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

Yet again...

Arsene Wenger uses a 4-1-4-1 formation against a team which they can easily beat or rather "should" easily beat. How can formation be same against Chelsea, Man City, Anderlecht and Hull City??? Please explain me...they are 4 different types of team and Arsenal plays with the same formation against everyone. I am beginning to lose my patience with their sh%t.

Last minute goals save Arsenal again and guess who scored? Podolski! I in my previous post mentioned it too that Podolski has one of the highest goals/appearances ratio in the Arsenal squad. He should play every time on the left wing or in 4-4-2 formation.

Now that Ozil is out injured too BUT Ramsey and Walcott are back, (Walcott is semi back i guess, I strongly suspect he will be used only as a substitute for next 5 -10 matches) the team should be:
Goalkeeper
Mertesacker
Monreal
Chambers
Gibbs  
Rosiscky - yes use him as a DM instead of Arteta or Flamini (Flamini is actually doing a good job but he is too defensive, doesn't link up play forward at all)
Cazorla
Ramsey
Sanchez
Podolski - he can be substituted by Oxlade if needed
Welbeck - he should most definitely be substituted by Walcott. I would start Walcott in case he is fit

Wilshere should be on bench every match, each day, each time. He is an over rated player and does not produce any assists / goals to make a case for his inclusion.

MA

Another injury-

in the Arsenal camp. What a disaster this time! Mesut Ozil gone for 12 weeks atleast. There is something wrong with the medical team at Arsenal. How come these guys get injured so much at Arsenal?

I am not hopeful on the 4th place anymore. The January transfer window can't seem to come any sooner, we need atleast 3 more players now - 1 central defender, 1 central attacking midfielder (Cazorla is not enough) and 1 striker (Danny Welbeck can't score to save his life!)

Which brings me to this another thing I read - Arsene Wenger keeps on repeating that he has enough attacking midfielders in the form of Ozil, Ramsey, Wilshere, Carzola and Oxlade. Fair enough but then why is Rosiscky not getting named in this list? If he is not an attacking midfielder then what the fuck is he? A defensive one? Ok, if he is a defensive one then doesn't it solve a huge problem at Arsenal? Why is he not getting played at the holding fielder position when Arteta is injured?? Why is Flamini getting played? (I actually think he is better than both of them).

Instead Wenger keeps on saying that he will convert Diaby into a holding midfielder??!! Why is there a need to do that? If anything, Diaby needs to be sold now and done with that chapter once and for all. Diaby is not his son or brother or anything, I don't understand, why is Arsene taking it as a personal challenge to bring him back into the team?

There are atleast 5 people in the current squad which are there to just make up numbers. Except Walcott who is coming back from injury, I doubt people like Gnabry etc can bring any real value. Yes they might make up the playing XI but so can the reserve team. Who will score the goals??!!

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

Team set up for tomorrow-

Arsenal is playing Chelsea tomorrow. In all likelyhood, it will be an Arsenal bashing UNLESS they use the 2 holding midfielder formation. I think the team set up should be:
                              Schezcny
Chambers  Mertesacker Kochlieny Gibbs
            Rosicky                          Flamini
    Oxlade    Ozil        Wilshere       Sanchez
                                 Welbeck

Substitutes should be:
Oxlade or Rosicky gives place to Monreal in case left looks open.
Wilshere gives place to Cazorla in case offensive looks less penetrating.
Welbeck gives place to Podolski for better finishing.

Please just use 2 holding midfielders! Plzzz

MA

Hum kya chakhe hain??!

Mary Kom wins the 7th gold medal for India in the ongoing Asian games. Great...well done!

Dozens of celebrities congratulated her on that feat and did not mention any of the 6 people prior to Mary who won gold. Poor...not done!

Woh 6 log kya chakhe hain? or is it that your knowledge of Indian sportsmen is limited to the latest hindi movie released on a sportsperson? Come on guys, seriously, that is just illiterate! What is even worse is that leave alone celebrities (atleast they know who Mary Kom is, I doubt Kareena Kapoor would even know!) but some government officials and technocrats also came out tweeting "yay mary kom, congratssss...go indian women goo"....arey sunti ho, kya kar rahi ho, aaj whisky mein ice kam thi, andhi ho kya! And of course the all time worst was Arvind Kejriwal tweeting about it! Since when has this muppet cared about sports or for that matter - anything? "Jab hum dilli sarkar chala rahe the to 50 gold medal ka target tha, ab dekho sirf 8 gold medal aaye hain...mary kom ko bhi paisa khilane se mila hai...dharnaaaaa....anshannnnn"

What a desperate effort from everyone to eat footage and come across as proud Indians, pro sports and most importantly pro women achievements! This is the precise moment when one of those other 6 medal winners would think ki "koi na yaar, we are never getting famous, we are never going to get any sponsorship because srk says congrats to mary kom, flirts with priyanka chopra, funds an ipl cricket team - hum to chakhe hain! no point in playing and putting effort, agle saal to road pe aana hi hai, let's open a chai ki dukaan, atleast kuch income to hogi"

Anyway, for comic relief, watch the below link - Kareena is the new "Alia"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2FwZUXfAis

MA

Arsenal - new season

So the new season is underway. Quite a slow start, i thought it would be exact opposite with couple of new players coming in. But the new players are proving to be pretty average except sanchez, he looks strong.

What is most striking is the number of injuries in just 10 matches so far in the season (out of a potential 50 plus). And yet again Wenger showed he is a genius or not. He thankfully only added to midfielders and not sold any. Ramsey, wilshere and arteta are gone for atleast 10 more games. I think 2 are blessing in disguise!

The best team for arsenal if everyone is fit is:
Scheszny- gk
Gibbs - lb
Mertesacker -cb
Kochielny -cb
Debuchy - lb
Ramsey - dm
Podolski - lf
Carzola - lm
Ozil - cm
Walcott - rf
Sanchez - cf

Now that debuchy is gone, obviously chambers replaces him.
Ramsey gets replaced by flamini
Walcott by Oxlade chamberlain

I think Chelsea is going to win the league this year comfortably with ManCity a distant 2nd. 3rd and 4th spots are open and though Arsenal might make it again in top 4, the distance from the winners keeps on increasing. They need to improve drastically on a few things-
1) Focal point striker - Giroud is replaced by Welbeck and I think both are muppets!
2) Why does Arsenal play more on right than on left? They need to make it more even
3) Set pieces - time and again I have mentioned this, they need a specialist free kick taker, corner taker. They just can't have dinkers lobbying the ball in the area with no bite /speed / accuracy on it!

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

God is being cruel-

Federer has reached wimbeldon final...and he is looking good!
If he wins this, there is no argument left that he is the greatest. And most certainly Nadal can't catch him. He has at the very max, another 6 grand slams left on him, to win 4 out of those is impossible.
I have been anti Federer for a while now, more for his weeping than him losing but damnit he has stopped crying only! I am so going to have to eat my words and i hate that.
But would I prefer Novak to win then?
most certainly not. he is the most mediocre rank 1 in tennis since marcello rios! i really don't think he is very good and though he might stop federer from another grand slam title, i would prefer he doesn't.
If only somehow this wimbeldon final gets washed off and no one is declared a winner. If only somehow everyone from fourth round onwards who has won all slams and olympic gold gets declated a winner!
If only...fkkk if only....nadal pull up your socks instead of pulling up those wedgies!

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

This soccer WC is a joke!

Teams are getting knocked out after losing 2 matches?! For 4 years of wait, for playing those lousy friendlies and for playing that extremely long qualifying round of matches - they get knocked out for losing 2 matches?

The domestic leagues are so much more entertaining and more importantly more intense. But why blame the WC...this should be expected with a faulty format.

Why would a team show it's true potential when they have barely played with each other on a regular basis and when the whole shenanigan begins 2 years in advance (i mean the stupid qualifying format).

I think instead the WC year should begin from Jan 1 of that year and be played throughout the year in a league format involving top 30 teams (each team will play all the remaining ones). It atleast gives a much more fair assessment of the teams and is a more reliable take on which team is the best international team in the world.  

If logistically it is not possible, then make it possible. If not every week matches, then make them play in bunches of 2-3 matches a week in every 4 weeks (domestic league and champions league fixtures should revolve around it for that year. As for the sidey less important cups, manager should get bigger squads - no one cares about FA cups, carling cups etc anyway!)

It also takes into account the whole regional bias in group formations and the number of slots that each continent gets etc (for 2014 - sweden hasn't qualified for the finals but iran has!? yeah seriously...i think zlatan alone can run circles around iran and kick their arse). There needs to be a better selection of teams for finals. 

Also those players who get injured just before the WC during the so called practice matches, miss out on the most important dream they have as a soccer player. Not only that, just look at this scenario - Jack Wilshere who plays for England and is uber van persie style made out of paper type sensitive and prone to injury. So he doesn't play many of the qualifying rounds coz he is injured. Then Arsenal, the club he plays for cribs that he got injured anyway in one of the "international friendlies" but still get him to rehab, make him stronger, get him to match fitness for him to break his foot bone again in one of the friendlies (by this time England has already qualified!). Anyway, the England manager obviously wants him fit and be ready so what does Arsenal do? - they rest him despite him being fit towards the end of the season so that he can play for England - fair enuf. World Cup comes...he is fit...but isn't chosen in the playing squad?!...England is out in 2 matches...he is fit but didn't play for any side...wtf?! And this is a story not with just 1 player...So many got injured in the practice matches before the WC itself...so many top class players in the world were missing.

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

Another post on Arsenal-

So now that the season is about to come to a close and everyone (various websites, fans, news channels, press conferences etc) has started discussing how Arsenal has seemed to miss the plot again and might go trophy less for another season and finish out of the top 4 (so no champion league spot), I think Arsenal actually did well given the circumstances.

They didn't do what Liverpool might do but they are so much better off than say Man United, Spurs, Man City and the likes (Chelsea can get included in that list btw). As i wrote in my last post, the season basically got decided by injuries to Walcott and Ramsey (add Wilshere, Ozil to that list towards the end) and the season is practically over.

For the coming season, I think Arsenal (and hopefully Arsene Wenger) need to do a few things according to me which will improve them dramatically-
1) Go for an out and out striker - Rudd Van Nistelroy types, a poacher, someone who can get those obvious goals which Giroud misses time and again
2) Play a 4-4-2 formation. The defense looks fine now with Mertesacker and Laurent, they don't always need Arteta sitting in front of them, especially given the fact that guys like Wilshere and Rosicky more often than not are not that creative but try to keep the ball longer and play possession game. If at all Arteta and Flamini should be used as substitutes to consolidate during winning positions. Podolski and Walcott have proved that they both are more than worthy to be central strikers and much better than Giroud in terms of conversion rate%
3) Buy a dead ball specialist. Seriously! Enough of those really silly dinky corners and free kicks from Cazorla and Ozil. They are never a threat and should be used much better
4) This one is I think may be not so obvious but some substitutions look stupid to me, they come way too late. The "paper" boys need to be protected more I think - Walcott, Ramsey, Wilshere have a history to get injured so why use them over especially when you are winning by a margin!

Liverpool - They might win the league this year which is great achievement but the credit goes to Suarez who singlehandedly won them the league. And guess which player did Arsene Wenger put fight in the beginning of the season?! Even if they don't, they will qualify for UCL spot which is good, hopefully keeps ManU out

Chelsea - They haven't won anything yet, they might win both UCL and the league but frankly even if they don't, they have Jose Mourinho. That guy has a hand of gold, he is like Dhoni, whatever he touches turns into gold. He is also tactically a genius, they were my pick at the start of the season to win the league

ManCity - They won the league cup (who cares!) and will NOT win the league. Again a mix of injury (Aguero) factor and just plain stupidity, but makes Arsenal look not so bad!

ManU - hahaha...kat gaya unka to is saal. RV Persie went missing, Rooney extracted the maximum he could in terms of his pay cheque, they are in DEEP SHIT!

Arsenal - can turn into a disaster of a season (according to pundits) if they finish outside top 4 and not win FA cup, but if they achieve both THEN it is just superb!

Spurs, Everton - not worth discussing unless Everton finish 4th

Now which brings me to a rather important point - when people go gaga about not winning a trophy, I think it is SILLY! League cup and FA cup are a joke. Who cares about them? What do they do? Do they bring $$$ - no, do they bring a bump up in league position - no, do they qualify you for a better league - no! then why is it important to win those random trophies? and here is what i suggest-
-Play the winner of the league cup against FA cup and who ever wins, bump up their league i.e. If a Championship side wins, bump them up to premier league and the bottom 4 are relegated
-If a league 1 side wins, bump them up to Championship and same as above
-If a premier league side wins then, in case they are not in top 4 (UCL spots), they play a playoff against the 4th rank for the last spot and the 4th place side bumps down to Europa league

I think what this will achieve is a massive change in the sides some of the top clubs field in some of these competitions. Also for a winner like Wigan (who won FA cup last year beating ManCity last year in final and semi final this year), they could have a chance of staying up in the premier league which has huge financial implications. They are right now 5th in Championship and might miss the cut again this year btw to reach premier league which is just silly tbh!

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

New measure for soccer goal scorers-

I think many people judge the effectiveness of the strikers / goals scored by the absolute number which I think is probably very ineffective. I am an Arsenal fan and I will admit now that I mainly follow EPL (+ other English domestic trophies like FA cup, League cup) and Champions League which basically means my view here is a very limited one. Also it is being driven mostly out of frustration than analysis (i tried putting in some effort behind the numbers though).

Arsenal top goal scorer this year has been Giroud. I however think he was not even half as effective as Ramsey, Walcott, Podolski, Flamini, Carzola and Rosicky goals (I am not counting Arteta as he scores only through penalties). The reason being, his goals are not "first" goals. For a team like Arsenal, it is very important who scores first when score is 0-0. If Arsenal score first, then they obviously start playing expansive, free flowing confident football BUT if they go down 0-1, then it all starts breaking down. If they go down 0-2, then it is basically all over, they haven't come back from 2 goal deficit this year. If they go up 2-0, then again it is all over, they haven't lost a match yet this season being up 2-0.
Point being - it is supremely crucial who scores at the stage when score is 0-0 or when they are down 0-1. And answer is - NOT Giroud (atleast not 95% of the time). The same is very different for Aguero, Suarez, Rooney, Hazard etc - they all score a lot of their team's "first" goals.

Now this can be generalized a lot for all the teams in EPL atleast, especially with a lot of teams these days playing with a very clear cut strategy of holding to a draw in away matches vs playing offensive football at home. It makes the importance of the "first" goal scorers even more felt and mathematically makes them not just match winners but outright title winners. This brings me to the second thing which I have thought a lot about given the poor Arsenal show since December. The maximum number of points that can be scored in a season are 114. Historically if you look at since 2000, the champion has scored anywhere between 80 to 95 points (95 was Chelsea and an anomaly. Median would be 89ish and average certainly even below 89).

e.g. A team like Arsenal if basically achieves these results every year, they would be champions 12 out of 13 years. Let's assume the BIG 4 clubs apart from Arsenal are ManU, Chelsea, Liverpool and ManCity.
4 away games at these clubs - if they draw any 2 and lose 2, gives them 2 points
4 home games at these clubs - if they win any 1 and draw 1, gives them 4 points
Cushion - suppose they lose another 2 away games somewhere like Stoke, Everton, Totenham types
Rest 28 games, out of which 15 are home games, if they win, gives them a grand total of 90 points.
Enough to win the title consistently. Not just that, this score is above the median and the average for last 13 years so equal probability of scoring lower and still having a shot at the title.

The reason why Arsenal fails to win the title every year is not because of their under performance against the BIG 4, but because of the DRAWS and hence losing the 2 points against the lesser teams. It is in those matches that they need to be gambling and absolutely ensuring that they play as many "first" goal scoring players and not Girouds - despite many of them not being outright strikers. It is here that Arsenal (and hence ARS ene Wenger) fail.
Year on year, there is so much hype, press and build up for the BIG 4 matches and i think Arsenal should do a Jose Mourinho there. Away matches, they should field 2 holding midfielders, 3 midfielders who are not super flank aggressive and 1 random striker as a wild card to play outright for a draw. Instead what they do is the exact opposite and get thrashed massively. And mind you, a draw takes away 2 points from opposition as well, putting pressure on them to win those 28 matches against lesser teams.

Have more thoughts on how substitution should work for these 28 vs 4 vs 4 matches. More on that some other time (in a nut shell - no point in substituting guys like Giroud upfront when the going is easy, you should at every point try to protect the "first" goal scoring people when you are up 2-0 types and give the sidey guys a run. And by that I don't mean those token substitutions at 77' minute mark. No, if you are up 2-0 at 50 minutes, you should be done by 60' minute on all 3 substitutions. Ramsey, Walcott 2 of the most influential people in Arsenal scoring were stupidly sacrificed when the matches were under control. It was rather comical to see the title slip when you are at top and when no one was paying attention. It quietly but most definitely slipped away at those 2 moments.

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