Harsha on Ted Talk

Harsha Bhogle on TedTalk

The spirit of the game

In case you are an Indian, and have just returned from Mars, let me tell you, India won the test series against Australia. For the first time since 1988-89, the world champs lost a test series by a margin of 2 matches. Even when Steve Waugh's team were stumbling at the last frontier, the margin was never more than a match. It is an intriguing time, when Aussies battle hard to maintain their lofty standards. Unfortunately, this rather interesting situation is getting clouded with the so called violation of the spirit of cricket by the Indian team.

Did Dhoni and co really violate spirit of cricket? Let's examine it.

Fact(repeatedly stressed by Australian media - Chapell, or Roebuck or Malcolm Conn): 

(a) MS Dhoni packed the offside with 8 fielders 

(b) At the same time, he asked his bowlers to bowl wide of the off-stump, which amounted to ultra-defensive negative cricket.

Charge: Dhoni violated the spirit of cricket.

Facts (the ones being ignored in laying the charge)

1. Nowhere do the rules bar a captain from doing this (to be fair, Ian Chapell seeks to remedy this by changing the rules)

2. Australian team, upon arriving in India, immediately made it clear that the best way to get the strong Indian middle order out, was to play on their patience, set defensive fields and restrict run-scoring. What's more, they implemented it through out the series in all four test matches.

3. Australian strategy was unsuccessful, as Indian batsmen improvised and scored runs.

4. Mitchell Johnson, in particular, kept bowling a foot outside the off-stump, hoping the batsmen would get frustrated, reach out and throw away their wickets. Not just in one match, but all four matches.

Inferences: If MS Dhoni did violate the so called spirit of cricket, then Australians were equally guilty, if not more; what they did for four matches, India did for a single innings in a single match, albeit, much more clinically. Considering that when they chose to play defensive cricket right from the outset, by trying to merely restrict run-scoring by Indian batsmen, they termed it as "strategy", and when Dhoni did the same, they labelled it as "against the spirit of the game", it seems Aussies belabor a nice fancy spirit that lives only in the baggy green souls :)

A tale of two owners

One of the attractions(?) of IPL has been the team owners - well, at least the two more audible, visible or high profile ones, namely Vijay Mallya and Shahrukh Khan (with due respects to pretty Preity, high-profile she may be, but she hasnt been as audible as the other two during IPL).

Mallaya's team, as well as Shahrukh's team has been on losing streaks. Mallaya's team has won 3 out of 12, while Shahrukh's have won 5 out of 12. The difference though, has been the way in which losses have been handled. Shahrukh seems to have kept his spirits (and tried to keep the team spirits) high. Mallaya has been brooding over what went wrong, and pointing fingers (to the extent of firing CEO Charu Sharma). Mallaya has of late, blamed the captain Rahul Dravid for team selection and has openly said that Rahul Dravid didnt chose proper players (players of Mallaya's choice).

Net result? Despite Kolkata Knight Riders turning out to be a damp squib, Shahrukh ended up a winner, with his popularity higher than ever (and as significantly, with a stronger fan following for the Knight Riders). In Vijay Mallaya's case though, it is probably worth asking who is a more sore loser - the team owner, or the team?

Traffic fines

If you get a speeding ticket, hire a lawyer to get you out. That's what Andrew Flintoff did. Hired a lawyer who charges 10K pounds per day(yeah thats right, 10K per day) to get out of paying a 60 pound traffic fine

Is cricket a full contact sport?

May be. Just, may be (according to LA times).

Bhajji strikes again

Harbhajan Singh has done it again. Having gone toe to toe, eyeball to eyeball with Symonds in Australia, he has picked up on his erstwhile teammate Sreesanth. (although Symonds, most definitely was not driven snow himself, and should cop flak for starting the issue)

All that Sreesanth did was to say "hard luck" to Bhajji after Bhajji lost the game. In return, Sreesanth had a blow under his eye.

Reminds me of Shoaib Akhtar hitting his teammate Mohammed Asif with a bat. Make no mistake, Harbhajan Singh is a hot headed guy and IMHO, he is headed the Shoaib Akhtar way. Pakistan Cricket Board lost the plot by not discipling Akhtar in his early days. Subsequently Akhtar went from bad to worse, and now, his considerable talent is banned from the game. BCCI shouldnt repeat the same blunder. Harbhajan is not yet 30. An year warming his seat in his police job with Punjab police, away from the trappings of the game should do him a world of good. Otherwise, the talented spinner though he is, he may soon end up in the rubbish heap with Shoaib Akhtar. The board should act decisively and fast. Question though, is whether a stupid body like BCCI is capable of taking such an action.

The game of cricket is changing fast; and the fabled spirit of cricket no longer exists. Wisden's editor Scyld Berry recently remarked that he feared that cricket is headed towards physical confrontation. Prophetic words. Only, they are coming true sooner than perhaps even Berry had imagined.

Know your IPL teams :)

The IPL has 8 teams.

Mumbai Indians:: has Shaun Pollock, Sanath Jayasuriya, Luke Ronchi, Dominic Thornley, hmmm ... and still, Indians. sweet.

Deccan chargers:: hyper charged Symonds, Gilchrist and Afridi, led by discharged (at least from the Indian ODI and T20 teams) V.V.S. Laxman.

Kolkata Knight Riders:: Knights fight with spears. But the Knight riders will use a beanpole amidst them - Ishant Sharma. And, just like the 300 Spartan knights had a war cry of "hau", these knights sing korbo, lorbo, jeetbo re ...

Punjab Kings XI:: Upstarts!! With a captain called yuvraj, they call themselves kings? Prince, heir apparent etc might be better names. Princess (queen?) Zinta is too greedy for the throne, eh?

Chennai super kings:: If vice-captain of Indian T20/ODI team Yuvraj dares to call himself and his team "king", the Indian skipper Dhoni will call his team "Super Kings". Quite natural. ada paavi. what else would you expect?

Rajasthan Royals:: Royals they may call themselves, but they spent like paupers in the IPL player auction and even got fined by IPL for spending too less an amount of money, way below the minimum agreed amount. Huh! The nerve some people have.

Bangalore Royal Challengers:: In these days of democracy if there is going to be so much of kings, super kings and royalty, obviously someone will challenge them. So, enter Royal challengers.

Delhi daredevils:: Led by Virender Sehwag, who likes to drink milk. Hmm... each day we learn something new. Now, we come to know that devils drink milk rather than blood. kewl.

Poor Rahul

Rahul Dravid came, saw, conquered ... and got booed. The IPL game between Mumbai Indians actually saw the Mumbai crowd boo Rahul Dravid when he hit a four. The ever-observant Rahul observed: "It's really unusual to come to Bombay, hit and four and see nobody clapping for you".

This is Mum-bhai bheedu, hum se panga lega to ...

Seems like some IPL teams have already started gaining a dedicated fan base. But one wonders, for how long...

Cry babies :-)

Recently Michael Atherton has called for Sreesanth to be banned for a test. No doubt, beamers are reprehensible, and Sreesanth's behavior was intolerable. But, I dont recall Atherton ever making such a hue and a cry over beamers bowled by other bowlers from, say, England.

And, its not as if bowlers from England never ever bowl beamers. One can easily recall Darren Gough's beamer which actually hit Ambrose. And yeah, Atherton was actually playing in that match. If he didnt ask for Gough being banned, why does he cry for Sreesanth's head?

Another instance of a beamer was from Caddick to Yousuf Youhana in a ODI, and incidentally Atherton was playing in that game as well. Why didnt he ask for Caddick being banned then?

Indians, too, have been at the receiving end of beamers. But, nobody raised a hue and cry when Walsh's beamer broke Prabhakar's nose. Dhoni too has been at the recieving end of a beamer from Shoaib Akhtar, and in that case, there wasnt even an apology from the bowler.

Seems to me that the cry baby nature of the England entourage is emerging now. And it feels bad to see Mike Atherton, who, by all accounts, was a warrior with a heart for battle, resorting to such cribs. Having lost the test comprehensively, and been involved in the stupid jelly beans issue, they need excuses. And talking of jellybeans, Ian Chappell, in a coulmn in cricinfo, has actually gone to the extent of comparing it with pitch tampering. No prizes for guessing what Atherton's take on this is going to be.

third personitis

Seems the cricket world has caught on the trend of thrid personitis from The Rock (WWE superstar wrestler). Here's a sample quote from The Rock:

"The Rock says, know your damn role"

A sample quote from Paul Collingwood (the new England ODI skipper):
"Hopefully this role will bring out the best in Paul Collingwood".

The Ford which didnt start

BCCI has been shambolic and thoroughly unprofessional in their search for team India court. Its high time that these bunch of jesters (read BCCI officials) had their bottoms whacked black and blue. Am glad Graham Ford did that. After a 2 month search, BCCI ended up inviting Ford, knowing fully well that he hadnt even bothered to send his resume on its own, and that he had an existing contract that runs for another year. Ford came, saw, and rejected the BCCI offer.

The board had already reduced the selection process to a farce by eliminating Dav Whatmore from the race, for reasons only best known to them; Now the logical step should be to appoint the other contender, John Emburey as the caoch. But I have a feeling (as do many), that Emburey was just an eyewash, and Ford had been the selected man all along. Emburey's coaching credential seem embarassing to say the least. It would be interesting to see whether BCCI appoints him, or learns a few lessons, and start a professional search for the coach afresh.

Gawd!! No wonder Indian politics resembles as trash can standard pantomime. The average politicians being probably worse than our esteemed BCCI chief, what else do we expect. Pawar's doing great as the BCCI head. The best BCCI chief in history of Indian cricket. I cant helping Jagmohan Dalmiya falling off his chair in a fit of laughter at this farce. Indian cricket needs a shrewd and professional administrator like Dalmiya, more than Dalmiya needs to be the BCCI chief.

the coatminders

An interesting quote by Bill O'Rielly the former Aussie leg spinner at cricinfo -

"You remember when two kids would toss a coin in the park," he'd start off, "and then they proceeded to take turns in choosing another ten guys. Well there were always a few blokes left over," he'd continue, "and they were the coat minders." With a chuckle he'd add, "And the coat minders go on to become members of the Australian Cricket Board."

Sunny speak

Gavaskar's take on offering Greg Chappell e National Cricket academy (taken from cricinfo):

"It's never easy sacking somebody, however incapable and inefficient he/she may be ...but to give another job and that too one which deals with the future of Indian cricket after the mess the present of Indian cricket has been landed into, makes one wonder if we will ever get out of the inferior complex syndrome."

Farewell, king of the Caribbean

Saturday will be a special day. It will be a day for farewells. Duncan Fletcher, England's strong and resolute coach will step down. Brian Lara, the priceless gem of Caribbean, will play his last match. The Bajans will be in Kensington Oval in full force. The Caribbean carnival feeling will be in the air.

Whatever happens, I hope Lara does well. With West Indies out of the world cup, and the fans calmouring for his head (due to some admittedly "strange" captaincy) he resembles a king without a kingdom. One hopes that he wont do a Don Bradman and be dismissed for a duck in his last international innings. If there has been one batsman who has carried the entire team on his shoulders in the recent decade, it has been Lara. Andy Flower comes a close second though. However, in terms of a pure exhibition of joyous batting and entertainment, Lara remains unmatched.

Thanks for the memories, Brian Lara. Hope you have one last hurrah, and score a one day double century tomrrow to tread where no foot has ever trod before. That would be the most fitting finale for the king of Caribbean islands.

BCCI backlash

Sambit Bal has a nice analysis of BCCI's recent decisions following the world cup debacle over here in cricinfo.

The pros -

• Appointment of specialized coaches: Venkatesh Prasad for bowling and Robin Singh for fielding. The later is especially crucial
• Restructuring of the domestic game (if that is, they stick to this commitment, which going by their past record is doubtful

The cons -

• While the senior players were dumped with most of the blame,Chappell was almost fully exonerated. Apparently, the BCCI top brass were bowled over by his audio-visual presentation. Reports suggest they didnt even have any questions. Strange, considering the depths to which the team plunged under Chappell
• While no one really excuses the players, they at least deserved a patient hearing. They didnt get it. The BCCI here, has been slyly opportunistic, cutting down on players' endorsements and, in the guise of punishing players, ensuring that their coffers keep swelling and their sponsors' interest are protected. This makes you hope the concept of Indian Cricket lEague takes off and BCCI falls irreparably from the pedestal to which Dalmiya took it. A board run by politicians so irreprehensibly deserves no better.

I yet reserve my opinion on retention of Dravid as captain (maybe this isnt so bad) and getting Shastri as the cricket manager. Shastri is certainly a good communicator, has tremendous knowledge of the game and has a shrewd cricketing brain. His appointment would be a success if he handles all the players tactfully.

senile, purely senile

The undisputed "Mr Big Mouth" of Indian cricket speaks again. He says that no Indian is fit to be the coach of the Indian team and that Greg Chappell, despite his lack of success should be retained.

Just to highlight this man's poor memory, he goes on to say that India had good success under John Wright because they played against weaker teams. Maybe he forgets that the World Cup in 2003 had the same teams as this one; maybe he forgets India toured Australia and almost pushed them over the limits under Wright as opposed to the whitewash Chappell's team faced in South Africa (a good team no doubt, but still second to Steve Waugh's indomitable Aussies).

The styles adopted by Wright and Chappell, at least to outsiders, are distinct. Wright coached the team and tried to get the out of form players back in form. Chappell chopped and changed. Wright maintained a low key approach, always putting the team first. Chappell on the other hand seemed always keen to hog the limelight and nurse his (inflated?) ego over and above everything else. Definitely, he lacked the sensitivity and tact of John Wright. All said and done, Wright was the perfect foil and coach for a high profile cricket team. Chappell, despite being a great player, stands deep in shadows of Wright so far as coaching is concerned.

However, what one should take from the Chappell era is the fact that he at least had the guts to take a few tough decisions. The decision to drop Ganguly was perhaps the best example (although the shameful manner in which this was done definitely left a bad taste).

Like all individuals Mr Dungarpur has the right to vent his opinion. And like all individuals we have the right to have a good laugh at them.

Bhogle speaks

A superb piece from Harsha Bhogle on the ills confronting Indian cricket.
He ends with "..names wont matter, the issues wont go away". I only hope that some of the "names" read Harsha's article and take it to heart.

Indian cricket lacks ruthlesness

In wake of Ian Chappell's comments that Tendulkar should retire, came replies from Ashok Mankad and Ajit Wadekar that Tendulkar still has a few years left in him.

When a Aussie cricketer reaches the same stage as Tendulkar has at this moment, he is dumped summarily, irrespective of his star status. If he has a few years leftin him (take the case of Hayden, who few months back was dropped), he is supposed to bludgeon his way up the ranks through the state level matches.

May be Wadekar and Mankad are right. If they are, then Sachin even after being dropped should be able to bat his way through the Indian first class scene, the way Ganguly did. But alas, given his superstar, almost demi-god like stature in the country, such a move is hardly bound to happen, and the team will continue to carry an out of form (albeit genius) player for some more time at least. One can only hope he finds form soon, for the selectors wouldnt have the guts to drop him, whatever he does on field.

Chappell sense

Ian Chappell talks sense and feels its time for Sachin to hang his boots. Sad indeed that it has come to it. But, it really does seem that Ian Chappell has hit the nail on the head. Hopefully the little master will get a chance to shine again and then hang up his boots while on top.

a leaf out of Hayden's book

Team India might do well to hear Matthew Hayden's word after the West Indies Austrailia match. To quote him:

"I've had to show a lot of commitment and passion, first to get back into the one-day side - and in particular, to represent Australia at the World Cup."

Commitment and passion were the two ingredients the Indian team lacked, and they paid for it. If a player of Hayden's stature can talk this sort of talk and back it up, it makes you wonder how much lesser stars in the Indian team are able to take their positions in the side for granted! But then, it is India we are talking of arent we? Here, in cricket money (endorsements) matters more than anything else.