempts to hop across the line and falls.
After Vijays early fall, MSD shouts at Badri to come off the bench…while the astrologer is still pushing Hayden. Murali is frowning, someone has made the 8 in his 800 t-shirt a zero. Raina puts on skates and gets into the sack. His fate, not to different from Vijay’s. Hussey meanwhile is half way across the hall, Badrinath has just started, Kemp can’t fit into a sack..
MSD (to Hayden): Where’s Morkel, Matt
Hayden: Ummm he hit the sack, mate..
MSD: No he didn’t, I don’t see him in the sack, mate
Hayden walks away, thought blurb over his head – “these Indians”, thought blurb over MSD’s head, “these Aussies”.
A sexy CSK groupie starts to flirt with MSD and asks him
Groupie: Know you’re married and all, but you wanna hit the sack with me...
MSD (bewildered, twitches and then winks): Areh? How does my being married stop me from playing in the sack with you
Groupie jumps with joy and nearly jumps MSD there…
MSD (as if looking into camera): Ub hoga usli mukabla!
Also Read: Bangalore Royal Challenger's Team Building exercises
The Hotel Manager knocks hard at one of the CSK rooms, no reply. He then sticks his finger hard into the doorbell
Raina and Vijay swing open the door, whistling hard…the manager is shaken, stirred. There is manic whistling, an orgy of happiness, all being filmed – the new CSK commercial.
Manager: Er…I’m sorry to interrupt but…
Vijay: Yes so are we..go your way…go yaway…haha
The manager is pushed away, inside MSD is twitching, Badri is whistling on a bench, Jakati and Ashwin are whistling collectively, Hussey is whistling casually like a gent taking a dog for an evening walk, Kemp is whistling from the ceiling, Hayden tries to whistle but fails, Morkel tries too, when a sign appears - "Injured, cannot whistle", Murali is standing in front of a counter, whistling 800 times
From nowhere, Amitabh Bachchan appears in a long black coat
AB: Ub hogi asli party…Chennai Super Kings vs Whistle Podu
MSD who looks half dead, musters enough strength to stand up, feign a smile, and mutter…
MSD: Chennai Super Kings ka whistle podu..
Aishwarya Rai and Bachchan Jr appear, with Papa AB they start to whistle madly…MSD walks out. Badrinath goes up to him and asks...
Badri: Can I also come...
MSD: No, you come later...
Two debutantes played for India in the first Test at Nagpur. The first was a domestic colossus. The other, a little known wicket keeper and another journeyman cricketer in the domestic leagues. The first was a surety to be in the playing squad even before it was announced. The other was just happy to be there.
The first was aware of his impending debut well before the squad was announced ( owed mainly to injuries to key players). The other came to know of it on the morning of the test. The first had pedigree. The other, spunk.
And it pretty much went according to plan. Everyone questioned the other's selection. Many were unhappy that he was being played as a specialist batsman ( a role that even he would tell you, he was not cut out for). Before the first day ended, the other had been written off, called a one test wonder, his test cap questioned. The first was the one to deliver for Team India - the ideal replacement in the famed middle order.
And come Day 3, everyone's worst fears and greatest hope came true - the first scored 56, the other 0. And that is where the story should have ended.
Except when the team was under cosh in the second essay, following on, the first scored 6, lasting 45 minutes, scoring one boundary and lasting all of 31 balls. The other, in the meanwhile, scored 36, lasting 150 minutes, playing 101 balls, with four boundaries.
And then the most obvious thing happened - the other got dropped, the first held on to his place in the side.
This is not a critique of Subramanian Badrinath, who has done enough and more to demand his selection in the Test team.
This is in praise of Wriddhiman Saha, a wicket keeper forced to play as a specialist bat, a man written off by all and sundry before he took the field, a man who showed enough bottle to fight the fight in the second essay when the chips were down and his own neck was on the chopping block and on the back of a scoreless first innings..
This is a salute to what he brings to the plate - character. A quality our current selection panel is sorely lacking in!
The chairman of selectors was in a fix. "yeh bandha Dhoni", he was thinking, is “too chatur”. I give Badri in the squad, and he doesn’t play him. I give him Mishra, and he has the chutzpah to drop him after a good performance. And I cannot do anything about it because he is the country's darling.
Howsoever I manage to pack the squad with my guys, they seem to not get a chance. How do I get over this? Thinking, Thinking.
One day, just as he saw Rahul Dravid lay blinking on the hospital bed, our chairman got it in a flash. Eureka he came out shouting, thankfully fully clothed.
Next day, MSD sees the squad - and he knows his goose is cooked.
For, look at the squad and resolve this:
MSD wants to play 6 batsmen? You've got no choice but to pick Badri, dude. Take that!
Ok, you want to try to avoid that by going for 5 bowlers? You've got to pick Mishra dude!('cos you cannot obviously justify picking a newbie over Mishra when he has done well in the most recent test! Or, can you? One never knows, MSD might still pull a surprise)
Now, c'mon, MSD, show us who you hate more - Mishraji or Badri thambi(aNNan to you!) :-)
by Raj
This was the last thing on my mind, and then I saw this dubious poll. It’s a no-brainer, but once you put the question, there’s an element of greed that creeps in. If Dravid opens, then we can play the extra bowler – read that as we can play Ishant, further read that as we can play Ishant back into form. And even further read that between invisible lines as you will.
Personally I’d like to see Amit Mishra in, but the way it is, even Mishra must not see himself playing. Instead he must hone his skills at carrying drinks, watch Cocktail, Tequila sunrise.
Now seeing that it’s Sri Lanka we’re playing, even MSD can take some much needed rest. Dravid can keep wickets. In that case, India can play another middle order batsman, why not Badrinath?
It’s not as if he has a test career to look forward to, give him a home game, once Gambhir is back, he’ll go back to where he came from.
Logic says Murali Vijay, opener for an opener; but what good is that – Jatman and Gambhir aren’t going anywhere till test cricket is dead and buried. And they pretty much got all forms of the game blocked, so give Badri a go, will you?
If nothing else, it will show the selectors in good light; which will compensate for all the bad light they’ll be subjected to for the rest of their terms.
This could backfire if Badri scores many, many runs, unlikely as it is. This is not first class cricket. He is not supposed to score 20 centuries in one game. His average cannot shoot to 56.54 overnight. And he is nearly over the hill, almost 30 next August. What use is a test debut now?
So as always the selectors will make the boring choice. Murali Vijay pad up please. But why do I get the feeling that Jatman and Vijay will not be a hot pair – if we go with Vijay, let’s just open with Dravid. And let Jatman attend Gambhir’s sister’s wedding – after all, your brother’s sister’s wedding is your sister’s wedding?
That way, Badri can play too, and we’ll all be happy, including the Lankans.
PS: This friend calls Badri Badz. Think it works?
I had started putting together a post for the Challengers, but Cricinfo pipped me to the post. And for the most part, I agree with what is written. But there are a few points I would like to highlight, nonetheless.
It came up the other day, in the bored meeting, that who'd be taking up the middle order slots once Sachin, Rahul and VVS retire from tests.
i kept trying to think of three names who could be the replacements but no one is an automatic replacement.
The Contenders:
Rohit Sharma : The Mumbai kid who seems to be favored a lot by the selectors. looks 27 at least, but says he is 22. Looks good when he gets going. Has a lot of time when playing his shots. Rameez says so. flashes a lot outside the off stump though.
has the shots, but does he have the temperament to make it at the biggest level? has flattered to deceive on a lot of occasions. Might as well turn out to be a t20 specialist.
S Badrinath : Has been a consistent performer for TN over the past few years. Has a sound technique. Could well be the next RD. Surely, deserves to be given a few chances to prove what he's got. Admittedly hasn't been too flash for chennai in the IPL, but he looks like someone for the long run. But, he's 29 now, is it too late already?
Cheteshwar Pujara : BCC!'s beloved Che has been scoring runs in truckloads in the domestic circuit. His scores in crucial stages of last years ranji and deodhar trophy prove that he can cope with big match pressures. Also, has a good technique and can be difficult to get out. Being only 21, he has age on his side too. hope that knee injury he got, doesn't hamper him too much, like yuvi. Che for one, looks like he can walk in to replace one the big guns.
Manoj Tiwary : Watched him bat against Mumbai, in the ranji trophy. Looks like he belongs at the highest stage. Is an aggressive batsman who doesn't mind using his feet against the spinners. injured his shoulder before his debut against bangladesh, wasn't given enough chances in the Aus tour. Definitely deserves a go.
Suresh Raina : Has had a fairly successful run in the limited overs format. But a flaw in technique has been exposed against the short ball. But Ganguly played quite a few years without ever improving his play against the short ball, While Sehwag looks to have improved on the leg side play with the addition of the pull. No reason why Raina can't make a change. Again, has the shots, but is there enough temperament?
there might also be a few wild cards in Abhishek Nayar, Ajinkya Rahane, Y Venugopal Rao.
Mohammad Kaif anyone??
Prafs also blogs at Right Arm Fast
india is celebrating raksha bandhan...
i can understand slow net traffic today...eligible bachelors...and some self proclaimed hunks will be hiding in their bunkers ...while gals will be busy chasing them...
...but i was smart and took my laptop with me...to post a post on raksha bandhan...cricket style!
so who will be tying rakhi to whom in cricket today...
badrinath, amit mishra will be tying the rakhi on MSD's hand which will make him duty bound to include them in final xi at least when selectors select them for future tours...
pujara, our own CHE, will be looking to do the same to selectors to at least select him first...as playing in final xi is a distant dream...
while indian players are looking for wada officials to tie rakhi and requesting elimination of whereabouts clause...icc will be looking to do the same to bcci to end impasse...
deshis have prolonged their stay in west indies just to tie rakhi to wicb and wipa officials to provide them a wonderful opportunity to win test and odi series with a request for similar tours in future...
aussie players have taken cue from indian culture and prepared a special rakhi for rudi koertzen to go easy on them...
while i will by tying the rakhi to the those who will come up with more such instances...
happy raksha bandhan to one and all!!
Did you know his first name is Subramaniam? Did you know Subramaniam's second name is Badrinath? Do you even know who the fck he is? If not, there's a good chance you may never know. Then again, maybe you will. Either way you will find out in the next coupla weeks.
also read 'Mahi, leave Badri alone'
8.3
Jakati to Smith, 1 run, a mental match becomes crazier still, there were at least four chances to run out Smith there, Smith hit it to deep point, the bowler doesn't collect the return, Badrinath backing up, throws it back to the bowler who doesn't collect the throw again but breaks the stumps, Smith and Suman were almost at the same end at this time, Jakati picks the ball and tries to hand it to Badrinath who is at the stumps now but flicks it wide of him, before Smith finally gets home
oh...this is badri...i think...Badri, now that nobody cares, you’ve started scoring again. Out of your team’s 199, you made 100*. The other day you scored a double.
Does it count? Not really. Is that why you scored these runs?
Did they ever want you in the team? How many chances did you get? Did you ever stand a chance? How much longer before you hit the microphone again?
Keep scoring, if nothing else, at your age, you can make your test debut in Australia.
by Homer
Random thoughts on the Ranji quarterfinals
1. Chesteshwar Pujara - Scoring runs on the Rajkot featherbed is one thing, scoring runs when it matters, quite another. Coming in at 13/3, chasing 325 runs for an outright win, on a 4th innings Brabourne stadium pitch and scoring a ton to seal the deal - this kid is more ready than I thought he was 4 weeks ago.
2. Subramanian Badrinath - The 92* in the second essay may not be enough to get Badri another chance to fail in the Indian team. Has fallen well behind in the pecking ordewr to take up Rahul Dravid's job.
3. Rahul Dravid - Is Barkus willing? The talent is there, so is the ability.. But the mind continues to play tricks.
4. Lakshmipathy Balaji - The Smile is back. And how!!
5. Piyush Chawla - Where has the mojo gone?
6. Vineet Indulkar - The next great Mumbai batsman before Rohit Sharma became the next great Mumbai batsman. Now plays for HP along with Bhavin Thakkar. Which begs the question - why are people lamenting the death of Mumbai cricket if there are so many Mumbailkars unable to find a spot in the team and are forced to ply their trade elsewhere?
7. The Mumbai Cricket team - In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is King. This is the wrong team - wrong balance, wrong selection, just plain wrong. This team has ONE bowler ( Dhawal Kulkarni), the rest make up the numbers ( with occassional cameos). The batting order is unsettled,with the top3 (4?) alternating places. They have an apology of a leg spinner, all of 36 years of age who neither bats nor bowls. The captaincy has changed hands 4 times in the last 6 years. This is ateam with no selection continuity or investment in youth ( Iqbal Abdulla, Mumbai's main spinner last season and all of 18, does not make the final XV).And yet, Mumbai has won 5 games outright (out of the 7) in the league phase and continues to crush opponents. And things will only get rosier with Zaheer Khan and Sachin Tendulkar joining the team from the semis onwards..
Who would have thought?
By Q
Kris Srikkanth's latest statement means that Dravid will definitely play against England and probably against Pakistan as well, if that series takes place.
That means India need to look for only 1 additional batsman to replace Ganguly at number 6 in the batting line up.
Who is that going to be?
This should have been Yuvraj Singh's time, but he has made a mess of things and looks way down the pekking order now.
Rohit Sharma was in the squad against Sri Lanka but did not play and then was replaced by Badrinath in the squad for the Australia series. He too did not play.
Is it their time?
Murali Vijay looked very good partnering Sehwag at the top - maybe he could be drafted in at 6 in the test line up.
How about Vijay batting at 3 and Dravid moving down to 6? -I like this one!
Or will Dhoni look to be more aggressive, bat at 6, and add an additional pacer to the XI?
Whats your choice?
After their no-show in the Irani Trophy, Kaif, Badrinath and Akash Chopra will be collectively called Blewett. (pronounced as Blew-it)
When spoken of in isolation, Akash Chopra will be referred to as A.C. Pre-Irani, because of the window of opportunity, he’ll be called window A.C. Post Irani, split A.C.
What’s your call?
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