The off-season has set in and the footballing world looks on in anticipation at what is to come out of the transfer market this time. At the top of everything else of course, is Cristiano Ronaldo's messy saga with English champions Manchester United and Spanish high-fliers Real Madrid.
Frankly, their epic struggle is getting a bit too drawn-out and irritating now...I mean if the guy wants to leave, he should be allowed to...what are United complaining about ? For one, they'll get heaps of money. And if they think they won't be able to defend their double without Ronaldo, it would be a damning comment on the ability of the much touted side's other 'stars'. I'm not sure how honeymoon-returned Wayne 'grumpy' Rooney, skipper Rio Ferdinand, Paul Scholes and others from the United elite would be looking at this...their pre-season training has been comletely overshadowed by all the flip-flops in this high profile transfer mess.
Elsewhere in England, the other newsmakers, like always, have been Chelsea ( long live The Blues !!!) . 'Big Phil' Luiz Scolari has taken charge at Stamford Bridge...and thankfully, Avram Grant has been removed from that dugout. After a trophyless season, Stamford Bridge is on tenterhooks as the other big transfer saga, that of Frank Lampard plays itself out. Italian champions Inter Milan have been trying to get their hands on Lamps ever since former Blues boss Jose Mourinho took charge at the San Siro. I for one, seriously hope that Lampard decides to stay at Chelsea not only for this season, but for as long as he continues to play...he was the reason i started following Chelsea in first place !
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Friday, June 13, 2008
Return of the Men In White
Behold the spectacle ! Glorious white has returned as the cricket world tries to get rid of the IPL hangover. After the crazy action of the 3 fortnight- long IPL, where national rivalries were put on the backburner for the sake of regional supremacy ( and big time money of course !), cricket in its purest form has returned with England taking on New Zealand and Australia battling for the Frank Worell Trophy with the West Indies in sunny Carribean.
No more umpires in cowboy hats, no more Preity-Yuvi jhappis, no more bizzare SRK celebrations in the stands, no more free hits, no more last ball finishes...in short, no more T20 junk diet. The real thing is here.
The only downside? No more cheerleaders! Bring back the Washington Redskins !!!
No more umpires in cowboy hats, no more Preity-Yuvi jhappis, no more bizzare SRK celebrations in the stands, no more free hits, no more last ball finishes...in short, no more T20 junk diet. The real thing is here.
The only downside? No more cheerleaders! Bring back the Washington Redskins !!!
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Of dead pitches and runs galore
If you tuned into last week's opening Test between India and South Africa at Chennai, you would have wondered why such a fuss was being made about it being ''the race to be No.2.''
Ever since the South Africans have landed here, the pundits have been going ga-ga about it being a contest between two teams to decide who would claim the no.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings. For an outside observer this suggestion would seem absurd to the point of being ridiculous since he would think that neither of the teams had any sort of bowling prowess to take the much cliched ''20 wickets'' required to win Test matches.
However such an observation would be inncaurate. No, the two bowling attacks are not paper tigers. Every performer requires an occasion to perform, but sadly the series organisers chose to deprive these performers of their occasion. They prepared a pitch on which, as Geoff Boycott would claim, his mum could make a century. And no, he would not be entirely incorrect.
What cricket administrators in India need to realize is that they cannot take their place for granted. With the emergence of T20, Test cricket is in troubled waters. People simply do not have the time, or for that matter, the inclination, to sit through five gruelling days of cricket.
The least they could do is to ensure that all pitches are result-oriented ones. No one these days would be too happy if you tell them that all they would get after watching 22 men battle it out for 8 hours everyday for 5 days is a result which found that there was nothing that could separate these sides. They would be much happier to come down after work, watch the ball being belted out of the ground, grab a beer, ogle at the dancing girls and go home. All done and dusted in 3 hours.
Bowlers are an oppressed lot in cricket these days. The regulations, the incresing size of bats, the decresing size of boundaries, and the increaingly aggressive attitude of batsmen is enough to make anyone throw their hands up in despair. It might even prompt some to throw in the towel. And then when you have to play on a pitch as dead as the one at Chennai, that is asking for a bit too much from these players. Of course, not everyone is in complaining, ask Virender Sehwag. Or Neil McKenzie for that matter. These two people, among several others, made merry as bowlers from both sides scrathched their heads, thinking of ways to commit suicide.
So don't rejoice if you see a scorecard that says that not more than 24 wickets could be taken over 5 days, it just puts to shame all hopes of a good contest between bat and ball.
Ever since the South Africans have landed here, the pundits have been going ga-ga about it being a contest between two teams to decide who would claim the no.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings. For an outside observer this suggestion would seem absurd to the point of being ridiculous since he would think that neither of the teams had any sort of bowling prowess to take the much cliched ''20 wickets'' required to win Test matches.
However such an observation would be inncaurate. No, the two bowling attacks are not paper tigers. Every performer requires an occasion to perform, but sadly the series organisers chose to deprive these performers of their occasion. They prepared a pitch on which, as Geoff Boycott would claim, his mum could make a century. And no, he would not be entirely incorrect.
What cricket administrators in India need to realize is that they cannot take their place for granted. With the emergence of T20, Test cricket is in troubled waters. People simply do not have the time, or for that matter, the inclination, to sit through five gruelling days of cricket.
The least they could do is to ensure that all pitches are result-oriented ones. No one these days would be too happy if you tell them that all they would get after watching 22 men battle it out for 8 hours everyday for 5 days is a result which found that there was nothing that could separate these sides. They would be much happier to come down after work, watch the ball being belted out of the ground, grab a beer, ogle at the dancing girls and go home. All done and dusted in 3 hours.
Bowlers are an oppressed lot in cricket these days. The regulations, the incresing size of bats, the decresing size of boundaries, and the increaingly aggressive attitude of batsmen is enough to make anyone throw their hands up in despair. It might even prompt some to throw in the towel. And then when you have to play on a pitch as dead as the one at Chennai, that is asking for a bit too much from these players. Of course, not everyone is in complaining, ask Virender Sehwag. Or Neil McKenzie for that matter. These two people, among several others, made merry as bowlers from both sides scrathched their heads, thinking of ways to commit suicide.
So don't rejoice if you see a scorecard that says that not more than 24 wickets could be taken over 5 days, it just puts to shame all hopes of a good contest between bat and ball.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Going, going, gone......
Cricketers from the world over went on sale this past week in Mumbai as the much publicized IPL auctions took place at a 5 star hotel, where beer barons, film stars and industrialists happily coughed up millions to get leading international players into their franchisees.The Indian captain, M.S.Dhoni was bought by the Chennai ''Super Kings'' (how ridiculous a name is that for a team?) for a mind-boggling 1.5 million USD, nearly 4 times his reserve price! Well,MSD sure got a lot of USDs !Poor joke, point noted. However he wasn't the only one who found his bank account get doughed up, Aussie Andrew Symonds, inspite of his monkey business, and those pathetic dreadlocks, was signed up by the Hyderabad team for 1.35 million USDs ; becoming the highest paid foreign player.
Now, what are we getting into here? Is the IPL, as its inventors claim, a godsend for the country's pathetically hopeless domestic scene? Or will cricket's newest baby end up ringing the death knell for good old Test cricket? We have players around the world being wooed with 6 figure sums by the richest cricket board in the world, all because they couldn't bear to watch someone out of the system set up a league which rivals their numerous and frankly, quite mediocre domestic competitions. The palyers themselves, are of course, only too happy to participate in this noble cause of uplifting India's domestic scene from it's present misery. Who wouldn't, really, given that while playing T20 matches for a couple of months a year, you could end up making twice or thrice of what you would, while playing for your country, slogging it out against the world's best? Its more of an attraction for the ones reaching the end of their careers, rather than the newbies, who are still struggling to keep their noses above international cricket's deep waters. The recent spate of high profile retirements, noticeably, those of Shaun Pollock, Stephen Flemming, and a few others, is no coincidence, I say.
And now along comes Andrew Symonds, who has been crying himself hoarse over (well, apart from monkey business, of course,) Australia's upcoming, or cancelled, or postponed, or shortened or oh well...let's just say scheduled tour of Pakistan and how he wouldn't want to be a part of it because of the security situation in that country. And now, having been bought by Hyderabad as their star recruit, he recently said that he probably wouldn't be going there afterall. And to think that Symonds claimed he was racially abused in India last October during a bitter 7 match series! I guess money talks more than honour does.
However the larger issue here is that, most shockingly so, current players are refusing to turn up for that country, now that they have been faced with astronomial sums they wouldn't have got their hands on, while on national duty. Clearly, the ICC must do something to nip this trend in the bud...or international cricket will go to the dogs.
And with all the news of the players raking in the moolah, what would the young 'un playing in the street against his mates think? Surely, that Test cricket, techique, good old forward defence be damned, i'll just dance down the track, bring out the slog sweep and send the ball into orbit. Afterall, going by the current scheme of things, T20 is the way forward. You wouldnt want to stop your kid from playing cricket these days, he could be the next ''Super King''!!!
Now, what are we getting into here? Is the IPL, as its inventors claim, a godsend for the country's pathetically hopeless domestic scene? Or will cricket's newest baby end up ringing the death knell for good old Test cricket? We have players around the world being wooed with 6 figure sums by the richest cricket board in the world, all because they couldn't bear to watch someone out of the system set up a league which rivals their numerous and frankly, quite mediocre domestic competitions. The palyers themselves, are of course, only too happy to participate in this noble cause of uplifting India's domestic scene from it's present misery. Who wouldn't, really, given that while playing T20 matches for a couple of months a year, you could end up making twice or thrice of what you would, while playing for your country, slogging it out against the world's best? Its more of an attraction for the ones reaching the end of their careers, rather than the newbies, who are still struggling to keep their noses above international cricket's deep waters. The recent spate of high profile retirements, noticeably, those of Shaun Pollock, Stephen Flemming, and a few others, is no coincidence, I say.
And now along comes Andrew Symonds, who has been crying himself hoarse over (well, apart from monkey business, of course,) Australia's upcoming, or cancelled, or postponed, or shortened or oh well...let's just say scheduled tour of Pakistan and how he wouldn't want to be a part of it because of the security situation in that country. And now, having been bought by Hyderabad as their star recruit, he recently said that he probably wouldn't be going there afterall. And to think that Symonds claimed he was racially abused in India last October during a bitter 7 match series! I guess money talks more than honour does.
However the larger issue here is that, most shockingly so, current players are refusing to turn up for that country, now that they have been faced with astronomial sums they wouldn't have got their hands on, while on national duty. Clearly, the ICC must do something to nip this trend in the bud...or international cricket will go to the dogs.
And with all the news of the players raking in the moolah, what would the young 'un playing in the street against his mates think? Surely, that Test cricket, techique, good old forward defence be damned, i'll just dance down the track, bring out the slog sweep and send the ball into orbit. Afterall, going by the current scheme of things, T20 is the way forward. You wouldnt want to stop your kid from playing cricket these days, he could be the next ''Super King''!!!
Wednesday, February 06, 2008
All done and dusted
After the dust settles down, this contest will go down as one of the best in recent times. The stage was set for a major showdown, and boy, did we have one! In a series which proved that Test cricket will always retain its place as the King Of Sports inspite of the emergence of T20,
Monkey calls, court hearings, disputed catches, umpires who refused to lift their fingers, one captain who thought only 1 side played with the spirit of the game and his opposing number who spit venom on anyone who doubted his integrity added plenty of spice to the contest that in my opinion, stands side-by-side with the Ashes as the game’s blue ribbon rivalry.
In the end,
Melborne: Aus win due to toothless Indian batting;
All said and done, both the squads should give themselves a pat on the back for treating the great game’s spectators to a scorching summer of cricket. All of this sets up things nicely for this October, when the ‘Roos turn up in
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Our heads hang in shame, again
At the end of it all, in what was one of the most eventful Tests this beautiful game has seen, the first test of the new year will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. India could argue that the Aussies got away with having 2 additional players on the field and one more off it....as the umpires decided to play Santa and gift the reigning champions an oh-so-sweet test victory over arch-rivals India. The Aussies , on the other hand, could thank their stars and messrs Bucknor, Benson and Oxenford for letting them get away with a win in a match for which a draw would have been a just result.
Steve Bucknor, the Jamaican umpire on the ICC ''Elite'' list is best known for two things...one-for having stood in more tests than any other umpire and two-for being India's bugbear time and again. And true to his reputaion, he once again played a leading hand in denying India a well deserved draw. He turned out absolute howlers with disheartening regularity, and surprise surprise...against who else, but India? It would be difficult to believe that the man is not biased against India after taking a look at his decisions that have repeatedly served to put the Indians on the backfoot on numerous occasions in the past. Sourav Ganguly had famously given him a rating of zero in the captain's report after a test on the Australian tour of 2003-04. Whether or not Anil Kumble chooses to follow in his footsteps this time is yet to be seen, but that doesn't take away from the fact that umpires like Bucknor, who have reached the ripe old age of 61 need to be removed from the panel. There is bound to be an obvious decline in their ability to adjudicate with passage of time and the cricketing fraternity will be witness to such poor umpiring if such measures are not followed.
The other umpire, Mark Benson does not come out in shining light either. Alongwith the TV umpire Oxenford, the two on-field umpires did Australia favours time and again over each of the 5 days as they recovered from a precarious 134/6 to post 463 on the board in the first innings. Andrew Symonds, the main beneficiary, should have been back in the pavilion while he was on 30 but he went on to make 162 not out, after being let off thrice through ridiculous umpiring. Together the trio accounted for 8 pathetic decisions, 7 of them in Australia's favour...which is a damning comment on their son-called ''Elite'' status.
It would be difficult to say what might have been if this would not have happened, though for sure, cricket lovers would have been able to see a match won, lost or drawn on the pure basis of the competing teams' ability, or the lack of it. And even though Harsha Bhogle might say that cricket is not a game of ''what might have been'', it would be difficult, Mr Bhogle, to discount the effect that 8 such '' what might have beens'' would have had on the outcome of this match.
Steve Bucknor, the Jamaican umpire on the ICC ''Elite'' list is best known for two things...one-for having stood in more tests than any other umpire and two-for being India's bugbear time and again. And true to his reputaion, he once again played a leading hand in denying India a well deserved draw. He turned out absolute howlers with disheartening regularity, and surprise surprise...against who else, but India? It would be difficult to believe that the man is not biased against India after taking a look at his decisions that have repeatedly served to put the Indians on the backfoot on numerous occasions in the past. Sourav Ganguly had famously given him a rating of zero in the captain's report after a test on the Australian tour of 2003-04. Whether or not Anil Kumble chooses to follow in his footsteps this time is yet to be seen, but that doesn't take away from the fact that umpires like Bucknor, who have reached the ripe old age of 61 need to be removed from the panel. There is bound to be an obvious decline in their ability to adjudicate with passage of time and the cricketing fraternity will be witness to such poor umpiring if such measures are not followed.
The other umpire, Mark Benson does not come out in shining light either. Alongwith the TV umpire Oxenford, the two on-field umpires did Australia favours time and again over each of the 5 days as they recovered from a precarious 134/6 to post 463 on the board in the first innings. Andrew Symonds, the main beneficiary, should have been back in the pavilion while he was on 30 but he went on to make 162 not out, after being let off thrice through ridiculous umpiring. Together the trio accounted for 8 pathetic decisions, 7 of them in Australia's favour...which is a damning comment on their son-called ''Elite'' status.
It would be difficult to say what might have been if this would not have happened, though for sure, cricket lovers would have been able to see a match won, lost or drawn on the pure basis of the competing teams' ability, or the lack of it. And even though Harsha Bhogle might say that cricket is not a game of ''what might have been'', it would be difficult, Mr Bhogle, to discount the effect that 8 such '' what might have beens'' would have had on the outcome of this match.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Our heads hang in shame
Australia marched home today to their 15th consecutive Test victory after soundly thrashing India in the Boxing Day test at Melbourne. The much-anticipated and hyped duel petered out to a no-contest as the rampaging Aussies handed the touring Indians a swift fall from grace on the back of the visitors' first series win against Pakistan at home in 27 long years.
India's much vaunted batting lineup folded up for less than 200 in both innings as a good show by the bowlers went in vain. In a match in which they were competitive for all of 1 day, the Indians would do well to realize that once you've got the Aussies on the mat, you've got to keep 'em there, no matter what.
However that didn't happen as the advantage was surrendered with a poor batting display: the Dravids, the Laxmans, the Tendulkars, the Gangulys and the Dhonis managing all of 196 and 161 among themselves...surely, they could do better.
The curious Rahul Dravid saga gets murkier by the moment....appointed captain after then coach Greg Chappell's huge public showdown with you-know-who, accused of playing into the very same wily old coach's hands, leading the side on a forgettable World Cup campaign, controversially resigning after the successful England tour, being axed from the one day side and now being thrust into the opener's slot to do the dirty work of wearing out the brand new Kookaburra so that the others can work on their averages while smacking the thing to all parts of the ground.
What the team management has to realize is that the opening position is a specialist one...you might have a few successes with the odd makeshift opener (read Dinesh Kaarthick in England ) but that will not save you from trouble against better sides in the world. So while Dravid, the gentleman that he is, may agree to bat wherever the team wants him to, playing makeshift openers against Australia won't get them too far I'm afraid. Rahul is best suited for the no.3 slot and it's no secret. So to play him upfront, just so that Yuvraj can get into the side is sheer myopia, nothing else.
And probably the most bemusing aspect of this opening dilemna is that man called Virender Sehwag. Picture this: the man doesn't figure in the 24 probables list, then mysteriously gets called up for the tour in the 16 man squad, is one of the three genuine openers in the squad : Wasim Jaffer (the regular) and Gautam Gambhir (injured ) being the other two, doesn't play the warm up tie, ditto for the first test as he cools his heels in the dressing room while the others face the heat: both on and off the field ! I wonder what is he in the squad for? Just making up the numbers, presumably. Well good for him...there won't be any skin off his back while the rest will have tough questions to face ! Maybe all that's missing now is maa-ke-haath-ki kheer!
And so as we look forward to the New Year's test at Sydney, it begs the question: will India rise from the Ashes like the Phoenix did, or will it once again pummel to even greater depths ?
I, for one, hope it's the former and not the latter.
India's much vaunted batting lineup folded up for less than 200 in both innings as a good show by the bowlers went in vain. In a match in which they were competitive for all of 1 day, the Indians would do well to realize that once you've got the Aussies on the mat, you've got to keep 'em there, no matter what.
However that didn't happen as the advantage was surrendered with a poor batting display: the Dravids, the Laxmans, the Tendulkars, the Gangulys and the Dhonis managing all of 196 and 161 among themselves...surely, they could do better.
The curious Rahul Dravid saga gets murkier by the moment....appointed captain after then coach Greg Chappell's huge public showdown with you-know-who, accused of playing into the very same wily old coach's hands, leading the side on a forgettable World Cup campaign, controversially resigning after the successful England tour, being axed from the one day side and now being thrust into the opener's slot to do the dirty work of wearing out the brand new Kookaburra so that the others can work on their averages while smacking the thing to all parts of the ground.
What the team management has to realize is that the opening position is a specialist one...you might have a few successes with the odd makeshift opener (read Dinesh Kaarthick in England ) but that will not save you from trouble against better sides in the world. So while Dravid, the gentleman that he is, may agree to bat wherever the team wants him to, playing makeshift openers against Australia won't get them too far I'm afraid. Rahul is best suited for the no.3 slot and it's no secret. So to play him upfront, just so that Yuvraj can get into the side is sheer myopia, nothing else.
And probably the most bemusing aspect of this opening dilemna is that man called Virender Sehwag. Picture this: the man doesn't figure in the 24 probables list, then mysteriously gets called up for the tour in the 16 man squad, is one of the three genuine openers in the squad : Wasim Jaffer (the regular) and Gautam Gambhir (injured ) being the other two, doesn't play the warm up tie, ditto for the first test as he cools his heels in the dressing room while the others face the heat: both on and off the field ! I wonder what is he in the squad for? Just making up the numbers, presumably. Well good for him...there won't be any skin off his back while the rest will have tough questions to face ! Maybe all that's missing now is maa-ke-haath-ki kheer!
And so as we look forward to the New Year's test at Sydney, it begs the question: will India rise from the Ashes like the Phoenix did, or will it once again pummel to even greater depths ?
I, for one, hope it's the former and not the latter.
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