Teesra Kaun

First there was Dilip Kumar next Amitabh and then there is day light when we talk about bollywood superstars. One could argue the self proclaimed King Khan could be the next big thing. But again Aamir Khan with his heart touching and versatile performance could give SRK a run for his money. 

Running with the same analogy INDIA have struggled to produce the next bowling superstar since Kapil and Srinath. One could argue that Zak could have come close if only he was injury free.  

It was sometime in the early 90's a sober looking thick mustached bowler with an in-swinger that broke Lanka De-Silva's teeth emerged into the scene. Srinath was a bowler with genuine aggression in his deliveries not in his looks or words. Neither did he swear nor abuse the batsman but seldom rattled their stumps n bones, was rightly called the Mysore express.

Partner-in-Crime Prabharkar was a genuine talent but never rose to the occasion. He was a captain's dream, opening the bowling and batting in the same game was a rare talent (only possible in gully cricket) which only a few have achieved it. His ability to swing the ball late and both ways made him special, but lack of discipline in his bowling yielded . And his in-ability to bounce back and resort to spin coupled with politics and fixing allegation closed the doors.

If Steve Waugh started to bowl the back-of-the-hand slow ball, Venkatesh Prasad mastered it. He along with Srinath formed a in-swinger-leg-cutter duo which had only made Ravi Shastry's boundary-to-end-the-over famous. Prasad's lack of pace coupled with slower-ball over kill not only ended his career but ended india's next.     

Amidst this chaos there arose a lean but large hearted Agarkar who surprised the bastmen with his extra pace. He had the skill and hunger that a fast bowler needed to succeeded, but his appetite to consume runs back fired more often that not. The fact that he leaked far too many runs completely overshadowed the valuable wickets he took. 288 ODI wickets @ 27 a piece in comparison with  Srinath's 315 @ 28 and Zaheer's 278 @ 29 isn't bad, but that fact that he wasn't reliable just explains why cricket is just beyond numbers.

Year 2000 was a turning point for INDIAN cricket, spectators finally saw an INDIAN running in and firing yorkers and bouncers at will. Finally INDIA had a bowler who could scare and menace the batsmen, Zaheer had the right attitude and aptitude a fast bowler needed to possess; but his injuries and weak lower body yielded far too frequently. But post English county stint he re-invented himself and has emerged more skillful and tactful south paw since the great Wasim. He still has a long way to go to be the 3rd best.

Nehra possessed a skill no fast bowler ever exhibited before; laziness & lack of commitment. He is a perfect example for right aptitude and wrong attitude; bad mouthing and sledging your own fielders can only take you so far. Couple that with a weak and fragile body is just short of disaster.The highest point of his career was in the 2003 WC where he and Zaheer were instrumental in INDIAN's success, but that is the farthest he could go. 

Irfan Pathan with little or no first class experience had the right attitude and hunger a fast bowler needed to possess, he achieved instant success both at home and abroad. Coupled with decent batting touted him to be next Kapil, he couldn't bear the weight of the expectation. Generally fast bowlers gain pace and learn variation during their learning process which Irfan didn't. Learning to swim or cycle is a skill that can't be unlearned, so is bowling. But Irfan began to unlearn his swing that made him what he was. Either it was a technical issue or a mental block he never could get back his original self. He made multiple come back and each time looked mediocre at best. Now with dozens of fast bowlers emerging from all parts of the country one can only hope we get back the original Pathan.

That one extra over bowled by Ishant to Ponting is still one of the best overs by an INDIAN. After 4 years and 45 test matches Ishant is just 23 years and he should have been a spear head now but still bowls like a new-comer. He neither can be played as a strike bowler nor as a bowler who stems the flow of runs. He has the right attitude but one can doubt the aptitude. One can just hope that he tests the batsman's patience and not the selector's

With little of what we have seen Umesh Yadav has shown a lot of promise, genuine swing pace bowler. Finally INDIA gets its first bowler who looks like one, wide shoulder and big biceps helps him generate pace. One can only hope that he holds on to the burden of bulk of the bowling on his wide and broad shoulders and keep our hunt for the Teesra Kaun - ON

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Captan key funday

Captain's influence on the team's performance is much like the electric-assist on the bicycles. You need to put in the initial couple of pedals for the motor to kick in and then your subsequent pedals are eased off with the electric assist. Failing to pedal at any point will only slow down the bicycle putting extra pressure on legs. So a bad motor read non-performing-captain will not only slow down the bike but also make the manual pedaling tougher so is the converse true. 

While the nation awaits for the one last show at 2012 IPL championship, its time for some retrospection from the captain's perspective for the future. During this course of 70 odd games for over 6 weeks of INDIAN summer we have noticed some stunning individual performances. Some crucial moves and some lame team selections and some brain freezes from the captains. Some players have stepped up and have answered a few if and but questions, some continued to be a flash in the pan and some have proved that they are still mediocre and will continue to be as is. There would be time in every cricketer's life i-wish-i-captained-a-team moment. Some earned it, some were entrusted upon.  

DJ Hussey, Gambhir have been the stand out electric-assists who have made use of the resources and turned them into gold. Nobody had given Kings Punjab a chance pre and post Gilchrist limp, but DJ inspired his troops with some tactical and logical moves. Probably only DJ figured out that Praveen Kumar is worth gold only when used 4 overs upfront. If only Punjab had consistent foreign players the out come of the games would have been different. 

Gambhir realized that he is the best opener in the hut and KKR's fortune took a giant leap. He brought back the left armers charm back in to cricket making a mockery of the commentary's theory of can't-play-2-left armers-in-a-team. Eden has proved to be a slow track and he chose his bowlers based on that. He has proved that playing your best bowler in a game is the key, even if it means playing all 3 spinner. In a era where off-spinners-can't-be-attaching Gambhir used Sunil Narine as an attacking bowler which made him even more deadly. No wonder batsman chanted Narayan Narayan.  

Sehwag's captaincy began to yield much like his batting on green conditions. He inspired DD with his attacking bowling options and murderous batting. 3 bowlers bowling at 90 Mph is a Neighbors-envy-owner's-pride moment, bundle it with 2 good left armers is beyond decent attack. Suddenly lack of logic or baseless instincts got the better of him. Nobody can decipher why Taylor was batting so low down the order, or why Morkel was expelled at Russel's exp or why Venugopal played so many less games. Who and why was Sunny Gupta bowling his first over of IPL on a crucial game? Frankly all these have one word answer Sehwagology. Your guess is a good as mine, yup see-the-ball-hit-the-ball. 

Harbhajan believed in the theory that every bottle needs new opener each time. The fact that who opens with Sachin was decided with a role of dice on the roulette table is pretty amazing. Only thing that was consistent in the team was Malinga's boot yorkers. Not playing Pragyan Ojha meant he didn't enjoy too many variations and options, just like his bowling his captaincy was guiless, flat and straight. And no-of-balls Pollard bowled out numbered the balls he was allowed to face only meant, Bhajji was promoting INDIAN batsman. Assuming that a bowler will bowl with the same accuracy in two different spells is like assuming a first innings centurion to score another in the 2nd innings. There is something called rhythm and condition which the bowler was in, breaking it is a sin and was evident in Dhawal's bowling. After bowling 2 good overs decision to give a 3rd over is the tipping point for a team in this IPL. Of-course cricketing logic doesn't prevail when malinga is bowling.  

  

Ganguly with his limited T20 abilities could only take a team so far; inspiration, motivation and strategy can only be productive when there are legs to execute it. Pune was low cost motor with weak legged cyclist who had a huge heart. It would be an under-statement to say they over-achieved with the talent they had. They had second string players from each team and who lacked big game abilities. Nothing much needs to be spoken about Ganguly's captaincy it's all proved and up for display.

Kohli couldn't in fact use Spin-King-Murli a suffocating-bowler than a bullet-in-the-head bowler was the reason why RCB were in the situation which they didn't want to be in. Lack of competency from the locals/Virat meant Vetori had to step down to play Murli. And Gayle-can-chase-anything led to the defensive bowling. Also Gayle-de-Villiers heroics and Vinay-n-co's anti-heroics made captains role inconsequential overshadowing any role a captain could play. 

One innings of murdering mediocre bowlers plus one-off-day-for-malinga neither makes Dhoni a good T20 batsmen nor his lackluster on-field captaincy and could inspire any one. Fact that all his misfire-ploys are treated as experiments by the critics is baffling. He is the only captain in the entire sporting history to manipulate his batting positions based on situations. Looking after teams-interest is one view not-exposing-weakness is other view, intelligent can take their pick.

It's a conundrum how people just up their game when playing for CSK, neither Morkel nor Bravo have played so consistently for any other team for such a long duration. The fact that Vijay n Ashwin step up when they play for CSK led us believe there is something magical about the team meetings.

So its not just CSK vs KKR this Sunday, but its a battle 2 future INDIAN ELECTRIC-ASSIST MOTOR banking on its strong foreign legs to cross the finish line.

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Uncertain Winners and a Certain Loser

As the saying goes the only thing that is certain is uncertainty, which has been the nature of this tournament. As the tournament is moving forwards surprises like Royals defeating Kings by a huge margin, Challengers beating Mumbai Indians by 9 wickets are following us. With winter setting in it has affected the fielding (even though there is no correlation) and more matches played in the smaller grounds of northern part of the country bigger targets are being chased with ease, though credit has to be given to the batsman. One of the reasons being the top order of each team that is firing; be it Smith n Ojha for Royals or Kallis n Uthappa for Challengers, Gauti and Warner for Delhi. There is nothing like picking top order wickets to stop the flow of runs, but the opposing teams haven’t done that consistently.
[image source: Cricinfo]

No team is clear favorite’ even though CSK have looked THE team, but they rely heavily on top order i.e. Hayden and Raina, much like the last years Delhi and we all know what happened to them. And all their victories have come batting first. Delhi has a good balance good top order solid middle order and a decent bowling attack; they need Sehwag to click if they want to look formidable. Royals are peaking at the right time, Smith played his best innings so far and Warne is getting best out of his brigand, arrival of inform Watson would be a huge bonus.

Kings again depend heavily Yuvraj to fire, bowling is a mixed bag, Piyush n Abdulla are their stars, Sreesanth inclusion could be dicey. Challengers look a different team after KP’s departure their opening is the surprise each time. Kumble had found two unsung heroes in Dillon n Merwe. Mumbai boasts to have the best bowling attack along with most brutal opening pair; neither of them is winning them matches as expected. They are heavily dependent on Sachin to anchor the innings as it falls apart towards the end. With Sun beating down Chargers need to recharge their solar batteries before it drains out. With openers failing the middle order looks too bleak, without Edwards bowling looks weak.

Only thing that is certain is that SRK isn’t going to come back as Kolkata Kite Riders have found ways lose games. Lack of good match winners in the first place, (sorry if Gayle n McCullum were match winners then WI n NZ wouldn’t be where there are today) compounded with bad breath among the team, they haven’t found winning ways. It looks as if they have a point to prove, that good coach do need good players to perform. The only positives being the humorous FakeIPLPlayer’s blogs; which has bought much interest among the print media. Blame it on Buchanan’s multiple captain theory which was rather a Ganguly sacking strategy or Gayle n McCullum compound debacle or Ishant n co’s inability to take wickets upfront or even on the drop catches KKR don’t look like a team.

As they say there is no I in a team, but there too many I’s in KKR.

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The MUMBAI INDIAN chewed the Calcutta Mithi Pan

They say a number is worth thousand pictures and a picture is worth thousand words. Sachin’s 68 of 45 balls neither does it give you the right picture nor do I have the right words to describe it. Even though he scored at a strike rate of 150 there wasn’t a single rash slog nor were there any mistimed shots looping in the outfield. It was like watching highlights of 2003 WC, the six against Ishant reminded us the one against Caddick. It felt like a 16 year old trying to woo his female classmates in the crowd. Gavaskar sahib would have been a very happy man seeing those high elbow and straight bat shots.

At the end of the day Mumbai’s 187/6 doesn’t reflect how well Sanath and Sachin played; if Sachin took the initiative to start with, Sanath played second fiddle. Once Sachin cooled down Sanath began to explode. At 111/0 in 11 overs there wasn’t scope for even damage control from the KKRs. It looked like Mccullum’s team had given it up, just going through the motions. As a bowler one could feel like a candle burning from both the ends. If Sanath bludgeoned over the infield, Sachin caressed through, both complimented each other very well. As a bowler you had to pick between getting caressed by Sachin or clubbed by Sanath.

When batsman start getting used to the pace and bounce of the wickets, generally one needs to take the pace off. Mendis, Gayle and Hodge did that but the ball travelled even further into the boundary, couple of them even saw the Port Elizabeth city. One has to just feel for KKR’s bowlers, there wasn’t much difference in the bad balls and good balls bowled; everything reached the fence, only probably difference was the speed at which they reached. Shukla ji bowled with a lot of heart picked up both the wickets of Sanath and Sachin. Bhajji did pinch on KKR wounds, rest of MI made us realize that there was something called pitch and conditions which affected the scoring.

Chasing 188 against the likes of Malinga, Zaheer, Bravo and Bhajji is a tough task and a touch tougher when Malinga starts with a Yorker. Gayle and McCullam’s opening seems overrated; Hodge and Ganguly did try to accelerate but got sucked up by Nayar’s variations. With lack of batting power the KKRs stumbled to a cliched score of 95 all down in 15 overs. Had SRK invested in same low cost players rather than a 600K Mortaza who hasn’t featured yet, it would have done KKR some good. The future for KKR this season as last season looks dark as their jersey.

One can confidently say that the MUMBAI INDIAN chewed the Calcutta Mithi Pan.

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Veterans Day Out

In the era where so much emphasis is on young blood, veterans Tendulkar n Dravid showed that "its not age but mileage that matters" even in today's arena. Clinical Sachin showed that why he is called the master blaster. Rahul picked up from where he had left from last year, he was the only person scoring runs and scoring fast for the RCBs. Kumble & Warne showed that spinner are like wine, get better with age. If Warne showed that age has never come in the way of his drift, dip & spin; Kumble show that accuracy still is his middle name.

The day-1 of IPL 2.0 saw surprises, both losing team were finalist of the first edition. This indicates that equations have changed. The tournament is played in a different country, hence different testing conditions. Because the bowl does a bit raw players who were successful in India may find it difficult to get adjusted to new conditions. Lack of technique & temperament might cause ones downfall.

Twenty2O is tricky format; 20 overs might looks too small to begin with; if you go bang bang n lose 2-3 wickets quickly then it just look herculean task to achieve the desired target. It might even trigger a chain reaction for fall of wickets. So one does need a player to anchor the innings at a good pace. This is where likes of sachin,rahul kallis,hayden would come into play. So the ideal old fashioned strategy would work here, keep wickets in hand and throw at the kitchen sink towards the end.

Just a back my theory up we have already had 2 collapses in RR & KKR with in the first weekend. So Veterans keep those gutsy innings coming; slow and steady will win the race in this IPL 2.0.

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Cricket Vs Olympics

Sports Minister M S Gill asks P Gopichand, ‘Who are you?’. Apparently this made a big headline couple of days ago. I would empathize with Mr Gill, as I would have asked the same question hadn't I had the habit of google'ng people’s name. FYI P Gopichand is 2001 All England Badminton Champion only after Prakash Padukone (yes now famous father of Deepika Padukone). He is also the National Badminton Coach, to Saina Nehwal.

Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar and Vijender Kumar have made INDIA proud no doubt, probably would have gone unnoticed, but for their medals. Forget about recognizing them in public how many of us would remember them a month later. How many of us know the rules about shooting or boxing or weight lifting? Sorry to say but unfortunately they are born in the wrong era or wrong country. I only remember Karnam malleswari(weightlifting) and Rajyavardhan Rathore(shooting) during Olympics and hope some day some how, an athletes would do a PT Usha or Mikha Singh act.

Now that's a lot of alien names in country where cricket is religion and sachin is GOD. We have grown on watching kapil, gavaskar, sachin and now dhoni entertaining us to the core. Discussion about cricket and cricketer's name falls in our comfort zone. We would rather talk about dravid's back foot than leander’s back hand. We can talk hours write articles about them for pages about their records, statistics, and their life. We always want to attain kapil's passion, gavaskar's concentration, sachin's application and dhoni's daredevil attitude don’t we? We would criticize ganguly for his fielding never would we appreciate an athlete for his efforts. We would struggle to name 11 all time great non cricketers’s but would pen down the 11 for the next ODI.

Why would ambani, mallya or srk invest in IPL franchise? Why would a Subash Goel create ICL against BCCI? why not other sports? In the current age where ever thing is business, cricket sells and business men are no philanthropists. Cricket generates revenue and hence gets the prime importance be it on TV or Paper.As they say “paisa bolta hai”.
Media also has a lot of effect on our thinking process, they have elated and highlighted cricket to such an extent that it has been inculcated in our blood. In a country where cricket sells, cricketers are projected as macho men; heroines would pose with yuvi or dhoni rather than with paes or gopichand. Even though the later have achieved a lot more than the former.

As Bishen Singh Bedi wrote "We are a confused nation when it comes to sports". I truly agree with him.

Just to conclude read this article.
Can India host olympics ?

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My Obsession with Cricket

Back in High school I was becoming a cricket addict, and was taking it far more seriously than I should have. It had started affecting my studies, my thought process and life as well. I used to play Twenty20 (20 mins) wall cricket throwing the ball onto the wall and then play on the rebound. I had batting / bowling options of left and right, I even had running commentary. That was how much I was obsessed with CRICKET.

Taking a step further, I had visualized my SSLC (10th std) like an ODI, first 2 months of my tuitions (crash course as it was called) was the 15 over field restriction. I had to make most out of the reading in short time. It would give me good foundations for the middle over (when school starts). Also last 2 months before the exams were like slog overs. A lot depends on the how much you make out of it. Having good start and good middle overs makes a lot of difference towards the end. In the end good finish is what matters.

As years passed on my obsession with cricket has increased 2 fold now. I always believed that current INDIAN team depicts the hidden characters in us. Just take a look.

Just like our INDIAN team we all have starting problems (OPENERs), once some thing is triggered we all function well. There is always a sachin in us; hungry for records and yet deny it. Flamboyance and happy go lucky nature is always in us as in sehwag. Just like laxman and gambhir need to prove their talent every single day, we too fall in this situation sometimes. We all have that arrogance n elegance yuvraj possesses and talk more work less dhoni in us comes out sometimes. We all perform well in the nets, like ganguly. Some times we do exhibit the sreeshant in us, donno where / when exactly to show aggression. We do exhibit dual nature in life like dravid's batting in test and ODI. Finally we all need to bring out the gentlemen n statesmen kumble in us. Know what is important in life and stay focussed.

Let me know if u don't agree with any of these .

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