IPL Season-II will not be much Exciting?

The much awaited second season of IPL has begun. The twenty-twenty carnival that rocked India last year is back, but this time, the venue is South Africa thanks to the security issues caused due to the parliament elections in India.

The first season of the IPL was an absolute delight to watch. It started with the fireworks of Brendom Mccullum, continued with the quickfire centuries of Symonds, Gilchrist, Hussey, and Jayasuriya, and ended with some lovely innings from the likes of Shaun Marsh, Ganguly, Sehwag, Gambhir, Raina, Yusuf and many other cricketers. IPL Season-I had almost everything a viewer asked for: Sixes, Fours, Stars, Wickets, Local Crowds, and What Not? It is unfortunate that the second season of IPL will not be that exciting compared to its predecessor due to the following reasons:

1) Forced Breaks: Although IPL was created mainly for commercial interests, the BCCI has gone a step overboard by introducing a “Break” of nearly 7 minutes after every 10 overs of an innings. This is totally irritating both for the players and the viewers as the batting teams tend to lose their concentration and sometimes the momentum too, while the viewer is frustrated with endless commercials.
2) The absence of some key Australian Players like Shaun Marsh, Shane Watson, Mike Hussey, and Andrew Symonds has dampened IPL 2009 a bit. These people provided tremendous entertainment to the fans last time around. We will miss the Pakistani cricketers too. After all, Kamran Akmal, Sohail Tanvir, Shahid Afridi, and Umar Gul will be missed badly by their respective teams
3) Pitches in South Africa: In the first two IPL matches, we saw pitches favoring the batting team. The side batting first had a strong advantage as the pitch slowed up considerably during the second innings. Not a good sign for a 20-20 match. Considering the uneven nature of the pitches, the toss may decide the winner in the upcoming matches unless the South African Cricket Board does something about it.
4)The presence of too many distractions: Viewers tend to watch IPL only for one main reason: Cricket. Unfortunately the cameras seem to always focus on things apart from cricket. For example, we may be forced to watch Shilpa Shetty/Preity/Mandira providing her views on cricket just when somebody is hitting a DLF MAXIMUM (That’s the IPL term for a SIXER). We also see some random TV host interviewing a Franchise owner/co-owner when the match is in a crucial stage. Such minor things often stand out to be the greatest irritation.
5)The absence of Local Flavor: You can replace anything in the IPL, but not the local crowds. A Chennai Superkings vs Rajasthan Royals match played at the Chepauk Stadium in Chennai is always more entertaining than one being played at Cape Town in SA. No complaints about SA crowds, they are wonderful people, but somehow I feel that there is nothing more joyful in the world than to see Indian crowds cheering madly for their respective teams.

6)The last but not the least reason-Commercials. As they say, “Too much of anything is bad”. The same applies to commercials. The viewers are forced to watch too many commercials in between the overs. To add to the misery, at every single opportunity, the Channel telecasts a commercial making the viewers wonder whether it is the Indian Premier League or the International Commercial League.

Hopefully, Lalit Modi realizes the importance of providing quality entertainment and mends his ways. If not, be ready to watch more COMMERCIALS than Cricket.

As I speak, Chennai Super Kings have defeated Bangalore Royal Challengers by a huge margin of 92 runs. Such one-sided matches are a big NO-NO especially when it comes to Twenty-Twenty Cricket. Hope that the forthcoming matches turn out to be evenly matched contests.

Why IPL is Not So Important?

“When Cricket becomes a commodity, the only thing that matters is the price”.

The decision of BCCI to conduct the second edition of IPL in either England or South Africa may be bad news to Indian fans. But the decision has ended the biggest problem for the Indian Government – Providing high-level security for nearly 40 twenty-twenty matches.
There has been a huge uproar caused in India due to this decision taken by the BCCI.
But ultimately sense prevailed and the government refused to allow IPL to be conducted in India.

An Issue of Great Concern: The terrorist attacks that happened in Mumbai on 26/11/09 and the one in Pakistan on March 3rd 2009 have highlighted the fact that Cricket is not immune to terrorism. Post 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, cricketers from various countries have hesitated to tour India stating security concerns. Taking this into account, the Indian Government had promised to provide high-level security to any international sporting event held in India.

Unfortunately, the dates of the parliament elections to be scheduled in the months of April and May clashed with the schedule of the IPL tournament. Since the conducting the elections in a safe manner took the highest priority, the government decided that it would be very detrimental to conduct the tournament stating arrangements for security and requested Modi to postpone the tournament to a later date.

Modi’s Callousness: Being the spearhead of the IPL, Modi acted in the least responsible way stating that the IPL cannot be postponed due to commercial issues and put the Home Ministry of India in a fix. The Home Minister of India, Mr. P. Chidambaram asked Modi and the BCCI to get the approval of the concerned state governments. As expected, majority of the states refused to accept Modi’s request. As all other options were extinguished, Modi had no choice but to conduct the tournament in a foreign country.

The Needless Hue and Cry:
Once BCCI announced that the IPL would be held in either England or South Africa, many politicians and sports lovers made an unnecessary hue and cry stating that the Indian fans were deprived of their entertainment. But in doing so, they failed to notice the following issues.

1) India is a country with a population of 1.3 billion. The IPL is supposed to consist of 40+ matches in 8 different venues across India. Providing high level security to every match on the eve of elections is a very improbable task.
2) Although India is still a very safe nation, the recent rise of terrorism across the world has placed unnecessary stress on the government. Although the government can secure the stadium and the hotels, it cannot provide security to the thousands who arrive at the stadium to view the match
3) The Parliament Election is a very important event. To secure the polling booths across the country, the government and the Chief Election Commission has to deploy thousands of policemen. So if the IPL is held in the same period, there is an acute shortage of staff, which ultimately results in reduced security.
4) The IPL is not an international tournament, but rather a domestic twenty-twenty game held by an autonomous sports body called the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India). The government does not benefit from the revenues and nor does the sport. So the IPL is of least priority compared to the Parliament Elections.

Is IPL good for the Game?
Many people hail IPL as a pioneer for Twenty-Twenty Cricket. What these people don’t know is that the IPL is based on the same format used by its predecessor and rival, The ICL (Indian Cricket League). Although the BCCI claims that the IPL provides enormous entertainment value for cricket fans, the matter of fact is that the long schedule of the tournament ensures that only a few matches are really interesting to watch.

Effect of IPL on the Cricket World:
In order to eliminate their rivals, ICL, the BCCI used their influence in the ICC to instruct fellow nations to not select any player who is directly/indirectly involved with ICL. Due to the BCCI’s big brother attitude, nations like New Zealand and Pakistan have been forced to drop their star players. The world of cricket lost talented players like Shane Bond, Cairns, Craig Mcmillan, Astle, Abdur Razzaq, Imran Nazir and others.

The enormous sums of money have lured many talented cricketers to ignore their national commitments and play IPL instead.

Taking this into account, I conclude by saying that the IPL is nothing but an over-hyped tournament. It is just not worth the hype.

A Dastardly Act!

anybody thought that sportsmen, especially cricketers, would not be affected by Terrorism, they were proved wrong woefully on March 3rth 2009, a day which would be remembered as one of the worst days for Pakistan, and perhaps the entire cricketing world. The Sri Lankan cricket team, which was the only team to visit Pakistan for nearly a year, nearly lost its cricketers due to a terrorist attack. 6 lankan cricketers nearly lost their lives, while one umpire was cricitically injured.

History of Attacks: Pakistan has never been a safe place to visit. Many cricketing nations, especially Australia, England, and South Africa despised even the thought of visiting Pakistan due to the threat of terrorist attacks. The New Zealand team which had braved all odds to tour Pakistan in 2002 returned back shell-shocked when a bomb explosion rocked the hotel where they stayed. Things went from bad to worse since the Military President Musharraf was replaced by a so-called Democratic government, whose rule helped the terrorists to mushroom immensely in Pakistan. Considering that the dreaded terrorist group, Taliban alias Al-Quaeda, had gained a stronghold in Pakistan, it was unwise of the Sri Lankan team to visit Pakistan. But as fate had it, the Sri Lankan team braved all obstacles to tour Pakistan and played a test match successfully.


An Ugly Incident: The second test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka was in progress. Everything seemed fine as two days of the test match progressed peacefully. On the morning of the third day of the test match, the Sri Lankan team was on their way to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Everything seemed routine till the team heard sounds of firing. After a few moments of shock, reality dawned in for Lankans, they were under attack from 12 well-equipped terrorists. Fortunately for the Lankans, the driver acted intelligently by turning the bus directly to the stadium. The terrorists had fired continuously at the Lankan Crickets. Since all the cricketers had ducked, they escaped with minor injuries. 6 of them namely Sangakkara, Jayawardane, Samanaweera, Mendis, and Vaas escaped with minor injuries. 6 Pakistani policemen died while trying to protect the lankan team. It was reported that a grenade aimed at the Van didn’t explode.

Terrorism knows no boundaries: Just a few months before, former cricketers like Imran Khan and Javed Miandad had urged the International teams to tour Pakistan. They promised a very high level of security. Imran Khan even told the press that the Cricketers won’t be targeted by terrorists as they knew that any attack on the cricketers would spell doom to them. But contrary to all their statements, the terrorists made a direct attempt to kill the Lankan cricketers. The most shocking fact was that this happened in broad daylight in a CITY. This proved the fact that the terrorists have only one aim in the mind, “To Kill and Terrorize”.

The Effects of this Incident on Cricket:
Now, the Sub-continent would no more be considered a peaceful place. Any main cricketing event would require high amounts of security. Countries like Australia, South Africa, England, and New Zealand would now have second thoughts before visiting countries like India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Pakistan would be now out of the Cricketing Radar for months, perhaps years. The World Cup 2011 schedule would be very badly affected. Totally, Cricket in the sub-continent would not only be remembered for its huge crowds, noisy atmosphere, colorful banners, cheerful people, and exciting matches, but also Terrorism. Hope our World Leaders find a solution to end this menace soon.

No more flat pitches please:

The Indian team, at present, seems to be very intent on batting on flat tracks. Perhaps, they want to bloat their image by thrashing opponents 6-1 or 5-2. But, unfortunately, it is not going to do any good to their batsmen especially when they tour places like West Indies, SouthAfrica, and Sri Lanka. Pardon me for saying this; most of the current Indian ODI players seem to be flat track bullies, especially Suresh Raina, Uthappa, and Yuvraj Singh. Even though Yuvraj did hit two masterly tons, 138 and 118, against England, these innings came on either flat or less assisting tracks. The same Yuvraj struggled to score in sportive tracks in countries like Australia and Sri Lanka. The same stands true for Suresh Raina and Uthappa, these so-called good batsmen fail to score outside the subcontinent.

It is a pity that the BCCI still prefers to prepare such tracks in India despite knowing the consequences. Flat pitches provide Indian batsmen with a false sense of greatness which is dangerous. These same batsmen tend to be troubled even by average bowlers on tracks that provide assistance to bowlers.

Why Flat Tracks Don’t Help?
Most Batsmen seldom depend on good technique to score runs on flat tracks. In India, the tracks prepared for ODIs seldom support swing bowlers or seam bowlers. As a result, Indian batsman can swing their bat across the line; play the good ball with ease, without the fear of being bowled. Although this may seem beneficial for the Indian batsmen, it is bound to prove dangerous in the long run.

The technique of a batsman will only improve when he is truly tested by great fast bowlers and good spinners. True pitches which assist seam, swing, or spin, help batsmen to improve their footwork and judgement. Batsmen have to work hard for their runs, in the process; they have no other go but to improve their batting technique.

But in India, the tracks are prepared to guarantee a run feast. The outfields are lightning quick and the pitches do not provide assistance for pace and bounce. As a result, batsman can score freely at 6.5 - 7 runs per over. BCCI justifies this saying that the matches provide good entertainment to the audience. But I beg to differ. True cricket lovers would rather watch a match where the first team scores 220-240 and the second team fights hard to win it. Such matches provide to be truly exciting contests. Such instances are rare these days. Additionally, players like Yuvraj suffer badly due to this flat-track syndrome. Yuvi is a good player, but he fails to score well on pitches that provide assistance to spin. The reason is that his footwork and technique are susceptible against good quality bowling.

India have just beaten Australia 2-0 in the recently held Gavaskar-Border Trophy. In the ongoing ODI series against England, they are 5-0 ahead. If India desire to be world beaters, they have to prepare a team that can perform well across the world. In order to achieve their goal, they have to first prepare pitches that are sportive. Initially, the Indian batting order may find it tough to score runs on these tracks, but on the longer run, their technique will improve vastly and help them score runs against quality bowlers.


There is a saying, “When you fall down, don’t see the place you fell rather the place you slipped”. Similarly, India must analyze their past defeats and see why they got defeated. As of now, the only reasons I can see is “Overconfidence, lack of planning, and the lack of batting skills to suit seaming/swinging pitches.”

Time to recognize ICL!!!

In cricket, rivalries have always provided some exciting moments to the cricket fans: The fans got to see some heated arguments between players, sledging, some great knocks, and great finishes to matches that have been cliff hangers. But unfortunately, the recent rivalry in the list has brought only disgust and dissidence. I am speaking about the rivalry between the ICL (Indian Cricketing League) and the IPL (Indian Premier League).

Where it started:
In 2007, a businessman called Subhash Chandra sought the help of the former Indian allrounder Kapil dev to launch a cricket league. The aim of this cricket league was to pick young and upcoming talent and to promote cricket. Unfortunately, the BCCI, fearing loss of revenue, went against ICL and asked the ICC not to recognize ICL. The BCCI even forced cricketing boards of South Africa, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan to ban players who chose to join ICL.
However, Kapil and Subhash resisted all obstacles and launched the ICL.

A Perfect Copycat That Humbled the Original:
To counter ICL, the BCCI launched its own league called IPL (Indian Premier League). The irony was that the IPL, more or less, was based on the same format of ICL. Thanks to the BCCI’s financial power, cricketing boards of other countries like Australia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand were forced to send their cricketers to participate in the IPL. Some of the international players even retired early to play solely in the IPL. Thanks to great branding, fabulous marketing strategies, BCCI’s influence on the ICC, and the participation of renowned stars like Dhoni, Sehwag, Sachin, Hayden, Hussey, Symonds, Gilchrist , Jayasuriya, Pollock, Afridi and many others, the IPL became an inevitable hit, thus clearly overshadowing and nearly destroying the ICL before it even began. The ICL did launch it’s league a few months after the IPL, but the tournament went quietly with decent crowds. The reason being BCCI’s refusal to provide their stadiums to ICL for their matches. ICL had to depend solely upon real cricket fans for their survival.


Who is the loser?
Undoubtedly Cricket is the loser. Although, the IPL was a hit, there were many drawbacks that evolved due to the tournament. The first one was that the already-cramped international cricket calendar had to allot a window of two months for IPL and not schedule any other tournaments during that period. The next big worry was that the players started prioritizing their IPL commitments and even went to the extent of ignoring their national team commitments. A typical case, where Money won, was when SriLanka tried to forfeit their tour of England just because the tour clashed with the IPL. It was a totally disgracing situation.

Why ICL should be recognized?
Simple, any sport survives only when there is good quality of entertainment. Good quality comes only with good competition. The ICL boasts of good and genuine talent like Shane Bond, Imran Nazir, Abdur Razzaq, Reetinder Singh Sodi, and other budding talent. If the ICC recognizes the ICL, then the world of cricket will get to see some great cricketing stars. Who knows, we may see another Brian Lara, or Sachin, or perhaps another Hadlee, Kapil, or Imran?
The BCCI domination must stop now. Cricket is not a business, it is a sport. Nobody or no board can deny sportspeople their rights. Because of BCCI’s vanity, the world is not seeing a great bowler like SHANE BOND, Pakistan is losing out precious players like Imran Nazir and Abdul Razzaq. Even India may lose few talented youngsters. It is high time that Justice is served. Please recognize ICL. After all, if IPL can exist inspite of all the trouble that it has caused, why not ICL?
Not long ago, a man called Kerry Packer changed the way cricket was played. He changed the then-boring game into a colorful and exciting event, thanks to great innovative ideas. Subhash Chandra is no Kerry Packer, but why not give him a chance?
Only time will tell!

All eyes on Kumble:

There is a popular saying in sports, “Never change a winning combination”. Right now, India does not seem to believe in it. India are most likely to gamble by replacing the in-form Mishra with the old warhorse Kumble. Considering Kumble’s vast experience and his tremendous record at Feroshah Kotla (55 wickets in 6 games), India are hoping that Kumble pays off. Kumble is now under tremendous pressure to prove his worth not only as a bowler, but also as a captain. But as they say, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”, Kumble has always been an epitome of this proverb. He can take faith from the fact that he has taken a world record 10 wicket haul here and also bagged three man of the match awards.

The buildup to the match:

India go to Feroshah Kotla as the favorites having won their last 5 tests at this venue, while Australia enter this test match requiring a win to keep their chances alive. India cannot afford to let Australia off the hook because they are too good a side to flitter the advantage.

India need to play two good spinners here, even if it means dropping Kumble for Mishra, which is unlikely. Australia on the other hand will be looking for Clarke, Lee, and Johnson to deliver the goods. Traditionally, this pitch has favored only the spinners, so Australia might find the going tough. Bringing in a specialist spinner might help Australia. India on the other hand will bank on Kumble & Harbhajan to deliver the goods.

The Aussies have been trying to intimidate the Indians with their off-field comments yet again, but India seem to stay focused. The batsmen remain the key for both teams. Aussies would want Hayden and Ponting to fire, while India would want their Fabulous Four to score well. Spinners would play a key part in deciding their team’s fortune, especially after the third day. Indians have the upper hand in the spin department. But mere reputations don’t win matches. The Australians seem to have hatched a plan to counter India, whether or not they can execute it remains to be seen. Right now, its advantage India, but as we say, “nothing is over till the fat lady sings”. Hopefully the fat lady sings for India this time around J

Let the fireworks begin!

India outplay Australia, register comprehensive win

India won the second test match against Australia comprehensively by 320 runs, thanks to some good batting and bowling, and sensible captaincy.
India went into the match without their captain Kumble, who missed out due to injury. Dhoni was made the captain. Kumble was replaced by the promising leggie from Delhi, Amit Mishra. His selection proved to be one of the most decisive factors in the match

The Match:
Indians won the toss and elected to bat. The Indian openers, Sehwag and Gambhir, put up a 70 run opening stand before Johnson struck, taking 3 quick wickets. Just when the Aussies were looking to dominate, Sachin came in and scored a splendid 88 off just 111 deliveries. During his innings, he passed Lara’s record (Highest number of runs in tests) to take his career run tally past 12000. He and Ganguly put on a 140 run partnership to lead India to a position of strength. While Sachin attacked the bowlers at one end, Ganguly held forte at the other end. After Sachin’s departure, Ganguly and Dhoni batted brilliantly to help India score a mammoth 469 on a sporting pitch. Ganguly answered his critics with a patient 102 (He also went past 7000 runs in tests), while Dhoni provided the late fireworks with a splendid 92(8 fours and 4 sixes). The Aussie bowlers, Mitchell Johnson and debutant Peter Siddle took 3 wickets each.

Aussie reply:
Overhauling a score of 469 was never going to be easy for Australia. They began disastrously losing Hayden (0) to Zaheer in the very first over. Then, Ponting (5) got out to his new nemesis, Ishant Sharma. Katich and Hussey seemed to hold the Indian attack at bay for a short period until the debutant, Amit Mishra, struck.
The selectors had gambled by bringing in an unknown leg spinner (Amit Mishra), instead of Anil Kumble. The gamble paid off when Mishra bowled excellently and got the ball to spin just enough to trouble the Aussies. First, he bowled Katich with a beautiful googly, and then, in the last over off the day, took the wicket of Michael Clarke. On the third day, India struck again as Ishant removed the dangerous Mike Hussey for 54. Shane Watson came to the rescue with a patient 78, as he along with Brett Lee (35) batted sensibly to put on a 73 run partnership. But unfortunately, Mishra struck again taking the wickets of Watson, White, and Siddons to take his first 5 wicket haul and restrict Australia to 268, just 1 run short of the follow-on.


Sensible Dhoni:
Australia had failed to avoid the follow-on. Dhoni did not enforce the follow-on. It was a sensible decision considering the fact that chasing even a meager total of 160 on the fifth day was difficult. India opted to bat and set Aussies a mammoth target. Sehwag and Gambhir got off to yet another great start, putting on an invaluable 182 run partnership in just 39 overs. When Sehwag got out for 90, Dhoni, sensibly promoted himself at no 3, and scored a well-compiled 68 not out. Gambhir batted aggressively to score a quick century (109), just his second century in tests. The Indian batsmen rotated the strike very well, taking advantage of the defensive field set by Ponting. The Australians never looked like taking wickets and their woes finally ended when India finally declared in 65th over setting Aussies a mind-boggling target of 516 runs.

The Aussie Approach:
With 5 sessions of play remaining in the test match, one would have expected the Australian batsmen to play for a draw, but it turned out to be the exact opposite.
Aussie openers, Hayden and Katich played several adventurous shots to take Australia to 49/0 in just 7 overs. Their attacking approach seemed to pay off until Hayden and Katich gifted their wickets to Harbhajan, thanks to two outrageous shots. Ishant Sharma bowled Ponting with a lovely inswinger. Hussey and Watson then got out cheaply leaving Aussies reeling at 69/5. Clarker (69) and Haddin (37) batted sensibly to take Australia to 141/5 at the end of the fourth day.

India register a comprehensive win:
Aussies resumed their innings on the fifth day, hoping for rain to rescue them. Alas, they were greeted by a fiery Zaheer Khan, who took 3 quick wickets (Haddin, White, and Lee). Amit Mishra completed the job by taking the wickets of Clarke and Johnson. Within 15 overs of the first session, India had registered a comprehensive 320 run victory by outplaying Australia!

Post-match Problems:
India are in a dilemma as they head to the Feroshah Kotla stadium in Delhi. The venue is a spinner’s paradise. Kumble has an awesome record at Feroshah Kotla. Considering that Amit Mishra bowled very well in this match, it is to be seen whether Kumble will be selected. The Australians on the other hand will hope that their experience batsmen and bowlers regain their form. India and Australia go into the third test knowing that they have to win. While India need a victory to seal the series, Australia need a win to keep their hopes alive. The third test promises to be really exciting!

Yet another Milestone for the legend:

An Eventful Day!
The first day of the second test between India and Australia, at Mohali was eventful for many reasons. Sachin finally surpassed Brian Lara as the highest scorer in test cricket when he scored his 16th run during his innings of 88. He now holds the unique distinction of having the four most coveted batting records in Cricket:
1) The Highest run scorer in Test Cricket: 12000+ runs
2) The Highest run scorer in ODI cricket: 16361 runs
3) The Highest number of centuries in Test cricket: 39
4) The Highest number of centuries in ODI cricket: 42
Millions of cricket fans cherished Sachin’s milestone today. To double the happiness of Indian fans, Saurav Ganguly also surpassed 7000 runs in tests, just the 4rth Indian batsman and 33rd overall to achieve this landmark. Let us not forget the fact that this is certainly Saurav’s last series, he would have been very happy to have passed the 7000 run mark and in the process stitch yet another 100+ run partnership with Tendulkar.

India’s batting performance:
The Indians won the toss and elected to bat on a true pitch. Kumble was declared unfit and replaced by the promising leg spinner from Delhi, Amit Mishra. The Indian openers dominated the first session putting on a valuable 70 run partnership. After Sehwag fell to Johnson for a quickfire 35 , Dravid and Gambhir played solidly to take India to 146/2. Just when India looked to be dominating, Mitchell Johnson spoiled the party by snatching 3 priceless wickets of Dravid (39 runs), Gambhir (67), and Laxman (12). India appeared to be losing their advantage when the little master walked in.

The legendary batting duo rescue India yet again:


Sachin-Saurav love batting together. These two have been regarded as the best ever opening batsmen in ODIs. Together, they have scored 8000+ runs in ODIs while batting together. They are the only opening pair in ODIs to have two 250 run partnerships against their name. So, it was no surprise that these two came to India’s rescue with a magnificent 140 run partnership. While Saurav held forte at one end, Sachin timed the ball beautifully to score a magnificent 88 just off 111 balls. It was great to see Sachin in full flow. By the time, he got out; India had gone from a precarious position (163/4) to a comfortable position (303/5). Ganguly (54 not out) and Ishant (2 not out) finished the proceedings for India today. If India manage to score around 480-550, we will have an interesting match on our hands. Ganguly and Dhoni have to bat extremely well tomorrow to help India post a mammoth total. The spotlight would be on Ganguly tomorrow as this is the Bengal tiger's final series. We would all love to see some great match-winning tons from DADA. Please score some great tons for us Dada! When you finally say goodbye, let it be on a series-winning note. We love you no matter what!

BCCI: Board of Control of Cricket in India or the World?????

Being an ardent lover of Cricket, I am sad to see the recent happenings in the Cricketing world. The International Cricket calendar is too cramped; players are forced to play continually. The minnows of Cricket are showing little/ no progress. Teams such as Pakistan and Zimbabwe are suffering due to their internal problems. Yet, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has failed to take proper steps to bring order. Why? Simple, they no longer consider Cricket as a sport, but just a hot-selling commodity. Unfortunately, the hottest seller of this commodity happens to be none other than the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).

Gone are the days when the International Cricket Council (ICC) used to call the shots, nowadays it seems to be BCCI which decides the cricket itinerary. Being the richest cricket power in the world, it has managed to use its money power and marketing strategies to force the other cricketing boards to dance to its tunes. This big brother attitude of BCCI makes me wonder if they are just the board of control for cricket in India, or the world.

The BCCI’s attitude was clearly evident when they forced cricketing boards across the world to ban players participating in the ICL (Indian Cricket League). Because of this, New Zealand happened to lose Shane Bond, one of the best fast bowlers in recent times: Truly a loss to cricket. It was a shame considering the fact that the other boards made little or no money from IPL. Instead they had lost their key players for nothing.


If this wasn’t enough, they literally coaxed Australia to tour India despite the bomb blasts in Delhi. They made a mockery of the ICC cricket itinerary when they announced a compensation package for the Sri Lanka Cricket board as their players had threatened to pull out off the forthcoming Srilanka-England series, citing IPL commitments.

To expose their double standards, let us analyze the ICL issue. BCCI treated ICL like an outcast, ensured that the ICL got none of the BCCI’s support, and forced ICC to ban the players playing in ICL and what not? BCCI didn’t want ICL to eat into its revenue. As if to rub salt into ICL’s wounds, the BCCI launched a similar league called IPL (Indian Premier League), marketed it grandly, forced the ICC to rearrange the international cricket calendar to accommodate IPL and ensured everything to make IPL a runaway hit.

What has the IPL done to cricket? It has encouraged budding cricketers to earn easy money by playing in the IPL rather than for their national teams. This is detrimental to the other Cricket boards as they lose their top players to IPL and are forced to cancel/ postpone their cricketing events. Only BCCI stands to gain at the cost of the other boards, maybe at the cost of cricket itself. It’s high time that the ICC and the other boards stand up and ask BCCI to mend their big brother attitude. The sooner they do, the better it is for cricket.

The Need of the Hour: A proper and efficient strategy to be implemented!

There is a saying, “Rome was not built in a day”, the meaning of this proverb states that great things are not achieved in one day. Maybe the Indian team should know that. In order to beat the world champions, they not only need good performances from their players, but also a great strategy and a bit of good luck.

Indians, for a long time, have made the mistake of facing opponents without a proper game plan. While they have won a few games because of a few brilliant performances, they have lost many games due to lack of a proper strategy. If they desire to become world champions someday, they need to win matches consistently and to do that; you need to chalk out strategies for beating each team.

The current Indian team does not have the fittest or youngest players, let’s face it, the Australians see this as an advantage, and they want to follow a simple strategy: Cut off the boundaries, dry up the runs, and then the wickets would come. This strategy provided great dividends for the Aussies in 2004, and so they are trying to implement it in this series too.

Now, the Indian team does not seem to have chalked out an efficient strategy, they must quickly chalk out one and implement it perfectly. I hope Kumble and his boys realize that nothing pays off like an efficient strategy.
My advice to Kumble would be this:
1) While batting, ensure that at least 2 batsman take the responsibility to stay there for long periods and rotate the strike frequently. Aussies would not give you boundaries, so take the singles.
2) When Australia is batting, the Indians must attack the new batsman using every single option available. If you analyze the records, you will find that most Aussie batsman have the tendency to get out before they play 10 deliveries. Take a cue from that. Attack Aussie batsmen when they arrive and not when they are scoring runs.
3) Do not wait for things to happen; try to force the batsman to commit errors by cutting off their scoring areas.
4) Make batsman such as Hussey and Ponting to strive hard for every run. Place your best and most agile fielders in the circle. Aussies are not known for their patience, once the runs dry up, they make mistakes.
5) Rotate the bowlers. If wickets are not coming by, try bowling part-timers like Sachin and Sehwag, if needed Ganguly can also roll over his arm.
6) If India is facing a situation like today, where they need to wipe out a huge lead, it is best to try and face out many deliveries while rotating the strike, because when you consume overs, you reduce the possibility of a result.
7) Always play with a positive frame of mind, remember the Aussies have just 3 quality fast bowlers, start thrashing the part-time spinners, Clarke and White, and ensure that Australia exhaust their fast bowling resources. This will definitely work.