In defense of my religion

Not once but innumerable times I have encountered this argument. Yet I know this is an undying question that lingers in the minds of many. Most recently, yesterday (February 1, 2010) I had gone to one of Chennai's best roof top coffee shops Casa Piccolo with a couple of my friends when this issue popped up once again!

The Hero Honda ad says it all. “Mein is bar nahin kheloonga. Stadium mein bait ke match dehkoonga. Janda bhi le aaoonga. Aur India India chilaoonga. Game ki tension mein nakhoon chabaoonga. Face pe thiranga bhi lagaoonga. Hockey World Cup India mein ho raha hai, aur mein apne team ke saarey match dekhne jaoonga. Aap aogey na? Mein inthazaar karoonga. Phir dil dho hockey ko..,” says Virender Sehwag. This ad shows the plight of India’s national sport hockey’s quest for recognition; attention from the likes of administrators, sponsors, broadcasters and fans. Sadly this is the situation for any other sports in our country with the only exception being cricket.

Now the issue is who we blame for the awful situation of non-cricket sports in the country? And how much of blame credit goes to the game of cricket? I have heard and seen many people arguing that cricket is just a money spinning game; the sponsors only want to put their money on cricket and no other sport. Here I want one to understand that the five pillars of a sport are players, administrators, sponsors, broadcasters and fans. And the cohesive function of these elements is necessary for a sport to gain popularity.

Let’s analyze the present state of cricket and hockey. The Players are doing reasonably well in both cricket and hockey winning a few tournaments. Also one can consider the fact that a sportsperson always put his best foot forward when representing his country. Fans for hockey are not many as compared to cricket, however we saw decently packed stadiums during champions trophy matches played in Chennai a few year’s back, where most of these fans are traditionalist. The fan following also has to do with the team’s performance. It is not always that a cricket match attracts the best of crowds. The seven home matches of IPL team Deccan Chargers in 2008 was a classic example of it, where empty stadiums marred the charm of Twenty20 cricket.

Next in line are sponsors and broadcasters. Sahara is the team sponsor for both Indian cricket and hockey teams. Most of these hockey tournaments are covered on television, if not ESPN – Star sports at least Doordarshan does. Here the money pumped in by ESPN and Nimbus for telecasting cricket matches are sky high compared to the sum offered to telecast a hockey match. And in turn a part of this sum goes into the development of the sport. Agree. This can only happen when the team is performing well. Performance on field will allow the administrators to approach broadcasters and demand more money for awarding them the telecast rights who in turn depend on various sponsors to earn some profit out of the venture. Now how does a sponsor like Sahara or Airtel or Nike decide to sign a deal or not? Deals signed with broadcasters depend on the TVR ratings that directly depend on the fan following of the sport.

In such a scenario, one can easily blame the other for the failure of the sport as a whole. So what do one do about it? Here the administrator is the nuclei, as they are the ones who are responsible to bring the other elements together and run the show.
Hockey India, the national board was blamed by the Indian hockey men and women team for not paying their dues. An issue that made the headlines for about a week came to halt when the team sponsor Sahara interfered to shell out Rs 1 crore from their pocket. The incident happening just a month before the World Cup is not a good sign for any sport. Making use of the situation to get some attention was UP Chief Minister Mayawati and Bajaj Allianz Life Insurance Company who made statements saying they will gift certain amount if Indian team wins the World Cup. All this can be avoided when you have strong administrators in place.

Similarly there was a blame game between India’s only Olympic gold medalist Abhinav Bindra and the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on the former’s name being left out of the list of participants for the Common Wealth Games in New Delhi in 2010. As a sports enthusiast, I stand clueless about India’s commitment to host Common Wealth Games in October, as the construction of the sports village near Delhi has reached just the half way mark. Not surprisingly the sports ministry and the Indian Olympic Association have maintained silence in this regard.

Coming back to cricket, the game was fortunate to have able and committed administrators in the likes of the late Raj Singh Dungapur, IS Bindra, Jagmohan Dalmiya, Sharad Pawar and Lalit Modi to name a few. Irrespective of the differences they had between them they always stayed committed to the game of cricket. It was Raj bhai, Bindra and Dalmiya who were instrumental in bring the World Cup to India in 1996. It was then the day/night matches were played to bring in more spectators into the stadium. Similarly it was during the Dalmiya region when India evolved as the financial muscle of world cricket. It was the combined effort of these great minds that brought the sponsors into the sport, made the broadcasters pay heavy sum for telecast rights. Similarly, though India on field didn’t win many matches, they had individual stars in Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly who kept the flag flying once a while. Some of the notable wins in the later 90s were the Titan Cup in 1996, Sahara Cup against Pakistan in 1997 in Toronto, Sharjha Cup in 1998. These apart, India always remained a strong side at home.

It was never a memorable start for Indian cricket to the new millennium which was rocked with match-fixing scandals, however the BCCI had proficient personality in AC Muthiah, then the board president who successfully dealt with these and made sure the new team was in place. It was during that time Sourav Ganguly was appointed captain, India got its first foreign coach in John Wright and lots of youngsters inducted into the team in the form of Virender Sehwag, Zaheer Khan, Harbajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh. Today each of them is a backbone of the present Indian team in their own right! Certainly a part of the credit goes to the Muthiah administration.

The present situation in Pakistan cricket is a classic example of how important is an administration in the running of sport. Too many internal politics and hate within is no good as cricket in Pakistan is next to being isolated.

From then to what Indian team is today, both on and off the field with a shrewd leadership of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and Lalit Modi is history. For any game to survive and later to become popular, a system needs to be in place. This can only happen if an able administration is in place. However, back to where we began, it is no fault of cricketers’ or the game of cricket – not only mine but India’s secular religion - to be blamed for the poor state of other sports in our country.

Australia – A Lost Outfit?

When was the last time Australia went into a tournament without the favorites tag? And, when was the last time they made a first round exit in a world cup like tournament? It sounds very unusual that we associate these questions with one of the most dominant teams the game has seen. For answers you should dig a little deep into the history books. Such was the ill-fate for Australia in this ICC World Twenty20 in England. Courtesy – a batting massacre from Chris Gayle and a disciplined team work from Sri Lanka.

Talking about history, if you are still wondering when, the answer is the Benson and Hedges world Cup in 1992 held in Australia and New Zealand. They lost four of their eight games in the league stage. Interestingly all four teams they lost to - New Zealand, South Africa, England and Pakistan qualified for semi-finals. Here is an exception to it –Australia lost the quarter-final matches against India in ICC Champions Trophy in 1998 held in Dhaka and in 2000 held in Nairobi (These two editions of Champions Trophy are knock-out style tournaments and Australia lost their first match, i.e. quarter-finals, to India on both occasions).

Coming back to the present, starting from two wickets in the first over by Jerome Taylor till the wide ball signaling a Sri Lankan win, nothing went right for the mighty Aussies. They appeared never in the competition as they never were aggressive with their efforts. Australia is known for their ability to fight back even in the rarest of possibilities, but in the two matches none of their middle-order batsmen tried to reconstruct the innings after the loss of early wickets, and the ones who tried doing so, were never playing a T20 style cricket. One felt that they lacked the skills to play T20 cricket as they allowed too many dot balls despite the need for quick runs.

Similarly during the second innings of both their matches, they allowed the opposition batsmen to dictate terms without fighting back. Against Sri Lanka they tried defending the total allowing Tillakaratne Dilshan to score freely, rather than attacking, an unlikely Australian approach. Against West Indies when Chris Gayle went berserk, Aussies couldn’t do much with their monopolized pace attack. Their shoulders dropped just half way through the second innings on both the occasions.

Undoubtedly Australia has lost their venom, venom in the form of match-winners like Glen McGrath, Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden. Though Ricky Ponting has time and again rubbished the fact that Aussies are struggling to cope with the retirements of these big men, only time will tell how much of it is true. The ‘Ashes’ is their next stop.

England Red Faced as Orange Ruled at Lord’s Green

The Dutch couldn’t have scripted their win better. An opportunity to play the opening match of an ICC event, the World Twenty20 at the Home of Cricket – Lord’s against the English, the men who invented the gentleman’s game in the midst of an orange galore of Dutch supporters. The opening match was indeed off to a contrasting start in more than one way.

First the weather was a dampener as the opening ceremony of this world class event had to be cancelled as the packed stadium waited with patience in sharp contrast to high-spirits, excitement, sporty and colors that signifies T20. Secondly the cricket story that unfolded at the Lord’s turf when one expected England to steamroll their minnow neighbors.

Another contrasting but a pleasing one to note was to see the Dutch supporters turning up in huge numbers for a cricket match while it is a familiar sight in a football or a hockey stadium. Overall it was a contrast within a contrast that where one expected an eye-catching opening ceremony and a one sided cricket match, the match was breathtaking making it up for the cancellation of opening ceremony.

The result has also proved that the lesser the number of overs the more are the chances for weaker teams like Netherlands and Ireland to compete with the stronger ones like India and South Africa. The shorter format lessens the importance of experience and textbook skills, thereby bringing teams closer to each other. The key for the T20 code relay on the ability of the teams to calculate a reasonable par score for a given conditions. Swift thinking and executing it in a short time under pressure is the need of the hour for teams to be successful.

The loss is certainly England’s black day in their cricket history but on the other hand, a Dutch win gives many a reason to smile. ICC is trying hard for years to expand and market the game in different parts of the world and will be delighted as one of their less fancied associate nation beat one of game’s stronghold nation in their own backyard. This means that ICC can hope for a day when 16 strong teams take part in the World T20 sooner than later.

What To Expect In This ICC World T20?

(Wrote this article before start of the tournament but never got the time to post it here.. and already have gone down in one of my predictions! Netherlands have convincingly beaten the home side by 4-wickets!!!)

Guys watching minnows' matches are no waste of time!!

Warm-up Again? The groupings are done in such a way that, with the exception of Group C – hoping that West Indies will put on a fight, the others pick themselves easily to move on to the next stage. England and Pakistan playing Netherland or India playing Ireland (I am just trying to be a little cautious after a bitter experience against Bangladesh in 2007 World Cup) or South Africa and New Zealand playing Scotland is a waste of time at least for the viewers. Upsets unlikely to happen, however have an eye on Ireland-Bangladesh game.

Momentum Matters: When commercialization took its ugly head in the form of ‘strategic time-out’ at the end of 10 overs in Indian Premier League (IPL) season 2, many feared if the rule may apply to international T20 matches. However, International Cricket Council (ICC) has decided against it giving batsmen a sigh of relief. Teams in IPL, more often than not lost the plot in the back 10 overs, especially losing wickets regularly in the 11th or the 12th over. But now one can easily expect 80-100 runs in the last ten overs.

Swing is King: Cricket in England and the art of ‘swing’ goes hand-in-hand. It is early summer and with favorable weather conditions, you can expect the ball to swing much, thereby making natural swing bowlers like RP Singh, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Bracken and James Anderson more effective. Surprisingly its advantage India and not England or Australia who’s all five seamers Zaheer Khan, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Irfan Pathan and RP Singh have the ability to swing the ball to great extent.

Spinning Success: Not before the second season of IPL, spinners were looked upon as match winners in the game’s shortest format. Captains trying to open the attack with spinners and spinners bowling in tandem were a common sight in IPL. And spinners do take the pace off the ball; batsmen have mastered the art of hitting it against the spin but how about hitting it against the wind to clear the boundaries?

More Centuries : T20 was unknown before its inaugural world cup event in 2007. But now with the success of franchise model tournament like IPL, T20 is the toast of not only cricket fans across the globe but also the players themselves. Inaugural World T20 saw Chris Gayle set the stage on fire becoming the format’s first centurion but with greater exposure and experience expect more centuries this time.

High Scoring: 140 was considered the par score in IPL in South Africa, but with no ‘strategic time-out’ batsmen will have the momentum to score more in the back 10 overs. Teams scoring less than 160 will be asking in for trouble.

Bowlers outscore Batsmen among Indian domestic Players in IPL

Indian Premier League (IPL) largely dominated by players of international ranks is a domestic tournament with greater international flavor and appeal. Twent20 - a format projected as that of youngsters, oldies like Anil Kumble, Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist outscore youngsters. On the contrary it not without quality contribution from fringe Indian domestic players a team can win matches on a given day.

Proving their worth in the big league with their striking performances in alien conditions were a few Indian domestic players. However, one can note that bowlers have dominated the list as you can expect in South African conditions with only Manish Pandey, Naman Ojha and TS Suman being the batsmen to shine. BehindIndia has decided to list out the top 11 such players (in no particular order) and their performances during the second season of IPL in South Africa.

Manish Pandey (Age: 19, Bangalore Royal Challengers)

Matches: 5 Inns: 4 Runs: 168 Avg: 84.00 S/R: 142.37 Best Performance: 114*

The 19-year old arrived on big stage after being a part of the Under-19 World Cup winning Indian team in 2008. Although he got his chances in the far end of the tournament, Manish made the most of his opportunity to carve a niche for himself. His elevation to the top of the order allowed him to play his natural game and he took everyone by surprise with his blistering century against Deccan Chargers in the last league match. He showed maturity in handling big match situation by not panicking during his 48-run knock in the semi-final against Chennai. He is a sharp fielder too. Definitely a good prospect as it won’t be too long before he turns up in India colors.

Pradeep Sangwan (Age: 18, Delhi Daredevils)

Matches: 13 Overs: 46.4 Runs: 360 Wkts: 15 Econ: 7.71 Best Performance: 3/18

Sangwan was India’s strike bowler in the Under-19 World Cup after which he was picked up by Daredevils. He continued his impressive work from the first IPL season into the second. He was successful in proving breakthroughs in times of need throughout the tournament. He proved to be an effective first change bowler.

T S Suman (Age: 25, Deccan Chargers)

Matches: 12 Inns: 12 Runs: 237 Avg: 23.70 S/R:124.73
Overs: 15 Runs: 108 Wkts: 5 Econ: 8.00 Best Performance: 41* & 3/32

The Hyderabad player Suman was one of the big finds of this IPL. An aggressive player by nature, Suman provided cameos at the top and helped his team by breaking partnerships with his tidy off-spin.

Vinay Kumar (Age: 25, Royal Challengers Bangalore)

Matches: 11 Overs: 32.2 Runs: 271 Wkts: 9 Econ: 8.38 Best Performance: 2/30

The spearhead of the Karnataka team, Vinay Kumar made a big leap with an inspiring performance for Royal Challengers with smart depth bowling throughout the tournament. As in case of any bowler who bowls in the final stages Vinay too had good variations in pace and was effective in using bouncers as well.

Harmeet Singh (Age: 21, Deccan Chargers)

Matches: 7 Overs: 22.5 Runs: 192 Wkts: 3 Econ: 8.40 Best Performance: 2/23

A new face in domestic circuit, Harmeet didn’t do much throughout the tournament being the fifth bowler; however he played a significant role in the all crucial final. He stuck to the basics, bowled a good line and length without any experimentation and was rightly rewarded with the big wickets of Rahul Dravid and Mark Boucher thereby turning the match on his head. He also picked up a well judged catch running in from the third-man area to dismiss Vinay Kumar – a dismissal that sealed Bangalore’s fate in the final stages of the match.

Amit Singh (Age: 28, Rajasthan Royals)

Matches: 5 Overs: 17.3 Runs: 95 Wkts: 9 Econ: 5.42 Best Performance: 4/19

Amit was extremely impressive with his disciplined bowling with greater consistency in his line. He often managed to beat the batsmen with his variation in speed as he picked up two man-of-the-match awards for two 4-wicket hauls. He also successfully overcame the challenge of suspected bowling action. Playing for Gujarat, Amit has an impressive first-class record of 45 wickets in 15 matches.

Kamran Khan (Age: 18, Rajasthan Royals)

Matches: 5 Overs: 17.4 Runs: 124 Wkts: 6 Econ: 7.01 Best Performance: 3/18

IPL is known to though up new talents but the case of Kamran Khan is more fascinating. He was picked from obscurity by Darren Berry, the team’s director of coaching, in a T20 tournament in Mumbai. The young lad managed to impress his captain Shane Warne in the warm-up match and since then it has been a fairytale story bar being reported for suspected action. He was trusted with the responsibility of bowling the final over with six runs required and Sourav Ganguly on strike. He managed an edge of Sourav’s bat thereby taking the match to a ‘Super Over’. Again trusted with confidence of the captain, Kamran bowled a historical ‘Super Over’!

Shabad Jakati (Age: 28, Chennai Super Kings)

Matches: 9 Overs: 29 Runs: 217 Wkts: 13 Econ: 7.48 Best Performance: 4/22

The left-arm spinner from Goa is at last coming of age after toiling hard in domestic circuit for nearly a decade. He was given a chance to play for Chennai Super Kings after some good showing in the 2008 domestic season and he delivered the goods in his very first match itself by picking four wickets. He was consistently proving breakthroughs and a useful tail-ender as well.

Sudeep Tyagi (Age: 21, Chennai Super Kings)

Matches: 8 Overs: 19 Runs: 136 Wkts: 5 Econ: 7.15 Best Performance: 2/18
Tyagi was picked up by Chennai last year after impressive debut season but missed the inaugural IPL due to injury. However, he has made amends for his absence last year with some striking performances this season. Tyagi was economical most of the times and paired up well with Albie Morkel in operating the new ball. He provided early breakthroughs match after match and his first ball bowled of AB DeVillers will be an everlasting memory.

Rajat Bhatia (Age: 29, Delhi Daredevils)

Matches: 8 Overs: 21.4 Runs: 146 Wkts: 10 Econ: 6.73 Best Performance: 4/15

Bhatia is a veteran in domestic circuit and was aptly utilized by captain Virender Sehwag. Though being an all-rounder Bhatia was used more as a specialist depth bowler and he did the job with perfection every time he was handled the responsibility. His variation in pace and accuracy made everyone spellbound.

Naman Ojha (Age: 25, Rajasthan Royals)

Matches: 8 Inns: 6 Runs: 168 Avg: 24.00 S/R: 116.66 Best Performance: 68 Catches: 2 Stumping: 4

Trusted with responsibility of opening the batting with Graeme Smith, Ojha exceeded expectations scoring quick runs and taking away the pressure on Smith. He was consistent with the bat and was sharp behind the stumps. Being a small chap, he was able to clear the ropes with ease.

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