Saturday, March 20, 2010
Hear Hear
If I am asked to point out the best player of Cricket I have seen in my years as a viewer, I will negotiate and pick two...because I probably won't be allowed to pick 8.
The little Master, the Magician from Mumbai who is still giving lessons from his own example to aspiring and established cricketers all over the world is one. A flamboyant genius from Trinidad and Tobago who no longer plays, but who in his prime could make buds flower and rain fall at his whim, is another.
In all my years of reading cricket, if I am asked to point out the best writer of Cricket, I will negotiate and pick two...because I probably would not be allowed to pick 8. Both happen to be Australians.
One is as masterful, well thought, observant and in control with the pen as the little man from Mumbai is with the bat. The man who would in my opinion be called the pen Tendulkar. Gideon Haigh. A dweller of Melbourne and author of countless books and columns. As thoroughly enjoyable and thought provoking in print as the little Master on the turf.
The other one is as flamboyant, as incisive, as fearless and as beautiful to watch as the southpaw from Trinidad. The cricket writer's equivalent of Brian Lara. Peter Roebuck of Sydney. Never managed to get a Test cap, and did not really have a brilliant career as the captain of Somerset. But his beautiful use of the pen is about as good as it gets.
Read Peter Roebuck on Cricinfo today here.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Mongoose Hayden
So there we have it. An improvised bludgeon in the armory of the batsman who is already overly pampered, overly protected and overly armed against the ball.
The Mongoose bat that Matthew Hayden will wield for the Chennai Super Kings in this years IPL has been touted as the latest technological marvel invented with the intention of murdering the already weakened ball.
As it is T20 is a ridiculously lopsided contest between bat and ball. A 37 ball hundred was recently scored. Any average team is seen to score 150 odd runs in 20 overs without much sweat. The boundaries are carefully drafted to maximize the run output. And then there are the stupid anti-bowler rules like the free hit post no-ball, one bouncer an over et all. To add to it, we have these modernities that are aimed at making the ball and the bowlers suffer even more, under the sadistic purpose of entertainment.
If a batsman can use a Mongoose, a bowler too should be allowed to do an Afridi on the ball....or even more if he wishes to. How about allowing the bowlers in the IPL to experiment a good old hand held Potato-peeler ? Nothing like a fair contest between bat and ball, eh ? :)
The Mongoose bat that Matthew Hayden will wield for the Chennai Super Kings in this years IPL has been touted as the latest technological marvel invented with the intention of murdering the already weakened ball.
As it is T20 is a ridiculously lopsided contest between bat and ball. A 37 ball hundred was recently scored. Any average team is seen to score 150 odd runs in 20 overs without much sweat. The boundaries are carefully drafted to maximize the run output. And then there are the stupid anti-bowler rules like the free hit post no-ball, one bouncer an over et all. To add to it, we have these modernities that are aimed at making the ball and the bowlers suffer even more, under the sadistic purpose of entertainment.
If a batsman can use a Mongoose, a bowler too should be allowed to do an Afridi on the ball....or even more if he wishes to. How about allowing the bowlers in the IPL to experiment a good old hand held Potato-peeler ? Nothing like a fair contest between bat and ball, eh ? :)
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Powistan
Pakistan Cricket Board, in a rather surprising turn of events has taken an exorbitant decision that has not been seen in the cricketing world since the days of Packer Circus.
In one swift move the PCB has scuttled two of the team's best batsmen, disabled a couple of certified hard workers and fined three of its most potent match winners.
We are to assume that Pakistan team's utterly forgetful display in recent times is at the core of this knee jerk reaction; and we are to understand that the PCB has the best intentions for its nation as regards Cricket. But knowing the PCB's tendency towards sensationalism, it could well be another farce for all we know. After all this is a nation whose dictator personally brought a player by the name of Imran Khan out of retirement to lead the team again. It would not take much for the PCB to reverse any or all of what it imposed today and act like nothing ever happened.
While the Pakistani cricketers are undoubtedly some of the most mercurial ones around, it is also common knowledge that the administrators of Cricket in Pakistan are some of the most fickle minded, callous and self contradictory species ever seen. This is a flimsy nation that appoints, sacks, reinstates and manhandles its coaches, captains, managers and players on whim, and turns around administrators like they were meat on a barbeque grill, more often than one can care to remember.
Lets see how this story unfolds in the next few days.
In one swift move the PCB has scuttled two of the team's best batsmen, disabled a couple of certified hard workers and fined three of its most potent match winners.
We are to assume that Pakistan team's utterly forgetful display in recent times is at the core of this knee jerk reaction; and we are to understand that the PCB has the best intentions for its nation as regards Cricket. But knowing the PCB's tendency towards sensationalism, it could well be another farce for all we know. After all this is a nation whose dictator personally brought a player by the name of Imran Khan out of retirement to lead the team again. It would not take much for the PCB to reverse any or all of what it imposed today and act like nothing ever happened.
While the Pakistani cricketers are undoubtedly some of the most mercurial ones around, it is also common knowledge that the administrators of Cricket in Pakistan are some of the most fickle minded, callous and self contradictory species ever seen. This is a flimsy nation that appoints, sacks, reinstates and manhandles its coaches, captains, managers and players on whim, and turns around administrators like they were meat on a barbeque grill, more often than one can care to remember.
Lets see how this story unfolds in the next few days.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Bangladhishum dhishum
Pay attention to the scoreboard of a rather insignificant match between touring England and hosting Banladesh-A, that recently concluded.
There was nothing much of note in the first two and half innings down the scoresheet, until the two Bangla blokes - Hom and Mahmud - started behaving like they had downed 6-packs of Red Bull each.
Hom, the #7 batsman of Bangladesh-A team slammed 91 in 30 deliveries with 8 sixes and 10 fours at a strike rate of over 300. His deputy, the #8 batsman Dolar Mahmud did even better. He thrashed 66 in 16 deliveries with 6 sixes and 7 fours. That is 13 strokes and 64 of 66 runs to the fence in just 13 deliveries, and a strike rate of 400+.
Together (not as partners, but added individually) these two slammed 157 runs in 46 deliveries, 31 of whom hit the fence. In a blitz of hyper-scoring, the Bangladesh-A team total went from 160 to 360 in 11 overs flat.
Alistari Cook, admittedly a non-bowler, went for 111 in 5 overs at 22 runs an over, which could be a probable record for the worst bowling figures in a first class match.... I'm inclined to say even in a galli match. (With due apologies to the greatest of statisticians, Sir B B Mama).
This was awesome clubbing even by club match standards. What makes this noteworthy is that it involved an international cricketing side on the receiving end.
There was an anticlimax to all this. One would have thought that after conceding their dignity to Bangladesh batsmen, England would try to save face by launching a counter attack with gusto to finish the 284 runs offered to them in 52 overs and win yet. They had ample opportunity to get back on track after Hom and Mahmud threw them off course.
How much did they manage? 185 in 52 overs.
My only crib in all this is why on earth did the Bangladesh captain Mohamamd Ashraful not let Hom and Mahmud bat for just 2-3 more overs ? It would have been enough for both of them to finish their centuries had they continued to stay on course. I am sure we had a chance of witnessing a record of sorts, of two of the fastest centuries ever recorded, and that too in the same innings of a match.
There was nothing much of note in the first two and half innings down the scoresheet, until the two Bangla blokes - Hom and Mahmud - started behaving like they had downed 6-packs of Red Bull each.
Hom, the #7 batsman of Bangladesh-A team slammed 91 in 30 deliveries with 8 sixes and 10 fours at a strike rate of over 300. His deputy, the #8 batsman Dolar Mahmud did even better. He thrashed 66 in 16 deliveries with 6 sixes and 7 fours. That is 13 strokes and 64 of 66 runs to the fence in just 13 deliveries, and a strike rate of 400+.
Together (not as partners, but added individually) these two slammed 157 runs in 46 deliveries, 31 of whom hit the fence. In a blitz of hyper-scoring, the Bangladesh-A team total went from 160 to 360 in 11 overs flat.
Alistari Cook, admittedly a non-bowler, went for 111 in 5 overs at 22 runs an over, which could be a probable record for the worst bowling figures in a first class match.... I'm inclined to say even in a galli match. (With due apologies to the greatest of statisticians, Sir B B Mama).
This was awesome clubbing even by club match standards. What makes this noteworthy is that it involved an international cricketing side on the receiving end.
There was an anticlimax to all this. One would have thought that after conceding their dignity to Bangladesh batsmen, England would try to save face by launching a counter attack with gusto to finish the 284 runs offered to them in 52 overs and win yet. They had ample opportunity to get back on track after Hom and Mahmud threw them off course.
How much did they manage? 185 in 52 overs.
My only crib in all this is why on earth did the Bangladesh captain Mohamamd Ashraful not let Hom and Mahmud bat for just 2-3 more overs ? It would have been enough for both of them to finish their centuries had they continued to stay on course. I am sure we had a chance of witnessing a record of sorts, of two of the fastest centuries ever recorded, and that too in the same innings of a match.
Friday, March 5, 2010
200
How do you describe him. I think we should simply shut up and accede that there are no words that befit him. Not often does someone make language poor, stand taller than all adjectives put together, be more worthy than all laurels. His stature exposes the poverty of expression in pen and paper. One can only marvel mutely at such beings.
Very few players lift viewers out of the realms of a match. Very few players transcend from the field into your personal being. Very few players make you endorse your soul to them.
As mere mortals we are left to peck at numbers to define the greatness of this man and that is a rather easy assignment. Glorious testaments to his skill and talent are abundantly evident in numbers and statistics. But how does one encapsulate his passion, his drive, his single-minded devotion, his longevity, his self belief, earthiness and how do we explain our adulation towards him ?
Whom do idols like him idolize in order to keep going ? From where does this man get his ceaseless inspiration ? 20 years running why is this man still fun to watch, and why does he still play like it was the only thing he can do in life ? How do we determine the cause of our own refusal to exorcise ourselves from the spell that this man has held us under ? How do we quantize this man's contribution in making Cricket a de facto religion for millions upon millions ? How do we put a specification on the amount of respect he commands from mates and foes alike ? How do you put dimension on his popularity, star value, likeability, humility, dignity ?
On 9 days out of 10, the site-search engine on Cricinfo.com will have a pre-populated link for him. So frequently does he get 'hit' on Cricinfo that one doesn't even have to type his name, they make it easier for you open this man up on your screen.
If Cricket were to mint a symbolic coin with a batsman's image on one side and a bowler's on the other, I am sure the face of batting on the coin would be that of this little man from Mumbai. Of course, by virtue of his customary graciousness - despite the overwhelming favor on his side - he will step aside to allow Sir Don Bradman's to be minted will be another story.
The latest decoration on this mans chest is the record of the highest individual score in a one day international.
With the 200 runs he scored in the Gwalior one day international, he has distanced himself even more from the rest. Distanced so far ahead that to refer to his cricketing contemporaries as 'followers' or 'challengers' gives comic sound to it. One who is unpursuable can only have devotees, not followers.
The more you think of it, the more you are convinced that he is something else trapped in a human body. How can so many right things converge into a single human, and conversely, how can a single human do so many right things ?
Sachin Tendulkar is an experience, and lets leave it at that.
I'm sure you've already received this in a mass mail from somewhere:
सुखकर्ता दुःखहर्ता वार्ता आनंदाची !
अविस्मरणीय खेळी तुझी द्विशतकाची !
सर्वांगी सुंदर उधळण चौकारांची !
आकाशी झळके माळ उत्तुंग षटकारांची !
जय देव जय देव जय तेंडुलकरा !
तुझ्या चरणी माझा मानाचा मुजरा !
जय देव जय देव ..
१४७ चेंडू खेळपट्टी वरी उभा !
सर्व गोलंदाजांची दिसे दिव्य शोभा !
मदतीला कार्तिक पठाण धोनी आले गा !
धावांचा डोंगर उभा राहिला बघा !
जय देव जय देव जय तेंडुलकरा !
तुझ्या चरणी माझा मानाचा मुजरा !
जय देव जय देव ..
दुमदुमले मैदान झाला जल्लोष !
थरथरला गोलंदाज मानिला खेद !
कडाडली बॅट चेन्डुचा शिरच्छेद !
असामान्य अद्भुत शक्तिचा शोध !
जय देव जय देव जय तेंडुलकरा !
तुझ्या चरणी माझा मानाचा मुजरा !
जय देव जय देव..
घालीन लोटांगण वन्दिन चरणं !
डोळ्याने पाहिले द्विशतक तुझे !
पोस्टर लावूनि, आनंदे पुजिन !
भावे ओवाळीन, "सचिन" नामा !
त्वमेव ब्रॅडमन, बॉर्डर त्वमेव !
त्वमेव गावसकर, लारा त्वमेव !
त्वमेव फलंदाज, गोलंदाज त्वमेव !
त्वमेव क्षेत्ररक्षक, ऑलराउन्डर त्वमेव !
गुड लेन्थ टाकले, यॉर्कर टाकले !
बाउन्सर टाकले , व्यर्थ सारे !
ड्राइव्स तू मारले, पुल तू मारले !
फ्लिक्स तू मारले, सार्थ सारे !
हरे सचिन, हरे सचिन, सचिन सचिन हरे हरे
हरे तेंडुलकर, हरे तेंडुलकर, तेंडुलकर हरे हरे !!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Rajinikanth of T-20
I am a big fan of Tamil Superstar Rajni. (The credits to his films start - literally - with these words "S U P E R S T A R followed R A J N I in the biggest font size possible").
The ludicrous audacity with which Rajnikanth pulls off one ridiculous stunt after the other in his movies is something only he can do. Not many can cut a bullet in two in midair, or create a tornado with bare feet on the screen quite like Rajni does.
Yesterday I saw cricket's version of Rajnikanth.
Brendon McCullum did on the cricket field the exact equivalent of what a wild director of an insane Tamil movie would make the incorrigible Rajnikanth do in a cricketer's role.... Hit cricket shots that have never been performed, nay, seen, nay, even imagined before.
RIDICULOUS is the only way to describe how McCullum handled the fastest bowler on earth, to send him repeatedly into orbit. Point in case, look at McCullum's sixers #7 and #8 to Shaun Tait at a full 155 kmph! It was heady stuff. Unbelievable bat speed. Deviously innovative handling of some of the the fastest bowlers around - Tait, Nannes.
It succeeded and it rocked. On another day it would have been the stupidest move of all, but it worked. Thats what the tamaam Rajnikanths and the Quick Gun Murugans of the world do ....they don't hesitate once they decide, no matter how insane their idea may be. (You blinkkk before I shoootttt, I say...) :)
The ludicrous audacity with which Rajnikanth pulls off one ridiculous stunt after the other in his movies is something only he can do. Not many can cut a bullet in two in midair, or create a tornado with bare feet on the screen quite like Rajni does.
Yesterday I saw cricket's version of Rajnikanth.
Brendon McCullum did on the cricket field the exact equivalent of what a wild director of an insane Tamil movie would make the incorrigible Rajnikanth do in a cricketer's role.... Hit cricket shots that have never been performed, nay, seen, nay, even imagined before.
RIDICULOUS is the only way to describe how McCullum handled the fastest bowler on earth, to send him repeatedly into orbit. Point in case, look at McCullum's sixers #7 and #8 to Shaun Tait at a full 155 kmph! It was heady stuff. Unbelievable bat speed. Deviously innovative handling of some of the the fastest bowlers around - Tait, Nannes.
It succeeded and it rocked. On another day it would have been the stupidest move of all, but it worked. Thats what the tamaam Rajnikanths and the Quick Gun Murugans of the world do ....they don't hesitate once they decide, no matter how insane their idea may be. (You blinkkk before I shoootttt, I say...) :)
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