Was on a long trip to Ireland and was too occupied to write. but i intend to keep writing and I Will :)
Kishore
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Cricket - A long post
One topic that is occupying as much Indian newspaper space as is Saif-Kareena affair (*1) is the speculation about the future of the Big3 of the Indian cricket .The questions doing the rounds.. When should they retire... Who should retire first.. Is it the right time to retire ????
All the while the Big3 "seem" to be asking why retire?
Should they actually retire??
In case you are earning 5 crore ruppes per annum in a company and every one is asking you to resign for what ever reason, would you do so? The Big3's answer is that they would rather be humilated and kicked off rather than resign 6 months earlier and lose the 2.5 crore bucks. What could you not do with 2.5 crore Rs. You could have 5 Nagma's((*2)) and 10 Shilpa Shirodhkar's running around you.
Let me analyse what the Indian cricket has been going through the last few years to come to the present state.
Lets start with Greg Chappel era. Getting Greg Chappel to coach the Indian team was like trying to teach the Iraqi's democracy (*3) . He tried to bring in mass changes to the Indian team a year and half before the ODI world cup began. Was it a right thing to do. NO. Not with the bench strength that India has/had. Not with players like Venu gopal been touted as world cup team probable. Not with Big 3 still at their prime ( *4). Not with fans expecting Irfan pathan to do what Kapil did in 1983 World cup - perform with bat and ball. The result, a world cup disaster. Greg chappel rightly owned the responsibilty and resigned. The build up to the world cup cost us a place in super 8. He tried to bring in Australian Cricketing culture to the Indian Cricketing system. He failed miserably. But let me state clearly that I never doubted his commitment to the Indian cricket.
Post world cup.
Things back to normal. Indian seniors in team India and India back to its cricketing ways, Winning some matches. losing some.
And then comes the most unexpected moment of Indian cricket history. India winning the 20/20 world cup. This followed by a 4-2 ODI defeat to Australia in Home series .. the demand for Big3 heads to roll gets vociferous.
My opinion... now is the best time for the heads to roll. Big3 are sure not to play in the next world cup. If they retire or are kicked off after a year and half to two years from now, then you have very less time to build up a competetive team for the world cup. That would be a costly mistake. So what would be the best thing for the Indian cricket while the criketers, administrators, sponsorers and the fans are all satisfied. (*5)
No Alladin's magic lamp.
1) First, get rid of Dravid in the one dayers. No one will complain. (*6) . He is already out of form in the one dayer's.
2) Get Sachin down the order. He will whine and also will not score decent amount of runs he is scoring now inspite of struggling with the bat. No doubt, that only a genius can do that. Greg chappel had after the world cup said that in ODIs opening is one of the easiest positions to bat. Who would not agree with this. Sachin has been taking shelter in that position for quite a while. Remove him from that posiiton and his reflexes(*8) and fitness levels will be widely exposed.
When its time even a genius has to go.
3) Becuase of point 2 above we will have sachin ready to exit the ODI team. Dada will automatically follow suit.
In tests, I have a different take altogether, let not age but performance take priority. Let the seniors play as long as they can and India finds a suitable replacement. Well it may seem like I am taking two different positions here,one for the ODIs and the other for tests. Actually I am.
My reasons.
1) In ODI's, world cup gains higher importance than individual series or triangular series. Where as in test matches each series has its own significance. For example, The previous tour of Austraila, where India levelled the test series 1-1 is still talked about. How many of us discuss the Natwest ODI series where India beat England in a high class ODI match (*7)
2) ODI requires higher level of fitness and reflexes which surely diminish with age. In tests you can negate that weakness to a decent extent by been technically strong and knowing your limitations.
By applying the above method, we have sponosors happy becuase they still have sachins and dravid's around for a while until the karthick's and Badrinath become a marketing commodity. Fans are happy. The playes themselves might sulk but they would still not be completely unhappy, and the administrators are happy as every one else is.
Then we all can then sing together - Yaha pe basu shati shanti hai... yaha pe abhu shanti shanti hai.. and hope the best for the Indian cricket future.
Regards
PC
*1 well I know this is an exaggaration.. but belive me in no time will the Indian media start fiddling with this topic in no small way .. of course it will not match the A-A hype as neither Saif or Kareena are no where to been super stars.
*2 Boy the last read news about Nagma was that she is creating waves in Bhojapuri movies and is /was having a relationship with a hero there called Ravi Kishan. I read Ravi Kishan saying that his wife approved the relationship with Nagma. I envy him, Lets hope that every one has such broad minded wife.
*3 Sadam Hussian once said that the best way to rule Iraq was the way he did it. Who would disagree with the statement after 3 years of war that brought more number of deaths to American army than the twin tower collpse and the high number of Iraqi civilain deaths (
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ )
*4 Lot of people argued that Dada was well past his prime... only to be proved wrong
*5 This is doing a Nagma. Make Directors happy ( i mean by giving them hits ), make producers happy, make heros happy( She was linked to sarat kumar of tamil industry, lately Ravi kishan ) , make fans happy, make cricketer happy, make the underworld Don happy ( she was reportedly paid 10 lakhs for services provided to some underworld don during the shooting of filn Yalgaar, chota shakeel - i guess), make political parties happy ( she campaigned for Congress in 2004 elections ), make the Gutkha businessmen happy ( i guess she was linked to Goa Gutkha owner's son or something like that), make bollywood tollywood kollywood etc happy... offffff she is the one...
*6 Karnataka people have different things to think about right now with the state under Presedent's rule. They would/might not stage protests etc.
*7 And which prompted the long leg beauty Katrina to add a Kiaf after her name and fall quickly fall in Salman's lap.
*8 Reflexes do not just mean facing the fast bowling.
All the while the Big3 "seem" to be asking why retire?
Should they actually retire??
In case you are earning 5 crore ruppes per annum in a company and every one is asking you to resign for what ever reason, would you do so? The Big3's answer is that they would rather be humilated and kicked off rather than resign 6 months earlier and lose the 2.5 crore bucks. What could you not do with 2.5 crore Rs. You could have 5 Nagma's((*2)) and 10 Shilpa Shirodhkar's running around you.
Let me analyse what the Indian cricket has been going through the last few years to come to the present state.
Lets start with Greg Chappel era. Getting Greg Chappel to coach the Indian team was like trying to teach the Iraqi's democracy (*3) . He tried to bring in mass changes to the Indian team a year and half before the ODI world cup began. Was it a right thing to do. NO. Not with the bench strength that India has/had. Not with players like Venu gopal been touted as world cup team probable. Not with Big 3 still at their prime ( *4). Not with fans expecting Irfan pathan to do what Kapil did in 1983 World cup - perform with bat and ball. The result, a world cup disaster. Greg chappel rightly owned the responsibilty and resigned. The build up to the world cup cost us a place in super 8. He tried to bring in Australian Cricketing culture to the Indian Cricketing system. He failed miserably. But let me state clearly that I never doubted his commitment to the Indian cricket.
Post world cup.
Things back to normal. Indian seniors in team India and India back to its cricketing ways, Winning some matches. losing some.
And then comes the most unexpected moment of Indian cricket history. India winning the 20/20 world cup. This followed by a 4-2 ODI defeat to Australia in Home series .. the demand for Big3 heads to roll gets vociferous.
My opinion... now is the best time for the heads to roll. Big3 are sure not to play in the next world cup. If they retire or are kicked off after a year and half to two years from now, then you have very less time to build up a competetive team for the world cup. That would be a costly mistake. So what would be the best thing for the Indian cricket while the criketers, administrators, sponsorers and the fans are all satisfied. (*5)
No Alladin's magic lamp.
1) First, get rid of Dravid in the one dayers. No one will complain. (*6) . He is already out of form in the one dayer's.
2) Get Sachin down the order. He will whine and also will not score decent amount of runs he is scoring now inspite of struggling with the bat. No doubt, that only a genius can do that. Greg chappel had after the world cup said that in ODIs opening is one of the easiest positions to bat. Who would not agree with this. Sachin has been taking shelter in that position for quite a while. Remove him from that posiiton and his reflexes(*8) and fitness levels will be widely exposed.
When its time even a genius has to go.
3) Becuase of point 2 above we will have sachin ready to exit the ODI team. Dada will automatically follow suit.
In tests, I have a different take altogether, let not age but performance take priority. Let the seniors play as long as they can and India finds a suitable replacement. Well it may seem like I am taking two different positions here,one for the ODIs and the other for tests. Actually I am.
My reasons.
1) In ODI's, world cup gains higher importance than individual series or triangular series. Where as in test matches each series has its own significance. For example, The previous tour of Austraila, where India levelled the test series 1-1 is still talked about. How many of us discuss the Natwest ODI series where India beat England in a high class ODI match (*7)
2) ODI requires higher level of fitness and reflexes which surely diminish with age. In tests you can negate that weakness to a decent extent by been technically strong and knowing your limitations.
By applying the above method, we have sponosors happy becuase they still have sachins and dravid's around for a while until the karthick's and Badrinath become a marketing commodity. Fans are happy. The playes themselves might sulk but they would still not be completely unhappy, and the administrators are happy as every one else is.
Then we all can then sing together - Yaha pe basu shati shanti hai... yaha pe abhu shanti shanti hai.. and hope the best for the Indian cricket future.
Regards
PC
*1 well I know this is an exaggaration.. but belive me in no time will the Indian media start fiddling with this topic in no small way .. of course it will not match the A-A hype as neither Saif or Kareena are no where to been super stars.
*2 Boy the last read news about Nagma was that she is creating waves in Bhojapuri movies and is /was having a relationship with a hero there called Ravi Kishan. I read Ravi Kishan saying that his wife approved the relationship with Nagma. I envy him, Lets hope that every one has such broad minded wife.
*3 Sadam Hussian once said that the best way to rule Iraq was the way he did it. Who would disagree with the statement after 3 years of war that brought more number of deaths to American army than the twin tower collpse and the high number of Iraqi civilain deaths (
http://www.iraqbodycount.org/ )
*4 Lot of people argued that Dada was well past his prime... only to be proved wrong
*5 This is doing a Nagma. Make Directors happy ( i mean by giving them hits ), make producers happy, make heros happy( She was linked to sarat kumar of tamil industry, lately Ravi kishan ) , make fans happy, make cricketer happy, make the underworld Don happy ( she was reportedly paid 10 lakhs for services provided to some underworld don during the shooting of filn Yalgaar, chota shakeel - i guess), make political parties happy ( she campaigned for Congress in 2004 elections ), make the Gutkha businessmen happy ( i guess she was linked to Goa Gutkha owner's son or something like that), make bollywood tollywood kollywood etc happy... offffff she is the one...
*6 Karnataka people have different things to think about right now with the state under Presedent's rule. They would/might not stage protests etc.
*7 And which prompted the long leg beauty Katrina to add a Kiaf after her name and fall quickly fall in Salman's lap.
*8 Reflexes do not just mean facing the fast bowling.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Let me start
Hi guys,
I have given blogging a shot twice. I remember not posting more than twice in both my attempts. I do really want to give it one final try before I decide that I am a misfit in the blogging world and I should keep doing what I do best ( that is nothing ofcourse).Well have been having a pretty mundane life off late. May be that prompted me more to give blogging a try again
The work has been pretty normal, with nothing exciting happening. And as is normal with me, have been postponing the little things until they pile-up and my reporting to manager asks for them . I find it really suprising that I never do things until the last moment and equally suprising that I do finish them on time most of the times. Probably I have got this habit ( mastered :) ) by reading guides and passing the exams during my academics.
On the topic of guides, I remember that I wrote my 11th grade Physics exam by studying a guide on just one night. Of course I "got through" the exam. Have been trying to shrug off this habit since long. But now I really think I should stop trying this.
Getting into academics, reminds me of one of the very good novels that I have read, Five point some one by Chetan Bhagat. The best thing about this novel is that it is very narrative and does not bother to convey any morals. Unforunately this is what Chetan Baghat's next novel "one night @ at call center" does. Its been a while that I have read anything. Nothing atleast since a year and half when I landed in Boston.
Well my thoughts on cricket, RD should be the first to go followed by Sachin and lastly dada. No I am not from any eastern state of India. I am eager to see what Laxman does when he gets his chance in Australia. The good thing is that he bats well on bouncy tracks and especially against Australia. The other side of it is that he hasn't been playing international cricket for months and Yuraj singh , the son-of -the soil is performing pretty well and beckons a permenant place in test side as well. That means more pressure on Laxman.
PC
I have given blogging a shot twice. I remember not posting more than twice in both my attempts. I do really want to give it one final try before I decide that I am a misfit in the blogging world and I should keep doing what I do best ( that is nothing ofcourse).Well have been having a pretty mundane life off late. May be that prompted me more to give blogging a try again
The work has been pretty normal, with nothing exciting happening. And as is normal with me, have been postponing the little things until they pile-up and my reporting to manager asks for them . I find it really suprising that I never do things until the last moment and equally suprising that I do finish them on time most of the times. Probably I have got this habit ( mastered :) ) by reading guides and passing the exams during my academics.
On the topic of guides, I remember that I wrote my 11th grade Physics exam by studying a guide on just one night. Of course I "got through" the exam. Have been trying to shrug off this habit since long. But now I really think I should stop trying this.
Getting into academics, reminds me of one of the very good novels that I have read, Five point some one by Chetan Bhagat. The best thing about this novel is that it is very narrative and does not bother to convey any morals. Unforunately this is what Chetan Baghat's next novel "one night @ at call center" does. Its been a while that I have read anything. Nothing atleast since a year and half when I landed in Boston.
Well my thoughts on cricket, RD should be the first to go followed by Sachin and lastly dada. No I am not from any eastern state of India. I am eager to see what Laxman does when he gets his chance in Australia. The good thing is that he bats well on bouncy tracks and especially against Australia. The other side of it is that he hasn't been playing international cricket for months and Yuraj singh , the son-of -the soil is performing pretty well and beckons a permenant place in test side as well. That means more pressure on Laxman.
PC
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