Vacation 2010 @ Incredible India!

Sachin hit a double! I am a die-hard fan of the cricketer and the person. We have mortals to look up to. . .
Loved the article on ToI, which indicated why Sachin is so successful, for so many years. (Chk out link : Sachin's 300 )

• Discipline  ( he went to bed on wed @ 830 pm, was up early, etc!)
• 300 runs..'will come, if it has to': that is practical SSSpirituality!
• He played like the debutant at other end, Suresh Raina - 'every day is a new day in the life of a great artist'!

Inspiring stuff!

PS : While batsmen from both sides happily accumulated runs, test cricket hit a new low....:( Test cricket needs better pitches. ICC needs to step in. Sharad Pawar can start from home...

Kapil Dev in Riyadh

Annual day celebrations at a school reminds us of our own school days...esp if we were active in the extra-cultural activities like drama, music, et al. Similar is a feeling when annual day function is held at the school of our children, when they have to juggle between studies/tests and practice. ( At least our school days were less stressful). The excitement among all children and us, parents, hit a new high when the news of this year's chief guest was confirmed. Kapil Dev, one & only...! Memories took me to my school/college days..!
Kapil became a popular cricketer when he started playing for India. Those days, The Hindu, Sportstar, Sportsweek, etc were the source of all news and analysis. He became an icon when his brilliance, both as a player/all-rounder and captain, enabled India lift Prudential Cup. The brilliant match-winning knock against Zimbabwe ( ironically, we are out of tri-series courtesy them!)... The brilliant dismissal of Viv Richards in final...He is one great player, who has given as much back to the game... very few have made such a difference!

A caricature of him, with the cup, was the sole picture on my room-wall for a very long time, as I struggled with my maths, physics earlier and then commerce! He was not from a metro, did not speak fluent english, was not flamboyant... many of us could identify with him. He inspired a few generations of professionals and achievers,not few fast & medium pacers!

As I walked, or limped thanks to a sprain to the venue at school, I thought... Kapil was fit throughout his playing career.

We were seated,eagerly waiting for him. He walked in, to a roaring reception of a packed house...So many of us were overwhelmed by his sheer presence. The tall, dark and handsome, also fit even now, Kapil revived memories of our own school/college days, when we were TDH&Fit ( certainly not now, at least most of us parents in the audience!)

He sat through the program encouraging the students and staff. We were just happy to be in his inspiring company.Kapil gave a short, but a very inspiring speech:

Most of us (NRI's) would have gone through similar struggles in our early lives, just as Kapil did. But all differences end there. Kapil worked very, very hard and reached the pinnacle. We were not as focussed, committed! If Kapil could reach the top, each one of us could have reached, in our respective fields too... A little more goal-orientation, hard-work, sincerity, prayers.... would have helped!
One key difference was he could pursue his passion and many of us could not, as we did not have the financial security or our parents would not risk ( not to blame our folks, as we would have perhaps done same if we were in our parents' shoes)
But, our children are better off. Their parents have some amount of financial security. Many of them will be encouraged and supported to pursue their dreams. But, how many children will reach the top ? How many of them will identify a passion, work very hard, keep up the focus and will reach the top, maintaining impeccable value-system....!? Like a Kapil, Sachin, Vishy Anand, Dr Kalaam, Nrn Murthy, Pt Jasraj...real Indian icons...

Even if a few students reach such levels of Total Greatness, Kapil would be the happiest for his humble contribution( inspiration). Their alma mater will be proud. Their teachers will be happiest. Parents would have done their duty. May God bless and guide our beloved children...
A big thanks to DPS...
Thank you, Kapil Dev!

T20 World Cup

Indian cricket hit a new low !

We put up a pathetic performance, individually and collectively.
IPL did not help our own players, but it helped someone else... KP attributes his success to IPL. Let us not miss out the fact he spent extra time at practice and working hard. Naturally, he was clear about his goal to hit form and make valuable contribution to his team's winning

If that was not enough, they are in news for wrong reasons...creating a scene at a pub !

IPL Gossip to IPL Gate

The thought that not everything related to IPL was 'cricket', prompted me to categorise my thoughts on IPL3 as IPL Gossip. But, this has hit a new low... IPL Gate ! 

Thanks to the new-age platform, Twitter and the tweet by Lalit Modi... it has resulted in a series of cascading events... still 'falling' ! A smart minister ( young, suave, well-qualified and a man of letters and also, tweets), has lost his job.  While the urban youth is firmly behind Tharoor, the political parties, including his own congress, did not support him. Was it the Pushkar-connection that proved to be the last nail in coffin ? Perhaps, yes... While many may feel he did not hide anything and was quite transparent, the Indian politics and the public opinion is still not ready to accept this new political-kid off the block. The govt lost an efficient minister. Mallus, especially in Middle East, may feel let down, as he was their only hope...

But, the case still at the allegation stage - no definite culprits caught. Despite the assurance of FM, Pranabda, it is unlikely the real culprits will be booked. Lalit Modi, poster-boy of international cricket, may still lose his job. What about the source of his recent wealth, in spite of his Midas-touch ? Who are the real people behind the IPL ? FM, PM and the entire administration owe an explanation to Indian public. We can not allow blatant violation of business ethics on the sporting arena...

The demand to nationalise IPL was quite funny, to put it mildly ! To ban IPL was insensitive ! To track the sources of funds and clean up was the correct demand. A massive clean up is overdue and a herculean task. Is the central govt, in spite of their majority and a strong public opinion, willing to take up the responsibility ? Unlikely... With Sharad Pawar part of the cricket admin, the Chanakya of Indian politics will most likely pull off a compromise...at the cost of Truth and the Sport. 

ICC has chosen to keep off, conveniently. They don't want to rub BCCI on the wrong side. That defeats the very purpose of their existence - to protect the game. Cricket is no longer a gentleman's game... And for God's sake, majority of cricket lovers want the sport to be CLEAN. 

Orange Cap to Sachin

The Little Master has a habit of reaching milestones with unfailing regularity. The 'IPL-movement' has been lucky to have some masters of the game taking the game and the event to a new 'league'.

In my previous post, I had shared the 'opportunity for the Orange Cap' to be on Sachin... The collective expectation of fans of MumInds ....The Orange Cap looks better on Sachin.
Once again, Sachin shoulders the responsibility of guiding the team to a challenging total, a score the opposition unable to unable to 'challenge royally'!

With Pathan out, MumInds have tightened the grip. It is only matter of time now.

To beat the Rajasthan team at their home-ground is an icing on cake. Shane Warne must be disappointed.

Great performance, MumbInds...

IPL Gossip : MumInds finally lose

It was clash of VADA PAAV VS VADA-SAMBHAR. MSD won the toss, chose to bat, team put up a decent score, fielded well, restricted in form Sachin and walked away with a comfortable victory. Happy for MSD, one of cricket's coolest captains !

MumInds are still the best! Mind it..., 'rascallaaaaaaaaaaa' !

But the players looked exhausted. They may deny the length of the IPL is taxing. Partly because they want to be politically right, or because of money/exposure. But, it is quite visible. Though it is shorter version, the travel adds to their woes, as Sunil Gavaskar highlighted. The sheer intensity of the contest is tough on the players too. I personally feel, players like Sachin should retire from IPL and focus on India's games. There may not be many takers for this, but he is too precious to be playing in IPL-circus!

Talking of circus, Jaipur has approved the matches, with strings-"attached". They will have no cheer-leaders. I feel the concept is quite out of place. Also, no beer. Players like RajRoyal captain will not be able to take a refreshing sip @ stadium.

Lalit Modi was busy this evening, signing away autographs @ Chennai. He has become quite a celebrity ! He deserves all the accolades, surely. But, hope he considers such valuable feedback....!!!

IPL Gossip

Mumbai Indians pulled off yet another win, a convincing one at that. Sachin did not fire, still the Rayudus, Tiwaris and Pollards stood up & ensured the option to bat first was not a bad decision by the team, management and captain.

Sachin was never rated as a great captain. I agreed. A great player, great team guy , but not a great captain. But this time it has been different. Reason....

• You are as good as your team - the team has some great players, who have stood up, when necessary
• Leader has to lead from the front, Sachin has done that
• The support system has been good, surely. TA Sekhar, Robin Singh are some of the best

Talking of captaincy, top 5 teams as of date, are captained by Indians. Last 3 have foreigners as captains.

Is Preity listening? Last year, her bollywood-colleague's team made a similar mistake by not giving Dada the reigns. Intelligent people are those who learn from other mistakes.
Preity was at Mataji... May Mother bless her. Still, let the better team win tomorrow and therafter !

IPL is getting just too long. Too loooooooooooong... and next year, two more games. I will give it a miss, at least till semis!

Even now, I am not hooked 100%. Few minutes on treadmill, at prayer and family dinner are as important.

Vijay played a spectacular knock. Some of these players are going up the learning curve, quickly. RR almost chased. A great game, though I missed the match. ( was contributing to the economy of my karmabhoomi !)

IPL Gossip

As IPL3 enters the decisive phase, I am starting this new series...deliberately chirstined 'gossip' for the informal content and to get some extra-readership.

• KKR playing the defending champs. The defending champs are in the second half of the table, as of now, so not 'defending' very well.
• All three batsmen of KKR started off with a boundary each. Though Chris Gayle offered a simple catch to his team-mate ( Nothing 'kamaal' about it though!)
• Hyderabad team is playing. Sania Mirza, the Hyd girl, is in news for her marriage plans to a cricketer from 'not so friendly neighbourhood'! An unsolicited advise to Deccan Chronicle, owners of Deccan Chargers... 'Re-charge' Hyd team by including Sania's would-be in DC team. The franchisee can get the necessary go ahead, afterall they are part of the Fourth Estate !
• Though, Hyderabad is very close to heart, I want Dada's team to win (I am no fan of SRK. )
• Bollywood is having a bad time, as of now @ IPL. PunjabXI and RajRoyals are just not playing to their potential. 
• Gossip is things are not very good @ PunjabXI. Quite evident going by the body-language of the players. 

"Excellence is not a skill. It is an attitude." Ralph Marston 

Mumbai Indians .... emphatic win

I always feared, what if Sachin does not come good in a match. Will the others stand up and make a difference ? Afterall Gilly getting out early seem to be making a big difference to the end-result.

Today, Harbhajan made a fantastic difference! Sachin held the innings together, pretty well. All the main bowlers, Zaheer, Bhajji and Malinga made a great attack. Sachin's catch was cool !

Bhajji is back in form, at his aggressive self. He made a pre-match announcement he wanted MI to win and become the first team to move into Semis!! That is some aggression...

Some big names such as Packard, Bravo, etc are yet to fire big-time.

The team is going great as a unit. The seniors seem to be ensuring the team is held together very well.

My worry still remains... what if Sachin gets out quickly. Will someone else hold the innings together...

Tendulkar on Wisden Cover

It is a fitting tribute to the great champion...

True to his style, he is making waves in the latest version of cricket, @ IPL3. Leading from the front, he made some scintillating, match-winning knocks. Cricket is fortunate to get a champion of his class, achievement, temperament and character.

IPL auction

The concept of IPL hit a new low/high ( I leave the choice to you, as I am confused!), with two additions. Firstly, the amount of money...then, the number of matches would go into 90s... Can it sustain viewership for that long ? TRP will be minus mortals such as myself... The brains behind IPL forget for sure the wisdom of 'essence of brevity'...

I hope Sachin remains with amchi-Mumbai's team. Sreesanth will be welcome @ Kochi, and he may harbour captaining the side.

Indeed, Sahara chief has attributed to 'a combination of materialism and emotion' for entering the fray now ! Indeed, all the franchise owners are into it for all reasons, other than cricket... ! Good for them, but bad for cricket !

Sachin, The Master

Sachin Tendulkar's name has appeared more than once in my humble blog.

I feel it is our fortune we are contemperories of greats such as Sachin. With his recent knocks, culminating in yesterday's 200, he has gone up a few notches as one of the greatest of the sport. ( It does not matter, 'one of ' or 'the' greatest !) It is all matter of perceptions. But, he is a genius who has given more to cricket, than what he has got, though he got 'a lot'! That is one of the signs of true greatness.

His very presence at the crease and how he goes about is truly inspiring. At crease, ' he is at work'. The dedication, commitment, attitude, etc he exhibits is worth-emulating in our professional life.

He has caught the imagination of the nation for his value-system and character. He, perhaps, personifies Indian ethos and values. Knowingly or unknowingly, we are proud of him for that too. This has become more relevant after the 'fall' of Tiger Woods from the pedestal.

Once, standing in lunch-queue with my senior colleague...he asked why I was limping. 'I had suffered a knee injury while playing table-tennis !! :) ' He said, at least you got it playing, look at Sachin. He has got a ( shoulder) injury ' while not playing'. That was the disappointment of a big fan of Sachin, who could not think of Indian cricket without the genius. Even at home, my family thinks it is unlike me for my idolizing the genius.

He dedicated the knock to all his fans in India ( next time he should add, Indians abroad too, like yours truly...).

IPL3

If we wanted to keep Pak players out of IPL3, we should have done it with lot more finesse and professionalism. If IPL is getting less sporty and more commercial every year, this was a new low. We can not ill-treat sportmen, whether they are our own ( a la hockey players/Bindra recently) or others. Let us BE FAIR !

Indian Scene... when not incredible!

India lost yet another big match. While the Sri Lankan's took a gamble to field in the last match, to be better prepared for the final, we were glad about a good victory. But when it mattered, our so-called 'strong' batting line-up failed, yet again. We need couple of senior, matured players in the team. Dravids/Sachins/etc. Quite a few hearts would have been broken, due to this. Sadly, people would have skipped their work and stayed indoors to watch the match !!!

While the cash-rich, pampered cricketers made a mockery, there was some good news on the hockey-front. Thanks to Kalmadi and Pillay, and all those who came forward with cash offers, hockey team will get back to what they love the most. Hockey India definitely failed to handle this crisis, if not prevent. The players looked so much unlike our cricketers. They come from humble background, and have lived on a big dream and hope. The establishment has no business to be unfair to the players, in the name of playing for country vs playing for money. Their dreams involve both...

As children, most of us dreamt of becoming a Kapil/Gavaskar/Vijay Amritraj/Prakash Padukone/Pargat Singh/etc... Looking at this, we don't regret... can not complain... ( no sour grapes here) though corporate politics is no better usually...

Sachin's 96 at ODI

We have got one more point to 'discuss' !!

Karthik should have tried to give strike to Sachin and facilitated Little Master to reach the milestone.
But it was more important to win the match and Sachin should be happy with the 'winning knock'
If he was keen on 100, he would have accelerated the scoring rate when in 80's, as commented by Sunil Gavaskar

Perhaps, Sachin (his critics may not beleive) actually does not play for records!

Good for him, for the game and the spirit of any team Sport

Best sportsman

In his article, "IN THE ERA OF WOODS, FEDERER, THE LITTLE CHAMP STANDS TALL", Sunil Gavaskar says Sachin is the best of the lot. While all the three and many others have reached the pinnacle in their respective sport, Sachin stands out for his character on field.

I agree with Sunny, with the pressure that is on an Indian cricketer, Sachin's composure is truly saint-like. Cricket is supposed (used ?) to be a gentleman's game. But in contemperory cricket, Sachin is a true gentleman. A gentleman, with that kind of record, makes him one of the all-time greats.

Thanks to the credit crunch and other stress on our lives, there is a change in our behaviour and response-patterns. We can look around to see the change, while the experts do an extensive research. In such situations, sportsmen like Sachin inspire us to remain cool and be the best.

Sach ka Samna

Frisking of Dr Kalam was the controversy....now, it is 'Sach ka samna' both Vinod Kambli's comments and the objection in certain quarters to the very concept of the program.

Kambli's comments came as a big surprise!! As Pres Obama told a group recently, 'the destiny is in our own hands'. If Kambli failed to reach the level of Sachin's accomplishment, he has to get into interrospection and it will dawn on him what went wrong. It may be too late to make yet another come back, but he can play a second-innings in what he is good at and what he enjoys best. He alone is responsible, no one else. It was a question of focus, perseverence, character, value-system, hard-work .... that makes one. Sadly, Indian/World cricket lost a talented left-hand batsman ...

I always quote the example of this jodi for success vs failure, to my son, colleagues and others. We all fail to reach our best because somewhere we lost track.....

As for the furore in LS and media, let us focus on more pressing problems. A piece of advise for press is to avoid prime time for such programs, just as I suggested to a leading daily to take vulgarity out of their home-page at least ( when feedback was sought on the new design of their website). Yes, we have the option to switch off, ensure our kids do not get exposed and use time better.

Our Destiny is within our own hands....

SMG turns 60

The oiriginal little master, SMG, turned 60.

Best wishes to him and wish him many more such happy, healthy and spiritual milestones.

He is celebrating at Prashanthi Nilayam.

His descipline, dedication and focus helped him to reach the greatness. We have had several greats in Indian Cricket. But the first and original is SMG. He is a living legend!

PS : Photo courtesy: ESPN

INDIA'S EXIT FROM WORLD CUP T20

Time for some interospection....
1. Fatigue ?? All players will (conspire to :)) take a stand against 'fatigue factor'... Sachin had indicated this specifically to Sehwag and Gambhir. Viru's body language at the group photoshoot ( when he stretched his hands, sleepy..) was a proof. The coach has come out with the same theory. BCCI was quick to criticise. Naturally, the tamasha of IPL is brain-child of the BCCI. The punishing, looooooooooong, schedule would sap the energy of fittest cricketer.
2. On top of it, the sheer pressure of the cricket crazy country on the shoulders of the cricketers...
3. was there some internal politics too? there can't be no smore without fire, goes the famous indian saying :)
4. there were lapses in planning and execution...
Time to go back to the drawing board... BCCI has to cut short the T20 to a T20-type ( shorter) IPL. They need to get a vibrant rotation-policy so that stronger bench-strength, lesser fatigue, more competetion among players.... IS BCCI LISTENING ?

IPL 2 Mega Final

Mega final is on... Bangalore Vs Hyderabad ! Wow, two great teams at IPL2. They deserve to be in the finals, just for the way they played their matches. A true re-surrection of sorts... redemption...
Kumble led from the front and picked up three key wickets of DC.
Gilly was not able to deliver, when it mattered, unlike his counterpart Kumble.
Dravid gave away his wicket, Kallis failed to deliver too.

Royal Bangalore is clearly the favourites even now. They should fight out and go for the win, with a clinical finish... I am enjoying it... commentary by Sunny, Shastri, et al. Expert commentary by AJ on Ndtv has been great. I watch cricket for its strategies, tactics and leadership.