Sad but it doesn't make sense...

So now that the Test match series between India and Australia has started after the very sad demise of Phil Hughes, I thought the focus would be back on cricket but media has turned it into a story of courage. And that courage is displayed by whom? the Australian batsmen who were among runs in this match. I don't understand why? or how is that courage?

I mean no disrespect to Phil Hughes here but I seriously do not think that David Warren or Michael Clarke showed any extra courage or should be given any extra credit for making a century on a test match which followed Hughes death. Are they related? Are they family? What are they? Nothing, just team mates. Shit happens, move on. I am sure 1 month down the line, none of these "teammates" are going to face the loss which Hughes family has to bear every single day now. They are the real courageous people, they are showing true character by cancelling the State funeral because they thought enough propaganda has already happened around this.

If this is courageous, then I show courage everyday. Hell, fkking every other person shows courage every single day because am sure someone would have died someday or the other somewhere whom he knew, but he goes on with his life and manages to get by the day doing his regular work. If David Warren is courageous, then Sachin is another league all together when in World Cup, after his father died, he returned to crack a century against Kenya. That is being courageous and not this psuedo muppeting around nonsense.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCvdFvqXsCY

MA 

Watching cricket is no more fun-

The game has become too one sided in favor of the batsmen. Even miscued shots go for six because of extremely short boundaries and those huge heavy 2 inch thick bats. Bowlers are basically reduced to necessities because without them the game can't be played else they might not even exist.

Something has to change. Either the bats need to return to the older weight/built and the boundaries need to be longer. At least ensure that a shot which wasn't middled properly gets caught out instead of sailing over for six!

OR

Give the bowlers a choice as well on which balls they can choose etc. Like batsmen choose their own bats with different weight, thickness long handle/short handle etc, bowlers should be open to choose between red/white, how many overs old etc. There has to be some advantage given to them sooner than later to make it fairer else it is just a slug/slog fest.

MA

Why would Sachin do this?

This whole Sachin Tendulkar autobiography excerpts which have come out - it is so typical Sachin. I am not impressed with this sh%t. When he was in the team, he used to never come on record or take responsibility for anything meaningful, now suddenly he is opening secrets, talking on selective issues and expressing an "expert" opinion. His whole funda of proxy captaincy, running subtle hints from behind the scenes and "influencing" team members is a smart tactic but not my kind of thing. He is the greatest ODI batsman and top 3 Test batsmen ever without a doubt but he has had 2-3 pretty huge gaps in his list of achievements. The biggest according to me was his inability to perform together with captaincy. No one has shied away from captaincy and refused it as blatantly as Sachin in the modern history of the game - which is fine, he has his priorities set BUT it should take away his ability to run the team and proxy influencing it as well.

1) Most talked about Greg Chappell issue - he never spoke about it during that time, now suddenly he has an incident to come out with?! Either be Ganguly who took that guy head on right during his stint or be like Dravid who didn't speak then, nor wants to comment on it now

2) Kapil being a disappointment as a coach - again - what crap! why not give that feedback then so that next set of coaches are picked accordingly etc?

3) No comments on match fixing because I don't know enough - hahahaha seriously? it was happening all around you. Couple of your team mates were allegedly right in the thick of it and you have no comments?

4) Showing Ian Chappell the size of the mirror because you have played more tests than him - fair enough, how come you didn't have the balls to say this then in any interview?

I really like Sachin but all this autobiography nonsense just dilutes his brand - he was a solid, less talk, more action guy who was focused on one and only one thing, how to score the maximum amount of runs for India (mind you - not how to make India win). This image is getting hurt by all this post retirement stuff (he anyway fkked up a lot in his last couple of years pre-retirement). The lowest points of his playing career have been refusing captaincy time and again, his 100th hundred against Bangladesh and getting his 200th test fixed against West Indies at home. The lowest points of his non playing career have been selling that Ferrari which he got as a gift (after India customs let go off the excise duties!) and now this autobiography.

MA

       

I dream of...

bowling off spin bowling everyday these days...i mean literally. It is a recurring dream for the past 6 months where I see myself in Indian colors, bowling off-spin bowling every match - both in ODIs and Test Matches.

I am frankly quite disappointed with this dream (it is a notch up from the nightmares i get) but I have always found off-spin bowling feminine. Not that there is anything wrong in that but I just don't see myself as an off-spinner. Playing for India and all is ok, but come on not off-spin. I was a fine batsman mind you in my younger days. Wouldn't say I was Sachin but could have given a combo of Dravid and Ganguly a run for their money at 1-down / opener position (versatile you see, my name was Mayur "versatile" Aggarwal). I had that immense desire to not give away my wicket and was able to bat for many hours at a time not necessarily scoring many runs (whatever runs were scored were through the off side with glorious cover drives reminding many people of Lara). So much so that I used to get 2 battings due to my immense talent but I strongly suspect because I used to own the wickets and the bat and most importantly the ball :)

Anyway coming back to the point of off-spin (I have this bad habit of digressing - my only real flaw). So i am balling ball after ball, lame, insipid off-spin bowling and the worst part is that I haven't yet taken a wicket in 6 months. I come, ball and then get hit for runs - only saving grace is that noone has hit me yet for a six! I wonder if this has to do anything with my real life - aimless, pointless "off-spin" bowling for last 7.5 years. Come on God, give me a chance as an opener (i prefer to be at the non striking end :) or as a 1 down. Ok, if not batting, atleast let me bowl fast bowling dude, seriously! Ok if not even fast bowling then my next preference is leg spin and if not even that then I want to apply for the wicket-keeper position because I ain't fkking running around anymore doing fielding and bowling stupid off-spin!

MA

Why is Dhoni not made to retire from T20 internationals?

When India won the ODI world cup in 2011, all eyes were on Sachin and he was expected to retire. When he didn't, there was so much criticism that he is playing for personal milestones and not thinking about the greater good of Indian team etc. That was despite being the leading ODI scorer for Indian team during that phase from 2011 - 2013 when he did retire (if anything he should have retired from test matches before he did from ODIs according to me!)

Anyway main point being - now that T20 world cup is over, why is Dhoni still playing T20 internationally? What is he adding to the team? He is if anything blocking 2 spots for a future Indian team - 1) that of a wicket keeper  and more importantly 2) that of a captain.
I think, he should be asked to step down and selectors should give other people a chance whom he would like to see in T20 WC in 2016 and ODI WC in 2019 (for wicket keeper - saha, dinesh kartik, robin uthappa and for captain - virat kohli, suresh raina rather reluctantly rohit sharma).
Why is there no criticism of Dhoni when he is doing a "Sachin"???

Different yardsticks for different people.

MA

Insights post Test #5 India vs England-

Before Martin Crowe yet again steals my ideas by reading this blog, let me put down a few things which are clear after just the Day 1 of Test #5:

1) Dhoni is by far the best wicket keeper batsman we have. Please do not confuse this with - he is the best captain we have. That is another thing all together

2) Gautam Gambhir's test match (and for all purposes, ODI) career is all but over, barring a miraculous 3 digit match saving score in 2nd innings. The bigger implication however of this is, there is no other senior player left who can be named as captain

3) Test matches are won by bowlers, you need to take 20 wickets and only then you can win the match. Second half of the series showed glimpses of decent team selection (so what if we didn't win the matches). Umesh Yadav needs to be tried out as well. Together with Aaron, Bhuvi, Shami and reluctantly Ishant, they are a decent bunch who if rotated well can form a semi-WI like quadret

4) Out of the current team, who can be left out? This is basically the all important question. Yeah everyone knows that changes need to be done but what changes?
Murali Vijay, Rahane, Dhoni, Bhuvi, Ishant (sadly), Aaron are the automatic choices (they can't be left out now as the explanation required will be a much greater pain). Need a new opener for sure. Pujara and Kohli form the toughest decision. Neither can be dropped BUT can neither be served a warning yet? I don't think they have yet reached the Sachin status, one of them needs to be told that much more is demanded out of them (I think Kohli deserves to be kicked - not just for poor batting but sloppy fielding as well)

5) Last but not the least - I have maintained this for a while now, India is always too focused on centuries, fast strike rates etc etc. Test match is not just about that. In a team where 7 people score ducks, what can a lone century do? what can a 150% strike rate achieve? You first need to score 200+ to give your bowlers some chance. You need traditional test match batsmen, who occupy crease, who atleast give someone a chance to score runs, blunt the opposition attack. That is where Dravid and Sachin were gods and that is why Binny, Rohit Sharma need to be taken out of the squad. They are not cut out for Test matches. You need people who prize their wickets, stay for 60 balls without scoring a run if need be.

MA

India vs England - 1st test

This is a substandard match with a substandard pitch, substandard umpiring and substandard team selection.

Either BCCI has given a lot of money to ECB or the England pitch curator has decided thst he solely would bring an end to Cook's captaincy - coz no other reason can justify or reason with such a stupid pitch straight up for the 1st test match.

The flat pitch is making India's 1st innings total look massive and gives false hope that may be finally the batting worries are over BUT a lot of it has to do with final wicket partnership and a middle order collapse would inadvertently be overlooked again. I actually fail to understand Binny's inclusion. The guy is average, not talented enough and frankly just not cut out for international level. He plays like Zimbabwe 12th man kind of technique and his stats over previous international matches and IPL (for that is a prime reason he has been selected) are fairly poor. He is neither upto mark as a bowler nor as a batsmen. Ashwin would have qualified as a better and more genuine all rounder. Either he, or Aaron or Gambhir would have made sense but Binny - for lack of better words is a bullshit selection. He btw has bowled a massive 5 overs out of the 100 bowled so far. hahaha

No DRS means more onus on umpires and here they are fkking up. First why the fkk does India have a choice to dink DRS for series? Just as a world cup or an ICC world event has DRS and everyone has to follow it, so does a test series should. It doesn't matter whether India objects to it. If tomorrow India wants 2 battings (or else they will take their bat ball and go home kinda scenario), would that be open to bilateral agreement?! If at all there are problems on consistency of results, get third umpire to use it instead of players using it. It makes an effective tool then and most importantly takes away howlers which we have seen half a dozen in the 3 days of this match. And the bigger problem I have is it is making Ishant Sharma look good despite idiot decisions.

This match could have very well been in Motera, India with domestic Indian umpires and standard of the match would remain same.

Come on la, get a swinging overseas pitch and let's see how these guys do.
Also may be too early to give an opinion but what is with slack fielding from Kohli. He drops way too many catches upfront close now and worst part is that no one bats an eyelid. Dhoni lets it go but that is just not done. India needs to breed standard slip fielders.

MA

West Indies - still the same issues!

I have been following West Indies cricket for more than 20 years now, they infact are my favorites. From the age of 10 when I was barely 3ft tall, I have been trying to copy and bowl like Curtly Ambrose (I was pretty fast in my earlier days and I mean express pace, not chummi fast!). Everyone knows the team has gone down, cricket is in tatters etc etc but this last series against NZ sums it up, I haven't seen more things wrong about a team since ...i cant even think of an example!

1) Batting coach is Stuart Williams - are you kidding me? On one side you have the great Ambrose as the bowling consultant and then you have Williams as the batting one? seriously? The guy could barely bat himself, averages in poor numbers and was at best tier-2 opener. Why have him? Where are Hooper, Jimmy Adams, Sherwin Campbell (even he would be better than Williams)? I am assuming Lara has said "fkk off" to these guy already else he is an obvious choice. I think the logic that you don't necessarily have to be great player yourself to be a great coach might work for the Head Coach position (Otis Gibson in this case) but it definitely DOES NOT work for the specialist position consultants. Imagine Sidhu being the fielding coach of India?

2) The captain - Ramdin. Why is he the captain? For lack of any other senior players? Where is DJ Bravo (the ODI captain)? Ramdin till last year was in pathetic batting form and himself not sure of his position in the side, now we have him as a permanent fixture. Silly - and to top it, he himself is not sure whether he can handle it. Extremely defensive and supremely bad team selection

3) Suniel Narine - This was the height of ullu ka pathapan that selectors did. He played the IPL final and was late by 1 day in reaching back, he missed the deadline. So he was told he will be omitted for the full test series. Why? What part of IPL schedule did WI selectors not know? IPL is already approved by various boards, the schedules are public knowledge, Kolkatta reaching final was public news, and more importantly didn't just happen out of the blue - everyone could see they are in top 4, won the 1st qualifier so are in finals. Even if he did get omitted for the 1st test, what is the point of omitting him for all 3?

4) Shillingford - He needs to go and practice a new variation, his doosra is banned and frankly he sucks at best! His inclusion in last test single handedly defeated WI. Instead of him, there should have been a batsman and NO i don't want to see Blackwood. Bring back DJ Bravo, Sarwan etc. Dink out Edwards, Gayle, Shillingford.

Bowling is actually looking good after a while, they need to get Fido Edwards also back fit and these 3 : Roach, Taylor and Edwards can actually do well together with Narine and Benn.

Ideal Test team should look like this -
Braithwaite, Blackwood, Darren Bravo, Sarwan, Chanderpaul, DJ Bravo, Ramdin, Narine, Roach, Taylor, Edwards
Also Chanderpaul is almost on his way out, so there is a huge hole waiting to be exposed there - Gayle should be brought down the order (same issue as Sehwag i think, he has no technique at the top!)

I really hope to see a Test Match in Jamaica one day and more importantly WI will win that day and not get thrashed!

MA

IPL-

IPL started this week and I think it was a great idea to have the initial phase in UAE. Sharjah matches in the good old days used to be brilliant and were the absolute peak of India- Pakistan rivalry on a neutral ground.

I actually also think that Lalit Modi was a genius (given he came up with the concept of IPL). It has done wonders for India and Indian sports on many fronts-
-India cricket ODI team and T20 team achieving rank 1 can be attributed to some extent to IPL, including the 2 World cups in last 6 years and 1 final
-So many more players now get visibility and more importantly some money to earn a living
-Other sports have started imbibing this concept, i saw IBL (Badminton league), it was fantastic - seriously! Am hearing now soccer league is getting launched (hockey, bike racing etc already exist i heard)
-Other countries have copy catted the concept (atleast in cricket) - Big Bash, South Africa, Carribean League etc
-So many older players, who now will not make it to national team ever (and rightly so) like Ashish Nehra etc still get a chance to play, fade away the glory, make a living and not just disappear in the ignominy of being forgotten (which is btw a huge keeda with India critics that how come we don't take care of our older athletes who had served our country etc etc)
-So many stadiums, umpires, pitch curators, support staff etc get employment who otherwise based on exclusive India cricket scene was would have never got any chance

I mean there are so many pros that you can't even count them...so let's come to the cons now...why is IPL bad for India? (i actually don't think it is bad at all)
From sporting logic-
-It is destroying the technique among players? - how so? it is one of the 3 formats played and IPL results should be used for selection for T20 and at the very max for ODI teams...simple! don't select players in Test team based on it. It is selectors fault and not IPL's that muppets like Yuvraj Singh and Rohit Sharma keep getting picked up for Test teams and keep failing!

From Arbit logic-
-It promotes match fixing??? how the fkk so? Just because insider trading can happen in stock markets, doesn't mean you do away with stocks / stock trading all together...right? you need to curb that insider trading. Same way, match fixing needs to be stopped, get proper checks in place, it isn't ILP's fault
-It is commercializing the sport? so the problem being? Oh i know...you want sportsmen to be social workers right? you want them to fight for the country and not bother about making a living? That is what Bishan Bedi wants...i kind of agree (NOTTT) he is a moron and so is this logic. There is no problem with commercialization, whoever has the money, is spending it to buy a team...their wish!
By the way, I think if at all, you want to combine these together, there is a simple solution to be achieved- I propose the following:
BCCI should pass a new regulation which makes the IPL franchises to invest 25% of their annual salary they pay to their roster of players into a ranji zone. Divide the country into 4-5 zones (North, South, East, West and Central or watever). Based on how each franchise finishes in rankings the previous year, they get to choose a zone and invest. If suppose Chennai Super Kings have decided to pay in total $20mm annually to players, they will put $5mm for a zone of their choice additionally (and these obviously throws back the responsibility to BCCI to use this money for the proper development of Test Match grass root cricket). This not ensures more money flowing into the so called "actual technical" old school test match cricket development but also ensures that franchises will try to keep the annual salary lowest as possible because they know it will have an additional impact. Now franchises have become a shareholder in country's sport development and hence the commercialization should not be an issue?!

MA

Why should Yuvraj play 2015 World Cup...

If he is not in form???
I don't understand the logic behind people saying that given he has won us so many matches (i differ on that too btw) and given he was Man of the Series of 2011 World Cup, he is an automatic selection. (Man of the series is not necessarily the guy who has won you the most number of matches NOR the guy who was the most outstanding in any one department. It is simply a score calculated based on aggregate runs, wickets taken and catches taken/runouts - it is a good parameter to gauge the importance of a player but certainly by no means makes that person indispensable)

By this logic, following are automatic selections-
Kapil Dev - he won us our first World Cup
Gavaskar - he is the best opener after Sachin
Sehwag - he is opener with highest strike rate
Sachin - no words needed, he is the highest everything in World Cups from being the highest run getter in World cups, most centuries in World Cups etc etc
And the list can go on and on. My point being - past performance can't be the only criteria for team selection. Current form by far should be the biggest factor. I didn't understand the logic behind him being recalled for T20 World cup when he was dropped for NZ series and Asia cup (after miserable series at home and at South Africa)

I also want to state 2 things in very black and white here:
1) He most definitely is responsible for India losing the final of T20 worldcup last week and should be blamed for it
2) However his selection for ODI World cup 2015 should be made on basis of what his form is in next one year and not on his past success (i think even by that factor, it is very average success)

As far as throwing stones at his house goes, that is just plain stupid. He isn't even there FYI, so what is the point?! You want to hurt his mother, father? If at all you want to throw stones at his house, it should be for the his father's performance in the movie Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. Here is a list of all his movies, it is enough comic relief for you to take a chill pill-

• Batwara (1983) ... Jarnail
• Yaar Gareeban Daa (1986)
• Jatt Tey Zameen (1987) ... Sucha
• Qurbani Jatt Di (1990) ... Jora
• Dushmani Di Agg (1990) ... She
• Anakh Jattan Di (1991) ... Sheroo
• Jorr Jatt Da (1991) ... Zaildar Zora
• Badla Jatti Da (1991) ... Jaildar Jang Singh
• Jagga Daku (1991) ... Jagga Daku
• Insaaf (1992)
• Insaaf Ki Devi (1992)
• Jatt Punjab Daa (1992) ... Balwant
• Jidd Jattan Di (1992) ... Jawra
• Lalkara Jatti Da (1993) ... Dulla
• Sali Adhi Gharwali (1993)
• Mehndi Sagna Di (1993)
• Kudi Canada Di (1993)
• Jatt Sucha Singh Surma (1993)
• Insaf Punjab Da (1993) ... Dulla/Jangirdar (Double role)
• Jora Jatt (1994)
• Kachehri (1994)
• Vairi (1994)
• Jigra Jatt Da (1994)
• Vichhora (1994) ... Deep
• Lalkare Sheran De (1994) ... Shera
• Subedar (1995)
• Kabza (1995) ... Surjit
• Zakhmi Jagirdar (1995) ... Uday Singh/Shera (Double Role)
• Nain Preeto De (1995) ... Pratap Singh
• Vichhoda (1996)
• Tera Mera Pyar (1996)
• Mahaul Theek Hai (1998)
• Sikandera (2001) ... Sheru
• Shreeman Chanakya (2004)
• West Is West (2010)
• Teen Thay Bhai (2011) ... Khetarpal Singh
• Oye Hoye Pyar Ho Gaya (2013)
• Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013) 2nd Coach of Milkha Singh
• Heer and Hero (2013)
• Romeo Ranjha (2014)

MA

Rohit Sharma is the new Sehwag & ICC ranking system

It is the same mistake being repeated again.
I think bring Gautam Gambhir back for one home test series as the captain with a clear mandate that he has to do two things -
1) Mentor Virat Kohli as the next captain and that would be very soon (I think right now Virat is the best batsman we have specially overseas and it would be extremely costly to lose his batting form in case he does a "Sachin" on being made the captain...no pun intended!).
2) The moment Virat is ready, Gambhir would be evaluated on runs scored in that series and not on his captaincy skills / result of the test series (which obviously beyond doubt India will win with flat pitches, 2 spinners and most importantly a 7th / 8th ranked side).

Home Test-
S Dhawan, M Vijay, C Pujara, V Kohli, G Gambhir (capt), A Rahane, M Dhoni (only wkt), R Ashwin, B Kumar, M Shami , P Ojha

Away Test-
S Dhawan, M Vijay, C Pujara, V Kohli, G Gambhir (capt), A Rahane, M Dhoni (only wkt), R Ashwin, B Kumar, M Shami , Z Khan

Ishant should most definitely be dropped and R Jadeja I guess is unlucky due to Gambhir selection (which by the way is only temporary - it is being done because Dhoni has to go and there is no one senior enough to take over except Virat which endangers his batting form which can be way too expensive). Once Gambhir gets dinked out, R Jadeja can be considered back, specially for home tests.

Also leading Man of the Series in tests have always been bowlers, I doubt on a fair ICC test match ranking formula, India can ever be even in top 5 (SA, Aus, Eng, Pak and Sri Lanka definitely are ahead)

The point system should be revamped and should be as follows-

The points awarded for each test is made of 3 criteria consisting of 1) Result points 2) Bonus points 3) Ranking points

Result Points:

Away Win - 20

Home Win - 14

Away Draw - 10

Home Draw - 7

Away Loss - 5

Home Loss - 3

Bonus Points:

Away Win with an Innings margin - bonus 5

Home Win with an Innings margin - bonus 3 

Ranking Points: Each team is obviously ranked 1 to 9

Points awarded: 10 minus Opposition Ranking.

e.g India is ranked 2 (not for long!) and NZ is ranked 7. Just for playing each other NZ will get 8 points and India will get only 3. Rest of the points will depend on where the series is being played and obviously who wins and the margin of victory.

Total points awarded for each match therefore = RP + BP + (10- opp ranking) 

Now what this will do is alter massively the way points were awarded for India vs Eng (home loss series), India vs WI (home win series) and India vs NZ (away loss series). India vs Eng will massively boost Eng rankings because they won away and that too against a better ranked team. India vs WI will not be many points for India because they won at home and against a very low ranked team. And lastly India vs NZ will give NZ a huge bump up because though it is a home series win, they pulled it against a team which was ranked 5 higher than them. 

MA

The golden days...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ng6DRm2HrwM&feature=related
WI beats Australia in 1999 Barbados. King of Kings: Brian Lara scored 153*

I had never enjoyed cricket so much after the legendary Lara, Ambrose retired i.e. uptill now. I watched the final between India and Sri Lanka in Mumbai from the Wankhede Stadium. Truely fantastic, I dont think I have ever felt more proud of India than this.

I still however would like to go to West Indies once and watch a cricket match live in Barbados / Trindad ground. I think if nothing else, it would just remind of the golden days when I was in Chandigarh, doing nothing, sleeping, drinking, eating, getting pampered and last but not the least watching WI matches.

MA

Everyone...

and by that I mean everyone does think alike... even pimps and whores...pretty insightful i must say...but now that i actually am not drunk for a change, when was this "insight" of mine ever in doubt!

Indian team is looking solid...i have a bet on with my team that if India makes it to the semifinal, I will take them out for unlimited drinks...somehow this keeps getting construed as I want them to lose in semis..why? how? deductive logic? bad DI? <90 br="" cat="" in="" issue="" s="" the="" what="">To clarify: it just means I am a true fan of India who will get happy if they make semis and hence take ppl out. I will get EVEN happier if they win and reach finals, whr if u ask me again, I will AGAIN take you guys out and if we win the final, I will AGAIN yet do it! what's the issue ;)

MA