Gilchrist c Indian fans b Indian fans

Poor Adam Gilchrist! I seriously feel for the man and don’t even want to imagine the kind of response that awaits him when he comes to India come 2009 for the 2nd edition of the IPL. As it is, he’s got a headache of sorts trying to lead a team that ended up getting the 'wooden spoon'. And he surely could have done without the hostile reception that he’ll most certainly be getting from the crowds out here in India. But such is life. There are certain people who are revered not just as demi-Gods but God itself! And when that “God” happens to hail from a country with which you still have to do serious business with, you better be careful of what you say!

But then come to think of this! Was Gilchrist a saint during his cricketing days? He’ll be the 1st to deny this. We all saw that during that Sydney Test that he was far from being a saint. But does that stop him from pointing fingers at something or someone that he feels was not quite correct! Heck, why should it? I mean, from when did “two wrongs begin to make one right”? I may be the most dreaded gangster in the world but that does not mean I lose my right to have an opinion on a certain xyz! I'd hate it if someone said 'yes' to that. And folks, make no mistake. This isn’t some below average Abdur Razzaq or a frustrated and pessimistic Javed Miandad levelling accusations. Adam Gilchrist, much like Sachin Tendulkar has been a trendsetter in the game of cricket. Bowlers all over the world are known to have more scared bowling to him than to any other batsman; and yes, for all that Sydney fiasco, Gilly still wasn’t the most dishonest of men around either. One of the few [if not only] ‘walkers’ during his time, he continued to practise that ‘practice’ for most of his playing years despite having huge problems over the issue with his teammates [as revealed in excerpts of his autobiography]. Point is, he did what his heart said was the “right” thing to do even if it meant making a few enemies in his own team. Adam Gilchrist may not have played for 19 years or may not have scored 12k runs and all that, but as far as pure “cricketing greatness” goes, he’s not far behind Sachin Tendulkar. Some might even put him ahead of the Bombay great.

And so to see, our cricket-crazy fans proving that they indeed are ‘cricket-crazy’ was such a shame really. Infact, the way our TV channels went ballistic showing little sense if at all by highlighting only one part of the story was even more of a shame. Apart from Pradeep Magazine, not one journalist had the sanity of appealing to the fans to show some ‘logic’ and ‘reason’. To see the otherwise likeable Srinivasan Jain almost sucking up to Sachin was a disgrace to say the least! As a veteran journalist and that too from a channel who surely doesn’t have to depend on histrionics to up their TRPs, surely better behavior and some common sense was expected.Now am I pointing fingers at Sachin and trying to imply something? No, I’m not! All I’m saying is that, Sachin like most of the greats who’ve played before him hasn’t had as faultless a career as people think. Come on baby! Why do we always point fingers at Andrew Symonds, our very own man has stopped 'walking' since such a long time now. Atleast on that front, Gilly has a superior record than what Sachin does.

Cut a long story short, we really need to show some ‘rationality’ in our thoughts and behavioral patterns. Yes, the genius from Bombay is by far the most blessed champion to have graced the game, atleast of his generation. That doesn’t mean we need to cut down other champions who may have an opinion on him. Especially in cases when that other champion too has had a solid reputation, not just as a cricketer but as someone who’s played the game in the most dignified manner. In this case between the two greats, the only way whereby things could have been clarified was through a mutual discussion between the two which apparently did take place. Things seemed to have been clarified and now they need to move on. Knowing the way they’ve conducted themselves in public so far, I’m sure they will indeed move on. But will the Indian public too ‘move on’? I seriously doubt. The ‘Church’ should brace himself for some real tough times in 2009. It was the ‘wooden spoon’ last time around. I’d be surprised if he’ll get that again but then the ‘wooden stick’ may not be too far behind. I hope I’m proved wrong but I’m pretty sure, I wont be!

Kumble v MS~~Test-captaincy at stake!

Too much of talk has revolved around MS during the past week or so. While majority of the junta including the very respected former Australian skipper has been keen to point out that its high time that the street-smart cricketer be handed over the reins in Test cricket as well, Ravi Shastri (and a few other sane men)was quick to point out that theres still some oil left in the tank as far as Anil Kumble is concerned. Actually, one is not very sure whether there is still indeed some fuel left in the tank but a fit Anil Kumble can still command a place in the team, not just as a frontline spinner but also as a captain. The reason can also be partly put to the fact that, MS still has some work to do in Test cricket to command respect of the highest order.

Its true that Dhoni seems to have taken to captaincy ridiculously easily. To be honest, barring a few errors in judgement as far as his own batting slot in ODIs is concerned [none more glaring than the one during the tri-series final in Dhaka recently] he’s hardly put a foot wrong. Important triumphs in South Africa, Australia, Sri Lanka; he’s had them all. The way he’s apparently made sure he gets the team of his choice is highly commendable. It shows that he cares not too much about reputations but more about the ground realities! His mannerisms, both on and off the field is something that young kids should look to emulate. For me, the clip that stands out the most during his short international career as a captain is the one in which he addressed his team after that pulsating IPL final. If reports were to be believed, all he said to the team was that they need not get too disappointed with the result. Their efforts were exemplary and at times, winning is not the most important thing! For a man to address his team like that just moments after a heart-breaking loss speaks volumes of his steely character. Yes, to say that MS has taken to captaincy like a duck takes to water would be akin to stating the very obvious.

However, in all this euphoria one must not forget that, at the end of the day, Test Cricket is indeed, well, Test Cricket. It is an enormously different format of the game and though the best players seem to adjust to the various formats of the game easily enough, Dhoni still has to make a real significant impression in his Test match resume. True, coming to bat at no. 7 doesn’t help him much. Even then, a batting average of 35 odd is still pretty low by his standards; especially with the kind of benchmark that Adam Gilchrist has set despite batting at no. 7 for most part of his career. When he did get a chance to do the talking with the bat, Dhoni didn’t disappoint at Mohali, moreover he was even ready to ‘lead by example’ by stepping out to bat at no.3 in the crucial 2nd innings. We’ll still have to wait though for him to become a bit more consistent in the matches to follow. Its increasingly looking likely that Kumble may not play on for too long now. I personally think the Pakistan series early next year would be a good time for MS to take over. Which gives him 4 more Test matches to consolidate his position in the team as a reliable batsman. Infact, most people tip him to take over for the upcoming England series as well but only time will tell how long will Kumble want to continue, his less-than-impressive form and bowling arm permitting. Nonetheless, unlike most people I do not think his heir-apparent is 'ready to take over' in Tests as he was in ODIs and T20s, coz as stated earlier, his batting has to become a bit more consistent. In a team wherein every other batsman averages 40+, it better become a 'lot-more-consistent'.

As his first international skipper would testify (or will he ever agree to it?) once a captain doesn’t contribute much to the team with bat/ball, his influence and respect within the team and otherwise ends up diminishing pretty rapidly. It’s a cruel game cricket and its especially true if you’re an Indian playing this sport!

Why I feel (yet again) that TMF is 'Human' after all & A mini-preview of The Madrid AMS

So, after giving all his fans a real scare over the past few days, TMF after all will be playing again in 2008. The final leg of the season for the two big guns got underway last night what with the local favorite Rafa Nadal being felicitated early on for his capture of the top slot. The tournament Director was himself present for the momentous occasion and Rafa clearly looked quite overwhelmed though he must have got used to quite a few of these ceremonies by now. Its been quite some time now since he gained the no. 1 ranking; close to two months actually. Right then, the Madrid AMS has kicked off and tonight the World no.1 will begin his personal campaign out there. TMF is likely to play tomorrow and he’s got a tougher draw ahead of him. Stepanek, Tsonga, JMD/Nalbandian; they’re all ‘more-than-handy’ players who on their day can upset the great man. Nole’s been placed in Rafa’s draw while US Open finalist and the new World no. 4 Andy Murray should face Federer should things go according to seedings.

As stated earlier, fans of the Swiss Genius who were all on Cloud no. 9 since his heroics at NY city were collectively taken aback when he’d announced his withdrawal from the Stockholm Open and had then made a statement which in effect said that he wasn’t really sure as to when would he be back on tour. For a person who chooses his words so very carefully, it was quite a big thing to say coz most fans had actually thought that an in-form Federer who was clearly close to his very best during the latter half of the US Open would be itching to play as much as possible now and get as close to Rafa in terms of ATP points. Who knows, he might have a crack the no.1 ranking in the current year itself and be on course for the hardest Pete Sampras record to emulate, leave alone break! For a person who epitomizes ‘desire to excel’ like few modern-day sportsmen do, his reluctance to possibly further participate in 2008 surprised me as well. But then, it didnt take long for one to realize that this was actually yet another instance when he proved that inside that steely exterior, Roger Federer after all is a human being. A human being who much like the ordinary mortal has emotions, is someone who utterly values goals achieved and most importantly, can get exhausted under relentless pressure; so much so that even he can end up feeling the need for a “break”!

Come to think of it! Which other modern day superstar has been under the kind of pressure as has TMF during his ‘bad’ year. (Even Sachin Tendulkar over the years had to put up with a lot less vitriolic and at times, funny comments and observations) As if an ever-improving Rafa wasn’t enough, Nole upset him at the season’s 1st Grandslam and that really started off the barrage of comments from experts and then, from the so-called experts alike. I must admit here and say that some of the observations were quite allright; after all, Federer shouldn’t consider himself to be so above the game that no one has the right to find faults with it. Losing to Rafa and Nole is one thing but losing to Blake and Co. quite the other. So far, so good. But when people started to comment that the man wont possibly ever win a Slam again, one could only pity at such, well, jokes. Again, don’t get me wrong. At the end of US Open 1992, few would have thought that an in-his-prime-Stefan Edberg would never win a Slam thereafter. Yes, strange things do happen. But to publicly predict something to that effect as if you’re some kind of a Nostradamus of sorts is laughable to say the least. Worse, you had celebrity moms stating that the “King is DEAD! Long live the KING”. Really, how stupid and naïve can one get?! We’ve said this a zillion times before, but I cant stop myself from repeating. All these ‘wise comments’ in a year when TMF reached 2 GS finals and a semi-final before ofcourse that famos win at Flushing Meadows!

Lets give it to him folks. The man’s endured a lot this year. Pardon me for sounding crass, but he’s had to put up with Bu****** of the highest order for the majority of 2008! And its only natural for even the great man to feel bad about it all. His post-match comments at the end of NY’08 only went on to prove how terrible he and his family had been left feeling this year. And its only right on his part to take a break or a “long break” if he wants to “thoroughly celebrate” his GS win no. 13! I mean, how often do we get see ordinary mortals in our day-to-day life saying that they are “fed-up” with the constant pressures of life. Employees complaint of nagging and demanding bosses, students complaint of relentless competition, customers complaint about less-than-satisfactory services, unions keep complainting of low wages, husbands are yet to stop complaining about wives [wonder when that’ll ever stop], the list will go on and on. Point to be noted here is, pressure of any kind at the end of the day is just that, PRESSURE! So a multi-millionaire Roger Federer must be getting as irritated and must be feeling as much under the “cosh” so to say as would the ordinary Joe in town. Heck, it wasn’t for no reason after all that a certain Swede hung up his racquet at the ‘ripe-old age of 26’ in the summer of 1981! Make no mistake friends, whichever ladder of life you’re at, pressure means the same! It hurts when people write stuff about you, it sucks even more when people write stuff that’s as close to crap as you can imagine! Critics, by the way, might once again start harping on why they think Federer was/is over-reacting and that he need not get so-worked up with the media and all that! What they fail to realize is that here is a man who publicly shed tears when he was handed a trophy at the hands of the iconic Rod Laver. Here is a man for whom victories mean so much that he ends up getting emotional even if that were to be his 5th straight win at that place. Clearly, he’s one of the few old-timers [if I may use the word] for whom the game is bigger than everything else and for whom the game’s rich history and its heroes mean a hell lot! Roger Federer aint not "One of the modern day greats". He is "The 'GREATEST' of the modern-day greats"!

Would be nice to see him back in action and would be equally nice to see others too. Rafa obviously, or atleast in my book, will start as the favorite. I hope people don’t point towards the “fastest surface on tour” as to why he cant win it. TMF has realized and I hope others do too, that Rafa Nadal of 2008 is not the same as the Rafa Nadal of 2005. Nole seems to have tapered off with his below-par performances at London and NY and to expect A.Rod to win an AMS would be a bit too much. Murray will interesting to watch and I hope he delivers a performance that will force all of us to talk about a ‘quartet’ at the top than a ‘trioka’. But then again, its too early to bill him as one of the serious contenders. Rafa and Roger will continue to be the two top guns. But keep an eye, yet again, on JMD. The one player who can displace Murray and even Nole come 2009, he’s had such a fantastic 2008 that it’ll be hard to ignore him in his 1st Masters series tournament post his string of successes. Finally, the defending champion seems to have hit some serious form ahead of Madrid. David Nalbandian, one of the game’s greatest underachievers will look to secure his place at Shanghai with a solid performance here. Whats more, he’s in line to face JMD at some stage in the tournament. Would be a real mouth-watering encounter that.

So then, the final part of 2008, the Indoor season i.e has begun! Sit back and enjoy!!

Ponting's India test, captaincy test!

If you’re not an Indian or an Australian, you could be forgiven for thinking that the 2001 Test Series played between the two cricketing powerhouses is talked about a “bit too often”. That is, it wont be a surprise to assume an Englishman thinking that way too much is made of that series and that there have been more interesting series played than that. While the latter part of the previous line could be true and “is” probably true, for someone who was witness to almost each and every delivery of that historic series, its hard to think of any other more riveting series, atleast post 2001 [Ashes ’05 comes pretty close though]. One reason for the same is that something so defining happened during that series that teams throughout the world too note of it, got so affected by it that starting from that match, captains started thinking twice before implementing that gameplan; a gameplan that hitherto was such a straightforward thing to do to assert your authority over the game! Yes, they call it the VVS effect!

Thanks to that man, Steve Waugh and most captains to have played the game thereafter refused to implement the “follow-on”. Ashes ’05 was bad for the Aussies but Adam Gilchrist did find a way to tackle Freddie Flintoff’s reverse swing, Australian batsman could cope with the pace of Steve Harmison and co. later on, Glenn McGrath finally did get a 5-0 win prediction over England right; all that and much more did eventually happen in Ashes ’07. But that VVS effect lingered on. One innings from that stylist Hyderabadi and it changed the way captains thought!

The problem with such mindset is that even the most aggressive of captains end up thinking a bit too defensively. I have no problems with captains doing that if they are on the verge of something historic and are hence adopting a “safety-first” strategy. Rahul Dravid had every right to feel aggrieved at the way the media went for his blood after he did not invite England to bat again in the 3rd Test of the 2006 Test series versus England. India had already secured a 1-0 lead, was about to win a major overseas series and he had every reason to “secure” that coveted win. Fair call, accepted! But when captains fail to declare even after they secure a 450 run lead or worse, on day 5 Indian tracks refuse to stop the innings despite having a near 350 run surplus, it surely tends to raise questions on the captain’s thinking prowess. Sure enough, instances of crazy batting tales will take place. Agreed; out here I’m not talking about the “follow-on” syndrome, only raising the point of how negatively captains have begun to think in recent years. And much of that credit or blame, however you put it, can be traced back to that 281. Surely captains around the world are more experienced or are atleast supposed to be more experienced than you and I, the average reader. Surely, on a typical crumbling day 5 Indian track, if someone wont call off an innings despite having a 300+ lead, he surely needs to take a few lessons from the Norman Vincent Peale classic “ The Power of Positive Thinking”.

Once again, whilst the opportunity to enfore a “follow-on” did not arise at all, the current Test looks all set for a photo finish now. The visiting captain’s mindset will be on display and it will let us know how aggressive he is as far as his “desire to win in India” is concerned. Chances are high that RTP will have the opportunity to declare the innings either overnight or latest after batting for half an hour tomorrow. A Mark Taylor would surely have invited the hosts to bat again after getting somewhere like 275 runs in front. The best captain to have played the game since Imran Khan, he knew the importance of getting an early lead in an important Test series and more critically, wasn’t scared to gamble on a few losses in pursuit of important wins.

Punter hopefully will trust his bowlers and ideally should invite the hosts to bat for a few overs tonight itself. As stated earlier, by all probabilities, the Aussies would have taken a substantial lead by say, 4 pm and must ask Sehwag and Co. to bat for atleast half an hour. Also, recent history shows how inept the Indian batting is when it comes to 4th innings efforts. Barring that great effort at Lords two seasons ago, we’ve got little else to show as far as “saving Test matches” are concerned. A shrewd Ricky Ponting is expected to be aware of all this. But it remains to be seen if he too is too stung by a few reversals that were inflicted on his team by these very opponents. Most cricket pundits rated Mark Taylor as a better captain than Steve Waugh and there were mighty important reasons for that. Tonight we’ll get to see whose legacy would Ricky Thomas Ponting want to inherit! His batting record was corrected straightaway out here but his real test of captaincy is yet to begin!!

Just one last time Dada~~Thank you for everything! :)

They say that a cat has nine lives. Put that in perspective and its time to realize that the ‘Man of the moment’ after all is only human being. Yes, he was often compared to a different type of a cat (The Bengal Tiger) but at the end of the day, we all knew that it was only a human being. Err correction may be, a super human-being that the cricketing fraternity was so very blessed to witness for the better part of the past 12 years!

Its been more than 5 days since the Saurav Ganguly’s name was announced in the squad to play Australia and about a day has passed now when he made a statement which meant that the news of Saurav’s selection in an international team wouldn’t be heard again! Normally, a person would be elated when he were to know that something that he’d predicted had come true. My last post had categorically mentioned that the Prince of Calcutta surely would be there in the team but it would only part of the “Golden Handshake” agreement. After the selection, most of my friends and almost all of the media and all of the players themselves were quick to denounce any such theory. Heck, such a possibility (much to my surprise) wasn’t even discussed as people remarked: “That happens only in Australia!”. Which probably explains why 99% of the junta was taken aback when the actual announcement did come yesterday. I was amongst the 1% who was expecting this but yes, it did leave a lump in my throat. My prediction had come true, it was absolutely the right thing to happen in Indian cricket as well but at the cost of sounding utterly emotional, I must say, I wasn’t exactly feeling on the top of the world!

A legend of not just Indian cricket but of world cricket at that will finally draw curtains on his career at a venue that ironically was the very place where his troubles all began, a venue at which he refused to play, which for most, spelled the ‘beginning of his end’, so to say. He has an opportunity now to redress that and bow out of the game in style; in a manner that thoroughly befits “a good Test batsman, an all-time great ODI batsman and an outstanding leader of men” [lines stolen from the great Shri. Harsha Bhogle :)]. Infact it wont be wrong if 5 years down the line people will have another great Asian cricket captain to talk on, coz for far too long Imran Khan was without company! Having said all this, I was a bit surprised that Saurav chose to announce his decision at the beginning of such an important series. I hope the Indian media doesn’t make the same mistake that its Aussie counterparts did in the season of 2003-04, where clearly the Australian team got quite a bit distracted by the constant focus on Steve Waugh’s swansong. I would have liked the man to make the announcement just before the beginning of the 4th Test; however I’m sure he must have had compelling reasons to have done what he has.

Also, as stated earlier, I’m absolutely convinced that this was the right time for him to exit the scene. We shouldn’t be so hell bent on making all kinds of mistakes ourselves and then try and learn from them. One mistake the Australians made in early 1980s and the lessons from that were so deeply ingrained in them that they’ve somehow now managed the art of “letting players know when its time-up”. We really don’t want a similar scenario in India and the time is just about ripe for atleast two youngsters [Ideally Rohit Sharma and the other one would be a call between giving Yuvraj another chance or going for S.Badrinath) to be blooded in the middle order. Yes, these are tough decisions. Yes, questions such as “What if Saurav scores 4 double 100’s in the 4 Tests?” are bound to arise. Surely, there are no easy answers for these and all I can say is these are just the kind of situations wherein something called as the “gut-feel” needs to take over. Some might laugh at it, in our MBA parlance such words are often dubbed as “gas”. I couldn’t care less though. Someone had to make way for one of these very talented youngsters whilst we still had some experience in the middle order. This was just about the right time hence for the most vulnerable to make a graceful exit and thankfully, Dada has just done that!

All said and done though, as Bishen Singh Bedi and a few others said yesterday, its not a time to grieve. Bengalis shouldn’t think that their Durga Puja celebrations have been rudely interrupted. Indians for that matter should continue to remain in a festive mood. Coz after all, its time methinks to not write a great man’s obituary but to go back into memory lane, think of all the mighty good things that SCG has done for himself and for Indian cricket and to “Bloody thank him for all that!” Lemme say that again, Thank HIM a zillion times!

At a time when Indian cricket was clearly directionless and at a time when even the great Sachin Tendulkar has thrown in the towel, out of nowhere did this man, “The Lord Snooty” as the English media labelled him, took over the reins. And boy, did he “TAKE OVER” or what! Right from backing his instincts and the men he trusted in, to teaching them to ‘look into the opponents’ eye’ and ‘give them back’ when needed, to instilling a raw self-belief in the team, to getting rid of the ‘invisible quota system’ while choosing players, to getting the best of the foreign world when it came to having a great and professional support staff, the man did it all and with distinction at that! One look at most of the famos non-Fab 5 players and you’ll see that most of them were groomed during his reign. Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh; they’ll still talk in awe about the great man which clearly shows that as a leader of men, SCG commanded respect of the highest order! Yes, Saurav himself should realize that he immensely benefitted from the fact that he had the greatest of “followers” in Rahul Dravid which surely made his job that much easier. Any leader in any field would tell you that its of paramount importance to have atleast one person right under you who’ll trust you without question and who’ll be there with you through thick and thin! (The last part may be contested by some but we’ll leave it for some other day.) Gandhi always had a Nehru by his side, Narayana Murthy will be the 1st to admit that without Nilekani and others by his side, Infosys wouldn’t have been what it is today, on the cricket field Steve Waugh has publicly stated that Adam Gilchrist’s contribution to his success can never be overstated and similarly, SCG will know that he has a lot of people to thank for his glorious career. Dravid, the senior players, Jagmohan Dalmiya [how could you forget him] and then ofcourse a certain Kiwi with whom he shared one of the most warm relationships, though true to its style, the media kept feeding the hoi polloi with something else, most of the time!

Right then, Nagpur it will be where Saurav wil bid adieu and I hope he does get to play there. Make no mistake, if he fails to do well in the 1st 3 tests and if the series hangs in fine balance by then, Anil Kumble will be tempted to commit a grave sin; “the sin of dropping” him for the final Test. Lets get real folks! Its not a completely ‘improbable scenario’ and knowing the proud Bengali that Saurav is, I’m sure he’ll hate to remain in the team purely for sentimental reasons. To ensure that such a thing doesn’t happen its imperative for him to do well at Bangalore itself and start off the series in style. Get some runs under your belt, and then truly realize what it means to play one full series without having to worry about your selection in the playing XI. In his own words, he’d then know what it feels like to “play with a free mind”!

In the end, all that I on behalf of so many of your fans pan-India and across the world can say is: Thank you Dada! Thank you so much for all the fond memories that you’ll behind. At a time when words such as “greatness” and all that is used so very loosely, you for sure, are someone who absolutely deserves to be coronated with such adjectives! Great, Inspirational, Trend-setter, God on the off-side, you truly were all of that and much more. Thank you once again!

P.S. Just one last thing Dada :) Don’t ever feel embarrassed by what you did on the evening of 13th July, 2002, on that balcony at Lords. We all loved it! :) :)

Saurav's swansong, anyone?

Change, whether for god or bad, often comes along with some kind of excitement. And though its common for people to become cynical at times and coin one of those timelines lines, “The more things change, the more they remain the same”, quite often a ‘change of guard’ does bring with itself a whole new set of, well, changes!

As the Indian cricket board began consolidating its position as the richest and the most powerful board in the new millennium, changes did take place across the pile. The board HQ started looking a lot more plush, the team finally moved towards a ‘graded pay system’, more people specialized in certain key areas of interest started to accompany the team and suddenly the word ‘professionalism’ wasn’t meant to be restricted for the Australian team only! Even as far as the results are concerned, the first major strides that the ‘Men in Blue’ started taking towards becoming the No. 1 team in the world by consistently challenging the Aussies were taken in the new millennium, i.e somewhere in 2000-01.

And as we embrace the latest change of guard, of the 5 wise men who’ll decide upon the team to compete against our modern-day arch-rivals (to win the Border-Gavaskar trophy), its worth noting that the fate of a very proud man hangs in balance, and how! A man who, truth be told, was (arguably) that one person who almost single-handedly instilled that raw self-belief in the Indian team; that they were good enough to challenge the might of the Australians. 7.5 years ago, Saurav Ganguly’s credentials as a skipper suddenly changed from ‘good’ to ‘great’ courtesy a ‘never-to-be-forgotten’ Test series against Steve Waugh’s all-conquering team. And now, Kris Srikkanth and his new set of friends, will in a few hours decide whether the Dada would be allowed to retire on a high!

Yes, if things are to be believed, this latest ‘change’ too will come with its share of plusses. Apparently, champion players are now going to given the choice of exiting the game gracefully and in style [An Australian thing (Steve Waugh’s farewell) once again becoming a role model of sorts]. If this were to be true, it would really be one of the best things to have happened to Indian cricket as Asians in particular have had a long history of champion sportsmen/women quitting the game on a grumpy note. (We certainly don’t want any more Kapil Dev kind-of exits, do we?) And this new practice now provides the Fab 5, a perfect opportunity to bow out with their honour intact.

Saurav, the fallguy? Not again! Doesn’t he have “atleast two more years left”? Only recently he scored a career-best 239! Well, one can talk about at length on stats and numbers and all that. And yet, people who know and understand the game really well would tell you that averages and all those details in general only tell you a part of the story. The writing’s been there on the wall for quite some time now and despite his heroics in South Africa and against Pakistan at home, India’s finest lefthander was always going to be the 1st man on whom the inevitable axe was about to fall. If reports are to be believed, even the great man’s steely will seems to have given up now and he might end up announcing his retirement should his name not feature in the list that would be announced in a few hours from now.

My gut feeling, however, says that this new “Choose your farewell” strategy adopted by the Indian Board/Selectors means that Saurav will get to play one last time! I really wont be surprised if that were to be the case and if logic were to say that he be shown the door with immediate effect, we all know that stranger things have happened. And to be honest, for once, I wont be complaining too much either. Coz its not that a Mohammad Kaif or even a Badrinath for that matter has proven credentials on the international stage. And when you have an opportunity to sign off one of the true legends of the Sport and not just Indian cricket in a very very honorable manner, why not accord him that respect? Infact, it’s the least we could do for our heroes.

Way back on the 6th of Jan, 2004, when Steve Waugh was receiving that magnificent ovation at the SCG, I remember the man in question coming live on TV and saying that ‘THIS’ is what you play for! People appreciating that you gave it all for the game and giving you a reception to die for. Will Nagpur get that opportunity to do to Saurav Chandidas Ganguly what Sydney did for Stephen Rodger Waugh?

In a few hours from now, we shall know!

Pre-Preview: Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India, 2008!

So, it’s that time of the year! A time when Test cricket, surely, will be played hard but then you could never really guarantee as to whether it would be played fair. That’s thanks to the enormous amount of ill-will that was generated between the two cricketing teams in question. Australia and India will lock horns again in a few weeks from now and like a lot of pundits have already stated, I too simply cannot wait for the action to begin.

Back in 2001, Steve Waugh’s side had arrived in India on an all-time high and the skipper himself had declared that conquering India in India would be akin to have captured ‘The Final Frontier’. Till mid-way through the series, things seem to have gone as per the script; but then what happened thereafter would be marveled by VVS himself a few years down the line when he watches those videos from the comfort of his living room! Point is, the series ended up being closely fought though it wasn’t meant to go that way.

Despite that euphoria, few gave the Indians a chance when they toured down under in late 2003. After all, our record out there was perhaps shambolic to say the least and India’s best overseas batsman since ’02 had a less-than-impressive record in that country. However, India produced some of the best Test cricket it’s ever played and in the end the series was drawn 1-1. Infact, it had come precariously close to spoiling Steve Waugh’s farewell Test series and only some brave batting from the 168-test-veteran himself ensured that his final Test in front a packed home crowd didn’t end up on a losing note for his team. Once again, things not following the script.

Fast forward again to their next chapter in the rivalry and this time around too, few events went as planned. Despite the drop in form of their skipper, Saurav Ganguly and murmurs floating around as to how much of a liability he’d become in the line-up, Indians on the back of their impressive showing in the earlier two series were expected to atleast compete well with the visitors. This time around though, the Aussies were determined to emulate Bill Lawry’s team of 1969 [the last Australian team to have triumphed in India] and the series despite all the controversies surrounding the final Mumbai Test was pretty one-sided. Australia had finally beaten India in India and the script had once again gone for a toss.

3 years down the line when these two sides met, much had changed. Saurav Ganguly wasn’t the captain anymore, and well, it wasn’t even Dravid at the helm of affairs. Kumble, many felt, was a forced option and moreover, the team was coach-less! The Australians on the other hand, despite the absence of their two main bowling legends were expected to be a force on home territory. Also, this time around, it was ensured that the Indians had to play at Perth, a venue which many felt Indians were lucky to not have played on during their previous visit. What happened eventually during those dramatic 2 odd months must be utterly fresh in everyone’s mind and as that glorious victory in Perth of all venues would signify, the script that the pundits had predicted had for the 4th time in a row failed to follow the given course.

Now as these two cricketing powerhouses meet, for the 5th time in close to 8 years, is it easy to predict the outcome? Can it be a cakewalk for either side, for that matter? Can Kumble and Co. reclaim the BG trophy or will Punter be able to register his 1st win in India as captain and win the series as well? The kind of answers that some of these questions can generate makes me feel that the upcoming series could end up being one of the most closely fought and it would be naïve to predict the outcome, one way or the other!

Reasons being; for once, I feel, this time around the two sides that will enter the fray would both be battling their own kind of demons. Australia will finally realize what it means to field a XI [against a quality opposition] that’s not just minus Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne but also does not feature Justin Langer, Adam Gilchrist and even an Andrew Symonds. The Queenslander’s skill against playing quality spin bowling would be missed for sure and when you consider that their skipper himself has scored next to nothing in India thus far, it’d mean that their task is going to be anything but easy. The home team on the other hand has been playing with fire and their insistence on persisting with their Famous Four has gone on for far too long. And even as it looks like at least one of those four might have played his last Test, the poor form of Sachin and Dravid might come to haunt them in this all-important series. One of the easiest ways to defeat touring teams in India is to bat 1st, pile on the runs and then let the spinners take control of the game. But when the backbone of our batting, i.e the middle order looks as frail as it is now, it can only add to your worries! Not to forget, the captain himself hasn’t done too much to write home about in his last two series and his form is another cause for concern.

All in all, both the teams seem to have their share of headaches to ponder on and I personally think it would take a real brave man to punt his money on either powerhouse.

To cut a long story short, don’t write a script. You wouldn’t want to go wrong for a 5th straight time, would you?

Its all about that Will, that Hunger, that 'DESIRE'!

The legendary Napoleon Hill in his even-more legendary and all-time classic ‘Think and Grow Rich’ talks about the various characteristics and essentials that are required to succeed in life. As one would expect, there are a number of qualities that define champions and to zero in on any one quality is not the most easy of tasks. However, its not impossible either and the man through the most roundabout of ways talks about how critical a part does ‘DESIRE to succeed’ play. Infact, all said and done, in the very end, it does boil down to that 6-letter word ‘Desire’. How badly a man wants to succeed in his chosen endeavour, does, more often than not, end up playing ‘THE’ pivotal role in the eventual result. One such exemplary case-study was seen some 10 days back over the 2 weeks of high-voltage and highly-emotional drama at the Flushing Meadows, New York. No prizes for guessing whom I’m talking about. [Well, I wont even name him this time around :)]

True, its been quite some time now since the event saw its final point being played. And ever since then, numerous articles have been written on the man and all those odes have been well deserved allright! One thing though seemed to have caught more of my attention than all of the other things. Agreed, the achievement itself needs to celebrated [especially with the kind of un-Federer-like year that 2008 was till then]. Accepted, the feat of being the only man to have won 2 Slams 5-times on the trot needs to be highlighted. Fair enough, the display of the Master in the final which eventually turned out to be pretty one-sided affair needs to be written in golden words. But what caught my attention throughout the tournament and one that has managed to capture my imagination throughout the Genius’s 4 years of utter dominance was the reaction that every Grand Slam win manages to bring to the man’s face. His various outbursts [compared by his own standards i.e] and the n-number of emotional shouting and all that at NY’08 [Who can ever forget his war-cry like reaction after his 5-set win in the 4th Rd match] could still be attributed to the kind of year he’d gone through and what the victory hence meant to him. But this is nothing new to the millions of loyal fans that he can boast of across the globe.

Can anyone afford to forget the sight of a tearful Federer falling on his knees and crying like a baby after all, post his 5th straight win at Wimbledon? That child-like reactions and the sheer joy of watching the man jump up and down or collapsing on his back after his wins over the years at NY city is still so fresh in the mind. What about the post-final presentation at the Australian Open, 2006 which saw the great man actually crying on the dias and having to console himself in the arms of another great, Rod Laver.

Make no mistake folks, you’re talking about a man who much before even 2007, even when he was atleast 6 slams short of Sampras’s all-time record of 14 majors was already spoken of in terms of the ‘Greatest Ever’. You’re talking about someone who’s “dominated” [That word to be taken in the very true sense!] the game like no other person ever possibly has. Heck, the man’s been winning the ‘Laureus Sports Athlete of the Year’ award for the past 4 years, clearly telling us that not just in Tennis, but across all sports, the Swiss Master has been pretty much the ‘bloody best’! You’ll find a 1000 others sportstars otherwise who could have achieved a lot less and yet, fallen prey to the various hazards that popularity and fame come along with. But that wasn’t the case with Roger, hardly infact! Here we have a man who just couldn’t and who just wouldn’t rest on his laurels. He just wouldn’t let success get to his head, just wouldn’t let success make him think less of his opponents. Here was that one sporting idol that all of us are privileged to watch and one who truly symbolizes that one quality that Napoleon Hill thought was so essential to succeeding at the very top: DESIRE! His ‘desire’ to ‘remain the one to beat’ has been relentless, to put it mildly. And boy, was it there on full display during those two eventful weeks in front of the boisterous NY crowd, who by the way, truly seem to have made the SwissMaster feel at home in that city!

Its easy really for a man to start off his life with magnanimous desire and then to succeed as well. What constitutes true greatness though is ‘How badly does that person wants to reach the very top’ and ‘How motivated is he to remain there for a long period of time’. Its these traits that separates a Sachin Tendulkar from a Vinod Kambli, a Vishy Anand from a Pravin Thipsay and your Roger Federer from so many others. Point needs to be made though that people who were not so “expressive” on court despite achieving great feats are not being put down out here. A Pete Sampras rarely displayed great amount of emotions, atleast he didn’t in the 1st half of his career. That obviously doesn’t mean, his hunger to succeed was any less than Roger’s. Heck, no! What I’m trying to say is, Roger does make it very obvious what records mean to him, what history means to him, what winning means to him and finally, what Tennis means to him and to his life! And from whatever has been on display over the past 4 years or so, it does mean a HELL LOT!


Its been a real privilege, privelege of the highest degree to have watched him in full radar, for possibly the 1st time in the year and we, as fans, can only hope that the ‘aura of invincibility’ will be back in its entirety during the various season-concluding indoor tournaments. Even otherwise, you, Roger Federer [or as the famos Tennis guru Peter Bodo addresses, TMF] have given us enough reasons to be happy [such an overused word actually and such a rare commodity in reality]. Not just that, there’s so much to learn from you, lessons that we can only hope to apply in real life so that we could achieve atleast a quarter of what you have so far in your life! [Remember folks, that ‘Desire’ thing?]

Thank you for everything! Hope to see you collect yet another 5th crown, come November at Shanghai!

The BIG battle @ The BIG apple~~Begins tonight!

And so in less than 3 hours time, the final showpiece Tennis event of the calendar year would get underway.

A chance for Rafa to make an even stronger statement that the fact his name appears on the top of the tree (as far as 'draws' are concerned) is richly deserved, Nole gets to add another Slam to his tally on his favoured surface, Roddick gets another opportunity to take help of the boisterous NY crowd to win the Slam that he's won in '03 and yes, a certain Roger Federer will be hoping that he wont go an entire calendar year without winning a major!

Amidst all this, it would only be fair to keep an eye on a certain JMD Potro. For the uninitiated, the bloke has been on a tremendous winning spree and I'd appreciate if you guys did some 'googling' yourself [;)] to find out how good the guy's been in the past 2 months or so!

Nonetheless, as the pic suggests, chances are high that the focus will continue to remain on the Emperor and the Challenger. Btw, the Emperor's name happens to be Rafael Nadal while the Challenger happens to Roger Federer.

Times have changed, no? [:)]


Brij.

Pheww! Finally, a change at the TOP!

Then, I was still struggling to cope with the delight that I was a graduate finally. Then, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee led-NDA was still in power. Indian cricket was still being led by Saurav Ganguly in both (T20 was not a reality then) forms of the game and Shilpa Shetty was not yet more famous in the UK than she was in India. Then, the year was 2004!

Fast forward to August 2008!

Things do change and move with breakneck speed in the 21st century what with people willing to give it their all to have their five min of fame under the sun. I'm convinced that people would quickly need to come up with a more emphatic word than "cut-throat" competition to describe the madness and mayhem around and across careers at that! Be it the corporate world or be it sports, competition reigns supreme and individuals need to be on their toes 24*7 to survive at the top, leave alone thrive!

But despite all that, there was one person who defied all odds and did something that can only be marvelled at. For 237 consecutive weeks (not a typo) a Genius from Switzerland ruled the roost in a Sport which would be rendered much poorer the day he decides to call it a day. Tennis was never the same before. A game that was fast becoming into some sort of slugfest dominated by "power hitters" suddenly had someone who was "grace personified", in the true sense of the word. Moreover, the grace was not just on-court but also off it. 1997 saw the release of the classic "Life is Beautiful" which went on to capture people's imagination across the globe. Suddenly you had a champion who could have forced anyone who understands the game to release a new flick by the name "Tennis is Beautiful". Indeed, the game seemed so beautiful and artistic and graceful and all that, thanks to that one man who'll most certainly go down in the history books as the "Best Player to have ever held a Tennis racquet". That one man; the one, the ONLY, Roger Federer!

An irony this though that I've chosen to create this blog today, when he finally gives up his grip over the no.1 ranking that he's held over the past four and a half years. Today, his nemisis from Spain, Rafael Nadal will finally and (much deservingly) climb to the top of the tree. However, this also gives us all who love the game so much to look back and admire the man who's given all of his fans around the world so much to cheer about.

As stated earlier, it just wasnt about the way he handled his genius on the court. It was also about a man who knew he could make such an impression by being a great ambasaador for the sport off the court as well. And boy, did he do a good job at that or what! Respect for opponents is something that Roger took to a new level altogether, even if it was someone against whom he held a 15-2 "head-to-head" record. Respect for the history of the game is something that the man had in abundance and anyone who saw the Post-Final presentation of the "Australian Open 2006" will have a hard time forgetting those scenes which saw a tearful RF hugging the Aussie great Rod Laver. His contributions as a goodwill ambassador of UN is pretty well documented and even in a country where cricket continues to remain the no.1 sport [Abhinav Bindra's outstanding feat @ Beijing '08 notwithstanding] his visit to bring relief to the victims of the deadly Tsunami drew many people even mre close to him. His forehand that's argubly the best that the game has ever seen, his reliable serve especially during crunch situations, his down-the-line passes, his knack of winning even when's he clearly not at his best; these are all known to everyone. But then, as Lance Armstrong quite rightly puts it when he says "Its not about the Bike", so is the case with the SwissMaster. Its that something extra that he brought to the game and its followers that endeared him so much to all of us.

He's had a bad year allright and a few of the pundits have even started writing his obituaries. Sad to see that really coz people fail to see things in "perspective". Heck, at the end of the day, RF for all the "tough times" that people are talking about has gone on to reach 2 Grand Slam finals and 1 Grand Slam Semi-Final. Think about it, it really hasnt been a "pathetic year" by any stretch of imagination. Its just that Rafa has struck rich form, and Federer surely seems to have fallen victim to the "monster that he'd created over the past 237 weeks".

I aint no soothsayer but I hate to write off champions. They are anyway few in number and when you have one, its only right to give them respect and be a little patient with them during times that are obviously "comparatively tougher" for them. My best bet is that we'll see a response from the Genius sooner than later and the final GS of the year starting in a week's time at NY will be interesting to say the least. Boy, just as the commentators will take some time to get adjusted to saying "World no.2 Roger Federer", fans like yours truly too will find it awkward, to say the least, to scroll down to the bottom of the page to find his name in the "draws".

Nonetheless, its time to cheer and congratulate the new World no.1. Rafael Nadal, you've deserved every bit of the success achieved this year. Hearty congratulations. And Roger Federer, well, you'll continue to rule the hearts of everyone who understand even an ounce of the game! All the best for the remainder of the year!!

Brij.

P.S. This was my 1st post on the earlier blog that I'd had to discontinue...Stay assured all, no plagiarism this :)

A fresh beginning...Welcome aboard all!

Strange are the ways of life...Not that we arent aware of it already, but pettiness took a whole new meaning a few days back...

A blog that I'd created with much fervor and enthusiasm had to be discontinued with. Wont really delve into the reasons...

This is just to let my friends know that its me again, Brij...But yeah, this time around, the "comment moderation" tool is well and truly 'on'! :)

Hope all of you enjoy the stuff that I write...Out here, needless to say, you'll only find things related to my two favorite sports; Tennis & Cricket...Somewhere else, you'll find my views related to everything else under the sun, that interests me i.e...

For the moment, welcome again! And hope you have a pleasant stay, oops, read out here! :)


Best rgrds,
Brij.