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.

Pity Saurav

My response to a Ganguly fan in my company

Sriram,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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.

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

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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

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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

Sunil Gavaskar - An Insight

In India, cricket is like a religion. Last week I saw a cricket book written by an Australian author in Landmark which has rated the top 10 cricketers of all time. It is one of the best book and almost all the ranking and the explanations given are very apt and unbiased one. It instigated me to write this blog and today I write about the cricketer who has been ranked as the 10th best in the world. Ranking is according to that book and I will try to justify their ranking in my own way.

At number 10 is Sunil Manohar Gavaskar.

First Teacher : Sunil Gavaskar, the cricketer, doesn't need any introduction to the cricket fans. Born to a middle class family in Mumbai - considered as New South Wales of Indian cricket - on 10 July 1949, his first guru was his mother. She used to bowl at him with a tennis ball for hours and this little genius, staying in a middle class apartment, had to hit the ball straight to his mother. If he couldn't hit the ball straight, glass windows in the neighbouring house would be broken and he had to pay for that. This forced him to hit the ball straight and this was one of the reason which made him one of the best in driving the cricket ball down the ground just past the bowler, if not the best.

Might have become a fisherman: He might have become a fisherman had it not been for his eagle-eyed uncle who spotted a small hole near his left ear lobe (or pinna) when he came to see the infant Gavaskar on the day of his birth. When he visited him again, he was shocked not to see the hole in his left ear which he spotted earlier and panic button was pressed and everyone started to search the correct baby. Later they realized the babies mix up had happened when the babies were given bath and spotted Gavaskar sleeping peacefully near a fisher woman.

Initial Period : From the day one, he possessed all the four Ts that is essential for any batsman- Talent, Technique, Temperament and Timing. He piled up runs for his school (St Xaviour school, Bombay) and college and rightly got the nod to play for the prestigious Bombay Ranji team. With his superlative technique, strong defense and tremendous concentration, he scored heavily in the domestic circuit which earned him a place for the tour of West Indies in 1971. He was selected as third opener.

Debut : He didn't play the first test at Kingston, Jamaica and the another young opener Jayanthilal got the chance ahead of him and was out for a low score. Courtesy a superb catch by Sir Garfield Sobers. He lost his opportunity to young Sunil in the next test match at Port of Spain, Trinidad. Destiny really played its part in both Gavaskar's as well as Jayantilal's life. Same man who caught Jayathilal dropped Gavaskar twice in the first innings and he went on to score 65 followed by a well made 67 in the second innings. It didn't stop there. Again Sobers dropped him twice in the very next test when he was on 4 and then on 94. Sunil went on to score his maiden hundred in Georgetown, Guyana. Great Sobers after dropping those four catches, asked Gavaskar 'Man Why you are after me, can't you find some other fielder?' with some embarrassment. In that series he accumulated 726 run - with one double century, 3 centuries and three fifties - a record for any batsman in his debut series. After that there was no looking back for this 'Bombay Bradman'.

His Style : Gavaskar strongly believed in sneaking singles even in longer version of the game and he had to confine his aggression as the quality of the bowling and the pitches in those days were of super standard. He and elegant Vishy were the one who had to hold India's innings and in later stages of his career he got some support from the stylish Azhar and Dilip Vengsarkar. Most of his life he played with a semi helmet and a hat on his head even against the deadliest of the attack. He had a very good eye and he was hare between the wicket. When there was a loose ball or when the fielding team started to feel the tiredness, that was the time he would look for some big shot. Most of the times, he would prefer to play in th 'V'. A cultured player, to compare him in the modern time, he was a 'Much Filtered Rahul Dravid'.

Memorable Moments :

There was quite a lot of memorable knocks played by this gentleman cricketer and also he had some unforgettable moments during his playing days. Called as 'Little Master' by the real Little Master - Hanif Mohammed - he played a crucial part in successfully chasing the mammoth target of 406, set by the WI in Port of Spain in 75/76 series, which was a record for highest fourth innings total then.

He almost repeated the same feat against England in 79 Series in Oval. Chasing 438 to win, this Bombay run machine alone scored 221, but received very little support from the Fragile middle order and India failed to win the match by 9 runs. Match ended in a draw. Gavaskar got a standing ovation not only from the capacity crowd but also from the opponent.

His 236 N.O. against West Indies in 1983 /84 was the highest Individual score for an Indian batsman which lasted for long time until VVS Laxman broke that record in the Eden Garden against Australia.

He was one of India's best slipper and he along with Farook Engineer, Wadekar, Venkataragavan and Solkar formed a formidable close catching cordon which enabled the four great spinners to dictate terms against the opponent. He was the first Indian to take 100 catches and he finished with 104 catches. His slip catching ability was one of the hidden reason for India to lift the world cup in 1983 against the mighty West Indies. He took 4 great catches on that day.

He had a great cricketing acumen and was a perfect recipe for captaining a side. With his astute leadership quality, he led India to victory in the World Series ODI tournament that was held in Australia in 1985. Only in that tournament, lot of youngsters like Srikkant, Sivaramakrishnan, Ravi Shastri came to lime light.

He was also involved in one of the most thrilling matches in cricketing history - Tied test match played between India and Australia - where he scored an important 90 while chasing 348.

He was a prolific scorer against the West Indies pace battery which itself was a strange record as many other player from other team found very difficult to handle the Invincible West Indies of 70s and 80s. This made the renowned Calypso singer Lord Relator to compose a song on a non West Indian for the first time. And the song goes like this “It was Gavaskar, the real master just like a wall, we couldn't out Gavaskar at all, not at all; you know the West Indies couldn't out Gavaskar at all”

This list is endless........

As a bowler : He was a dibbly-dobbly bowler who rotated his arm only to take the shine away from the ball to aid the Indian spinners. He took only one wicket in both ODI and Test and the casualty on both the occasions was Pakistani Zaheer Abbas.

Statistics : He is the first batsman to score 10000 runs and he holds the record for most number of centuries - 34 in total - still a record. He has taken 104 catches. He averages around 51 and he has a decent ODI record too. No wonder why Sir Don selected him as the opener in his dream team.

Anecdotes :

Ian Botham and Gavaskar shares one thing in common. That is they played for same county in England - Somerset - for many years. On one fine morning, being a prankster by nature, 'Beefy' Botham knowing that Gavaskar had cynophobia - Fear of dogs - tied his two big German Shepperd in front of a phone booth when Sunny was making a call inside that booth. Gavaskar, being allergic to dogs, didn't come out of that booth and finally he was released by Botham nearly after 3 hours.

Another special moment is during the series against West Indies in 1983. Gavaskar tried to bolster Indian middle order and he planned to come down at number 4 in the Chennai test. Unfortunately India lost two quick wicket for no run and Viv, from the second slip, murmured to Gavaskar in a humorous manner 'It doesn't matter whether you come at number 1 spot or number 4 spot, India's score will be on 0.'

When Sachin Tendulkar made his mark in Bombay cricket, he came to see Sunil and Sunil after seeing the heaviness of Sachin's pad, advised him to use a lighter pads and Sachin requested him to present his used pads and Gavaskar magnanimously presented it to him.

He also had some bad incident like the one where he questioned a LBW decision given by a Australian umpire in a test match against Aus and when he didn't get a proper response, he along with the non striker left the field. After that, a request from ACB and BCCI official appeased him and the game continued but Gavaskar was not in the mood to continue his innings.

Some Accusation : He was always accused for selfish playing and by seeing the record itself we can come to a conclusion that this is just a myth and not the truth. Some considered him as defensive captain. He had to be defensive as Indian bowling till date is not penetrative enough to win matches for India consistently. Another thing which was considered as a minus point is that he scored his runs very slowly and every one will instantly cite his 36 N.O. as an example. And again the reason was Team India. If he had not been playing in that way India would have lost at least 60% of the match within 3 day with disdain. Only because of his slow batting, India gained some respect from their rivals. Some foolish commentator even said that he scored his run against weak bowling attacks as most of the bowlers left the International scene to play Kerry Packers Series from 78-79. Yes he didn't have the same average against the best bowler as what he had against some mediocre bowler. This case is true in all cricketers. But his average against them is not poor either. In India cricket circuit, there was some rumors in those days that he quenched his personal vendetta against some player (like Dilip Doshi) by influencing the selection panel and depriving them the place in the team. For this case no one knows the real picture. It's up to the readers to decide.

What they said about Sunny :

Michael 'Whispering Death' Holding : 'To dismiss Sunny in a lively pitch itself was a tough job. If the track is placid, then it would be a uphill task for any bowler.'

Sir Don Bradman : "I would have been proud to have played cricket with him"

Viv Richards : "I personally would like to say that Sunny Gavaskar is the best. His record speaks for itself"

Ian Botham : "The Indian combines Boycott's steadiness and Greenidge's ability to keep the runs flowing"

Mike Proctor : "If I have to bet on someone making a hundred in a match he is the one most likely to achieve it"

Imran Khan : "His perfect technique makes him the most difficult batsman alive to dismiss"

Sir Len Hutton : "If I were to recommend a schoolboy to copy a modern master, I would go for Gavaskar"

Sir Colin Cowdrey : "A pocket-sized battleship armed with an impenetrable defense and astonishing gunpowder. The bigger the battle, the better the performance"

Mohinder Amarnath : "You cannot compare Sunny with anyone. For him batting was everything. He didn't want to fail or throw away his wicket. He had perfect technique, perfect temperament".

Andy Roberts : "He had scored tons of runs against all countries but not one against India,which has the weakest attack.It speaks volumes about his greatness"

Life after cricket : He is doing as a successful commentator. He also acted as a match referee for a brief period. He was appointed as Shrieff of Mumbai in 1994. He coached India when the regular coach Ajit Wadekar was indisposed during 92 Sharjah. He is one of the few Asian cricketer who is very articulate in English and he is writing a lot of cricketing articles in many sport magazines including the 'On the write lines' - a Gavaskar Column - in India's most popular sports magazine, SportStar.

England Pietersened Australia

Posted: Mon Jun 20, 2005 11:51 am

A new verb has been added by the English Tabloid after yesterday's match between Aus Vs Eng.

Some info about that word

Word : Pietersen
Tense : Pietersen (Present) - Pietersened (Past) - Pietersened (Past Participle)
Meaning : Mauling your opponent and defeating them badly without any contest.

Day before yesterday I bought Set Top Box and the first match I saw was between Best ODI team in the world and Last ranked ODI team (if you go by ICC ratings). I thought it would be a dull match and would be a cakewalk for the Kangaroos. But a 19 year old Bengali had other ideas. He played very sensibly and steered his team to a historic and miraculous win against one of the invincible team of Postwar era. Md. Ashraful played very well and he deserved all kind of accolades. Aus bowling looked very blunt and they lacked bite in their attack. Just go through the bowling line up of Aus. Glen McGrath , one the greatest bowler of all time, won't be getting any younger and he is already 35. Warny has already quited ODI. Bret Lee, in my opinion, is overrated bowler than he actually is. Jason Gillespie is a rhythm bowler. If he don't get it right then batsmen can sneak some runs from him too. Shocking thing is that they went down to Bangladesh without any fight and they didn't plan well too. Evidently, Ricky Pointing's batting has been affected by his poor strategy as captain and by the pressure applied by the world's powerful media.

Yesterday match was a ripper and the innings played by the South African born Kevin Pietersen was a skimmer. Eng, chasing Aussie's 252, needed 105 runs from 15 overs and they lost all the important batsmen. Then came Pietersen and he took the Aussie bowlers to all parts of the ground. He was particularly severe on Jason Gillespie and and he sealed the match for Eng with 2.3 overs to spare. He scored an unbeaten 91 from 65 ball as he pierced the field 8 times and cleared the field 4 times. He scored his last 52 runs in just 25 balls. Really a new star has born.

I can't imagine the state of the bowling team when Pietersen and Flintoff start to find their touch in the same match.

Final comment: India should not tour England now with the quality of the bowler that we have. Otherwise we will be butchered by this new Springbok who adopted England as his country.

Cool Toons

Just for fun

Cricket Informations

1) Chamida Vaas has the biggest name in the cricketing world. His name starts like this 'Warnakulasuriya Patabendige Ushantha Joseph Chamida Vaas'. His desire is to become a priest in a church after his cricketing career.

2) Sandeep Patel once hit Bob Willis for six fours in an over in a test match.

3) Gavin Larsen is known as 'Postman' of NewZealand Cricket as he has always delivered whenever it mattered the most
.
4) Know your field postions
a) Straight hit - Field position near the boundary directly behind the bowler
b) Long stop - One who is set to stop balls which pass the wicket keeper.

5) Sachin was the first victim of third umpire. No prizes for guessing the fielder. It was none other than Jonty Rhodes.

6) On 2001 December, Michael Vaughan was given out for Handling the ball. That was the last time a batsman was given out for Handling the ball

7) In 130 years of cricket no batsmen has got out by Hitting the ball twice & Timeout.

8 ) Sunil Gavaskar's autobiography is 'Sunny Days' while Kapil's is 'Straight from the Heart'.

9) When Sachin scored a hundred in the match against kenya in 1999 world cup played in England, it was his first hundred as a non opener.

10) MA Chidambaram Cricket ground aka 'Chepauk' in Chennai and Gabba in Brisbane has hosted the two tied test matches.

Kangaroos Vs Springboks

Note : Written on my office blogs on 21st Dec of 2007

A report on the just concluded test match between Australia and South Africa in Perth, WACA.

In cricket, match between Australia and South Africa can be compared to the game of chess between Gary Kasparov and Anatoly Karpov. They both employ lot of tactics and they do their homework well. Both are very fit teams and do their basics right (though in this match SA dropped as many as 6-7 catches which go along with one wrong decision given by Umpire Doctrove). Aussies has spontaneous thinkers while African team lacks that. Most of the time Aussie wins just because of the Shiekh of Tweak - Shane Kieth Warne - who never fails to exploit the Proteas's inability to play spin. The concluded test match is no exception to this.

There are lot of positives for SA. First to start with A B de Villiers, a 21 year old, who is forming a very good opening combo with 'ever consistent' Graeme Smith. He has a very good stance like English Michael Vaughan, though not that much elegant as Michael but has more attacking horizontal bat shots than the English captain. To go with this he is a trained wicket keeper. A real under study for Mark Boucher. Graeme Smith showing good promises and I feel, at any time he may fire. We cannot expect Gibbs to play with caution. He is an instinctive player, just like Sehwag. If he clicks, he will destroy the opposition attack and will be a treat for the spectators. Saying all these things, they have to improve their fielding, mainly catching, a lot in the next two tests. One can't expect to win a test by dropping 7 sitters. Just replace Ashwell Prince, who is slowly becoming the Daryl Cullinan (ie.. bunny) of Warne , with solid Jacques Kallis. Jacques Rudolph played an innings of his life and it is an epitome of concentration. This knock reminds me of the knock played by Kallis in 1998-99 series in Melbourne which was the turning point in his life. I expect the same for Rudolph so that we can see a lot of his trademark cover drives which pierce the field like a sharp knife on butter. Really a clinical player. Kemp's knock is an enigmatic one. One expects Justin Kemp do set the stadium ablaze. But he was contented with defensive strokes and gave a very good support to Jacques Rudolph. Also not to forget their ever improving pace attack.

As for as Aussies, they will just pull their hairs for letting the match go in SA's favour. I am not at all impressed with Punter's captaincy. He is not at all aggressive unlike his batting. Hussey's skills are really threating to all the bowlers around the world. Brad Hodge is just a clone of Damien Martyn. It is really amazing how Aus selectors find a correct replacements. Hodge for Martyn, Hussey for Bevan. Symonds is a disappointment. It's time for them to bring the talented Michael Clarke in the team. Their bowling attack is not the 'Usual' threating one. May be due to the reason that McGrath is down with flu. But there is no respite for batsmen from Lee and Warne.

Umpires had a very good game, specifically Billy Doctrove, who just made only one mistake but made amend with lot of good decisions in the final day.

However, in my opinion Proteas lost their brightest chance to beat Aussie in Perth which assist fast bowling - a strong area for SA. It is going to be very hard for them even to snatch a draw in the Sydney test, a pitch which will assist spin from day three, where they have to handle the deadly spin twins - Shane and Stuart. So they have to work very hard to win the boxing day test match in 'very neutral pitch' Melbourne.

Final say: One of the very best test match in recent times. One of the finest knock in recent times by Jacques Rudolph, which changed the result of the match, who should have been awarded the Man of Match which in my opinion wrongly given to Brad Hodge though his knock is not a less mean effort.

Cricket and Mannerisms

Who are they???

1) When a Nelson appears in the scores board, he does his odd habit of balancing on one foot. Who is he?
David Shepherd

2 ) When ever he comes out to play or when ever he reaches a personal landmark (like 50 or 100), he will look at the sun.(He himself told in an interview that he is thanking Sun God for that good performance) . Who is he?
Kris Srikanth

3 ) He is an umpire. He places the 2 bails, one on the leg stump and another on off stump whenever there is a break (like Lunch break or Tea break) Who is he?
A V Jayaprakash. (He was umpiring when Anil Kumble picked all ten wickets in an innings of a test match against Pakistan in Ferozeshah Kotla, Delhi)

4 ) All Aussie team, starting from 19th century, in the first hour of a test match, will do something in common.They consider that as a prestigious one. What is that?
For the first one hour all Aussie players have to wear Baggy Green cap, if they are fielding

5 ) Red handkerchief is related with two person. Who are they ?
Steve Waugh and Mohinder Amarnath

6 ) Whenever the cricket match ends in their favor, they will burn all the paper and produce flame. Who are they?
Eden Garden crowd

7 ) Lara and Bradman shares a same mannerism. What is that?
Whenever they complete a century, they will go for a new guard just to remind themselves that they should have the same level of concentration when they were in zero and not to be complacent and should aim for big score. They showed that in their performance. Sir Donald Bradman -- 12 Double centuries and 2 Triple centuries. Lara -- 7 Double centuries, 1 Triple century and 1 quadruple century.

8 ) When ever he plays cricket, whether it is a practice session or a real match, he will wear his left pad first and then the right pad. Who is he?
Sachin Tendulkar

9 ) He is considered as the most superstitious player in the world. Some of them are,
* All toilet seats in the dressing room had to be down when he went out to bat.
* He also keeps his shoes together, and ensures a peculiar neatness all around him to the point where cricket bats have been known to be taped to ceilings.
* After re-packing his bag on countless occasions and making sure the room was spotless, he proceeded to get in and out of bed 3 times before he was happy to turn the lights out.
Who is he?
Neil McKenzie

10) Before the start of every match, he will sit on the pitch and do some meditation so as to get the feel of that pitch. Who is he?
Mat Hayden

Cricketers being compared with Kollywood actors

Note : I got the following blog posting as a forward message where the current Indian cricketers are compared with our Kollywood actors. I thing the author (a 'Rajini & Sachin' fan, I think) has penned this blog after our successful tour of Australia where we leveled the test series 1-1. Have some fun on reading this and post your opinion.

My Fav : Vijayakanth and Ganguly.
Least Fav : Sarath and Kumble.

Now to the post....

While thinking about what to write next in my blog, came up with this novel (?!) idea. Now that the Indian cricket team is the toast of the nation following their unexpectedly good performance in the test series Down Under (forget the VB series disaster), I thought of comparing some members of the Indian cricket team with some of the current stars of Kollywood.

Rohan Gavaskar <--> Surya

Both these guys are the sons of great legends and that is the underlying reason behind this comparison. Though they both have a long way to go before catching up with their illustrious fathers, they have shown the prmise and the potential for the same. In both the cases, the burden of expectations is quite huge due to the achievements of their fathers. Just like the fact that Surya has given hits of late and has started fulfilling his potetntial, Rohan has done the same by making it to the Indian XI and subsequently doing well in the opportunities provided to him.

Rahul Dravid <--> Kamal Hassan

Kamal has always been considered as an actor who is technically perfect. We all know that Dravid is the most technically proficient batsman in the team. So stems this comparison. They both are sincere to the task and extremely talented.Another reason for this comparison is the fact that they were unfortunate to have been born in the same era as that of 2 other greats (you know who I am talking about). Had it not been for those 2 giants in their fields, these two would have attained far more success and popularity than what they have achieved now.

Sourav Ganguly <--> Vijayakanth

This comparison too is quite obvious. Similar to the fact that Vijayakanth is the head of the Actor's association, our Ganguly is the captain of Team India. Both men have worked really wonders with their respective teams. When Vijayakanth took over the reins, the Nadigar Sangam was in complete shambles with debts exceeding several crores. Similarly when Ganguly took over the captaincy of the Indian team, our team was down in the dumps after a shattering home series loss to the Proteas, preceeded by a 3-0 drubbing at Australia's hands. But just like the way our Captain cleared all the debts of the Nadigar sangam by the help of star night shows in Malaysia & Singapore, Ganguly scripted a complete turnaround in India's cricketing fortunes with the help of a great support staff of John Wright & Andrew Leipus. Another similarity among these 2 guys has been the fact that they have managed to bring in a sense of unity among the various members of their teams. Prior to Vijayakanth assuming office, the association was faction ridden with a clear gap between the junior and senior actors. But the way they mingled together during their Malaysia show was a heartwarming sight. Similarly, there was always this complaint of a certain aloofness associated with the senior players before Ganguly assumed power. Now you can see the camaraderie between all the players in the team, irrespective of their seniority.

I will be failing in my duty if I fail to mention the final comparing point between these 2 - Though these 2 did so much for their teams, their personal performance left a lot to be desired. Vijayakanth's best performances came before the time he assumed office and after that, he has more flops than hits. Same way with Ganguly, some of his best innings came before his stint as a captain and post captaincy of Team India, he has had more failures than successes.

Anil Kumble <--> Sarath Kumar

Kumble and SarathKumar are veterans of their respective fields. Just like the way Sarath Kumar has reeled off super hits in the past, Kumble has won so many matches for India. But sceptics kept doubting their potential and passed on judgements saying that they both were well past their prime. Just then, the twin hits (Paarai & Arasu) and the Australian tour happened respectively. It has really rejuvenated their sagging careers and has made us expect more such inspiring performances from the duo. One other reason where these 2 are similar is that both of them are married to divorcees.

VVS Laxman <--> 'Cheeyan' Vikram

You would have easily guessed the reason behind this comparison. Yes, they both are comeback kids. Few years ago, mention of these 2 guys' names would have hardly raised any eyebrows. But what a transformation these 2 guys have achieved. Just like Vikram is the current superstar of the tinsel world, Laxman is the superstar in the Indian team. The historic Kolkota innings did to Laxman what Sethu did to Vikram. Though we had all along known the talents of these guys (Look back at Laxman's 167 in the 2000 Sydney Test and Vikram's performance in 'Ullaasam' and you will see what I am saying), it was Eden Gardens and Sethu which made the world take notice of these two and their abundant potential. Once that happened, they both have never looked back. Vikram has been reeling off both mass-entertainers which have been big hits at the Box Office while at the same time he gives quality movies their due & seems like he never ceases to experiment. Laxman's wide array of strokes include the most gracious cover-drive which leaves the connosiers of the game gasping for breath to the most unorthodox of shots like flicking a delivery wide outside the off-stump to the mid-wicket boundary, which every fan in the stadium can relate to.

Virender Shewag <--> Ilaiya Thalapathi Vijay

The reason behind this comparison is the way they have modelled their respective careers. While Vijay has openly divulged in his movies his craze for the Superstar, Sehwag has done the same by saying that he has modelled his game entirely on Sachin.Vijay has been fondly called 'Chinna Rajini' while Sehwag has been rightly nicknamed poor-man's Tendulkar. While you can not relate Vijay's acting and emoting, you can also not relate class and Sehwag's batting. But both have been moderately successful in their respective careers in their own ways, inspite of their unorthodox methods of going about their tasks (batting & acting).

Sachin Tendulkar <--> Superstar Rajinikanth

Knowing me, you would have easily guessed this comparison by the time you started reading what this blog was all about. They both are my idols and heroes in the 2 different fields. I am a diehard and crazy fan of both these greats. Both have a strong fan base - if Sachin can claim to have biggest fan base for any cricketer (past ot presentand he is even supposed to be more popular than the Prime Minister of the country), Rajinikanth can boast of the same among Indian actors (with the only exception of the big B and that too can be discounted due to the fact that Thalaivar acts only in movies whose languages are confiened to a few southern states).Just like the fact that Thalaivar's every movie is eagerly expected & welcomed by the whole Tamil cine industry, every innings of Sachin is looked forward to with the utmost fervour & the nation holds its breath each time he walks out to bat. Just like the fact that the Superstar title belongs solely to thalaivar and there can never be another Superstar in the history of tamil film industry, there has been and can be only one Sachin in the annals of Indian cricket. Both will go down as one of the very best to have graced the cricketing field and the silverscreen respectively

Murali - A Wicket Machine

We have heard the term 'Run Machine'. But this word 'Wicket Machine' is new and it can be applied only to the 'Big Eye' Murali, a Srilankan Tamil. For the past year or so, he has been picking wickets at will without much effort. He is not even celebrating when he saw a batsmen taking a long walk back to the pavilion. Even if he celebrates, it looks very artificial. He is not a conventional off spinner like Prasanna (Not me ) or John Emburey. Being an off spinner, he doesn't have the same variety as a leg spinner, say Shane Warne. Sometimes he is negative. He doesn't give any loop once the batsmen start to attack him. In all aspects he is very unconventional. Still he has 54 fifers and 17 tenfers in test cricket. Not to forget about the 350+ victims he has in ODI. Initially his effort was going in vain. But now he is definitely a match winner.

But the what makes him so perilous???

Every batsmen know that they are going to get a big off spinner or a Doosra (which any good batsmen can pick from his length. He always pitches the ball in off stump or middle if he wants to deliver a doosra. He never possesses a acute angled offies. So if he pitches it in the middle or off, its going to be a doosra) Still they aren't able to play him. Even Indians, though he has less number of test matches against us, are not that much comfortable against this spin wizard as they are against the 'Hollywood'.

To me Shane looks to be a better bowler and better entertainer than Murali. But what is it that Murali has that Shane doesn't? 'cause of which Murali is able to imitate or even better Shane's achievement with less effort, less thinking, less sledging (infact no sledging) and less pangs.

Any comments on this....

'Two in One' cricketers

Do you know...

Jonty Rhodes was selected to represent his country for olympics as an hockey player.

Steve Buckner has represented his country in international football matches as well as in international cricket matches.

Similarly Dennis Compton represented Arsenal in Football and Middlesex in cricket

Jack Russel, known for his work behind the stumps, is also a great artist cum painter. One of his famous painting is depicting Lords grounds

Justin Langer hold a black belt in karate.

Aussie players Brett Lee, Shane Lee, Gavin Robertson along with other New South Wales players Richard Chee Quee and Brad McNamara has formed a renowned rock band Six&Out in Down under.

Mike Whitney is well known compere appears in HBO for Who Dares Wins program.

Herschelle Gibbs was selected as the best athlete in his country. He is one of the best fielders in the game.

Curtly Ambrose had the opportunity to play either cricket for his motherland or to play basket ball for USA. A good decision for cricket fans.

Boeta Dippenaar is a classical shooter and was selected for the same sport to represent his country.

Lord Ted Dextor was a successful English caption. He contested in the British election in conservative party ticket. If he had won the election he would have become the PM of England.

Bill Lawry is a trained and qualified plumber.

Kiwi speed merchant Shane Bond has completed police training in Chirstchurch.

Springbok Charlie Langeveldt was working as a jailor before he represented South African team.

Future ambition of Chamida Vaas is to become a Father in a Srilankan church.

Eddo Brandes is a famous chicken farmer.

Cricket Trivia

1) Following cricketers named their respective sons after their favorite cricketers.Who are their favorite cricketers?
a) Sunil Gavaskar - Rohan Kanhai
b) Bishen Singh Bedi - Sunil Gavaskar

2) Nicknames :
Tubby - Mark Taylor
Unit - Mathew Hayden

3) Who am I?
a) I scored 256 in a test match but was dropped for the next test match.Who am I?
- Geoff Boycott. The reason for being dropped was that he batted too slow.
b) My highest score in my career was 299 and that was against against SL. Even my brother has played for my country. My cousin is making waves in holly wood. Who am I? - Martin Crowe

4) Relation :
a) Brothers : Three brothers representing the same country. (Hint: One is the 'Real' little master of cricket, another made debut at the age of 15(a record, then), another is an successful opener). Who are they? - R they the Mohamed brothers from Pakistan. Hanif, Mustaq and Sadiq

b) Cousins : Both are from Down Under. Both represented different countries. One has acted as International cricket match referee . Another person has helped the Indian left arm fast bowlers in the recently concluded Australian series. Who are they? - John Reid and Bruce Reid

5) Bradman Questions :
a) Who is known as Black Bradman? - George Headley
b) What was Sir Don Bradman's average in 'Bodyline Series'? Name the famous english caption and the english bowler. - Avg was somewhere in the 50s. Captain - Douglas Jardine, Bowler : Harold Larwood

Art of Fielding

'Catches win Matches' a very famous quote in cricket.

Fielding is one of the three important aspects of cricket. One peculiar thing about fielding is that a player can master fielding through sheer practice while batting and bowling require some inborn talent. A player will never become a decent fielder without practice and hard work. While batting and bowling require continuous concentration, fielding requires a different type of concentration. Aussie legend Ian Healy has explained this one convincingly. He, in his book, has stated that a player can concentrate only for 2 hrs/day. After that concentration level will start to diminish. So the player should have the capacity to spread this 2 hrs over 7 hrs - a day's playing duration in a test match. For that he should know to take respite between balls, overs and sessions. He should know to relax himself. He says that he came to this conclusion after doing some study for a period of time.

Problem with fielding is that most of the times it doesn't cost (may the player's place in the team) the fielder himself rather costs the bowler and in turn costs the team. Who can forget the 'contribution' of our Parthiv 'Butter Hands' Patel in Steve Waugh's farewell test and in the one dayers that were held in India. All the time the casualty was Murali Karthik. Parthiv missed the crucial stumping of 'Tugga' of Murali Karthik ,who went on to save the test match with a brisk 80 odd. On the whole he missed 3 stumping and 2 catches of Murali Karthik (alone). If he had not muffed up those chances, Murali Karthik would have become a match winner at least for a short period of time and it would have improved his confidence. But now both Murali Karthik and 'Butter' Patel has lost their place in the team.

Now let us see some of the famous fielders in the history of cricket.

Slip Catching: To win a test match, a team has to get 20 wickets. Almost 40%-60% of the chances will occur behind the wicket and to convert those chances one should have a strong slip cordon. Most famous slip fielders are from the 'Down Under'. It is also one of the reason why they dominate the international scene consistently. To be a good slip fielder, one should have a soft hands and should allow the ball to come rather than dashing toward the ball. Sir Walter Hammond, from England, was considered to be the first best slipper. Aussie had Bobby Simpson, Greg Chappell, Mark Taylor, Mark Waugh, Martin Love (Played only one test but has more than 100 caches in the domestic circuit. A clone of Mark Waugh). Big Mac from South Africa was a safe bet. 'Beefy' Botham was an aggressive slip fielder who stood very close to the batsmen even to the fast bowlers.

Fielding inside circle: This is the area where one can save runs and create confusion between the batsmen. To do this, one has to be very agile and nimble on their feet and should possesses a good throw. Reflex is an important criteria here.

Joel Garner (Gully), Viv Richards (Mid wicket), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) - known for their reflexes.
Herschelle Gibbs (Covers), Clive Lloyd (Covers), Derek Randall (Point), Chapman (Gully), Chris Harris (Backward Point), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) - has the ability to stop runs and take some great catches.
Allan Border (Mid wicket), Ponting (Point), Viv Richards (Mid wicket), Roger Harper (on his own bowling) -has the knack of hitting the stumps.

One ironical thing in the above list is Joel Garner. He is 6'11" tall and he would make some diving stops and had taken some fantastic catches in the Gully area.

Close Catching: This is India's zone. We can proudly say that most of our close catching fielders are very good in all the four areas - Slips, Forward Short Leg, Silly Point and in Backward Short Leg - but none better than Eknath Solker. He, without any fear or protection, stood for the famous spin quartet and had taken 14 great catches for Bishen Bedi alone. When I mean 14 great catches I means 14 life threating catches. Infact Bishen once said the those 14 wickets should be added to Solkar's tally and not to his. He was well supported by Wadekar, Venkat, Gavaskar. Four 'quality-variety' spinners along with these magnificent fielders around the bat posted a great threat to the opponent batsmen and was a treat for the spectators. Aussie opener David Boon tried his luck in the slip cordon without any success and was on the verge of losing his place just because of his inability to field.Then he took short leg position and performed extremely well in that area till his retirement.

Wicket Keepers: Wicket Keepers are like the third captain of the side and can be referred as Fielding captain. They, with their skill and confidence, can act as an energy tonic to all the drooping shoulders and at the same time can become a real villain. Most of the time, they have to perform a thankless job. Some of the renowned wicket keepers are Rodney Marsh, Ian Healy, Allan Knott, Farook Engineer, Syed Kirmani and currently Adam Gilchrist.

Deep Fielding: Fielding in deep requires a fast moving legs and a strong arms. Having good fielders in deep can curtail the run flow and, in some situation, can affect a runout or two. Dean Jones, Brett Lee, Kapil Dev, Patrick Patterson, Criag McDermott are some of the finest fielders in the deep.

All round Fielding: These fielders are just a treat for any captain. They are just captain's dream. You can put them in any position, they will perform. For these player, it doesn't matter whether they are in the deep or in the close catching or within the circle. They adapt marvelously and do their duty without any blemish. To my knowledge, best all round fielders are Mark Waugh, Sir Garfield Sobers, Azhar, Kapil Dev and Andrew Symonds.

Greatest of them all: Two players who can enter a team just for their fielding abilities are Jonty Rhodes and Colin Bland from South Africa. Why these two are so special? What make them superior over other great fielders? Just with their presence, they command respect from the batsman and has won many matches with their fielding ability alone.

First to Jonty Rhodes. Fittest cricketer till date. Excellent anticipation, great stop, good recovery and shy at the stumps. All in one motion. This is his mantra. Can maintain the same energy and intensity for the whole match and never commit any blunder as Gibbs did in the world cup semi finals. Who can forget the famous runout he did against Pakistan in Sydney to get Inzamam. He would easily save atleast 25 runs and has taken around 170 catches in both forms of cricket.

Next to Colin Bland. He was very tall when compared to Jonty Rhodes. Infact he was around 6'4". He was a better batsman than Jonty averaging around 50 in Test cricket. His specialty was to hit the stumps from point and even from the deep. Jonty is better than Bland when it comes to stopping and diving but Bland was way ahead of Jonty and others in hitting the stumps. He was referred as Fielding Bradman and 'The Great Eagle'. He was a great athlete and a superb fielder in the deep. He combined speed, perfect balance and a quite exceptional throwing arm, and thrilled spectators and intimidated opposing batsmen in equal measure. He performed a throwing exhibition at the request of Ted Dexter of England. He was asked to hit the stumps 10 out of 10 times and completed that exhibition successfully. Also he repeated the same effort in South Africa. His famous moment came when ran Ken Barrington and Jim Parks out in a test match at Lord's and South Africa won that match just because of his fielding. However his career terminated abruptly at Jo'burg against Australia when he crashed into the concrete boundary fence which resulted in a severe knee injury and he never returned to international scene after that.

Bottom line: 'Glue hand' cricketers always contribute to the team on crunch situation and will lift the moral of the team.

Answer for Cricketers and Advertisements.

1. Who appears in Sear Elcot Television?
Answer: Gavaskar

2. Ravi Shastri, Viv Richards, Allan Border appears together in which ad?
Answer: Only Vimal

3. Who appears in Maltova ad?
Answer: Srikkanth

4. Botham, Tendulkar, Border appears together in which ad?
Answer: Gillette

5. Who appears in Amp Sanmar?
Answer: S Waugh

6. Nayan Mongia appears in which ad?
Answer: Four Square, Moove

7. Robin Singh appears in which ad?
Answer: Britannia , Big fun

8. Who appears in Palmolive?
Answer: Kapil

9. Keith Miller,member of 1948 invincible, appears in which ad? (clue: very famous cream)
Answer: Bryl cream

10. Ganguly and Srinath appears together in which ad?
Answer: Coke

Cricketers and Advertisements.

This is my first blog in this website. So I will start by quizzing you all.

Which cricketer appears in which advertisement?

1. Who appears in Sear Elcot Television?
2. Ravi Shastri, Viv Richards, Allan Border appears together in which ad?
3. Who appears in Maltova ad?
4. Botham, Tendulkar, Border appears together in which ad?
5. Who appears in Amp Sanmar?
6. Nayan Mongia appears in which ad?
7. Robin Singh appears in which ad?
8. Who appears in Palmolive?
9. Keith Miller,member of 1948 invincible, appears in which ad? (clue: very famous cream)
10. Ganguly and Srinath appears together in which ad?

You can see the answers for the above questions on 30th of this month ie.. on Friday