Time travel to the old days....

If cricket was a religion, India will be called a “Cricket Nation” in place of Hindu nation. Right from our childhood, cricket becomes an indispensable part of life. Some of us might avoid the trap by opting for other sports but in real sense, we can’t just avoid cricket because our friends, family member, fellow bus passengers, chai walas or our boss; atleast few of them will turn out to be the followers of this undeclared religion. And as in the case of Hinduism, here too we have multiple Gods. And co-incidently, like Brahmha , Vishnu and Mahesh- the three pillars of Hinduism, Indian cricket too has Sachin, Saurav and Rahul as the trinity , the one considered to be the base of this foundation. And I dare not say it but the truth is we will find more fundamentalist and extremist cricket fans then we will find such intensity towards the religion. And commercialization, as in the case of religion, has taken a hit on cricket too. Sadly, the joy derived from worshipping this game has decremented immensely. I will like to recall my childhood. Being a native of small village in Agra, I did not have the luxury of watching live telecast of cricket matches unless telecasted on Doordarshan. Everytime Indian will tour overseas; there will be no medium to check the scores as matches were aired on ESPN-Star mostly. Mobile phones were meant to be for richer section of the society. So I will stand by road side at 5.30 in the morning and wait for the newspaper vendor and turn through the pages quickly and find the sports page. What followed was 1 hour’s bus journey to school with constant chatter. Match analysis, expert opinions and predictions for the next day will be the flavor of the day. And if match was being played in Australia or New Zealand, half of our predictions would have been proved wrong already as match will be underway (it begins in the early morning hours as per IST). But we will get to know this next day at 5.30 only. Everytime school bus will pass by a tv shop , all the necks will come out of window , some getting a glimpse of runs scored, some getting a count of wickets fallen. And then there will be a discussion, all detectives presenting their findings and thus, we will get an update on the score card. Those days cricket matches were not so frequent. Everytime a tour was over, we will wait desperately for the next season to begin. And I must say, this wait was no lesser exciting than the one for Diwali, Holi or our birthdays. Life was fun during those days, cricket was cherished much more than it is today. Today in the age of Twitter, cricinfo and Akshay Bhai, one does not have to put in so much effort to get these updates or wait for next match does not last for that long, but somewhere the fun is missing. I don’t know whether it’s our daily routine that has made it this way or something else, but like rupee, value of joy derived from cricket is all time low. Something that’s a matter of concern. And unfortunately, BCCI, unlike RBI, seems less potent at handling this fall. If time travel ever becomes a reality, I will like to go back in time and witness the same era of desperation and excitement about cricket. Time has proved time and again that nothing lasts forever. But we can certainly prolong the life span. But when it comes to cricket, I can see soul and the body are at the verge of parting ways… Someone there to take a note? 

Media: Do they deserve our faith?

They say that a pen is such a powerful tool which can change the lives of millions in a single move. Here I am referring to pen as a symbol for media. If we go back in past by a decade, we have seen that media has played such an eminent role in shaping the framework of Indian society. There have been numerous instances where media has exposed scams, has reported hidden crimes and has also helped in galvanizing the Indian society to come forward and show some restraint to all the undesirable things existing in our society, hence gaining the faith of billions of Indians. We have seen in past that how media helped people to come out of their shells and fight for their rights, fight for the justice. Jessica Lal murder case, Anna Hazare’s movement, and Delhi Gang rape protests: all these movements have received unprecedented support from media. We believe in what we watch and what we read but every now and then we are made to think that whether if what we watch and what we read is the actual truth or it is something that’s being shown to us as per the part of an agenda. There is no denying that with great powers come great responsibilities and there has always been a question mark whether if media is using their powers for putting forward the truth or like in so many superhero movies, their powers are being mis-utilized by the media themselves or a group of powerful people. And yes, unfortunately here too there have been so many examples of media messing up with the issues and thus creating a false story or diverting the story from the truth. Every now and then media has been questioned on the grounds of favoring a group of people or intentionally downgrading some story or the other. Let’s take example of recent spot fixing fiasco in IPL. Right from the day 1 of this news being exposed, media in a quest to be sensational has created false impressions in the minds of people, thus diverting from their responsibility which comes in coordination with their power of mass appeal. They forget that in this quest to be sensational and different, they are putting the reputation of people on stake, completely forgetting that in case of their guesses proving to be false, the damage that will be done to those individuals will be beyond any repair. Not just this, this spot fixing thing has once again showed that how media can be biased towards a group of people. I am a die-hard fan of a leading website for cricket fans but one of their recent efforts at being responsible on this sensitive issue of spot fixing has really raised a question mark on them. Recently they blocked fans’ comments on some of their posts related to team Rajasthan and spot fixing in IPL because they wanted to discourage the improper comments but hey wait, where were they when whole world was shouting and cursing Pakistani players when Butt, Asif and Amir were exposed. Just because PCB doesn’t hold the same power in cricketing world as BCCI does makes PCB susceptible to criticism and a less sensitive subject?! This is one of those countless instances where media has made fun of trust of people and of their influence on the minds of their audience. I wish someday some news channel or newspaper will expose the ill-practices of Indian media. Amen!

The one name that drives the nation…

Right now sitting in 13240 Patna express, visiting home after couple of months. But somewhere mind is sitting back in the east DDCA stand of Ferozshah Kotla. Let’s go back by a couple of days. Final day of mock project at work. While preparing for client checkpoint, a thought came to the mind. How about watching the 2^nd day of ongoing 4^th test match between India and Australia. Well, who better than Sumeet to give company for this cricketing partnership. He agreed, tickets were booked and plans were formed to witness the unwitnessed. A special occasion always requires a special costume. After a lots of thought process, Sumeet decided to go ahead with his CSK jersey and I opted for newly bought BCCI jersey. We were supposed to collect tickets from Ambedkar Football stadium, where we were told that we have to get them from a van near Rajghat. Well, while going towards the van, we came across a group of spectators returning after claiming their tickets and the way they cheered us and guided us towards the van, we felt overwhelmed. India is a country of so many languages but everynow and then I get amazed that how cricket has emerged as a common language and this was just one proof of it. Well, we got our tickets, cleared the security check points. This was neither Sumeet’s first experience of watching a live match, neither mine but I must admit that those few steps from security checkpoints to the entry of stands were something that was inexplicably amazing. We found our seats just a few rows back from boundary lines. Aussies were batting. It was probably the second over of the day and guess what, Sachin Tendulkar was pushed to Long-on for fielding. Now the crowd went crazy. There was just one cheer… Just one voice that has been driving the nation crazy for over two decades. We witnessed that amazing chant.. Sacchhiiinnn.. Sachin. We joined in too. And then, the master obliged, turned back and waived his shy and grateful hand towards the spectators. And we felt as if we just hit a jackpot. This incident kept repeating and the joy-everytime it was the same. After few minutes, Ashwin claimed a wicket. But the Sachin chant carried on. This might very well be Sachin’s last appearance in India in an international match, so the occasion was even more special. Finally the Aussies were bolwed out and India came out for batting. Since morning I was hoping for the two players to get out so that we get to watch the Master batting in front of our eyes. Well, that looked unlikely seeing the way Pujara and Vijay were batting. Pujara played some breathtaking shots but guess what, the chant was still for the Master. Now, Pujara departed. Aah, we would rather have seen the back of Vijay but nonetheless, the chances of Sachin coming out to bat improved. Now came the local boy Kohli a.k.a Cheeku. Well, my prayers for next wicket became stronger. We just had 30 odd minutes to left as I had catch this train in the evening so anxiety doubled. Will Sachin come to bat in next 30 minutes or not? After a few deliveries, Kohli was adjudged out.  The local boy fell. Well, I straightaway jumped in the air. But in a moment I calmed down fearing being kicked by Sumeet and crowd, afterall I was supporting India. But guess what, whole stadium erupted in a feeling of joy. For a moment, Australia might have felt they are playing in MCG or SCG. I believe we Indians are the only people who can celebrate the wicket of their team falling. I felt so bad for cheeku but soon the feeling was overtaken by the joy of Master’s anticipated arrival. Well, kohli returned to dressing room, yet no signs of Sachin. Then we heard a cheer from Tata End, who had got a better view of Pavilion’s entry and then came out Sachin. I wish I could describe what it felt like. The entire crowd of 25000 + stood on their feet and gave a thunderous standing ovation, a loud cheer to Sachin. It was a dream come true. It was like that today I was being rewarded for my lifelong worship of this game. Quickly wiping those tears, I joined the Sachin chant. I always heard that there were times when streets went empty while Sachin was batting. Always appeared little exaggerated to me but my experience yesterday made me believe that everything is possible seeing the compassionate support and admiration we have for this little man. Now I can say I have witnessed Sachin-mania in front of my eyes and will take this happy feeling to my grave; such is the feeling. Well, I don’t know we will see the Master again in India or whether if Master will go to Lord’s and mark his presence on the hall of fame board but all I know, he has created an everlasting memory in minds of millions of us and it will stay there forever. 

Success: An absolute phenomenon

How often do we see parents taunting their children because their son or daughter could not achieve what their neighbour Mr. Sharma’s or Mr. Goyal’s son has done! Sometimes we get to see this onscreen, sometimes at our own places or at some friend’s place. Those who have witnessed it personally can tell how bad is the feeling, while the lucky ones who never had to face it can just guess. Such is the felling that the parents whom we have respected and adored like God also appear in grey shade to us. No doubt all these comparisons are intended at our growth in life but there are better ways to encourage, aren’t there? Now let’s take another example. How often it happens that we see a very close friend of ours performing exceedingly well in his life, surpassing the entire criteria to be tagged as successful! No doubt how good we are as a friend; there were times when we felt ‘down and out’ seeing our friends’ progress. No surprises here. Such is the human tendency! But in both the cases mentioned above, we consider the success to be a relative phenomenon. We measure the level of our success against that of our friends, our neighbours and relatives. And this is where we underestimate our potential. Each one of us is born with different level of capabilities, different talents and different strengths. Competing with others certainly forces us to target something whose level is set by someone else. For example, if some friend of yours is all set to make it to the any of the top 5 B-schools of Asia, there is a possibility that competing against him can eclipse your vision and thus you might miss the chance of making it to top 5 B-Schools of World. Not only can this, competing with others can force us to go after something which we are not good at. If Harsha Bhogle had not identified his true potential as a cricket presenter, he may not have achieved what he did and could have ended as a manager after passing out from IIM-A. Today these managers call him for motivational speeches for their employees. There are numerous such examples to sight. Success is always meant to be an absolute phenomenon. If we have to compete with someone, it has to be ‘us’ only. Because nobody, I repeat ‘nobody’ in this world can identify and measure our true potential more accurately than ourselves. This way we will not only be doing justice to our capabilities but also be free from feelings like jealousy and inferiority. Life will be a celebration. We will be able to celebrate the success of our friends in a better way and lead to a more meaningful life. Afterall life is not meant to be a “भेड़ चाल“. 

Is it?

That repetitive cycle of praise and criticism!

These days when I read newspapers or people sharing their opinion on social networking sites, I see everyone is mad about Dhoni, questioning his creditability as a captain and a batsman, following India’s early exit from T20 world cup. These are the same newspapers or people who were all full of praise for team India after having nailed Pakistan and England like never before. Strange, isn’t it? Then all of the sudden why this criticism? There is no denying that we all re hurt ‘coz the captain cool could not win his THIRD world cup. But is this his failure alone? Is this the case that when resources were overflowing, all batsmen and bowlers were in form and fielders were as energetic and alert as they should be? I guess the answer is no! This is a collective failure of the team and blaming captain alone might help our frustration level to come down but it will not serve the purpose. Look at our openers, what have they done? Not even a single half century from Sehwag and Gambhir in any of the matches. Now compare it with Australia, Srilanka or Westindies. Verdict is : openers failed, means early pressure on the team, means powerplay overs are not utilized, means scores can rarely cross 150. That’s what actually happened. Now let’s move ahead. Middle order was fine, thanks to Kohli. Dhoni and Raina provided late bursts in lower middle order most of the times. Now coming to the bowling, an unfit and out of rhythm Zaheer Khan far away from his best left a weak bowling unit directionless. But still, they made most of whatever they had got and begged all 10 wickets of the opposition on 4 out of 5 occasions. Impressive, isn’t it? Well, now look at most criticized decisions made by Dhoni: first of them was not playing Sehwag against Australia. Now those who had seen South Africa vs Pakistan match, they will agree that it was a valid decision playing 3 spinners. Pitch was turning square and fine performances by Harbhajan and  Piyush in the previous match supported the decision. Now if they had to play 5 bowlers, who else could be dropped to make way for Sehwag: Gautam- no, not after a fine 40 in last match, Kohli- oh no!, yuvi- his bowling alongside glimpses of old Yuvraj were enough for him to be in the team, Rohit- no, he made an unbeaten 50 in last match, Raina- no, he had done nothing wrong, Dhoni- well… So that leaves us with no choice then to keep Viru out. Now next most criticized decision was why bowling Rohit ahead of Ashwin in last super 8 match, well… here I will use critical reasoning. Why nobody objected when Yuvi was given the bowl ahead of Ashwin, coz he begged ABD’s wicket, right!  If he had failed, the same people would have thrashed Dhoni giving an over to yuvi  ahead of Ashwin. A game is played like this only. Some of your decisions fail, some click. And those suggesting removal of Dhoni as captain, please tell me who can replace him? Most of the players are unfit, most of them are out of form.Virat is the only choice they have got and I guess he still has sometime left to be ready for this bigger responsibility. He needs to control his anger and his emotions to grab the most coveted position in the team. It’s so easy for us to pick an individual and kick his ass to express our passion, our support and our concern but logical reasoning and thinking is required at the moment to help the team coming out of this crisis. And I am sure people will again fall for Dhoni once the team beats England and Pakistan in future series. This is a cycle which keeps repeating. Aaah… I will like to end this article with the same quote:

“Any fool can criticize, condemn, and complain but it takes character and self control to be understanding and forgiving.”

Dale Carnegie

MSD for life \m/

He came, He pLayED, He conquered..

I very well remember those days when a wicketkeeper was more like a liability for Indian cricket team. While teams like Srilanka and Australia could boast of Sangakara and Gilchrist as their wicketkeeper, India could never find a keeper who could bat even with half reliability as these giants. Then came MSD, with a reputation of hard hitting batsman from Jharkhand and since then, India have never looked back. However his debut series against Bangladesh could not turn out fruitful for him but he did not take long to impress one and all, thanks to those magnificent match winning innings of 148(against Pakistan) and 183 (against Srilanka). He did not have a very elegant bat swing or effective technique but his power was more than sufficient to destroy some of the finest bowling line ups. All this from a wicketkeeper- India could not have expected more. But for everyone’s delight, best of MSD was yet to come. He kept producing those match winning knocks. Who would forget his finishing streaks with Yuvi during Pakistan series? Not just this, this hard hitting Ranchi boy had a cool , intelligent and thinking head over those powerful shoulders, often evident in his statements during post match presentations. India had found its own combination of calmness of Sanga and destructive batting of Gilchrist. He was being seen as future captain; however it seemed that he might have to wait for it, with team doing well under Rahul and likes of Sehwag and Yuvi ahead of him for captain’s position. But all the equations changed after India’s early exit in 2007 world cup, followed by Rahul’s unexpected resignation as captain after England tour. First ever T20 world cup was on corner, with the famous trio opting out from it. Then came one of the most surprising decision in world cricket, MSD was made captain of Indian cricket team. And boy o boy, this turned out to be perhaps the decision of that decade. He led India to victory in inaugural edition of T20 world championship and thus began the glory days of MSD and team India. In his very first tournament as captain, Dhoni showed that he was a special captain. Often his achievements have been termed as gifts of his luck but was it just luck? Not really! I would like to recall the league match against Pakistan in T20 world cup. Match was initially a tie and was to be decided by bowl out. Well, India won the bowl out and it was not just luck, it was well framed strategy of bowling slow bowlers (Robin Uthappa, Bhajji and Viru) in bowl out as they had better control while Pakistan opted for fast bowlers. And we all remember how many we hit and how many they missed. Not just this, MSD made his bowlers practice for bowl out during net sessions. Was it luck? No, it was his ability to visualize. Bowling Joginder Sharma in final over during the final was not a bad choice. Bhajji was hit for 2-3 sixes in his previous over and Joginder had bowled an economical one. Hence Joginder was the obvious choice. And Dhoni’s field positions were immaculate, else who would have placed Sreesanth to that unorthodox fine leg position during that final over, thus made him claim that catch of Misbah. So every now and then Dhoni has been deprived of the credit he deserves by giving it to his luck. But people never saw that he had made his own luck. His dream beginning as captain was followed by many other victories. He lead both his teams: Team India and CSK to bag many marvelous. India became number one in tests, Dhoni became number one as batsman. However with time, there were many changes to his initial power hitting style of batsman and now he was cautious during initial phase of his arrival on crease and exploded towards the end of innings.

                People often say Ganguly was the best captain of Indian team and Dhoni is the captain of best Indian team. However I differ on this. No doubt Ganguly was a superb captain and he was the one who initialized the resurgence of Indian cricket team but if you really look at players who played under him, you would find he led a better team. Under Saurav, Dravid was the best in the world,  Sachin was in his prime form, Kumble and Bhajji formed the most potent spin duo in the world, Zaheer was young and energetic, Viru was more reliable. Undoubtedly, Dada led a more powerful bowling line up. However Dhoni had to deal with problems of ageing fast bowlers, unavailability of lethal spin bowlers, thanks to Bhajji’s drop in the form and Anil’s retirement. Infact Dravid also was not at his best; however he discovered back his magic towards the end of the career. So undoubtedly, Ganguly was blessed with a better team. 
But keeping the critics aside, Dhoni kept touching heights. Indian team now had a leader, who was innovative, who was unorthordox yet very effective. All these qualities made him earn respect from opponents, ofcourse earning him millions of bucks alongside. Two world cup titles, two IPL titles, one CLt20 titles, CB series victory and many more trophies tell the success story of Dhoni-the captain. However clean sweeps against  England and Australia have raised a question mark on his creditability as captain but needless to say this was collective failure of the team and he alone cannot be blamed. However Dhoni has always loved challenges in his career and the day is not far away when he would wash away whatever doubts are put on him. Today, on his birthday, I pray to God to bless him with much more success, fitness and wisdom. MSD, it’s been a wonderful experience to witness you on cricket field! I am sure you have a lot more in store for us. Amen!

"Rahul Dravid": Mr. Dependable

Those were the early days for me as a cricket lover, early enough for not being able to be recalled exactly but I noticed something in a cricketer which made me follow him every time he came to bat. When Sachin was scripting some of finest wins for India, when nation was busy adoring the magical wristy shots of Azhar, I was being fascinated by a not so liked cricketer those days. I don’t know why, I don’t remember how but I had developed a liking for this man. My friends would often abuse him for his slow batting; making me angry but to be honest I really did not have anything to defend my choice. Today, almost 12-13 years after, when I am writing this article, I must say, I fell for one of the finest man to have played this game.

Things were not easy for Rahul in his initial days, no doubt he had impressed one and all as a test batsman, but his success as one day batsman came somewhat later. He was not blessed with power of Sehwag or ability to dominate the bowling like Sachin did but he kept working hard, kept placing brick  after brick in the wall to make it high enough not to be climbed, strong enough not to be demolished easily. Slowly and steadily he had shown his importance as a one day batsman too. In between he kept producing some marvelous knocks which were often overshadowed by his fellow partners. We often mention Laxman’s magical 281 in Eden’s test but we find it tough to praise Rahul’s gritty 180 in the same match, considering the pressure he was under after being replaced by VVS at no. 3 due to failure in first innings. What was the common thing in Sachin’s 186 against New Zeland or Saurav’s 183 against Srilanka; they were some uncharacteristic flamboyant centuries by Rahul Dravid at the other end. Often denied the respect and credit he deserved, this man kept sacrificing, adjusting and accepting whatever was thrown at him in order to serve the cause as a team man. But it was his ardent character that kept him going and going. When the bowling attacks were hostile, pitches were unplayable, conditions were adverse, he was the perfect man to bat for India. My love for him kept growing and growing. It was not just his batting that was adored but his temperament, his never dying attitude, his calmness, his humility, his character that had a magic far beyond one’s ability to escape. His ever-growing fan list not just included cricket fans like me but likes of Glenn Mcgrath, Brain Lara, Shane Warne and others who chose him as a batsman to bat for saving their lives (if required). Time and again he has been described as a perfect role model for youngsters and rightly so because he is one guy who is a perfect example to tell you that what if you are not born genius, what if you are not so gifted, you have a perfect weapon called hard work which can take you on the top. And boy he made it to the top, didn’t he?! Statistically, he was ICC’s cricketer of the year and test cricketer of the year when these awards were inaugurated. He has achieved some feats which even Sachin (as batsman) and Dhoni (as captain) failed to achieve.

Quoting Harsha Bhogle “There were two things Dravid didn't really love in cricket: opening the batting and keeping wicket. He was asked to do both at various times, and I asked him if he ever contemplated saying no. He didn't enjoy it, he said, but took it as a challenge, to see how good he could be. This acceptance of challenges is what has defined his cricket and made him one of the finest team players there has been.”

Rahul believed in the philosophy “for the strength of the wolf is the pack and the strength of the pack is the wolf.” And he justified this throughout his cricketing career. As mentioned by Harsha, he never enjoyed opening but who could forget his heroics in last Oval test during England tour where he had but ten minutes between deliveries as he batted through the innings for six and a half hours, before returning to open the batting. These magic moments always made us to amaze at the nerves of this cricketer.

Rahul, words cannot describe what you have given to me as your fan. I might be one of those millions of such fans, adoring you for years but for me, you would remain to be one of the finest memories I would like to carry to my grave. Its true cricket would continue at its pace after your retirement, but it would not be the same for me.

Thank you Rahul! Thanks for blessing me with sheer magic!

Aahh… I wish I could rewind the time by a decade or so…. Rahul, you would be missed!