i was watching live when dravid was given out wrongly (compensating pak for getting reduced to only 3 bowlers attack) and this thought crossed my mind so i have put it here...
last time we saw umpire got the wicket of sangakara we all unanimously condemned the decision and i saw so many (including myself) asking for the solution of this increasing regularity of errors...
now the question is, whether it should be raised only when umpires gets the big fish (in terms of size of innings purely) or at every such instance irrespective of what stage of innings batsman is at or who the batsman is...
coz it gets more serious if, imagine, happening to playerlike, say, Dinesh Karthik who is clearly struggling for form and one such bad decision can put an end to a promising career...
have your say...
Selective Bashing ???
shared by straight point on Friday, November 30, 2007
Delayed Responses...
shared by straight point on Friday, November 30, 2007
Dear visitors and fellow bloggers...
thanks for your continued support...as it is documented here that i was very much hesitant to start a blog due to my diffidences but the way i am getting response is very overwhelming and assuring...to say the least...
the reason i have put up this post that since most of the bloggers are from different time zone...i am getting late in responding to their valuable comment and inputs...so i would request to please don't mind delays in responding and continue visiting...
i know its too small a blog to be bothered but i felt it and have put it...
thanks in advance...
Desi or Videshi...
shared by straight point on Thursday, November 29, 2007
now that gary kirsten is the front runner for the post of team India coach...every one in media is having a field day on why we need foreigner for the post...don't we have any worthy at home to select...a foreigner will never understand our subcontinent culture...and so on...
now, i am just fed up of this national foreign coach debate and especially foreign coach will not understand our 'subcontinent culture'...
now what is subcontinent culture...is it this...
sir please come to nets we will give you dollies so that you will feel you are in good knick...
oh no sir, don't bowl with full steam in nets otherwise you will be exhausted by the time match will start...
out of form??? not getting enough runs???...dont worry sir...i have solution ready, please tie this 'taveej' in you arm and lo, your form will return with the ashirvad of baba shri 100000000001...
not comfortable facing short pitch stuff...sir...duck the same way you duck uncomfortable questions...sir...
bowling wides...no problem sir, i will ask umpire to shift stumps exactly to the place where your are bowling...
fielding drills...no problem sir...i will have two rounds of ground on your behalf...you just sit and enjoy sunshine...have ordered a glass of juice to freshen up you a bit...
catching problem??...sir the way you are catching sponsors, endorsements...this will certainly help in catching the ball...you just have to think it like endorsement is coming your way...
worrying about your place in side...sir i was master of 'political science' i have already met selectors and 'briefed' them about how 'committed' you are to over come your lack of form which is not good for just past few months...and within next couple months you will start showing some results...
done worry about the young lad sir...he is not a threat...he doesn't know how much "work, time and efforts" we are putting to be "where we are"...i have briefed this to our president also...he too understands it...sir be thick skinned and enjoy till it lasts...
if none of above...then i really don't know what to understand when one says about 'he wont understand our subcontinent culture' ....
please can someone explain...???
Good beginning, Kumble !!
shared by straight point on Tuesday, November 27, 2007
with everything about recent test match stated in blogs and elsewhere covering almost all aspects...i am glad that my faith on Kumble was largely right when i posted "Challenges before Kumble"...
although its early days yet...but given his experience the job seemed nothing new to him...he turned out to be an aggressive captain quite contrary to many who thought he will be bit defensive in his approach...
i liked his approach and homework he did for the match and some points stands out, according to me, not necessarily in this order:
- he did not wanted to get distracted by media's bizarre selection reactions by dropping any of laxman or ganguly...coz he had faith in laxman and did not wanted him to sit out and we all know how one part of india reacts when ganguly is dropped...so by keeping the same line he steered cleared of all the tamasha which could have distracted him in his first test as captain and teams preparations for the first teast match. thats why he made the statement "yuvi have to wait" well ahead of first day of test match...so there wont be any kite flying and everyboday will remain focussed to the job and preparations...
- by giving more overs, than any test captain, to ganguly he made it clear to ganguly and everybody that he perceives his role in the team differently than many...
- by giving more overs to ganguly he caught pak off guard coz in first innings they just could not decide whether to attack or defend him and they played to kumble hands in second innings when they blindly decided that they will attack ganguly...triggering the collapse...
- by not giving enough overs at one stretch to harbhajan (specially in first innings) he clearly made the point to harbhajan that his bowling did not inspired that much confidence in him...that lead to improved showing of harbhajan in second innings...though i feel that he is still far away from his 'test' form (still in one day bowling mode..shooting down bowls on leg stump and not giving enough air and loop to the deliveries)...
- by being honest at press conference that he merely wanted to change ganguly's end and not taking the credit of great move that was there for his taking...it requires guts...
- the way he has backed dinesh is also remarkable coz thats what a player specially youngster looking to cement his place in the team wants, is the captains backing...and by backing him openly has thrown a gentle reminder to karthik that his performance is monitored...
what you say?
Dreadful Dream...
shared by straight point on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
last night i saw a dreadful dream which i want to share with you...
i saw that BCCI has become more professional. sharad pawar has given way to harsha bhogle.... there seems to be transparency in whatever bcci do...be it selection...media coverage...selection committees...etc...they have appointed a ceo...the coach is doing very good job with indian team without any interference...players are becoming more focused toward fitness with no emphasis on 'star system'...with every player is told of his role in the team...with clear emphasis on performances rather that reputations...selectors are professionals with 3 years terms and accountability to selection committee...there is media manager with the team...manager appointed is also a professional...tour committee goes in advance to see the itinerary is well etched out in consultation with players work load...with more emphasis on camps and tour games with an eye on getting more accustomed to the conditions of visiting country...there are only few ranji teams...with overseas players dying to get into our state teams to get much needed match practice to enhance their career prospects...with the backup of such system we have become world champions in virtually all forms of cricket...infact so much is our dominance that icc is considering to the proposal of finishing next world cup in two days flat....first day teams will come together for the opening ceremony and on second day all teams will unanimously handover the world cup trophy to team india...in short virtually everything which we carve for...
dreadful did i said...hold your breath...here comes the second part....
with no competition in sight the cricket is becoming boring by each day with team india winning more matches than ever...with professional media manager appointed there is no chance of getting 'sound bites' a la lele, niranjan shah and dbv...every information regarding team, injuries etc are distributed well in advance before press conference begins...captains are relieved from facing media at the drop of hat...getting more time spending on cricket rather the off field activities...there is nothing to report upon other than a perfect match so the journalist are getting repetitive in their applause...reporters in tv are yawning with VERY SHORT CRICKET NEWS...that we have again defeated australia with huge margin...and their captain is under pressure to show up with some fight...anyway with nothing spicy happening in indian cricket media has diverted all its attention to indian olympic association and indian hockey coz the 'real stories' are happening there...
no worthy indian blog left to burn energy and web space on how the bcci should go about it...no one is writing long posts of who should be in our team, who should be our captain...who should be our coach or where he is gonna come from...instead we are taking about the state of affairs of cricket with other teams in the world...that too very sparingly coz how many times we can talk about same topic...office and social life is getting increasingly bore for nothing to talk about other than weather...no long hot passionate discussions about previous match...or bcci not doing this not doing that...often people are looking at one another with blank stare...
i was getting increasingly restless with some drops of sweat appearing on my forehead, throat was getting choked...and then i woke up with some noise...i switched on tv and saw reports that selectors are threatening to quit...there is no sign of coach yet...after they failed to get any worthy here on earth, are now planning to go in to space for the search of one...read in newspaper that BCCI is acting like a dictator...got a call from a friend that only a day left in test match and we don't even know the composition of team...some mysterious injuries has come to fore with no one to explain to media what the real problem is...and smile was returning slowly to my face...
i was beginning to breathing again...i felt like i have come out of suffocating jail...everything seemed so normal...i heaved the sigh of relief...
isn't this enough for all of us to realize that we owe so much to BCCI for being what they are...for our own sake...and yet we want them to become what i saw in my dream...
dreadful isn't it...
Two Gems...
shared by straight point on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
was surfing as usual and found these two gem of posts in Amit Verma's IndiaUncut...
While one is a master piece on its own "Ek General, Sala Ek General" other might have unearthed Sachin's nervous 90 cure
Enjoy!!
That one finger...
shared by straight point on Tuesday, November 20, 2007
i got up early in the morning (in india) anticipating good fight back from SL, considering both sangakara and jayasurya were batting with positive intent and one of rare counter attack on oz bowling under so much of pressure...i was not disappointed either...
What an innings Sangakara was playing...arguably one of the best on oz soil till one dick head decided otherwise...to keep up his practice of raising finger...
i dont know how many great innings will be killed by these umpiring blunders...disgusting utterly disgusting....and homer too is rightly annoyed in his latest post when he points to utter hypocrisy of punter...
this is not single, rare or aloof incident...its happening quite regularly of late with countless examples (i just don't wanna go to pick data thinking we all see same game) and even more regularly down under (this is my personal opinion, although i know i am not alone) where best batsmen of opposition teams have had history of rough (in)decisions...
some where in a blog (i am so pissed off that i cant remember where) there was discussion going on that since the advent of neutral umpiring the home teams are getting more advantages...again no data to prove but we are getting close and close by each test/series...
one thing ICC have to get screwed in their mind is that people all over world watch game on tv or come to ground not to watch 'brilliant umpiring' but the contest between bat and ball and when you see a great innings gets killed this way you wonder why...why we can spend endless time in replays to judge whether fielder was touching rope or not...but then why on earth there can not be a reversal procedure to get over this shit...
what you think is the best way...
Challanges before Kumble...
shared by straight point on Monday, November 19, 2007
As ayaz memon puts it in his latest column :
"He is confronted with his first dilemma much before the first ball is bowled in the three-match series against Pakistan which begins next Thursday. Can he afford to keep the world’s best player in limited overs cricket out of the five-day game?"modern cricket has changed so much that challenges before captains does not necessarily starts with game anymore and if you are 'newly' appointed to the job, knowing that you are warming the chair for another person to take over and that too almost at the fag end of career...the word 'challenge' acquired new meanings...
but if latest article of Harsha is to be believed, about the way kumble turned up for selection meeting, makes me feel that we are in for something special...
and first glimpse of this will be seen through his selection of final eleven....how he sees yuvi's recent exploits...what he makes of saurav poking at balls of akhtar's pace...how he interprets laxmans recent innings at domestic level (which are nothing much to write about)...the choice of second spinner and composition of team. will he go with the comfort of his tried and tested colleagues or will he choose to tread his own way at the cost of unpleasing some of them...
will he be the gentleman captain he is or will he be the fierce competitor and aggressive captain he is too...if he bowls less or more he will be attacked likely for under or over bowling himself...so how he will tackle always-on-your-face media...the (non)functioning of BCCI...and finally the big ego and mouth of DBV...
lots of questions...and the answers of these is with only one man...our own Kumble...so next few days curtailing to first test are going to be very interesting...
but something tells me that kumble having got the cap, which he desired so much throughout his career and was hurt for never treated as potential one, wont let this chance go away without stamping his class...the authority with which he bowls tirelessly...
one thing is for sure...we are in for some interesting time...
a passing thought
shared by straight point on Saturday, November 17, 2007
some how i feel fit asif, more fitter akhtar, and some in form batsmen of pakistan would have challenged team india to the hilt before difficult tour of down under...
now since this will not be the case, so we wont be knowing that whether our batsmen are 'really' in form or just pouncing on cake of their pie...
it could well create false sense of team buzzing with form with every chance of complacency creeping in...which could be sure recipe of disaster...
Can we do it now please...
shared by straight point on Friday, November 16, 2007
Congratulation India !!
We dominated pakistan team and they never looked like to be in series (barring minor blip at Mohali) had India showed some sense
Now that the series is over...can we see these guys performing :
Sehwag
Utthappa
Rohit
Praveen Kumar
Yuvraj
Dhoni
Irfan Pathan
Harbhajan
Karthik
RP
SS
i have deliberately placed all 'new comers' above YS and MSD just to see whether they have it in them to play upfront...YS and MSD can have fun anytime they want to but lets look what our new breed is upto...
what you say???
A Case for Yuvi & Sehwag
shared by straight point on Thursday, November 15, 2007
Before you start reading this blog...be warned of blogger's 'high handedness of english language'...though i wanted to start the blog much before but was bit apprehensive cause of reasons mentioned...i came thru a comment by soulberry somewhere that he has stopped reading Dilip's articles in CricInfo coz of so many grammar mistakes he makes or something of that sort...made me more nervous...
but comments from friends like homer and ottayam (forgive me for taking liberty of treating both of you as friends) has given me confidence to start it...so here i am daring to blog amongst the august company of well articulated, masters of language, definitely more knowledgeable guys blogging...
but i do hope that more than language i would be able to put across the message...so here i go...
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Although yuvi name does not arise so much of surprise as does sehwag's...for test team i.e.
For far too much time India is missing players who can crack the game open with their sheer talent and stroke play in Tests owing to various reasons not entirely of their control...
sehwag once considered second only to tendulkar was once even overshadowing him at one stage with his blistering strokes or else how many batsmen in world can boast of scoring almost double hundred in opening day of a test match down under!!
but with applause and media attention came some arrogance...some ignorance....towards the very game that brought him thus far...so we started to see different sehwag with heavy tyre around his waist...the once famous one liner 'the only difference between me and sachin is the bank balance' not turning up for practice sessions (as reported in media) not giving the post of vice captain of India the respect it deserves...and more importantly his own place in the team...and the most glaring aspects of these fact came in daylight for all world to see during SA series...
he was getting out in similar fashions during tests...one could say he always gets out in such ways...but difference to the past and then dismissals were that he was vice captain then...his dismissals had touch or arrogance and little respect to match and team situations... he kept on stroking balls same way as if to show to the world that there is nothing wrong in him and his form and that was sure recipe of disaster....
Same more or less with yuvi....although his case is more complex for not entirely of his fault though...he came in to test team with so much of anticipation...and started good with century against pakistan...and looked good for his future as well as team India...but then he was seen as threat to our reserved-for-life middle order of rd-sg-srt-lx...and there came the twist...as with sehwag's 'experimentation' of making him an opener...he was also 'guided' to become an opener so that the reservation policy of middle order is not breached...but he was not as lucky as sehwag coz he got confused....on how to approach his innings...
after sg's fiasco and his return to test team he got bit laid off thinking that now sg will not come back and taking things easy and thats where i think he faulted...
but now spending time in wilderness out of test teams (though yuvi has consolation of being regular in ODIs) they have come to know what it takes to be in the team...no amount of money...media adulation and 'difference in bank balance' can fulfill it...
thats why as Madan Lal says that there is purpose in Yuvi's batting these days he seems to have put his focus right up there and one can cleary see that its hearting him to no end to not to be in test team...that to not to be treated as good test match batsman that he is only respected for his ODI and more recently T20 flings...
and with sehwag...i still believes that he was and is not in the team not only for his performance only...and he too seems to learn his lessons the hard way...looking more fitter and eager and one can clearly feet the hurt thru his statements....the way he was running between wickets in his only innings since his comeback (???) of 25 odd runs proves the point...
But people like sehwag and yuvraj can not be judged only by career stats coz their value lies elsewhere....coz when they will be on roll they will win you more matches then all other guys put together...they are what we call in modern cricket as 'game breakers' and their lies their true values...unless we want to play cricket like the era of b&w movies...as once the test cricket was played...
ask Australia who they want to see bat against them the jaffers, the SGs or Sehwag, Yuvraj (and Laxman too) and you will get the answer...
by not including them in test matches against pakistan we are depriving ourselves to see what they can do together in a team...and if we can not even pick them against pakistan now, who are hurting badly with the absence of asif and huffing-and-puffing akhtar, then i wonder when...
India is in the brink of the start of toughest season and what type of players you would like to see in team...the ones who are eager...got some points to prove to the world or the ones who even at the best of their day can only provide so much...
the choice is ours....and as they say we will be right either way if we think we can or we can not...
now start shooting....
