Indian Cricket, year in review: 2006

The Indian team flattered to deceive yet again. It is disappointing that we refuse to learn from past mistakes. Memories of Durban ten years ago came flooding back in as the Indian batsmen failed to put up a fight at Kingsmead. This series best encapsulates Indian cricket this year: incredible performances followed immediately by stunning ineptitude.

Vs Pakistan in Pakistan

This test series was a bowler’s nightmare. The pitches were featherbeds and the batsmen on both sides amassed runs like it was nobody’s business. Mohammed Yousuf, Younis Khan, Rahul Dravid, Sehwag all made big centuries in tests 1 and 2. In the deciding test of the series, Shoaib Akhtar provided the match-winning breakthrough. Needing to play out the final day at Karachi, India was looking towards Rahul Dravid to bat for a significant portion of the day. Akhtar, in a spell of consistent bowling (!), removed Dravid and with him, our hopes of saving the game.

The pitches

The pitches designed for the series were absolutely unsuitable for test cricket. The ball doesn’t have to jag around and seriously maim batsmen for it to be a disgrace for test cricket. If the wicket fails to produce an even contest between bat and ball, we might as well be playing on mats. With test cricket’s popularity dropping precipitously, series such as India vs. Pakistan provide an opportunity to revive the mass appeal for test cricket. The organizers have failed miserably in their duty towards the game.

High point

The 148 by Dhoni in partnership with Pathan in the second test was a revelation. We needed over 100 runs to avoid follow-on and the century that followed was a Dhoni special. He showed that he was capable of delivering on the big stage when it really mattered. He needs some more work on his keeping but India has found a wicket keeper for the future.

One-day Series

This is where Indians realized their ability to chase down big totals successfully, surprising fans around the world. Followers of Indian cricket know that Indians choke under pressure. We can make heavy weather of chasing even moderate totals and we can’t bat out a day to save a test even if our lives depended on it.
This series was different. The batsmen seemed to come out believing that no total was beyond reach . Has Greg Chappell bought about this change? I don’t know but my own guess is, it is more a reflection of the confidence of our times. Beating Pakistan 4-1 in their own backyard was a perfect beginning to the ODI calendar.

The English Premier League: season thus far

Its just past the halfway stage, but a few things are already pretty obvious.

Title: A two horse race

The title race is a duopoly, with Manchester United having the upper hand and Chelsea having serious problems at the back without John Terry. It is the exact opposite at United who have strong back up in defence, but are lacking in quality replacements in midfield and attack. Both these problems should be addressed when the transfer window opens. My prediction, a Chelsea hattrick of titles mainly due to the firepower they have in the squad. Classic case was last weekend when Chelsea and Man U played Everton and West Ham respectively. Chelsea brought on Kalou and Sheva while Man U brought on O’Shea to replace Giggs. Also given the amount of money that Chelsea have, a replacement defender for John Terry will not be too tough to find.

It’s going to be interesting to see the impact that Henrik Larsson has on the United squad. And what happens if he is a success? Is there a clause that lets him stay on till the end of the season? Also, will the whole Owen Hargreaves saga will come to an end? Hargreaves should cost upwards of 12 million pounds and this signing might mean that United wont have cash for any other signing.

The mysterious case of Santhi Soundarajan and other stories

Another Asian Games came by and went, and India managed to hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Not much of a surprise actually, considering that is what they have been doing at every global sporting arena. Thank goodness that the weightlifters were barred from taking part this year thanks to their past sins, else they would have hogged a major part of the headlines (still for the wrong reasons) themselves. But if there was one incident, or ‘news-item’ that made Seema Antil, the Indian hockey team etc’s efforts at infamy pale in comparison, it would be the gender bending act of Santhi Soundarajan.

Sportswomen being accused of masculinity is nothing new. The dawn of the 20th century saw women taking part in sports on a scale far larger than ever before. And soon enough, you had the ‘femininity’ of some highly successful female athletes being questioned. Sometimes, as in the case of Martina Hingis famously calling Mauresmo ‘half a man’ because she came to the Australian Open ‘with her girlfriend’, sportswomen were taking a dig at their own ilk. Rumours are rife that this might be the case with regards to Santhi as well, what with reports going around that it was a teammate of hers that complained to the authorities that caused the gender test to be taken. It’s a pity, really. There have been instances in the past of a ‘man’ competing as a woman and getting away with it. Take for example Stella Walsh, who as any good sports quizzer will tell you won Poland the gold in the women’s 100m race in the 1932 Olympics only to be discovered at her autopsy much later in 1980 that she had underdeveloped male genitalia and XY chromosomes. Stella’s case was also the one that led to a general agreement in the sporting world that one’s chromosomal gender need not always be an indication of one’s social/biological gender, and by the time of the 2000 Olympics, compulsory gender testing had been done away with.

Another reason why it is a pity is that no one can begrudge Santhi her hard fought achievements. Born to poor, rural and uneducated parents, and having lived all her life as a girl, she wouldn’t have given much thought to the fact that she did not have menstrual cycles like a normal woman, as she would have dismissed it as some medical aberration that would cost her a lot of money, that she could not afford, to probe deeper into, and instead concentrated on the one thing she did best, and knew that one day would bring her glory, i.e. run fast. What is a mystery to many is that Santhi had actually passed the gender tests of AFI without any hitches. This is only points out to the fact the outdated (though probably a better indicator of gender) physical examination method is what is prevalent in India and not chromosomal testing. For all its hi-funda science, chromosomal testing singles out female athletes whose genetic make-up, though not ‘normal’ gives them no unfair competitive advantage. And not to mention the psychological harm post-disclosure caused by gender testing in general.

The Santhi incident has prompted the introduction of gender tests at the National Games in Guwahati in a couple of months’ time. And this time, they are going the chromosomal way. May not be the morally right thing to do, but at least this keeps them in line with what is done internationally, and thus prevent another Santhi from happening, which would be good for both Indian athletics, and more importantly the athlete would not have face public humiliation at this large a scale.

Hockey

Indian hockey continues to reach new lows with every tournament. The Asian Games at Doha was a disaster. For the first time in the history of the Asian Games, India has finished outside the top three. While it is true that we are no longer a world power, it is a rude shock to be informed that we are not even among the top Asian teams. India was beaten by China. Now, that is a news headlines that would have evoked laughter a few years back. But China is now showing us that they are a force to reckon with. They beat
India in the group stages and then beat the other super power, Pakistan in the semi-finals.  

I think it is time for KPS Gill and his bunch of cronies to leave Indian Hockey alone. They have done enough damage. And Mr. Gill has the audacity to say, “10 bad minutes cost us the match”. We seem to have 10 bad minutes in every game. The Australians, the Dutch know that India is a dangerous team in the first half. The last fifteen minutes expose the lack of stamina and absence of alternate game plans. It is also disheartening that Indians haven’t adapted well to the new style that the Europeans practice. And to top it all, our selection policies leave most hockey fans scratching their heads in confusion. Why a player like Viren Rasquinha wouldn’t play is beyond me.  

The lack of consistent performance and official indifference to the plight of hockey, the constant chopping and changing of coaches, regional bias in team selection are disheartening. The hope now is, we can only go one way: up.

Am sure the readers of this blog would not have expected an article with so much ’sex’ and tragedy in it. But then such is sports.

Thejaswi Udupa and Prof

Technorati Tags: Santhi, Santhi+Soundarajan, Gender+Test, Runner, Athletics

The degeneration of ESPN-Star:

Before the advent of these infinite news channels, ESPNStar came up with the concept of an hour of sports news, half an hour in English called Sportsline on Star Sports followed by an identical version in Hindi on ESPN. The timings were also pretty conducive to my viewing, 7:30 to 8:30, ideal for post dinner watching at IITM. Sportsline was impressively anchored by one of the few admirable Australians, Jason Dasey and despite the obvious and necessary bias for cricket, did cover the other sports also adequately. Sportsline and Jason Dasey were both pretty good hits I think. ( why else would ESPNStar come up with ads having aam junta recognise Jason Dasey on the roads? )

While this was going smoothly, for some inexplicable reason the languages were reversed. Sportsline became the Hindi version and Sportscenter became the English one. As a result, to me 7:30 to 8 now became the time to watch some comedy on Star World as the English version was the more impressive one. Slowly and sadly, both Jason Dasey and Sporsline got phased away to be replaced by the crap that is shown now.

Lousy Shows

Now-a-days, there is only Sportscenter, two versions, one tailor made for India, in Hindi and the other the Asian edition in English. The Hindi version is abysmal, the equivalent of a sporting Slimes of India. Take yesterday’s example. Instead of showing the highlights of the wickets first up, what they showed was an “exclusive” Indian team celebration in the dressing room. And these were the same guys who criticised the Indian team even during the victory against the Rest of SA team, claiming that Rest of SA was a third string team. There is unnecessary harping on the part that Ganguly played in the match. Agreed it was important, but Zaheer’s and Laxman’s performances were also equally important. There seems to be a lack of balance in their reporting, just the extremes and a lot of sensationalisation as well. One of the anchors, Anand Narasimhan is atleast ok, the other guy just plain sucks. Yesterday he said the word “aitihasic” atleast 5-6 times before the first break, amateurish to say the least. Not something that I expected from ESPNStar.

Decline:

This is symptomatic of the decline in the quality of our premier Sports broadcaster. Till they won the ICC rights, they had the cricket telecast rights of only the white countries ( England, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand ) and the minnows (Bangladesh and Zimbabwe), still a majority but one that was slowly but surely being eroded by Ten Sports. They have lost the Champions League and hence have to act as if the English Premier League is the only league in the world. Last season the Champions League coverage was so so English centric and they did not even show the Spanish League live. I am sure it is only the loss of the CL rights that makes them telecast the Spanish League live this season. They have even lost the more fun WWE for the loser like TNA.

Last week, three test matches were being shown live. But unless you saw them live, there was no chance you could see glimpses of the matches outside of Sportscenter. The NZ-SL match highlights was just before the next day’s play at 2:30 am and the Ashes highlights was at 11:30 pm, too late in my opinion. What did they show from 9 to 11:30 pm? Among others, there was Ashes 2005, the crappy cricket comedy show and some classic boxing. Totally viewer unfriendly. There was also this crazy idea of showing our rape in the ODIs in two languages, must have been an MBA like me who came up with this idea to increase TRPs. As a result, some mid-week EPL matches were not shown live.

Despite all this, they still are our best sports channels, which does say a lot about the other sports channels.

-Kesavan

(Read the author’s blog at http://modestgenius.blogspot.com)

(Kesavan is an alumnus of IIT Madras and an MBA from IIM Bangalore. He is a top-notch quizzer and is currently working with a leading bank (I-bank) in Bangalore)

Ganguly: Against the Wall?

 

Tony Grieg once famously remarked during 1996 when India was touring England, that 1973 was the best year for Indian cricket. It was not just because it was the year that a certain Sachin Tendulkar was born, but because the year also saw the birth of the two batsmen that Grieg claimed at that time had the capability to overshadow the genius of Tendulkar; Sourav Ganguly, ‘The Prince of Calcutta’ and Rahul ‘The Wall’ Dravid. Both made their debuts at the Mecca of cricket – Lords, and both announced their arrival in typical fashion. Saurav Ganguly, at number 3, smashing 20 boundaries, a good chunk of them in the point region that he made his own, and scoring a 131 that is still etched in many a cricket fan’s memory. Rahul Dravid, coming as far down the order as number 7, scoring a patient workman like 95, with hardly half a dozen hits to the fence, but showing enough resilience and skill to prove to the selectors that he was the answer to all of India’s batting crises. Of course, as the years passed by, a lot of things changed. Rahul Dravid soon became the greatest Indian batsman to have batted at number 3, and Ganguly slowly slipped down the batting order as far down as number 7, and eventually out of the team. With Ganguly back in the scheme of things, this might be an opportune moment to reflect on the paths that the test careers of these two batting stalwarts have taken over the past decade.

The Prince

After a blazing start to his test career, though there weren’t too many memorable knocks (with the exception of probably the Brisbane ton which set the tone for India’s awesome display for the rest of the tour), Ganguly’s ability to galvanise his side into a fighting unit, his ability to effortlessly pierce a 7-2 offside field when he was in the mood for it, his aggression that was a rarity among Indian cricketers, and to some extent the destruction he havocked at the top of the Indian ODI top order meant that Ganguly’s position in India’s all-star batting order was relatively safe and cemented.

But then, post 2004, the downward slide took a turn for the worse, patchy batting form aside, his injuries, some real, and some apparently-not-so-real meant that he missed quite a few matches, where Dravid riding the crest of his life, would lead quite impressively (impressively enough to even let critics praise in hindsight the decision to declare an innings when Tendulkar was on 194*). The powers-that-be soon realised that Ganguly’s captaincy skills were not enough anymore to override his batting failures, and after the much talked about Ganguly-Chappell fiasco, the board decided that it was time to take away the crown from the Prince.

The Wall

Unlike Ganguly who took the scene by storm, Dravid almost nudged into the team without being noticed. Over the next few years, with his dependable batting, he laid stake and won his rightful number three position. He was building his career as he did his innings. He recognized fully well, the importance of staying there and that the runs and power would both come to him when they were due. Over this period, he proved himself to be the complete team man: batting at number five if required, keeping wickets in the shorter version.

Dravid’s batting is the work of a mechanic. Imagine Dravid batting and the picture is one of immense concentration, sweat dripping off the forehead, the perfectly poised head, the back-lift just right. When the stroke is played, the head is steady, the footwork decisive and the follow through complete. Every ball is a test and every shot is an answer, evaluated in terms of runs and correctness (defined by a copybook). He was making runs where everyone else was failing and significantly, when everyone else was failing. The chips are down? Dravid is the man. He had become the most prized wicket for any opposition. Dravid was also the poster boy of the Indian middle class: an educated youngster who had worked hard, understood his limitations and risen to the top through sheer hard work and strength of performance in the domestic league. Dravid’s was another face of the new India, reflecting a quiet confidence of the times.

Over the period of the Ganguly captaincy, Dravid had risen up to the top rungs of power and was the trusted ally of the Prince. When the opportunity presented itself, Dravid took over the reins with a defining victory in Pakistan. As a respected senior, an astute thinker of the game and the most prolific batsman, Dravid seemed the right man for the job. In fact, Team India was as much Dravid’s as it was Ganguly’s. He had the support of all members and with Greg Chappell backing him, was turning things around for the team. The team had become the most successful chasers in history, youngsters like Raina, Dhoni and Pathan were playing well, Dravid was batting well, the birds were singing and spring was on.

The future

The honeymoon is now over: poor forms of Sehwag and Pathan, dismal Champions trophy performance, inept display in South Africa means that Dravid is under some pressure. And to strengthen the middle order, Ganguly has been resurrected. It will be interesting to see what happens in the upcoming series. Ganguly has shown that he is a hard man to keep down. With the fighting innings in South Africa he has indicated that he is likely to breathe fresh life -or atleast try to- into his rather ordinary test career. Dravid is too much of a team man and nice guy to field anything but the best eleven of the fittest for the test. This probably means that Ganguly will play the first test against the Proteans. But with all this history behind them, how will their relationship develop from this point on? As a lover of Indian cricket, I hope to see another successful Ganguly-Dravid partnership. Ganguly batting in the form that earned him praises in Brisbane and Dravid doing what he does best, bat intelligently and score prolifically, and a resurrected Indian team coming away with a drawn Protean series would be a good start.

Will we see a beautiful friendship or are there more surprises in this story? I don’t expect another era of Ganguly captaincy but we will wait and watch this space for further developments.

- Prof and Thejaswi Udupa

Technorati Tags: Ganguly, Dravid, Sehwag, Cricket, Tendulkar

Chelsea Vs Arsenal: Review

After a pulsating 90 minutes, the London derby ended 1-1. The draw means that Chelsea now trail Manchester United by 8 points 9 (well, five as they will beat Newcastle on Wednesday). Arsenal will come away with a lot of confidence and will hope to cement their hold on the third place in the coming weeks. This season promises to be an exciting one and promises to stay alive till April.

My thoughts.

The Bull:

What a goal by Essien! Almost like Gerrard’s goal against Olympiakos but from a longer distance and a tighter angle. This guy is a bull, and would make a brilliant right back if not for the fact that he is even better in the centre of the park. Just like against United, Chelsea became more potent the moment Mourinho put him in right back and brought in Robben. And right now he is one of the 5 best players in the World (of course most footballer of the year polls would tell you that the best players right now are Henry, Owen, , Ronaldo, Raul and Zidane)

Theatrics:

Lehmann and Drogba reminded me of a couple of 5 year olds in the school playground trying to get the teacher’s attention at the right time. What a joke! This is one part of football I really hate and hopefully sometime in the next decade video rulings will help the referee come to the right decision. But what it definitely does is make the game more interesting. Frankly, I cant stand either Lehmann or Drogba and would have loved to see the two of them take each 0ther out. (by the looks of it it didn’t take too much to knock them down)

Whining Wenger:

The game showed what an annoying hypocrite Arsene Wenger really is. Arsenal went to the Bridge as the weaker team (missing key players) So what did they do? they had defended with all they had and hoped to hit the opponents on the break. What is wrong then? Just that Arsene whines everytime an opponent does the same thing against his team. Sure, the game was more attractive to watch because Arsenal have a lot of flair players (unlike say Everton) but it is still the same policy. So stop whining and try scoring, the next time you are playing Everton or Wigan at home.

Cashley Cole:

I would love to see what happens when Cole goes to the Emirates Stadium later on in the season. I wonder if the reaction will be any worse (or better) than what Figo got the first time he went back to the Camp Nou after his transfer to Real Madrid. From his career point of view, he did the right thing- he went to a company that offered him much better pay and also better chances of success but then try explaining that to the football fans!

Premiership:

What an advertisement for the premier league! Some of these big games can end up being a snoozefest with both teams cancelling out each other, but this one was anything but one. Two goals of very high quality, Chelsea hit the post thrice, hard tackles and some theatrics. What more could one ask for? The premier league might not be the best technically and the English team might be mediocre, but in terms of sheer entertainment nothing can beat this league.

Z

Technorati Tags: Chelsea, Arsenal, EPL, Premiership, Essien, Drogba, Wenger,

Bats, balls and beer bellies.

You know, I don’t write here very often… I guess I’m rather lazy. A lot of the time, I’m much happier off watching the stuff, and when I’m not, I’m sleeping. Thankfully, today I sat down in front of the telly to watch India vs. South Africa. So I find myself here, writing, thanks to Pat Symcox.

Now, most of you will remember Symcox as that massive South African off-spinner from the nineties. He was a fair bowler, I suppose, but the thing that (I felt) stood out about him was his size. Huge bugger, this fella. Which got me thinking… what happened to all the big men of cricket. I only started following cricket in 1993, but there was a bunch of cricketers who played around that time who were, well, rotund would be the word. Being rather rotund myself, I tend to have a soft spot for these undoubted connoisseurs of a good night out (I imagine). Here are a few that come to mind:

Merv Hughes

This guy was amazing. An Aussie quick in the late 80s and early 90s, Hughes had a walrus moustache and a belly which was, well, rather large. (An understatement, really). He would come steaming in from what appeared to be the boundary and hit the deck pretty hard – a good bowler, most people would concur. It baffles me to think about the stamina he must have had, no doubt camouflaged brilliantly with that beer belly. Hughes is now a national selector and has in fact appeared on reality tv shows built around losing weight.

Shane Warne: Old Wine, Old bottle

 

Some men you just don’t discount. The Englishmen learnt this lesson at the Adelaide Oval on day five. When the bowler is Shane Warne and the press is going hammer and tongs at him, it is time to be on your guard. Say what you will, but this man is the best of our generation and probably the best bowler of the last 15 years. And as always, a thorn in the side of the English batting line-up.

When Shastri and Sachin were tonking him all over the ground, nobody would have predicted over 600 wickets. But then, nobody knew what the essence of being Warne was. He is a great bowler with many variations but at the core of his success lies his hatred for losing. Connors was probably saying for him, “ I hate the look on the opponent’s face when he beats me”.

After the first innings, many a critic had written Warne off saying he probably did not have enough fuel in the tank to play back to back tests, the Englishmen like Pietersen had figured Warne out, Warne was another Giles and the like. In the final day’s play, Warne showed us what separates him from most players, delivering when it counted. It is true that the batsmen played too defensively but that isn’t Warne’s fault! He bowled tightly, teasing the batsmen, turning deliveries viciously, mixing them up well and being the bowler that the batsmen had nightmares about.

He might no longer be the bowler he was four or five years ago but this man is ageing quite like the Bordeaux reds. He has shown us many times over that he is capable of this kind of performance. I wonder what the critics were thinking writing him off like that. Why would you bet against him? Many a columnist was forced to swallow his words at another famous Australian victory engineered by Warne.

“Nanner Nanner”, from Shane Warne.

-Prof

Australia 2 : England 0;I told you so!

The English cricketers, for the first four days of the second test match nearly pulled off a stunt that would have made the above headline impossible. In fact, if someone had asked me on the morning of the fifth day whether there was any other possibility apart from the match petering out to a boring draw, I would have probably put my odds on a Pietersen-fronted all out batting assault for a session and a half, which would have then made way for an exciting last couple of sessions if a couple of Aussie wickets had fallen early. As it turned out, the only thing I was right about was a couple of Aussie wickets falling early (they lost both their openers within the first six overs). Such was the confidence inspired by England’s first innings batting display, that no one in their right cricketing mind would predict that the Poms would score only 70 runs off the 54 overs they faced today, far less an all-out batting collapse. But then, such is cricket.

Apart from the Australian ‘good’ there has been a lot of English ‘bad’ that has contributed to the defeats in the first two tests. For one, the selectors’ inexplicable stupidity in not playing Monty. If they are so intent on playing Giles for the 20 odd runs that he purportedly contributes with the bat, they could have kept him, and ditched the totally out-of-form Jamie Anderson. In any case, England’s past formula of a four-pronged pace attack is not working, so they might well try out a 2-spinner approach; one to bowl outside leg-stump and generally bore batsman out, and the other to bowl teasing flighted deliveries and mesmerize the batsmen into giving up their wickets. That leads us to the second English ‘bad’. It’s more a case of ‘never been worse’ actually - their ‘pace’ attack. The only thing imposing about Harmison these days is his height. James Anderson is bowling like some teenager who is called upon to bowl at batsmen in the nets to give them some morale boost. Freddie Flintoff is still confused whether he is a captain, a fast bowler or an attacking batsman, and until he assures himself that he is all three I don’t see him doing justice to any of them. Hoggard has finally got his wily cutters in place, so that may be some consolation for England. 

But a few positives have also emerged in these past two tests. Collingwood playing Steve Waugh-esque innings; Pietersen making Shane Warne do a Ashley Giles (bowl a negative leg-stump line), and still managing to thulp him at will. Ian Bell, might have lost a bit of the fluency of the Pak tour, but is still making runs. Most importantly, England have not really been complete doormats that most people expected them to be for these first two tests. And the long break until the third test should give the English team management enough time to read all the things that have been written about what’s going wrong, and allow them to set right at least a few of them. All of which boils down to good stuff for cricket lovers. Expect some bounce in WACA; not just on the pitch, but in the strides of the cricketers, both teams.

Thejaswi Udupa

Technorati Tags: Ashes, England, Australia, Adelaide, Warne, Pietersen

Showtime for European Giants

Wednesday may well be the end of the road of several European giants in this year’s Champions League. The usually drab group stage has given way for some exciting KO football with some of Europe’s finest, including participants of last year’s dream final, having a lot of work to do.

Barcelona have the hardest proposition- A must win game with an injury ravaged side against one of the best teams in Europe, at-least this season. . Werder have been spectacular this season, both in the Champions League and on their domestic front, with Brazilian Playmaker Diego pulling the strings and finally living up to his billing after his unhappy time at Porto. He has been sensational this year and he will go against a Barcelona team who know they cant sit back, but that has never been their wont. Ronaldinho has had a coming again party and would want to celebrate his nomination for FIFA World Player of the Year in style.

Manchester United on the other hand were looking pretty a few weeks ago until they, presumably in a fit of idiocy, decided not to turn up for the next two games. And they paid the price. In an identical situation to last year, they are to face a Benfica team with a winner take all clause. This time however it will be in the comfort of their backyard.

Arsenal have fewer excuses this time for struggling in a group of mediocre difficulty but that wont stop Arsene Whinger from dishing out the usual tripe about refs and the fixture list. Henry’s bust up with Wenger has been rebuffed as sheer hyperbole by the die-hard gooners but Wenger’s equivocal post match interview may suggest otherwise. They are lucky in that a poor performance need not send them out of the Champions league.

All in all fantastic matches for fans. Here’s hoping that Barca dont play in the Uefa Cup….

V