As the name of the blog suggests, I’m not much of a cricket person. Well, I used to be till about 5 years back when I was still in college but once college was over and with it all the time in the world, I figured out that watching a sport where mostly nothing happened for the majority of the playing time, all by myself was a tough job. It soon turned out to be an impossible one.
T20 has certainly made things even more complicated. Let’s face it. With so many T20 tournaments being played all over the world these days, cricket in whites doesn’t only seem a thing of distant past but a different era altogether. And there’s absolutely no doubt that this is the most desired format for cricket lovers across the board. But I still fail to understand the T20 mania.
Alright, by now you must be cursing this eternally unhappy being whose only trip in life is to go against the consensus and you are justified in doing so. But can you possibly ignore the fact that such a kind always existed? After all, you cannot ignore us (me actually, plurals are used to gain some sort of an imaginary support from an imaginary section of the society) just because we are the minority!
What I fail to understand is this apparently smooth evolution of the game from 5 days to 20 overs. Popular demand, one would say. In that case, I fail to understand such a demand. Fans usually love a particular sport for what it is, including the duration. Rather, they are so decidedly blind that they never find a fault in something that they are so passionate about. And that makes cricket once again a unique sport as it is the only sport that changed its format and along with it its character to please its fans.
What does a cricket fan want? Does he want the game to remain the same? The way it was when he first fell in love with it? Or does he want her to change to suit his requirements? After all the idea of a 40 minute football match doesn’t appeal to a football fan and there’s no possibility of a World Cup of truncated football matches. Not in the imminent future, not ever.
The reason why cricket has changed is there for everyone to see. India has changed it. And this probably had to happen. Amongst the cricket-playing nations, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe cannot possibly make things happen simply because they don’t have the money. The West Indies is an identity the Caribbean islands go by on the cricket fields. It’s a collection of separate island nations where cricket is dying. Australia, New Zealand, England and South Africa don’t need to make cricket big for two reasons. Firstly, cricket is not the most popular sport in any of these countries and also they don’t have the numbers to support the cause. So it was left to India. To the Indian middle-class whose favourite pastime is watching television. And no other sport can boast of a peaceful cohabitation of viewers and an Indian team.
Thus, cricket changed from 30 overs a session to 20 overs an innings. And it divided the cricket fans into two different camps. The majority camp, the members of which are happy with this change and the unhappy minority lot. This has never been the fate of any other sport.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Unlucky Tendlya
On November, 15, 2009 Sachin Tendulkar completed twenty illustrious years in international cricket. The hype and hoopla around the moment was visible and understandable.
Each and every newspaper, tv channel, radio station kept telling us about it. Leander Paes was made to remember that table tennis match he lost to Sachin a few years back, Bishen Singh Bedi decided to be sensible for once and praise the man, Amitabh Bachchan recounted all those occasions when he had to post-pone shoots to watch Sachin bat (really?). So on and so forth.
Did make one wonder, what if Sachin was not an Indian? Or, an Indian, who represented another country? Someone like Venkatraman Ramakrishnan or Dinanath Ramnarine if we were to strictly talk about cricket?
Well, it would have been disastrous for Indian cricket but surely better for Sachin.
Why? Because in that case he would have had the good fortune of playing against Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Dodda Ganesh, Abey Kuruvilla, David Johnson and the likes.
In the sixth one-dayer against Australia in Guwahati in the recently concluded seven-match ODI series (The Aussies won that match by six wickets to clinch the series 4-2), Sachin managed to score only 10 runs. But he still had a record against his name. Sachin became the first cricketer to amass 3000 ODI runs against Australia. In fact, he became the first cricketer to score more than 3000 runs in any format against any team in the world. Hopefully he would soon cross the mark against the Aussies in Test cricket too. He’s scored 2748 Test runs against Australia so far and the deficit of 252 runs is a matter of one Test match for an average Sachin and three for an off-colour Sachin.
Now, how many runs would a man score against the Srinath-Prasad-Agarkar combine if he succeeded in scoring close to 6000 international runs against the Mcgrath-Lee-Warne combine? We all know the answer.
Sachin has often been compared to some of his contemporaries (his contemporaries though include everyone from Dean Jones to Callam Fergusson). But while comparing others to Sachin, people conveniently forget that while Brian Charles Lara had the good fortune of playing against Sunil Joshi and Nilesh Kulkarni or conversely, of not playing against Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Sachin had no such privileges. While Inzamam Ul Haq honed his batting skills against Harvinder Singh and Rahul Sanghvi, Sachin had to sweat it out against those who never bowled to Inzy in international cricket. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. Still, neither Lara nor Inzy managed to score as many international runs.
We all know that Sachin has scored close to 30,000 international runs (by the time this article is published, he in all probabilities would have crossed the 30,000 barrier as India would be playing against Sri Lanka). But I guess what makes this monumental milestone look even more unbelievable is the fact that he scored all those runs without facing a single delivery of Paras Mhambrey or Prashant Vaidya or Bhupinder Singh Senior.
What would have happened if Sachin wasn’t playing for India?
One, he probably would have scored another 30,000 runs against the ‘fearsome’ Indian bowlers.
Two, the Indian media would have had to give more space to Rahul Gandhi and LK advani.
Each and every newspaper, tv channel, radio station kept telling us about it. Leander Paes was made to remember that table tennis match he lost to Sachin a few years back, Bishen Singh Bedi decided to be sensible for once and praise the man, Amitabh Bachchan recounted all those occasions when he had to post-pone shoots to watch Sachin bat (really?). So on and so forth.
Did make one wonder, what if Sachin was not an Indian? Or, an Indian, who represented another country? Someone like Venkatraman Ramakrishnan or Dinanath Ramnarine if we were to strictly talk about cricket?
Well, it would have been disastrous for Indian cricket but surely better for Sachin.
Why? Because in that case he would have had the good fortune of playing against Javagal Srinath, Venkatesh Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Dodda Ganesh, Abey Kuruvilla, David Johnson and the likes.
In the sixth one-dayer against Australia in Guwahati in the recently concluded seven-match ODI series (The Aussies won that match by six wickets to clinch the series 4-2), Sachin managed to score only 10 runs. But he still had a record against his name. Sachin became the first cricketer to amass 3000 ODI runs against Australia. In fact, he became the first cricketer to score more than 3000 runs in any format against any team in the world. Hopefully he would soon cross the mark against the Aussies in Test cricket too. He’s scored 2748 Test runs against Australia so far and the deficit of 252 runs is a matter of one Test match for an average Sachin and three for an off-colour Sachin.
Now, how many runs would a man score against the Srinath-Prasad-Agarkar combine if he succeeded in scoring close to 6000 international runs against the Mcgrath-Lee-Warne combine? We all know the answer.
Sachin has often been compared to some of his contemporaries (his contemporaries though include everyone from Dean Jones to Callam Fergusson). But while comparing others to Sachin, people conveniently forget that while Brian Charles Lara had the good fortune of playing against Sunil Joshi and Nilesh Kulkarni or conversely, of not playing against Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh, Sachin had no such privileges. While Inzamam Ul Haq honed his batting skills against Harvinder Singh and Rahul Sanghvi, Sachin had to sweat it out against those who never bowled to Inzy in international cricket. Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Saqlain Mushtaq and Mushtaq Ahmed. Still, neither Lara nor Inzy managed to score as many international runs.
We all know that Sachin has scored close to 30,000 international runs (by the time this article is published, he in all probabilities would have crossed the 30,000 barrier as India would be playing against Sri Lanka). But I guess what makes this monumental milestone look even more unbelievable is the fact that he scored all those runs without facing a single delivery of Paras Mhambrey or Prashant Vaidya or Bhupinder Singh Senior.
What would have happened if Sachin wasn’t playing for India?
One, he probably would have scored another 30,000 runs against the ‘fearsome’ Indian bowlers.
Two, the Indian media would have had to give more space to Rahul Gandhi and LK advani.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
A Timely Call
The day has finally come! Ah, those ugly on-side shots are gone! The fielding standard of the Indians are once again up to the mark! And oh yeah, of course, the captain won’t speak much! Even if he does it won’t make much sense.
Sourav Ganguly has decided to call it a day as far as international cricket is concerned. With that, a mysterious and one of the most colourful episodes of Indian cricket has come to an end. Mysterious because in spite of being the second highest run scorer for India in one-day cricket, in spite of being the most successful captain of India as far as Test wins are concerned and in spite of being the proud owner of 15 Test hundreds, he’s been at the receiving end of attacks from all quarters, the reasons best known to the attackers.
The senior-junior debate has been going on in Indian cricket for quite sometime now. While clubbing Sachin, Rahul, Kumble, Laxman and Dada together and calling them seniors or veterans is a politically correct move, one fails to understand why Sourav was always the prime target of everyone! The prodigal VVS Laxman has managed a meager 2338 runs from 86 ODIs at an average of 30.76 with 6 hundreds over a decade (he made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in April, 1998) but he’s still a prodigy! Pundits never bothered to show us fans, the logic behind fielding a prodigy in only 86 ODIs in 10 years. One look at the video clippings of the famous final group league match against the Kangaroos at Sharjah in 1998 though exposes the prodigy. When Sachin was wrongly given out, India was agonizingly close to a memorable victory. But the prodigious Laxman struggled hard to get there without success. Still, he is a prodigy and the man who taught the toddlers to walk is a bad influence. Well, was. He won’t be corrupting the dressing room anymore.
It was interesting to see those reactions pouring in right after the announcement. Everyone from Javagal Srinath to Kiran More suddenly remembered what a great player Sourav Ganguly was! The same Kiran More, whose only claim to fame during his playing days was that he successfully instigated Javed Miandad once. The same Kiran More, who had announced in public that Sourav would never be called back to the Indian squad when he was the chairman of the selectors. That’s okay. If there is no better candidate than More to head the selection panel, then it does give him a right to speak. But what one fails to understand is what did he have against Ganguly? And whatever he had, where and how did that disappear the moment Sourav announced his retirement?
To Sourav’s credit, he’s decided to be the one to put an end to all the humiliation that he definitely didn’t deserve and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect! By announcing his retirement before the series, he’s made sure that the selectors would pick him for the last two Tests against the Aussies (the current squad is only for the first two) and he has now successfully pushed the ball to others’ courts. The first Test is over and the highest run-getter for India in that Test was Sourav Ganguly. It’s anybody’s guess what exactly would the other ‘seniors’ be going through right now. More importantly, what are the selectors thinking now? Anil Kumble has announced that the Bangalore Test against the Aussies was his last at home. So, a premature skipper’s cap for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Tests? And what would be the future middle-order? Rahul Dravid in spite of his technical brilliance doesn’t justify the wall tag anymore and it’s clear that Sachin Tendulkar only has personal goals in mind at this point in time. Next is England at home in December. Doesn’t sound threatening considering the opponents and the venues. But permanent solutions will have to be found shortly. The one who would be gearing up to answer all those whom he had to ignore for so long is of course Sourav Ganguly. And we all know that he can speak. More fun in store for the Indian cricket administrators! Both on and off the field.
Sourav Ganguly has decided to call it a day as far as international cricket is concerned. With that, a mysterious and one of the most colourful episodes of Indian cricket has come to an end. Mysterious because in spite of being the second highest run scorer for India in one-day cricket, in spite of being the most successful captain of India as far as Test wins are concerned and in spite of being the proud owner of 15 Test hundreds, he’s been at the receiving end of attacks from all quarters, the reasons best known to the attackers.
The senior-junior debate has been going on in Indian cricket for quite sometime now. While clubbing Sachin, Rahul, Kumble, Laxman and Dada together and calling them seniors or veterans is a politically correct move, one fails to understand why Sourav was always the prime target of everyone! The prodigal VVS Laxman has managed a meager 2338 runs from 86 ODIs at an average of 30.76 with 6 hundreds over a decade (he made his ODI debut against Zimbabwe in April, 1998) but he’s still a prodigy! Pundits never bothered to show us fans, the logic behind fielding a prodigy in only 86 ODIs in 10 years. One look at the video clippings of the famous final group league match against the Kangaroos at Sharjah in 1998 though exposes the prodigy. When Sachin was wrongly given out, India was agonizingly close to a memorable victory. But the prodigious Laxman struggled hard to get there without success. Still, he is a prodigy and the man who taught the toddlers to walk is a bad influence. Well, was. He won’t be corrupting the dressing room anymore.
It was interesting to see those reactions pouring in right after the announcement. Everyone from Javagal Srinath to Kiran More suddenly remembered what a great player Sourav Ganguly was! The same Kiran More, whose only claim to fame during his playing days was that he successfully instigated Javed Miandad once. The same Kiran More, who had announced in public that Sourav would never be called back to the Indian squad when he was the chairman of the selectors. That’s okay. If there is no better candidate than More to head the selection panel, then it does give him a right to speak. But what one fails to understand is what did he have against Ganguly? And whatever he had, where and how did that disappear the moment Sourav announced his retirement?
To Sourav’s credit, he’s decided to be the one to put an end to all the humiliation that he definitely didn’t deserve and the timing couldn’t have been more perfect! By announcing his retirement before the series, he’s made sure that the selectors would pick him for the last two Tests against the Aussies (the current squad is only for the first two) and he has now successfully pushed the ball to others’ courts. The first Test is over and the highest run-getter for India in that Test was Sourav Ganguly. It’s anybody’s guess what exactly would the other ‘seniors’ be going through right now. More importantly, what are the selectors thinking now? Anil Kumble has announced that the Bangalore Test against the Aussies was his last at home. So, a premature skipper’s cap for Mahendra Singh Dhoni in Tests? And what would be the future middle-order? Rahul Dravid in spite of his technical brilliance doesn’t justify the wall tag anymore and it’s clear that Sachin Tendulkar only has personal goals in mind at this point in time. Next is England at home in December. Doesn’t sound threatening considering the opponents and the venues. But permanent solutions will have to be found shortly. The one who would be gearing up to answer all those whom he had to ignore for so long is of course Sourav Ganguly. And we all know that he can speak. More fun in store for the Indian cricket administrators! Both on and off the field.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
League gropes in the dark
Merely two days before the start of the I-League, Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi painted a very sorry figure of Indian soccer.
Little over 17 months since FIFA president Joseph Blatter's first official visit to India (April 2007) with an apparent vision to take India to the next level, Football Federation president Dasmunshi and secretary Alberto Colaco were caught on the wrong foot during a press conference to launch the second I-League in Delhi on Wednesday.
Underprepared stadiums, shoddy preparation, a league committee sans a CEO and a hilarious fixture were some of the issues that emerged at a time when Indian football's bigwigs are talking about professionalism.
Leave alone "experimental" matches at the Cooperage in Mumbai, the fixtures abruptly end after the first leg. The reason for the 45-day break between the two halves of the I-League is another tournament (Federation Cup from December 4-23) and a national camp (January 2-10).
Other issues downplayed by Dasmunshi were selecting Barasat as a venue over the international class Salt Lake Stadium for five matches in the first leg, including the opener on September 26 between East Bengal and Chirag United. "Deployment of police is a problem at the Salt Lake Stadium", was all that Dasmunshi would say, without explaining how security arrangement would be any easier at Barasat, considering the fact that both areas are under West Bengal Police.
Dasmunshi added that similar arrangements were in place for the matches in Mumbai too. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai is the "most expensive" option, and even Kolhapur is being considered as alternate venues to Cooperage. Colaco revealed that matches could be transferred to "neutral venues." He neither wanted to name these venues nor explain the reason why matches would be required to play there.
Sponsor of the I-League, oil major ONGC has also cut down the total expenditure from Rs 7 to 6 crore. This has been attributed to the "global oil crisis". However, the league will have prize money of Rs 10 lakh for the fourth-best team. The winners will take home Rs 50 lakh, the runners-up Rs 28 lakh and the third team Rs 20 lakh. The total prize money will be Rs 1.25 crore this year. The 132-match league is expected to be over in April.
Whether it was financial support for the clubs who need it, scholarship for footballers or infrastructural support for the national team that has qualified for the 2011 Asia Cup after 24 years, the AIFF president is urging corporate houses to come forward. He revealed that a separate project has been launched for the Asia Cup and a deal is expected to be clinched by next week with a corporate major in this regard, though he refused to divulge details on the progress.
When asked about the 400,000 USD grant announced by Blatter for India last year, in addition to the 1 million USD grant that every associate member gets, Dasmunshi said: "The FIFA grant is for separate purposes such as astro-turfs and getting foreign coaches and professionals."
Dasmunshi was rather candid in admitting that spotting talent, introducing football in schools and similar measures were not among the federation's concerns. He though talked about the federation's optimism about following the ‘EPL module' in conducting the I-League! There are miles to go, of course.
Blatter had talked about his motto ‘Win in India with India' and had also reemphasized India's growing importance in this part of the world. The Asian Football Confederation president Mohammad Bin Hammam had talked about how India played a crucial part in his Vision Asia project. And together, they had talked about the AIFF following their vision to lead India to the 2018 World Cup.
On Wednesday, the AIFF president asked the media "not to expect what Japan could achieve in three years from India in even five years". The second I-League would be on the AFC radar. If the AIFF fails to conduct the league professionally, following guidelines laid down by them, it may cost the country a Champions League berth. The AFC Challenge Cup heroics by Bob Houghton and his bravehearts will only go down the drain.
Little over 17 months since FIFA president Joseph Blatter's first official visit to India (April 2007) with an apparent vision to take India to the next level, Football Federation president Dasmunshi and secretary Alberto Colaco were caught on the wrong foot during a press conference to launch the second I-League in Delhi on Wednesday.
Underprepared stadiums, shoddy preparation, a league committee sans a CEO and a hilarious fixture were some of the issues that emerged at a time when Indian football's bigwigs are talking about professionalism.
Leave alone "experimental" matches at the Cooperage in Mumbai, the fixtures abruptly end after the first leg. The reason for the 45-day break between the two halves of the I-League is another tournament (Federation Cup from December 4-23) and a national camp (January 2-10).
Other issues downplayed by Dasmunshi were selecting Barasat as a venue over the international class Salt Lake Stadium for five matches in the first leg, including the opener on September 26 between East Bengal and Chirag United. "Deployment of police is a problem at the Salt Lake Stadium", was all that Dasmunshi would say, without explaining how security arrangement would be any easier at Barasat, considering the fact that both areas are under West Bengal Police.
Dasmunshi added that similar arrangements were in place for the matches in Mumbai too. DY Patil Stadium in Navi Mumbai is the "most expensive" option, and even Kolhapur is being considered as alternate venues to Cooperage. Colaco revealed that matches could be transferred to "neutral venues." He neither wanted to name these venues nor explain the reason why matches would be required to play there.
Sponsor of the I-League, oil major ONGC has also cut down the total expenditure from Rs 7 to 6 crore. This has been attributed to the "global oil crisis". However, the league will have prize money of Rs 10 lakh for the fourth-best team. The winners will take home Rs 50 lakh, the runners-up Rs 28 lakh and the third team Rs 20 lakh. The total prize money will be Rs 1.25 crore this year. The 132-match league is expected to be over in April.
Whether it was financial support for the clubs who need it, scholarship for footballers or infrastructural support for the national team that has qualified for the 2011 Asia Cup after 24 years, the AIFF president is urging corporate houses to come forward. He revealed that a separate project has been launched for the Asia Cup and a deal is expected to be clinched by next week with a corporate major in this regard, though he refused to divulge details on the progress.
When asked about the 400,000 USD grant announced by Blatter for India last year, in addition to the 1 million USD grant that every associate member gets, Dasmunshi said: "The FIFA grant is for separate purposes such as astro-turfs and getting foreign coaches and professionals."
Dasmunshi was rather candid in admitting that spotting talent, introducing football in schools and similar measures were not among the federation's concerns. He though talked about the federation's optimism about following the ‘EPL module' in conducting the I-League! There are miles to go, of course.
Blatter had talked about his motto ‘Win in India with India' and had also reemphasized India's growing importance in this part of the world. The Asian Football Confederation president Mohammad Bin Hammam had talked about how India played a crucial part in his Vision Asia project. And together, they had talked about the AIFF following their vision to lead India to the 2018 World Cup.
On Wednesday, the AIFF president asked the media "not to expect what Japan could achieve in three years from India in even five years". The second I-League would be on the AFC radar. If the AIFF fails to conduct the league professionally, following guidelines laid down by them, it may cost the country a Champions League berth. The AFC Challenge Cup heroics by Bob Houghton and his bravehearts will only go down the drain.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Desperate Measure
In a desperate bid to find the seniors’ successors, the Indian selectors’ latest contributions to the big league are Virat Kohli and S Badrinath, both of whom made their ODI debut in Sri Lanka (August 2008). While an irregular opening slot was Kohli’s shield for his hard fought efforts until he scored a 50 in the fourth match of the Idea Cup, Badri’s unbeaten 27 in an Indian run chase of 143 was hailed as a laudable effort. The Tamil Nadu batsman followed that up with 6 and 6 in the next two matches.
If the Indian performance in the Idea Cup is anything to go by, serious speculation should be the order of the day. They have struggled every bit to get to a total of 143, they have been bowled out for 258 in 49.3 overs from 224 for 3 in 41 overs, a rookie leg spinner (Ajantha Mendis) has made them dance to his tunes (a feat Abdul Qadir and Shane Warne couldn’t even dream to achieve) and they not for once looked champion material.
The least the selectors and the officials could do to provide some direction to this young bunch is add a bit of experience to the squad. It’s far easier for Suresh Raina, a tremendous prospect for India in the future to play alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly than Virat Kohli and S Badrinath. And as is evident, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh would still take time before broadening their shoulders in crisis situations.
With Sehwag’s inclusion though, the Idea Cup squad seems a near perfect one. With three seniors (Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni) around, the combination of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Robin Uthappa looks not only formidable but dangerous. But if any of the three is not available, what’s the point in looking for more replacements for them from the younger lot! There is still a legendary ODI batsman in Sourav Ganguly, who has not called it a day. Does Virat Kohli justify a call ahead of Ganguly in the team? Sri Lanka though on the other hand has groomed their younger cricketers (Chamara Kapugedera for example) but for once not at the cost of Sanath Jayasuriya, the old war horse.
To say that the Indian cricket administrators and logic do not go hand-in-hand would be nothing new. Their attitude towards the game sends a clear message that things could now be taken for granted. Whatever goes on, the broadcasters and sponsors are certain to get their money back from cricket and in turn, the BCCI is certain to get richer.
The fans are left alone in the hands of Kohli and Badri, none of whom could care less as both became IPL players even before their international debut. The reactions of Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, who desperately needs to learn the art of communication, though would be interesting once this anarchy sets up its promised date with failure.
If the Indian performance in the Idea Cup is anything to go by, serious speculation should be the order of the day. They have struggled every bit to get to a total of 143, they have been bowled out for 258 in 49.3 overs from 224 for 3 in 41 overs, a rookie leg spinner (Ajantha Mendis) has made them dance to his tunes (a feat Abdul Qadir and Shane Warne couldn’t even dream to achieve) and they not for once looked champion material.
The least the selectors and the officials could do to provide some direction to this young bunch is add a bit of experience to the squad. It’s far easier for Suresh Raina, a tremendous prospect for India in the future to play alongside Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly than Virat Kohli and S Badrinath. And as is evident, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh would still take time before broadening their shoulders in crisis situations.
With Sehwag’s inclusion though, the Idea Cup squad seems a near perfect one. With three seniors (Sehwag, Yuvraj and Dhoni) around, the combination of Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina and Robin Uthappa looks not only formidable but dangerous. But if any of the three is not available, what’s the point in looking for more replacements for them from the younger lot! There is still a legendary ODI batsman in Sourav Ganguly, who has not called it a day. Does Virat Kohli justify a call ahead of Ganguly in the team? Sri Lanka though on the other hand has groomed their younger cricketers (Chamara Kapugedera for example) but for once not at the cost of Sanath Jayasuriya, the old war horse.
To say that the Indian cricket administrators and logic do not go hand-in-hand would be nothing new. Their attitude towards the game sends a clear message that things could now be taken for granted. Whatever goes on, the broadcasters and sponsors are certain to get their money back from cricket and in turn, the BCCI is certain to get richer.
The fans are left alone in the hands of Kohli and Badri, none of whom could care less as both became IPL players even before their international debut. The reactions of Niranjan Shah, the board secretary, who desperately needs to learn the art of communication, though would be interesting once this anarchy sets up its promised date with failure.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Memories from Beijing and earlier
Watching the Olympics was good fun after a long time. The first sporting extravaganza that I remember watching was the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Even Doordarshan’s animated athletes, swimmers or boxers before the events were objects of fascination then. I don’t remember much from the LA Games but the sight of Mohammad Shahid, our hockey captain has not faded. Shahid used to wear a head band, besides being a fantastic hockey player and since he was the captain, he was obviously one of my childhood sporting heroes along with Kapil Dev, Mohammad Azharuddin and some of our local football heroes.
As football is the principal sport (even now) in Calcutta, watching football matches played between any two teams on earth is a matter of great significance for us Calcuttans and thus, I was thrilled to watch India play Bahrain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. I had earlier watched India play Malaysia at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta. India had won 3-nil. I don’t remember much from that match too apart from another long-haired guy, Narender Thapa who used to play in the defence. In Seoul though, the results were reversed and Bahrain pumped in all three goals with alarming regularity and clinical precision to put the match beyond India moments after it started.
From then on, watching the Indian football team was a weird, pointless sort of a habit. As for Shahid, I’d forgotten him till 2002 or 2003, when Ten Sports aired his story. Now bald, Shahid was training kids in Allahabad and he was not really doing well for himself. I can’t describe how it felt watching one of my earliest sporting heroes after almost two decades tell his forgotten story to the TV camera. About four years later, while working as the sports editor of a Bengali daily, I came to know that a former footballer, who had played for either East Bengal or Mohunbagan or both, by the name of Narender Gurung had died. Knowing how things worked with the innumerable experts in the media, I wanted them to find out before publishing the news whether it was Gurung or Thapa. No one seemed to know and since the press deadline was fast approaching, it didn’t matter after a while. I knew for sure that Pem Dorjee, one of Thapa’s contemporaries had died of cancer.
I don’t remember much from the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games either apart from the heroics of Leander Paes (’96), Karnam Malleshawari (’00), Rajyavardhan Rathore (2004) and the 100m races.
In 2008 though there were things to watch, moments to savour and all-in-all, the Beijing Games were a treat for every sporting aficionado in India. Along with Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Vijenjder Singh, Jitender Kumar, Akhil Kumar, Anthresh Lalit Lakra, Dinesh Kumar, Saina Nehwal, Anup Sridhar, Achanth Sharath Kamal, Neha Agarwal, Dola Banerjee, Pranita Vardhineni, JJ Shobha, GG pramila, Sushmita Singharoy, Bajrang Lal Tahker, Sandeep Sejwal, Vridhawal Khade and all those who made India proud, I would also remember Sakal Bhatt, the DD Sports anchor for her mindboggling commentary. Here’s Sakal right after the men’s 110m hurdles, won by Dayron Robles of Cuba.
“We just watched the men’s 110m hurdles and what an exciting finish it was! As you saw, it was an all-American finish and the gold medal was won by a Cuban.” She went on to award the silver to David Oliver, who had won the bronze and the bronze to David Payne, who had won the silver. Both were American citizens.
As football is the principal sport (even now) in Calcutta, watching football matches played between any two teams on earth is a matter of great significance for us Calcuttans and thus, I was thrilled to watch India play Bahrain at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. I had earlier watched India play Malaysia at the Saltlake Stadium in Calcutta. India had won 3-nil. I don’t remember much from that match too apart from another long-haired guy, Narender Thapa who used to play in the defence. In Seoul though, the results were reversed and Bahrain pumped in all three goals with alarming regularity and clinical precision to put the match beyond India moments after it started.
From then on, watching the Indian football team was a weird, pointless sort of a habit. As for Shahid, I’d forgotten him till 2002 or 2003, when Ten Sports aired his story. Now bald, Shahid was training kids in Allahabad and he was not really doing well for himself. I can’t describe how it felt watching one of my earliest sporting heroes after almost two decades tell his forgotten story to the TV camera. About four years later, while working as the sports editor of a Bengali daily, I came to know that a former footballer, who had played for either East Bengal or Mohunbagan or both, by the name of Narender Gurung had died. Knowing how things worked with the innumerable experts in the media, I wanted them to find out before publishing the news whether it was Gurung or Thapa. No one seemed to know and since the press deadline was fast approaching, it didn’t matter after a while. I knew for sure that Pem Dorjee, one of Thapa’s contemporaries had died of cancer.
I don’t remember much from the 1992, 1996, 2000 and 2004 Games either apart from the heroics of Leander Paes (’96), Karnam Malleshawari (’00), Rajyavardhan Rathore (2004) and the 100m races.
In 2008 though there were things to watch, moments to savour and all-in-all, the Beijing Games were a treat for every sporting aficionado in India. Along with Abhinav Bindra, Sushil Kumar, Vijenjder Singh, Jitender Kumar, Akhil Kumar, Anthresh Lalit Lakra, Dinesh Kumar, Saina Nehwal, Anup Sridhar, Achanth Sharath Kamal, Neha Agarwal, Dola Banerjee, Pranita Vardhineni, JJ Shobha, GG pramila, Sushmita Singharoy, Bajrang Lal Tahker, Sandeep Sejwal, Vridhawal Khade and all those who made India proud, I would also remember Sakal Bhatt, the DD Sports anchor for her mindboggling commentary. Here’s Sakal right after the men’s 110m hurdles, won by Dayron Robles of Cuba.
“We just watched the men’s 110m hurdles and what an exciting finish it was! As you saw, it was an all-American finish and the gold medal was won by a Cuban.” She went on to award the silver to David Oliver, who had won the bronze and the bronze to David Payne, who had won the silver. Both were American citizens.
Saturday, August 23, 2008
What's in a name
Few days back, I received an official press release from Vijender, the boxer’s sponsors. It informed all the concerned persons that the surname of the boxer was not Kumar but Singh. It was news. We all thought that barring Anthresh Lalit Lakra, all other members of the Indian boxing contingent at the Beijing Olympics were Kumars.
If three of them (two of them Kumars, Akhil and Jitender) had not gone so far in the competition, Singh, Kumar or Kumari needless to say wouldn’t have mattered. But since the news channels had no option but give the trio more air-space than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the sponsors thought it was their duty to rectify the mistake. It was of no use.
In the days to follow, commentators and experts kept calling the boxer Vijender Kumar. In a situation like this, it’s always risky to rectify the mistake and go with the correct name because people will think that the correct name is the incorrect one.
What if this was a cricketer? What Vijender has achieved will never be achieved by any cricketer. But in India, obscure cricketers, who probably represented India in a handful of one-day matches with their mediocrity, will be regarded as bigger names than that of Vijender or Akhil.
I was in-charge of the sports section of a weekly Bengali magazine back home in Calcutta (I prefer Calcutta over Kolkata) which later became a daily. Working for a small magazine is fun in as much as one has the liberty to do things his way. Then there was the circulation i.e the readership part. People in the circulation department used to come up with inflated figures and also used to tell us which articles or write-ups were more appreciated than the rest or the sections that were preferred over other sections. There was no reason to believe them and even though they were the smarter lot compared to the editorial guys when it came to the outside world, the editorial guys had a better upbringing to know that they were lying.
Nonetheless, readers used to call up and ‘aspiring' mass comm students used to turn up for jobs. Interacting with the readers was another funny part. Funny because firstly, it caused immense satisfaction to know that we were read. Secondly, some of these readers came across as serious ones and they used to make us wonder why the seriousness. Lol.
One of the readers called to speak to the sports editor one day. When I answered the call, he told me that he was a dedicated reader of the sports section and that he somehow couldn’t manage to get his hands on the 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th issue. I was overwhelmed! I promised him all the editions once he showed up at our office which he did after a couple of days. I went to the storeroom and came back with all the back issues and another special issue, not specifically asked for by him, since the cover story was on cricket and there were quite a few interesting articles. He took a look and discarded the special issue. Then he discarded some of the issues that he had previously asked for after a cursory glance. Confused, I asked him what was the deal. He said that he was looking for the sports quiz section and nothing else interested him. The issues discarded by him did not have the section. I found out that his apparent interest in our magazine had something more to it than pure readers' interest. The guy was an amateur quiz master and while the norm among them was to participate in quizzes and collect questions, he opted for the easier way.
Another reader used to write letters to the office regularly. One day, he called up and expressed his desire to meet all of us (it was me) in the sports department. This person had no vested pecuniary interests but he came armed with advices. His first advice was that Saurabh Ghoshal (the squash player) should be given more importance than Sourav Ganguly (the cricketer). I asked him, on his way back from our office, if he accidentally bumped into Ghoshal, whether he would recognize him or not. He said no. I didn’t expect a different answer.
Under these difficult circumstances, the effort by Vijender’s sponsors will have to be lauded. Knowing fully well how futile the exercise was, they did what they could for our national hero. If Vijender decides to hold a press conference at home re-emphasising the fact that he is Singh and not Kumar, we will feel a bit stupid. We laughed when a similar PC was called by Abdul Razzaq (the Pakistani cricketer) clarifying to the media that he was Abdul and not Abdur.
If three of them (two of them Kumars, Akhil and Jitender) had not gone so far in the competition, Singh, Kumar or Kumari needless to say wouldn’t have mattered. But since the news channels had no option but give the trio more air-space than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the sponsors thought it was their duty to rectify the mistake. It was of no use.
In the days to follow, commentators and experts kept calling the boxer Vijender Kumar. In a situation like this, it’s always risky to rectify the mistake and go with the correct name because people will think that the correct name is the incorrect one.
What if this was a cricketer? What Vijender has achieved will never be achieved by any cricketer. But in India, obscure cricketers, who probably represented India in a handful of one-day matches with their mediocrity, will be regarded as bigger names than that of Vijender or Akhil.
I was in-charge of the sports section of a weekly Bengali magazine back home in Calcutta (I prefer Calcutta over Kolkata) which later became a daily. Working for a small magazine is fun in as much as one has the liberty to do things his way. Then there was the circulation i.e the readership part. People in the circulation department used to come up with inflated figures and also used to tell us which articles or write-ups were more appreciated than the rest or the sections that were preferred over other sections. There was no reason to believe them and even though they were the smarter lot compared to the editorial guys when it came to the outside world, the editorial guys had a better upbringing to know that they were lying.
Nonetheless, readers used to call up and ‘aspiring' mass comm students used to turn up for jobs. Interacting with the readers was another funny part. Funny because firstly, it caused immense satisfaction to know that we were read. Secondly, some of these readers came across as serious ones and they used to make us wonder why the seriousness. Lol.
One of the readers called to speak to the sports editor one day. When I answered the call, he told me that he was a dedicated reader of the sports section and that he somehow couldn’t manage to get his hands on the 5th, 8th, 10th, 11th, 14th, 17th and 19th issue. I was overwhelmed! I promised him all the editions once he showed up at our office which he did after a couple of days. I went to the storeroom and came back with all the back issues and another special issue, not specifically asked for by him, since the cover story was on cricket and there were quite a few interesting articles. He took a look and discarded the special issue. Then he discarded some of the issues that he had previously asked for after a cursory glance. Confused, I asked him what was the deal. He said that he was looking for the sports quiz section and nothing else interested him. The issues discarded by him did not have the section. I found out that his apparent interest in our magazine had something more to it than pure readers' interest. The guy was an amateur quiz master and while the norm among them was to participate in quizzes and collect questions, he opted for the easier way.
Another reader used to write letters to the office regularly. One day, he called up and expressed his desire to meet all of us (it was me) in the sports department. This person had no vested pecuniary interests but he came armed with advices. His first advice was that Saurabh Ghoshal (the squash player) should be given more importance than Sourav Ganguly (the cricketer). I asked him, on his way back from our office, if he accidentally bumped into Ghoshal, whether he would recognize him or not. He said no. I didn’t expect a different answer.
Under these difficult circumstances, the effort by Vijender’s sponsors will have to be lauded. Knowing fully well how futile the exercise was, they did what they could for our national hero. If Vijender decides to hold a press conference at home re-emphasising the fact that he is Singh and not Kumar, we will feel a bit stupid. We laughed when a similar PC was called by Abdul Razzaq (the Pakistani cricketer) clarifying to the media that he was Abdul and not Abdur.
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