Continued from this post...
The opponents came out to bat and their batsmen had a jolly good time for the next 30 overs, which was where the innings typically concluded in these matches. And when I say jolly good time, I mean it in a very polite manner.
To be honest, we were hammered around the park. Remember India batting against Bermuda in 2007 World Cup? This was pretty much the same thing. I don't remember my bowling figures nor the number of runs they scored in total, but all I know is that the former was quite bad and the latter was alarmingly bad for us.
When our turn came to bat, we were able to prove to them that our batting skills were as bad as our bowling skills. We must have been bundled out in 15-20 overs I think. And I didn't do well with the bat either - I was a lower middle-order batsman - and till date, I feel that I got a bad decision.
Just on that day, my regular bat was being used by the non-striker and I had to take some other bat, which was much lighter than the one I was used to. And for some reason, the non-striker refused to part with my bat even when my turn came - he said he was scoring well with it!
Anyways, I had gone on the back-foot to work an off-spinner to the square-leg for a quick run. But by virtue of having a lighter bat, I seemed to have completed my stroke much earlier than the ball arrived. And when it arrived, it hit me on the thigh pad of my left leg. I thought that the ball was going down the leg side and that it was also high.
But the umpire preferred to hold a different opinion and ruled me LBW. That day, I felt cheated and that is also the reason why I am able to remember so many justifications as to why I got into the position wherein I could be given out and also why I should still have not been given out.
The only good thing about the whole match was that all of us sucked. Really sucked. But then, our affluent team-mate took us inside MAC. By inside, I mean into the actual playing field. We were taken close to the pitch and were allowed to generally wander around the outfield. He then took us to the pavilion area and showed us around the gym. He took us to a restaurant there and all of us had some sandwich and juice. All on his tab - his father's tab rather.
We came back to school and all the eager followers wanted to know what happened. And all that we could narrate was our trip into the MAC grounds and not really about the thrashing that we got in the match.
And that I think was the last match I played for my school. The following year, when I was in class IX, I somehow didn't participate much in cricket or basically have no proper memory. And once class X came up, my parents realized that my cricketing skills weren't good enough to compensate for my average academic performance.
So, that's how my cricketing life came to an end at school. I never played any formal cricket until I joined work some 10 years later. Those were interesting times too and I can also never forget the real competitive cricket I played in the USA. I am saving those stories for some other rainy day.
Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cricket. Show all posts
Monday, August 23, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
The summer of '88 - Part 2
Contd. from this post...
The shock was that the entire ground was flooded with water. It was one huge pond there and not a cricket ground. The flooding was because of the rains I had mentioned in my previous post.
So, we just waited there for the umpires and opponents to show up. The umpires did show up, but the opponents did not. After waiting for some mandatory period, the umpires informed us that by virtue of being physically present at the venue and in the absence of the opponent team, we were given a "walk-over" to the next round.
We all returned happily to school, though the happiness was mainly around the travel in the luxury car and the fact that we could brag to people around us about our entry to the second round.
Our next match was scheduled in a couple of days' time and in the meanwhile, we came to know that all the other U-15 teams of our school had been eliminated in the first round itself! That came as quite a bit of shock to us, primarily because our school has always had a pretty good reputation in the cricketing circles. On top of that, the A team that was formed was indeed quite strong and hence all of us were in real shock.
Anyways, our next match-day came up and this time around the match was scheduled in the "nearby" ground of TI Cycles, Ambattur. Once again, we all set out in that great car and were once again presented with a ground in a rather bad state thanks to the rains in the interim period. Lady luck favored us again and this time too, it was only the umpires who showed up and not our opponents. We were through to the next round, once again due to "walk-over".
When the news spread to the less knowledgeable circles in the school that the U-15 D team was through to Round 3, there was a general admiration at this achievement. Those who had a more inquisitive mindset wanted to know the scores of the match and that was usually where we got busted. But, we didn't care and simply moved on.
Believe it or not, the third match was at the same venue after a couple of days and the story simply repeated itself. We were now through to the 4th round without even having to call heads-or-tails in the preceding three rounds.
At this point, we started becoming the laughing stock. We could no longer take refuge under this slew of walk-overs and wanted to play an actual match. I think we prayed at the wrong time, because the next match was against one of the best, if not the best, cricketing schools in Chennai. And adding to our woes, the rains started disappearing too.
Our 4th round match was scheduled at MAC 'B' ground. This ground is on the same compound as the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai. We were now extremely proud that we got a match in THE cricket stadium of Chennai.
We reached the venue on time. And for the first time in 4 matches, we were greeted by an opponent team. The umpires also came around and we were all set for the match to start. I was always penned down for the final playing XI and that was the case this time as well. And I used to open the bowling for my team too, though I was always the one to bowl the second over.
The toss was won by our opponents and they opted to bat first. Or in local parlance, they wanted the first gaajee.
To be continued...
The shock was that the entire ground was flooded with water. It was one huge pond there and not a cricket ground. The flooding was because of the rains I had mentioned in my previous post.
So, we just waited there for the umpires and opponents to show up. The umpires did show up, but the opponents did not. After waiting for some mandatory period, the umpires informed us that by virtue of being physically present at the venue and in the absence of the opponent team, we were given a "walk-over" to the next round.
We all returned happily to school, though the happiness was mainly around the travel in the luxury car and the fact that we could brag to people around us about our entry to the second round.
Our next match was scheduled in a couple of days' time and in the meanwhile, we came to know that all the other U-15 teams of our school had been eliminated in the first round itself! That came as quite a bit of shock to us, primarily because our school has always had a pretty good reputation in the cricketing circles. On top of that, the A team that was formed was indeed quite strong and hence all of us were in real shock.
Anyways, our next match-day came up and this time around the match was scheduled in the "nearby" ground of TI Cycles, Ambattur. Once again, we all set out in that great car and were once again presented with a ground in a rather bad state thanks to the rains in the interim period. Lady luck favored us again and this time too, it was only the umpires who showed up and not our opponents. We were through to the next round, once again due to "walk-over".
When the news spread to the less knowledgeable circles in the school that the U-15 D team was through to Round 3, there was a general admiration at this achievement. Those who had a more inquisitive mindset wanted to know the scores of the match and that was usually where we got busted. But, we didn't care and simply moved on.
Believe it or not, the third match was at the same venue after a couple of days and the story simply repeated itself. We were now through to the 4th round without even having to call heads-or-tails in the preceding three rounds.
At this point, we started becoming the laughing stock. We could no longer take refuge under this slew of walk-overs and wanted to play an actual match. I think we prayed at the wrong time, because the next match was against one of the best, if not the best, cricketing schools in Chennai. And adding to our woes, the rains started disappearing too.
Our 4th round match was scheduled at MAC 'B' ground. This ground is on the same compound as the M.A.Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk, Chennai. We were now extremely proud that we got a match in THE cricket stadium of Chennai.
We reached the venue on time. And for the first time in 4 matches, we were greeted by an opponent team. The umpires also came around and we were all set for the match to start. I was always penned down for the final playing XI and that was the case this time as well. And I used to open the bowling for my team too, though I was always the one to bowl the second over.
The toss was won by our opponents and they opted to bat first. Or in local parlance, they wanted the first gaajee.
To be continued...
Friday, August 20, 2010
The summer of '88
As should be evident to those who experience the current weather in Chennai or follow the same through other sources of information, this August has been quite vague. For that matter, most of the formal summer season (April-August is the formal summer. All other months are the informal summer.) this year has been like this.
There are the usual hot and humid days of course, but there have also been a lot of rains in this period. Typically, we only get a short spell of two of rains during these months and even that is most often due to some cyclonic storm forming in the Bay of Bengal.
But this year, the weather in Chennai seems to be moving from Tropical to Equatorial. Every hot day or a couple of hot days, is invariably followed by a heavy spell of rain. And this spell has sometimes lasted for 2-3 days.
While the doomsday believers may attribute this to the end of the world and the more informed ones may blame Global Warming for this, the only thoughts I have are of a similar weather pattern that Chennai experienced in the year 1988.
Want to know why I remember that year more than any other? Long story.....
In the years 1987-1988, I was an active cricketer in my school. I was a constant part of the Under-12 and Under-13 cricket teams. Not that I was someone extraordinary on the field, but was more like the Manoj Prabhakar or Ravindra Jadeja type of player – players who basically seem to be able to do many things, but in reality are not really good at anything!
In 1988, I was in Class XIII and therefore, was eligible to play for the Under-15 team. While many had to undergo selections, those of us in the U-12 and U-13 teams were automatically moved into the U-15 teams. I say U-15 teams because there were usually 2-3 teams every year.
When the final list for the U-15 teams of that year were announced (pasted on the notice board to be precise), I saw that there were 4 teams – A, B, C and D. The teams seemed to have been formed based on the principle that the A team was the best and the D team was the worst. And guess which team I was on?
If you said D because you think that's where I should belong based on the details I shared earlier about my skills, well you are right. Except that you are wrong. My name was not in the D team list. So, do you think there is an anti-climax here and thought I was on the A team? Wrong again, because I was not. So, do you think I was the average dude and hence got placed in either the B or the C teams?
Ha ha ha... Wrong again. To cut another potentially long paragraph short, my name was not listed at all. All my fellow U-12 and U-13 players were in the A or B teams, while my name was not listed anywhere. I hurriedly checked with the PT master who directed me to our trusted marker, Ravi. Ravi realized the mistake and was wondering where to slot me.
His thinking process was along these lines:
Team A is quite strong and this guy probably didn't belong there. Team B and C seem to be okay too, so let me not disturb that. Team D seems to be doomed anyway and maybe I will simply add his name to the list.
And so he did.
Quite soon, the TNCA Under-15 tournament started and we got our first match scheduled at the YMCA grounds Nandanam. I don't remember the date of the match, but I do remember traveling in the Standard 2000 car of one of the guys in my team, to the venue. This guy was my classmate and a really rich guy. Most of us in school came from normal middle-class backgrounds and traveling by a car was a luxury suited for the rich kids. And we sure as hell were in awe whenever this guy used to come to school in a Standard 2000 car, which is an iconic car that was far ahead of its time in India.
Anyways, we all reached the venue and were in for some shock.
To be continued.....
There are the usual hot and humid days of course, but there have also been a lot of rains in this period. Typically, we only get a short spell of two of rains during these months and even that is most often due to some cyclonic storm forming in the Bay of Bengal.
But this year, the weather in Chennai seems to be moving from Tropical to Equatorial. Every hot day or a couple of hot days, is invariably followed by a heavy spell of rain. And this spell has sometimes lasted for 2-3 days.
While the doomsday believers may attribute this to the end of the world and the more informed ones may blame Global Warming for this, the only thoughts I have are of a similar weather pattern that Chennai experienced in the year 1988.
Want to know why I remember that year more than any other? Long story.....
In the years 1987-1988, I was an active cricketer in my school. I was a constant part of the Under-12 and Under-13 cricket teams. Not that I was someone extraordinary on the field, but was more like the Manoj Prabhakar or Ravindra Jadeja type of player – players who basically seem to be able to do many things, but in reality are not really good at anything!
In 1988, I was in Class XIII and therefore, was eligible to play for the Under-15 team. While many had to undergo selections, those of us in the U-12 and U-13 teams were automatically moved into the U-15 teams. I say U-15 teams because there were usually 2-3 teams every year.
When the final list for the U-15 teams of that year were announced (pasted on the notice board to be precise), I saw that there were 4 teams – A, B, C and D. The teams seemed to have been formed based on the principle that the A team was the best and the D team was the worst. And guess which team I was on?
If you said D because you think that's where I should belong based on the details I shared earlier about my skills, well you are right. Except that you are wrong. My name was not in the D team list. So, do you think there is an anti-climax here and thought I was on the A team? Wrong again, because I was not. So, do you think I was the average dude and hence got placed in either the B or the C teams?
Ha ha ha... Wrong again. To cut another potentially long paragraph short, my name was not listed at all. All my fellow U-12 and U-13 players were in the A or B teams, while my name was not listed anywhere. I hurriedly checked with the PT master who directed me to our trusted marker, Ravi. Ravi realized the mistake and was wondering where to slot me.
His thinking process was along these lines:
Team A is quite strong and this guy probably didn't belong there. Team B and C seem to be okay too, so let me not disturb that. Team D seems to be doomed anyway and maybe I will simply add his name to the list.
And so he did.
Quite soon, the TNCA Under-15 tournament started and we got our first match scheduled at the YMCA grounds Nandanam. I don't remember the date of the match, but I do remember traveling in the Standard 2000 car of one of the guys in my team, to the venue. This guy was my classmate and a really rich guy. Most of us in school came from normal middle-class backgrounds and traveling by a car was a luxury suited for the rich kids. And we sure as hell were in awe whenever this guy used to come to school in a Standard 2000 car, which is an iconic car that was far ahead of its time in India.
Anyways, we all reached the venue and were in for some shock.
To be continued.....
Sunday, November 22, 2009
An outing with my teams
With the economic crisis supposedly changing directions, my company has resumed the provisioning of our quarterly project party budgets. I decided to utilise the same before they change their mind and so, yesterday, my teams had our project party.
This was in fact the first party for quite a few of my team members and also the first one for all us in this account.
We pooled in sponsors for the event in the form of funding from our team members at onsite, one person who was leaving and also treats from select few who had their birthdays in the recent past.
We first went Karting at a center along the ECR. After a really good time on the track (I drove twice, with the second round witnessing me bump out two karts who didn't allow me to pass), we went to a resort near the Mahabalipuram Shore Temple.
We had a good lunch, but must admit that we've had better ones. The dessert in the form of Gulab Jamun and Strawberry Ice Cream, was however, quite good. I must have had 3 helpings I think.
After lunch, we spent the afternoon playing the usual silly party games and when the patience of the crowd was reaching testing levels, we headed outdoors. The guys started playing cricket as usual and also as usual, the girls moved a little far away to play Antakshari! If this is not a fundamental genetic difference, I don't know what else is.
We rounded off the day with bajjis and tea and left the venue by 6 PM.
The effect of spending 10 minutes on the ridiculous contraption called the Kart and the one hour I spent playing cricket in the hot sun, has left me a little exhausted. Also, feeling a little pain in some regions of the body that I cant see! Hopefully, a good sleep should help me "recover"!
This was in fact the first party for quite a few of my team members and also the first one for all us in this account.
We pooled in sponsors for the event in the form of funding from our team members at onsite, one person who was leaving and also treats from select few who had their birthdays in the recent past.
We first went Karting at a center along the ECR. After a really good time on the track (I drove twice, with the second round witnessing me bump out two karts who didn't allow me to pass), we went to a resort near the Mahabalipuram Shore Temple.
We had a good lunch, but must admit that we've had better ones. The dessert in the form of Gulab Jamun and Strawberry Ice Cream, was however, quite good. I must have had 3 helpings I think.
After lunch, we spent the afternoon playing the usual silly party games and when the patience of the crowd was reaching testing levels, we headed outdoors. The guys started playing cricket as usual and also as usual, the girls moved a little far away to play Antakshari! If this is not a fundamental genetic difference, I don't know what else is.
We rounded off the day with bajjis and tea and left the venue by 6 PM.
The effect of spending 10 minutes on the ridiculous contraption called the Kart and the one hour I spent playing cricket in the hot sun, has left me a little exhausted. Also, feeling a little pain in some regions of the body that I cant see! Hopefully, a good sleep should help me "recover"!
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Talk of things going awry
The latest Sprite series of ads are good and I am sure, they also received good response. Then the team owned by SRK - Knight Riders - got Sprite as one of their sponsors. So, the regular Sprite series of ad was extrapolated to include the new partners.
In the new ad, the fat guy says to the boss, that he has brought in all the goonda types, just so that he can scare the opposition.
Hearing this, the team owner asks him as to what those other guys are doing and points him to his cricket team.
They close off the ad with the fat guy being admonished.
But I think, the owner missed a trick completely and must have listened to the fat dude. In any case, the result would not have been any worse!
See the ad here.
And btw, I am very happy that SRK is getting $crewed in IPL 2009.
In the new ad, the fat guy says to the boss, that he has brought in all the goonda types, just so that he can scare the opposition.
Hearing this, the team owner asks him as to what those other guys are doing and points him to his cricket team.
They close off the ad with the fat guy being admonished.
But I think, the owner missed a trick completely and must have listened to the fat dude. In any case, the result would not have been any worse!
See the ad here.
And btw, I am very happy that SRK is getting $crewed in IPL 2009.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
What to write?
There are so many things going on around me that I am actually having a writer’s block as to what I should write in my blog. Let’s look at each of them:
The global economic meltdown:
I am not an expert to go into the reasons behind this collapse. Nor am I well versed to summarise the reasons provided by the experts over the past so many months. And I definitely cannot say with any kind of conviction that the worst has come or is yet to come. So you are better off asking for acting tips from Vijayakanth than checking up my blog to learn about the current economic situation.
The mosquito menace at home:
For the past few weeks, there is a steep increase in the influx of mosquitoes at home. It is a well known fact that the popular repellants like All Out and Good Knight have lost their potency in being effective mosquito killers. So the only options left in front of us are to swat them with our hands or use the hand-held bug zapper. The latter contraption, popularly known as the “கொசு bat” costs around Rs.150 and is extremely efficient in providing மோக்ஷம் to the insect. I have been using it quite extensively over the weekend and at one time, noticed fumes coming from the bat after a particularly large mosquito hit the circuit.
Shifting of IPL out of India:
Nothing in the recent past pleases me more than this news that is breaking out this evening. When the wheels of the 2nd version of this tournament started getting into motion, I distinctly remember Lalit Modi saying that the Government cannot push the country to a standstill due to the General Elections. I felt it was a highly irresponsible statement and was clearly made by someone whose only purpose in life seemed to be chasing the moolaah. And to all the great citizens of this country who are saying that the terrorists have won because of the Government’s decision to not provide security, I have only one request – please remove your head out of the sand lest you start physically resembling the ostrich. I think when the drama surrounding this decision starts unfolding in the days to come, I will surely have something more to write here.
General Elections:
The General Elections are round the corner. There is a lot of political realignment going on, so it is too early for me to give my predictions. But I can definitely tell you what I want. I want the BJP to return to power. And for BJP to win (this may elicit a “Duh!” response from you) Congress and its allies need to lose. And my vote would very much be based on that policy.
Engae Brahmannan:
I have finally bitten the Tamizh Soap Opera (தொலைக்காட்சி நெடும் தொடர் ) bug. As long as I return home at a favorable hour, I make it a point to watch this serial. And it is not for the story, but more for the interesting interlude that Cho provides in the middle of each episode. I am a big fan of his and of late have started getting a strong desire to read the books he has published. Coming back to the serial, everyone says that the chap who comes as Ashok is doing a good job. But I beg to differ. I just don’t like his voice and modulation. And many times, I find his body language contradicting his mental make-up.
Freecell:
My latest addiction is to play this very traditional game that comes with Windows. I have now played around 275+ games and my winning percentage is 77%. Am trying to get it to the 80%+ mark, but it is getting very difficult!
Twitter:
I signed up to this service today. Don’t know how effective it is going to be considering that sending updates by SMS is going to cost at least 10 bucks every time, since it involves a special number. Their site doesn’t seem to be WAP enabled, so I may not find twitter that useful. Anyway, I will let time decide that.
Temple visits:
Believe it or not, I actually had 2 temple visits in a 15-day span this month. The first one was to the ஆறுபடையப்பன் Temple in Besant Nagar on the 8th and yesterday evening, I was goaded to visit the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthana Temple on Venkatnarayana Road. I really cannot remember me visiting temples at this frequency. I am probably getting old!
So as you can see, these are pretty much the type of things that I normally write a lot about. But due to some mental block accompanied by a return of the wrist pain, I am holding myself back a little. Hopefully, I should be able to write a proper post soon and as mentioned earlier, the IPL drama will give me enough ammunition to do so.
The global economic meltdown:
I am not an expert to go into the reasons behind this collapse. Nor am I well versed to summarise the reasons provided by the experts over the past so many months. And I definitely cannot say with any kind of conviction that the worst has come or is yet to come. So you are better off asking for acting tips from Vijayakanth than checking up my blog to learn about the current economic situation.
The mosquito menace at home:
For the past few weeks, there is a steep increase in the influx of mosquitoes at home. It is a well known fact that the popular repellants like All Out and Good Knight have lost their potency in being effective mosquito killers. So the only options left in front of us are to swat them with our hands or use the hand-held bug zapper. The latter contraption, popularly known as the “கொசு bat” costs around Rs.150 and is extremely efficient in providing மோக்ஷம் to the insect. I have been using it quite extensively over the weekend and at one time, noticed fumes coming from the bat after a particularly large mosquito hit the circuit.
Shifting of IPL out of India:
Nothing in the recent past pleases me more than this news that is breaking out this evening. When the wheels of the 2nd version of this tournament started getting into motion, I distinctly remember Lalit Modi saying that the Government cannot push the country to a standstill due to the General Elections. I felt it was a highly irresponsible statement and was clearly made by someone whose only purpose in life seemed to be chasing the moolaah. And to all the great citizens of this country who are saying that the terrorists have won because of the Government’s decision to not provide security, I have only one request – please remove your head out of the sand lest you start physically resembling the ostrich. I think when the drama surrounding this decision starts unfolding in the days to come, I will surely have something more to write here.
General Elections:
The General Elections are round the corner. There is a lot of political realignment going on, so it is too early for me to give my predictions. But I can definitely tell you what I want. I want the BJP to return to power. And for BJP to win (this may elicit a “Duh!” response from you) Congress and its allies need to lose. And my vote would very much be based on that policy.
Engae Brahmannan:
I have finally bitten the Tamizh Soap Opera (தொலைக்காட்சி நெடும் தொடர் ) bug. As long as I return home at a favorable hour, I make it a point to watch this serial. And it is not for the story, but more for the interesting interlude that Cho provides in the middle of each episode. I am a big fan of his and of late have started getting a strong desire to read the books he has published. Coming back to the serial, everyone says that the chap who comes as Ashok is doing a good job. But I beg to differ. I just don’t like his voice and modulation. And many times, I find his body language contradicting his mental make-up.
Freecell:
My latest addiction is to play this very traditional game that comes with Windows. I have now played around 275+ games and my winning percentage is 77%. Am trying to get it to the 80%+ mark, but it is getting very difficult!
Twitter:
I signed up to this service today. Don’t know how effective it is going to be considering that sending updates by SMS is going to cost at least 10 bucks every time, since it involves a special number. Their site doesn’t seem to be WAP enabled, so I may not find twitter that useful. Anyway, I will let time decide that.
Temple visits:
Believe it or not, I actually had 2 temple visits in a 15-day span this month. The first one was to the ஆறுபடையப்பன் Temple in Besant Nagar on the 8th and yesterday evening, I was goaded to visit the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthana Temple on Venkatnarayana Road. I really cannot remember me visiting temples at this frequency. I am probably getting old!
So as you can see, these are pretty much the type of things that I normally write a lot about. But due to some mental block accompanied by a return of the wrist pain, I am holding myself back a little. Hopefully, I should be able to write a proper post soon and as mentioned earlier, the IPL drama will give me enough ammunition to do so.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Have I grown taller?
Two things happened last week which makes me think whether I have increased in height!
1. I played an intra-unit tennis ball cricket match last Wednesday (it was the Semi Finals and unfortunately, our team lost). I was fielding at short cover and one of the batsmen actually spooned the ball in the direction of point. While the ball didn't travel much of a distance, it went higher and gave me a chance to catch it. I ran as fast as I could and at one point felt that the ball was winning the race. I just stretched out my left hand in despair hoping to make it look like I was making a good attempt and lo! The ball landed in my hand.
2. Last Friday, I was alighting from an MTC bus and inadvertently bumped my head against the entrance. This has never happened to me ever before.
Taking these two things into account, I think I have probably grown a little in the Y-axis as well (in addition to the growth along the X and Z axis).
1. I played an intra-unit tennis ball cricket match last Wednesday (it was the Semi Finals and unfortunately, our team lost). I was fielding at short cover and one of the batsmen actually spooned the ball in the direction of point. While the ball didn't travel much of a distance, it went higher and gave me a chance to catch it. I ran as fast as I could and at one point felt that the ball was winning the race. I just stretched out my left hand in despair hoping to make it look like I was making a good attempt and lo! The ball landed in my hand.
2. Last Friday, I was alighting from an MTC bus and inadvertently bumped my head against the entrance. This has never happened to me ever before.
Taking these two things into account, I think I have probably grown a little in the Y-axis as well (in addition to the growth along the X and Z axis).
Saturday, March 29, 2008
What is in a (team) name?
I am not going to support the Chennai Super Kings team in the IPL. There are two reasons:
1. I just don't like the name at all.
2. Actor Vijay is going to be like the brand ambassador for the team.
The second reason is quite straight-forward and I see no reason why that beggar (or loafer or road-side romeo or porikki or idly moonji or any other adjective you want to give him) should be officially associated with this cricket team.
Even if I can somehow look beyond this janthu, I still cant accept the name they have given to the Chennai team. They irony was that the owners of the franchise actually ran an open contest to choose a name. And the best that they could come up with was "Super Kings"?
It is just an amalgamation of two words just because it is grammatically possible to do so. What the hell does it convey? How do you associate Chennai with Kings. This is probably one of the few cities in this country which cannot be immediately linked to a dynasty or even a Kingdom. So why bring in "Kings" to Chennai? If the idea is that the Chennai team would rule the IPL, then they could have just left it as Chennai Kings. But like Raghu mentioned so long ago in this article, the Super word had to be thrown in the mix.
Probably, the franchise owners were also thinking about the other Chennai cricket team (in ICL) that calls itself the Chennai Super Stars. At least, Super Stars means something. Its a word used a lot in the Movie world and Chennai is definitely the capital for movies in South India. But Super Kings? I just don't see it.
Anyways, for that competition that the franchise owners conducted, I made quite a few entries and I have listed a few that I remember. Of the lot, I thought the first one had a good chance of making it! The general rule I followed was:
1. Should be able to relate to something in Chennai
2. Should stand for something powerful
1. Chennai Cyclones
2. Chennai Heat (Duh!)
3. Chennai Champions
4. Chennai Gillies (derived from the Chennai slang Gilli)
5. Chennai Heroes
I came up with around 20 names but am not able to remember any of the others. But one thing I really felt was that I couldn't relate anything to Chennai.
P.S: I am not going to support this team for the reasons indicated above. Also, I am not exactly a fan of Dhoni or Hayden either. Needless to add, I cannot support the Kolkatta team due to the SRK factor, though it has some of the best bowling talent in the game. Will not support a team that has Sachin, so Mumbai is also ruled out. I will probably end up rooting for Bangalore or Hyderabad.
1. I just don't like the name at all.
2. Actor Vijay is going to be like the brand ambassador for the team.
The second reason is quite straight-forward and I see no reason why that beggar (or loafer or road-side romeo or porikki or idly moonji or any other adjective you want to give him) should be officially associated with this cricket team.
Even if I can somehow look beyond this janthu, I still cant accept the name they have given to the Chennai team. They irony was that the owners of the franchise actually ran an open contest to choose a name. And the best that they could come up with was "Super Kings"?
It is just an amalgamation of two words just because it is grammatically possible to do so. What the hell does it convey? How do you associate Chennai with Kings. This is probably one of the few cities in this country which cannot be immediately linked to a dynasty or even a Kingdom. So why bring in "Kings" to Chennai? If the idea is that the Chennai team would rule the IPL, then they could have just left it as Chennai Kings. But like Raghu mentioned so long ago in this article, the Super word had to be thrown in the mix.
Probably, the franchise owners were also thinking about the other Chennai cricket team (in ICL) that calls itself the Chennai Super Stars. At least, Super Stars means something. Its a word used a lot in the Movie world and Chennai is definitely the capital for movies in South India. But Super Kings? I just don't see it.
Anyways, for that competition that the franchise owners conducted, I made quite a few entries and I have listed a few that I remember. Of the lot, I thought the first one had a good chance of making it! The general rule I followed was:
1. Should be able to relate to something in Chennai
2. Should stand for something powerful
1. Chennai Cyclones
2. Chennai Heat (Duh!)
3. Chennai Champions
4. Chennai Gillies (derived from the Chennai slang Gilli)
5. Chennai Heroes
I came up with around 20 names but am not able to remember any of the others. But one thing I really felt was that I couldn't relate anything to Chennai.
P.S: I am not going to support this team for the reasons indicated above. Also, I am not exactly a fan of Dhoni or Hayden either. Needless to add, I cannot support the Kolkatta team due to the SRK factor, though it has some of the best bowling talent in the game. Will not support a team that has Sachin, so Mumbai is also ruled out. I will probably end up rooting for Bangalore or Hyderabad.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Cricket World Cup 2007
Whatever grudge you may have about the recent Cricket World Cup, at the end of the day, the team I was rooting for, WON it.
Whatever accusations the nay-sayers may have against them, they simply go out there and do the job that's required - winning.
They have talent, flair and most importantly, the b***s to fight adversity. You wrote them off, just because they had a few bad games leading into the WC. You hated them because they are MILES AND MILES AHEAD of their nearest rivals. Just because a great entity was having a minor hiccup, you started writing eulogies. You worked up idiotic sentiments like, lets at least support an Asian team.
Why the bloody hell don't you admire them and their strategies. Look at the way the got into Kallis' head with statements in the press about his inability to force the pace. Such an experienced person like him actually fell into it, tried playing unlike his self and lost his wicket. The semi-final is a telling statement of strategy getting the South Africans out even before a ball was bowled.
Then there is this other idiotic argument that they were never tested. Pure BS. Every game at this level is a bloody test. If "giants" like India, Pak and even S.Africa can fall to the likes of Ireland and B'desh, it just means that you have to play good cricket on all days and against any opposition. Aussies have proven that over the last 3 world cups.
Just see the results, they have not lost a single match in the last 2 WC. What more proof do you need that they are the best? They have the capability to outshine their opponents in any tournament or series. And on the big stage, they are able to elevate their skills to another level.
Another interesting piece of stat: Leading wicket taker, Leading scorer and Leading wicket-keeper in the tournament are all Aussies. The youngest amongst them is like 36 and the oldest around 38. And the player of the tournament - the oldest guy in their team. That goes to show how talented and motivated those guys are. They are there to really play cricket and unlike certain players in this country, they know what playing for the team really means.
They also know when their time is up. Not like the players in this country, who play only for the most idiotic of individual records like "The top run scorer on a single Tuesday" or "Maximum wickets taken by a bowler who takes 10 steps before delivering a ball".
Whatever accusations the nay-sayers may have against them, they simply go out there and do the job that's required - winning.
They have talent, flair and most importantly, the b***s to fight adversity. You wrote them off, just because they had a few bad games leading into the WC. You hated them because they are MILES AND MILES AHEAD of their nearest rivals. Just because a great entity was having a minor hiccup, you started writing eulogies. You worked up idiotic sentiments like, lets at least support an Asian team.
Why the bloody hell don't you admire them and their strategies. Look at the way the got into Kallis' head with statements in the press about his inability to force the pace. Such an experienced person like him actually fell into it, tried playing unlike his self and lost his wicket. The semi-final is a telling statement of strategy getting the South Africans out even before a ball was bowled.
Then there is this other idiotic argument that they were never tested. Pure BS. Every game at this level is a bloody test. If "giants" like India, Pak and even S.Africa can fall to the likes of Ireland and B'desh, it just means that you have to play good cricket on all days and against any opposition. Aussies have proven that over the last 3 world cups.
Just see the results, they have not lost a single match in the last 2 WC. What more proof do you need that they are the best? They have the capability to outshine their opponents in any tournament or series. And on the big stage, they are able to elevate their skills to another level.
Another interesting piece of stat: Leading wicket taker, Leading scorer and Leading wicket-keeper in the tournament are all Aussies. The youngest amongst them is like 36 and the oldest around 38. And the player of the tournament - the oldest guy in their team. That goes to show how talented and motivated those guys are. They are there to really play cricket and unlike certain players in this country, they know what playing for the team really means.
They also know when their time is up. Not like the players in this country, who play only for the most idiotic of individual records like "The top run scorer on a single Tuesday" or "Maximum wickets taken by a bowler who takes 10 steps before delivering a ball".
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Got my first cup yesterday - excluding the ones I got in college exams of course
Remember the cricket tournament I mentioned earlier? Well, we had the Finals yesterday.
Basically, my team won the championship. At the end of the match, we had our unit's senior representatives at Chennai, hand over all the cups to us. For the first time in my life, I got a cup in a sporting event.
You see, in the international preparatory school that I studied in, I used to win a lot of prizes in the annual sports day. Never a first prize. Always used to be second or third. Moreover, the events were the ones that the International Olympic Council is planning to include as showcase events in 2012 - Lime and Spoon race, Sack race, Three leg race, Sweet and Flour race, etc. One must also remember that, like the kid in the Gulab Jamun ad says, the number of participants in these events was quite low. That school had some budgetary constraints and so I don't remember cups being distributed. Even if they had, it must have been restricted to the first prize winner only. My consolation was the certificates in different colors that used to be issued.
After I moved to a bigger and better school in my 6th standard, I found out very clearly that my participation in the School events would be just that - participation. Of course, I broadened my scope to include jeering of other "houses" by shouting "Nanga Parbhat - zing sharbat" or "Neelkant, nool kand, vaayila poatta kal kand" and "Kanchenjunga , eli-mi-changa". In High school, the chant of "Kailash, cooling glass" was introduced in lieu of one of the houses, since I was sent to some other house. (For the benefit of those of you who didn't study in Vidya Mandir, our houses were named after the famous mountain peaks in the Himalayas viz Neelkant, Kailash, Nangaparbhat and Kanchenjunga).
There was also an interesting period in that school, when I played for the Under 15 team in 1988/89. I was in the "D" team of my school. In the TNCA league that year, the other 3 teams in my school were all eliminated in the first round itself. But my team reached the pre-quarter-finals. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with our cricketing ability. What happened was, that year, we had heavy unseasonal rains in the August month. And invariably, the day of our match was either raining or the previous day would have experienced a major downpour. But we would always go to the ground no matter what. And the opponent team didn't show up and the umpires would award the match to us. This happened in round # 1 to 4.
Then we had the pre-quarter where it was a showdown with one of the top cricket schools - Santhome. The match was in Chepauk "B" and we were trashed royally. Remember the India-Bermuda match? It was practically the same story here. The only good thing that came out of it was that, one guy in my team was Richie Rich and his dad was a member of TNCA. So we were all taken inside the Chepauk stadium. We walked close to the pitch also and went to the dressing room, gym and ate (duh!) at the club's restaurant there. Quite an exhilarating experience.
In my college, I never indulged in anything that resembled physical activity. So the cups I got were only in the semester exams. Not too many there, too. Just one each in the 5th and 6th. :)
So, I was basically very thrilled to win this match which ensured that I would be in the winner's list.....
Basically, my team won the championship. At the end of the match, we had our unit's senior representatives at Chennai, hand over all the cups to us. For the first time in my life, I got a cup in a sporting event.
You see, in the international preparatory school that I studied in, I used to win a lot of prizes in the annual sports day. Never a first prize. Always used to be second or third. Moreover, the events were the ones that the International Olympic Council is planning to include as showcase events in 2012 - Lime and Spoon race, Sack race, Three leg race, Sweet and Flour race, etc. One must also remember that, like the kid in the Gulab Jamun ad says, the number of participants in these events was quite low. That school had some budgetary constraints and so I don't remember cups being distributed. Even if they had, it must have been restricted to the first prize winner only. My consolation was the certificates in different colors that used to be issued.
After I moved to a bigger and better school in my 6th standard, I found out very clearly that my participation in the School events would be just that - participation. Of course, I broadened my scope to include jeering of other "houses" by shouting "Nanga Parbhat - zing sharbat" or "Neelkant, nool kand, vaayila poatta kal kand" and "Kanchenjunga , eli-mi-changa". In High school, the chant of "Kailash, cooling glass" was introduced in lieu of one of the houses, since I was sent to some other house. (For the benefit of those of you who didn't study in Vidya Mandir, our houses were named after the famous mountain peaks in the Himalayas viz Neelkant, Kailash, Nangaparbhat and Kanchenjunga).
There was also an interesting period in that school, when I played for the Under 15 team in 1988/89. I was in the "D" team of my school. In the TNCA league that year, the other 3 teams in my school were all eliminated in the first round itself. But my team reached the pre-quarter-finals. Unfortunately, it had nothing to do with our cricketing ability. What happened was, that year, we had heavy unseasonal rains in the August month. And invariably, the day of our match was either raining or the previous day would have experienced a major downpour. But we would always go to the ground no matter what. And the opponent team didn't show up and the umpires would award the match to us. This happened in round # 1 to 4.
Then we had the pre-quarter where it was a showdown with one of the top cricket schools - Santhome. The match was in Chepauk "B" and we were trashed royally. Remember the India-Bermuda match? It was practically the same story here. The only good thing that came out of it was that, one guy in my team was Richie Rich and his dad was a member of TNCA. So we were all taken inside the Chepauk stadium. We walked close to the pitch also and went to the dressing room, gym and ate (duh!) at the club's restaurant there. Quite an exhilarating experience.
In my college, I never indulged in anything that resembled physical activity. So the cups I got were only in the semester exams. Not too many there, too. Just one each in the 5th and 6th. :)
So, I was basically very thrilled to win this match which ensured that I would be in the winner's list.....
Sunday, April 15, 2007
Cricket Tournament at work
As the head of the committee managing the Employee Engagement activities of my department in Chennai, I am organising a cricket tournament. We were able to form 3 teams and Friday the 13th (duh!) was the last match in the league phase.
There was a lot hanging in balance in that match. I was also playing for one of the teams. And if my team had lost that day, we were out of the tournament. But if we won, we had to bring out our calculators to find out who amongst the 3 teams would have qualified for the finals. Based on Net Run Rate of course.
The match started and we bowled first. Within the first 4 overs, our opponents had lost all their key wickets. In fact, our captain bowled a great over where he scalped 3 wickets in 4 or 5 balls.
Anyways, after the end of the allotted 8 overs, they had scored 30 runs. We had to reach the target of 31 as early as possible to qualify on basis of NRR. We managed to do that in 5.5 overs with your truly contributing a defiant 7. May not sound like a big number, but when I went in at the fall of the 3rd wicket, we had to 12 runs left for victory.
Fate did play an ugly hand by having my captain call me for a quick single to finish off the match. In my vanity to be remembered for scoring the winning runs, I too took off, but was well short of the crease.
Anyways, no regrets. My team won and I had some contribution too. :D
The finals are on the 20th. We are trying to get hold of T-Shirts for the finalists and make it look like more professional!!!
There was a lot hanging in balance in that match. I was also playing for one of the teams. And if my team had lost that day, we were out of the tournament. But if we won, we had to bring out our calculators to find out who amongst the 3 teams would have qualified for the finals. Based on Net Run Rate of course.
The match started and we bowled first. Within the first 4 overs, our opponents had lost all their key wickets. In fact, our captain bowled a great over where he scalped 3 wickets in 4 or 5 balls.
Anyways, after the end of the allotted 8 overs, they had scored 30 runs. We had to reach the target of 31 as early as possible to qualify on basis of NRR. We managed to do that in 5.5 overs with your truly contributing a defiant 7. May not sound like a big number, but when I went in at the fall of the 3rd wicket, we had to 12 runs left for victory.
Fate did play an ugly hand by having my captain call me for a quick single to finish off the match. In my vanity to be remembered for scoring the winning runs, I too took off, but was well short of the crease.
Anyways, no regrets. My team won and I had some contribution too. :D
The finals are on the 20th. We are trying to get hold of T-Shirts for the finalists and make it look like more professional!!!
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Its time to say goodbye to Indian Cricket
At the outset, let me make it clear that I was an avid cricket fan till around the year 2000. That's the year I went to USA and got cut off from live cricket telecasts. That was also the year when my idol Kapil Dev was accused of match fixing.
To me that was the last straw. The whole match fixing allegations were making a sceptic out of me and when Kapil was accused, I basically lost it. I totally got away from cricket. Hated the players, the administrators and all the media folks who were trying to milk maximum coverage out of this scandal.
I practically gave up on cricket. The guys around me used to follow games on the internet. At odd hours too. Some of them were even planning to install dish antenna and subscribe to Indian channels. But I never did.
Even after I returned to India, my interest never reached the levels of say, 1999. I was probably indifferent to the whole thing. But being in the country, meant that one cant really escape the sport. It was telecast on most channels. Newspapers dedicated lots of newsprint to the most mundane of series. Ads were created with every Indian cricketer for many many products.
My interest did revive, but not I still didn't try to work my schedules around the matches. I caught up with the games only if I was done with other things in a day.
But this World Cup, somehow made me want to follow the games. But the debacle in the opening game itself - that was a shock reminder for me. It proved very clearly that this Indian team is a tiger on paper and not even a mouse in reality.
One thing though, that's always been the case with all Indian teams. So many of them have some of the best individual records. But none of these have actually translated into victories for the team.
We Indians are big suckers for romantic touches in sport. So we devote lot of time and space to all these batsmen who are best when:
1. The ball reaches them at an ideal speed of 120 Kph.
2. The ball does not move in any direction after pitching.
3. The ball does not raise above the knee level.
Being a great business house, the BCCI has ensured that we somehow get the worst possible teams to visit us. The Tendulkars and Gangulys maul these poor bowlers and the next day we hail them as the "World's greatest batsman" or "The Prince of Kolkatta". Probably, the only player worth his sobriquet is Dravid "The Wall".
All these guys have records worth killing for. But look at the BCCI's trophy cupboard. Its absolutely barren. Not the case with its coffers, but unfortunately that's where the BCCI's interests lie.
But its not that the BCCI is the only culprit. There are many others. I am not going to enter into any discussion about Dravid's captaincy or Chappell's coaching. Those are too technical for me and ultimately, I only feel its a matter of perception.
For me, the entire blame lies on the senior players in the team. Primarily Sachin. We have been deifying him for many many years now. Like I mentioned in an earlier posting, he is a spent force. Was a great player, no doubt, but less than a mere mortal these days.
Even in his heydays, I think you can easily count the number of critical matches where he has performed well. I am talking about matches like semi-finals or finals or elimination games. Invariably he IS A FAILURE. I don't care about how many gazillion runs you scored in your life. My father tells me that I once scored 705 runs against him, when I was only 7 years old, so am I better than him. If you cant perform when it matters, just shut the bleep up and pack your bags.
Next Sourav. Everyone went ballistic when he was dropped. The guy couldn't even score against Kenya for crying out loud. Once again, he was an exciting prospect, but not so in the last couple of years of his captaincy. He crossed the point of being aggressive and practically became arrogant. Its a fine line and he crossed it quite quickly.
He did make a good comeback. I don't deny that. I even admire his patience and guts and determination in wanting to come back and actually coming back. Its a different deal that his replacements were no better, but during the time he was away, he did have a few decent performances and so his re-selection was not an issue. But look at the insane number of balls he was facing to score his runs. Horrendous strike rate which definitely caused some concern to his team, but no one dare talk about it.
Lesser said about Viru the better. Not withstanding his 100 against Bermuda, he needs to be dropped. It was fun when he batted well, but he needs to spend some solid time at the nets.
Rahul - Has started showing some inconsistencies of late. But my money is still on him making a 50 than anyone else in this team.
Not gonna say much about the bowling, because I think that was one area where we performed decently. But, I must add that Harbajan is no longer the threat he used to be.
One thing that all the experts kept saying. The experiments by the coach and captain caused too much confusion. Say what? Did they ask Zaheer Khan to stop bowling and open the batting? Did they ask Yuvraj to open the bowling and operate at speeds in excess of 140 Kph?
No. The expectation was a slight modification to what they normally do. Pathan's batting was good. So they asked him to move up the order. He performed. If he "lost" his bowling, what do you mean by that? Did he stop bowling at the nets and did only batting? Then Sachin. He cant play at #4 is it? Isn't that where he plays while batting? But in one-dayers, he cant come there? Why? If the field is spread out, he cant hit 4s is it? Then why call him God?
If after years and years of playing cricket, you cannot make such subtle adjustments to your game, then get the bloody hell out.
Why don't these cricketers spend more time playing domestic tournaments? Why cant they play more county cricket? Just look at Zaheer and Sourav. Their game has surely improved after they played hours and hours of first class cricket.
But our Gods, would rather play only the Ranji finals and that too as captain. Otherwise, who cares about it. Unfortunately, even the others in the team emulate the "great one" in this aspect. They don't play for their state or zone until they are dropped from the Indian team. But two or three decent performances later, they get back in through the quota system and then that's it.
I don't want to write up anymore on this. All I want to say is that I feel very sorry for the average Indian Cricket fan who is now burning effigies. Its not his fault that he feels let down. The cricketers and to a very large extent, the electronic media, make the most trivial series sound like its the World Cup. They kick up the passions of the fans. They make Gods out of mere mortals. And when things are going fine, nobody objects to this deification. No cricketer has the guts to say that this is wrong. Nobody appeals to the fans to remain calm and not celebrate an ordinary victory over Kenya like you've won the championship. No sponsor requests the Indian fan to keep calm. No critic worth his salt says anything bad major chinks in the armor. Why don't all of you ask the average fan to remain steady. Why don't you tell him that "its only a game".
But a loss to a low team at a big stage like a World Cup, should be treated by the average fan "as part of the game"? Why should he? You have told him that Sachin is the world's greatest batsman. You've told him that on the Off side, there is God and then Sourav. You only said that The Wall is always there. You said the Nawab of Najafgarh will belt the bowlers all over the park. You said that Yuvi is the coolest dude. You said that Dhoni makes the 'anhoni' (impossible) a 'honi' (possible). You said so many other things and asked the average fan to believe you.
Why do you say the other things now?
The media, the critics, the experts - all of you are one sick bunch of bums who will talk where the money is. Just shut the bleep up and go home.
Its time the average Indian fan said goodbye to Indian Cricket. May it rest in peace.
To me that was the last straw. The whole match fixing allegations were making a sceptic out of me and when Kapil was accused, I basically lost it. I totally got away from cricket. Hated the players, the administrators and all the media folks who were trying to milk maximum coverage out of this scandal.
I practically gave up on cricket. The guys around me used to follow games on the internet. At odd hours too. Some of them were even planning to install dish antenna and subscribe to Indian channels. But I never did.
Even after I returned to India, my interest never reached the levels of say, 1999. I was probably indifferent to the whole thing. But being in the country, meant that one cant really escape the sport. It was telecast on most channels. Newspapers dedicated lots of newsprint to the most mundane of series. Ads were created with every Indian cricketer for many many products.
My interest did revive, but not I still didn't try to work my schedules around the matches. I caught up with the games only if I was done with other things in a day.
But this World Cup, somehow made me want to follow the games. But the debacle in the opening game itself - that was a shock reminder for me. It proved very clearly that this Indian team is a tiger on paper and not even a mouse in reality.
One thing though, that's always been the case with all Indian teams. So many of them have some of the best individual records. But none of these have actually translated into victories for the team.
We Indians are big suckers for romantic touches in sport. So we devote lot of time and space to all these batsmen who are best when:
1. The ball reaches them at an ideal speed of 120 Kph.
2. The ball does not move in any direction after pitching.
3. The ball does not raise above the knee level.
Being a great business house, the BCCI has ensured that we somehow get the worst possible teams to visit us. The Tendulkars and Gangulys maul these poor bowlers and the next day we hail them as the "World's greatest batsman" or "The Prince of Kolkatta". Probably, the only player worth his sobriquet is Dravid "The Wall".
All these guys have records worth killing for. But look at the BCCI's trophy cupboard. Its absolutely barren. Not the case with its coffers, but unfortunately that's where the BCCI's interests lie.
But its not that the BCCI is the only culprit. There are many others. I am not going to enter into any discussion about Dravid's captaincy or Chappell's coaching. Those are too technical for me and ultimately, I only feel its a matter of perception.
For me, the entire blame lies on the senior players in the team. Primarily Sachin. We have been deifying him for many many years now. Like I mentioned in an earlier posting, he is a spent force. Was a great player, no doubt, but less than a mere mortal these days.
Even in his heydays, I think you can easily count the number of critical matches where he has performed well. I am talking about matches like semi-finals or finals or elimination games. Invariably he IS A FAILURE. I don't care about how many gazillion runs you scored in your life. My father tells me that I once scored 705 runs against him, when I was only 7 years old, so am I better than him. If you cant perform when it matters, just shut the bleep up and pack your bags.
Next Sourav. Everyone went ballistic when he was dropped. The guy couldn't even score against Kenya for crying out loud. Once again, he was an exciting prospect, but not so in the last couple of years of his captaincy. He crossed the point of being aggressive and practically became arrogant. Its a fine line and he crossed it quite quickly.
He did make a good comeback. I don't deny that. I even admire his patience and guts and determination in wanting to come back and actually coming back. Its a different deal that his replacements were no better, but during the time he was away, he did have a few decent performances and so his re-selection was not an issue. But look at the insane number of balls he was facing to score his runs. Horrendous strike rate which definitely caused some concern to his team, but no one dare talk about it.
Lesser said about Viru the better. Not withstanding his 100 against Bermuda, he needs to be dropped. It was fun when he batted well, but he needs to spend some solid time at the nets.
Rahul - Has started showing some inconsistencies of late. But my money is still on him making a 50 than anyone else in this team.
Not gonna say much about the bowling, because I think that was one area where we performed decently. But, I must add that Harbajan is no longer the threat he used to be.
One thing that all the experts kept saying. The experiments by the coach and captain caused too much confusion. Say what? Did they ask Zaheer Khan to stop bowling and open the batting? Did they ask Yuvraj to open the bowling and operate at speeds in excess of 140 Kph?
No. The expectation was a slight modification to what they normally do. Pathan's batting was good. So they asked him to move up the order. He performed. If he "lost" his bowling, what do you mean by that? Did he stop bowling at the nets and did only batting? Then Sachin. He cant play at #4 is it? Isn't that where he plays while batting? But in one-dayers, he cant come there? Why? If the field is spread out, he cant hit 4s is it? Then why call him God?
If after years and years of playing cricket, you cannot make such subtle adjustments to your game, then get the bloody hell out.
Why don't these cricketers spend more time playing domestic tournaments? Why cant they play more county cricket? Just look at Zaheer and Sourav. Their game has surely improved after they played hours and hours of first class cricket.
But our Gods, would rather play only the Ranji finals and that too as captain. Otherwise, who cares about it. Unfortunately, even the others in the team emulate the "great one" in this aspect. They don't play for their state or zone until they are dropped from the Indian team. But two or three decent performances later, they get back in through the quota system and then that's it.
I don't want to write up anymore on this. All I want to say is that I feel very sorry for the average Indian Cricket fan who is now burning effigies. Its not his fault that he feels let down. The cricketers and to a very large extent, the electronic media, make the most trivial series sound like its the World Cup. They kick up the passions of the fans. They make Gods out of mere mortals. And when things are going fine, nobody objects to this deification. No cricketer has the guts to say that this is wrong. Nobody appeals to the fans to remain calm and not celebrate an ordinary victory over Kenya like you've won the championship. No sponsor requests the Indian fan to keep calm. No critic worth his salt says anything bad major chinks in the armor. Why don't all of you ask the average fan to remain steady. Why don't you tell him that "its only a game".
But a loss to a low team at a big stage like a World Cup, should be treated by the average fan "as part of the game"? Why should he? You have told him that Sachin is the world's greatest batsman. You've told him that on the Off side, there is God and then Sourav. You only said that The Wall is always there. You said the Nawab of Najafgarh will belt the bowlers all over the park. You said that Yuvi is the coolest dude. You said that Dhoni makes the 'anhoni' (impossible) a 'honi' (possible). You said so many other things and asked the average fan to believe you.
Why do you say the other things now?
The media, the critics, the experts - all of you are one sick bunch of bums who will talk where the money is. Just shut the bleep up and go home.
Its time the average Indian fan said goodbye to Indian Cricket. May it rest in peace.
Sunday, February 25, 2007
16-Feb 7:15PM to 18-Feb 4:30PM ::: Part 7 - FINAL ::: Indian Flight
When we reached the airport, the security guard at the entrance expected us to produce our tickets, so that we can enter the airport. This we promptly did. But then the guy put a twist in our plans and said that we were one ticket short.
After repeated counting of heads in our party and the number of tickets in hand, we were unable to reconcile the difference. It was only after a few minutes of confusion, that the guard enlightened us.
Apparently, you are expected to buy tickets even for babies. We had a 1 year old and hoped that we wont need one, but we were informed otherwise. The guy instructed us to proceed to the Indian office and buy the ticket. He also told us to then collect the boarding passes and show it to him! Talk of Government high-handedness.
So the parents of the baby paid up the 10% ticket cost (applicable for babies who don't occupy a seat of their own) and we checked in our luggage. We requested for 2 window seats and the guy issuing the boarding passes was actually kind enough to allocate an entire row for us.
However the flight was delayed by nearly 45 minutes. And after a wait that seemed longer than the actual 45 minutes, we finally saw the plane land at the airport. I was happy for one reason. Basically this was the first time I was travelling by Indian and luckily for me, the plane that we were gonna be on, was the one with the new logo.
Once the flight took off, the soon-to-retire air wardens (they didn't look like hostesses, more like wardens) gave us candies. We were then served lunch. One chappathi. A little dhal, cup of basmati rice and some gravy. There was a sweet piece, some juice in a tetra pack and water.
I just gobbled up the grub in no time, considering that I hadn't really eaten anything after the breakfast at that posh Udupi Hotel. The interesting part of the food served on the flight was the sweet. By the looks of it, I assumed that it was a milk halwa/burfi. It was quite big in size.
But one bite and I realised that I was very wrong. The sweet was in fact mysore pa. I cant say it tasted well, but it wasn't unpalatable at any rate. Just that it was a really odd sized for a mysore pa.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed at Chennai after 45 minutes. If you look at our plane trip from Madurai to Chennai, we can look at it in terms of Project Management Metrics like this: The effort variance was 0% but the schedule variance was around 40%.
At the airport, while we were waiting to collect our baggage, we saw the Sri Lankan cricket team also come down the stairs and wait near one of the baggage carousels. I saw most of the team - Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Malinga, Zoysa, Tom Moody and a whole lot of other names that I don't remember. But 2 people I missed out were Sangakara and Jayavardane.
So, to finally end what has been a really long travel chronicle, I reached home safely.
After repeated counting of heads in our party and the number of tickets in hand, we were unable to reconcile the difference. It was only after a few minutes of confusion, that the guard enlightened us.
Apparently, you are expected to buy tickets even for babies. We had a 1 year old and hoped that we wont need one, but we were informed otherwise. The guy instructed us to proceed to the Indian office and buy the ticket. He also told us to then collect the boarding passes and show it to him! Talk of Government high-handedness.
So the parents of the baby paid up the 10% ticket cost (applicable for babies who don't occupy a seat of their own) and we checked in our luggage. We requested for 2 window seats and the guy issuing the boarding passes was actually kind enough to allocate an entire row for us.
However the flight was delayed by nearly 45 minutes. And after a wait that seemed longer than the actual 45 minutes, we finally saw the plane land at the airport. I was happy for one reason. Basically this was the first time I was travelling by Indian and luckily for me, the plane that we were gonna be on, was the one with the new logo.
Once the flight took off, the soon-to-retire air wardens (they didn't look like hostesses, more like wardens) gave us candies. We were then served lunch. One chappathi. A little dhal, cup of basmati rice and some gravy. There was a sweet piece, some juice in a tetra pack and water.
I just gobbled up the grub in no time, considering that I hadn't really eaten anything after the breakfast at that posh Udupi Hotel. The interesting part of the food served on the flight was the sweet. By the looks of it, I assumed that it was a milk halwa/burfi. It was quite big in size.
But one bite and I realised that I was very wrong. The sweet was in fact mysore pa. I cant say it tasted well, but it wasn't unpalatable at any rate. Just that it was a really odd sized for a mysore pa.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed at Chennai after 45 minutes. If you look at our plane trip from Madurai to Chennai, we can look at it in terms of Project Management Metrics like this: The effort variance was 0% but the schedule variance was around 40%.
At the airport, while we were waiting to collect our baggage, we saw the Sri Lankan cricket team also come down the stairs and wait near one of the baggage carousels. I saw most of the team - Jayasuriya, Atapattu, Malinga, Zoysa, Tom Moody and a whole lot of other names that I don't remember. But 2 people I missed out were Sangakara and Jayavardane.
So, to finally end what has been a really long travel chronicle, I reached home safely.
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