Desicritics Category: Sports: Cricket

Cricket and Beer

Deepak Maini — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:56:03 EST

Our hopes had already been dashed when I walked in to bat yesterday. I wasn’t, however, bothered much with the winning-losing aspect of the game. I was already thinking about the succulent boneless wings and tall glasses of beer I had talked to Yogesh about for our lunch. It was three in the afternoon and drinking beer seemed more appropriate than hitting nine runs off one ball—I mean it was outfight unfair. How do you expect me to hit the runs from here? I crooned from the non-striker end to my team that was standing on the sidelines ready with bats to kill me if I didn’t score the winning nine runs off the last ball.

The game was the opening round of the Vibha tournament and we were dressed in red-and-white polo shirts. Our team had exchanged four thousand five hundred and twenty-two emails about the tournament and the game that the top guns of our team had thought, drinking Gatorade, would put us in the winning grove: The beginning of the saga of five games that would turn us into cricketing gods of Atlanta, barring Arpit of course because he didn’t pass the height criterion for becoming a god, he was an inch too short (I’d already ordered my chakra, sword, and mace to match my godly status apart from getting silk pajamas and fancy gold-plated jewelry).

We were set a target of seventy-six off ten overs. I don’t know about others, but for my team, the hard-hitting players we are, it meant hitting just about two sixes every over. But that would mean one hundred and twenty runs at least and adding the two singles Arpit would eke out edging past the keeper, that would be one hundred and twenty-two. Why don’t we just take singles like the other team? I said, and my team called me a mathematics snob and told me to shut the fuck up or they would tie me to a chair and blow cigarette smoke into my face.

As it was already known, Arpit fulfilled my dream and after hitting a few balls with his long and dense polyester bottoms threw his wicket in a smart attempt to edge the ball to the two-run, behind-the-keeper boundary. We still needed seventy some runs and there was nothing to worry about, I thought, because our batting was just getting started.

Surprisingly, the game that should been a cinch and that had turned into a skirmish after the first innings was now becoming a long yawn. I decided, sitting next to Yogesh, who was flexing his muscles for the benefit of nowhere-to-be-seen Georgia Tech sweethearts and saying, “See, see, how big?” that the things the two kids sitting next to him were saying were more interesting than the game of cricket upon us. The kids were talking about how we, the team of Monsters, were not scared of wasps and were instead scared of not hitting enough sixes in the game. They were cute but nothing to keep me from wandering around.

Earlier in the game, everybody except me had bowled with discipline. The faster I tried to bowl, the fuller I got and was thrashed for singles and doubles. It wasn’t new for me to feel frustrated with the way I was bowling, but apart from feeling the constant pressure of self-loathing, I heard Yogesh’s words as he had told me before the game: You need a third man for fuckers like these, that guy can’t even bench press ninety pounds, where do you think he will hit you? Not in the front. It will always be behind the keeper. I had thought of asking him, How many fingers are these?, to double-check if he wasn’t drunk, but when the ball darted past Ninad three times in the first over, it dawned on me that he hadn’t been kidding me, and I was reduced to tears and had to beg Arpit to stand at the first slip.

The opposition had scored in singles and doubles and hit one six and two boundaries in the whole innings. The target of seventy-six was a tad insulting for the first match of the tournament, and I wondered if Arpit had something to say about it, so I asked him when he was busy putting the box inside his pants that if he had any strategy for the chase since the target wasn’t flat by any means. I have to pee, he replied.

Arpit had said the same thing when earlier before the start of the game I asked him to practice with me. I’ve to pee. Arpit, let’s run around the field once. I’ve to pee. Arpit, let’s go eat something. I‘ve to pee. Arpit, let’s find out why this chipmunk looks like you. I’ve to pee. Arpit, let’s exchange the batting order. I‘ve to pee. Arpit, let’s go pee. No smarty pants, I don’t want to.

Arpit’s propensity for peeing hadn't stripped me of the feeling that Arpit had a strategy all right. After lingering around him awhile, I sat down and heard him say, A lefty and a righty, confusing, confusing, huh, very important to have a lefty opener, but as always I couldn’t understand the Einstenian logic behind it. My theory: if the opposition stinks and cannot bowl to a right and left combination without getting their heads all tangled up, one can beat them in half the number of overs, and if the team is good enough to take you to the last over when you need nine runs off the last ball, good luck with your stellar strategy because, I guess, they ain’t no bitches. It’s quite evident watching international cricket, though, that this strategy works, and in a subtle way, but not as much as the simple and tested strategy of rotating the strike and hitting the ball on merit does. Apart from the lefty-righty strategy, there was another plan of action that, I was plenty aware of it, would kick in as soon as the first over: driving orgasmic pleasure from premeditating to launch the ball out of the park.

At the end of the game as everybody was shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries, it occurred to me that I wanted to drink beer. The game was over. You lose some, you win some, but you always drink beer regardless of the outcome. You cannot let a loss make you reconsider how you go about the game, but for a smart person there are lessons in every little thing that happens to him, be it a missed opportunity to get someone out or a swing and a miss.

Chakravyuh 2010, IMT Ghaziabad - Your World Stops Here

Ankur Bhatia — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 07:59:21 EST

Chakravyuh, the sports festival organised by IMT Ghaziabad is nothing short of being spectacular. This year was my first time and the three days i spent there were really some of the best days of my life. I have written in a post some time back about how many days of your life can you remember. Well, lets just say that i added three more to my total.

I reached IMT after a two-hour drive from my college on the eve of 4th feb and was totally exhausted. As you drive into the campus you can see the parking right away but i did not. My eyes were fixed on bright lights coming from around the corner right opposite the parking lot. As i drove round the corner, the scene appeared in front of my eyes, A football ground all decked up and ready for the first kick and over 300 students dressed in their respective team kits waiting for the opening ceremony to start. For a few seconds i was dumbstruck as it just looked like a dream, too good to be true. After the opening ceremony and dinner all the teams were called to the amphitheater for ...well.. a welcome of sorts, like no other. So all teams filled the amphitheater and the welcome started. All team captains were asked to introduce their teams and others including the very witty hosts made fun of anything and everything that was being said. By the time the insult session was over, the fixtures were out and it was down to business.

Over the next three days all teams battled it out for the top spot in various sports. Our team had major heart breaks in Cricket and Badminton and we failed to win anything. As a sportsman I hate losing, really hate it. However, for some reason i did not mind it that much. That was the beauty of those three days as It was there that I learnt, it's not always about winning or losing, at times its just about doing what you love. Imagine three days when no matter what time u got up, there was always a sport happening, no matter where you went, people were talking about who won or who lost and no matter how tired you were, you still wanted to play more. I didn't understand all this while i was there. It was only when i was leaving that these thoughts came to me. That is why as i left after three grueling days of non stop competition, taking back nothing but my bruised and battered body with me, my heart refused to leave. I was already thinking about the next Chakravyuh even before i left this one. It was very addictive and it had me totally hooked.

Some teams that deserve a special mention for their performances are The Titans and Kshatriyas of IMT who were just spectacular in multiple games, MDI played some special Table Tennis and Football, FORE School of Management whose Basketball and Badminton teams made a real fight of impossible matches. On top of that there were a few players who were a joy to watch, Rajinder from Amity, Gladson from XIMB, Pulkit Garg from MDI, Vishal Mehra from Titans and Sumit Arora from FORE (comeback of the tournament after being down 1-11).

For me this Chakravyuh 2010 was about the electrifying atmosphere, making friends, appreciating fine sportsmen, watching some truly remarkable matchups, sleepless nights, realization that i need to lose weight if i wanna compete and above all doing what i love the most, play till i drop. Hats off to IMT for giving us these three days every year over and over.

Fourth Innings, My Foot!

sufferingsocrates — Sat, 6 Feb 2010 14:46:14 EST

At a time when there is supposedly a threat to test cricket, more and more exciting matches are being turned in. Honestly, the past decade has been a blessing in disguise for Test Cricket, and not surprisingly, it has been Australia at the forefront of redefining Test Cricket. Their aggressive batting, with the likes of Hayden and Langer and then a marauding Gilchrist ensured that Test Cricket was being redefined forever. The mantle, one would say has been handed to another simple, yet devastating batsman, Virender Sehwag. Sehwag has been instrumental in India moving up the Test rankings in the past eight years, with an astonishing strike rate of over 80 and also scored the fastest triple hundred in Test Cricket.

Why Test Cricket is still alive and will thrive has been proven by just the last 2 years of Test Match cricket. And its more than just a mere coincidence that this is the same period when T20 cricket has taken the cricketing world by storm. This format has been a major boost to how Test cricket is being played of late. While Australia showed the aggressive intent in posting mammoth scores, and then pummel the opposition, T20 has increased the belief and self confidence amongst teams in chasing down astonishing fourth innings scores. A startling example is the Duleep Trophy Final yesterday, which West Zone won by chasing down a near improbable 536 to win. What stands out is the kind of innings which made it possible. Yusuf Pathan struck an unbeaten better than a run a ball double ton, and remained not out on 210 to capture the victory. Incidentally, this is the highest ever run chase in the history of first class cricket.

The audacity of test batsmen, especially over the past two years has a remarkable coincidence with T20 cricket's arrival on the big stage in 2007 with India emerging the first ever T20 world champions. More batsmen since then have gone out in the fourth innings with the self belief of a fourth innings chase as a possibility, even if it be a huge score. The impetus that T20 has provided is the pace at which runs are being scored in Test Cricket. Almost all teams, including Bangladesh are posting runs at more than 4 an over in Test Cricket. That means, more Test match results than ever before, and more excitement for the crowds. In the Ranji Trophy final a few days back, Manish Paney dared Mumbai and almost pulled off the highest chased total in Ranji finals. He compiled an almost run a ball century in the fourth innings effort.

Not only have draws become more exciting in Test Cricket (the England - South Africa matches were enthralling to say the least), even run making is becoming faster, year on year. Just to give an idea, in the last 1 and half years alone, there have been three high run chases achieved, and that too on different playing conditions. South Africa chased down 414, the second highest run chase ever, at W.A.C.A in Perth. India then chased down a memorable fourth innings score of 387 against England in India, following the ghastly 26/11 attacks. The other notable chase was by South Africa against England at Edgbaston in 2008. Exciting batsmen like Sehwag and Dilshan are making a mockery of the age old tradition of block and play in Test Cricket. Strike rates continue to reach the high 60s and this is only going to keep increasing.

The benefits of such fast paced scoring is already showing in the number of result oriented games. The public should now look forward to high scoring, fast paced test matches as well. There is plenty of runs, as well as wickets to fall. Any cricket fan would be thrilled to watch result oriented matches. Not to mention, the nail biting draws which England are repeatedly pulling off on the fifth days. The unfortunate casualties of this transformation of Test Cricket are the bowlers, especially the faster breed. While the batsmen's strike rates surge, the averages of the bowlers keeps increasing as well. Fast bowling as a breed is reeling under the psychological hammering of T20. Only bowlers like Shaun Tait who can breach the 160kph (he clocked 160.7kph against Pakistan in the Twenty20 win over Pakistan), can dare batsmen who come down the pitch to fast bowlers. May God help the rest!

Test Cricket - A Twenty20 Twist

sufferingsocrates — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 02:51:26 EST

India sure managed to scale the expectation and reached the top of the ICC Test cricket ratings. India, like Australia and South Africa has been the only Test playing nation to have consistently performed in away conditions with victories. In that perspective, India deserved to be among the top 3. But, the very best? I wouldn't think so. India still has a weak bowling attack, and there is no certainty or surety of a return to form of Ishant Sharma. Moreover, Harbhajan Singh's performances have been patchy to say the least. What India surely is missing though is an express pace bowler to bowl at 145 clicks consistently for a entire spell of 4 or 5 overs. Until India finds consistency in its bowling attack, the Indian team will continue to rely heavily on its batting.

Even so, the top spot in the ratings look like more transient in nature, because of the lack of test matches India would be playing. BCCI has now asked South African cricket board to play two test matches, by dropping two one day internationals in India next year. While it would seem that this maybe an opportune moment to give a much needed fillip to sagging fortunes of test cricket, BCCI surely wants to give the Indian team a fair opportunity to continue atop the test cricket ratings. While these are certainly welcome thoughts, one cannot but be reminded of the lack of sponsorship interest for the Indian cricket team. If the BCCI can bring in more crowds to see the Indian cricket team perform well and retain its top ranking in test matches, there could be an opportunity to win back elusive sponsors.

All said and done, there is certainly a deep concern for the future of test cricket. BCCI's moves are certainly positive, but as I mentioned, seem more like being opportunistic in nature. What test cricket really needs, is to have the spice and pace of a T20. Test cricket for today's youth and fast paced life is more like an Indian documentary or art film. Dull, drab and boring. While a Bollywood movie is spiced up enough with drama, passion and more than a good dose of titillation. This is precisely what test cricket needs. A spicing up, even if it be over a 5 day period.

What I have been thinking of, is to eke in facets of the 20 over game into Text cricket fold. Following is my thought process and the reasons they can attract good crowd responses.

Compulsory 20 overs of powerplay in a day's play. It would be split into ten overs apiece. The first 10 has to be the very first 10 of the morning's play, and the second 10 has to be the very first 10 of the second session of play after lunch. There would be no option for either team to choose when to exercise them.

Now for the specifics in these 10 over slots. Firstly, the batting team has to score at 4 per over for each of the overs in the 10 overs slots. Failing which, each such over will result in a 2 run deduction from the batting team's score. Unlike one dayers or T20s there will not be any fielding restrictions. This will retain the charm of Test Cricket. Similarly, every wicket the bowling team takes will automatically add 5 runs to the bowling team's score. So, if the batting team is chasing 50 runs, a wicket which falls in the 10 over slot, would mean additional 5 runs to score.

Now for the benefits of such a system. Scoring at 4 per over maybe a norm in test cricket these days. But even now, scoring 4 per over at the start of a session is a challenge. The incentive for the bowling team for each wicket it takes in those 10 overs will encourage setting up attacking fields as well. This will mean, either more runs, or more wickets. But definitely an even contest, while still keeping the spectators engrossed in the game. After all, either the crowd wants to see boundaries or wickets. The most significant impact would be on the result of such matches. 20 such overs everyday, can change the course of a match, and will prove more result oriented. If nothing, dull boring draws won't be as many, since the instances of preserving wickets would make it a nail biter, especially in the last day scenario.

I am no cricket expert to delve into cricketing rules and find the pros and cons. I am sure instances such as rain days etc. will have to be accounted for. But as a cricket fan, I feel something like this will retain the interest in test cricket. Moreover, my suggestion above for 10 over slots in the first and second session would automatically retain spectators in the stadia for almost an entire day.I did not suggest this for the last session, because more often than not, it would either be exciting (close draw,a chase etc.) or a dull or boring end (watchful towards end of play) . I am quite sure such a shake up will bring in more spectators, and force the batting and bowling teams to be more attacking and retain Test Cricket's charm.

Indian Cricket - Preserving Pace

sufferingsocrates — Tue, 1 Dec 2009 10:05:17 EST

When was the last time India had a bowler bowling at over 145 kph? Oh well, recent memory might serve up Ishant Sharma. But, rarely has he touched 145 kph. He was effective more out of his height and the bounce he extracted. So then, who else ? Zaheer Khan when he initially burst on the scene was almost always in the 140 kph mark. Munaf Patel too clicked the high 140s. Even Agarkar used to clock the mid 140s until few years back. Well, these instances were not even spanning one season, forget more than a year. All of these bowlers are still playing active international cricket for India, but none of them possess the pace to trouble batsmen, even on foreign soil.

The recent decline in Ishant Sharma's form is hardly surprising. Within a month of a famous spell in Perth against Ponting, he was offered nearly a million dollars for Kolkata Knight Riders. Irfan Pathan is a similar story, when he burst on the international scene in Australia in 2004. He has become a part of distant memory of the selectors and the spectators alike. Unlike Ishant, his batting abilities helped elongate his struggle for over 4 years. Its quite remarkable that these supposedly quick pacers invariably lose steam within a season of international cricket.

Cricket fatigue is certainly one reason. More emphasis on IPL and constant cricket all through the year can be mentally drain any cricketer. Its quite interesting that unlike India, Pakistan and even Sri Lanka keep producing bowlers who bowl consistently over 140 clicks. One major difference between India and Pakistan, Sri Lanka is how the fast bowlers are nurtured. While it is prestigious for any bowler to attend the MRF pace academy under Dennis Lillee's eyes, it does impact the natural ability of the bowler. Excessive nurturing which spoils the innate talent of the cricketer, is never a case in Pakistan or Sri Lanka.

How else can one explain how a Lasith Malinga has continued to be one of the fastest in the world ? Sri Lanka does not tamper with the natural ability of their players. Even Dilhara Fernando clocks consistently over 140 kph. Pakistan on the other hand, keeps producing a 140 kph bowler every couple of years. Mohammed Aamir is just 17 and clocks over 140 consistently. That's serious pace for a 17 year old. Remember Mohammad Sami ? He has fallen by the wayside, but he used his pace with devastating effect for his yorkers.

India somehow eventually loses the steam in its fast bowlers. Even Zaheer doesn't clock the 140 that he used to in his earlier days. Sreesanth's five wicket haul is refreshing, for the reason that he still is brisk in his speed, and hasn't lost his ability of bowling seam bolt upright. Ishant, sadly has just petered off alarmingly in the past few months. The only silver lining for him is his age. The one advantage that IPL does have on cricketers is the immense pressure of performance. Ishant would definitely have to perform or perish in next year's IPL too. If he does perform well, he would have done a world of good for his career. Else, that contract would be in danger of not being renewed!

Why is Billion Strong India a Laggard in Sports?

Sandeep Bansal — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:21:54 EST

A few days ago, I wrote a post on India’s chances to host the 2020 Olympic Games. I disgusted to see the reactions of people who laughed at this mere suggestion. They mocked the Indian Sport persons. This post is for those morons who have no idea to Sports and perhaps don’t watch any sport other than Cricket. They have no idea how much sports has changed.

I am starting this article by covering some of the sports which I follow.

Hockey

Hockey is the national game of our country and India has won the Olympic Gold and World Cup several times. However, field Hockey moved from playing on grass to synthetic surfaces in the early 90’s.

India does not enough of these which are costly. Moreover each surface has only a fixed life. No wonder, India has hardly done well at either the World Cup or in Olympics. The lowest point came when the mens team failed to even win a medal at the 2006 Asian Games. They even lost to China. Infact the Chinese went on beat Pakistan as well and finish second on Mens Category and won the gold in Womens - can you imagine that!!! Indian eves however saved some grace for the national sport by winning the bronze medal. I suppose by that logic sooner Chinese might even win the Gold in Kabbadi as well.

Chak de India, a Bollywood sport movie based on Indian Women’s Hockey clearly showed the difference. While Australia’s coach was strategizing based on video footage and printouts, India’s coach was merely encouraging his players.

India’s current Hockey coach, Brasa from Spain is realizing this lack of facilities. According to him, India badly needs a sports psychologist, GPS system, heart-rate monitoring machine, a software to analyse matches and some laptops for the coaches. Till date he has only received promises. (Source)

Tennis

Vijay Amritraj (former World no 16) is perhaps the only singles player (of good quality) that India has produced. Though he never won a Grand slam, he defeated John Mc Enroe four times. Sania’s best rank was 37th and even she has hardly defeated any top ranked players. On the doubles circuit though, Leader and Mahesh have been a dominant force.

The reasons are not hard to guess. It is a herculean task for any Indian player to rise in the ranks. Top ranked Tennis players usually prefer to compete in tournament in the Europe and the US. This is because of the higher prize money. This means that the local talent gets to see and play higher ranked players thus improving the standard of play. An Indian would have to spend a lot of money just to travel and compete. Better training and coaching facilities abroad further aggravates the gap. As a result, higher ATP points are given for winning a tournament in Europe than a one in India. It is no wonder that generally the top ranked players hail from Europe, US and Australia.

Ten years ago there were just 8 Indians among the top 2000 men and women. Today there are 50. But just one woman is among the top 100 while none in case of men. Yuki Bhamri, the number one junior player essentially trains abroad. Prakash Amritraj also has a US passport and play there.

Mahesh Bhupati in partnership with Apollo Tyres launched the Apollo 2018 mission with an aim to produce singles Champion by 2018. It aims at selecting young talent and providing them with the best training. However, this has run into financial troubles due to recession.

Badminton

This is surely an upcoming sport in India. This sport is dominated by the Chinese. In the past Prakash Padukone and Gopichand have won the prestigious All England Cup. Saina Nehwal, perhaps the best Indian singles talent, has been doing a great for the past couple of years. She reached the last eight in the Beijing Olympics.

But even this sport is not without any fiasco. Recently Saina had to miss a major international event because the Badmintion Association officials didn’t send her entries. As a result her rankings dropped from World No. 6 to World No.8.

Not long ago, she had almost missed out on participating at the Yonex Sunrise World Super Series Masters Final in Malaysia because she hadn’t received her passport in time from the regional passport authorities of Hyderabad. Only when The Times of India intervened on behalf of the teen did she receive the documents from the Chief Passport Officer in New Delhi. It took him just a few hours on Saturday, which is usually an off day. (Source)

Shooting

Shooting is perhaps the most promising non-cricket sport of all. We have producers winners like Rajwardhan Rathore, Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, etc. We have got a realistic chance of producing many more Olympic medals in Shooting.

But all is not well. For instance, at a major international event, India performed exceeding well (as compared to the previous edition of the Games). Soon after the team lands, the Chief Coach resigned because he was sick and tired of delays in ammunition.

Abhinav Bindra, India’s lone Olympic Gold medal winner comes from an affluent Sikh family and his father had setup an indoor shooting range at their home in Punjab. He was someone who got the right training. Sports have moved beyond the sport fields and into the research labs. For instance, Shooting at the highest level involves controlling your heart beat. Not many Indians can afford this.

On back of their strong performance, National Rifles Association of India(NRAI) recently got Sahara as its sponsor. Top 15 shooters got Cricket styled graded contracts. “ Abhinav Bindra’s absence in the National Rifle Association of India’s (NRAI) graded contracted system is just the most apparent lapse, it’s hardly the only one. Kynan Chenai, who won a gold at the Youth Commonwealth Games in Pune last year, has more national and international accomplishments than Shresyasi Singh. And yet the latter is placed in the higher slab — Rs 12 lakh per year — while Chenai gets Rs six lakh per year. Shresyasi also happens to be the daughter of the NRAI president Digvijay Singh. ” (Source)

Cricket

Cricket, the most popular game in India is played in just a handful of countries. There are just nine Test playing countries. Of this, we all know the standard of Bangladesh Cricket while West Indies Cricket has been struggling for quite some time now. That leaves just seven countries that play good standard of Cricket. Yet there is immense popularity of the sport in India. There two reasons for it – first Cricket is a team sport which makes it much more interesting to watch, second, unlike other sports India has in the past has won all the major Tournament (World Cup, World T20, and Champions Trophy).

Now just picture this, India’s population every year increases by an amount that is roughly equal to the current population of Australia. Yet our team (of which most of us ardent supporters) is thrashed by a team that was essentially composed of Australia’s reserves.

Reasons are not hard to guess. There are 27 teams in the Ranji Trophy (at least one for each state). These are divided into two divisions – Elite (10 teams) and Plate (17 teams). This number was even higher in 2007 when there were 12 teams in the Elite division. The number of reduced following India’s humiliating exit from the 2007 World Cup. Ideally this number should be further reduced to eight (something that is hard to do). Dhoni who played for Jharkhand( a Plate division side) made it to the Indian side shows that the systems is well equipped to promote talented players even from the Plate Division. Only difference is that, Had Dhoni played for a bigger Ranji team like Mumbai or Delhi, he might have made his debut by time he was 19. He eventually made his debut at an age of 23.

Compare that to Australia which has just six teams in its domestic structure. This means every Australian has to fight hard just to keep his place in the state side, forget the national side.

Infrastructure has improved compared to the past. But picture this; UP an Elite-division team has been very well for past few seasons. Some of the top player like Suresh Raina, Praveen Kumar and Piyush Chawla hail from here. But until very recently they did not have a full time physical trainer. You can surely imagine what would be the condition of the Plate division teams.

IPL has brought in the money, but has it really improved the quality? Earlier this year, IPL tournament just preceded the T20 World Cup, seemingly an ideal preparation for it. The defending Champions were badly beaten. One of the obvious reasons is that there are as many as eight teams in IPL. Most teams have just one or at max two good bowlers. As a batsman you would try to play out these bowlers and attack the rest.

You all can imagine what would happen to the standard of Cricket when the number of teams is increased in 2010. Domestic T20 tournament in Australia has six teams with each team allowed just two overseas players as opposed to four in IPL. And what I find really hard to understand how people can support any of these teams? I asked some of my colleagues who hail from Hyderabad, why were they support the Team. That team hardly had any players from Hyderabad or AP for that matter. Other than the foreign recruits most of the Indians in the team hail from other states.

Inefficiency and Corruption in cricket is even higher at junior levels which are by and large outside the media glare. IPL has addressed this to a certain extent but it has also made players less enthusiastic of playing for India, since they can make enough money even if they never get to play for India. Most of the support staff around the world are Australians. There was time when there were as many as five Australians as National Coaches – Greg Chappel (India), John Bucchannan (Australia), Tom Moddy (Sri Lanka), Dave Whatmore(Bangladesh) and John Dyson(West Indies). The best umpire till very recently was also an Australian. Surely there is something in the Australian setup.

Our Sports Administrators

Most of the times, it is the sportsmen who face the ire of the fans. The public is completely oblivious to what happens behind the scenes.

• National Games to be held in Jharkhand in 2007 have been delayed four times and still no dates as to when they will be held.

• Our Commonwealth Games preparation is going shamelessly slow. Though IOA has assured that they will be done on time for the Games, Indian sportsmen would not get any home advantage because lack of practice and thus would cost us lot of medals.

• A certain Monica Devi missed out on the Beijing Olympics because the Indian Olympic Association withdrew her name after she tested positive during a drugs test. When she asked for another test, it was found that she was, in fact, innocent, but by then it was too late for the Manipuri to participate at a competition that just about every sportsman dreams of. (Source)

• PT Usha, the doyen of Indian athletics was denied proper accommodation at the National Athletics Meet in Bhopal. The 'sprint queen', as she is known as, was asked to share her less than spectacular room with five others. The room did not even have hygienic conditions or running water. (Source)

Forget the money, if we can just remove these inefficiencies, a quantum jump in performances can be achieved. With improved performance money will come as is shown by the recent contract won by Vijendra Singh.

The way forward

If money alone would have been the issue, then Africa or North Korea would never win medals at the Olympics. Surely they have something right in their sporting structure and it is not marred by the corrupt and inefficient practices. Perhaps this is not just the story of Indian Sports alone, this is a story of all Indian Systems across the board, be it civil administration, police, judiciary, etc.

Sports are a way of life. Sports can also play a major in raising nationalistic feelings. In India, the North-East and in particular Manipur has a sporting culture. In the last National Games, Manipur and Assam were at second and third spot respectively in the overall medals tally, quite disproportionate to their population size. This region is capable of producing Olympic Champions. Cricket is not the only sport in this region. More encouragement and better facilities could produce better results. These regions are also insurgency prone and sports could act as a means to integrate them with the rest of the country.

BCCI is perhaps the only Sporting organization in India that has loads of money. It has recently started supporting other games. It has promised 25 crore to help the Indian Football over the next two years. However, it can surely be more innovative and invest in long term projects that can produce lasting results. For instance, it can invest in an Institute of Sports Science.

Sport science is a discipline that studies the application of scientific principles and techniques with the aim of improving sporting performance. Human movement is a related scientific discipline that studies human movement in all contexts including that of sport. The study of sports science traditionally incorporates areas of physiology, psychology, motor control and biomechanics but also includes other topics such as nutrition and diet, sports technology, anthropometry kinanthropometry and performance analysis. (Source).

Andrew Leipus, India’s physio during 2003 World Cup had a Sport Science degree from an Australian Institute. If we could have a local institute to produce physios, most Ranji sides could have a physio and thus India’s perennial problem of fielding could be solved. Fitness in other sports would also greatly improve. Likewise, Indian sports need Sports Psychologists.

If Indian sportsmen still manage to win so many accolades, it is not because of the system, it is despite the system. Let us not mock these sportsmen who bring glory to our nation.

Sachin Tendulkar - God, In All His Glory

Ankur Bhatia — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:48:21 EST

: Source: Cricinfo, Getty Images

Most people today get bored of doing the same thing in about 20 weeks. Some go on to complete 20 months before the feeling of monotony grips them. Yet Sachin Tendulkar shows no signs of stopping even after 20 years. People around the world are writing, speaking out, and congratulating Sachin for this remarkable feat but that is not the purpose of this article. This write up tries to bring out the love, respect, and admiration people have for him.

On 5th Nov, India took on Australia at Hyderabad. At that time this particular boy was taking on his MBA classes. After his classes finished he sat at the dhaba next to his college for a cup of tea. He called his brother and enquired about the score only to be disappointed as Australia had scored 350 runs. He finished his tea and went to meet a friend. As soon as he reached his destination ( food court in a mall) he got to know that Sachin is batting well and India are off to a good start. As he entered the food court, there were a lot of tables placed outside in the open and all the people sitting there had there heads turned towards one direction. As the boy moved inside he also turned his head to see what everyone was looking at and was pleasantly surprised. The match was being projected on a big screen and everyone was glued to it. The boy couldn't control his smile and did a little hop skip dance not bothering about the people looking at him. He was getting a chance to see Sachin bat on a big screen while sitting under the stars, he wasn't bothered about anything else.

It was a perfect evening, one he thought he would remember forever if India won the game. Sachin soon completed his half century and the boy stood up and bowed down to his god. Soon after, Sachin unleashed his full array of strokes and was in the nineties within no time. The boy folded his hands under the table and silently prayed for his idol's 45th hundred. Sachin got to it without any problem and looked up to thank the almighty and probably wish that his Dad was there to see it. The boy also looked up and secretly hoped for the same, as it was his dad who introduced him to the world of Cricket. As India got closer and closer to the impossible target the boy wondered if what he was watching was actually happening and even said to himself "Yeh kaisa match jita raha hai Sachin?".

The friend sitting on the other side of the table was new to this world and was amazed at the reactions and expressions the boy had while following the match. At times the friend became non existent for the boy, all he saw was Sachin and his strokes. But never before had the friend seen such love, devotion and fellowship for an outsider and so was not complaining. As the match got closer and closer, Sachin batted better and better. Every cover drive for four and every six over the bowler's head was poetry in motion. It was as if nothing would stop Sachin(or so the boy hoped). The boy let out a gasp when Raina got out, only to follow it up by saying that India still had a chance till Sachin was there. Sachin got to 174 and the boy like many others started hoping that this would be the day when Sachin scores a double hundred in ODI. Sadly it was not to be as Sachin got out on 175. As the ball went up in the air, the boy's heart went into his mouth and he hoped that the ball would not go to a fielder, but it did. Sachin walked back towards the pavilion filling the stadium with silence and the boy's eyes with tears.

: Source: Cricinfo, Getty Images

What followed was one of the biggest heartbreaks in the boy's life. India lost needing only 19 more to win after Sachin's dismissal. The boy couldn't help but think back about the chennai test against pakistan where Sachin got out and the rest were not able to make 17. He was numb and couldn't hear anything. He couldn't believe that he saw Sachin's best innings in one days, for a losing cause. He said good bye to his friend with a heavy heart and continued his journey back home on his bike. But throughout the journey he kept thinking of Sachin and how he would be feeling. He was sure that people will again not see the manner in which Sachin batted but instead see that he didn't take India to victory. Tears rolled down his eyes as he drove against the cool breeze. A strange feeling hit him as he made his way back, the feeling was like being lost without a map because he thought of cricket without Sachin.

It was an extremely sad end to the day for the boy who only hours before couldn't control his smile and thought this day would be one the best days of his life.

Today when Sachin completes 20 years, it is incidences like these that truly describe what he means to the people. This was the story of one boy watching one innings of Sachin, but there are millions more like him who would have shed tears for Sachin and who today stand and salute this genius. He has given millions of us so many reasons to smile, to cry, and most importantly, to Believe.

India v Australia: Sachin Tendulkar Delivers In Aces

Aaman Lamba — Thu, 5 Nov 2009 12:04:11 EST

It was a pitch made for batsmen. India and Australia faced off in the 5th ODI at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. It was a dry wicket and Ponting naturally chose to bat first when he won the toss. Munaf Patel and Gautam Gambhir were brought in by the Indians, while the Australians made three changes.

The Australian batting started somewhat slowly and they were 56 after 10 overs. Watson and Marsh pushed the score to 126 after 20 overs and stayed at the crease until Shane Watson was caught by Jadeja off Bhajji for 93 in the 26th over. Ricky Ponting and Marsh carried on the attack, taking Oz to 236 in 39 overs, when they lost Ponting. Marsh went on to 112, and Cameron White provided a surge of runs, scoring 57 (2x4 5x6) in his inning, being caught by Tendulkar off Praveen Kumar in the last ball of the inning. Australia ended at a handsome 350/4, setting India a stiff target.

The Indian batting started somewhat tentatively, allowing Sachin Tendulkar to cross the significant record of 17,000 runs in ODIs, the highest for any batsman. Following this achievement, Tendulkar soon enough took charge, and India were 68/1 after 10 overs, having lost Virender Sehwag in the 8th over for 38 with a run rate of 126. Gautam Gambhir didn't last long, and neither did Yuvraj Singh or Dhoni, but Sachin soldiered on, finding his groove with SK Raina, and crossed his century, and then the 150 run mark, with Raina making over 50 runs. Raina was caught by Manou off Shane Watson in the 43rd over for 59 (a run rate of 100), and India lost Harbhajan Singh in the same over. As Jadeja got his feet wet in the 44th over, India took the mandatory Powerplay in the 45th over. 46 runs were needed off 36 balls, and the Master Blaster, or God as some called him, stood at 172.

There were some close shaves, and India reached 320 after the 46th over, with 670 runs scored off this fine ground. Ravindra Jadeja took two successive boundaries to the exultation of the crowds. The 47th over brought in 12 runs, leaving 19 off 18 balls. Sachin Tendulkar fell off the next ball, leaving the field to a standing ovation, scoring 175 off 141 balls. Ravindra Jadeja seemed to come unhinged, losing his wicket to a foolish run-out, and India were left stranded at 333/7.

Earlier in the day, Bangladesh had pulled off an impressive win against Zimbabwe, scoring 222/9 in 49 overs. Thus, one might believe this could be an achievable target for the Indians. The Indian team had lost their anchor, though, and it showed on the field, with desperate attempts at runs between the wickets, almost as if the tail-enders wanted to give their icon a victory to crown his record.

Cricket is not just about winning, though, and Ashish Nehra was caught on the first ball of the 49th over. A six followed though, by Praveen Kumar, showing the game was not over till the last ball. India needed 7 runs off the last over at 341/9.

Praveen Kumar took strike after Munaf scored a single, but returned it back to Munaf, the two traded again, with 5 needed from 3 balls. Unfortunately, there was a hair's breath run out, and Praveen Kumar was run out, leaving Australia victorious.

In a TED India talk at Mysore today, Harsha Bhogle praised the Twenty20 Format for reinvigorating cricket. Today's One-day International showed why it didn't need any revitalization, particularly between two great teams.

Cricket: Five World Cups In Last Three Years

Lomi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 09:59:54 EDT

Yes will you believe it, there have been five world cups in last three years and we used to think world cup comes once in four years. There have been five world cups in three years:

1) ICC Champions Trophy 2006
2) ICC Cricket World Cup 2007
3) ICC T20 World Cup 2007
4) ICC T20 World Cup 2009
5) ICC Champions Trophy 2009

ICC has become cash rich body and still it wants to milk the cash cow. Players have become fatigued and there has been same winner (Australia) on three occasions but still ICC wants to conduct T20 every 2 years, champion’s trophy every two years and world cup every four years which gives roughly 5 trophies in one rotation. If you go back little more time, there has been one world cup every year in the period 2002-2004 and 1998-2000.

In the year 1998 when Jagmohan Dalmiya (the clever business magnate) was the ICC president, he introduced this new trophy called champions trophy. The main reason given then was that even though ICC was the main governing body of the cricket game, it did not have any money in its kitty. Thus he gave birth to this idea of champions trophy every two years which would cough up so much money to make ICC self reliant in its methods and help to develop its smaller member countries.

Now when ICC is so rich, do we need to see so many global tournaments at such a fast pace. What it does in short is to take the sheen out of such tournaments and the main source of income (spectators) loses the interest in global tournaments. With the result that India was world champions only 2 years ago but still do not get the deserved attention. The reason why the tournaments of grand scale, be it Olympics, soccer world cup, European championship etc comes once in four years is to keep the general public always glued to such tournaments which in turns gives such tournaments such a huge popularity.

I think it is high time that the Champion’s trophy is scrapped and the T20 world cup gets lesser participating countries (probably six is right). This will give the spectators some open space to think and more importantly gives the winner the necessary attention. Pakistan the present T20 champions will be defending their trophy in nine months time is something totally inconceivable. This makes us to think whether making money is the ICC’s sole objective. Shouldn’t the tournament deserve the much needed respect?

Cricket - How Many LOIs Do we Need?

Lomi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:58:32 EDT

For those of you who have seen so much of cricket and still don’t know this term LOI, LOI stands for limited over international. It’s been about roughly three years since the first Twenty20 game was played. Since the advent of Twenty20 the main question in every cricket lover's mind is whether we need two separate LOI (20-20 and 50-50) or do we need to gradually finish off 50-50?

The important point here is Twenty20 is still in nascent stages and is yet to fully establish itself but its attraction has been huge. It’s never been common in Indian domestic cricket to attract such huge crowds. Of course, the case in point here is that there are so many foreign stars in display but still people get to see almost 40% foreign players in action. If India plays, say a foreign country, on Indian soil it of course attracts huge crowds where we have 50% foreign representation. But the important thing to keep in mind with IPL is the winner is always an Indian team irrespective of who performs.

Do we see the end of 50-50 or is it going to coexist with Twenty20?

Twenty20:
Pros: Time, Speed of the game, boundaries, close games, evening out the teams, unpredictability
Cons: Better team need not always win, no comeback chances, too fast, one person can change the game, fielding becomes irrelevant, bowlers getting demoralized

50-50:
Pros: History, comeback chances, Better team always wins, Team game, Fielding important, bowlers get more respect.
Cons: Time, speed is too slow between 15-40 overs, predictability of the game easily, very few many nail biters, fewer boundaries.

As you can see from the list, the main pro for Twenty20 has been its speed. It’s not normal for a cricket game whether a Test match or 50-50 to have the spectators so closely gripped to their TV screens. Yes there have been many close 50 over games but if you look at it as percentage of games played, its very low. Moreover the 50 over game gets interesting only in the last 10 overs or in its initial stages which makes it watchable for say 20% of the time then what do you do with the rest to keep the spectators interested? They like to see action and Twenty20 brings loads of it and that keeps everyone interested. Also you get more close games in Twenty20 unlike 50-50.

50-50 has its own advantages of its very long history (including its ancient 60-60 days) but the main advantage of 50-50 over Twenty20 which any cricket lover would agree is its fairness. By fairness, I don’t mean the discipline here but rather the necessity that the team that played better cricket needs to win and that is more or less true here. You could always argue that a test cricket is more correct cricket than 50-50 but that is a different debate in itself. The main argument here is that in 50-50 if you need to win a game you need to do lots of things correct whereas in Twenty20 you need to do say one great innings. You could always play a commanding knock in odi but unless you bowl well you need not win. Also the bowlers get so much more respect that a batsman cannot literally close his eyes and swing its bat and still are called a hero. Well in one line “50-50 is more real cricket than Twenty20.”

We already have another format called Test cricket which will always be the cricket in its purest form and the question is do we need one “middle pure” and one “completely impure cricket”. The thing is 20-20 could never become a fixture in international calendar like 50-50. The reason for it being it’s not possible to always get a fair result. But club Twenty20 games would be the most popular form of the game. Looking at the initial interest, it is possible people might show more interest in these country leagues like IPL, the Champions League than say a international 50-50 games. But its interest will probably rest with club matches and may be occasional international games (World Cups). The test and 50-50 could be the fixtures in any tour calendar. What will die is probably not the 50-50 game in itself but those meaningless 50-50 tournaments we used to have in Sharjah, Malaysia, Singapore etc and also possibly the champions trophy.