"It’s turning out to be that kind of month for former India cricketer Bishen Singh Bedi. First, the Supreme Court did to the Board of Control for Cricket in India what he’s been itching to do to them for years; then, his protégé, Parvez Rasool, is picked for India’s Twenty20 squad against England. What could possibly happen next for the straight shooting Bedi?"
Bishen Singh Bedi might have a loose tongue, he might be a publicity monger, for all his acerbic he was, is and will be a great master of a dying trade. The art left arm slow bowling. Ask any one who’s savvy enough to speak cricket without having to refer to www, he would say “Bedi was the baap of all”.
In roughly 13 years, he played 67 tests. His returns with his left hand were 266 scalps at 28.71.
Muralitharan played for 18 years, 133 tests and returned with 800 scalps at 22.72
Let’s look at some statistics now…
What are we going to see now ?
a. Where Muralitharan was when he finished playing his 67th test
b. Removing all the home test matches, to avoid the “My favorite groundsman” factor for both bowlers
c. Remove the obvious minions, Zimbabwe is the only one in the list so we remove them
d. Because we are removing Zimbabwe whom Bedi never played and some might argue they had the Flower power when Muralitharan played. We make a compromise, in all matches Muralitharan took more than 2 wickets you discount 2 wickets (meaning you add it to his total tally, that of the Flower’s). Just to give him that advantage of hard earned wickets
Now, here’s how the board looks
Bishen “Loud mouth” Bedi
Tests played: 67
Tests played at home: 28
Wickets: 266
Wickets at home: 129
So we reset his tally to 266 - 129 = 137
So Bedi’s final figure is 137 test wickets at the end of his career
Muttiah “Protractor” Muralitharan
Total Tests played: 133
Wickets: 800
At the end of 67 tests…
Tests played at home: 35
Wickets: 340
Wickets at home: 195
Wickets against Zimbabwe (after deducting 2 from tally more than 2, the actual tally is 12): 9
So the rest tally is: 340 – 195 – 9 = 133
After 67 tests who is great ?
Who tested the batsmen the most ?
And who troubled the establishment more ?
Let us not let someone belittle one of our greats. We Indians have this habit of letting go of our culture, history & the greats, as told by our forefathers. Thanks to politics we can’t acknowledge the fact that we have let ourselves hijacked.
Let’s try and make Indian cricket politics free !! (outside the purview of BCCI of course)
As of now we know that there are only two real men in Indian cricket, one is Prasanna and the other is Maninder Singh. Let’s join them in telling the world “No Muralitharan, you are wrong… Singh Bedi is King Bedi”.
And hope he says “Sorry, I was misquoted” (as they all say !!)
Bedi’s gone and said, what quite a few of us, including SP and me have felt for a long time. Why didn’t we say it before – how could we, we were too busy aimlessly targeting Bhajji, better judgment failed us.
But Bedi is different, in spite of his son’s misdemeanors at the IPL, he still can tell an off-spinner from an off-darter. Here’s what he said –
“I think Sehwag is probably the best offspiner in the Indian team. He has a clean action and also spins the ball”
Imprint (verb) im’print - Establish or impress firmly in the mind
If we were to go by etymology, then yes they did. This is in relation to Venkatesh Prasad and Rabindra Ramnarain Singh and the demons.
Let’s get a bit practical. If etymology drove our life, the driver would be Greg Chappell. For, he did establish or impress firmly in the mind of an Indian fan !!
My view is that a coach who leaves an imprint is a bad coach… The case point is Buchanan, he left his imprint not once but twice. Once in Australia and again in Kolkota . One seems a deceptively successful example if you leave the “Maa Ki” tour aside and the other the obvious. The other is Duncan Fletcher, luckily there came a cushion called Peter Moores and a cue called KP.
Greg Chappell is folklore in India, we definitely know what imprint means.
Believe me I don’t belong to the Shane Warne school of thought. I come from a family of teachers, I broke the line for the first time in 4 generations (in recent memory). There needs to be a teacher, but I belong to the contemporary school of teaching. Yes, the teacher needs to be someone the ward could relate to and reason with… Someone who course corrects, the man in charge of the rudder.
I, for one liked those days when Bishen Bedi was the manager (a coach was called so those days) of the Indian cricket team. Surprisingly he spoke less (or there were less many TV channels) but he did a very good job. Those who speak about Robin doing a change “imprint” on the fielding would have to remember and see the batting records of Bedi and his "imprint" in that department when he was the manager.
If only coaches had a magic wand, Mahrajkumar of Vijayanagaram would have eclipsed The Don. And Lalu Prasad would have hired the best of brains.
For us Indians bad is the culmination of good and vice versa. We don’t believe in the concept of a full stop unless it is an obituary. Otherwise it is always a comma.
Your silence equals ten thousand active volcanoes, it’s been a while since we heard you. Last we remember was a TV program where you taught your little boy the art of marinating.
Happy bored day the master of left arm spin !!
You’ve ensured that you always make things spin, the country admires your wile. Be it with the small round red leather blob or our heads as you spoke on TV. May you continue your good work and uphold the noble Gandhian doctrine of spinning your own stuff.
Keep spinning Mr Bishen Bedi…
On the eve of just concluded Nehru Cup Football finals between India & Syria, a statement made by Syrian Coach Fajr Ibrahim caught my attention. Syria reached the finals beating all the other four teams in league matches including India(1-0) whereas India could win only two of four. He said “We can beat India even if we play only nine players of our B-Team.” Reading it I felt something, something very deep inside me. What kind of statement was that? Was he confident or over confident. Was he arrogant or something else? Whatever it was but he surely asked for trouble.
The feeling I had was similar to that I felt 40 years back, when on the eve of 3rd test match at the Firoz Shah Kotla Grounds the then visiting Australian captain Lawry said something similar to that.
It was cricketing season of 1969-70. Australians were on a visit to play five test match series. They were full of confidence after beating India by 8 wickets in the 1st test played at Bombay. The 2nd test at Kanpur was drawn where Gundappa R Vishwanath made his debut and scored a brilliant 137 in 2nd innings. So both teams landed in Delhi for third match and after inspecting the pitch Lawry made this comment – “If we win the toss we will beat India in three days.”
Well, they did win the toss. Made 296 runs in 1st innings. India replied with 223 runs thus conceded a lead of 73 runs. Australia started their 2nd innings. It was day three of the match and things started happening. They were bowled out for mere 107 runs. Bishan S. Bedi 5/37 & Erapalli A.S. Prasanna 5/42 were the wreckers. India needed 181 runs to win. They did it convincingly on fourth day winning by 7 wickets. How Lawry felt was anybody’s guess.
So beware Big Mouths! Though we Indians are mild mannered but when it comes to our pride we hit back. Not by words but action. The opponents could not understand what hit them. You don’t believe me? Ask Mr Fajr Ibrahim.
Er… I forget to tell. India won the Nehru Cup beating Syria 5-4 on penalty shoot out.
HOWZATT
by Mukesh
There are lots if you asked me, I am not going to list what is, now. Let us look at how a cricketing father named his son and probably explore reasons why he named so.
When you decide to take a name from Ramayan, Angad. A name even Ramanada Sagar would have some difficulty locating. He was the son of Vaali and Tara, nephew of Sugriv.
You don’t stop there, in fact go a step further. Yes, take the name of your favorite cricketer of that time, split it and add it with the other half of another cricketer you like and put that as a middle name.
No, that is not enough of a name you say. And then add your family name and the name of the clan you belong to.
Then comes the name “Angad Gavasinder Singh Bedi”. Let me expand the name for you, Angad Gavaskar Mohinder Singh Bedi.
Yes it is (Sunil) Gavaskar & Mohinder (Amarnath).
This name has some kind of a funny aura around it. Makes you burst out laughing the moment you hear this name, doesn't it ?
Well “What is in a name ?”
When your father is the temperamental acerbic Bishen Singh Bedi, then you never know when the name would change and to what.
Those (these) days he doesn’t like Gavaskar, he would drop the middle part completely. And you become Angad Bedi.
Now imagine a scenario when he likes Greg Chappell and Maurice Odumbe ? How horrible the (new) middle name becomes.
So, what is in your name ?
Picture courtesy: The Hindu
Strange last 7 days it has been for world cricket. There have been certain things that happened which nobody could ever have imagined.
No, not Bangladesh blanking the duplicate Westindian team
Not the (latest) winningest position Pakistan are at, from where they could scrape through some dead rubber
Not England, not Freddie, not Achilles or Pietersen and not anything at all to do with the elated English cricket establishment.
Oh, all the not’ would be naught’ if I forgot to mention that I am not talking about Ponting’s humility accepting a defeat
So what am I talking about ?
There was this ICC Centenary History Conference that happened in Oxford. There were some known names like Clive Lloyd, Sunil Gavaskar, Bob Willis, Angus Fraser & Ehsan Mani. Some not so known names like Roger Knight (Ex-Secretary MCC), David Richards(ICC’s first CEO), Rachael Heyhoe-Flint (Ex-England women’ captain), Charlotte Edwards & Ebony Rainford-Brent (current England women’ team), a group of journalists and one name which people in the cricketing cricles would run away from, Bishen Singh Bedi.
Bedi participated in a discussion (really ??) with Lloyd. The most surprising thing is that there is no mention of what Bedi spoke in this conference in any of the sites I searched for. I am sure Clive Lloyd outspoke the acerbic tongued Sardar.
Who would have imagined this ?
Well all this apart, who would have imagined that they would waste days discussing about the history of this great game in the last 100 years ?
Simple & uncomplicated history this great game is, one could finish telling the story in just three lines. Yes I am not joking.
“A game invented by the English
Played by champion Westindies & Australian teams (pepper it with other countries if you like !!)
Taken over completely by the Indian money managers”
Long live this great game !!
Long live the money & its Indian managers !!
The Johan Botha saga made us page Bishen Bedi, without any response. And then came a fantastic idea to contain this contagion, yes we want the ICC to equip the umpires with protractors to effectively measure the delivery angle of every bowler. No, not (Mike) Proctor, the one we are referring is the drafting instrument that used to form part of our secondary school geometry boxes.
To start with we studied a couple of pictures, just that moment as the bowling hand is about to release the ball. As I think this might be a little controversial, I am not going to pass any judgement. I would leave it open to the bored members and the bored readers to form their own opinion and probably have a discussion.
What we would do here is to just give you a couple of pointers about what we see in the pictures. Excuse me if you thought we are stirring up the hornets nest again. That is not the intention. Personally speaking I am a great fan of one of the two guys we are talking about here while I haven’t watched much of the other.
Exhibit 1: Muralidaran at practice with Chennai Superkings.
1. He is about to deliver what seems like a possible doosra
2. Look at how upright and (almost) straight his body is
3. Look at the left hand and the left leg, almost firmly pivoted at 80-85 degrees
4. Look at the bowling arm, it seems like it is cocked at 40 degrees
Now the question, do you think if this is the position you are anchored at you would manage to deliver within the mandated 15 degrees?
Now can you take a ball in your hand and try replicating this position and then releasing the ball? Do you feel like your bowling arm might twist badly if you wanted to straighten it (the normal delivery style)?
So what do you think about this action?
Exhibit 2: Botha in action during the recent ODI series against Australia
1. He seems like he is going to deliver a conventional
off-spinner or may be a faster one (more likely it is actually a faster one, if you look at how well he is using the crease and how close he is to the stumps).
2. Look at his body, it is at 70-75 degrees, aligned with his pivotal left leg
3. Now look at where his left hand is anchored, it is completely aligned with his bowling arm (elbow). At 30-35 degrees.
The question, do you think he would deliver the faster one within the stipulated 15 degree bend of the arm?
Why don’t you try this now with a ball in your hand?
This action is a little easily correctable. But the problem is that if you try to correct yourself after cocking up into this position, most probably the ball you deliver is going to bisect (even a squarish) third man and the backward point fielder for a perfect 5.
I am not trying to pass any judgment here as I had mentioned earlier. What is right for some could be wrong from someone else. What is a perfect 6/6 for someone might be short sight for another.
Well, we paged you yesterday, but you didn’t respond. Your stoic silence has been taken for granted by the South African's, they think they could get away with murder.
Don’t believe me?
See what they have done. They have dropped Johan Botha from their squad for the final ODI.
Why?
They want to shield him, from being called again. So he will not be called now, unless you, our dear sir broke his silence and called him, names.
Look at what the man himself says (and I quote the good guys from cricinfo)
"We know what we want to do and we know what we need to do," Botha told Cricinfo. "It's pretty simple."
What does this mean?
This means many things to us.... conspiracy sir.
1. May be they are planning to send his body double (Johan Onna) for the test in Australia and get Botha them cleared
2. Or, may be they are tutoring him now. On how not to bowl how he bowls now, during this break from the final ODI
Your silence is painful dear sir. Yes sir, more painful than how batsmen felt when Steve Bucknor declared them out (he says he is retired but still sir, the batsmen feel the pain).
And my dear sir no worries, I assure you even this time if you open you will not close that easily. No court and no case sir. Yes sir, I mean your sweet mouth simply can’t, those harmonic words that come out.
(Y)our scope is expanding, you will first finish Johan Botha and cricket South Africa off and then come to India. Here we will say “Hello” to Gill paji, our sports minister and a big “Thank you” to him. We need to extract an answer from Harbajan and Dhoni, irresponsible guys they are sir. First tell them how important the Padma awards are, and then demand an answer as to why they missed the ceremony. We need to ask them if that was because of an impending income or expenditure. Yes sir, an ad shoot or a girl friend. You know what we try to mean here…
And sir we have this spineless ICC’s meeting happening in Dubai to decide if cricket could be played in Pakistan or by ICL.
Sorry sir, I know this might be confusing, but two things sir. One my English is not as perfect as yours and two this particular item (line) in the ICC agenda was drafted by Sharad Pawar.
And sir I repeat, please save us & cricket sir. We believe, there have only been two indelible icons in world history who saved the world – general or cricket. One, Hercules and the important two is you sir.
So please respond sir.
Johan Botha of South Africa is the latest to be reported for suspect action. I learn this is the third time Botha had been reported. The news that he has been reported for a suspect action also coincides with no news from Mr Bedi for a while. We haven't heard from you sir since you had whiskey with the visiting English team (in late '08) and hung-over during practice.
Cricket, Mr Bedi is boring, without your valuable comments about today's bowlers and their bowling. I can see Monty nodding vigorously in agreement, sitting at his home in Bedfordshire.
I am sure you would agree with us it is time, Mr Bedi it's time for you to speak up. For, a right action has to be taken against the latest of (the spate of) wrong actions. I am sure Mr Bedi you would agree with us, that this disease of wrong actions has to be eradicated from the cricket world, be it by bowlers or administrators.
Mr Bedi, ask him to use Botha brain and hand while bowling and do it right.
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