What is this??? Guess

CAN YOU GUESS, WHAT IS THIS?

WHAT THESE PEOPLE ARE LOADING INTO THE AIRCRAFT???

















5 MB Hard Disk by IBM in the year 1956. Weighed a ton and was part of 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a Hard Disk.

N.B - Got as a forwarded mail

Shame on

Shame on Media : After seeing two qualification matches of Champions trophy in SET MAX, I started to wonder why channels like SET MAX and ZEE sports are competing with STAR and ESPN for telecasting rights if they don't know to organize and telecast the matches in professional manner. A true sports lover will hate to see a moron like Mandira Bedi sitting next to Charu Sharma, with skimpy attire, and asking some futile questions to an established players who have proved so much both as a cricketer and media person. Adding to this you have all the nonsense like fortune teller who jabbers something using crystal balls and some cards. Another worst thing about this SET MAX fiasco is it's studio. Generally one will find a studio in 'U' shape or in '[' shape, with maximum of four persons (3 expert commentators and one conductor like Harsha Bhogle), so that the conductor can ask questions just by looking at the expert's eye without twisting his body. Even DD follows this to some extent, though the number of persons in the panel will be more. But in SET MAX, all the panelists are sitting in a straight line and number of panelists is 5 to 6. When Charu wants to put a question to the extreme left person in the panel, he needs to move his head back a little with Mandira in the way of their eye line. Also, just like DD, you have lot of Hinglish being spoken amidst Englishmen. I wonder whether cricket needs to be promoted in this way? Even if this method is successful, will it contribute to the growth of cricket? A cheap way to promote a sport.

Shame on Classical Musicians : I can bring a clear analogy between this one and the above mentioned one. During 1960s and before that, whenever there was a 'Katchery' (Music concert), audience will ask two questions to each other. Who is today's artist? and what is the specialty? Answer will be like 'Madurai Mani Iyer. He is going to sing his famous Note' or 'MS Subhalakshmi is going to sing Maithreem Bhajatha'. But now the answer has changed. Most of the concerts are free now as the audiences are not turning up. And the answer for the 2 question will be "I came to hear Nithyashree's and today's special is Sarkarai Pongal" or "I am going to Naradagaana sabha. Sudha is singing today and Akkaravadisal will be very good there and we need to reach there by 5 PM to get hot Akkaravadisal". Few youngsters, when allowed to ask questions related to music to Nithyashree, asked the price of her saree and she replied with a smile "50 thousand rupees". When audiences were asked to fill feedback form, one of them wrote something like this "They must serve it hot". I got all this informations from my 'Carnatic music maniac' Aunt. Though some part of the mistake lies in the knowledge and the passion of the audiences, lion's share of it is with the sabhas and the musician for wrongly promoting and attracting wrong audiences through food. I am sure that MS or MLV or DKP won't do this even if they were offered many crores. Also the adherents of them won't exchange their honey dipped voice for Akkaravadisal. Today's musicians must depend their skill and melody than sarees and sweets. Trying to entice audiences through short cuts will never help the cause. Instead that art can vanish.

Shame on TN Government : By giving entertainment tax exemption for all the Tamil movies which has Tamil title, State Government may feel very proud that it has encouraged the film producers to name their movies in Tamil. They may feel that they have contributed to Tamil language in a big way. Mind you these producers save a lot of money because of this exemption. May be around 1.5 to 2 crores. But the ticket rates in all the theaters are unchanged. Many questions will dawn in the mind of a common citizen. Whether they will give tax exemption for all the YYY movies which are released with Tamil name? Whether movies with the name 'Gandhiji' or 'Ten Commandments' or "My Experiment With Truth" or "Panchavati" won't get this tax exemption? Just 'cause of this whether Tamil or penchant for Tamil will grow? A great language like Tamil requires these kind of gimmicks? Or movies with Tamil name are free of English dialogues, vulgarities and violences?

Also there is a judicial problem in this. Giving tax exemption to Tamil titled movies can be viewed as a penalty imposed on a particular language which is strictly against our fundamental rights. In a country like India, anyone can name their belongings in their desired languages. Government should not be biased against them. If someone file a case against this, State Government will be defeated easily. No one will do this as they will be framed as Anti-Tamil.

Best way to strive for Tamil is by providing good Tamil syllabus which should contain the collections of Bharatiyar, Kambar, Thiruvalluvar, Appar, Sundarar, Naavukarasar and works of famous writers like Jayakaandan and by providing good teachers (They can be paid more than other staffs). They must not pressurize the children to learn that language and should not put any thrust on them. But one cannot expect a good move from our politicians. Only one song of MJ comes to my mind whenever I think about our government(s) "All I wanna say is that They don't really care about us"

Again I repeat "Trying to entice audiences through short cuts will never help the cause. Instead that art or sport or language can vanish. "

What do you say???

S Ve Sekar at his very best in his maiden speech

(This took place in TN Assembly)

CM : We are providing 1 KG rice for Rs 2.

After few minutes, when the MLA from Mylapore got his chance to speak. Infact his maiden speech.

S Ve Sekar : First of all, I thank my father, mother, wife and my leader. Also people of Mylapore for electing me as their MLA. I am very happy to hear that this government is providing 1 KG rice for Rs 2. 1 KG rice will be sufficient for 4-5 people. But the government is charging Rs 2 per person for public convenience in all urban slum. So a '5 member' family has to spend Rs 2 for food and but they need to spend Rs 10 for answering their nature's call. So the government should make it free for them.

Everyone started to laugh including the Chief Minister

CM : I will do that also.

Something to think about.

A Poem on Sachin Tendulkar

Came out little early
Living just below the beauty

Touched the three figures three quarter
Also have a Najafgarh imposter

Took Hollywood for a ride
Have a tiny master to guide

Pigeon is my prey
Gambler is in the fray

Sydney's dad is my pal
Got a White Rose call

Have 2 fives in the name
Am the epitome of fame


Elaboration :

Came out little early (Sachin is a premature child)
Living just below the beauty (Former Miss World Aishwarya Rai lives in the same apartment as that of Sachin. She lives in the 12th floor while Sachin is in 6th floor)

Touched the three figures three quarter (Sachin has scored 75 International tons[both ODI and test])
Also have a Najafgarh imposter (Prince of Najafgarh is Sehwag. We all know Sehwag resembles Sachin in playing style as well as in the physique)

Took Hollywood for a ride (Hollywood is the nickname of Shane Warne.)
Have a tiny master to guide (Sunny nickname is 'Little Master' and Sachin always seeks the advice of Sunny)

Pigeon is my prey (Pigeon is nickname of Glen McGrath)
Gambler is in the fray (Famous Gambler of cricket is 'Punter' Ricky Ponting. He is now catching up Sachin in the Test match ton race.)

Sydney's dad is my pal (Sydney's dad is Brain Lara)
Got a White Rose call (White Rose calls means Yorkshire County offer)

Have 2 fives in the name (2 fives means Ten in 'Tendulkar')
Am the epitome of fame

India and Oscar - Part 2

Yesterday, Film Federation of India announced the India's entry to OSCAR - Rang De Basanti. Prime theme is 'If the system has some problem or some weeds, Youths should not sit back and watch. They need to be more responsible and should try to change the system itself'. Surely a better option than 'Jeans' and 'Paheli'. But, as Prasad said, songs and other commercial elements will hinder the chances of getting into the top 5. Most of the songs were used perfectly by the director. He needs to trim the title song. Dialogues are a great plus for the movie. Also the BGM. We need to wait and watch.

Canada's entry is Deepa Mehta's Water, a movie about the misery underwent by Indian Widows in olden days.

One common factor is both has music by A R Rahman. (Though BGM of Water is by Mychael Danna)

India and Oscar

On one good day I was watching NDTV which always conduct a SMS poll around 9 PM. The question they put forward was 'Whether we are sending right films to OSCAR?'

I just want to forward the same question in this blogs. Adding to that, I like to ask few more questions.

Q1. Whether we need to achieve OSCAR? Don't you think it is similar to Miss World or Miss Universe who is selected based upon 40 judge(s)'s opinion? Why an Indian movie need to satisfy a foreign audiences who don't know our culture?

Q2. If yes, 'Whether we are sending right films to OSCAR?' [Is it correct to send movies like 'Jeans' and 'Paheli' to OSCAR?] Whether we need to send offbeat cinema or commercial cinema to OSCAR?

Q3. Which movie, in your opinion, would have won an OSCAR if we had sent it to OSCARS? (really a glaring omission in the past)

Q4. Finally, Whether we have the potential and talent to achieve this??

Expecting some of your thoughts on this as blogspot has lot of (English) Movie buff...

QUIZ

Try this one,

1. Whose autobiography is 'In Line with Fire' which is going to hit the market within few months?
2. Madhu Koda, Kamalesh Singh, Enos Ekka and Harinarayan Rai were in the news for some reason. Tell the reason??
3. His name is 'Lakshmi Narsimha Vijaya Rajagopala Sheshadri Rajesh Raman'. He is better known as ---- for Tamil music loving audiences?? (Clue: He is a singer who has worked with ARR, Yuvan Shankar Raja and Coco Lee.)
4. The day of Mahatma Gandhiji's return(Jan 12) to India from South Africa is celebrated as a special day. What is that day?
5. What is the name of the Conch ('Sangu' in Tamil) in Lord Vishnu's hand? (It has a special name just like the Divine Disc in His hand is called 'Sudarsana Chakra')
6. Everyone knows that 'Makkal TV' is PMK's. But PMK has started to publish a Tamil Daily. Name it??
7. Shane Warne has been awarded an honorary Doctorate for service to cricket by an university last week. Name the varsity?
8. A Zimbabwean cricketer is banned from English first-class and league cricket for 10 year after a violent confrontation with fans recently? Who is that unlucky cricketer?
9. Who is the class footballer who announced his international retirement recently? He played in the recently concluded WC.
10. For all EPL fans out there, who is currently topping the league table in EPL league after 5 matches??

Answer :

1. Pervez Musharraf
2. The four MLAs who had withdrawn support from Munda Gov. Koda is CM of Jharkhand.
3. Blaze
4. NRI Day
5. Panchajanyam
6. Thamizh Osai
7. Southampton Solent University
8. Mark Vermeulen
9. Riquelme, Makelele
10. Portsmouth

World Cup Hockey Final

After seeing the World Cup Hockey final - one of the best finals of any sport in recent times - two things strike me. One - "It is the players who create interest in people and not the game itself". Any game can become popular in any country if it is played by right persons.

Two - To be frank, India is not a sporting nation and doesn't fit to play any sport. We may produce occasional brilliance through some special players like Sachin, Ramanathan Krishnan, Gopichand. But in long run, we won't sustain in any game. We don't have fitness of a German, aggression of an Aussie, passion of a Russian, and teamwork, tenacity and perseverance of any European countries. Neither we don't know to disguise like Pakistan. Though it sounds bad, it is a bitter truth. Our sport personalities want overnight fame and money without any hard work. Nor do they have passion for their sports. Adding to this, we have politics in every corner of our life.

Coming to the review of yesterday's final, I will say this final can be recorded for it's 'Never say die' attitude shown by both the teams. Pendulum was shifting for every twenty minutes. Both started off very well with good speed and control. Germans were slightly faster than Aussies while Aussies had a better technique and a lot of good players. Germans took the lead in 18th minutes through the crowd favorite Christopher Zeller.

I need to mention about this man - Christopher Zeller. I think he is the Roger Federer of Hockey. Very cool and collective, with tremendous speed and control, he looks like a complete hockey player. Instantly I have become his fan and now I am searching for his official homepage in the net.

Coming back to the match, then there was a typical Aussie response. They raised their game and they started to go on the offense and equalized through penalty corner. Courtesy Mark Knowles. They didn't stop there. They gave the Germans and their crowd an enima when Matthew Naylor scored the second for Kookaburras. They had the ascendancy at the end of first period.

In the second period, Continent country extended their lead to 3-1 when Troy Elder was successful in getting the ball past the German defense. Being an Indian myself, I though Aussies were going to be the next WC champions. But German's didn't think so. They pulled their socks and played with zeal. At the same time, surprisingly Aussies went into the shell with 7 Defenders, which is unusual for them. They normally play an aggressive brand of hockey, just like cricket. German reduced the margin to 2-3 when Moritz Fuerste slided the ball in. Then came the 'magical moment' of the match. Germans equalized through a Bjoern Emmerling lucky reverse-stick shot looping over the Aussie GK Stephen Mowlam. This goal was very interesting to watch - had the same flavor of an EPL soccer goal. Cometh the Time, Cometh the Man. Five minutes later, Zeller singlehandedly took the ball from German half to Aussie half and scored the decider as if he was meant to do that. After that Aussies had one close chance in 66th minute when Luke Doerner fired the ball against a post. German maintained their nerve and won the final before their home crowd for the successive world cup.

To me, two excellent teams played a great match and the better team with a great player, who instored the best for the final, won the cup. Deservingly so.

Final Say: Christopher Zeller is a paradigm for all the sporting personalities of how to perform in the crunch situations and when the team needed the most. He had pressure and expections on him and he delivered the goods for the German crowd.

Sania Mirza - A Wonderful Comedienne

Generally comedienne(s) are rare species. Whoopi Goldberg, our Aachi Manorama and 'Kovai' Sarala (though I am not a great fan of the last two) are few to mention. In my opinion, even the best comedienne will fell short when they are pitted against Comedians like Chaplin, Nagesh and others when it comes to sense of humour and timing. But for the past 2 years, I am seeing and reading a real time Comedienne in Sania Mirza and she might prove me wrong.

Her comments and mannerisms in post match interviews will make you wonder whether you are listening to Sania or Chris Evert. Even the greatest will show some kind of modesty unlike Sania who is blowing her own trumpet sans any shame. I just want to list some of the 'knowledgeable' comments may by our Hyderabadi Beauty.

1. 'People can't expect me to win every match. Like anyone, I will also have some off-day' - When was she winning on the trot. May be in her dreams.

2. 'At the end of this year, I want to enter top fifteen in WTA rankings' - She thinks entering into top 15 is as easy as entering a lavatory. On the same day, Svetlana Kuznetsova responded to this comment by saying 'I don't know how she is going to make it into top 15. She doesn't have a great serve, weak backhand, her mobility is less and she need to improve her temperament. She gives up too quickly.'

3. 'Ranking doesn't matter until you win matches. Winning matches are more important than ranking' - Can someone explain this to me, please !!! Every month her ranking is increasing like Chennai auto rickshaw meter charge.

4. And the latest (see today's Hindu). 'I had a phenomenal first year. It is humanely impossible to repeat it year after year. Critics are always there, I am an optimistic person so looking forward to doing better' - When did that happen?? What kind of phenomenal year she had?? whether she won all the grand slams on that year??

'SANIA CRASHES OUT' 'SANIA BOWS OUT' 'SANIA LOSES IN THE FIRST ROUND'.

You can find anyone of the above headlines in the Hindu paper's sports column once in fortnight. When a NDTV correspondent asked Vijay Amritraj to predict the future of Sania Mirza, he said 'Around 2010, either she will be in the top 10 or she will be in the Bollywood'. Then the correspondent asked which one is likely to happen in 2010. He just gave a smile and the smile says it all. But she enjoys the media attention and I don't know why media is going ga-ga over this mediocre girl.

Courtesy : The Hindu & NDTV & CNN-IBN

PS: If her performance is going to continue like this, we can conduct a 'Pattimandram' with a 'Thalaipu' 'Indiavin ethirkaalam - Saniava alladhu Gagan Ajit Singhin Hockey teama' and Solomon Popaiya as 'Naduvar'.

See the Magic

Do the following and see the magic

1. Go to Google
2. Click images
3. Type “flowers”.
4. You will get a page which is having full of images
5. Then delete the item from the address bar and paste the below script
javascript:R=0; x1=.1; y1=.05; x2=.25; y2=.24; x3=1.6; y3=.24; x4=300; y4=200; x5=300; y5=200; DI=document.images; DIL=DI.length; function A(){for(i=0; i6. See the magic.

This will work in all pages which is having images

One more easy puzzle...

Last Sunday, four neighbour boys found that work goes more quickly when friends help friends: each of the four had found a job one of the neighbourhood adults, including Mrs. W, needed done, and the four worked together to make fast work of the chores, one of which was cleaning a car.

Given the following clues, you should be able to decide which job each found and for whom the work was done.

1.Three of the friends are Mr. A, the one who found the job mowing the lawn, and the one who got the job from Mr. H.
2. Mr. T didn't have the job staining the backyard fence.
3. Mr. A didn't locate the window-cleaning job.
4. Mr. J isn't the boy who got the chore from Mr. T.
5. Mrs. D didn't have the job cleaning windows; Mr. C isn't the friend who found the window-cleaning task.
6. Mr. H didn't employ the boys as window cleaners. Mr. C isn't the boy who found the lawn-mowing job.
7. Mrs. D isn't the adult who gave Mr. A a job.
8. The chore Mr. I negotiated wasn't cleaning windows.


Answer :

W---> J --> Window cleaning
D---> I --> Lawn mowing
T---> A --> Car cleaning
H---> C --> Fence staining

Puzzle

Try this....

1. What occurs twice in a lifetime, but once in every year. Twice in a week but never in a day?

2. Which word in the English language is most often pronounced incorrectly?

3. Which word, if pronounced right, is wrong, but if pronounced wrong is right?

4. What has a neck, but no head?

5. Can you find something which has keys that open no locks, with space but no room, and allows you to enter but not to go in?

Answer :

1. The letter 'E'
2. Incorrectly
3. Wrong
4. Bottle
5. Keyboard

Puzzle

When you want to kill time, try this one.

http://www.freestuffhotdeals.com/hacker/1.html

A request to all IT guys

Posted in our company's blog. But applicable for everyone.

For the past few month, I am irked when I need to take printouts.

When I just need to take a printout of single sheet, I am made to wait for 10 min, as someone has already given a printout of 50+ pages (single side mode) and they haven't collected it from the printer. I don't how to cancel their job and I am not sure whether it is correct to cancel their job. So if somebody needs to take bulk printouts, please make sure that you collect your materials.

Also it is better to clean the printer zone periodically and remove the unwanted papers. Stapler, with pins, must be present near all the printers.

This is just a request, if fulfilled, can reduce our frustrations. I hope everyone acknowledges this one

Cricket Cartoons

World Space Satellite Radio

Many would seen this 'World Space Satellite Radio' hoarding in the city and also the advertisement being telecast in Vijay TV and NDTV. They have roped in A R Rahman, who is listening to World Space Satellite Radio for the past five years, to promote WSSR. The Ad. has been shot very well in Kerala and ARR looks very dignified in that Ad. He has also composed a signature tune for WSSR. Listen to the signature tune of WSSR composed by ARR (See attached file)

Some might wonder 'What is this World Space Satellite Radio??'. It is a non stop music radio. There won't be any interruptions like Advertisements. They won't be any compering by any 'Kittu Mamas' and 'Susi Mamis'. This is just music, music and non-stop music.

It comes in two packages. One with speakers and another is without speakers. Other than this, both the packages will have a World Space Receiver, Satellite antenna and Head phone. Size of the speaker less package is very handy while the other one is little bit big (I feel it won't be convenient to carry it to different places). The output quality is so good that if you have a proper home system, you can connect this WSSR O/P to it. To me speaker-with package doesn't impress. As it is a 'Satellite' Radio, we can carry this anywhere in the world and enjoy our favorite music.

Totally it has 40 channels like

1. Farishta - Old Hindi song
2. Jhankaar - New Hindi filmi songs and Hindi Pop.
3. Spiritual channels like Art of living, Moksha, Sai Global Harmony
4. Play -a Sports channel
5. KL Radio forTamil viewer, RM Radio for Keralites, Spandana for Telugu, Sparsha for Kannadigars, Tara for Bengalis and Tunak for Punjabi.
6. Western Classical channel and 5 pop channels
7. 4 Rock channels
8. 5 News channels like BBC, CNN
9. 2 Latin Music channels
10. One jazz channels
11. 2 R&B channel
12. NDTV English and Hindi
13. Two Indian classical channel one for Carnatic and another for Hindustani music

and few more....

How much does it cost?? Set with speaker cost Rs 2500 and with out speakers cost Rs 1499. Then we need to purchase one of the three subscription packs - Rs 1000 for 6 months, Rs 1800 for one year, Rs 3250 for two years.

This is available in Spencers Music World, Chennai and in all major Music shops.

Krissh - Movie Preview

A blog poster in our intranet by me

Generally in our blogs some of us write movie reviews. Previously it was Ashok. Now Prasad V is doing the Lion's share of it. Sometimes I write few reviews about the movies which I watch in the theaters.

This blog is about preview of the forthcoming Hrithik starred Krissh. This is a sequel to Koi Mil Gaya which was a hit and redeemed Hrithik's market value after a string of flops. When his first movie - Kaho Na Pyar Hai - was released, I thought that he was just an another 'Boy in the next door' Hindi hero, which has lot of them, and soon he would vanish from the field. And to some extent it happened. But he gave a better performance in KMG. In Krissh, he has become a role model to many of the young hero through his decision making while picking the movie and his involvement.

This movie really deserves a preview as it tries to match Hollywood in technology and Hero's commitment. In Krissh, Rakesh Roshan has imported few Hollywood techniticians. So there is no surprise in the Krissh's technology aspect. But the surprising part is the involvement shown by Hrithik. He has remodeled his physique to resemble a conventional superman and went to China to learn different marshal arts so that the stunts look realistic. Overall the trailer looks promising. But I will ration my words till I see the movie.

I don't like to reveal the story though it is easy for us to predict the knot of any Superman Movies. But this movie has created hype not for the story line but for the execution.

Priyanka Chopra is the Hrithik's lady love and Rehka acts as Hrithik's mother. As usual the MD for this movie is Rajesh Roshan who generally does a good job. Directed by Rakesh Roshan.It is going to hit the theaters today.

Movie budget is 30C and it is expected to do well as it can attract all the category.

Ajit, Vijay, Simbu can take a leaf out of Hrithik's book instead of doing routine masala entertainers in which they don't have consistent success. There is nothing wrong to EEE a good decision and good performance - an AdventNet Motto.

Soccer WC Review

A deferred post

All the team have played thier first match.

To me most disappointing team(s) are England for their coward approach and France for not geling together as a team and the main culprit is Thierry Henry. Beckham and Zidane being the solace for their respective teams. We expect a special performance from the talented France team and professional England Team, which is always haunted and hyped by their own media.

Brazil, just like everyone I am also a Samba fan for the past 14 years, looks little bit rusty. Ronaldo has to improve his skill and should have an eye on his waist size which is increasing like the gold rate in India. But I am sure they will hit back soon and they must as we all want them to win and entertain us with their aggresive, graceful brand of football.

Most surprising team, which has given a good performace than expected, for me is Germany. Traditionally Germans like to win a match 1-0 than 5-3 meaning they are contented with one goal and they will pack their defence which was their forte. They won't attack much and depend entirely on Corners-Heading and Free Kicks. But this german team is other way around. They are very aggressive and takes 60-80% possessions and they want to hit the target most of the time. Sadly their defence is not that much strong as their previous famed teams of early 70s and late 80s. They had Brehme, Bien and the 'Brainy' Beckenbauer in their ranks. I really want this team to reach semis.

Other team which is playing well is Czech Republic. Poorest performace till date was given by Ukraine against Spain yesterday.

Chanakya's quotes

"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and Honest people are screwed first"

"Even if a snake is not poisonous, it should pretend to be venomous"

"The biggest guru-mantra is: Never share your secrets with anybody. ! It will destroy you"

"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth"

"Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead"

"As soon as the fear approaches near, attack and destroy it"

"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman"

"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest"

"The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all direction"

"Whores don't live in company of poor men, citizens never support a weak company and birds don't build nests on a tree that doesn't bear fruits"

"God is not present in idols. Your feelings are your god. The soul is your temple"

"A man is great by deeds, not by birth"

"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness"

"Treat your kid like a darling for the first five years. For the next five years, scold them. By the time they turn sixteen, treat them like a friend. Your grown up children are your best friends"

"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person"

"Education is the best friend. An educated person is respected everywhere. Education beats the beauty and the youth"

All quotes by Chanakya (Indian politician, strategist and writer, 350 BC-275 BC)

India Shining Campaign

This is a snap taken in an ATM centre in Bangalore

India is really shining. What do you say????

Really embarrassing

Posted after Greg completed one year as India's coach. Really embarrassing.

After the advent of Greg Chappell, lot of things have happened in Indian cricket. Both good and bad. Majority of them are constructive ones.

--Fielding has improved a lot. Thanks to Suresh Rainas and Sreesanths. We need to find some good slip fielders. Greg, considered to be one of the best slip fielder, will be very useful in this aspect.
--Competition for every single spot.
--An ageless spinner in Anil, an aggressive Bhajji and few other spinners are coming among the ranks.
--A good batting lineup.One problem is that we have to induce a lot of youngsters and no one should be given a free ticket.
--But the big plus is in the fast bowling department. Now we have a quality allrounder cum swing bowler in Irfan (Irfan sr, his brother, is not a bad all rounder). Enthusiastic bowler in Sreesanth who can be used as an understudy for any bowler. Swing bowler in L Balaji who has returned from Aus today after undergoing treatment for stress fracture. Highly promising pace bowlers in Munaf Patel who can send 140-145 kmph delivery with good accuracy. VRV Singh, who is performing consistently in the domestic circuit. He looks like a wicket taker who cares least about runs. Today he rocked the Bengal middle order with 4 wickets, though Dada stood tall and made sure Bengal reaches Semis. Another bowler from Kashmir Abid Nabi, who can bowl at 145-150 kmph is also in the scheme of things.

From here onwards Indian cricket should improve, play good cricket and produce good consistent result for the next four years, provided no controversy, no politics, no biased selection, no match fixing and no Dalmiyas interfere in their way. This is our best chance to dominate the world cricket as we have a good blend of youth and experience and variety. Also there is a lot of enthusiasm among the people and young cricketers. Revenue (TV rights has been sold to nimbus for 3678 crores thus making BCCI as the one of the richest sporting body if not the richest) has never been a problem for Indian cricket. Also other teams, mainly Australia, have started their downhill journey. Only India and England are showing some promise.

Really we have to keep our finger crossed. I feel India will do well if we persist with Greg Chappell for two more years after the 2007 WC.

Good One

Chikungunya Time

Pity Saurav

My response to a Ganguly fan in my company

Sriram,

Quote:

I believe, of those who played this Test, Sourav handled all the bowlers well(technically). I am not sure if there is any other player other than Dravid who has a solid defense as Sourav to negotiate good bowling. I am still wondering if there is anyone better than Sourav to handle the spin bowlers in the 20-40 overs in one-dayers. Until one finds the alternative, sourav deserves his place in the team. Moreover he played Shoaib Akthar much better than others.

I agree with you in this. Thanks to Greg, now for the past two series Ganguly is concentrating on the game more than what he did for the past 2 years. Sitting on the past laurels is not the correct way. If that is going to be the case, then we have to stop all the domestic tournaments, as the new bloods are not going to get into test team. Come on Sriram he didn't play the pace bowling well for the past 2 year (Infact more than that). Just by performing in 2 innings cannot - and should not - convince anyone. In LOI, Saurav will come at number 3 position. To play spinners, first he has to survive the pace. Also he will concede at least 10 to 20 runs in the field. Sourav does one thing consistently when he comes to bowl. He will bowl 2 no-balls and he will give atleast 15 runs in his first over and take off the pressure from the opposition. After that he won't bowl at all in that match. Mark my word. Keep an eye on this whenever he comes to bowl an over in LOI or Test. This has been the pattern for him all through his cricketing career.

Quote:

Regarding his attitude, everyone runs a story as though they were part of the dressing room. Its a pity. How can we comment about the nature of a person sitting from here. Ridiculous. Everyone goes through a bad patch and so too he.

Sriram, there are lot of incidences where his wrong attitude raised its ugly face.

1. Many cricketers has mentioned this in their AB. Steve Waugh, Flintoff are some of them.
2. Infact when Haryana played Bengal in a Ranji match, Kapil warned Saurav, then 19, in the middle of the pitch itself for bad attitude.
3. Also there was an incident when he came late for the toss in a match against Aus.
4. Then for standing in the pitch - after the LBW decision was turned down by Darell Hair - looking at the big screen in the MCG to cross check the umpire decision.
5. Not coming to the hotel on time to attend press conference, along with the coach, before leaving to Zim.
6. Disclosing the team's internal matter to the media after scoring an hundred against a mediocre attack.
Only time he was made a scape goat is during the infamous Mike Denness incident in SA.

Quote:

Then why dont they suggest the same psychiatrist, senior players , implementation etc to one other prominent player who is back after injury layoff and noway contributing to the team, but wins praise from the coach.

I agree with you in this. Consistency should be there. It can be Sachin or VVS or Rahul. If they don't perform either they have to throw the towel or they must be shown the door or they have to go back to the Ranji, perform well and win the place back in the team.

For the guest who quoted that 'All Aussies are racist', I just want to ask only one thing. How can you comment about a country just by sitting here? If Steve is a racist, what is the need for him to do charity (Udayam in Calcutta) in India. He can do that in his country itself. In my knowledge, he is one of the best human being I have ever seen (I have to say I have ever read). If he is a racist, them he has to target everyone including Sachin, Kapil Dev, Viv Richards and others. Infact it is Aussies (Riche Benaud) who spot the talent of Sachin during 1991 series. Viv Richards, who is strictly against racism, always targets England and not Australia for racial abuse. Infact he likes Aus a lot and has lot of friends there including the biggest thug of all - Rodney Marsh and Jeff Thomo.

If the Aussie crowd gives some racist comment on the opposition players, Aussie players are not accountable for that. Only ICC and CA has to take necessary actions. Also in any crowd they we will be some rotten eggs who has to be controlled by force. Even Indian crowd is not completely decent. There are many occasions when the Chennai crowd, considered to be the most knowledable, used some unparliamentary and racist words against the touring WI team in 2000 series. Words like 'Antha Karuppan oru kaataan' were used by us against Chris Gayle. I was there in the crowd. Also everyone knows the famous 'Aalu' incident against Inzamam that happend in Toronto. Only difference is that they did that in their local slang as they are not articulate in English. Wrong is wrong in any language. So can I say all Indians are racist? Don't generalize anything.

Guest you should know the difference between sledging and racism. Even when we play, we say something 'dey, yorker poduda. Avanukku ada theriyadhu.' or 'Varatta, Varatta. Avan nichayama kaava vituduvaan' or 'Antha Dadiyanaala oda mudiyadhu. Athanaala ulla vaa' to our team mates in our mother tongue. I don't think any wrong in this. This is just a mind game and good player will get with all these things. This is sledging. But off the field they don't hurt any one verbally. Also In NDTV, most of them were from Culcutta. You can't expect a Bengali to speak against Saurav. So those defense doesn't count.

Quote:

So which cricketer dont have weakness. Even the highly hailed Dravid struggles against left arm spin bowlers.

I accept this. Other than Sir Garfield Sobers, all cricketers had (have) weakness. Infact Sir Don had weakness to play in the fourth innings pitch. He had never score an hundred in fourth innings. Also he shares one more thing common with Sachin. Even he didn't know to finish the game. Stan McCabe in that great team is good at that. But it is not about the weakness of a batsman, it is about how the batsman overcome his weakness or cover up his weakness.

You say Dravid has weakness against left arm spin. Yes, when compared to other Indian, he is sedate player (take note of this I say 'Sedate' not 'Bad') against spin. But he knows how to tackle them. Infact his record against Vettori, in my opinion the best left arm bowler, is really good. He was dismissed thrice by Vettori in test cricket and every time Vettori has to give 75 runs to purchase Rahul. (Mind you, there are many instances where Rahul has score tons of runs against this Kiwis without losing his wicket or losing his wicket to some other bowlers. If you take this into account he would have score around 100-125 runs against Vettori). FYI, Ganguly's captaincy record looks good just because of two men. One Rahul Dravid and another Kumble. Here's Dravid's contribution in all test wins under Ganguly. Total runs:2733 Average:105.11 Here's Kumble's contribution in all test wins under Ganguly 80 wickets taken at 22.75 I have to say Rahul has been astonishing for the past 3 years.

But look at Ganguly. When any of the Ganguly detractors raises the 'shot ball-bouncer' issue, immediately Saurav fans point Steve Waugh as another example. But Steve has won many matches for Aus against fearsome pace bowling (Famous innings against Curtley and Walsh in Sir Frank Worell trophy triumph under Mark Taylor in 1997). He also has another unofficial record. Out of his 34 centuries, 26 were match winning crisis innings, 3 were match saving innings which, in percentage, is the maximum for any batsman.

Ganguly has weakness against short balls on his ribs. There are four methods against a short ball. 1) Compulsive Hook - Viv Richards Method 2) Always leave the ball - Sunil Gavaskar Method 3) Recieve Blows - Steve Waugh method 4) Go back to pavilion - Can I call this as Saurav Method. He neither knows to play it nor ignores it. Ganguly, at one time (around 98-99), had an average around 50. Now it is around 40. Just because of one thing - Short Ball. He doesn't accept his weakness and also not keen to work on that. There was an instance when Bob Simpson, appointed as consultant for India, asked the ball boys to bowl short balls at Saurav, Gangs got frustrated and threw his bat and asked another ball boy to bowl around Outside off - his honeymoon corridor. Another instance of having wrong attitude. At that time Ganguly was in his peak, also one bouncer per over rule was not there in LOI. For the last 2 year his average against good bowling attack (don't consider Bang and Zim) is around 20.

Quote:

This is only after the Chappell issue. Before that have you heard anything like that. By the way he is competing for a place in Indian Team not South African Team. You know the standard right.

This is typically a CPI/CPI(M) argument. When the whole world changes, you have to change. When the world starts to use machines for production, then we Indians has to accept that and should use machines. You have to improve yourself to the world standard and you can't say I am happy with this. If that is going to be the case, you will never succeed. Atleast, you should not lag and should perform the basic things. When every fielders from all the teams want to be Jonty, atleast we have to try to become one. If you say 'My standard is this and I wont improve" then don't expect us to win. You have to improve your standard. Atleast you have to be a safe fielder like Sachin who doesn't drop catches and never misfielded.

Quote:

Even Steve Waugh did not run at the end of his career. I have seen lot of instances where he asked Bevan and Martyn to run when two players were chasing a ball. But then i agree his fielding is not that great

I wonder when it happened. It will never happen in Aussie cricket. A player of Steve Waugh caliber, who doesn't believe in By-Runner even when got injured while batting, will never do these things. Sorry I can't accept. Aussie Motto "Perform or Perish".

My Say : Here the biggest culprit is BCCI's selectors who don't treat anyone in the proper manner. Picking him, again dropping him is not the correct way. In my opinion, they should have dropped Ganguly 11/2 years back and asked him to play Ranji or county for a period of time. By doing that, there is a chance that his attitude would have become better. He was a very 'Good' player (I won't use the word 'Great'. The word 'Great' has been misused by most of us. In India there are only 5 great cricketers. Sunny, Kaps, Sachin, Erapalli and now Rahul Dravid). He has contributed to the team as a batsman, captain and some times as a bowler. No doubt about that and he must be given a better farewell than this. More than anything, when it comes to Stylish Southpaws, he is next to Lara. I will remember him as Eastern version of David Gower.

Finally I just want to ask everyone, why there is no protest for dropping Anil Kumble? Why for Saurav? Anil is the most determined Indian to play the game and also the most effective bowler. May be Kannadigar are little bit soft by nature. Feel sorry for Anil, a best cricketer on and off the field. We don't need to give him a decent farewell, but atleast we have recognize his contribution.

God saves Indian Cricket from our selectors.

"They are bunch of jokers" - Jimmy Amarnath

Quest for Universal Intelligence and Zeal

Photo Find :

Try to identify the attached three pictures.

1. Picture - A
2. Picture - B
3. Picture - C

Cricket :

1. In this peculiar list Lara tops, followed by Alec Stewart and Allan Border. What is this list all about?
2.'Kahuna.' What is this? and How is this word related to cricket and it has created a controversy and ICC has appointed a committee headed by Sunil Gavaskar to investigate this controversy.
3. Only players (not even a single player) from two test playing nations are yet to be caught by ICC for throwing and suspect actions? Name those two countries?

General :

1. Tim Sebastien : Hard Talk :: Karan Thapar : Face to Face :: Stephen Cole : ??
2. Guess What Just turned 34? (Just two weeks back it turned 34).
3. In the movie Hey Ram, who acted as Vallabhai Patel's daughter??
4. What is common between these movies Meera, Naadodi Mannan, Apoorva Sagotharargal, Sathi Leelavathi.

Answers :

Find Photo :

Picture-C -> Sandy Gordon (Australian sports psychologist who suggested the famous 'Indian Huddle' to our team)
Picture-B -> Daniel Craig, the New James Bond
Picture-A -> Young Bill Gates.

Cricket :

1. In this peculiar list Lara tops, followed by Alec Stewart and Allan Border. What is this list all about?
Answer : This list is sbout the players who are(were) on the losing sides for the most number of times
2.'Kahuna.' What is this? and How is this word related to cricket and it is in the mid of a controversy and ICC has appointed a committee headed by Sunil Gavaskar to investigate this controversy.
Answer : Ricky Ponting's bat, manufactured by Kookaburra, has a thin layer of Graphite as a reinforcement.
3. Only players (not even a single player) from two test playing nations are yet to be caught by ICC for throwing and suspect actions? Name those two countries? (SA and Bang)
Answer: South Africa. As of now every country has a culprit.

General :

1. Tim Sebastien : Hard Talk :: Karan Thapar : Face to Face :: Stephen Cole : ?? Click Online
2. Guess What Just turned 34? (Just two weeks back it turned 34). E-Mail
3. In the movie Hey Ram, who acted as Vallabhai Patel's daughter?? Sruthi Haasan
4. What is common between these movies Meera, Naadodi Mannan, Apoorva Sagotharargal, Sathi Leelavathi.
Answer: These four titles were user for two movies. One set of movies were release in the past ie.. before 1960s and another set of movies with same name were release after 1985

QUIZ

1. I have a sword in my hand. Every year people, around the world, will recognize me (only once). People holding me in their hands feels elated about that. But Indian has never touched me till now. What am I? (Courtesy : KBC)
Ans : Oscar Award. Sorry for giving a wrong hint. I know that Sathyajit Ray had bagged that award in 1992 for Life Time Achievement. But he was bedridden at that time and was not able to attend that award and accepted only from the sickbed. That is why I mentioned that 'No Indian has touched me'. But news about that Lady Costume Designer Bhanu Athaiya is completely new to me. She got that award in the year 1982 for the Movie Gandhi.

2. Daniel Basker : Daniel ---??--- : Daniel Amar Singh.
Daniel Basker and Daniel Amar Singh are my elder and younger brother respectively. Infact, I am very popular in my state and people consider me as a talented person. I have an another name Gnanadesikan. I am better known to people with another name and I won't reveal that (Very popular among Advees). Who am I?
Ans : Yes it is Illayaraaja. His was first named as Daniel Raasaiya. Then he changed that to Gnanadesikan. When he embraced Hindu religion he called himself as Raasaiya. Friends affectionately called him Raja. When he entered film industry, Pancha Arunachalam, protege of Kannadaasan, wanted to change his name as his name was very common in film industry and many iinfluential person already had their name as Raja (A M Raja, playback singer). So they named him as Periyaraja. With the same name there was a famous folk singer in PA's villiage, which made him to change that name as Illayaraja (Illaya means short) as he was younger to that folk singer and also a short person. Daniel Amar singh is none other than Gangai Amaran and Daniel Baskar is the producer of all Paavalar Creation's movies R D Baskar (Karagatakaran's producer)

3. Guess our former PM who celebrates/celebrated his B'day on 29th February?
Ans : Morarji Desai

4. We see this 'Single Number' game everyday in the morning. It is better known as ?
Ans : Sudoku. Sudoku means 'Single Number' in Japanese.

5. In a 100 meters hurdles, how many hurdles the sprinter has to jump before the finish line.
Ans : 10 hurdles.

6. Which is considered as India's National Fruit?
Ans : Yes it is Mango

7. This year 'Paheli' has been selected as the India's official entry to this year's oscar beating fourteen other movies (both Hindi as well as regional movies). 2 movies from Tamil also contested the race. Can you guess the two movies which were nominated from Tamil?
Ans : For a minute, hold your breathe. Yes they are Kadal (I think it should be Kaadal) and Sachin . Even Vijay would have been surprised after seeing this nomination.

8. Who called Mahatma Gandhi as 'Father of our Nation'?
Ans : Netaji Subash Chandra Bose.

9. "However, if you don't want to hear the truth, then don't ask him for a frank opinion. He grew up in a household where frank opinions were served up at the breakfast table more often than cereal and fruit juice" Whose remark is this? and on whom he is commenting?
Ans : Ian Chappell on Greg Chappell.

10. Just a week back the name Czink appeared in all newspapers and was flashed in all news channels. What's the reason behind that?
Ans : Melinda Czink, the hungarian who defeated Sania in the recently concluded Sunfeast Open held in Kolkatta.

Famous rather infamous Greg Chappel letter to BCCI

Full text of India cricket team coach Greg Chappell's e-mail to Board of Control for Cricket in India president Ranbir Singh Mahendra, courtesy DNA, India TV

Due to comments made by Mr Sourav Ganguly during the press conference following his innings in the recently completed Test match in Bulawayo and the subsequent media speculation I would like to make my position clear on two points.

1. At no stage did I ask Mr Ganguly to step down from the captaincy of the Indian team and;

2. At no stage have I threatened to resign my position as Indian team coach.

Mr Ganguly came to me following the recently completed tri-series of one-day matches here in Zimbabwe and asked me to tell him honestly where he stood as a player in my view. I told him that I thought he was struggling as a player and that it was affecting his ability to lead the team effectively and that the pressure of captaincy was affecting his ability to play to his potential. I also told him that his state of mind was fragile and it showed in the way that he made decisions on and off the field in relation to the team, especially team selection. A number of times during the tri-series the tour selectors had chosen a team and announced it to the group only for Sourav to change his mind on the morning of the game and want to change the team.

On at least one occasion he did change the team and on the morning of the final I had to talk him out of making another last-minute change that I believe would have destroyed team morale and damaged the mental state of the individuals concerned. I also told Sourav that his nervous state was affecting the team in other ways as he was prone to panic during pressure situations in games and that his nervous demeanour was putting undue pressure on the rest of the team. His nervous pacing of the rooms during our batting in the final plus his desire to change the batting order during our innings in the final had also contributed to nervousness in the players waiting to go in to bat. His reluctance to bat first in games I suggested was also giving wrong signals to the team and the opposition and his nervousness at the crease facing bowlers like Shane Bond from NZ was also affecting morale in the dressing room.

* Also read: Prem's blog

On the basis of this and other observations and comments from players in the squad about the unsettling effect Sourav was having on the group I suggested to Sourav that he should consider stepping down from the captaincy at the end of the tour in the interests of the team and in his own best interests if he wanted to prolong his playing career. I told him of my own experiences toward the end of my career and cited other players such as Border, Taylor and Steve Waugh, all of whom struggled with batting form toward the end of their tenure as Australian captain.

We discussed other issues in relation to captaincy and the time and effort it took that was eating into his mental reserves and making it difficult to prepare properly for batting in games. He commented that he had enjoyed being free of those responsibilities in the time that he was in Sri Lanka following his ban from international cricket and that he would consider my suggestion.

I also raised the matter of selection for the first Test with Sourav and asked him where he thought he should bat. He said 'number 5'. I told him that he might like to consider opening in the Test as the middle order was going to be a tight battle with Kaif and Yuvraj demanding selection. Sourav asked me if I was serious. I said it was something to be considered, but it had to be his decision.

The following day Sourav batted in the match against Zimbabwe 'A' team in the game in Mutare. I am not sure of the exact timing of events because I was in the nets with other players when Sourav went in to bat, but the new ball had either just been taken or was imminent when I saw Sourav walking from the field holding his right arm. I assumed he had been hit and made my way to the players' area where Sourav was receiving treatment from the team physiotherapist, John Gloster.

When I enquired as to what had happened Sourav said he had felt a click in his elbow as he played a ball through the leg side and that he thought he should have it investigated. Sourav had complained of pain to his elbow at various stages of the one-day series, but he had resisted having any comprehensive investigation done and, from my observation, had been spasmodic in his treatment habits, often not using ice-packs for the arm that had been prepared for him by John Gloster. I suggested, as had John Gloster, that we get some further tests done immediately. Sourav rejected these suggestions and said he would be 'fine'. When I queried what he meant by 'fine' he said he would be fit for the Test match. I then queried why then was it necessary to be off the field now. He said that he was just taking 'precautions'.

Rather than make a scene with other players and officials in the vicinity I decided to leave the matter and observe what Sourav would do from that point on. After the loss of Kaif, Yuvraj and Karthik to the new ball, Sourav returned to the crease with the ball now around 20 overs old. He struggled for runs against a modest attack and eventually threw his wicket away trying to hit one of the spinners over the leg side.

The next day I enquired with a number of the players as to what they had thought of Sourav's retirement. The universal response was that it was 'just Sourav' as they recounted a list of times when Sourav had suffered from mystery injuries that usually disappeared as quickly as they had come. This disturbed me because it confirmed for me that he was in a fragile state of mind and it was affecting the mental state of other members of the squad.

When we arrived in Bulawayo I decided I needed to ask Sourav if he had over-played the injury to avoid the danger period of the new ball as it had appeared to me and others within the touring party that he had protected himself at the expense of others. He denied the suggestion and asked why he would do that against such a modest attack. I said that he was the only one who could answer that question.

I was so concerned about the affect that Sourav's actions were having on the team that I decided I could not wait until selection meeting that evening to inform him that I had serious doubts about picking him for the first Test.

I explained that, in my view, I felt we had to pick Kaif and Yuvraj following their good form in the one-day series and that Sehwag, Gambhir, Laxman and Dravid had to play. He said that his record was better than Kaif and Yuvraj and that they had not proved themselves in Test cricket. I countered with the argument that they had to be given a chance to prove themselves on a consistent basis or we would never know. I also said that their form demanded that they be selected now.

Sourav asked me whether I thought he should be captain of the team. I said that I had serious doubts that he was in the right frame of mind to do it. He asked me if I thought he should step down. I said that it was not my decision to make, that only he could make that decision, but if he did make that decision he had to do it in the right manner or it would have even more detrimental effects than if he didn't stand down. I said that now was not the time to make the decision but that we should discuss it at the selection meeting to be held later in the day.

Sourav then said that if I didn't want him to be captain that he would inform Rahul Dravid that was going to stand down. I reiterated that it was not my decision to make but he should give it due consideration under the circumstances but not to do it hastily. At that point Sourav went to Rahul and the two of them conferred briefly and then Sourav left the field and entered the dressing room. At that stage I joined the start of the training session.

A short time later Mr Chowdhary came on to the field and informed me that Sourav had told him that I did not want him as captain and that Sourav wanted to leave Zimbabwe immediately if he wasn't playing. I then joined Mr Chowdhary and Rahul Dravid in the dressing room where we agreed that this was not the outcome that any of us wanted and that the ramifications would not be in the best interests of the team.

We then spent some time with Sourav and eventually convinced him that he should stay on as captain for the two Tests and then consider his future. In my view it was not an ideal solution but it was better than the alternative of him leaving on a bad note. I believe he has earned the right to leave in a fitting manner. We all agreed that this was a matter that should stay between us and should not, under any circumstances, be discussed with the media.

The matter remained quiet until the press conference after the game when a journalist asked Sourav if he had been asked to step down before the Test. Sourav replied that he had but he did not want to elaborate and make an issue of it. I was then called to the press conference where I was asked if I knew anything of Sourav being asked to step down before the game. I replied that a number of issues had been raised regarding selection but as they were selection matters I did not wish to make any further comment.

Apart from a brief interview on ESPN before which I emphasized that I did not wish to discuss the issue because it was a selection matter I have resisted all other media approaches on the matter.

Since then various reports have surfaced that I had threatened to resign. I do not know where that rumour has come from because I have spoken to no one in regard to this because I have no intention of resigning. I assume that some sections of the media, being starved of information, have made up their own stories.

At the completion of the Test match I was approached by VVS Laxman with a complaint that Sourav had approached him on the eve of the Test saying that I had told Sourav that I did not want Laxman in the team for Test matches. I denied that I had made such a remark to Sourav, or anybody else for that matter, as, on the contrary, I saw Laxman as an integral part of the team. He asked how Sourav could have said what he did. I said that the only way we could go to the bottom of the matter was to speak to Sourav and have him repeat the allegation in front of me.

I arranged for a meeting with the two of them that afternoon. The meeting took place just after 6pm in my room at the Rainbow Hotel in Bulawayo. I told Sourav that Laxman had come to me complaining that Sourav had made some comments to Laxman prior to the Test. I asked Sourav if he would care to repeat the comment in my presence. Sourav then rambled on about how I had told him that I did not see a place for Laxman in one-day cricket, something that I had discussed with Sourav and the selection panel and about which I had spoken to Laxman at the end of the Sri Lankan tour.

Sourav mentioned nothing about the alleged conversation regarding Laxman and Test cricket even when I pushed him on it later in the discussion. As we had to leave for a team function we ended the conversation without Sourav adequately explaining his comments to Laxman.

Again, this is not an isolated incident because I have had other players come to me regarding comments that Sourav had made to them that purports to be comments from me to Sourav about the particular player. In each case the comments that Sourav has passed on to the individual are figments of Sourav's imagination. One can only assume that he does it to unnerve the individual who, in each case, has been a middle order batsman.

Sourav has missed the point of my discussions with him on this matter. It has less to do with his form than it does with his attitude toward the team. Everything he does is designed to maximise his chance of success and is usually detrimental to someone else's chances.

Despite meeting with him in Mumbai after his appointment as captain and speaking with him about these matters and his reluctance to do the preparation and training that is expected of everyone else in the squad he continues to set a bad example.

Greg King's training reports continue to show Sourav as the person who does the least fitness and training work based on the criterion that has been developed by the support staff to monitor the work load of all the players.

We have also developed parameters of batting, bowling, fielding and captaincy that we believe embodies the 'Commitment to Excellence' theme that I espoused at my interview and Sourav falls well below the acceptable level in all areas. I will be pleased to present this documentation when I meet with the special committee in Mumbai later this month.

I can assure you sir that all my actions in this matter, and all others since my appointment, have been with the aim of improving the team performance toward developing a team that will represent India with distinctions in Test match and one-day cricket.

As I said to you during our meeting in Colombo, I have serious reservations about the attitude of some players and about Sourav and his ability to take this team to a new high, and none of the things he has done since his reappointment has caused me to change my view. In fact, it has only served to confirm that it is time for him to move on and let someone else build their team toward the 2007 World Cup.

This team has been made to be fearful and distrusting by the rumour mongering and deceit that is Sourav's modus operandi of divide and rule. Certain players have been treated with favour, all of them bowlers, while others have been shunted up and down the order or left out of the team to suit Sourav's whims.

John Wright obviously allowed this to go on to the detriment of the team. I am not prepared to sit back and allow this to continue or we will get the same results we have been seeing for some time now.

It is time that all players were treated with fairness and equity and that good behaviours and attitudes are rewarded at the selection table rather than punished.

I can assure you of my very best intentions.

Yours sincerely,

Greg Chappell MBE

Richards The Perfectionist - A Genius of His Generation

Viv Richards, in my opinion, the biggest and the greatest cricketer of all time. He is the real Master Blaster. Here I am just copying, what I will call it as, one of the best articles about cricket that I have ever read. It is written by a legend, Imran Khan, about another legend, Sir Viv Richards. Enjoy reading!!!

Richards The Perfectionist - A Genius of His Generation
- by Imran Khan Oct 1993

I was privileged to bowl to some of the greatest batsmen during my 21-year international career. Each had some outstanding qualities that made them so successful.

Sunil Gavaskar had the most compact defence and managed his innings better than any other batsman of his time. Javed Miandad and Allan Border were great accumulaters and, like Gavaskar understood the art of making runs.

Gordon Greenidge had an orthodox defence, yet when it came to attack was devastating. Ian Chappell was best in a crisis, possessing mental strength, while his brother Greg was a powerful driver off the back foot.

Barry Richards was the most orthodox batsman of my time, who never seemed out of balance and played his strokes with the minimum of effort. Zaheer Abbas was the best timer of the ball. Compared to Vivian Richards, however, all those were mere mortals. He was the only true genius of my time. He never had the defence of Gavaskar or the balance and poise of Barry Richards but the Almighty had gifted him with reflexes that no other had. These lightning reflexes enabled him to get into position so quickly that bowlers never quite knew what length to bowl to him. His other strength was that he combined timing with brute force. Zaheer Abbas, Barry Richards or Majid Khan were great timers of the ball but on slow wickets, where the ball did not come to the bat, they were neutralized. Viv Richards could be devastating on all types of surfaces.

Because of these unique qualities of extraordinary reflexes and the combination of power with timing, Viv Richards could get away with a faulty batting technique. He would commit himself on the front foot much too early yet he was gifted enough to move on to the back foot and still play a stroke with time to spare. In 1976, I had an opportunity to bowl to the two great players of the time, Viv Richards and Greg Chappell. Both were predominantly front-foot players but the difference was that while I could surprise Greg Chappell with a bouncer, it was completely wasted on Richards.

No matter how much I disguised the bouncer he still had time to lean back and hit it over midwicket. He would come so far on the front foot that it was virtually impossible to get him lbw with my wicket-taking delivery, the inswinger. I could only command respect from him when a few years later I perfected the leg-cutter.

Richards was the only batsman who took on fast bowlers and destroyed them. Sheer pace was cannon fodder for him. Because of his tremendous reflexes he was the best hooker of my time. Con- sequently, pace bowlers had a very small margin of error. In World Series Cricket from 1977 to 1979 all the top batsmen, with perhaps the exception of Gavaskar and Geoff Boycott, were on show. Never were so many fast bowlers gathered in one country at the same time. Many batsmen were injured and helmets began to be worn for the first time. The only batsman to take on the fast bowlers was Viv. All the others just tried to survive. I admired him because he loved challenges. The bigger the occasion, the more he loved it. The more demanding the occasion, the harder he tried. And often, when there were no challenges, he would entertain the crowd and get out rather than play to improve his average.

This is why, for me, statistics are meaningless. They can never reflect the true genius of Viv Richards. Had he wanted, he could easily have scored twice as many Test runs as he did. There were times when his 60s and 70s were far more useful to his team than big 100s scored by others. In the 1980 match against England at Old Trafford, he scored a 60 so violent that it shattered the confidence of England's main strike bowler, Bob Willis.

Richards' strategy was simple: he would come in at No. 3 and launch an all-out offensive against the opposition's main strike bowlers. It was not uncommon to see a one-day field setting shortly after the fall of the first wicket on the first morning of the Test.

He never used to rely on his defence. Instead, he would put the bowlers on the defensive. Once he had achieved that, he would relax and pick off runs. His onslaught was of enormous benefit to his team. It would demoralise the opposition's strike bowlers and take the pressure off his team.

His innings never followed the pattern like, for instance, those of Gavaskar and Boycott. The last two would get themselves in, pick off the bad balls adn defend themselves against the good ones. They would also know the bowlers they wanted to score off and the ones they had to keep out.

If there is a pattern with Richards it ws the complete opposite to that of Gavaskar and Boycott. He would take on the strike bowlers and try to hit everything, including the good-length deliveries, then suddenly decide to become defensive and start harmless half-volleys. Then, as if he had enough rest, he would resume the offensive.

I felt that he was never as effective at No. 5 as he was at No. 3. When he took over the captaincy, No. 5 was even more of a pressure position for him and since he did not have a strong defence he would at times fall between two stools. As an all-round fielder, I felt he was again the best of my time. He could catch and throw as well as anyone. Often with his quick reflexes he would run out batsmen from midwicket when they had backed up too far.

His strategy as a captain was straightforward: to lead from the front. But as with Gary Sobers, the problem was that a genius always struggles to deal with mere mortals. They also make less use of their brain, and function more on instinct. He could get impatient with his team-mates who could not live up to his high standards. His explosive temper would put them under pressure when things were not going well. As long as he was a genius, the players accepted it, but after 1988, as often happens in life when the power of a strong individual begins to wane the discontent began to surface.

His personality was a bit more complex. To understand it fully one must read C.L.R. James's book Beyond A Boundary. He epitomises the West Indian who, through sport, wanted to dispel the sense of inferiority suffered by blacks in the Caribbean through years of colonialism.

Therefore, the No. 1 rivals for him were England and he took great pride in establishing supremacy over there. The second most important were Australia, mainly because of the humiliation suffered by the West Indies from Jeff Thomson and Dennis Lillee in the 1975-76 series.

Not that he spared other nations. He was the most competitive cricketer I played against. I found him shy, and to cover it he would appear arrogant at times. I also found him to be tense at the beginning of his innings. To cover it up he would exaggerate his swagger and put on a snarl.

When he became captain he had the pressure to preserve Clive Lloyd's record of West Indian invincibility and to protect his own legendary status. Because of this, he became more prone to outbursts, never more visible than on England's last Caribbean tour.

I know it is the most difficult decision for any sportsman to know when to leave and it is always sad to see geniuses reduced to the level of mere mortals. Romantically, I would have like to have seen Viv Richards leave cricket in 1988. Since then, although he played some great innings, the reflexes were not as sharp and playing fast bowlers off the back foot, he became much more vulnerable.

Sportsmen often hang in there because they feel they do not have a better alternative, even though they are way past their prime. Although he has said that he would consider offers to play for a new county after Glamorgan, my suggestion to Viv is not to fall into the trap and do something like go into politics in Antigua.

For me, he remains the greatest batsman of my generation. The one stroke I will always remember was in a one-day match in Australia in 1981 when he advanced down the wicket at Thomson, at his fastest and armed with a new ball. He smashed a short ball from him to the mid-on fence.

Some Humourous Images

The best 'Tongue-in-Cheek' cricketing article by an Indian

Article written by Nirmal Shekar (First of all, I am not a big fan of Nirmal Shekar) in the Sunday edition of 'The Hindu' has hit the nail on its head. In my opinion, one of the best article, if listened by the BCCI, will contribute a lot to our Indian Team.

Best part is

Quote:

it is now clear to every right thinking person that the future of Indian cricket will be determined by the Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappell partnership. There is simply no room for Ganguly in the new scheme of things.

Read the full article here

Quote:

Ganguly should quit gracefully Nirmal Shekar There is simply no room for Ganguly in Indian cricket's new scheme of things. The sooner he accepts this reality the better for him, writes Nirmal Shekar If Sourav Ganguly thinks that he has scored a major point in a game of oneupmanship with Greg Chappell, the Indian skipper is sadly mistaken. For, if anybody came out of Bulawayo still looking valiant and every bit a gentleman, it was the former Australian batting great. And, with each such flare-up it seems more and more unlikely that India's most successful Test captain would be able to go out on his own terms. What Ganguly did at the press conference on the third day of the first Test against Zimbabwe is inexcusable. It was an unpardonable error of judgment from an emotional man with a highly combustible temperament, one whose shortcomings Team India has had to live with grudgingly in recent times because some of the most powerful men in Indian cricket continue to believe that the man from Kolkata is irreplaceable. If the Indian captain said what he did because he thought he had created the right sort of platform for it with a century, then nothing can be more ludicrous than that. For, a laboured century against a bowling attack which talented schoolboy cricketers would merrily feast on means nothing. If anything, it was further proof of the fact that Ganguly's best days with the bat are well behind him. A tragi-comic figure The swaggering machismo of sunnier days now sits on Ganguly like a shredded, well-worn robe we can see through. There is a sure tragi-comic touch to the drama he contrives these days and the whingeing in Bulawayo was of a piece. After leading India in a record 48 Tests, winning 20 of them — the most by anyone — Ganguly might have come to believe that he was invincible. But, then, sport is a strange business, a capricious business where invincibility is almost always a myth. And his ill-conceived, mistimed attack of India's new coach — a widely respected high-achiever in the world of cricket — is bound to backfire on Ganguly. It was poorly planned. What is worse, it was poorly acted out. The captain looked no better than a cry baby — Ooooh, they tried to drop me, you know! — who wanted to win public sympathy with a sensational coup at a time when there was very little of it for him outside the BCCI offices. Given his experience, Ganguly should have realised that there is nothing worse that a captain can do than reveal the gist of dressing-room discussions with the coach to the media in an era when a whiff of scandal is enough to whip up a media frenzy. If this wasn't a breach of confidentiality of the highest order, then what is? It was not only a reflection of Ganguly's maturity — the lack of it, to be precise — but it also held a mirror to the man's emotional state at a time when he seems prepared to go to any length merely to hold on to his place in the team. Chappell is a class act For his part, Chappell came out of the episode a hero. He was very polite when answering difficult questions and made no attempt to get even with the Indian captain. In fact, after the match, the great Aussie even paid tribute to Ganguly's batting. He is as much a class act as a man as he was as a batsman. Then again, given all that's happened in the weeks since he landed here to take over as coach, Chappell will need all his reserves — both in terms of patience and man-management skills — to survive in his job, the highest-profile coaching job in the world of cricket. From the moment the choice of Chappell as coach was announced in Mumbai, Indian cricket has been sending out all the wrong signals. There was absolute bedlam at the venue where the announcement was made. If anything, things have deteriorated since. On the day the team left for Zimbabwe, via Mumbai, Chappell arrived early in the day hoping to meet the team members and discuss a few things. He waited through breakfast, lunch and dinner in vain, before addressing a press conference without the captain, who turned up Maharajah style, at his own convenience! The man who made the great Steve Waugh wait in the middle for the toss in Kolkata might have believed this was another useful mind-game that would send a subtle message to Chappell: Hey, I am the boss here. Beginning of the end But, then, we can see through Ganguly's pathetic games these days. They are desperate attempts to pluck the first available emotional chords by a man who knows that his days are numbered as a team leader and as a Test batsman, one who has so far successfully managed to keep out one of the most committed and talented cricketers in the country — Mohammed Kaif. Quite apart from the injustice done to Kaif, the best fielder in the Indian side and one of its finest batsmen, it is now clear to every right thinking person that the future of Indian cricket will be determined by the Rahul Dravid-Greg Chappell partnership. There is simply no room for Ganguly in the new scheme of things. And the sooner that he — and his powerful supporters in the Board — realises this, the greater the chances of a graceful exit for Indian cricket's most successful Test captain. But it doesn't look as if that — a graceful exit — is going to happen. Ganguly's huge ego, his whole sense of self-esteem, is tied up with his role as the leader of the Indian cricket team. It is going to be very hard for him to accept the fact that his days on the centre-stage are over. But accept he has to, for his own good and for the future of a team that he has led with distinction for so long.

Source : http://www.hindu.com/2005/09/18/stories/2005091802 451700.htm