Mobs in Siliguri went on rampage damaging shops and buses protesting against a remark a RJ made in New Delhi against the current Indian Idol.
Wow! A remark made by a RJ (I don't know what the remark was, but going by the way RJs speak in Mumbai, must have been some take on Gorkhas) in Delhi has potential to disrupt life and stop an ambulance carrying a patient in Siliguri.
Talk about global village.
Here's the link:
http://inhome.rediff.com/movies/2007/sep/28idol.htm
The Indian Idol, Prashant has come out with a statement urging restraint from his fans. Hope better sense prevails.
Mercifully, none of the news portals and news papers have carried the actual remark. Looks like the media does have some good sense, after all.
Saturday, 29 September 2007
Wednesday, 12 September 2007
Twenty/20 World Cup
There have only been 16 T/20 international matches played so far and we already have a World Cup! I feel its a bit premature to have a World Cup for T/20 matches so soon. There needs to be more domestic tournaments and international matches before organising a World Cup.
The Indian team (the BCCI one) comes to this World Cup with only 1 international match so far and it would be foolish for anyone to expect a good performance from them, especially after the disastrous World Cup. There are some fresh faces out there, the seniors are not playing and I would like to see if this improves our fielding and catching.
Going by the Chris Gayle innings yesterday (and the SA response), its all about big hitting and athletic fielding. No one was keen on running between the wickets. And with all the big hits clearing the boundaries easily, I really don't know what the fitter, leaner and more athletic fielders can also do. Every batsman was going for broke and the single or a double as a means of contributing to the score was not even thought of. Looks like leaving out SRT and SG might be a big mistake, for they can clear the ropes consistently and with ease. And with bowlers being there just for slaughter and flat tracks, SRT and SG would - probably - have hit their groove which would have meant good news for the ODI series later.
However, this might just be the opportunity for Sehwag, Yuvraj, Uthappa and Dhoni to go bang-bang. I would like Sehwag-Uthappa to open, followed by Yuvraj, Dhoni, Karthik and Gambhir. I'm not sure about the big hitting capabilities of players like Rohit Sharma and Joginder, if they can hit them hard and long, I would prefer them over Gambhir and Karthik. Pollock's and Ntini's mauling yesterday (Ntini bowled only 2 overs) proved that we really do not need specialist bowlers. Batsmen who can bowl are good enough at this level.
Irfan, Joginder, Sehwag, Yuvraj (not withstanding the 5 sixes in an over), Yusuf Pathan can be our bowlers. Sreesanth is too much of a lottery; so is Agarkar. I would play RP because a decent 2 over initial spell can be worth its weight in gold. My team would probably be
Sehwag
Uthappa
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Gautam Gambhir
Irfan Pathan
Karthik
Rohit Sharma (can he bowl?)
Joginder Sharma
R P Singh
Harbhajan can get us a few quick runs, he can be drafted as a specialist slow bowler in place of Rohit Sharma. I would be tempted to play Chawla in that position, but whatever little batting opportunities he has got has not convinced me of his batting skills. If one of the Pathans is having a bad tournament with the ball, then I would look at getting Chawla/Bhajji in.
Agarkar, Chawla, Sreesanth either need to be consistently good bowlers or need to be better batsmen to fit into the T/20 scheme of things.
But knowing the BCCI's way of selecting teams, I would not surprised if Agarkar, Chawla and Harbhan play a lot of the matches. Let's see how the BCCI's team fares!
The Indian team (the BCCI one) comes to this World Cup with only 1 international match so far and it would be foolish for anyone to expect a good performance from them, especially after the disastrous World Cup. There are some fresh faces out there, the seniors are not playing and I would like to see if this improves our fielding and catching.
Going by the Chris Gayle innings yesterday (and the SA response), its all about big hitting and athletic fielding. No one was keen on running between the wickets. And with all the big hits clearing the boundaries easily, I really don't know what the fitter, leaner and more athletic fielders can also do. Every batsman was going for broke and the single or a double as a means of contributing to the score was not even thought of. Looks like leaving out SRT and SG might be a big mistake, for they can clear the ropes consistently and with ease. And with bowlers being there just for slaughter and flat tracks, SRT and SG would - probably - have hit their groove which would have meant good news for the ODI series later.
However, this might just be the opportunity for Sehwag, Yuvraj, Uthappa and Dhoni to go bang-bang. I would like Sehwag-Uthappa to open, followed by Yuvraj, Dhoni, Karthik and Gambhir. I'm not sure about the big hitting capabilities of players like Rohit Sharma and Joginder, if they can hit them hard and long, I would prefer them over Gambhir and Karthik. Pollock's and Ntini's mauling yesterday (Ntini bowled only 2 overs) proved that we really do not need specialist bowlers. Batsmen who can bowl are good enough at this level.
Irfan, Joginder, Sehwag, Yuvraj (not withstanding the 5 sixes in an over), Yusuf Pathan can be our bowlers. Sreesanth is too much of a lottery; so is Agarkar. I would play RP because a decent 2 over initial spell can be worth its weight in gold. My team would probably be
Sehwag
Uthappa
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Yusuf Pathan
Gautam Gambhir
Irfan Pathan
Karthik
Rohit Sharma (can he bowl?)
Joginder Sharma
R P Singh
Harbhajan can get us a few quick runs, he can be drafted as a specialist slow bowler in place of Rohit Sharma. I would be tempted to play Chawla in that position, but whatever little batting opportunities he has got has not convinced me of his batting skills. If one of the Pathans is having a bad tournament with the ball, then I would look at getting Chawla/Bhajji in.
Agarkar, Chawla, Sreesanth either need to be consistently good bowlers or need to be better batsmen to fit into the T/20 scheme of things.
But knowing the BCCI's way of selecting teams, I would not surprised if Agarkar, Chawla and Harbhan play a lot of the matches. Let's see how the BCCI's team fares!
Tuesday, 11 September 2007
So much happening around
Hi!
Its been some time since I logged on to this blog and so many things happened around us. Hyderabad blasts, a bridge (or flyover) collapsed in Hyderabad and a IAF trainer aircraft crashed killing both its pilots (again in Hyderabad). Wonder, if Hyderabad has some planetary configuration gone astray.
India wins the Asia cup and what scores they ran up. 16 goals, 20 goals, etc. Hats off to Joaquim Carvalho and his team for pulling this off. The IHF also announced prizes of Rs. 1,000 for every goal scored and a penalty of Rs. 2,000 for every goal conceded. While I need not even go into the stupidity and silliness of this announcement, it serves a good point to talk about the remuneration provided to the players. In an interview to DNA after the Asia Cup victory (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120724), Dhanraj Pillay talks about "paying some match fee" to the players. He also states that the coach "should also be paid". What The ****? IHF doesn't pay match fees to its players and the coach? No wonder our guys prefer to pick up cricket bats instead of hockey sticks!!!
Elsewhere, the T/20 World Cup is about to start and the Pakistan team is already in the news for the wrong reason. Shoaib has been sent back to Pakistan for hitting Asif with a bat and this time his threat of joining ICL may not work. Asif Iqbal (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120625) feels that PCB is waiting till Shoaib commits mass murder before it starts taking action.
India lost the Natwest trophy 4-3 and though its not a bad scoreline considering that we were 1-3 down, I feel the time has now come to start replacing the seniors. With Gambhir & Uthappa showing promise and temperament, maybe we need to give both of them a longer reign at the top of the order. Gambhir has this tendency to play with Fevicol applied on his feet, while Uthappa's batting may be better suited to T/20 game, but both of them have shown enough grit. With captain and selectors showing confidence in them, maybe they'll probably come out with flying colours!!! Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni can make the rest of the lineup, with someone like Kaif or Raina or Sehwag or even a Ambatti Rayudu challenging these positions. Sachin, of course, still has some cricket left in him. I would like him to concentrate in the ODIs and concede his Test position to some other youngster though many would say that it has to be the other way round. Among the bowlers, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf (if and only if completely fit), Chawla, Powar, R P Singh, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan (assuming he regains his form) complete the head count. Choose 11 from these, depending on opposition, surface, playing conditions, etc.
For the Tests, Gambhir/Uthappa/Karthik would be the openers. Laxman coming in for Sachin or Sehwag and Anil Kumble coming in for Powar or Harbhajan completes the list of probables. Of course, there may be better talent in domestic cricket, and some new names may crop up in the T/20 tournament; some names like Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma are still untried. But I believe the nucleus of the team would be from the above names.
Amul has been voted as Asia's leading brand. And if you are among those who have always looked forward to the Amul hoardings (related to the current hot topic) like myself, then do join in the celebrations.
Its been some time since I logged on to this blog and so many things happened around us. Hyderabad blasts, a bridge (or flyover) collapsed in Hyderabad and a IAF trainer aircraft crashed killing both its pilots (again in Hyderabad). Wonder, if Hyderabad has some planetary configuration gone astray.
India wins the Asia cup and what scores they ran up. 16 goals, 20 goals, etc. Hats off to Joaquim Carvalho and his team for pulling this off. The IHF also announced prizes of Rs. 1,000 for every goal scored and a penalty of Rs. 2,000 for every goal conceded. While I need not even go into the stupidity and silliness of this announcement, it serves a good point to talk about the remuneration provided to the players. In an interview to DNA after the Asia Cup victory (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120724), Dhanraj Pillay talks about "paying some match fee" to the players. He also states that the coach "should also be paid". What The ****? IHF doesn't pay match fees to its players and the coach? No wonder our guys prefer to pick up cricket bats instead of hockey sticks!!!
Elsewhere, the T/20 World Cup is about to start and the Pakistan team is already in the news for the wrong reason. Shoaib has been sent back to Pakistan for hitting Asif with a bat and this time his threat of joining ICL may not work. Asif Iqbal (http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1120625) feels that PCB is waiting till Shoaib commits mass murder before it starts taking action.
India lost the Natwest trophy 4-3 and though its not a bad scoreline considering that we were 1-3 down, I feel the time has now come to start replacing the seniors. With Gambhir & Uthappa showing promise and temperament, maybe we need to give both of them a longer reign at the top of the order. Gambhir has this tendency to play with Fevicol applied on his feet, while Uthappa's batting may be better suited to T/20 game, but both of them have shown enough grit. With captain and selectors showing confidence in them, maybe they'll probably come out with flying colours!!! Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj, Karthik, Dhoni can make the rest of the lineup, with someone like Kaif or Raina or Sehwag or even a Ambatti Rayudu challenging these positions. Sachin, of course, still has some cricket left in him. I would like him to concentrate in the ODIs and concede his Test position to some other youngster though many would say that it has to be the other way round. Among the bowlers, Zaheer, Sreesanth, Munaf (if and only if completely fit), Chawla, Powar, R P Singh, Harbhajan and Irfan Pathan (assuming he regains his form) complete the head count. Choose 11 from these, depending on opposition, surface, playing conditions, etc.
For the Tests, Gambhir/Uthappa/Karthik would be the openers. Laxman coming in for Sachin or Sehwag and Anil Kumble coming in for Powar or Harbhajan completes the list of probables. Of course, there may be better talent in domestic cricket, and some new names may crop up in the T/20 tournament; some names like Manoj Tiwary and Rohit Sharma are still untried. But I believe the nucleus of the team would be from the above names.
Amul has been voted as Asia's leading brand. And if you are among those who have always looked forward to the Amul hoardings (related to the current hot topic) like myself, then do join in the celebrations.
Thursday, 23 August 2007
We are like that only
Came across this excellent blog. Enjoy.
http://kaimhanta.blogspot.com/2007/02/cup-runneth-over.html
http://kaimhanta.blogspot.com/2007/02/cup-runneth-over.html
What's new?
I have a sense of deja vu as I write this. India lost the 1st one day at Southampton comprehensively. But then, aren't we late starters? Even in the Test series, we almost lost the 1st Test before dominating the rest of the series.
Dravid had mentioned - just after the team for the World Cup 2007 was selected - that we needed to do "smart" fielding, when asked whether the presence of seniors would have a deteriorating effect on our fielding. It came back to haunt us during the 1st ODI. Fielding was lacklustre, our bowling (barring Zaheer Khan) was pedestrian, running between the wickets was awful.
No wonder, the big 3 are not going to the T/20 World Cup in SA.
I don't see a place for Sachin, Saurav and Dravid in the ODI team. Never mind if they have scored more than 30,000 runs between them. The demands of the ODI game are such that we need 11 athletes. We convert ones into twos and twos into threes in the field, when we are batting we convert threes into twos and twos into ones. Unless we understand this, we are always going to be under achievers.
Dravid had mentioned - just after the team for the World Cup 2007 was selected - that we needed to do "smart" fielding, when asked whether the presence of seniors would have a deteriorating effect on our fielding. It came back to haunt us during the 1st ODI. Fielding was lacklustre, our bowling (barring Zaheer Khan) was pedestrian, running between the wickets was awful.
No wonder, the big 3 are not going to the T/20 World Cup in SA.
I don't see a place for Sachin, Saurav and Dravid in the ODI team. Never mind if they have scored more than 30,000 runs between them. The demands of the ODI game are such that we need 11 athletes. We convert ones into twos and twos into threes in the field, when we are batting we convert threes into twos and twos into ones. Unless we understand this, we are always going to be under achievers.
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
ICL v/s BCCI
Some random thoughts on ICL for whatever they are worth:
ICL yesterday unveiled 45 odd Indian cricketers and announced the names of some Pakistani and South African cricketers. Of all the names mentioned, Mohammed Yousuf of Pakistan seems to be the only one who has some international cricket still left. But we'll talk of that later.
Considering the various threats handed out by the BCCI and considering that every cricketer's "dream" is to play for the country one day, its surprising that as many as 45 Indian domestic cricketers have aligned with ICL putting their careers in jeopardy. Going through the names Dinesh Mongia and Ambattu Rayadu are the two names who probably had some hopes of playing for India; I reckon others realised that they had no realistic chance of playing for India.
For ICL to succeed - and I'm one of those who want ICL to succeed for reasons I'll enumerate later - we need some more big names to join. I'm assuming that the current crop of 20-25 people who are on the fringes of selection for the Indian team will not join ICL at this stage. But, someone who has an international career at stake. Maybe, someone like Kaif, or Ashish Nehra, or Irfan Pathan. Cricketers who do not know whether they will ever be asked to play for the Indian team again, and are biding their time to see what position to take.
Viewership and sponsorship is what counts. I reckon there will be no shortage of sponsors; anything remotely connected to cricket attracts huge sponsorships and Zee Television will surely know a thing or two about selling commercial spots. Viewership is where ICL will get hit. We have seen empty stands for Tests and domestic cricket; its only the ODIs which get the spectators in droves. Even the Challenger series between India Sr, India A and India B teams were largely played in front of empty stands.
Here's where the international players come in. A McGrath, Warne, Klusner, Inzy or Chris Cairns can get the crowds in small centres. With the BCCI and all affiliated organisations controlling most of the cricket grounds, ICL may have to look at grounds with private organisations; IPCL grounds at Vadodara, Andheri Sports Complex at Mumbai; etc. Railways must be having their own grounds; so would large corporates like Tata's, Godrej's etc. A nice sponsorship deal should get the corporates interested. Laloo Prasad Yadav has already thrown his weight behind ICL and so has Jagmohan Dalmia. Surely, these two gentlemen would sway some people for giving out their grounds!
The Brabourne Stadium at Mumbai has been used for wedding receptions and other gala functions. Surely, a little cricket shouldn't harm them. Problem is that with the Wankhede stadium up for renovation, Brabourne must have been hopeful of getting a few matches from the BCCI.
ICL now has to be a little more responsible than what it had planned for. With BCCI acting tough and if these Indian cricketers have put paid to ever playing for India, then ICL needs to ensure that these players are taken care of. For this to happen, ICL has to organise cricket for 8-10 months in a year, invest in infrastructure, have proper trainers/coaches/medical staff, etc. This needs money; this needs sponsors; this needs viewership; this needs some more high profile players. ICL needs to be professionally managed; players need to know where they stand. If ICL can do all this, there is no reason why it cannot succeed. And if it succeeds, I see a day when ICL will take over the functioning of the BCCI. That will be the day when the "bravery" and "courage" of these 45 cricketers - as rightly acclaimed by Kapil Dev - will be immortalised.
Finally, BCCI has revoked the pension of Kapil, Madan Lal, Sandip Patil and Balwinder Singh Sandhu for aligning with ICL. Well, I thought pension was in recognition for services already rendered. I mean, if you retired from Mahindra & Mahindra for eg., and then were approached by Bajaj Auto for help / assistance in setting or running an automotive plant, then will your pension be liable to be cancelled by M & M?. No way. Then how can BCCI get away with this? Well, Mr Sharad Pawar and other functionaries of BCCI, please have a closer look at the names whose pensions have been scrapped. They were part of the team which brought the cricket World Cup home in 1983. Scrapping their pension? Just not cricket.
ICL yesterday unveiled 45 odd Indian cricketers and announced the names of some Pakistani and South African cricketers. Of all the names mentioned, Mohammed Yousuf of Pakistan seems to be the only one who has some international cricket still left. But we'll talk of that later.
Considering the various threats handed out by the BCCI and considering that every cricketer's "dream" is to play for the country one day, its surprising that as many as 45 Indian domestic cricketers have aligned with ICL putting their careers in jeopardy. Going through the names Dinesh Mongia and Ambattu Rayadu are the two names who probably had some hopes of playing for India; I reckon others realised that they had no realistic chance of playing for India.
For ICL to succeed - and I'm one of those who want ICL to succeed for reasons I'll enumerate later - we need some more big names to join. I'm assuming that the current crop of 20-25 people who are on the fringes of selection for the Indian team will not join ICL at this stage. But, someone who has an international career at stake. Maybe, someone like Kaif, or Ashish Nehra, or Irfan Pathan. Cricketers who do not know whether they will ever be asked to play for the Indian team again, and are biding their time to see what position to take.
Viewership and sponsorship is what counts. I reckon there will be no shortage of sponsors; anything remotely connected to cricket attracts huge sponsorships and Zee Television will surely know a thing or two about selling commercial spots. Viewership is where ICL will get hit. We have seen empty stands for Tests and domestic cricket; its only the ODIs which get the spectators in droves. Even the Challenger series between India Sr, India A and India B teams were largely played in front of empty stands.
Here's where the international players come in. A McGrath, Warne, Klusner, Inzy or Chris Cairns can get the crowds in small centres. With the BCCI and all affiliated organisations controlling most of the cricket grounds, ICL may have to look at grounds with private organisations; IPCL grounds at Vadodara, Andheri Sports Complex at Mumbai; etc. Railways must be having their own grounds; so would large corporates like Tata's, Godrej's etc. A nice sponsorship deal should get the corporates interested. Laloo Prasad Yadav has already thrown his weight behind ICL and so has Jagmohan Dalmia. Surely, these two gentlemen would sway some people for giving out their grounds!
The Brabourne Stadium at Mumbai has been used for wedding receptions and other gala functions. Surely, a little cricket shouldn't harm them. Problem is that with the Wankhede stadium up for renovation, Brabourne must have been hopeful of getting a few matches from the BCCI.
ICL now has to be a little more responsible than what it had planned for. With BCCI acting tough and if these Indian cricketers have put paid to ever playing for India, then ICL needs to ensure that these players are taken care of. For this to happen, ICL has to organise cricket for 8-10 months in a year, invest in infrastructure, have proper trainers/coaches/medical staff, etc. This needs money; this needs sponsors; this needs viewership; this needs some more high profile players. ICL needs to be professionally managed; players need to know where they stand. If ICL can do all this, there is no reason why it cannot succeed. And if it succeeds, I see a day when ICL will take over the functioning of the BCCI. That will be the day when the "bravery" and "courage" of these 45 cricketers - as rightly acclaimed by Kapil Dev - will be immortalised.
Finally, BCCI has revoked the pension of Kapil, Madan Lal, Sandip Patil and Balwinder Singh Sandhu for aligning with ICL. Well, I thought pension was in recognition for services already rendered. I mean, if you retired from Mahindra & Mahindra for eg., and then were approached by Bajaj Auto for help / assistance in setting or running an automotive plant, then will your pension be liable to be cancelled by M & M?. No way. Then how can BCCI get away with this? Well, Mr Sharad Pawar and other functionaries of BCCI, please have a closer look at the names whose pensions have been scrapped. They were part of the team which brought the cricket World Cup home in 1983. Scrapping their pension? Just not cricket.
Tuesday, 14 August 2007
England India 2007 oval Post match Post series
There are lot of views supporting and opposing Dravid's decision not to enforce the follow on, A round-up has been nicely done here.
http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2007/08/dravid_makes_a.php
My view: The decision was correct. Dravid didn't trust his batsmen to chase 100+. Barbados with 120 to win still rankles. In Mumbai, we lost 5-6 wickets chasing 100 and at Trent Bridge in the same series, we lost 3 wickets chasing 73.
Kumble on a 5th day pitch was a mouth-watering prospect. Zaheer was suffering from some strain and hopefully would have been fully fit on a 5th day. SideBottom was injured and may - just may - have come on to bowl on the 5th day.
Finally, as Dravid mentioned, this was the first time all the bowlers had played 3 tests and only someone who played back-to-back tests would understand how tired his bowlers were.
All said and done, in my humble opinion, while the decision not to enforce the follow-on was justified, the batting crawl was appalling. We needed quick runs. Sure, at 11/3 we needed to consolidate. But as Ganguly proved there were runs for the taking. Even after Dravid left, Laxman and Dhoni were guilty of not trying to score quickly enough.
Anyway, a 1-0 series win over our past colonial masters on the eve of Independence day is great. Savour it. There are some issues that we need to work on. But I'll save them for later. For now, enjoy the rare series win.
Well done guys!
http://blogs.cricinfo.com/surfer/archives/2007/08/dravid_makes_a.php
My view: The decision was correct. Dravid didn't trust his batsmen to chase 100+. Barbados with 120 to win still rankles. In Mumbai, we lost 5-6 wickets chasing 100 and at Trent Bridge in the same series, we lost 3 wickets chasing 73.
Kumble on a 5th day pitch was a mouth-watering prospect. Zaheer was suffering from some strain and hopefully would have been fully fit on a 5th day. SideBottom was injured and may - just may - have come on to bowl on the 5th day.
Finally, as Dravid mentioned, this was the first time all the bowlers had played 3 tests and only someone who played back-to-back tests would understand how tired his bowlers were.
All said and done, in my humble opinion, while the decision not to enforce the follow-on was justified, the batting crawl was appalling. We needed quick runs. Sure, at 11/3 we needed to consolidate. But as Ganguly proved there were runs for the taking. Even after Dravid left, Laxman and Dhoni were guilty of not trying to score quickly enough.
Anyway, a 1-0 series win over our past colonial masters on the eve of Independence day is great. Savour it. There are some issues that we need to work on. But I'll save them for later. For now, enjoy the rare series win.
Well done guys!
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