Champions League- A shaky start though ended with a bang

 A lot had been already said and the buzz is still around that because of the overdose of T20 exhibition, cricket has certainly lost its zest over the period. It hurts to admit that I missed the Nokia T20 Champions league finals in that course. The very next day I woke up, held the newspaper and followed my usual tendency of dismissing the front page and in no time turned up to the page displays sports world, I witnessed the whole Mumbai Indians squad holding a gravid trophy, my initial reaction was, How did that happened?

Gone were the all hyping and annoying tools of ridiculous sponsorship of IPL of promoting brands. Catches were only Catches; there wasn’t’ Karbonn kamaal’ behind it though there were many Kamaal catches. No strategic Time-outs to ensure that ‘max’ can breathe freely. Sixes were Sixes; the only thing that was new was the’ Toshiba power six’ from ‘DLF maximum’. There were umpteen moments of joy but then they weren’t ‘City moment of success’.

For viewers, it was a rare opportunity for the cricket to do the speaking, as always. When I turn on my television I always looked for an expert insight commentator who gives that much more entertaining touch to a match, not those who are spending so much time either looking for the opportunity, or ensuring that they don’t forget to mention sponsors. The excellent cricketing brains like Sunil Gavaskar, Ian Chappell, Tom Moody and even kumara Sangakaraa was given the opportunity of speaking his knowledge and mind about the game. However Ravi Shastri, somewhat was soft by his likes, and Harsha Bhogle were always there to add a bit of instinct and branding to the occasion.

Well now, from an Indian perspective, there were few moments in the tournament where Indians find themselves crying out for heroes. Virat Kohli was the only amongst the Indian who scored among 24 top scorers. The bowling department is similarly worrying as it has always been in International arena. The pick of the players from the tournament were those, one might have predicted before the battle. To start with, Chris Gayle, so as often destructive, unstoppable to say the least, but failed to deliver in an all important finals. Typical Jacques Kallis as always inventive, consistently excellent both with the bat and bowl, but then again unable to inspire the team to the finale. None can understand the pain of not reaching the finals better than a South African I am sure.

Let us spare a thought on some bright and positive prospects that India could take out of this tournament to get over their sour phase which is not over yet. There were some really good individual performances during the tournament. Abu Nachim. The young lad surely has a serious bowling talent and bowled some tight length in whole of the endeavour, though still a long way to go. Ambati Raydu showed a good promise with the bat now and before and is set to hit the next stage. Another bright prospect in the name of Saurabh tiwary is improving match by match. There are some extremely talented cricketers coming up with their solid challenges, let see, who gets a chance to make his mark in the team first.

The Nawaab in true sense: MAK Pataudi (A short Tribute)

The name itself defines the symbol of his royal image and the king status that he always enjoyed before and now after his sad demise. MAK Pataudi, a true legend of his time or I should say of all time, left us few weeks back. He died after suffering from a severe lung infection."It's quite shocking that the great man is not with us anymore. It is very sad because we have lost one of the most determined and stylish cricketer in the Indian past. I always believe that he brought style to the Indian cricket. He was termed as one of the most attacking cricketer of his time. Born on 5th January 1941, Mansoor Ali Khan was a born Royalty. ‘Tiger’, as MAK was often called, was the son of Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, who had the distinction of playing Test cricket for England and India. However, it was not only his blue blood that made him so regal, the man had captivating charisma and enduring style, a Class Stylist in every sense. 'Tiger Pataudi was class, dignity & talent personified.

He became the heartthrob of every girl in times when cricketers would have never thought of being a superstar or not yet a superstar. Captainship at the age of 21 of a National team, what better could you ask for at an early age. A captain who preferred to make his side and not just lead any side that was given. Under his captaincy, India tasted its first Overseas Test victory when they beat New Zealand in 1967 by a 3-1 margin. Though Tiger had a lavish life, things went horribly wrong when he lost a sight in his eye after a car accident at the age of 20. Nevertheless, the Tiger that he was, he had never give up playing cricket. Once in an interview he said, “I see two balls. I hit the one on the inside”. May he always continue spreading his fancy in the heaven too so that God could send him again on this earth in a new cricket Avatar.

Everyone’s a Cricket adept in India, except the cricketers

Let me the better judge of……We often use this sentence when it comes to judgment, yeah, didn’t we? ”Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances” as said by the great author ‘Wayne Dyer’ and in the same coarse ” As long as human behaviour is taken to be the norm, there can be no serious questioning of human traits and behaviour. A norm is by definition a standard for judging; it is not itself subject to judgment” as mentioned by the writer and the philosopher ‘Myriam Miedzian’. Contradictory but that’s the way it goes. Three types of people exists in this world – ‘The Players’, ‘The coaches’ and (ahem!) ‘The Experts’. No surprise then, the buzz about India-England battle started much before the tournament did. By the time, when it was about to begin every news/sports channel had chosen their panel of experts and websites and newspapers had null in on their columnists. No doubt, I too have registered with each of these websites and e-papers and tune into most of the discussions because they are quite interesting and pleasurable. It’s just that, at times, the subject of discussions becomes so silly, that it’s almost funny (or irritating, depending on your mood). Let’s try some of these observable things being said and debated during the tournament.

·         ‘Controlling nerves’ key for India (As it is not for any other team/player, don’t you think?)

·         Are Indian players prepared to play in English conditions (No, the only reason we are going there, as BCCI instructed us to go there)

·         India needs to keep positive approach (Tell me who holds negative approach when it comes to this level)

·         ICC must take serious actions on match-fixing (And the Indian Government must control corruption)

·         Mediocrity at crucial situations cost Mahendra Singh Dhoni & Co. the match (Oh really?! Now How did you know that?)

Now before I continue, let me mention that I have no issues and equally have highest regards with the likes of Sir Vivian Richards, Sunil Gavaskar or Imran Khan speaking their mind about a game/player/team. They are legends who talk with conviction, passion and experience and at no point are their opinions malicious or biased. I do, however, have a problem with the ‘other’ category of speakers and I flinch when teams and individuals are judged, mocked, humiliated or worse, ‘written off’ because of one bad day on the field. First things first, selectors are no full or don’t get a kick out of choosing a bad team. Secondly, a good captain is one who believes in his team and stand up for it. And Dhoni and the men in blue are no different.

What happened at the English tour was not a first for a cricket fan, let alone an Indian cricket fan. It’s not the first time Sachin Tendulkar’s wicket has had a ripple effect on the rest of the team. It’s not the first time we’ve lost a very one-sided look battle. Praveen, Munaf and Ishant did, what Ajit agarkar, Ashish Nehra and S.Sreesanth has done on numerous occasions during their tenure. Still, there are lot of positives that you can look upon instead of only pressing negative buttons.

But to think these thoughts aren’t bugging Dhoni already or call him arrogant for not reacting in these tricky situations, is taking one’s ‘expert’ status a little too far. Currently, as I turn the pages of a newspaper or browse through news channels, I see little difference in the way cricketers and Bollywood celebrities are covered.

Now let us look at a very funny side of ‘Filmy portal headline’ and ‘Sports page headline’:-

       Bollywood: Ranbir Kapoor dumps Kaif or Fakhri? Cricket: Dhoni drops Gambhir or Raina?

       Bollywood: Aamir wants Salmaan to marry. Cricket: Akram wants Pak team to learn from Sachin.

       Bollywood: SRK is angry with Aamir on dog issue. Cricket: MSD blames his batsmen for the loss.

Cricket is no showbiz, my dear friends. Team India deserved to lose against England because the latter played better cricket. I’m sure the skipper is aware of his team shortcomings. Let’s allow him to get over them his way, shall we?

Test Cricket Undefined without the fable trios

Now that the time is running like an Time Bomb clock, the three batting maestro of India (Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman) are all set to Adios Test Cricket in coming few  years . Time has arrived that our Indian Think Tank should start giving more emphasis on the Indian bench strength; a lot has been already said on the replacement of the 3 batting exceptionals but the board is yet to find the right answer. Dravid and Laxman have already phased out from ODI cricket. Sachin also plays very less. It is good to see youngsters perform so well in the shorter format but I am more worried about Tests. We haven't seen anyone who can challenge these batting blizzards. Definitely, the time hasn't come to phase out seniors in Tests but still it’s the matter of worry. Everyone knows that it is not going to be easy to find replacements for the likes of Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman. It is going to be extremely difficult. But, youngsters, even though they might have failed in whatever chances they've got till now, have to be given another go. Fitness is a big issue growing up in the Indian dug-out. India already enjoyed the status of world No 1 Test side, thanks to their batting might. Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir followed by Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman and M.S Dhoni, showcased India’s best batting line-up ever.  The line-up had the skills to combat any opposition on any surface. The combined experience of the line-up helped India move from strength to strength and wrest the world No 1 spot. Anil Kumble, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh could fashion victories for India abroad because of their batsmen putting huge totals on the board. Nothing can go on forever and the prospect of the current big three retiring in the near future is inevitable. Is India ready for the challenge?  The answer is no; because of a variety of reasons. Dravid at the ripe age of 38 scored a century and Laxman taking all responsibility on his big shoulders in almost every match has easily proved that, there is no substitute for experience. Only if you perform consistently one gets ‘time’ to play for a decade or so. Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman Ganguly grew up watching Tests which was the ultimate form of the game. So you had a Dravid or Tendulkar, who wanted to be a Sunil Gavaskar and develop a sound technique.

Since the three played a vital role in building team’s status it is hard to think of three batting contemporaries who have had such an impact on a nation's cricket fortunes as India's middle order. As they took guard in England for the last time as a group, they remain a fascinating study in contrasts. Tendulkar was the omen who took the elevator while the others climbed the stairs, to rephrase a lovely Vinod Kambli quote about the man he once shared a world-record partnership with. By the time Dravid and Sourav Ganguly made their debuts at Lord's in the summer of 1996, he had played 39 Tests, scoring nine centuries along the way. Born within two years of each other, Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman belonged to the 1983 generation. With John Wright as coach and Ganguly as captain, India started to hold their own in alien conditions. Victory in Pakistan for the first time (in 2004) was the pinnacle of that era, but once Wright gave away to Greg Chappell, the scenario changed. Ganguly was dropped, Laxman's crafty knees were held against him and while Tendulkar struggled with a shoulder problem that eventually needed surgery, Dravid's form dipped with the cares of captaincy. On the tour of England in 2007, there were no hundreds, even though Ganguly and Laxman averaged 50. Dravid managed just 126 runs, while Tendulkar departed with two half-centuries. Few imagined that they would be back. While they have not yet revealed an exit plan, it is fairly certain that cricket lovers in England will not see them playing together again. With more than 35,000 Test runs and 99 centuries between them, they have helped define Indian cricket's most successful era. Before ending this paper, I would like conclude this on a higher note; the three replacements that I see in the coming future are Virat, Yuvraj and Rohit. I know it’s bit too early to say that but soon we need to pull out of this before we ends up in below five or six in the rankings. Team Management should look more on making these three play Test Cricket, so that they could at least make it to a stage where they can be ranked somewhere in near with the likes of the Tendulkar, Dravid and Laxman.

Could not find a speed-star with over 1.2 billion people in the nation; Biggest pain of Indian Cricket

We are yet to discover the answers to the million-dollar question that suggests ‘Would ever we able to find a fast bowler for our team. So far, Indian bowlers have failed to match the calibers of the great Australia or Pakistan or West Indies fast Legends. India is a batting nation; we have always been blessed with the wealth of batting talent and continue to be so. How many Bowling legends can we boast of? We have never really had a genuine pace bowler in our ranks to terrorize the opposition, though we have very good swing and seam bowlers, I cannot recall an Indian faster who can be put amongst the ‘Legends’. With no disregard to the likes of Manoj Prabhakar, a cagy mover of cricket ball and Javagal Srinath, a wholehearted war-horse, one cannot give them an honor of ‘Great’. From past few good years, Zaheer Khan has been a revelation to the team but to label him with ‘Great’ would be ahead of time..

Traditionally, India has been regarded as a reservoir of spinners. All Cricket followers would know the times when India’s spinning arsenal was dreaded by the opposition. The likes of B.S.Chandrashekhar, Prasanna, Bedi and Venkatraghavan would have the opposition batsmen in a spin. Much like what the English seamers did to the Indian batsmen in the recent drubbing we got in the test series. Then we had to wait till the 90s’ for Anil Kumble to arrive on the scene and spin his way to greatness. Potentially, the next great spinner we have is Harbhajan Singh. But in Kumble’s absence he has been tested to the extreme and the off-spinner has failed to deal with the expectations so far.  May be it is just a bad patch for him; a pretty long one, Only time would tell how the ‘turbanator’ comes back.

The present state of our team in England is disheartening to say the least. However, it does allow us to dig deep and ask serious questions which, we tend to ignore when we are doing well. The only way to develop good bowlers is by looking at the way domestic cricket is structured in India. Playing Twenty20 cricket won’t help India’s bowling woes. You cannot learn anything by playing that format. A bowler will learn only by bowling for an extended period. IPL is not at all a good idea. They need to ensure that the structure is strong there for cricketers to develop. 

There is some buzz around Varun Aaron, who is tipped to be bowling around 90 miles per hour. I cannot comment on whether he would have made a difference because I have never seen him bowl. There is no point in bowling quick if you are not accurate and then bowling all over the shop, so I will reserve my opinion on that until I actually see him perform. If Pakistan can spot raw pacers from the streets and Sri Lanka can unearth mystery spinners from nowhere, surely a country with a population of more than 1.2 billion and insane love for the game can do much better.

Former English Captains seems mentally unfit

Former England cricketers have left nothing in the world but then to criticize Team India. Firstly, Michael Vaughan turned up with a ‘Vaseline Controversy’. He accused VVS Laxman for putting Vaseline on his bat to manipulate hot-spot technology in Decision Review System. I think this is quite an unprofessional stuff by England skipper, This was not expected  from him. I mean, how you could suggest for someone who has played International cricket for so long. To say so about Indian players and more so about VVS Laxman is absurd. At that point of time, I had a feeling that this issue could go big, Laxman have had all the rights to drag Vaughan in the court. Hot-Spot technology lacks accuracy; sometimes faint edges are not visible. It is a bit of flaw. Overall, he should tender a piece of apology to Indian cricket team. I think, as an international player you should know how to control your words and should show some maturity.

                                          After few quite days of cricket, another former England captain comes up with a status that suggests, some of the Indian fielders are very smart at their work on the field, but there are 1-2 donkeys in the field still. The words that he used in his statement are just not acceptable; Nasser should not have said that, he has been a captain. There are many ways of commenting but calling them 'donkeys' is unbecoming of a player of his stature. Now BCCI should look into the incidence and take a serious action against this Indian-cum-English man. Hussain needs a kick in his backside. English captain made a comment on Indian fielders of being a donkey, but remember we donkeys getting the sticks from you human for long, we can take it no longer. Former English captains needs to get admitted in the hospital, they should show themselves to a psychiatrist. So now I would like to urge Mr. Nasser Hussain and all the English people to stop calling our people from your name. If you are wiser than me, you will have noticed that Nasser has an ass (a backward a-s-s in Hussain) in his own name. If you have not, kick yourselves.

Bowlers face much hard run than the batsman on and off the field

Cricket now a day’s holds an image more of a batsman game. Since the advent of cricket, Bowlers have always discovered a hard time on and off the field. In a world where every single kid dreams of becoming a next Sachin Tendulkar, only few out of those would want to turn up into Shane Warne and Anil Kumble. Everyone would remember the highest individual score of 200* by Sachin Tendulkar but I am sure very few would be retrieved of Shane Warne’s contribution to his team in winning uncountable matches for Australia. Consistent alteration in bowling deadlines has also affected the Bowlers to an extent. Fielding restrictions puts another nab to the sealed casket of bowlers, earlier the rule was adhere to the front-line and the outcome was a penalty of an extra-ball and a bonus run to the batting side, but now it results in a ‘Free Hit’. It means along with an additional run and a delivery, batsman have a chance to bang the bowler to any part of the park without the fear of being caught, bowled, stumped. This is like adding insult to an injury. Another restriction comes up in the form of a one bouncer per over.  A bowler has just single chance of making life difficult for the batsman, though it is not the batsman fault, it is the game’s fault but with so many restrictions, bowlers still get purchase from the wicket, makes them think, and always proved that taking wickets is anytime tough than putting runs on the board. At the  end  of the day, it is bowlers who finds themselves at the receiving end.

                       T20 has also made bowlers struggle for their part. Twenty over fixture has changed the bowler’s scenario big time, this form of cricket purely defines batsman dominance, and it is the bowler, who gets small life of four overs in which he has to do all the damage. Sometimes cricket just do not let bowlers take credit, just like Soccer do not give credit to defenders. It is, as if they play their heart out on the field and goes home empty handed. The best example if I have to take, I would pick Zaheer Khan’s immaculate contribution in the ICC 2011World Cup. When world cup started, he was aware of the fact that there was no one backing him up, and he has to take all heavy responsibility on his shoulders, Zaheer responded brilliantly and gave breakthroughs to his captain at the time, when it was required. However, he hardly got any recognition, as Yuvraj pulled all the attention with his all-around execution.  Yuvi’s contribution cannot be push aside. Still for me, Zaheer was the man of the tournament. Both batting and bowling are of equal importance buts let’s start giving bowlers at least some credit for their hard work they put, who knows, if we start give credit to them, their level of performance might get raised. This could prove to be confident booster for them. Bowling requires much more hard work then batting. It is cruel that batsmen get all the credit. However, unfortunately that’s the way it is.   Bowling not a bread butter

If someone who deserves a standing ovation more than anyone else is the Iron man from India;THE WALL

Words are just not enough to define Indian batting maestro Rahul Dravid. It has been more than 15 years, from then the Karnataka great has provided his invaluable services to Indian cricket and the good news for the Indian camp that the hunger for runs is still on the cards. He last turned out for India in coloured clothing during Champions Trophy back in 2009, but few weeks before makes a shocking come back in the ODI squad. Mr. Reliable has again a point to prove to his name. He was among the top five wisden cricketers in 2009, and holds a record of having taken the most number of catches in the longer version of the game.

There was a time when Dravid use to win matches for India on consistent basis, recently the Test series against England had once again brought quite a good success to his name, and again he showed what it takes to be an international player. Some of his gritty knocks kept India alive in almost every game and gave them at least some kind of total to compete. His gradual come back to Limited over cricket was a bit of a surprise for me but I guess Indian Think tanks (Selectors) would not left with any option other than to pick him after the dismal performance of Dhoni’s men. The key to Dravid’s success is his resilience, and world of patience he has, with the kind of defense and king’s technique he plays makes him world’s best test cricketer that India has ever produced. Life has come full circle for Rahul Dravid; the wall that has been hailed for his skills in the longest version of the game was not too keen to play in the T20 when it came up first on the cricket scene. Now that, he has decided to quit 50 over fixture after ODI series against Barmy-Army (England), one must give him a standing ovation and hats off for his magnificent contribution to the game of cricket. Somewhere I still believe that he has left lot of cricket in him and will make a mark before signing off from One Day Cricket.Rahul Dravid; a true champion

Destiny seems to lose faith in her child

Real testing time comes up for the captain who mostly draws attention  for his coolness on the cricket arena and in world cricket. Its now all looking tough and tricky for the fortune's boy. For the past month or 2, MS Dhoni has gone through some really bad phases and the obvious concern is the poor form of his boys and he himself admitted that  he is going through his most scratchy phase of his cricketing carrer. Team India(The team that left for England tour one month back as no.1 test team but now is placed at no. 3) is not playing to their potential, They got carried away with the IPL and took things for granted. They are not looking good enough in any department of the game, bad news is we couldn't find a Fast bowler who can bowl at around 140Km/Ph. Senior players not responding enough, no one rose to the occasion except Dravid. Rahul has shown a great character and batted like a WALL throughout the test series. 

   Now the test battle is over and most of the senior players already turned back to their respective homes,Team India have to re-think their strategies,they need to get out of their comfort zone and show something real. Fielding too is a bit of concern for the skipper. Fitness has defeated all our players,Injuries were the best friend in whole of the tournament.  MS Dhoni himself needs to give a look to his swelled  hands as he looked untidy behind the stumps, all and all if we look at the performance of the Team India, one have to say they were completely voted out. There was a time when people use to say for captain cool that this small city guy has some serious magic like if he touch dead stone;it would turn into a shinning gold. But it looks like destiny is no more interested in her boy. From here onwards it would be interesting to see that how he cops up with the hale he is into. MS and Team India has faced lot of jibe from former England cricketers. I think its the best time for the Indian skipper to prove everyone wrong and comes hard at the English Men in the coming ODI series. Lets hope The World Champions bounce back strongly and the destiny held her child in her arms again soon.  Dhoni Downfall