More »
What with India’s 62nd Independence Day, the whole freedom routine’s rubbed off our cricket too:
1. Indian cricketers’ freedom from the clutches of WADA’s ‘Whereabouts’ clause: whereabouts they will achieve this freedom is known – in BCCI they trust.
2. Sreesanth’s freedom from the heavy hand of Indian cricket in some far away English county.
3. Dravid’s freedom from that test cricket tattoo, gate-crashing the ODIs through the IPL – a more bizarre revolt in cricket is unknown.
4. Bhajji and MSD’s freedom from conservation: the Hummer. What next, the U.S. army? Afghanistan.
5. Ganguly’s freedom from John Buchanan. A freedom struggle that likened India’s non-violent revolt, a stoic and resolute Dada withstood the verbal canes of the goras, only to emerge as the father of the Knight Rider nation, again.
6. India’s freedom from cricket. Come again, when last did we play?
7. England's freedom from cricket. Come again, when last did they play?
Cricket Freedom.
Give KKR its due
Must admit, I have my reservations with the IPL. While the finals will be played on Sunday, 24th May, between two lacklustre teams – could be either Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Punjab, maybe even Bangalore, spare a thought for Kolkata – for they spared none. Yet in spite of that, how they’ve played, and how they've payed! It’s time we honour the heartbreak kids. I propose a game for the losers, the winners of broken hearts. Give them another game, one which they cannot lose. Let them play amongst themselves – KKR v KKR A. Let one team be led by McCullum, the other by Ganguly. Let them toss for the team names too. A team with so many factions deserves no less. And while they’re at it, how about a mini KKR league, made up of 8 KKR teams. That way, every game KKKR will win. And SRK will never go away!
Media or mother in law?
by A Bisht
I begin with some folklore from north-western India:
In a remote village, a bossy woman lived with her daughter-in-law. Although her son and husband lived with them too, it's she who held sway over the entire family. One person who was always on her radar was the daughter-in-law. Like most mothers-in-law she used to point out flaws in almost everything her daughter-in-law did. As this woman took her role so seriously this reforming activity fast became a habit. The habit brought in her the ingenuity to find faults where they were none.
One day while her daughter-in-law was preparing dough for the rotis (bread made out of wheat flour), to be cooked for the dinner, she stared at her rather furiously. When the daughter-in-law reacted with a questioning expression, pat came her reply—why do you move so much while making the dough?
The reason for this story is to drive home the analogy between the bossy mother-in-law and the Indian electronic media.
Isn't it true that the Indian electronic media functions just like the mother-in-law? Doesn't it specialize in pointing out flaws in almost anything?
Sourav Ganguly announced his retirement this week. He gave a terse, to the point statement to the media. Whatever are the reasons behind the decision; if he has decided to quit the game; his decision should be respected.
And the announcement should be taken on face value.
But as the adage goes "Old habits die hard"; the media (e) which was at Ganguly's throat for not making way for the youngsters only a week ago; is now showing its concern about the future of Indian cricket after the departure of the fab four.
Youngsters who up to now seemed more than good heirs to the fab four legacy suddenly became unworthy.
It's high time the Electronic media start acting responsibly and shed this rather irritating habit.
[PS to Media: It's not all too hard to get rid off this anomaly—just make sure you watch your previously telecast programmes once in a while.]
What do you say?
Why is BCCI's way of functioning so obscene?
by A Bisht
Why's it that every time BCCI makes a major announcement or takes an important decision it's stoned and ridiculed? Or in other words why does BCCI attract so much malice?
Take for instance, the issue of foreign Boards demanding a share of the IPL trove. Their plea being, it's their stars and players who are making the format popular. England has been contracting foreign players from time immemorial to play in its domestic circuit. Is it sharing its money with the participating players' respective boards? Struggling Boards like Cricket Sri Lanka who don’t even have enough money to pay their contracted players are feigning loss of revenue to IPL. Countries from where retired and non-performing players formed the bulk of incoming players are complaining of serious cricket-drain.
And the simple question is why?
Another example -
It's not the BCCI which initiated the system of phasing out senior players. In recent past it's Cricket Australia which set the tone. Other boards including India only embarked on this path created by CA.
But when BCCI made its intent clear of phasing out the seniors by unceremoniously dropping Ganguly; it's CA which shouted most loudly.
If players like Steve Waugh and Glenn McGrath were not so indispensable for Australian Cricket; why will Ganguly or for that matter Dravid, VVS or even Tendulkar be so indispensable for India?
But it's not only the other boards who questioned this move; Indian media till yesterday was clutching at the BCCI's throat.
Again the question is…why?
And finally some talk about selections.
In any form of sport team selections is one of the most controversial decisions. No amount of transparency and good intentions can make all sections happy. Still all over the world there are sports bodies that get away with this with minimum controversy and nuisance. But not BCCI; no matter how professionally they do the selections they are blamed, abused and trashed.
And the only question is why?
No doubt, BCCI left no stone unturned to make IPL an overwhelming success. T20 tournaments had been organized even before IPL; but it's the astuteness of the BCCI which made the tournament distinct and special. All said; the brilliance of BCCI ends there.
After that IPL proved to be vulgar display of money and power. The celebrity team owners were unleashed to do what they pleased – Shahrukh Khan jumped more than the cheerleaders, he sat at the players’ dugout; Priety Zinta embraced and kissed all and spared none. A nation like India which believes that the whole world is one big family was blamed for being a racist when Mohali team owners were blamed for barring a non-white cheer leader to be a part of the cheer leading group. The same team owners blamed the police of stealing their liquor and T-shirts. On the ground, Harbhajan Singh slapped Sreesanth as a post match greeting; Farukh Engineer found the greeting too novel; banned him for the rest of the IPL; but only after Bhajji held hands with Sree, Farrukh and Modi for the curious Media; the gesture in particular appeared as if the trio were celebrating Harbhajan Singh's felicitation.
All this happened when Modi, the IPL chairman, stared at wrong places.
No wonder the whole world perceived IPL as a money spinner and alerted their antennas.
Phasing out aged players makes way for younger lot; it also helps to maintain team dynamics. Many countries have successfully shown the door to their legends. But again the BCCI chose to phase out its seniors in an arbitrary manner. Different standards were adopted for different players. Players with ditto performance were treated differently.
In short, some are ignored shamelessly; while others are defended shamelessly.
Coming to selections; no selection can appease all. No amount of caution can deter the backlash. But leaking the important emails and decisions to media and having dozens of official spokespersons definitely increases the intensity of this backlash.
Before concluding, why BCCI can't address the media at a designated place; why Niranjan Shah or some other Board person makes important announcements in corridors, lobbies and porches?
And why can't a person who turns up well; and speaks well address the media in a conference room rather than Niranjan Shah shouldering this responsibility wearing tacky big collared flower motif majorly unbuttoned shirt…
Has it anything to do with BCCI's way of functioning?
Is BCCI's way of functioning obscene?
To an extent it seems it is. Is it?
Bored to the Bone III
Saurav Ganguly on being selected in the squad for the first two tests vs. Australia, thanked the selectors, but said no thanks.
Blame it on the VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme). And of course, Rio. Meanwhile, Sir Michael Caine and Demi Moore were not available for comment.
Five days of creation
by Naked Cricket
On the first day
God said let there toss
And there was toss
But Ganguly didn’t turn up in time
On the second day
God said let there be wickets
And there was wickets
And McGrath turned up to bowl
On the third day
God said let there be runs
And there was runs
And VVS turned up to bat
On the fourth day
God said let there be more runs
And there was more runs
And God separated the runs from the wickets
And the wickets from the runs
On the fifth day
God said let there be result
And there was result
And Bhajji turned up to bowl.
Retro Scoresheet
Who needs a kick on the butt?
by Raja Baradwaj
With the Irani Trophy slated for tomorrow and the selection for the Australia Test series to follow, we would have a busy week ahead. All we bored cricket fans would be busy arguing, justifying and as usual accusing & abusing the wise men and their marshal.
To lead us into the debate here are some numbers and also a few pointers, my interpretation of what these numbers mean. To start, these numbers are from cricinfo.
What do we see here?
1. These are statistics taken from the last 25 test matches these guys have played
2. It becomes the last 23 test matches for Yuvraj and the last 21 for Dinesh Kartick
3. We can see the Runs scored, the number of completed innings played for scoring the runs (not outs and didn't bat not included)
4. Also there are the average number of runs scored – In total, in the first innings and in the second innings
5. Another assumption here is that Sachin would be ready and fit for selection by the time the wise men sit
1. If at all someone from the middle order needs to go, it looks like Tendulkar, he has the leanest scorecard at present. And also a very poor second innings track record
2. Kumble scores more runs in his first innings than what Tendulkar makes in his second
3. No difference between the two wicketkeepers analyzed. The max difference we see is that one is called DHONI!!
4. We have a solution for Yuvraj, to be part of the test team. Go learn to keep wickets in tests. Otherwise his average seems lots better when you compare it to the two wicketkeepers. That seems to be the only way he can force his way into the test team.
5. Tendulkar should be given special permission to bat only in the first innings. Kumble could bat for him in the second, he would score more because that innings would be his first and his first innings average is better than Sachin's second
6. We should get the rules changed a bit to play 2 wicketkeepers in a match. Dinesh Kartick should be played in the first and Dhoni should play the second innings
7. Ganguly should be in the team, the numbers say that he is the best middle order batsman we have at present
Add 0.55 to turn the English language on its head
Excerpts from today’s Times of India
Saurav Ganguly:
“Did reasonably well in the IPL scoring 349 runs in 13 games at an average of 29.08”
Rahul Dravid:
“His IPL campaign was disastrous: 371 runs in 14 games at 28.53”
That’s a difference of 0.55 between the averages of the two players.
By the way, TOI did not put the above words in italics. They could’ve used a red marker, if not a fluorescent one.
