Cricket was once a gentleman's game, then Pakistan started playing

I am no fan of Pakistan, neither of their cricket nor their country. However, I do wish them well. They've always got a flair about themselves and seem to surprise people often. A world class leader like Imran Khan or a sensational pace bowling duo of Wasim and Waqar or a super hefty yet superb batsman like Inzamam. They definitely were a good addition to the small... no.. tiny world of international cricket.

But time and time again Pakistan have shot themselves in the foot. And instead of the making the world take notice of the positives, they've either made the world look at them with disgust or made themselves a laughing stock.

Here's a history of the numerous different occassions where Pakistan cricket has failed... Failed itself and definitely failed the game!!

1. Ball tampering
Things started in the 70s when Imran Khan and other fast bowling couleagues discoverd that an old cricket ball would reverse swing. And if the ball was very old with a torn seam, it would reverse swing even more. While the discovery was awesome, it also gave players a reason make the ball old. Thus started an unethical, ugly and unsportsman-like practice of tearing the seam so as to get reverse swing.

2. Baised umpiring
The 80s saw the dark side of the baised umpiring. On field umpires were always from the home team. And teams visiting Pakistan started realizing that the Pakistani umpires were always biased towards their players. While such things may have been happening in other countries too, never did things go so out of proportion as they did in Pakistan.

The best incident that showed this was the Shakoor Rana and Mike Gatting standoff. A frustrated Mike Gatting gave Shakoor Rana a mouthful and went and sat on the stairs just outside the boundry line (he didn't want to talk to anyone, not even his own teammates).

Other teams like Australia and India also complained of poor umpiring decisions.

3. Ball tampering
The late 80's and early 90's saw the resurgence of ball tampering in a different form. Bowlers like Wasim and Waqar were making batsman all around the world hop, skip and jump with their stupendous bowling. One of the weapons they'd discovered was that reverse swing could be achieved easily if the difference between shining side and non-shining side of the ball was large. Greater the difference, greater the swing. Thus started the ugly practise of applying vaseline (or something similar) to the ball so as to make it swing.

4. Match fixing
The late 90's and early 2000's was probably the darkest phase of cricket. Most countries found their players in the middle of the match fixing scandal. The BCCI decided to ban a few players. Australia had to reprimand Shane Warne and Mark Waugh. South Africa was probably most affected with the Hansie Cronje hearings. Sri Lanka had to enquire about Aravind De'Silva and Arjuna Ranatunga.

And how could Pakistan be behind... I don't even know how many enquiries PCB did and how many players were implicated. Almost everyone in the team seemed to involved somehow. Everyone from Salim Malik, Rashid Latif, Wasim Akram and Ata Ur-Rahman.

5. Spot Fixing
The 2000's saw a new form of fixing. "Spot fixing". Where players took money from bookies not to decide the fate of the entire match but to fix smaller things like no-balls, maiden overs, dropped catches, etc.

Allegations started coming up about Pakistani players playing in the English counties were taking money for spot fixing. While the police did some enquiries occasionally (and so did the PCB I think), nothing concrete came up. Players got away scott free.

But the biggest bombshell has come in the form of the sting operations by "News of the World".

Apart from this, there have been numerous instances when Pakistani players have been involved in unethical, unsportsman-like practices.

- Shahid Afridi scratching the surface of the pitch in England
- Shahid Afridi's infamous ball biting
- Mohammad Asif using banned drugs during IPL
- Sure, players have been heckled all over the world ... but Inzamam going into the crowd and hitting a spectator was uncalled for
- I haven't forgotten this.. Sourav Ganguly was caught by Moin Khan on the first bounce (after the ball recociated from the silly point fielder) during a test match (Chennai or Delhi, 1999)
- Afridi and Gambhir's infamous mid pitch tussle
- I don't think I've ever seen a Pakistani batsman walk :-)
- I don't think the Oval fiasco was well handled at all

What disgusts me most is that all this is done and yet there is no remorse or repentance. Its almost as if they can do whatever they want and they know they'll get away with it.
And why not, players retire out of frustration and are allowed to come back within a few days... "life bans" are handed out and then revoked within weeks... The ICC never seems to have any teeth...

The term "no balls" is extremely relevant in cricket these days ... players make money by bowling them ... and they keep doing it because ICC doesn't have them!!

Enjoying Test Cricket

I keep hearing all these intellectual interviews of past cricketers about the need for reviving test cricket. The compelling argument for doing this has been the empty stands and probably the dropping viewership on TV. Almost everyone, from Geoff Boycott to Ian Chappell to Kumar Sangakkara, has put forth their suggestions for the so called revival of test cricket.

To start with, I simply don't agree that test cricket needs any revival. It is still the form of cricket that best tests a players capabilities. Any cricket fan worth his salt would tell you that the joy of watching a test match far far outlives the joy of watching a T20 or even an ODI.

So what is it that is so enjoyable about Test cricket? And why can't the limited overs version come any close?

The answer is pretty simple. Cricket is not only about fierce bowling or aggressive batting or scintillating fielding. There is an entire part called "strategy". Rather strategy is a part of every sport. And the joy of watching a sport lies in understanding the strategy being employed by the comtetitors and then seeing how well it is executed upon. And since test cricket goes for 5 days, there is huge amount of time for strategising and implementing it. And there are a wide variety of variables in it. The condition of the pitch, the form of the opposition players, form of your own players, condition of the ball, weather, state of the game, time of the day, etc. More the variables, more the combinations and therefore more possible strategies. It is totally fascinating to learn and understand these strategies and see how things are shaping up.

If anything the ICC should try to educate people about what to see in Test matches. I think crowds will throng the stadiums if people understand what is happening.

Having said that, I do think test cricket could do with some changes. Here's what I think.

1. Cricket matches are won by scoring runs and taking wickets. History is the proof (Yes... while thinking I had "Itihas gavah hai" in mind :) ) that the best cricketers are the ones which did either of these (or both) things in huge numbers. And beyond that history tells us that the best cricketers were those who did these things "FAST"!!
Viv Richards, Sachin Tendulkar and modern day great Virendar Sehwag are reverred as the best in the business because they scored runs quickly. And they are proof that scoring runs quickly is possible. Not everyone has to go through the grind like a Geoff Boycott or Rahul Dravid. Sure, today already most test matches have an average scoring rate of about 4 runs an over, why can't it get better? Batsman should acquire the skills to be more positive while scoring runs.
Shane Warne, Muralidharan or Glenn Mcgrath are greats because every time they came on to bowl, they created chances of getting wickets. If every bowler was able to do that, it would be simply awesome. Bowlers should be more aggressive and attacking and always in the quest to get batsman out.

Think of it this way, if there were 5 consecutive ODIs, would it bring in the audiences? Probably yes... beacuse ODI cricket is fast paced. It doens't have as much strategy as test matches... but it does have some (and part of the reason ODI's popularity is waning is because most the strategies have been tried and tested and ODIs seem to be mundane). Fast paced cricket with lots of strategy would be "yummy" isn't it? :-).

2. Day night tests
Surely this has to happen. On the one hand administrators expect people to come to stadims but on the other they schedule the match from 9am to 4.30 pm. Nobody would want to leave their job and come to watch cricket.

In some ways, test cricket is similar to classical music. Classical music isn't just about the words or the sound that it creates. One needs to understand it a little bit. Only then can one really appreciate it.

Hopefully things will only improve in the days to come. There will be exciting test matches which everyone will enjoy.. both, on the stadiums and on TV.

-Shri

18 off 6

I was closely following the T20 world cup semi-final between Australia and Pakistan today. The Australians had fought with great valor and the equation read 18 runs to win off 6 balls. In true Australia spirit ("Australian Maaj") Michael Hussey pulled it off and did it with one ball to spare. It was nothing short of sensational.

However, this inspired an interesting thought... If the equation read 18 to win off 6, how would've other teams reacted?

India : Unless someone's pants were on fire, India would've scored about 7-8 runs; at best 12-13 and gone off the field feeling proud of how well they fought (no one would say that they actually LOST the game).

Sri Lanka : Similar to India but they would also make some strange, stupid noises "Aaaalalalalalalala.. geelllaaaalalal.. khlalahh khulalalalaa" (Read this aloud in a high pitched tone and you'd suddenly feel as if you are in Colombo)... or something like this. But yes, they would've lost too.

New Zealand : Would've lost as well. And would complain that most of their 'in-form players' (like who?) were injured.

South Africa : It would've either started raining or they'd have forgotten to play a shot or miscalculated or something like that. Chances of winning would be about 50%.
Pakistan: Anything could happen. They could either score off these runs easily or maybe just lose wickets on all 6 balls.

West Indies, England, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe: Never mind.

-Shri

Indian Society and IPLGate

I heard one of the more interesting conversations about IPLGate on Cricinfo. Harsha Bhogle, Sanjay Manjrekar and Ayaz Memon made some extremely valuable points there. But the point that really stuck with me was made by Sanjay Manjrekar. He said "I wish for the benefit of India cricket that Indian cricket fans didn't love the game so unconditionally. I wish they were more demanding".

It was an absolutely awesome statement. Two of Indias finest nicities are they they are not very demanding and they are extremely forgiving. It almost comes to a point where some people have started exploiting these virtues. India finds itself in unprecedented times today. The growing economy, the wealth, the importance and the belief that the times ahead promise much more are something that hadn't happened anytime before. There is a tremendous sense of achievement and confidence. However, there are some attributes passed on from previous generations that haven't gone away.

My parents generation was the first one after India's independence. It was probably a time when most of the country had indulged itself (knowingly or unknowingly) in nation-building. Government had tons and tons of work to do. And thats why Government jobs were abundant. Having a Government job was the norm, in fact prestigous. It came with decent salaries and most importantly security. However, poverty and simple livelihood were pretty common. And since people didn't have too many resources at their disposal they were not very demanding. They didn't need everything to be perfect. They were happy to just enjoy whatever they had rather than worry about what they didn't. This in turn makes people more forgiving as well.

Compare this to an American or European society where people have been well to do for generations. They've almost got used to things being just perfect and therefore anything other than perfect draws a lot of ire. For e.g. Indian roads haven't been in the greatest of shapes for years (they've improved now). But that didn't make people pelt stones or burn effigies of the concerned officers. Compare this to an incident where an American freeway has some pothole. Police with immediately shutdown the freeway (or at least that lane) till the time it is made perfect.

But this will change. The India of today is rich, glamorous and is getting used to things being perfect. They can afford a better lifestyle and are getting used to it. I don't think newer generations of Indians would want to go to an ordinary cinema hall once they've been to a multiplex. And once this better lifestyle becomes the norm everywhere, it will mean that people strive to get the best of everything.

So if an IPLGate happens again in a few years, people will not be that forgiving. It will take a lot of effort to win their confidence back. But till then, let's just hope that controversies such as these are few and far between.

-Shri

IPLGate: "Na deshyudh, na dharmayudh... ye hai dharti par karmayudh"

The Indian Premier League started as this colossus of entertainment. It was the perfect mashup of cricket, India's biggest infatuation along with Bollywood, glitz, glamour and huge sums of money. Sure, the international cricket stars rubbed shoulders against each other. But the best of IPL was these magic moments when somone like Shadab Jakati or Rajat Bhatia foxed the likes of Glichrist and Hayden or Manish Pandey or Shrivats Goswami hammered Dale Steyn and Shane Warne. For almost two months India did nothing but IPL. Cinama halls didn't see movies releasing, TV didn't see new serials starting and I'm sure local businesses found their clientele more glued to television that visiting restaurants or grocery stores. It was almost as if all the money involved in anything associated with "having-a-good-time" was routed to the IPL. Nothing could match the excitement of a three hour T20 match between two privately owned teams. Seriously, the IPL was something India couldn't have enough of.

And now suddenly the IPL has kinda surprised itself. It has proved that there was something that was more interesting (sensational?) that the IPL matches. It was "IPLGate" :). So even though I keep an eye on the cricket matches, I find myself more interested in what Lalit Modi and co. are upto. How many teams did he actually own? How much was his stake? How much money did he swindle? And much more... It also gives me some pleasure in saying "See... I told you... How does someone like SRK, or even worse Priety Zinta and Shilpa Shetty, have these huge sums of money? None of them (nor their respective past and present better halves are as rich as Ambani or Mallya." I may be proved completely wrong and someone could come up with numbers that add up. But you can't deny that I had my moment :D.

The last few days have been especially exciting. What started off as a tiff between a super suave junior minister (popularly found near the terms "External Affairs" (:D), "cattle class", "tweet", etc.) and Lalit, turned into a big brawl and now seems like a full fledged war (where the junior minister has made way for IT officials). The interesting part is that this war is not about who wins. It is about who won't lose.
. If Lalit Modi loses, he will lose his position as the IPL commisioner, pot loads of money and whatever else he must have been cooking behind the scenes.
. If Lalit Modi does not lose, the BCCI might lose its credibility as it failed to act against Modi, the IPL might lose since everyone will continue to look at it as a black money powered, tax evading tournament which didn't clean itself up when the opportunity presented itself.
. If Lalit Modi and the BCCI agree on some common terms and decide to settle the dispute, most likely they'll be able to keep everything under wraps. Given that they have tons of money, politicians from the ruling and the opposition parties, influential businessmen and some people from the media on their side, that wouldn't be too big a problem. In such a case, India loses :(.
Well, India loses in all the three cases above :(.

The best part about an intriguing thriller is the climax. When we almost always find out that someone is schizophrenic :D. But at least there is something we are looking forward to.

So what is it that we are all looking forward to in IPLGate? Would we rejoice if Lalit Modi was found guilty of malpractices and sent to jail? Would we sulk if the IPL was terminated indefinitely? Even if it continues, would IPL be the same again?

The best outcome, I think, might be that Lalit Modi makes way for someone just like him but honest and transperant to be the new head of the IPL. But unfortunately, such a person may not exist and the IPL may never be the same again.

Sports based films suck ...

Bollywood will see the release of another film related to sports this week. Apparantly "Dil Bole Hadippa"(DBH) will see Rani Mukherjee(RM) being an ace cricketer who disguises as boy just so that she can participate/play in some cricket tournament.

I always seem to have one big issue with films based on sports. Esp. those in India. Sports films will obviously be incomplete withouth sporting action. So a cricket based film will have to have someone playing genuine cricket shots or bowling genuine/legal deliveries. A hockey film should have the protagonists playing hockey of the utmost skill and performance level. A soccer based film should show the actors playing amazingly good soccer. But the biggest problem is... THEY DON'T!!!

Well, they do show the actors playing the sport. But it can never look as good as we're used to seeing it. HOW ON EARTH CAN RANI MUKHERJEE EVER PLAY A STRAIGHT DRIVE AS GOOD AS WE'VE SEEN SACHIN TENDULKAR OR RAHUL DRAVID PLAY? These actors go on an film promotion spree claiming that they trained for six months (surprisingly everyone trains exactly 6 months, be in RM for cricket, the "chak de" girls for hockey....I wonder why bollywood is obsessed with "6 month training"?). Don't they ever realise that people spend their lifetime training in some sport and yet they cannot make it big?

The fault I think lies with the producer and the director. I don't think they are people who understand the sport to the highest level and therefore when they shoot they don't realise that the actual sporting action looks fairly amatuerish.

Some of them do put in a lot of effort and come reasonably close to not making a fool of themselves. "Chake De India" was a prime example. I'm sure anyone who has seen hockey would realize that the girls in that movie were no where close to look like pros (forget winning a World Cup). But it wasn't too bad either. Some of the scenes (maybe shot with professional hockey players) looked fairly commendable. And more so, the rest of the film were so good that the audience (probably) forgot about this.
Same goes with Lagaan. Sure, the cricket there was nowhere near as good as international cricket. But their story basically had the actors not knowing sport.. so they were learning the sport and were not born champions. Even without this, the quality of cricket there was fairly impressive (I loved the fact that the ball did not spin in the second over... and started spinning later when it became old).

People might argue that the film is about the story and not really the sporting action. Maybe... but then don't show me the junk!! If you're so skillful, make a movie about sport without showing the actual sport. Sure DBH might be more about how this girl is going all out to achieve her dream of playing cricket. But the sight of her holding a bat clumsily and hitting a (so called) straight six makes me cringe. Just look at the promo below. Looking at this... and thinking of the climax of the film... yes ... you guessed it right.. a cricket match.. tense situation... wickets falling every other ball... and suddenly our beloved (yuck!!) girl-turned-boy batsman (batswoman?) finds the form of his/her life and starts hitting fours and sixes at will... possibly hitting a six on the last ball to win the match...

WHY WOULD ANYONE LIKE IT? If she trained for six months... did no one tell her how to hold a bat. Or did she train herlself as a scorer or umpire and only realized it on the day of the shoot that she has to play a cricket shot ... not raise or stretch hands.



For all you know... after all this rant, I myself might like the film. But it can only be because of other, non-cricketing reasons.

Jai Dhoni ...

Mahendra Singh Dhoni's two outstanding gestures simply won him over. If there was anyone who did not like him, these gestures would have easily made them his biggest fans. The idea to ask Sourav Ganguly to lead for a few overs before the match was over outstanding. I couldn't believe it for a few minutes. And when I did, I had a big lump in my throat. A few minutes later, I had a big smile on my face and respect for Dhoni was infinite :).

Then after India won and during the presentation, he asked Kumble to share the trophy with him and after a few pictures were taken, quickly moved aside and let Kumble enjoy the trophy and the limelight. It showed that he understood the contribution and the hard work that the 'old man' had put in.

Not only does he have great cricketing acumen, he seems to be good at man management.

It was hard to increase the respect that I had for Dhoni. It was already at infinity ;).

India Vs Australia

Right... the time is just perfect. Its a Friday evening and I've been stuck into analyzing a core dump for the last few hours. What better time could I get for writing a blog!!

India take on Australia in what would be the most interesting crciketing battle in the last few months. Remember India did exceedingly well in their last trip Down Under. Will the Aussies hit back with a vengeance? Or will the famed Indian middle-order rise to the occasion and deliver a splendid performance? Only time will tell...

For starters, all the talk about India giving a red-carpet welcome to the Australians is certainly not good. Yes, the Aussies would certainly benefit from practicing on Indian pitches and Indian bowlers. But a true match is when both the sides are equally competent on a certain type pitch. So this practice to the Aussies will only make the actual contests interesting.

The other worrisome part is the media going hell-for-leather against the likes Ganguly, Dravid, Kumble and sometimes even Tendulkar. Agreed that all of them are well past their prime, but the real question is are there replacements with enough capabilities? The selectors could certainly do with a better strategy. For example, they could have each of these being made to sit out of a match so that some other youngster gets a chance. That should keep everyone happy (yeah.. provided all of these seniors are the same kind of form).

Keeping Ganguly out of the Irani Trophy was pretty sad. Right since the outset, I've had a soft corner for Sourav. He just had that attitude where one felt he'll back you through out. I really really hope that the selectors do select him in the 14 for the Tests against Australia. Its fine if he cant make it to the playing 11. He could play the 2nd test when some other senior batsman sits out. If he's not selected, I would feel bad :(.

I'll write more about this series as and when I find time...