Why the Indian Cricket team can’t become the best team in the World?

I was watching the Sports news yesterday. The news reader was speaking about the achievements of Indian Sportsmen at the US Open and the World Boxing Championship. In the same breath, the reader proudly proclaimed that the Indian Cricket Team had moved to the Number 1 position in the ICC rankings.

While I was happy about the news, I wondered whether we deserve the number one team tag? A world best team needs to possess some crucial traits such as:
1) The ability to snatch victory from the Jaws of Defeat
2) The presence of world class players who perform consistently and perform to their optimum when most required.
3) A team of 11 players who perform as a unit.
4)The self-belief required to win from any situation.
5)The Ability to beat its opponents in their own backyard.

The only teams that possessed most of these qualities were the All-Conquering West Indians in the 80s and the Steve Waugh-Inspired Australians in the recent decade.

The Aussies dominated the game of cricket from 1999-2008 in every possible way. They won nearly a hundred test matches beating sides like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, England, and South Africa, home and away. They hold the record for winning 3 successive World cups, the ICC Mini World Cup 2006, and possibly every other popular trophy in Test and ODI cricket.

Compared to Australia, we have won just 3 Multi-National Tournaments in the recent past. The last Multi-National Tournament that we won was the VB series way back in 2008 against Australia on their home soil. The second last tournament that we won was the Natwest series way back in 2002.
Apart from this, India just won a twenty-twenty World cup in 2007.

Let us see India’s record in Tests. We are yet to win a Test Series in South Africa, Sri Lanka, or Australia. We just managed to win a series against New Zealand (2009) and West Indies (2007) in the recent years thanks to the depleted batting of our opponents.

Inspite of having world class players like Saurav, Dravid, Ganguly, Yuvraj, Sehwag, Zaheer, Nehra, Kumble and Harbhajan, we have constantly under performed.

The brilliance of a team is always indicated by the number of tournaments that it wins. Stats indicate that Saurav Ganguly was India’s most successful captain in ODIs. But India won only 3 multi-national tournaments under him. Even Azharuddin, an average captain, captained India to victory in more than 12 multi-national tournaments.

Yes, it is true that Ganguly did lead India successfully to 19 consecutive finals in tournaments, but only one of them turned out to be a win. The point is that India lack the Killer Instinct to win when required the most.

Be it a Tri-series tournament final or a World Cup Semi-Final, India have mostly managed to only lose meekly rather than going down fighting. The saddest part is that even professionals like Sachin, Dravid, and Ganguly have fared very poorly in such crunch games.

Let’s see the next factor, consistency. When was the last time India won two consecutive test matches in a row??? A team which cannot win consistently can never achieve greatness.

Over-confidence, Lack of responsibility, Unnecessary Hero Worship: In India, we have this culture of worrying more about individual records rather than about the team’s performance. We worry about Sachin’s/Sourav’s/Yuvraj’s hundred rather than looking at our Team’s result. The players who shine in a few matches are given god-like status and soon falter into oblivion.

Inability to play Quality Spin/Pace bowling: In the recently held 20-20 World Cup, we saw that even average West Indian pacers frightened our so-called great Indian batsmen with decent pace bowling. If we cannot handle even decent quality pace bowling, how can be called GREAT? How can a team whose batting collapsed like a pack of cards against the Sri Lankans in 2008 be termed as the greatest One Day Team.

The current Indian team is certainly talented. But they have to win a large number of tournaments consistently against all World Class opponents to be crowned as the best

As they say, “Empty vessels make more noise”. The current Indian team is no empty vessel, but their achievements are too hollow to brag about.
As I say, India has lost miserably to Sri Lanka by a huge margin of 139 runs.
If India desire to be number one, they have to show a tremendous amount of commitment, discipline, and translate their talents into wins.
Plain records don’t count, only victories do.

How cricket's lawmakers can save ODIs from extinction

Cricket's wonderful one-day international format is now in peril. Its popularity started to decline from the 2007 World Cup which proved to be a great damp squib.

The tournaments preceding it proved to be one-sided as the toss decided the winner. To add insult to injury, the sudden success of the 2007 Twenty20 World Cup brought the fate of ODIs into scrutiny.

Now, most cricketers and commentators openly state that they want the ICC to scrap the ODI format. So, should Twenty20 replace ODI matches permanently? Will we lose those wonderful 50-over contests for ever?

Before we answer this question, let us find the reasons for the decline of popularity of the ODI format.

The reasons for the splurge in popularity:
1) As they always say, “Too much of anything is good for nothing”. The same held true for one-day internationals. Prior to 1996, the highest number of ODIs played by a team was 36 per year - and the average less than twice the number being played today. Teams such as Pakistan and India played 20-25 ODIs per year in the early '90s - and more than 36 during the mid 2000s. The quality of ODIs went down drastically as it increased.

2) Wear and tear: With the huge amount of cricket played in recent years, many old and upcoming players succumbed regularly to injuries. Thus, many matches turned out to be one-sided affairs due to absence of key players. The presence of key players in a team is vital for the interest of the audience. People would much rather see a New Zealand match where a Shane Bond terrifies the lives of opposition batsmen than a match where New Zealand bowlers get thrashed around.

3) The lack of sportive pitches: Fans invest a hell a lot of money and time to watch an ODI match. When they realise that a side batting first is going to lose the match because the pitch is a batting paradise and even a total of 350 is chaseable, they straightaway get disappointed. An ODI match played on a batting paradise is going to be as interesting as a pot-boiler.

4) Retirements of many great bowlers: In the golden period of ODIs, we saw many matches being decided only after the 47th over of the second innings. We also saw many sides defending modest totals of 150-160.

There were many nail-biting matches in the 1996 World Cup, nothing more exciting than the semi-final between West Indies and Australia, where a brave Shivnarine Chanderpaul batted brilliantly only to see Shane Warne and other Aussies bowlers induce a spectacular collapse paving the way for a five-run victory.

Then there was the 1999 Australia v South Africa semi-final, where Warne wrecked the top order until Lance Klusener threatened to finish off Australia only to be denied by a historic run-out. How many matches have the reverse-swinging duo of Wasim Akram/Waqar Younis won for Pakistan?

ODIs flourished thanks to presence of greats such as Donald, De Villiers, Ambrose, Walsh, Bishop, Warne, Cairns, Murali, McGrath, Srinath and others. Even a weak team such as Zimbabwe had strong bowlers such as Eddo Brandes and Heath Streak. Today, there is a severe dearth of good bowlers.

So, what steps should the ICC take to revive ODIs?

1) Restrict the maximum number of ODIs played by a side to 30-35 per year.

2) Create a global pitch report committee which ensures that only sportive tracks are prepared.

3) Bring in new rules that evoke interest.
* Allow bowlers to bowl two bouncers per over
* Allow dual run-outs (enabling fielders to run out batsmen at both ends if they are out of their creases),
* Award eight runs to the batsmen if he hits the ball out of the stadium
* Allow LBW appeals to be forwarded to the third umpire
* Allow substitute players to bat/bowl if required.

Follow a three-ball-miss rule: If a batsman plays and misses three consecutive deliveries, then he must face the fourth ball exposing two of his stumps.

4) Do away with the Duckworth-Lewis method which makes rain-interrupted matches a lottery (remember the England-South Africa semi-final in the 1992 World Cup?).

As great cricketers say, T20 is like the burger - having lots of burgers ruins your appetite and is hazardous to health. It is up to the ICC and fans to decide whether to kill or retain ODIs.

This article was published in www.sportingo.com.

Why T20 can never kill Test Cricket?

Twenty Twenty or T20 as we call it is the latest form of cricket that has captured the imagination of fans across the world. Thanks to the IPL and the T20 world cup, the whole world of cricket had changed, fans and administrators have started chanting T20 as if it is a new mantra, newspapers and channels have praised T20 as if it is the new Messiah of cricket. The rise of T20 has come with a cost, the decline of Test Cricket, the greatest form of the game.

Writing premature obituaries: It is sad to see even past and present cricketers writing off test cricket. Even the most devoted fans of Test cricket have given up. Administrators mention that Test cricket:
Is a long game, 5 days of meaningless cricket, doesn’t assure a result
Does not attract much crowds (As if IPL did, many people know that the stadiums were half-empty)
Has a low entertainment quota compared to T20

Well, being an avid fan of cricket, I can easily say that Test cricket is never going to die, at least not now. People need to understand that a format that has withstood 120 years, survived many administration problems, and yet proved to be timeless, is not going to die just like that. Comparing T20 and test cricket is like comparing a BURGER with a fully balanced meal. Burgers may seem delicious, but will spoil your appetite when overeaten.

Let us analyze the reasons for the so-called demise of tests:
They say that no crowds come to watch tests. Why? Because nowadays, the world has become so hectic that people prefer to catch up with test cricket via internet or TV. This is very obvious.
90% of revenue from Cricket comes only via the Internet and Television, not from Full Stadiums. So, the administrators need to find innovative ways to bring in revenues.

T20 is a new phenomenon, hardly a few years old. People are always curious about new things; they run after T20 because it offers them “unlimited entertainment”, meaning lots of fours and sixes within 40 overs.
But for how long?
After a certain period of time, people will be used to T20 and then they will loathe it for the same reason they started loving it.

Administrators say that test cricket doesn’t produce results, only boring draws. Well, it doesn’t help when the brainless ICC prepares flat placid tracks for test matches around the world. Let them prepare sporting pitches and we’ll see how Test Cricket fares.
You cannot ask bowlers to bowl out teams by giving them tracks as dead as dodos.
As Michael Slater once put it sweetly, “You can even find life in Mars, but not in this pitch”.

As they say, ‘Change is the only permanent thing.” Like every sport, Cricket also undergoes changes. The administrators of the game should be responsible enough to ensure that Test cricket does not lose popularity. They should changed it according to modern trends. The ICC can try out conducting test series on a points-basis manner.
For example:
If a Test match is drawn, the winner is decided by the points gained by each team:
Team which gained first innings lead: 1 point
Team which scored maximum runs with minimum wickets: 1 point
If a team is closing victory (Say target is either within reach or the batting team has lost more than 7 wickets): 1 point
Team that scored runs at a faster run rate: 1 point

The ICC should try some innovations in test cricket by consulting with some cricket experts, without spoiling the sanctity of the game.
And for once, the ICC should try not to be greedy and prepare even pitches that provide assistance to both batsmen and bowlers alike.
Test cricket has its own devoted group of fans, the ICC should try not to disappoint these fans. After all, test cricket is the mother of all forms of cricket. It deserves better respect.

T20 is exciting, but it has limited number of overs, depends too much on luck, and provides very little chance of error. Test cricket on the other side, is grueling, tests your patience and character, improves your game and gives you a sense of satisfaction.

Test cricket has provided fans with many memorable incidents, a few of them are given below:
The immortal contest between Michael Atherton and Allan Donald at Trent Bridge in 1993.

Sachin playing one of his greatest innings, a back-breaking 136 against Pakistan at MAC stadium, Chennai, in 1999.

Shane Warne bowling Mike Gatting with a delivery termed as the ball of the century in 1992 Ashes.

Lara scoring 152 not out against an Aussie attack comprising of Mcgrath, Gillespie, and Warne, and leading West Indies to an improbable victory.

Anil Kumble taking 10 wickets against Pakistan at Feroshah Kotla, Delhi in 1999.

West Indies chasing an improbable target of 418 against Aussies and winning by 8 wickets.

Nathan Astle hammering 222 off just 155 deliveries against England.

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis bowling dozens of batsmen with their reverse swinging Yorkers and toe crushers.

1980's Ashes series, when Ian Botham almost single-handedly won the Ashes for England

Brian Lara scoring 375, and 400 not out(ten years later) against England at St. Johns, Antigua.

Can Twenty-Twenty cricket provide us such moments. Of course not!

Let us praise Twenty-Twenty, but never neglect Test Cricket. Hope sense prevails.

Why One Day Internationals Suddenly Seem Obsolete?

It’s the season of Twenty-Twenty or 20/20 cricket as we call it. First, we see the ICC allotting a slot (unofficially) for IPL and then they arrange for a T20 World Cup just after a gap of 2 years after the first edition in 2007. Cricketers, past and present, are writing their obituaries to the One Day Internationals (Games consisting of 50 overs per innings). Has T20 cricket killed One Day Internationals (ODIs) or is it just a temporary phase, a honeymoon, where T20s dominate for a while. Well, only time will tell. But, first, let us analyze why the ODIs have lost their importance over their years.

Pitches inclined in the favour of batsmen: If we analyze the history of ODIs, we will see that they were most popular during the period 1987-1999. Prior to 1995, totals of 300s were considered Himalayan. If a team posted a score of 250+, then the match was inclined to be in their favour, totals of 280 were sometimes deemed unchaseable. It was due to the presence of pitches that were either bowler-friendly or sportive. Batsmen had to earn their runs. But today, Batsmen have their say, rules and pitches are in their favor. Bigger and stronger bats with shorter boundaries help their cause in scoring pretty easy runs while the bowler is reduced to the role of a mute spectator. Today, even 300 is considered an easy target, 280 is below par and 220-250s are considered very easily chaseable. But in the golden 80’s and 90’s, even a target of 180 to 220 was defendable. The best examples being the 1996 Titan Cup where India easily defended a target of 223 against South Africa.

The presence of the truly great bowlers: In today’s cricketing world, if we desire to list out some great bowlers, the only names that come to mind are the Brett Lee, Shane Bond, Muralitharan, Mendis, Malinga and a few other names. The rest are either inconsistent and don’t shine in all kinds of pitches. But when you look at the 1990s, we had bowlers who dominated batsmen even in the most docile pitches: Wasim Akram and Waqar; Musthaq Ahmed and Saqlain; Murali; Donald, Fanie De Villers, and Pollock; Glenn Mcgrath and Gillespie; Srinath and Kumble; Eddo Brandes; Ambrose, Bishop, and Walsh.
Most of these bowlers have won matches when their sides were glaring at defeat. Ambrose and Walsh have triggered many collapses only to see their batting unit fail. Donald and Fanie de villiers have won many ODIs for their team. Murali and Jayasuriya spun India to defeat in the 1996 World Cup Semi-Finals. Saqlain and Mushtaq Ahmed have spun Pakistan to innumerable victories. Let’s not forget the frightening Waqar and the ever-reliable Wasim Akram, who demolished sides with their reverse-swinging Yorkers. No wonder the batsmen of today score easy runs. Even today’s greats like Hayden and Ponting never scored much against an ageing Wasim Akram. It speaks of the quality of bowling in the late 90s. Today’s bowlers are just able to contain the batsmen.

Great batsmen are identified by the quality of bowlers they play. Sachin and Lara were great because they played their audacious and stylish strokes even against the world’s greatest bowlers. Who can forget Lara’s 169 against Pakistan at Sharjah, or Sachin’s twin 100’s (142 and 134) against Australia in 1998. We also saw Jayasuriya plundering bowlers. His 48 ball hundred against Pakistan still stands as one of the most destructive innings ever seen. We saw Ajay Jadeja hammer Waqar Younis for 42 runs in 2 overs during the Quarter Finals of the 1996 World Cup. We saw Lance Klusuner murdering the Australian bowlers only to see Donald getting run-out at the penultimate ball.
1) The last and most important reason is that there are too much of one dayers played these days. A healthy cricket calendar should offer only limited and quality ODIs to the viewers. Today’s cricket calendars are crunched with innumerable, meaningless, ODIs, where sides play more for the sake of numbers. Batsmen and Bowlers get tired easily and as a result, players curtail their careers due to injuries.

If the ICC does not take measures to prepare sportive tracks and reduce the number of ODIs per year, we can say bye bye to ODIs. Hope sense prevails.

How India can defeat England?

Today, June 14th, 2009, India will play a crucial, must-win match against England. India must win this match and the next one against South Africa in order to qualify for the semis. England also need to win this match in order to increase their chances of a berth in the semis. Considering this, this match is of astronomical importance for both teams.

If England Bat First: England have had many problems with their batting order. Their key batsman Kevin Pietersen is injured, while the other batsmen such as Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, and Collingwood are yet to post big scores against key opponents. Their bowling has been just a shade better than average. If India can get the wickets of Owais Shah, Ravi Bopara, and Pietersen early, then they have a strong chance of pulling off a big win. Indian bowlers have to bowl their hearts out against the Englishmen. The spinners will play a key role. Dhoni needs to use Harbhajan, Ojha, along with part-timers like Yuvraj and Raina effectively.
India must restrict England to a total of 140-150 runs at any cost. India should then try to reach the target within 17-18 overs in order to boost their Net Run Rate.

If India Bat First: India have a fine batting unit. It is upto Dhoni to utilize his batsmen properly. India need to score well during the powerplay. Gambhir should play the role of a sheet anchor and rotate the strike. Rohit, Yusuf, Yuvraj, and Raina need to score the runs for India. They have no other option but to score atleast 9+ runs an over as 170 is the par score in England. Dhoni has to drop himself down at no 6 or 7 and play his natural attacking game. Even if India loose early wickets, they have to keep attacking. Remember, no side has won a game by playing defensively and posting scores of 140-150. India need at least a total of 170-180 to win. It’s a literal Do-or-Die for Indian batsmen. They need to fire on all cylinders against England.

Indian bowlers need to get their line and length right. They need to go for wickets and not just containment. If India need to win convincingly, they need to get the wickets of Ravi Bopara, Owais Shah, Luke Wright, and Kevin Pietersen early. The spinners will play a key-role. The onus would be on Harbhajan and Ojha to deliver. The seamers Zaheer and Ishant need to get early wickets.

Dhoni and India must stop worrying and start planning

In the 2009 T20 Cricket World Cup, the defending champions India have put themselves in a spot of bother. They now need to win both their remaining matches in the Super Eights round against England and South Africa in order to keep their hopes alive. They could have easily averted this Do-or-Die situation if they had just PLANNED properly. Their captain, Dhoni, now-a-days seems to have an identity crisis. First, he gets the batting order horribly wrong, and then sends himself higher up the order, plays 23 balls and scores just 11 runs. Maybe he never realized that in the World of Twenty Twenty Cricket, even a strike-rate of 100-110 is just considered as average. Pardon me for saying this DHONI, T20 does not allow the slow pokes to survive. It’s time Dhoni switches back to his old style of hitting and stop pretending to play the sheet anchor role. In England, the par score is 170, so if India do bat first, they should have scored atleast 170-185 against WI, they failed to do and they lost. What Dhoni needs to do now is to learn from his past mistakes and mend them.

What Dhoni needs to do?
In order to win the remaining matches and then win the World cup, Dhoni has to first plan. You cannot enter a T20 match without a strategy. By seeing India’s recent performances, I can clearly say that India have never planned a clear strategy. Dhoni should stop relying heavily on his INSTINCTS and LUCK. India have a powerful batting order. All Dhoni needs to do is to allow the in-form batsmen such as Rohit, Raina, and Yusuf to have a go at the bowlers. Gambhir should be asked to play the Sheet anchor role and score at atleast a run-a-ball. Dhoni should drop himself to no 5 or 6. If India do lose early wickets, it makes no sense to play defensively. The logic is simple. You either go slam bang and make 160-170 allout rather than end up at 145-150. If India desire to win, their best batsmen need to face the majority of the overs, not an out of form DHONI.

The next thing Dhoni needs to address is the pathetic performance of his bowlers during the slog overs. It’s a pity that even inspite of having World Class Bowlers, we still manage to leak atleast 10-12 runs per over in the slog overs. India must tighten their bowling or just pack their bags and prepare to leave. The seniors Harbhajan and Zaheer need to take up the responsibility of taking crucial wickets and containing the opponents.

India must have a strategy for every individual opponent. They must ensure that they adapt themselves to counter the opponent’s strengths and exploit their weaknesses perfectly. For instance, England and South Africa are not very good players of spin bowling. So in this case, India should use their full time and part time spinners effectively and try to contain their opponents to a score of 150-160. While batting against their opponents, Indians must try to prevent the main bowlers in the opposition from taking wickets. If India can plan an effective strategy and execute it, then we are sure to be T20 World Cup champions again. As of now, let us keep our fingers crossed and pray that Dhoni and his team play sensible cricket and win.

T20 World Cup: A Look at the Contenders for the TITLE

It’s been 5 days since the T20 World Cup started and we have already seen a few upsets. Netherlands beat England a few days before. West Indies thrashed Australia and then Sri Lanka sent the Aussies out of the tournament by beating them very convincingly. Pakistan barely managed to scratch into the super eights thanks to their 81 run over Netherlands today. As of now, I see five major teams vying for the trophy. Let’s have a look at each of the prospective winners.


South Africa: They have been the chokers for long. For many tournaments, the South Africans have blasted their ways to the finals only to falter when it mattered the most. Their strength lies in their dangerous batting order, which boasts of names such as Gibbs, AB De Villiers, Albie Morkel, and Smith. Jacque Kallis and Duminy can play the role of an accumulator very well. Their bowling also seems to be potent with Dale Steyn, Ntini, and Morkel. Their major weakness is their tendency to falter in most important matches.

New Zealand: I bet my money on the Kiwis to win the 2009 T20 World cup. This team consists of quality hitters like Brendon Mccullum, Ross Taylor, Oram, and Jesse Ryder. Their slow bowlers, especially Oram and Styris, are going to be difficult to score off. Considering their ability to notch up big totals, I consider them favorites to win the T20 World cup. However, their bowlers are shown to be vulnerable to quality batsman. Moreover, if they use Mccullum or Ross Taylor early, they easily lose hopes of scoring/chasing a big total.

Sri Lanka: They are strong contenders for the title. They possess quality batsman such as Sanath Jayasuriya, Dilshan, Jayawardane, and Sangakkara and a lethal bowling attack in the form of Malinga, Mendis, and Murali. Considering the slow nature of England pitches, they are gonna be a handful to handle. However, the batting form of Jayasuriya seems to be a big worry. If the opponents do manage to hit Mendis or Murali, then Sri Lanka are going to find it hard to win matches.


India: The so-called favorites to win the World cup. Their chances have already taken a big blow due to Sehwag’s withdrawal due to injury. But they still posses some big hitters such as Gambhir, Rohit, Dhoni, Raina, Yuvraj, Yusuf, and Irfan. Their biggest drawback is that their batting order sometimes tends to collapse like a pack of cards. If India desire to win the World Cup, they need to click consistently as a unit. Dhoni needs to improve his captaincy. Of late, he has been relying more on his instincts rather than on his resources. If India needs to lift the cup, they need to thoroughly analyze their opponents and play accordingly. But due to their tendency to be inconsistent, I would not consider them to be hot favorites. Yuvraj and Raina need to prove their batting prowess in sporting pitches against the likes of Mendis and Murali.

West Indies: They have been the most mercurial team of all time. They have a potent batting order which has the firepower to blast any bowling attack. But unfortunately, the batting unit seldom clicks. They have always been guilty of throwing away a good start and end up losing matches which could have been won easily. Their greatest strength is their batting courtesy Gayle, Adrian, Bravo, Dwayne Smith, Chanderpaul, and Sarwan. Their biggest weakness is their inability to click as a team.


Pakistan: They have just scratched their way into the super eights. But they cannot be written off because Pakistan have always had the ability to bounce back from a pathetic start and win tournaments. The best example being the World cup victory in 1992. But in order to do that, they need to improve upon their batting and fielding. Their major problem has been a laid-back attitude which makes them lose matches miserably. Their biggest strength lies in their bowling courtesy Umar Gul, Afridi, and Ajmal. Their laidback attitude and lack of match practice may cost them dear.


England: They have a very slim chance to lift the World Cup. England, as we all know, have always been relying heavily upon 2-3 batsmen or bowlers to deliver the odds. This factor has always proved detrimental to the team. Moreover, Pietersen is carrying an injury and Flintoff is unlikely to play much of the games. Considering this factors, it would be a miracle even if they manage to make the semis. But as they say, Cricket is an unpredictable game, so never say NEVER.

IPL 2009 has not been a great season for the Kolkata Knight Riders team, now known as Knight Riders. They have become the perfect example of Murphy’s law. First, their coach pulled off a Multiple-Captain theory that held no sense. After much hungama, their team owner SRK doused the flames temporarily by supporting Dada “Ganguly”, only to dump him as captain and replace him with Brendon Mccullum immediately on reaching South Africa. Then, Brendon Mccullum, a wicketkeeper with no captainship experience, lead his sides to tremendous defeats, some actually self-inflicted by some poor bowling and pathetic fielding. Well, as they say, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth”. A team whose coaches outnumbered the players is deemed to perform no good. And if these were not enough, there was one irritating blogger who claimed that he was an INSIDER, one playing for KKR. The blog seemed to add insult to injury everytime the team got defeated. Nobody was spared, everybody was given some very bad nicknames like Appam Chuttiya and Paedophile priest, while some were just vaguely referred, ex: Phoren Babas, Captain, Bhooka Naan, Lordie, Aila, and Shengara Patan etc.

The best example of Yellow Journalism ever: There is a belief in the press, “Controversy is king”. Our Fake IPL player is the perfect epitome of this saying.
For all those who don’t know about Fake IPL player or FIP. He is a blogger who claims to be a member of the Knight Riders cricket team in the IPL. He says he is a Bengali and can bowl and bat a bit. He claims that his blog is solely aimed to provide INSIDE STORIES of his team members. He started his blog from April and is continuing till date updating us on the SPICY events happening inside and around the team.
For example: He claims that a famous commentator has slept with a popular TV anchor and an upcoming Indian fast bowler had scored over a girl, and the captain of his team and his coach were not even in speaking terms, and issues like racism inside the dressing room etc. Some of these stuff turned out to be true indeed.

Whether he is writing the truth or not, but he sure seems to understand that people love to read controversial stuff, and that too about popular people. For instance, FIP continues to call a popular Bollywood star a DILDO and maim him at every possible opportunity. He even foresights that DILDO would sell out his team to somebody else and move on. Although FIP’s English and his sense of humor and sarcasm are impeccable, his motive seems to be dubious.
First, if he is really a KKR cricketer as he claims to be, he doesn’t have the right to criticize his peers using very foul language. Calling somebody a DILDO and CHUTTIYA may sound funny, but it is at best VULGAR. Second, if he is really a cricketer, he should rather be looking to improve his cricketing skills and perform on the field, not off the field. The last and the most important thing is that being a sportsman, you are supposed to be sportive, accept positives and negatives, not badmouth against people.


Who could the IPL player be?

Well, many people have been dying to know the identity of the Fake IPL player. People think he may be a Bengali cricketer who has either represented India or has been trying to represent India without success. From his impeccable language skills, it can be assumed that he is highly educated guy and a good writer too. Considering this information, people have come up with many guesses: Saurav Ganguly, Akash Chopra, Ranadeb Bose, Sanjay Bangar, Ajay Jadeja, Harsha Bhogle and many others. Many people also believe that this person is actually a journalist with inside information on KKR while some believe he is just a great blogger with creativity. Whoever it is, my claim is that nobody would write blog taking such risk just for fun. Whosever doing this surely has a strong motive. I am sure that this FIP is not a single person, but a group of people writing a blog taking turns. For instance, if you see the time of the posts, they are irregular and across various time zones. And morever, with the amount of technology the BCCI has, the blogger would have been easily tracked using his URL. But it is not to be.
So therefore, the person is actually employing a few of his/her friends to share the dirty work. This person may be a journalist who has some past scores to settle with SRK. He may also be a cricketer who knows a bit of Bengali but doesn’t hail from Bengal.
The last and worst case might be that this person could be from the PR team of Lalit Modi or SRK. Afterall, negative publicity is still publicity. This can be proven from the fact that KKR is still the best selling franchise in the IPL inspite of losing many matches.\

The blogger has stated to his fans that he would be revealing his name on Wednesday, 21st of May 2009, after the last KKR match. Hopefully, we get to see an ex-cricketer or a famed journalist. There may be many skeletons coming out of this blog tomorrow. So watchout.

KKR and the Tale of the fake IPL Player

IPL 2009 has not been a great season for the Kolkata Knight Riders team, now known as Knight Riders. They have become the perfect example of Murphy’s law. First, their coach pulled off a Multiple-Captain theory that held no sense. After much hungama, their team owner SRK doused the flames temporarily by supporting Dada “Ganguly”, only to dump him as captain and replace him with Brendon Mccullum immediately on reaching South Africa. Then, Brendon Mccullum, a wicketkeeper with no captainship experience, lead his sides to tremendous defeats, some actually self-inflicted by some poor bowling and pathetic fielding. Well, as they say, ‘Too many cooks spoil the broth”. A team whose coaches outnumbered the players is deemed to perform no good. And if these were not enough, there was one irritating blogger who claimed that he was an INSIDER, one playing for KKR. The blog seemed to add insult to injury everytime the team got defeated. Nobody was spared, everybody was given some very bad nicknames like Appam Chuttiya and Paedophile priest, while some were just vaguely referred, ex: Phoren Babas, Captain, Bhooka Naan, Lordie, Aila, and Shengara Patan etc.

The best example of Yellow Journalism ever: There is a belief in the press, “Controversy is king”. Our Fake IPL player is the perfect epitome of this saying.
For all those who don’t know about Fake IPL player or FIP. He is a blogger who claims to be a member of the Knight Riders cricket team in the IPL. He says he is a Bengali and can bowl and bat a bit. He claims that his blog is solely aimed to provide INSIDE STORIES of his team members. He started his blog from April and is continuing till date updating us on the SPICY events happening inside and around the team.
For example: He claims that a famous commentator has slept with a popular TV anchor and an upcoming Indian fast bowler had scored over a girl, and the captain of his team and his coach were not even in speaking terms, and issues like racism inside the dressing room etc. Some of these stuff turned out to be true indeed.

Whether he is writing the truth or not, but he sure seems to understand that people love to read controversial stuff, and that too about popular people. For instance, FIP continues to call a popular Bollywood star a DILDO and maim him at every possible opportunity. He even foresights that DILDO would sell out his team to somebody else and move on. Although FIP’s English and his sense of humor and sarcasm are impeccable, his motive seems to be dubious.
First, if he is really a KKR cricketer as he claims to be, he doesn’t have the right to criticize his peers using very foul language. Calling somebody a DILDO and CHUTTIYA may sound funny, but it is at best VULGAR. Second, if he is really a cricketer, he should rather be looking to improve his cricketing skills and perform on the field, not off the field. The last and the most important thing is that being a sportsman, you are supposed to be sportive, accept positives and negatives, not badmouth against people.


Who could the IPL player be?

Well, many people have been dying to know the identity of the Fake IPL player. People think he may be a Bengali cricketer who has either represented India or has been trying to represent India without success. From his impeccable language skills, it can be assumed that he is highly educated guy and a good writer too. Considering this information, people have come up with many guesses: Saurav Ganguly, Akash Chopra, Ranadeb Bose, Sanjay Bangar, Ajay Jadeja, Harsha Bhogle and many others. Many people also believe that this person is actually a journalist with inside information on KKR while some believe he is just a great blogger with creativity. Whoever it is, my claim is that nobody would write blog taking such risk just for fun. Whosever doing this surely has a strong motive. I am sure that this FIP is not a single person, but a group of people writing a blog taking turns. For instance, if you see the time of the posts, they are irregular and across various time zones. And morever, with the amount of technology the BCCI has, the blogger would have been easily tracked using his URL. But it is not to be.
So therefore, the person is actually employing a few of his/her friends to share the dirty work. This person may be a journalist who has some past scores to settle with SRK. He may also be a cricketer who knows a bit of Bengali but doesn’t hail from Bengal.
The last and worst case might be that this person could be from the PR team of Lalit Modi or SRK. Afterall, negative publicity is still publicity. This can be proven from the fact that KKR is still the best selling franchise in the IPL inspite of losing many matches.\

The blogger has stated to his fans that he would be revealing his name on Wednesday, 21st of May 2009, after the last KKR match. Hopefully, we get to see an ex-cricketer or a famed journalist. There may be many skeletons coming out of this blog tomorrow. So watchout.

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.”