ALEX FERGUSON...WHO IS HE ?

I am yet to meet a girl who understands the meaning or the reason behind sports, and I do meet quite a lot of girls, probably a bit too much for the liking of my wife. The common thread which connects all the girls that I know is their distinctive lack of knowledge about anything which involves a stick or a ball (well..almost!!). But the brighter side of this effect is that they have given me incidents or one liners which are enough to make me laugh until my death. Here goes some. Sit back and enjoy.

Inarguably, Sir Alex Feguson is the most popular non-player sports personality around the world. This is how one of my female friends summed up what he achieved with Manchester United, which is the stuff of legends and almost impossible to overtake, in the last 23 years: “Alex Ferguson..Who is he ? ohh.. is he the person who wears a black shirt and look at the players when they play?”. Later it turned out that she was talking about the referee! Thank goodness that Fergie was not around to give her his famous hair dryer treatment.

One of my friends never believed that bowlers change ends at the end of each over, until she saw it once when commercials surprisingly stayed away during an over change. Her immediate question was “ Isn't it easy for the 2 batsmen to change rather than for everyone else to change? “. I didn't bother about explaining the varying pitch conditions at both the ends and bowlers making use of slope, wind direction and pitch conditions from two ends!

20 teams play in Premier League and each team has to play home& away in every season, which result in 38 matches for each of them. The top four will qualify for the champions leagues while the 5th and 6th teams will play in Europa league, previously known as UEFA cup. Some girls never seem to understand something as simple as this. I have heard lot of them asking why some teams play so many tournaments and some seem to play only once in an year. Their amusement and difficulty in understanding this hierarchy forces me to think that Platini comes right next to Einstein and Edison, for managing the European Leagues.

Apparently there were girls who never bothered to watch Test cricket because they thought it is a game in which people from same side compete against each other. The reason : everyone wears white jerseys!

One of my friends was complaining that his wife didn’t talk to him for a week because she found him taking part in a throwing-crumbled-round-paper-balls-to-basket competition in a office party with colleagues. The thing which irritated her most was that everyone in the party happened to notice her husband when he raised his voice in excitement in the middle of the game. She just couldn't’t believe that her husbad was doing something so silly in an office gathering. She will probably never understand that sports is embedded in the Men’s genes and they yearn for anything which has a tinge of competitiveness.

The thing which confuses girls the most is neither E=MC2 or Newton’s third law, but the offside rule in Football. Well..cant really blame them, considering the number of times linesmen get confused in a match, and FIFA seems to enjoy this by changing the rule every year!

This girl found her husband awake in the middle of the night, busy watching Men’s swimming in Olympics. He tried to tell her that he wanted to see Micheal Phelps winning the 8th gold of the event. Pat came the reply: “Have you ever been worried about buying at least one piece of gold for me?”

“You infernal moron, are you watching Golf? Is that a sport?” That came from my wife and this time it didn’t appear funny as I heard muffled laughing from next door.

THE EVOLUTION!

I am a self centered, sports oriented, uncultured, shameless moron. That is the opinion of my better half and she doesn’t hesitate a bit to announce it on the days which I, according to her, “waste” by watching a Test match or on the weekend evenings which are invariably occupied with Primetime Premier league or Super Sundays. Not that this continuous degradation of my radiant personality bothers me, but at least it forced me to do an introspection, and if possible to give myself a justification for all those adjectives!

I was in a private school run by a brahmin family until my 3rd standard. After the classes my father used to pick me on his way back from office and that meant spending at least 2 hours even after the school timings, waiting for my father to come. As the school owner’s house was in the same compound, I would end up spending most of the time inside their house in the evenings. The owner of the school was a well known person locally, who arranged and organised lot of cultural events and more importantly he was a cricket fanatic. He even had a matting wicket at home for his 2 sons. And there I got my first glimpse of Television and the only program I found them always watching was cricket, which made me believe that TV is for watching cricket. Probably I still believe it and that may be the reason that my wife accuses me of watching only sports channels in TV. When I was not watching TV, I would go to a shed in their compound, where they keep all those cricket gears. Old cricket balls with broken seam, brand new and splinted bats, the matting wicket, pads and batting gloves. The thing which I clearly remember from those visits to that shed is the peculiar smell of batting gloves. Those who have worn batting gloves at least once will understand that, it has got that sweaty and worn out smell which all cricketers consider good and enticing and everyone else is scared to experience that even once! In TV, every time I see a batsman leaving his gloves on the ground for drying at the end of a session, I feel that smell which i experienced 20 years back. No wonder that I love dogs!

Then we bought the most prestigious electronic equipment of those times. We were the proud owners of a BPL colour TV and along with that came the matches telecast by Doordarshan. More than the Malayalam movies on every Sunday, I waited for the Sportstime they showed on Saturday evenings. The most beautiful sounds of those times must be the 4’o clock bell in the school and the thudding sound of ball meeting the willow. The Doordarshan hindi commentary was the stuff of legends which, sometimes, can be experienced even now. “Superb shot to the boundary..uhh.. but straight to the fielder at point” was the norm while what really happened would have been the batsman playing a leg glance to midwicket!

Kapil Dev, Doordarshan, tape recorders and bajaj scooters made way for Sachin Tendulkar, cable TV, Walkmans and Maruti 800 by mid 90s, as the living standards of middle class surged through along with the boom experienced in Indian economy. Mark Mascharanes made a living out of showing Sachin’s face on channels and making him say “Boost is the secret of my energy” in his girlish voice. Dhoni and Co can thank him for all the luxury they have now. The beginning of change happened then. Probably our cricket administers were the best economists that we ever had, as they realised and showed us that our huge population is not a thing to worry about and it can be utilised to generate exorbitant and unbelievable amount of revenue from sports, which nowadays exceed the total income of some of the African countries. But the price we paid for this is the innocence of our beautiful game. Day-Night Test matches, pink balls, Twenty-20 and Scoop shots are the things that we discuss now and those old times appear like Utopia.

Not that I was unduly worried about all these then. Even I sped through my transition from a boy to man. The change of sound in my vocal cords was forgotten in the shouts of Howzzzat, Catch it and cheering for India. As every child growing up then, I too wanted to be Sachin Tendulkar and play for India, but by the time I finished my 10th, I probably realised that I will never go beyond school or college team, considering my background and limited talent. The only two shots I could play well was the forward defence and drives, with the help of my strong bottom hand grip. I used to keep my index finger of the bottom hand behind the blade of the bat to get power and elegance in my drives, and even I was convinced about the effectiveness of my drives whenever the ball is overpitched. But the problem with this method is that, every other shot in the book is almost impossible with that grip, especially the cross batted ones, cuts and pulls. I survived a couple of matches with this tactic and my wicketkeeping, but that was the end of it. Rather than trying to become a player, I settled for the less glamorous, but equally stressful and tiring position of Indian supporter.

To support Indian cricket team in 90s, you had to be more self motivated that Bill Gates, as our team oscillated between horrendous defeats and improbable victories. The day after an Indian defeat, you may find all your friends cursing the team and vowing never to see Indian Team’s matches. Most of them couldn't tell between a square cut and on-drive, but still that was the gang you have to live with to watch the matches. But that was fun too. The usual disappointments, agony after losing a close match, the pure joy of watching India winning, the celebrations and of course the pride of being one who can understand the logic of two men running like mad between two sets of upright sticks!

I got a taste of hostel life and the freedom which comes along with it when I started my graduation. Before first girlfriend, first kiss and xxx-rated movies corrupted my mind, my world included hostel room, college building and the play ground, not necessarily in the correct order of priority. Bunking classes to stand in the scorching afternoon sun in the hope of catching a ball or hitting a six was fun and running behind the lecturers at the year end to meet the attendance quota to sit for the exams was exhausting. In some semesters the number of back papers I had exceeded the runs I made in an year, but who cares. Playing cricket day time, rushing to the football ground in the evening and then having fun at the indoor badminton court, life progressed without any purpose. But sports has always been a get away and mode of relief when tougher times arrived. I was the happiest man on the day in which I came to know that I failed in all my 3rd semester papers, because VVS Laxman was painting an epic 281 in kolkata and Harbhajan soon sent the Australians in a spin to turn all of us in our hostel to a bunch of lunatic delirious hooligans. Cricket again came to the rescue and improved my spirits after I caught my soon to be ex girlfriend two timing with me. India under Saurav Ganguly produced a magnificent run in 2003 Worldcup then. And in the blink of an eye, I was out of college and the job of a job hunter was thrust upon me.

After working in 2 small companies in Cochin for an year, I came to Bangalore and a different life awaited me there. The smell of a multicultural city was fascinating, but like every jobless person, I was confined to share a room with 3 other job hunters. With no TV in the hostel, watching sports was always a problem. As someone who has been used to at least 5 hours of sports everyday, either watching or playing, it was suffocating, but soon found a way around. The beauty of this city is that it is a shopper’s delight and that means at every corner you can find an electronics showroom which shows live matches to the general public. The toughest part of watching a match standing in the road is that once the crowd swells up, the shop keepers switch off the TV and then it is a frantic run to the next nearby shop to not to miss many overs, and that means in a day I used to end up covering the entire showrooms in one area. The aftereffect of this exhausting but exciting exercise was that at the end of a 5 match Test series I was as tired as the players! But this experience helped me to realise what this game means to the common man on the street. There were people who sacrificed their daily wages to watch the match, there were those who used to take a peep in between selling 5Rs hand kerchiefs and there were those who behaved as if they lost their entire savings, every time India lost. When India was losing the considerable crowd used to lean down to a handful of us but we knew that, come the next morning, we would again be there, however bad the previous loss was. There were cobblers, street vendors, fruit sellers, pick pocketers and every other kind too. It was probably the best multi social, political and economical gathering Bangalore could ever find!

When I met her I was lean, jobless, watched non stop sports and loved her too. Now I weigh a solid 68Kgs, have a house and a job, married to her, watch non stop sports and still love her too. So she should be proud that I still remain same to the core and not many things have changed from the person she started loving. Recently I tried telling her this and those adjectives resonated in my house again. Nowadays I am just resigned to my fate!

WINDING THE CLOCK BACK...

Why did we all start playing the game when we were kids? Definitely it was not for making money, nor was it for gaining the knowledge to tell between an outswinger and leg cutter. Playing for India was a dream, but not the motive. It was for the pure joy of hitting the ball as far as we can, for experiencing that feeling of ball meeting the middle of that bat, for hearing that perfect thud, for seeing the ball take wings and soar higher and higher in the sky. Probably it is the same thing which still drives Sachin Tendulkar forward. At the age of 36, when most men of that age settle for a steady job and start worrying about their kids, he wore the the outfit of an 18 year old maverick, looked the challenge straight into its eye and painted an epic 175. He ran between the the wickets as if his life depended on it, egged on his younger partners for better shots and stamina, thrashed all the Aussie bowlers around the park as if he despises them and then showed the disappointment and bitterness of a child who lost his favorite toy after India lost.

How does Sachin do that? Run after run, day after day, defeat after defeat , he shows the same commitment and desire to improve, to win, to enjoy and more importantly to get out of the bed everyday and think about only cricket, all over again. When Carl Lewis was a kid, his coach asked him what does he want in life. He answered that he wants to be best athlete in America, he wants to be a millionaire and he wants to be famous all over the world. His coach calmly told him that, if his focus is on all these things, he is going to be nothing. But if he starts focusing on becoming the best athlete ever he will achieve that and all the other things too. Carl Lewis went to achieve all that and how! Ramakant Anchrekar might well have said the same thing to sachin too. In the last 20 years Sachin’s unrelenting focus was on cricket and cricket only, and all the records and accolades are testament to that.

Sadly his innings was not enough to take India to victory. In every sense it was like going back to the 90s. Sachin single handedly fighting for victory and the entire team crumbling around him. He just stood apart among his teammates as a gladiator amidst ruins. Sachin’s biggest contribution to Indian cricket is not winning numerous matches or making cricket popular, but taking an entire generation back to its childhood. Bunking classes, standing in front of a TV showroom, taking turns to climb on friends’ shoulders to catch a glimpse of the action over the crowd, cheering for each boundary, clearing our throats out when he scores century, those were the best days of life. And every time he walks out to bat he takes all of us to those beautiful days. Yesterday, it was one of those days.

TWO MAGIC MOMENTS

Cricinfo is having a new article series now which is called 50 Magic Moments. It consist of various incidents or innings or bowling feats or even anecdotes spanned over the history of this great game, proposed by cricket players, writers and commentators alike. My two most memorable picks from the list include, unsurprisingly, Indians. And more unsurprisingly they include Anil kumble and Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricket’s modern day warriors, albeit of two different kinds, as different as it can be.

The first one is Anil Kumble bowling with a broken jaw in the Antigua Test of 2002 series. India piled up a huge total in the first innings but in the course a Mervin Dillon bouncer broke Anil Kumble’s Jaw, not his never ending spirit. India needed to bowl out West Indies quickly on a typical Antigua featherbed to have any chance of victory in the series which stood at 1-1, and it was evident that Anil Kumble could not take any further part in the match before flying back home the next day for surgery. But what happened next is one of Indian cricket’s most poignant and inspiring moments. The sight of Anil Kumble emerging from pavilion with a bandage around his head to keep the broken jaw in tact drew applause from the crowd, players and umpires as well. Here is a man who might not even need to bowl a single delivery again to live happily for the rest of his life, but now bowling in excruciating pain to win a Test match abroad for India. In that single act of bravery Kumble captured and showed us the courage, character and dedication he has towards the game in general and Indian cricket in particular. And In the end, during the interview, he delivered the mother of all understatements when asked about the decision to come out and bowl. “I did not want to sit around” was his modest reply. Probably that was a honest answer from a man who scalped 619 Test match wickets without uttering a single word against the batsmen. In the end the pitch and Carl Hooper proved too big a stumbling block and Kumble could not bowl India to victory, but bowled a million hearts over.

The next incident involves Sourav Ganguly and it invariably involves breaking something, law most of the times, tradition occasionally! This time he showed his bare chest on the Lord’s balcony, a perfect revenge for Andrew Flintoff’s topless dance in Mumbai . But ripping the shirt of, whirling it around his head and shouting expletives which no mother wants her son to listen to, did one more purpose. Ganguly’s histrionics on that day turned lot of boys in India to adults, adults who learnt that Wankade and Lord’s will be treated equally thereafter. That was the last act of shedding colonial inferiority which we carried for decades and what a place to do that, the hallowed turf, the Mecca of cricket, the Lord’s! My friends say that i was smiling even in sleep that day night. Must be true!

THE NEW FEARLESS GENERATION

We were watching a news channel and my girlfriend fumed when she watched the celebrations happening at a remote village in Meerut and at the house of Praveen Kumar who bagged the Man Of the Match award for his 4 wickets against Srilanka who has consistently played ordinary cricket in Australia over the years (Forget about performing in Australia, Srilanka has never been one to perform abroad which can be understood from the fact that they are yet to win a Test match in India where conditions are not that different from their home country. They are as comfortable as Sheffield United playing against Manchester United when they are touring). But what she forgot to notice was the background, both on the TV and also of the bigger picture.

We were able to see the house of Praveen and it was hard to call that one of even a middle class family, which threw light to the kind of hardships that he may have gone through to reach at this level. Once it was unthinkable for someone from that kind of background to reach Indian team but in the last decade there were a lot of players from every remote corner of India, which can be attributed to the game’s stronghold in India’s soul, and the strength of character of those players as well. It was heartening to see the happiness of Praveen’s father who is, if I remember right, a lower level employee of Indian railway. It is now a known secret that Praveen’s family wanted him to choose wrestling instead of cricket, but still supported his decision to go for cricket. And now it is their moment of glory and they are entitled to celebrate when their son helped India to win a do or die match, after all those years of hardships. It was important to get a feel of the background to understand and appreciate the real value of their happiness.

There is a stirring story circulating in Indian domestic cricket. In 2003, Wassim Jaffer was padded up to start his batting for an important match when the news came that his mother has passed away. The young man took the field, scored a fluent fifty, made sure Mumbai won the match and then went for the funeral of his mother. How many of us will work with a stable mind in office when we know that any of our near and dear ones is not well? Think about the kind of turmoil he might have gone through when he walked out to bat. Think about how hard it was for him to keep a balanced mind, and that too for a game which requires absolute synchronisation and harmony between mind and body.

Recently there was an article in Cricinfo about Rohit Sharma and it threw light to the sufferings that he went through in his childhood. His father was the lone breadwinner and as he was not able to support his entire family Rohit was sent to the house of his relatives. He did his schooling staying there and he would come back every weekend to see his parents. Reading all that, I felt it is a miracle that he got to the Indian team at such an young age overcoming all odds. That is the kind of suffering these young men overcame amidst poverty to embrace this great game. So next time when we see those celebrations and happy faces, let us be pragmatic and appreciate the new fearless brand of young men of Indian cricket.

THE GENTLE GIANT

In the earlier days I always hated him for the fact that he almost always played well against India. I called him Inzamam Ul ‘Fuck’ whenever he played against India. But in later years, it was an altogether different matter when my brain got the cricketing capability to understand the beauty of his shots. I started to wait for his turn at the crease and I cared little even if it was against India. I badly wanted India to win after we posted 350 in the first match of the 2004 tour of Pakistan and at the same time I didn’t want to see the end of Inzamam’s brilliant innings. In simple words I wanted Inzy to score a century and India to win but there was no way that both could happen and something had to give way. I thought he would never make it to the pavilion when he finally began his slow walk back which seemed like an eternity, after 122 brilliant runs and eventually Pakistan fell 5 runs short.

He has all the shots in the book but there were others too who had it. It was the way in which he executed those shots made him special. His cover drive was a crouched half-defence, half-shot with minimum movements while his on-drive was just a flick of the wrists. His pull shot was fast and furious with the nimbleness of a ballet dancer and the balance of a skilled ropewalker but the secret behind that shot was the speed with which picked up the length. He always seems to have so much time to play the shots. I have never seen a fast bowler making him hurried through a shot and he was the best player against fast bowling in the last decade along with Ricky Ponting, be it a bouncy Perth or a spongy Durban or a seaming Headingly. And for a long long period he was arguably Pakistan’s best batsman until Mohammed Yousuf came of the age in the last 18 months.

I cried with him when he retired from one-dayers with tears in his eyes but the pure joy he has given for millions around the world over a career of 15 years is invaluable. This time he kept his emotions to himself but his current captain Shoiab Malik broke down at the ground and it showed what he meant to others in the team. He was uncertain while he was asked about his future after his retirement but all of us will be lucky if he takes his bat again to play in IPL. It is difficult to put it in words what we are going to miss but it is time to thank for what he has given and what we have seen and experienced. We all should feel privileged to be a part of an entire generation of cricket lovers who were enthralled to see the magic wave of his bat, which sent deliveries from the world’s best bowlers to outside the ground with the nonchalance of a man who plays backyard cricket with little kids. Bye bye Inzy. Thanks for the memories.

SHE IS 60 AND SHE IS YOUNG

India celebrated its 60th birthday last week and the Indian cricket team gave her a magnificent birthday present by winning a Test rubber in England, the first in the last 21 years and only the 3rd in 75 years of Indian cricket. It was a wonderful present for a nation, which lacks sporting heroes and sporting moments at international level. Our team played effervescent and excellent cricket and apart from that is a mixture of all the good values our nation has been known for. It is captained by a person from south, its premier batsman is from north, batting and bowling opened by two Muslims, one of them bagged the Man of the Series award, other bowlers and our keeper from mostly villages and recently one of our bowlers from a cricketing backwater place like Kerala single-handedly won an epic Test match at Johannesburg, India’s first in South Africa. As John Wright wrote in his wonderful book, “There is no typical India and no typical Indian. Each and every part of India is as different as different can be”. This summer our team gave us one more reason to shout “Proud to be an Indian”. Salute our team, salute our country.

NOTTINGHAM TO MUMBAI

Last week was a happy one. India produced a magnificent victory at Trentbridge and Indian judiciary gave a flawless verdict on the Mumbai blasts, which included a 6 year rigorous imprisonment to Sanjay Dutt. And as expected there were protests against it, exclamatory remarks and surprises from people who belong to every walk of life and shameless opinion polls in each and every news channels!

Several news papers remarked that a person as good as ‘Munna Bhai’ should have been avoided from such a severe punishment but what they conveniently forgot was that Munna Bhai was a good human being existed only on the silver screen and in front of Indian Law Sanjay Dutt was a part of the conspiracy which killed hundreds of innocent people in Mumbai. One main argument was that the agony of waiting for the verdict for 14 long years itself was a punishment for him, as if only Sanjay Dutt knows what is agony! What about the agony of the judge who went through 14 years of mental exasperation of handling such a high intensity case along with numerous threats from politicians and underworld kings? What about the agony of those people who lost their father, mother, son and daughter? What about the agony of those living victims of the blast ? For those who lost their life, for those who lost their hands and legs, for those who never recovered consciousness but still live as breathing corpses, for those who lost their mental balance, agony is an underrated word and so is the verdict. Serial blasts, heaps of dead bodies, hospitals filled with innocent victims, people wondering where the next blast is going to happen and millions of sad people. Don’t you see agony here ?

Sometimes life gives you a shock and makes you realize that cricket is only a game and there are some greater things in life than cricket. The last time I felt this was when I watched on television the havoc crated by tsunami and seeing the helplessness of Man over the fury of nature. Now reading about this verdict and thinking about those difficult times in 1993, brings me the same feeling. But the greatest irony is that this realization came again on a day in which India registered one of its most memorable overseas victories. Kudos to Indian team for their superb victory over England. Hats off to Indian Law for its much-needed victory over evil.

CHAMPION OF CHAMPIONS!

Yesterday night, I stayed awake until 2 o clock to see India defeating South Africa and clinching a series win against them for the first time outside the subcontinent. I was happy that India won but felt happier because of another incident, Sachin Tendulkar sharing the Man Of the Series award that he got with Yuvraj Singh. It was a wonderful gesture from a man who holds almost all the batting records the game can have. He understood that Yuvraj deserves it than him as he was the one who finished both the victories and Sachin was genuinely happy sharing it with him. His broad smile told that even though the pain of the world cup was still visible behind it to those who have been following him for the last 18 years.

It was just a series win over a better opponent but Sachin was visibly excited and he was like a child with a new toy in hand! Forget the perfection of his technique, forget the glory he has brought for India, forget his personal integrity, this child like enthusiasm and excitement when wearing the Indian cap is what makes him truly special. And he is one who has never been blinded by fame and money.

In international sports, it is difficult to deal with failure and adversity and so many have perished before reaching their goals. But some times handling success and its after effects is a greater challenge. Australia needed only 10 days to recover from the Ashes defeat and start a journey to bring it back. England took 1 year to digest the success and subsequently lost it 5 – 0! After one world cup win, Maradona turned his attentions to drugs. Marat Safin stagnated after one Australian open crown and still remains as a one slam wonder. Compare this with the desire and commitment sachin has shown over the years. He is a man with more than 75 international centuries but even now after a century, the smile and happiness on his face match the same we saw 18 years before when he scored his first Test century, a magnificient 119 at Old Trafford.

Sachin and Kambli made their debuts almost together and during a interview, their coach Ancharekar, when asked about who is more talented between the two, took some time to reply and later remarked that kambli possess more natural talent. And now looking back, it seems almost impossible. Can you believe that kambli is the only Indian batsman to score back-to-back double centuries? But somewhere he lost his way. That is where Sachin’s greatness should be valued. Amidst all the success, glory , fame and money he kept his head and was true to basic human values. It is difficult to think of another sport person who was this much famous and at the same time this much devoid of controversies

We should understand that cricket is not only about fame, money and endorsements but also days and weeks and years of back breaking work and only those who are really committed to the cause will embrace glory. I wont call him the greatest batsman India has produced. Sunil Gavaskar or Rahul Dravid may put a better claim for that. But his place is surely there at the top. Sachin is aged now, he is nearer to his retirement, he is lacking that spark in his batting but his joy in playing for India and the joy he provides to millions around the globe is still undiminished.

THERE IS NO PLACE FOR HIM IN CRICKET

Ted corbet , one of the greatest cricket reporters of all time , once said “ All my instincts from 50 years around cricket tell me that Muttiah Muralitharan’s action is illegal” . I and thousands like me believe in those words. Obviously the first question that you are going to ask is why then he has so many admirers around the globe . The answer is that whatever the methods the results are so fascinating , so wonderful to watch, so devastating that we don’t like to miss a ball that he bowls. But in simple language he throws and in cricket it is not allowed. We know the arguments supporting his action that he has a born damage and he can’t rectify it. But it is not an excuse to break the laws. Does murali bowl like Alfred shaw bowled in the 19th century, as Bill O’reilly bowled in the 20th century and as mcgrath bowls in the 21st century ? I bet after comparing we won’t call Muralitharan legit. The fact is that you don’t need a biosensor or super-slo camera to see that he is bending his elbow. you can see it with your naked eye. John arlott , the greatest commentator of all-time, after the 1948 test humiliation by Australia said “ somewhere there is a youngster who has seen Miller and Lindwall and who is ready to answer their fire with fast bowling of his own” . and so it happened that within 3 years Fred Trueman was devastating , within 5 years Brian statham was Starting his marvelous test career and frank Tyson was unleashing thunder bolts as if he were the god mars. So the problem is that with Murali gaining so much success from his twirling action, there will be 10 or 15 Muralis in international cricket within years.

Statisticians around the globe has found that Muralithran has supporters which is almost square the number of people who oppose him ! and most of them are in the subcontinent because those who oppose him are mainly the English and the Australians and frankly we don’t like them, one for their previous authority over us and the other for their bloody-mindedness. But the sheer amount of the number of his supporters doesn’t make him legit. Of course he is a great entertainer, he is a bring-me-on-the-edge like performer. But there has been so many like him before he came and if we approve him it will b irreparable injustice towards them. Wisden chose him as the greatest bowler of 20th century . If the criteria was only the on field performance but not the other controversies, where was Shane Warne? We don’t know how dinosaurs disappeared and we don’t know why Courtney Walsh who on and off the field was glittering was omitted. We don’t know how Wasim Akram, arguably the greatest left armer of all time if we tend to ignore the comparatively shorter career of Alan Davidson, didn’t come first in the list. The fact is that murali is using his bent arm to gain an unfair advantage over the batsmen and also over other bowlers just like performance enhancing drugs. Change your perspective about his twirling arm as a performance enhancer, and you will feel the seriousness of the occasion. The argument that we should go on with him for purely his entertainment value is fully absurd. Tomorrow Marian jones will eat up kilos of steroids and run 100m in 5 seconds, only to entertain the spectators. Adam Gilchrist will use a wider bat, though he doesn’t need it, and blast all the bowlers, only to entertain the spectators. The laws are for everybody to obey. A certain muralitharan is not excempted from it. ICC conducted a secret poll among all the 12 elite panel umpires after the 2003 champions trophy in srilanka , about various matters which included a question involving muralitharan’s action. Eleven umpires agreed that he is chucking and no marks for you for guessing Asoka Desilva as the name of that odd umpire who supported him. So he knows it and all others know it and still he goes on. It is amazing that his greatest supporters in contemporary cricket are Australians like Gilchrist and Ponting. But are they trapping him? There is a thing which the Australians call the Tall Poppy syndrome, deliberately blowing the image bigger and when the time comes, cutting it to original size. And if someone gets hurt in that process who cares. With this they showed how to handle murali in the last test series between them in Srilanka in which they thrashed them 3 – 0. I admit he is a great competitor. He waded through all these controversies and still wading successfully. We always like to see champions struggling , struggling against their opponents and also against themselves and coming out with flying colours. In the 2004 test series against Australia in Australia, Sachin Tendulkar suffered a terrible series low scores. In the last test in Sydney also, he was struggling. He struggled to make 300 odd runs in that test match and almost brought a series victory. But he did nothing outside the laws. Recently Kobe Bryant was spending his time setting up a defence against charges of rape. On four occasions this year Bryant has flown from pre trial proceedings straight to a game, literally moving from court to court. Yet his response has been 42 points against San Antonio Spurs, 36 against sacamento, 31 against Houston Rockets and a shot to win the games versus Denver. But he did nothing outside the laws. And We expect Murali to be so.

The Preamble of cricket says “ Cricket is a game that owes its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played not only within its laws but also within the spirit of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this sprit causes injury to the game itself “. We request Mr. Murali to keep the laws and spirit of this great game by stepping OUT. I admit Muralitharan is a superb athlete, but more suitable for baseball. Let him join the White Sox, the Yankees, or the Dodgers. THER IS NO PLACE FOR HIM IN CRICKET.

STOP IT SANIA

A flashing victory in the first round and a shameless defeat in the second. How often have we seen that from Sania Mirza? It is time for us to accept that she is not good enough to win matches consistently or she can’t win matches if she holds the same attitude. And I feel pity towards the supporters who are behind her because she doesn’t make any effort from her side to improve or improvise. The first step towards solving a problem is to identify and admit that you have a problem, which she is not ready to do. She has immense potential but turning potential to performance is an altogether different matter, which requires a lot of sacrifices.

And more embarrassing is her pre match talk. It reminds me of WWF. She will announce how scant respect she holds towards her opponent and how she is going to destroy her opponent. She gives us a feeling that she just needs to turn up to move to the next round. And as usual after the match, which obviously has ended in a defeat, she would sheepishly make some excuses in front of the flashing cameras. She thinks that uttering some nonsense against her opponent is fashionable. Sachin Tendulkar never talked about attacking bowlers but has dominated almost all the bowling attacks around the globe for 16 years. Pete Sampras won 14 Grad Slams without uttering a single word about the guy who stood at the opposite side of the court. After defeating Andre Agassi in the 2005 US open final, Roger Federer said that it was his privilege to play against Agassi in a slam final. This is the stuff champions are made and it is high time that Sania should learn it.

Once after beaten by a 100 odd ranked player, during the following press conference Sania said that she was off colour that day and also even her opponent was not playing well. But unknowingly what she meant was that a player who is much below her in rankings doesn’t even need to be at her best to defeat her! With money, fame and short skirts she can be in spotlight for some time but over a larger period when she hangs up her boots( or racquet) she will be evaluated in terms of her achievements which is a big zero at this time. Sport persons or teams are always defined by certain moments, which stay with them until the end of their life. Maradona and the hand of GOD, Borg and the 81 Wimbledon Final, Manchester United and their 99’ treble of FA, EPL and Champions league,Australia and their hatrick World Cups and 16 Test wins in a row. These are the moments which will stand the test of time. And it is unfortunate that India’s latest tennis star doesn’t even have a single notable moment in her career.

It is completely up to her to put a wholehearted effort and start her journey to glory rather than concentrating on latest fashion and media hype. And if she is not ready to do that, it is time for her stop playing tennis.

LOOKING BACK...

1) Looking back, the most comic prediction about this WC was this one being the most open WC ever in the history. And after 54 days as usual Australia steamrolled everyone who came in their way and normal service was restored.

2) Looking back, the most poignant moment this WC produced was Inzamam Ul Haq leaving the field amidst tears after his last match in coloured clothing. Such a huge man both in status and stature, crying and leaving the field was really emotional.

3) Looking back, this WC was an absolute disaster for Pakistan. They crashed out of the WC in the first round itself, their captain resigned from captaincy and retired from one day cricket and as if this was not enough their coach was murdered and they were asked to play in spite of that. Pakistan cricket is in shambles and it is time for us to rally behind them and give our support. No cricketer or for that matter no true cricket lover would rejoice at the sight of a cricket tradition being turned to rags and bones. There is no better sight in cricket than Inzy playing the cover drive with that lazy elegance with the air of a man having a leisurely stroll in his backyard or a full tilt Shoaib Aktar steaming in. We must do everything to see those moments as long as possible.

4) Looking back, the one disappointment for me is I wanted WI to win their last match and see Bria Lara saying good bye with a smiling face. That didn’t happen. But the match was a true reflection of his entire career. Being run out by his team mate, there was a tinge of sadness when he walked back to the pavilion. And after rallying his team for almost 100 overs when the team lost, one couldn’t stop thinking about the disappointments he had in his entire career. But after the match, during the prize distribution ceremony, when he asked “did I entertain?”, the answer was thunderous cheer. Hearing that, the pure joy and happiness of watching Brian Lara for the last 16 years came all of sudden to my mind.

5) This was the most boring WC I have seen. No, not because India crashed out but too many one sided matches, too many unwanted incidents, less crowd and less excitement. The feeling of watching cricket in Caribbean without the involvement of people is so void, so hollow and so empty. It took 7 weeks and 50 matches to find out that Australia is the best, which we already knew.

6) Looking back, personally this has been a satisfying WC. My favourite team Aus won the cup, an effervescent batsman such as Gilchrist won the MOM and my all time favourite McGrath got 26 wickets and Man of the series. But all these things don’t make this a not boring one.

7) Looking back, I am sad that it got over. Now there is nothing to watch at 7 o clock. I am feeling an emptiness inside. And I cant wait for 2011 when it returns to India. It will be wonderful spectacle and I already started the countdown.

TEAM INDIA

I got the following piece as a forward and found it very interesting and true. May this serve as an eye opener for many third rate fanatics who consider themselves as cricket fans


Daily we are receiving countless mails, showing pictures of Indian cricketers as barber, milkman, coolie, cook, butcher etc etc. Just answer these questions before we go ahead…

1. We go to temples, make lots of wishes to god, some of them come true, some don’t…will you start burning effigies of gods and goddess.. If god can fall short of our expectations…they are just human beings!!!!!!!

2. India is still a developing nation; most of us come from average middle class families. Tell me if tomorrow..microsoft,google or sun comes to you and offer you ten times what infy is paying. What will u do????Every one of us is striving for more money..these cricketers are not the family members of TATA n Birlas…like us they do ve every right to make money. They do so cuz they have the stuff. Like ur here in infy cuz ur gud enough for it.

3. India ranked no.6 prior to start of wc-2007…!!!!!!!!!!if a no 6 team can so easily win the wc….guys n gals…be ready all of u r going to onsite tomorrow..as a PM/GPM/SPM or who knows Nandan might nominate you as the next ceo of ITL tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4. How many among us are IITians or have come even from top 10 engg colleges of India…(????)but be honest haan…you must have taken all these exams n entrance..after class 12th but u didn’t succeed!!!rite as simple as that!!accept ur failure!!!what ur parents did…they started mourning over the dummies kept as your dead bodies..or they also burned your effigies..did ur mother stop giving you food or father stopped giving u pocket money!!!!haan..they backed you..always supported you paid heavy donations and fee to let you complete ur engg and beared all your other expenses till u got the right job!!!!!!these cricketers are our fellow Indians our very own blood…they are going through a rough patch of time so instead of backing them up we are abusing them..

5. Your mom n dad calls u late in the night ur still at ur office..they say ..son ..go n have ur dinner..work hard..do your best….when u will get salary hikes..promotion..or remember your college days…dad calls u..son why r u getting less marks in every subject…YOUR REPLIES::::::::::”oh common…dad,mom u don’t understand..it really tough,only I can understand bla bla ….guys….same is the agony of these cricketers…no one can understand how it feels to be in the middle..n burdened with expectations of a billion ppl….shame on us we hardly live up to expectations of merely two persons(our parents!!!!)!!!!

6. We produce false certificates,claims to get posted at our desired locations..or if not we will run away to our hometown..on a leave…saying “I am feeling homesick”!!! Remember Sachin…wc-1999 his father died in India…while he was in England he came n rushed back to support and play for his team n country!!!!!!how many of us can even think of this !!!

7. Lastly it’s the mistake made by ourselves that we don’t consider a game..just as a game…its we the ppl of India who made these cricketers dummy gods..simply fanatic..thank god fans in Zimbabwe,Canada and Netherlands are not like us or imagine what they would have done to their teams if expecting them to win world cup!!!Try to live up within the spirit of the game…take a game like the way it should be.

8. Frnz…this is a tough time for our cricketers and their families..stand beside em’ support them they badly need it..they are already upset don’t add up to their agony n pain..

N lets get together n say…HOO-HAA INDIA…..PHIR “AAYEGA” INDIA!!!!!!!!!

Hope this makes sense to at least some of you..So please stop forwarding those nonsense mails/jokes on them…

CRICKET is only an entertainment for us…but its LIFE for them…They always wish more than us to “WIN”.

THE BEAUTY OF A CRICKET SHOT

What makes a cricket shot so splendid to watch, so exhilarating to ponder and so difficult to forget? Is it the technical brilliance with which it is executed or the sheer power of it? Or rather the context in which it is executed? Or the impact the shot has in the game? Javed Miandad’s last ball six of Chetan Sharma in the Australasia cup final is a part of the cricket folklore because it did win the match and more importantly established a psychological edge over India for years. And so is Mike Gatting’s ill-fated reverse sweep against Australia in the World Cup final of 1987 when England was cruising to victory even though it is cruel to accuse Gatting of England’s failure.

The beauty of a cricket shot is unique. Cricket is the only game in which the most of the actions are sideways. Both bowling and batting are sideways actions, which are quite opposite to the natural orientation of human body. To play a straight drive in an international match you need to play it 1000 times in nets. The co ordination needed between mind and body to play a cricket shot is immense. And most of the time batsmen need to rely on their instincts, which are honed through the hours spent in the nets. Endless hours of playing time and complex rules make cricket a hard game to learn. A Tendulkar straight drive is awe inspiring to watch. You can admire its beauty, drop your jaws and watch it 100 times but you can’t reproduce it from your bat. I didn’t know the meaning of the word perfect before I saw that shot. The body right behind the line of the ball, front foot to the pitch of the ball, head standstill, full face of the bat meeting the ball and the ball speeding past the bemused bowler with 10 times the velocity he delivered. Aaahhhh… Pure pleasure!

Talking about cricket shots, one still boggles in my mind. Rahul Dravid’s pulled four against a Bret Lee bouncer in the Adelaide Test match of 2003. It was the second new ball of India’s first innings and the Australians were looking for a breakthrough. Lee thundered in and fired a lethal bouncer. It is said that it takes around .6 of a second for the ball to reach the batsman when Lee is operating in full tilt. Within this time Dravid’s mind calculated the line of the ball, spotted the length as in the shorter side, rocked on the back foot, bottom hand grip became loose, upper hand looser and pushing the bat handle down as the loose bottom hand acted as a fulcrum, the bat making a curve and its end pointing towards thirdman, as the bat reached a horizontal level his left hand started giving power and right hand direction, eyes on the ball, head right behind the line, body twisted, gap between legs according to the height of the ball, just what MCC coaching manual says. And still he had enough time to play that shot and dispatch that ball to deep square leg fence.

But when you think about the big picture it gives you a better perspective. A young bowler steaming in and firing a bouncer and the batsman willing to take the challenge. That is the essence of Test match and more importantly that is the essence of life, meeting challenges and facing them. And that makes cricket a unique game and cricket shot a beautiful moment.

CONFESSIONS OF A CRICKET ADDICT

1) For me The Lords is more sacred than any of the temples or mosques or churches that you can find in this whole world.

2) My girlfriend says that she will leave me if I don’t stop my obsession with the Australian cricket team. Of course, I am going to miss her.

3) When India plays nothing is going to move me from in front of the TV set, not even an earthquake!

4) I am not living in a particular time zone. For me the wake up time is the Test match time. 10 AM for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh 2.30 PM for South Africa, 3.30 PM for England, 7.30 PM for West Indies, 3.30 AM for New Zealand and 5.30 AM for Australia. The sight of Brett Lee steaming in with a red cherry in his hand is more stimulating than any hot cup of tea.

5) One-day cricket may provide the edge of the seat kind of thrill but for me this circus won’t come anywhere near the majesty that Test cricket provides. Test cricket is the greatest game Man has ever seen, with its plots, sub plots, twists and dramas.

6) After each match I will sit down with my pen to update my personal charts of records, which includes, of course, the number of games I covered.

7) While walking I may play a cover drive with an exaggerated back lift or a back foot punch with a high elbow, or the loveliest of leg glances or sway away from an imaginary bouncer, which may appear quite comical to others. Sorry I don’t care about others.

8) For some people the match fixing scandal meant end of watching the game. But for me it was the time I wanted to show my gratitude towards the game, which gave me so much pleasure. And I did so with pride.

9) Sir Don Bradman might have played his last test even before my father was born. But still he is the God of batting.

10) Michael Jackson may be the greatest dancer the World has ever seen, but Brian Lara’s deft footwork when dancing down the track and and hoicking a left arm spinner over midwicket is more beautiful.

11) Music has never influenced or inspired me. But the sound of a cricket ball meeting the bat often sends pulses of adrenaline through my nerves.

12) Cricket is not a sport. It is a science.

THE GREATEST OF ALL

I am facing a curious problem this year. I have no motivation or desire to watch this year’s Formula1 season. Last year at this time I was busy going through the schedules and circuits and planning my less important remains. But this year I haven’t even checked the starting date of the season. I keep on saying to myself that Formula1 is not about a single man or a single team but somehow I fail to convince myself. The thought that I will never see a certain M.Schumacher in a red Ferrari speeding past others or performing a breathtaking, life-risking maneuver at a 180-degree corner puts me down.

Was Schumacher greater than all the other drivers we have seen? May be yes, may be not. Ayerton Senna and Alain Prost were better than him on pure driving skills. But they lacked one certain quality that shumi has in abundance. Ruthlessness and it was very much visible even in his last race. With a punctured tyre when he went back to the pits we all thought of the cruel anticlimax sport provides. We were certain of the fact that he is going to finish outside the point range, nearer to 15th rather than 5th. But from that point onwards what the world witnessed was simply vintage. With the increased weight of full tank fuel as well as expectations he restarted his last race from 17th position. Remember, 17th. The way he was overtaking was marvelous to watch. The car twisted, slipped, turned angles, which were non existent and sped past lesser mortals and the man didn’t eve flinch a bit. His overtaking of Fisichella was breathtaking as well as awe inspiring. And after a series of overtaking he finished on 4th. Watching his last race was as satisfying as watching any of his championship winning races.

Was he greater than the game ? No, not at all. No man can ever be greater than the game in which he performs his skills. Analogies can be drawn with Sir Don Bradman in cricket, Jack Nicholaus in Golf, and Pete Samprass in Tennis. But in one way or another Schumi was different from all of them. All those champions were playing games which already had a huge popularity and fan following. In Schumacher’s case he is the one who made F1 famous. He was the reason millions watched the game. All those champions were unanimous world champions and loved by everyone where as Schumacher was the man most of us loved to hate. Still there are people who believe that he is not the greatest eventhough he posses almost all the record that the sport can have. It is partly because of his ruthless image and partly because of his driving maneuvers, which left other, drives in the sidelines with their car crashed. It was a known fact that he will do anything to win a race. But when you are driving a Formula1 car that is the minimum thing expected from you, and for true lovers of Fomula1 he is the ultimate champion.

RETURN OF THE MAHARAJA

Let me make it clear first. I am neither a Ganguly fan nor a member of Ganguly hate club. But what he has done to Indian cricket was tremendous and what he is doing now is marvelous. His return to international cricket was least expected but he made that occasion special by being the top run scorer in the Test series against South Africa and hitting a match winning 98 against the West Indies.

What happened previously between Greg Chappell and Ganguly was not merely the clash of two personalities but the clash of two ideologies. As Chappell said, the successful return of Ganguly should be portrayed as a success story I Chappell’s CV. At that time Ganguly was completely out of sorts and more perplexingly he was reluctant to work in nets to rectify that. And someone was needed to tell him to go back to domestic circuit and get it rectified. Chappell to his credit did that admirably even though the media made a huge cry about the incident. After the dust settled Ganguly did go back to domestic circuit and worked hard for his runs and on his technique. To rectify a problem, first you have to realize and admit that you have a problem and Ganguly did just that. He understood that there is something wrong with his technique and mindset and started working on it and he was determined to make him ready for the new benchmarks set in Indian cricket. And as it is always hard work pays off and he came back with a bang,

Ultimately Ganguly and chapel settled on what was good to Indian cricket. Chappell has already expressed his desire to stay even after world cup and Ganguly has already shown enough hunger to stay for a long time. And that will be hugely beneficial for India.

RAHUL DRAVID - A TRUE CHAMPION

What separates Test cricket from other games is neither its timeframe nor the endurance level but its amazing similarity to life. There is no other game which posses all the qualities that make you a successful person; just as well it makes you a fine sports person. You go through the annals of Test cricket and you will surely come across triumphs, which are characterized by courage, character, concentration, dedication, discipline and audacity.

There is no other team game, which is played across five full days. At the outset this seems a small proposition but controlling your physical and mental attributes over 5 days and having relentless concentration is by no means a small task. Cricket at international level is a hard business. It is not only about fame and money but also days and weeks and years of backbreaking practice and work.

It is a game, which keeps great faith and pride in ethos and traditions of the game. The preamble of cricket says “cricket is a game which owes much of its unique appeal to the fact that it should be played only within its laws but also within the spirits of the game. Any action which is seen to abuse this spirit causes injury to the game itself.” In other words it teaches us the need to have respect towards the elders and certain values in life. It is no coincidence that the most disciplined batsman of modern times, Rahul Dravid , is also one of the most disciplined personalities that you come across on the cricket field. Dravid’s high elbow when playing the back foot punch is a celebration of the MCC cricket manual as much as his discipline and dedication towards his work and job. His monumental kolkata 180, inspiring Rawalpindi 271 and awesome Adelaide 233 are all examples for that. There is no other modern cricketer who embodies all the facets of cricket both in his game and life. Last year on a difficult pitch at Sabina park he constructed two exceptional half centuries and thereby clinching the match and series for India. And no other batsman scored half centuries. India won a test series I the carribean after 35 long years and it was appropriate that Dravid was the mainstay during that , for he is the best Indian batsman India has produced along with Sachin Tendulkar in the last 20 years. Let us hail this true warrior of Indian Cricket Rahul Dravid

IT IS 5 - 0

Congratulations Australia... The pain of the last ASHES is now history and that series seemed a lifetime ago. Thank you Australia for giving their fans gr8 joy. the cricket that played throught the series or for that matter through out the last year was excellent. No other team was able to catch up with them and England was no Exception. Cheers Aussies. Itz surely party time

THER IS ONLY ONE WAY TO GO FROM HERE!

Barring a huge huge miracle, surely England is heading towards a 5 - 0 defeat. On the ither side it shows how much the astralians were hurt by last year's ASHES defeat. It seems they were preparing for this series from then onwards. Therz no point in saying that England's performance was below par, it was excellent performance by Australia, which England were not able to catch up. may be that explains why so many of their stars are retiring at the end of this series because this is the ultimate prize they wanted after they lost the last ASHES. May be after the series win they are finding it difficult to motivate themselves.

SPINELESS ENGLAND

As if it is their wont, england again squandered their advantage and handed back the momentum to australia in the 5th and last test. It was a glorious opportunity for england to win atleast one Test in this disasterous tour. they were bowled out for 291 and a lead of even 50 will put huge pressure on England. By the close of second day's play there were 2 perfect batsmen for the situation for australia at the crease. And considering the way Warne has batted in this series , the lead for australia may spill over 100, if not bigger than that. If no miracle happens England is surely heading for a 5-0 whitewash. And ricky Ponting will be more than happy to emulate Warwick Armstrong's magnificient outfit of 1920 -21 , after the debacle of the last ASHES.

JAFFA BY JAFFER

With the series and his career on line Wasim Jaffer produced an absolute jaffa to put India in a strong position in the crucual 3rd Test.He showed tremendous judgement outside offstump. His temperament was exceptional and shot selection spot on. Now virendar sehwag can take a leaf out of Jaffer's innings and make use of the chance that he got down the order. Now it is up to the rest of te batsman to make use of the excellent start the openers gave. If they bat out today the series will be in India's pocket because the pitch is already showing some wear and tear and once certain Anil Kumle will be more than handfull on that. Well done India.