Losing Captain but a Winning Team !!!

Losing Captain, but a winning side!!! This is a seldom episode in cricket. Vettori is predominately a losing captain for his country New Zealand. Victories are rare commodity for him. The nucleus of Dilshan, Kohli, De Villers, S Tiwary, Zaheer, Nannes and Vettori himself make Royal Challengers Bangalore a mercurial side. There is lot of energy and exuberance that should see this core mostly on the winning side in IPL.

Will this combination work?

I’m as curious as you. We have mostly witnessed an average side suddenly finding an inspirational skipper to turn them to world champions. Some classic examples are Kapil Dev’s India, Imran’s Pakistan, Dhoni’s 2007 T20 team. The next that we often witnessed is a Team built over years to become a force to reckon with. Australia, Arjuna’s Sri Lanka, Dhoni’s India, Strauss England Test team are some good examples.

Vettori’s RCB is definitely a rare occurrence. Though Vettori a sure shot candidate for captaincy, the appointment must have sweetly raised few brows. It is not the case that RCB left with any choice. They have Zaheer, who is more or less the captain of India’s bowling unit. They have Kohli. May be Kohli must have appeared little too early for leadership at this stage. Again there are always exceptions in cricket.

If Vettori can inspire this Team to glory, he should surely revisit his decision on quitting Kiwi captaincy. After all one glory, no matter how big or how small the stage is, it totally change the world upside down for the personality. Again if Vettori could not take this side anywhere near playoffs, the mantle will be passed to another RCB mate without much fuss.

Bottomline: Acid Test for Vettori and RCB

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

No Dada No KKR

A poor turnout at Eden pretty much confirmed that there is No Kolkata Knight Riders without the double DA. However, victories can heal any wounds. If KKR can go on to capitalize the momentum and lap few more wins after their victory against Deccan, they should attract more audience.

Again beating Deccan is hardly a challenge. After all the owners of Deccan failed to understand that the good bowling line up of Steyn, Ishanth, Mishra and Ojha will carry any sense only if there is some batting power to back it. Looks like Sangakara is already on course to relinquish Deccan’s captaincy for the benefit of the future captain to take charge when the unit is young.

With the return of Watson for Royals, KKR will have a tough game on Friday. It should be mouth watering contest considering Warne’s captaincy definitely has the edge over Gambir. After all it is Gambir’s thoughtless move of holding himself ahead of Tiwary and Morgan costed the opener against Super Kings. Also the return of Lee and Shakib should improve KKR bowling department, in their upcoming matches.

Kings XI is clearly on mission of becoming bad to worse in this fourth edition. There is no way this lackluster Punjab is going to stop the reincarnated Punjab Puttar Yuvraj Singh. All in all it looks like Kings XI and Deccan are going to be punch bag of the season. Will be curious to see who will triumph when these two battle between themselves.

Kochi Tuskers look completely a different side when the trio of McCullum, Jaya and Laxman fires with the bat. And it almost fired in the opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore. However one stupid move by Jaya to hand over the ball to Gomez an unknown commodity in the 18^th over sealed the game in favor of Bangalore.

The story of Delhi Daredevils is like Diwali Crackers. Either they burst or they bust. Against Mumbai Indians they busted badly. Everyone wanted to emulate Sehwag in batting and poor Sehwag better emulate someone to change the script for the campaign here on.

From what I witnessed in the first round, I guess Delhi to beat Rajasthan, Chennai to beat Punjab, Pune to beat Tuskers and Bangalore to beat Deccan in the next few days.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

India bought the World Cup.

It is painful to hear that the defeat of Pakistan and Sri Lanka to India in the World Cup are viewed with suspicion by some section of people.

The crazy cricket lover in me screams in agony, “What the crap are you talking? Why do you want to believe that these countries sold out to India on political and financial grounds? Is it so that India is politically and financially stronger than Australia to buy the Quarter Finals too? When Pakistan lose to New Zealand by 100 runs it’s a fair game, when Sri Lanka lose to Pakistan it is a fair game, but when a much superior Indian side beat any of these two teams, it becomes a conspiracy?

Come on. Give me a break.

If you still believe what you believe is right, then you can also go on to believe that India not only bid for the World Cup hosting rights, but for the World Cup Trophy too”.

Keeping the emotions aside, I wish to analyze this issue in a different perspective. The more I try find an answer, more the questions that pop up.

Why is the match fixing saga still bothering the subcontinent so much? Why is that we don’t embrace our defeat but view it with suspicion? When we suspect our defeats, why don’t we suspect and interrogate some of our victories that we won from no hope situations? Are we bad losers? Or are we bad losers to only certain oppositions? Why are the South Africans who were equally affected by match fixing controversies some years ago are able accept the defeats with grace?

A simple answer to all these questions would be, if we don’t have faith in the game, why do we have to follow. When our country is defeated in other sports we hardly care. Then why do we have to care so much for cricket?

Though it explains, the answer is hardly convincing. It is because we are emotionally attached to the game of cricket. Thus, we celebrate the victories wild. We grieve heavily on the defeats.

This is also the reason when our countries lose to another nation that is emotionally bonded to cricket, we raise eye brows. However, when our countries lose to another country like Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, England who are less emotionally attached to cricket, we only introspect the failure and not the fairness.

Finally, from cricketers stand point, no player want to lose the game. After all, the player achieves more glory, more money and more adoration only for winning the game. It hurts them even more when you question their loyalty.

I still have some faith left in cricket. I promise that the game is played fair these days. Despite a dark chapter, I’m sure match fixing is not something stone carved in our memories. The nightmares will heal as time pass by.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

IPL Some funny names... what a shame?

It drives me nuts when I read some of the IPL team names. Some jerseys are unbelievably crazy.

For starters, I would like to dig at my home team.

Name: Chennai Super Kings, Jersey: Yellow & Blue

It is hard to separate the word "Super" from the people of Chennai. As a matter of fact, the Tamil scholars are working hard day and night to verify if the word “Super” actually originated from Tamil. If not now, in the near future I see the word “Super” to be declared Tamil word and “Tamil Nadu” will be rechristened “Super Nadu”.

Sorry for the diversion. Ideally it should have been Chennai Super Stars. Because the name was already registered with an ICL team, the owners had to settle with Super Kings. Having grown up watching the Australian yellow green, the new bright yellow with blue does not go well is only an understatement. Today you may not find it too bad, as your mind is used to the colors.

Name: Kings XI Punjab, Jersey: Silver and Red

Apologies to you my Punjabi friends. Truly feel like throwing up when I call this name. Is this the best name they could ever come up with? Oh my god, their dress. Leave alone the players, a pretty Preity in the costume of silver and red, yuckkkkkkkkkkkkkeeeee. This time I really threw up after the imagination.

Sometimes I’m forced to think is it their name and jersey that is causing the failure? I for sure don’t feel like rooting Kings XI just for the sake of name and jersey. However the jersey has marginally improved in the past 2 years.

Name: Kochi Tuskers Kerala

This is much better than “Indi Commandoes Kerala”. I’m positive every one of you must have laughed out loud when “Indi Condoms Kerala” was doing rounds. Thankfully it forced the owners to come up with a different name. Again, Kochi Tuskers Kerala doesn’t sound any great. It gives a feeling that the owners are promoting Kochi to be the new Capital for Kerala.

Often it is confusing, is it Kolkata Knight Raiders or Riders. I bet if you pick 10 people random and ask them to abbreviate KKR, not everyone would get it right on spelling.

Thankfully Deccan Chargers improved their jersey in the past few editions.

The gold helmets of Royal Challengers Bangalore, Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals at times create an impression that these folks are still soldiers of King’s era.

Some teams names are 3 words, some with 2, some include city/state names at the start while few in the end, some even go on to include both state and city in the name. Not to leave out the new team that included city and country in the team name.


Bottom Line: Million thanks to those brilliant minds for coming up with funny names that beats laughter therapy.

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

The hi(gh)story behind "The Indian Premier League"

Few years ago (2004), BCCI issued a tender for the cricket coverage in India for a period of 10 years. Many Satellite TV including ESPN-Star Sports, TEN Sports, Zee bid for this exclusive broadcast rights. Mind you Zee did not have Sports channel then. To capture the cricket audience and to bid for the tender, Zee network started Zee Sports. The bids ran in millions.

Being the highest bidder (260 million dollars) Zee won the deal. When Zee was awarded the contract, ESPN-Star filed a case against BCCI for handing the deal to Zee. The reason being Zee did not have sufficient experience in Sports coverage, which was one of the clause laid per the tender.

BCCI had no choice but to revoke the contract from Zee and give it to ESPN who were the next highest bidder (230 million dollars). However Zee counter filed a case against BCCI on the grounds that ESPN did not possess 10 years of production experience (a clause per the tender). ESPN had wealth of experience in sports broadcast; with respect to production they were always dependent on TWI.

Irked by the court battle, BCCI called off the tender, broadcasted cricket series for a while thru Doordarshan before venturing Neo Sports.

Much the same way Zee came up with its own cricket content and launched the Indian Cricket League (ICL) in 2007. Recruited some big names of the game like Kapil Dev, Kiran More, Sandeep Patel to run the show. The league was also able to lure some big names of the games like Inzamam Ul Haq, Brian Lara, Chris Cairns and created opportunity for many budding, ignored and retired cricketers of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, New Zealand and Australia.

Miffed by the actions of Zee, BCCI banned ICL. Deprived cricket facilities and tagged the cricketers as rebels. The financial powerhouse also ensured players from any country who represented ICL were banned by their respective boards.

BCCI went on to launch “Indian Premier League” in 2008.

ICL fought hard to survive till 2009. Ultimately it gave up and today it is almost a closed chapter except for payment dues to players and whoever involved. BCCI lifted the ban on players and support staff aligned with ICL and offered an amnesty that will make the players eligible to play for the country again after a cooling period of one year. Not surprisingly almost anyone and everyone took it gleefully.


But the careers of many budding cricketers stay affected for playing ICL. Zee’s original motto of creating the league was not to develop cricket in the nation. The agenda was to capture the cricket audience to be glued to Zee network to improve the TRP ratings of the channel. The failure and frustration led to the creation of creative cricket content. Some legends played pawn to the creativity. Not to forget the financial quotient that attracted many of them to join the league. If every satellite TV starts to create their own content, no matter how creative it is, it only shakes the foundation of the governing body. The result, we just witnessed.
  
Bottom Line: In the war of greed, power and money, some careers lost, few images tarnished. Cricket survived.


Dinesh
Cricket Lover

Gary Kirsten - The Dronacharya of Indian Cricket !!!

Its been a memorable last few days of Indian cricket and to me the man who mattered the most was Gary Kirsten.

World cup was his final swan song and what a way to finish the same!!!

A smiling assassin who went about his routine procedures to a nicety was the fulcrum to team India's success in the 2011 edition of the World Cup.

On a lighter note, he is the only South African who has tasted World Cup success. India had always been a breeding ground for overseas coaches but none could match the charisma of the South African. Mind goes back to Greig Chappell who was suppose to coach Team India ran into a lot of criticism and tussle with most of the players and importantly with DADA .

A man of few words, Gary made it large and has been instrumental in India achieving No 1 status in Test Cricket, part of the world cup 20-20 team and now the coveted World Cup 2011.

And most rightly, he was lifted by team members as a part of the victory lap after the finals.

What else can one ask for from a coach? He has earned the respect of his team mates and most importantly their confidence.

His role along with Paddy has brought some of the best talents in the Indian team. They have moulded each and every individual and TEAM INDIA is ready to take on the world.

They are a force to reckon with and no praise is less for the great man from Cape Town.

He now bid's adieu as coach but his achievements will be etched in memory of most INDIANS for a lifetime.

Thanks Gary, you made the difference.....

M Krishnan

If Cricket were to be my Religion, Sachin will be my God

Modi disappointed. Quotes "Nobody thanked IPL for World Cup Victory"

CCL was able to interview the currently suspended formerly chairman and commissioner of IPL, Mr. Lalit Modi after India’s victory.

Hi Lalit, you must be happy after India won the world cup?

Yes. But I’m slightly disappointed with the fact that nobody cared to thank IPL for this victory.

What !#&*? Could you care to explain how this world cup has anything to do with IPL?

To be honest, it is only fair if this victory is dedicated to IPL. Just imagine yourself how it would have been had we scheduled IPL ahead of world cup this year? I’m sure players would be complaining tiredness, exertion, exhaustion, injury, turbulence, turmoil, hijack, nausea, constipation, cholera, jaundice, typhoid, hernia etc for the failure.

Yeah. Now it makes sense. I’m surprised how we missed it. But your answer prompted another question. Don’t you think the players would be coming up with same excuses for playing in IPL after the world cup?

No way. You are again missing the point. Money can heal any wound.

Yeah. That is absolutely right. But again the players are about to get 1 crore rupees for the world cup victory.

Come on. You must be joking. That money is just a pocket change compared to what they make in playing 6 weeks of cricket in IPL.

So you meant to say that this world cup victory means nothing to any of these players or the nation?

Well, it means something.  From my perspective, the Trophy looks better than the IPL’s.

Is that all?

And ofcourse, the Jerseys of teams in world cup were better than the IPL's.

The TRP ratings says that the world cup semi finals and finals had double the viewership than IPL finals?

That is mainly because the Tamil Nadu government had issued free TV to every household in the wake of elections. That should explain your question to why TRP ratings doubled.

That does not explain the viewership of the whole India. Is it?

Before I answer this question, I wish to call for a timeout. I cannot really talk any more without an Ad break.

Dinesh

Crazy Cricket Lover

Will Sachin Play? Can Dhoni Win?

Questions have started popping from all corners of the globe on what would be Dhoni’s motivation from here on? He has won the T20 World Cup in 2007, IPL in 2010, Champion’s League in 2010, lead India to become the No.1 side in ICC Test rankings and finally the World Cup in 2011. Does he have anything left to conquer?

The big feather that has been eluding the Master for the past 21 years has finally found its place in the Crown. Is he left with anything to achieve? Is he left with any motivation to play?

I wish to answer these questions in layman terms prior answering the same in a cricketer's perspective.

As a common man, do we ever say, I’m already earning enough and I don’t need any more cents on my salary, here on? Do we ever dare to even think like that? Isn’t the greedy persona in us drive us to earn more and more and more and finally push us to say the words, no matter how much I earn, nothing is enough. I hope the explanation has sufficiently answered the questions that doubt Dhoni and Sachin’s motivation here on.

From a cricketer standpoint, it is simply not about the batsman to pile up tons of runs for the sake of hunger or the bowler to stack up wickets based on greedy. There is lot more than this. It is called ADDICTION. To be precise it is one of the worst of drug addiction. The sound of ball meeting the middle of the bat creates an ecstasy in the batsman that is equivalent to few dose of heroin. The buzz the ball creates when it fly past the ears of the batsman is worth a few tequila shots. Similarly, when the bowler makes the batsman dance to his tunes, it creates the killer feelings of a drunkard.

Now you must have realized yourself that Sachin Tendulkar is lot worse than a drug addict. It is this addiction to the hunger kept the legend going. He would not quit until his body quits. He will push every bit of himself to stay in shape to prolong his career as long as possible. May be you, but I won’t be surprised if he is there around to play the 2015 World Cup.  Much like Sachin, Dhoni’s addictions to victories are hard to give up. He will keep piling as many victories as possible to end up becoming the most successful captain the world ever witnessed.

When these legends truly finish, they would have already built so many records that it would take few life times to beat.

Bottom Line: Just like my Superstar Rajnikanth says "You just watched the trailer. The main picture is about to begin".

Dinesh

Cricket Lover

2011 to 2015

First of all, congratulations to team India for their achievement in the finals and I am also struggling to find words to describe the feeling. This victory has injected a lot of energy to 50 over format. As Dhoni was repeatedly saying “Peaking at the right time”,  he peaked at the right time and stole the show completely. I am particularly happy for the middle order performance when the openers choked, unlike in the previous instances.

There were lot of predictions like 1983 and 2011 having same calendars, names of the captain with “S” were defeated – Strauss, Smith, Sammy, Shahid and Sangakkara (Ricky is exception but R is preceding S).

While we celebrate the victory, I would like to put my thoughts on this world cup and some activities so that we can have a more competitive and entertaining tournament in 2015. I am not counting IPL and CL into cricket tournaments, as it is more of money and entertainment and less of cricket. To begin with, the pessimist in me is asking the following questions over this victory:

1. It would have been a great victory had it been achieved during 1999, 2003 and 2007 – in English pitches rather than subcontinent.
2. Everyone is praising Dhoni and forgot Kapil Dev, who won the cup in truly English pitch and in 60 overs format – no technology, no UDRS period. Even Sachin has not referred his name in his post-match interview.
3. Dhoni is very lucky – everything clicks for him.
4. Did they fix this match since India is playing finals in home ground?

Now the optimist answers:
1. We lost to SL in 1996 at home itself and they took the cup. It is truly an achievement because we brought back Seetha (cup) after 15 years of vanvaas from Lanka to India.
2. It is foolish to compare people of different generations and period. Everyone is the best captain for India during their period – be it Kapil, Saurav or Dhoni. Since Kapil went against BCCI, players might be told not to refer his name. After all, they are staff of BCCI only.
3. So what if Dhoni is lucky? Hard work needs luck so that it can be converted into success. Tendulkar was hard working but unlucky and Dhoni joined him and we tasted the success today. Another example is South Africa who are unlucky for the last 20 years.
4. Post the match fixing allegations, every match seems to be fixed to Indian audience. So better ignore and enjoy the game.

Some memorable performance by the developing teams (I hate calling them minnows) which I liked in this cup: ·
Kevin’s century against England.
Canada scoring 55-0 in first 5 overs against Australia.
Kenya almost chased Australia’s 300+ score · Kenyan bowler who took the wicket of Cameron White of Australia - the ball turned almost 90deg and White must still be thinking about it.
Canada bundling Pakistan to 180.
Seelar of Netherlands taking 3 crucial wickets of India during the league match.
The positive attitude of Kenya during their last league match against Zimbabwe - as if they are playing their first match and rejoicing over each wicket taken.
Price of Zimbabwe forced Pakistan to work hard.

This World Cup victory has boosted my expectations towards India’s tour of England and Australia later this year. Since England and Australia were fared poorly in this tournament, they would revitalize their teams and would be looking forward to beat India to take revenge.

Some suggestions for major teams (we always fond of advising others): · NZ and WI are badly in need of match winners / consistent performers. Otherwise they can’t survive. A good captain for South Africa – it is because of Smith, they lost to ENG and NZ. England players need to be a little more versatile, as they get choked when the going is tough · OZ will rejuvenate themselves, so no advise for them – but they need good bowlers · SL will definitely bounce back but absence of Murali is going to hit them, as there is no strong alternate.

Though every team is suffering from the injury factor, the situation with the Indian players is a bit worrying. There is more talent in the team and if you are physically unfit, you are out. A look at the choices we have and where we need to focus from now on:
Openers: Sehwag, Sachin, Gambir.
All rounders (based on their capability and not performance): Yuvi, Yusuf, Raina, Kohli.
Seamers: Zaheer, Munaf, Ashish, Sreesanth, Praveen Kumar.
Spinners: Harbhajan, Ashwin, Chawla, Ojha
Wicket Keeper: Only MSD
We were fortunate that Dhoni didn’t succumb to any injury otherwise things would have been different. I am sure Dhoni might have noticed this and working on the same.

And finally, I am happy for my strong belief in Indian team lifting the cup and we did it in style, though thoughts of match fixing distracted here and there for a while. We worked hard, we need to party harder guys!!!

Jayaraman
Delhi, India

The Virtual Stadium experience

Imagine being in a Stadium with all your classmates, child hood friends, neighbours, co-workers and relatives for the most important match of your life! Courtesy of Channel Nine, illegal video streaming and Facebook, I had the joy of seeing my dream come true last night and sharing the joy with all the people who matter to me in the World.

An avid Indian cricket fan living away from most of my friends in Sydney, Australia, I have been dreaming of the day when I watch India win the World Cup with all my friends. The GAME ran from 8PM to 4AM my time. Extremely tired after spending the day at an Amusement Park, I enjoyed the first innings with a friend over Black Label. Tired and sleepy, I was struggling to stay awake during the second innings. Thanks to the hundreds of updates, commments, likes, emotions portrayed by my friends over Facebook, I was able to stay awake and enjoy the WIN! We went through the tensions, agonies and joys together. Thanks a lot guys for the great time!

India has won the Cricket World Cup 2011!! I cannot describe my happiness.

Hopefully we will recreate the Virtual stadium at the end of the year when India is in Australia to try and overcome the final frontier i.e. win its first ever Test Series in Australia. Till next time..


Sai Mahesh
Sydney, Australia

I'm a World Cup Winner!!!

What just happened in my life?

Running out of words to explain. It was this one thing that I've been praying and craving for years. I know I'm going to experience this today. When it came in my way, i truly did not know how to react. The best I manage to do was to run down tears in litres.


Is this what this feeling is all about? Is this what it would have been for those who witnessed it in 1983?
The sense of restlessness started last night. Could not sleep a bit. Woke up every half hour to see if it was 4.30 am already. I was scared if I would miss any action. Infact I was already awake to shut the alarm off before it rang bang bang.


After about 9.30 hours of impatient wait, my country was officially crowned as the World Champions. The feeling was equivalent to a thousand volcano eruption. Difficult to put in words. But I'm sure I felt more happy, more proud and shed more tears then I first became a father. Count me on this.


But the journey was never easy. It was like fighting a battle every moment. Meeting my own countrymen who challenged the faith every day. At times, I really appeared fool in many eyes.

Who is Team India? It is everyone of us. If we doubt our country it means to say we doubt our own ability. Is there something that we could achieve anything in life when we doubt our credentials? That was the only thought that ran in my mind all the time, as I came across every doubter.

Atlast the battle is over. My country just won the world cup and I witnessed every moment of it. I'm now a Crazy Mad Insane Indian.

Now everyone is beating their chests proudly to say "We won the World Cup". I’m sure as they beat the chest, they also pump the heart to be filled with self belief, courage and confidence.


Bottom Line: The dream has come true. I’ve become a World Cup winner. And so you are.


Dinesh
Crazy Cricket Lover

Cricket on Facebook

You must be wondering what does cricket had to do with Facebook (popularly called FB)?

For starters I’m discussing cricket mostly with the friends in FB and I’m also promoting my blog here. I felt it is time to dedicate one for the medium and the people who live here.

We have always watched cricket with friends and families at home. It is very much fun to watch the game with a group of people. As the game progress we keep predicting a four or six in that over, a wicket  or two this over, what should be the next move from the captain, then slam the captain for what we feel as an absurd move, who should bat next, who should bowl next, the winner of the match etc. These are interesting predictions. Some turn correct, some does not. But the euphoria of getting the right prediction and proving to be the best of brains is a wonder of the emotion.

If nobody is available for company, we still pick up the phone to call our buddy to discuss the game during the course.

As times change, so is our medium of discussion. Today people share their analysis and predictions with friends on Facebook live. Mind you, it means, it is taking eyes off the game for few moments to type the prediction or respond to your friends thought on what happened now or what happens next.

On the day of India-Pakistan game there was hardly any other subject discussed apart from cricket on my FB page. I’m sure many must have experienced the same. Since I don’t work with FB, I don’t have the stats to present, but I can pretty much assure you, cricket would have been the talk of that day.

I do wish to confirm that nothing beats the fun of watching the game at the stadium or watching the game at the public place with 10,000 spectators on the giant screen or watching and talking the game with family and friends on TV. I believe that this is also close to nature.

But for those like me who are little away from nature but closer to the virtual world, Facebook for sure brings the virtual reality in life.

I take this opportunity to thank Facebook to carry our thoughts to cricket lovers across the world. I also wish to thank those friends who join these cricket discussions and make people like me feel there is still life for existence in the virtual world.

Bottom Line: Watch the finals of the India - Sri Lanka live on Facebook. You will be glad you did it!!!

Dinesh
Cricket Lover