Wednesday, December 28, 2005

From play to foreplay

I picked up a copy of Condenast’s Glamour magazine the other day.
So much of play on this blog may make it a dull one.
Hence this blog on foreplay.
Here is men’s top five foreplay turn-ons.
1. Getting oral sex.
2. Giving oral sex.
3. Watching her undress.
4. Kisses on the neck and shoulders.
5. Kisses on the lips.

Women’s top five foreplay turn-ons
1. Neck and shoulder kisses.
2. Getting oral sex.
3. Kisses on the lips.
4. Below the waist touching.
5. ….and on the breasts, too.

13 risks worth taking in bed

All play and no foreplay makes it boring...
Now you can start the new year taking the cue from this Glamour List.

13 risks worth taking in bed

1. Waking him up to act out what you were dreaming.
2. Banishing the television, the dog, the phone, the Blackberry and definitely any stuffed animals, leaving you alone...with him.
3. Coed naked karaoke.
4. Telling him there are better things he can do with his mouth than talk.
5. Doing it really fast, even if you're all dressed and ready to head out the door.
6. Not worrying about the neighbors.
7. Making him get naked first.
8. Having sex that answers the question "What would it be like if we (fill in the blank)?"
9. Not letting your period stop you.
10. Any position that makes your belly look flabby but your body feel good.
11. Banning anatomically correct terms (use the dirty words instead).
12. Declaring a do-over.
13. Saying "I love you" during instead of after.

What Can We Do?

By John Cheeran
From the What Can We Do? response the BCCI has awoken finally.
Sourav Ganguy has been told to play a Ranji Trophy match before he can cross theborder to Pakistan.
Vice-captain Virender Sehwag, who had led Delhi to victory in its last match, however, had requested board to let him play the next Ranji match against Karnataka in Bangalore.
Sehwag’s keenens to play in the domestic championaship is in sharp contrast to the haughty attitude of Ganguly.
Leg-spinner Anil Kumble and second wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel were also told by the BCCI to play in a Ranji Trophy match before arriving in Pakistan.
This decision has been taken after consulting India captain Rahul Dravid, coach Greg Chappell and selection committee chairman Kiran More and has been approved by Board president Sharad Pawar, BCCI Secretary Niranjan Shah said.
Shah said that these four players would be reaching Pakistan after playing for their respective state teams in the Ranji Trophy Elite Division league matches (round 6) beginning January 3. "We have taken this decision as we thought that all players chosen for the tour will not be needed to play the opening tour three-day warm-up game on January seven. We also wanted to give importance to domestic cricket," Shah told PTI from Rajkot.
The decision also follows controversy over Ganguly's absence in Surat and Selection Committee Chairman Kiran More expressing his displeasure over it. He had written to Shah as to why Ganguly was not playing in the Ranji match. Ganguly had made his re-entry into the Test side after being omitted from the team for the third Test against Sri Lanka played in Ahmedabad.
The new turn of events will mean that a struggling Ganguly, Sehwag, Kumble and Patel will miss the three-daywarmup match before the first Test. The four players shall join the rest of the team in Pakistan on January 7.
Indian team will leave for Pakistan tour on January 5. The first Test in Lahore starts on January 13.

Tuesday, December 27, 2005

Shame on you, Pawar and Shah!

By John Cheeran
I'm stunned.
Not because Sourav Ganguly acted the Maharaj again and ran away from his Ranji Trophy commitments.
I'm shocked only by the indifferent stance the BCCI, guardian of the game in India, has taken on this issue.
I read an AFP report from New Delhi that quoted the BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah "What can we do if he (Ganguly) does not play?"
Oh! How feckless people can become?
If Ganguly is not willing to play for Bengal, he also does not deserve to play for India. That's the message Ganguly should be given by the BCCI. Pawar should stop acting as court jester to Ganguly and take decisions that befit the office of the Indian cricket board president.
But Pawar and Shah are not bothered what happens to cricket in India and to Team India. It does not matter to them if the Prince of manipulators wreck the team spirit during the sensitive tour to Pakistan.
As long as they can keep their bum in the BCCI chairs, they will let anyone do anything.
Keeping track of Ganguly since he made his debut in international cricket in1992, I have known him as a brazen and arrogant fellow; not willing to work hard for his success.
Nothing has forced me to revise that opinion in the last few weeks.
I'm not at all surprised at Ganguly staying away from the indignity of a RanjiTrophy contest, especially when BCCI has plumped new lows by giving him the Grade A bounty. It has been nothing but politics at its worst.
Now we are getting to see the after effects of the Pawar equations. In nine Tests Ganguly played in 2005, his batting average has been less than 25. But powerful backers have given Ganguly a ticket to Pakistan and Grade A contract. That's all for being in the wretched form that he is in right now.
I'm sending all my sympathies to chairman of selectors Kiran More. I believe More deserves it and I'm sure I will not be a loner in doing this.
At a time when journalists are sucking up to Ganguly and his lobby, More has dared to point his finger at Ganguly for not playing the Ranji Trophy games. It should have been pointed out by the mainstream media.
To put it on therecord, I had blogged on the subject when Ganguly similarly skipped Bengal's match against Karnataka in Mysore. More has rightfully expressed his opinion. He was, after all, a party in dragging Ganguly back into the Team India.
The agency report quotes More "I am surprised and shocked that Sourav is not playing against Gujarat." The four-day game began in Surat on Sunday while Ganguly spent Christmas with his family in Kolkata. "This was the ideal time to get some match practice before the Pakistan tour. I demand an explanation because he missed the previous match against Karnataka aswell."
More said he had asked Bengal selector Pranob Roy and team coach Paras Mhambreyto ensure Ganguly played first-class cricket after being dropped from the third Test against Sri Lanka in Ahmedabad. "I was told they were unable to contact Ganguly and then I learnt he had asked not to be considered for the two matches," More said.
Five other players selected for Pakistan -- Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Venkatsai Laxman and Wasim Jaffar -- are turning out for their respective state teams in the latest round of Ranji Trophy matches.
Other Team India players, including captain Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar,were asked to rest by the team management after the busy home schedule. If there is a reason why Ganguly does not want to play Ranji games, it can beonly this -- he does not want to let Pakistan fast bowlers know how wretched a form he is in now.
Ganguly is gripped by the fear of failure.
Even a place in Team India has not given him the confidence to play domestic cricket. Till the other day -- West Bengal -- was crying that Ganguly was not given a chance to play; now when rest of the Team India members are playing for their Ranji Trophy sides, Bengal's hero has chosen to abandon the Bengali cause in domestic cricket.
Still they (Calcuttans) will rally to support Ganguly.
Because they deserve Ganguly.
Nothing better.

Saturday, December 24, 2005

Ganguly? Throw him to Pakistan fast bowlers

By John Cheeran
Politics wins and cricket loses.
Sourav Ganguly has been included in the Indian team for the forthcoming Pakistan tour.
Sharad Pawar, the BCCI President, has sacrificed Mohammad Kaif to curry favour with the West Bengal lobby.Pawar has disgraced himself (I suppose he had grace to begin with) and in the process Indian cricket by stooping to the depths, which I thought, only Jagmohan Dalmiya can plump.
I had somehow expected Pawar to stay away from selection issues. Pawar’s repeated statements that he will not interfere in the selection of Indian team made me think that he will do just that and drag that feckless manipulator to the side. Pawar has done just that.
Like the politician without any scruple, like the politician who is happy to take votes from either side, Pawar has forced selectors to bring back the curse of Ganguly into Team India.
But if the SMS mob and professional hecklers in Calcutta think they have won this battle they are mistaken.
Sourav Ganguly’s humiliation has just begun. The chairman of National selectors, Kiran More, again has done his volte-face. “Sourav has experience and runs behind him. If you see the recent record and statistics, he hasn't done well but we needed his experience on this tour. We wanted to give youngsters a chance on the Sri Lanka tour. I am not saying he will play in the XI. That will be selected by the team management and one selector who will accompany the team on the tour."
Experience! To carry the drinks!
More has reminded Ganguly’s backers that it is the team management – India skipper Rahul Dravid, Greg Chappell and team manager Raj Singh Dungarpur – who will decide whether India needs Ganguly’s experience out there in the middle.
I will not be surprised, and not will be the rest of India, if the team management prefers to keep Ganguly as the 12th man. That must be the price Ganguly will have to pay for prolonging his career by playing politics.
Let’s us not worry too much over Ganguly. He has chosen humiliation over oblivion; now let him have it.
In this case, Team India’s biggest supporters will be Shoaib Akhtar and rest of the Pakistan fast bowlers. Sourav Ganguly, the cricketer, will be put to sleep by the lullaby of Pakistan pacers.
Let the series begin.
Team:
Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Sourav Ganguly, Wasim Jaffer, Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Parthiv Patel, MS Dhoni, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ajit Agarkar and RP Singh.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Enjoy Team India

By John Cheeran
Enjoy. Team India has stolen MTV’s theme.
Virender Sehwag, after leading India to a thumping Test win at Ahmedabad, said the upswing in team’s fortunes has been due to the fact that in the new regime – read Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid – players are having fun.
“We are enjoying our cricket and that has translated into positive results. There is no other secret and all of us are wanting to win,” said Sehwag.
Sehwag gave credit to the team management for the splendid wins the side has carved out in recent times.
It is significant that he thanked coach Chappell in public to let the world know that no one is missing Ganguly in the dressing room. May be, who knows, Chappell is not the dictator he has been made out to be in certain section of the media.
I’m sure each time India lost wickets in the Ahmedabad Test, especially in the initial phase of Indian first innings, Chappell baiters would have been licking their lips in anticipation of an Indian rout by the Sri Lankans.
For Ganguly’s shameless backers, a defeat and an Indian batting collapse would have given enough fuel to run the campaign for Bengali reservation in Team India.
To their credit, these bunch of players have showed the resilience to bounce back time and again.
But then the important point is this.
Victories spur the nation’s expectations and enormous amount of hard work is required to maintain the winning streak. Tougher challenges are ahead and they will keep coming.
Enjoy Team India.

Is Ganguly to open for India in Tests?

By John Cheeran
What did Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) President Sharad Pawar discuss with Sourav Ganguly when they met at his residence in New Delhi?
Ganguly says no comments. Pawar repeats no comments.
BCCI media committee chairman Rajeev Shukla says the two did not discuss selection matters. “Selection is left to selectors. They talked about the general health of Indian cricket."
Interesting.
If Pawar wanted to speak about the general health of Indian cricket he should better be speaking to skipper Rahul Dravid who is convalescing in Ahmedabad. Why speak to Ganguly who has overstayed in Indian cricket?
Why can't he sit together with the entire Indian squad to get feedback on the health of Indian cricket?
Or did Ganguly and Pawar discuss the agricuture policy and farmers' plight in rural India?Everyone knows that Ganguly went to New Delhi to plead with Pawar for a ticket to Pakistan. Though Pawar has been parroting the lines that he will not interfere with the selection process and selectors will have a free hand to make their decisions, the Union Agriculture minister is keen to sow the seeds of his longevity at the board helm by trying to please the Jagmohan Dalmiya group.
Bringing Ganguly back into the Indian side where nobody wants him -- neither coach Greg Chappell nor skipper Rahul Dravid nor any other senior team members -- would be the most regressive step Indian cricket can ever take.
Selectors and team management are justified in keeping Yuvraj Singh in the side in place of Ganguly. Yuvraj Singh has come good again in crisis; VVS Laxman has played another brilliant innings to hold together the Indian innings in the absence of Dravid.
Only Mohammad Kaif has failed in the middle order but he has been just given one Test to perform; Kaif remains an integral part to India's World Cup designs. His ebullient fielding alone commands a place in the one-day side. In the Ahmedabd Test, Kaif has taken five catches adding extra value to his role.
Rumours are already in circulation that selectors will opt for a sixteen-member side for Pakistan instead of the traditional 15, so that India can carry the curse of Ganguly to Pakistan. If selectors want to leave out anyone from the current squad it will be probably Kaif, who has no sponsors. There is no doubt that unwarranted pressure is brought upon the Kiran More-led the selection committee.
Evil has protean quality, I'm told. It can take any shape.
May be Ganguly can change into any form to slip into the Indian team. Specialist batsman. All rounder. Or will he sneak into the Indian side as an opener ousting a struggling Gautam Gambhir?
Will Rahul Dravid get a Chritsmas present he would not like to open?

India thump Sri Lanka by 259 runs

By John Cheeran
Team India has proved in a convincing manner that there are no places in this side, for those who living in the past.
India thumped Sri Lanka by 259 runs in the third and final Test to win the Videocon Cup Test series 2-0.
And also to remind those who are out in the cold that, they will have to push their way into this side not with politicking, but with sterling shows on the field.
Anil Kumble, playing in his 100th Test, took five wickets in the second innings while Harbhajan Singh added three wickets to his first innings tally of seven. Harbhajan won the Man-of-the-match award while Kumble was the Man-of-the-Series.
Stand-in skipper Virender Sehwag has kept the winning momentum unleashed by Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell.
If the BCCI President Sharad Pawar does not slip into the role of Super Selector to drag Sourav Ganguly into the team, skipper Rahul Dravid has a chance to carry forward the good work in the new year.

Ganguly as an MP? Here is MJ Akbar's take

Editor’s note: I haven’t found anything better written on the subject of Sourav Ganguly than this piece by Asian Age editor-in-chief M.J. Akbar.
I read his comment in the Pakistan newspaper Dawn’s opinion page. I can vouch for Akbar’s passion for cricket as he often used to barge into the Asian Age sports desk and offer solutions to our headline woes. That was, however, years ago.
He hasn’t lost the passion for the game and here, Akbar says, no player is bigger than a national team. Now read the story.
Why can't Ganguly be an MP?
By M.J. Akbar
Here follows a solution to the most compelling and complex challenge facing contemporary India.
Suggestion No. 1: If Govinda can become a member of parliament, why can't Sourav Ganguly? The Congress leaders of Bengal, defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and information and broadcasting minister Priya Ranjan Das Munshi have expressed the deepest concern over his fate and future. The Congress has such a shortage of candidates that they put up the hapless Nafisa Ali from Kolkata, although the chances of any voter below 60 recalling that she was born in the city were as remote as thepossibility of George Bush winning an election from Fallujah.
While Govinda needed a Congress wave in Mumbai to defeat Ram Naik, Sourav Ganguly could generate a pretty strong tide between Narkeldanga and Garia on his own. After all, it is fear of alienating the young voter in Kolkata on the eve of the Bengal assembly elections that made Pranab Babu (whose knowledge of cricket, shall we say, is not quite up to selector-level) and Priya Da (whose knowledge of football has made India a 10th-rank world power in the game) identify themselves with the former captain of the Indian cricket team.The logic is simple: if Ganguly has become a vote-getter, let him get the votes for the party that needs them desperately in Bengal.
Ganguly certainly isn't much of a run-getter anymore, and, on the field, more of a run-giver than a run-saver. It is obvious that Sourav Ganguly has reached his first midlife crisis, andrequires both our total sympathy and what help we can provide. Since a sportsman's working life is short, midlife also comes earlier. Ganguly is too famous to belong to the shadows.
He needs limelight like a temperamental plant needs sunlight, or he will wither. There is no better limelight for him than membership of parliament. In fact, after getting him elected (a Congress MP could always resign in the national interest to make way for Sourav), the Congress could turn the limelight into a spotlight by making him minister for sports.
He could then use all the power and influence of office to get his friend and mentor Jagmohan Dalmiya re-elected as chief of the Board of Control for Cricket in India. The other advantage is that neither Shane Bond nor Shoaib Akhtar will ever get elected to the Lok Sabha, so Sourav should shine in the House.
Suggestion No. 2: The selection of the Indian cricket team, the only team that matters to India, should be done by the same process that is used to select Indian pop idols like the new Kashmiri role-model Qazi Tauqeer and the svelte Bengali girl Ruprekha Banerjee. We are a proud democracy, and once vox populihas spoken there can be no further argument.
The Voice of the People is the Voice of God. This would take reality TV into a new dimension and assuage the ravenous hunger of TV channels for ratings. In one stroke, all TV channels could become profitable. It would also appease the insatiable appetite of mobile phone companies, since the poll would, naturally, be conducted on SMS.
Any other form of polling would take time and have to be managed by the election commission. If the EC were involved, it would stagger voting into six phases over two months, and you don't get that much time between matches.
So, my apologies to the election commission, but there it is: what is good for Bihar may not necessarilybe good for Indian cricket. A television-SMS driven cricket selection process would have enormous beneficial side-effects. I have already mentioned that the channels would become profitable, but look at what it would do for politicians.
TV channels would no longer need to hit under the belt of Nehru suits or under the folds of dhotis with hidden cameras to get the stings that drive up ratings. They would have neither time nor interest in exposing politicians, for cricket polls would bring in far, far more revenue. Consider the ad rates for a10-second spot just after the DJ (yes, sexily-dressed disc jockeys would run the show, not news anchors) announced, And the winner is...! But before we tell you the name, ek chota sa break..."
Since selection is already all about frenzy, imagine the frenzy generated by election. It would also be a well-funded election. All candidates would be backed by those industrial houses whose goodsthey sponsor.We are talking multinational money here, my friends; not something siphoned off for asking questions in parliament.
If Indian politicians think that their elections have become expensive, they should watch what happens when Hutch takes on Airtel in the cricket stakes. I can see advertising agencies, direct marketing firms, opinion pollsters and public relations agenciessprouting up just to get their hands on the additional business. There will inevitably come a point when the BCCI charges a royalty of one rupee for every vote cast.If there is money to be made, you are not going to be able to keep the BCCI out of the loot, no matter whether it is headed by Jagmohan Dalmiya or Sharad Pawar.
Business is business. If things go well, and there is no reason why they should not, cricket-elections could add one per cent to India's economic growth, thereby enabling the government to fund the rural guaranteed employment scheme and keep the interest rates for pension funds at 9.5 per cent.
This would immediately stabilize the coalition government of Dr Manmohan Singh, and ensure that a prime minister as clean as him remained in office till 2009. I can see nothing but the pervasive glow of good news in my scheme.
Suggestion No. 3: Ramanathan Krishnan should be brought back as captain of the Indian Davis Cupteam, possibly along with Naresh Kumar and Akhtar Ali in the squad.
The most persistent reason I have heard for retaining the "mahan kalakar", as an MP described him, in the team, is that Ganguly was so brilliant. Indeed he was. There are very few joys in my life as great as watching Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar in partnership at their best. It was magic.
I think it was Dravid who described him as a god on the off-side. Trust me, those of us who have seen Ganguly at his best find it double embarrassing when Shane Bond turns him into ajumping jack, and every bowler who can pitch the ball short gets an extra nip when he sees Ganguly at the crease. Any player should hate the thought of television highlighting his follies on the news. It is not a pretty sight.
It is also absolutely true that Ganguly was a great team leader once, and deserves every acknowledgment. I am very serious when I suggest that he must be honoured in some way for his talent and his contribution to modern Indian cricket. What he could not handle was decay, which is always slow, invisible to you but obvious to everyone else. The rewards of sport are commensurate with its demands and dangers.
The worst wound to a sportsman's mind is the stab of fear. Once that lodges in your subconscious, it destroys you. Instead of dealing with theproblem, Ganguly sought to prolong his sporting life with politics in the dressing room and the boardroom. Indian cricket has been jinxed with its captains. Kapil Dev hung around not for the good of the team but to beat a world record in a tussle between age and utility. Azharuddin needed a disgraceful scam to be thrown out, and brought shame to a game he had done much to glorify.
The Sachin Tendulkars who can leave the captaincy because it is hurting their contribution to the team are very rare.
When Sachin's time comes to go, he will not wait to be pushed. He will not surrender the aura around his name for that one series more in which you tip over into an abyss.Even the most emotional of Ganguly's supporters argues that he should have been treated better because hewas so good. The "was" is subconscious but accurate.
No player is bigger than a national team. We have a team today that can over the next two seasons be knitted into a winner of the World Cup in the West Indies. Or we can shred it into pieces, as the West Indies did to their once-phenomenal side.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The Hindu's take on Ganguly

Editor’s note: Here I reproduce the editorial The Hindu wrote on Sourav Ganguly.
The Hindu is owned by the Kasturis in Madras, and its current chief editor is N. Ram, a former university level cricketer, he used to be a wicketkeeper, and belongs to owner’s family.
The Hindu has no edition in Calcutta and it is highly unlikely they will ever have one there.
The Hindu has editions in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and New Delhi. It is the only mainstream English newspaper that has a sport weekly.
Now read the editorial.
A hard choice on Ganguly
The decision of the BCCI selectors to drop Sourav Ganguly from the Indian squad for the third Test against Sri Lanka has predictably sparked unruly protests in his home city, Kolkata. With several former Indian players joining in the castigation of the selectors, Ganguly has been made out to be a pawn in a larger power game. The move has been linked to the recent change in regime at the Board of Control for Cricket in India that saw Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar replacing Kolkata strongman Jagmohan Dalmiya as president.
Why, ask detractors of the selectors' decision, was Ganguly dropped despite scores of 40 and 39 in the second Test against Sri Lanka in New Delhi? The accusation put forth is that the three selectors, who were instrumental in Ganguly's inclusion in the squad for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka after he was left out of the ODI side, were replaced by men preferred by the current regime.
Such a line of thought is as simplistic as it is damaging. The root of this issue lies in his initial selection for the first Test against Sri Lanka. Despite strenuous arguments from coach Greg Chappell that Ganguly did not fit into the scheme of things, the team was saddled with the left-hander, courtesy the aforementioned three selectors. Leaving Ganguly out of the eleven would have been in poor taste, and the management was forced to play him in the first two Tests. The logic behind including Ganguly in Test cricket while leaving him out of one-day cricket where he had enjoyed greater success was feeble.
The three former selectors left the new committee with a hornet's nest, and in attempting to grapple with it, the present wise men have stirred it further. While the thinking behind Ganguly's ouster is sound - afterall, Yuvraj Singh, aged 24, is more valuable to the side in his current form - its handling leaves a lot to be desired. The team management, looking ahead, sees no role for Ganguly as is evident from Chappell's explicitly articulated position vis-à-vis the former captain.
Yet things might have been very different had one of the BCCI bigwigs, or even Chairman of the Selection Committee Kiran More, spent a little time with Ganguly and tried to convince him that it would be in his own interests to quit. Perhaps they could even have offered the Ahmedabad Test as a grand stage for him to bid farewell to internationalcricket. In the event, what was clearly lacking was foresight and finesse in handling a sensitive issue, one involving a senior cricketer who has always triggered strong reactions in fans, opponents, and officials alike.
In this latest episode, as in every other critical point in Ganguly's career, we find that the middle ground is so thinly populated as to be irrelevant. When it comes to the Prince of Kolkata, people love to inhabit extremes when making judgments.But when you rid yourself of raw emotions - of the sort that has driven a few short-sighted people to play dangerously with combustible regional sentiments while ignoring the larger picture - and take a clear view of the history of the game, you will find many examples of such choice: most Australian captains inrecent times have been forced to relinquish not just leadership but their Test spot as well.
While the thinking is justifiable in the Indian context, its translation into action has been shabby. India's most successful captain deserved to have been treated with more grace and diplomacy. Looking back, the initial error in selecting Ganguly for the Tests ensured that his exit has come amid rancour and ill-will even as the issue has been dragged all the way to Parliament.

Times of India's take on Ganguly

Editor’s note: I’m reproducing this editorial the Times of India wrote on Sourav Ganguly.
Times of India is owned by Samir Jain and currently its executive editor is Jaydeep Bose. Times has an edition in Calcutta but then it has largest selling editions in Mumbai, New Delhi and Bangalore.
The pan-Indian tone and tenor of this editorial not only reflects good judgment of the situation but is a clear reflection of their all-India readership. Now read the editorial.
Parochial Pitch
Few describe Sachin Tendulkar as a Marathi cricketer. Kannadigas don't seek to conduct identity politics around Rahul Dravid or Anil Kumble. And rightly so. Cricket has gone beyond being merely a national pastime; it is now a national passion.
The current ruckus over Sourav Ganguly's exclusion from the Indian team threatens to upset this consensus over cricket. Fanatics in Kolkata are out on the streets, some even disrupting road and rail traffic. Politicians from Bengal have overcome ideological differences to tom-tom their nativism. CPM MP Brinda Karat and Congress minister Priyaranjan Dasmunshi are seething over the 'injustice' done to Ganguly. CPI MP Gurudas Dasgupta seems to have discovered a new working-class hero in Ganguly and has dashed off a letter to BCCI president Sharad Pawar seeking amends.
Pawar, always a politician, has sensed the way the wind is blowing and has expressed distress over Ganguly's exclusion from the team. In any case, Pawar had made his sympathies for the former Indian captain well known when he described him as one of the "finest all-rounders India has produced".
Irony comes naturally to our agriculture minister. All that the BCCI can do now is to offer insurance policies to the seven men who "unanimously" decided to opt for Yuvraj Singh in the middle order and Wasim Jaffer for the opening batsman's slot. It can be argued that Ganguly, who has an illustrious past as a cricketer, should have been treated with more grace.But there should be no argument over the prerogative the five selectors, the coach and the captain have in team selection.
No doubt, they should be held accountable for their decisions. Every selection is subjective and open to criticism. However, the criticism should be located in the domain of sporting excellence. Its articulation should not be disruptive. Public opinion, especially in sporting matters, is fickle even if passionate. In such instances, parliamentarians, instead of echoing parochial sentiments, should step in, if at all they need to, and defuse the situation.
Let us not forget that Ganguly played for India on cricketing merits and not as Bengal's representative. A debate over Ganguly's value for the present team may not end in a consensus in his favour. But no good will be done to him if political pressure is used to force his entry into the team. Cricket fans should also show some concern for the team which is in the middle of a Test series.

Indian Batting: Upside Down

By John Cheeran
Next time India miss skipper Rahul Dravid, it would be better for coach Greg Chappell, the man who brought the message of change into the dusty dressing rooms, to reverse the team’s batting order radically.
Put the last five batsmen as the first; and then keep the regular openers as No.10 and No. 11.
Put the rest of the guys between No.6 and No.9.
This may not be a bad idea, after India put 509 runs as winning target for Sri Lanka in the Ahmedabad Test.
India’s both innings in this Test shared the same ups and downs. In the first innings India was at 97 for five before recovering to post 398.
In the second innings, India lost Virender Sehwag off the first ball and was 100 for five. They eventually flourished to declare at 316 for nine on the fourth morning.
How did India get right the second half of their innings on both occasions?
It is true that one specialist batsman was there to perform the lead role in crisis.
In the first innings VVS Laxman came up with a determined effort to post, what is so far, the only century of this Test.
It was left to Yuvraj Singh to provide the thrust in the second essay with his belligerent knock of 75 off 83 balls. Laxman’s and Yuvraj’s innings were different in character but both lifted Indian spirits.
But this story is all about the Indian tail wagging at Sri Lankan bowlers. In both innings, the last five wickets came up with wonderful batting to log 300 and 200 runs respectively.
Irfan Pathan (82, 162 balls and 27, 34 balls), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (49 and 14), Ajit Agarkar (26, 69 balls and 48, 43balls), Anil Kumble (21 and 29) and Harbhajan Singh (8 and 40).
Any Test side could be proud of such bonus performance from its non-specialist batsmen. The valuation of their runs goes up since it came under pressure.
What would have been otherwise called as a crisis (97 for five and 100 for five), these men turned into an opportunity to reveal their hidden talent.
If there is any change since Greg Chappell and Rahul Dravid came together it is in the attitude of Team India members to maximize efforts in all directions of the game. Be it fielding, batting or bowling.
And I must say Irfan Pathan’s success as a batsman has inspired the rest of the bowlers to give it a try with the bat. Pathan has scored in one-dayers and Tests; played as an opener and lower down the order to notch really, really big scores.
If Pathan can do it, why not others?
But Pathan and rest of the non-specialists hold one advantage over the top order, the specialists. They have no fear of failure with bat. Their core competency is not batting; hence they could afford to be much more positive while executing a job which would be essentially will be looked upon as a bonus by the team management.
The fear of failure has played a big role as openers Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Mohammad Kaif struggled to stitch together a creditable innings.
It was a demanding situation out there and it called for pushing your luck. Yuvraj Singh has lived up to that challenge and if he has succeeded it is because he has conquered the fear of failure first, then the bowlers.

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Sehwag commits suicide at the crease

By John Cheeran
Burden of captaincy has not changed the carefree ways of Virender Sehwag. What a pity, I must say.
Spinners Harbhajan Singh and Anil Kumble had done India and skipper Sehwag a big favour by doing two things rightly.
First, these two ensured that India enjoy a huge first innings lead of 192 runs after they were reeling at 97 for five.
Second, and equally important, Harbhajan and Kumble avoided a Sri Lankan follow on.
Had Sri Lanka fell short of the follow on mark, skipper Sehwag would have been under pressure to enforce it, there by denying himself and Gautam Gambhir a second chance to redeem their batting fortunes.
Batting fourth on this wicket would really be a difficult proposition to even a batsman in good touch. Big scores have eluded Sehwag this season; opener Gambhir is battling for his place in the side.
Batting woes are not just limited to the Delhi dazzlers.
A second chance would help even Mohammad Kaif, who failed in the first innings after making a comeback to the Test arena.
That explains the context of Indian second innings at Ahmedabad.
And then what happens?
Sehwag goes for the hook off the very first ball of the innings sent down by Lasith Malinga. Sehwag is an instinctive player; an anti-thesis to a conventional opener. But Sehwag should learn to refine those instincts so that the balls that should be left alone, should be left alone.
Sehwag’s dismissal came as a big a disappointment. That was the quickest suicide I have ever seen at the batting crease.
I agree, India could afford losing an early wicket; but Indian top order has not distinguished itself in the last innings. A steady opening partnership would have boosted not just Sehwag’s confidence but Team India’s morale too.
But skipper Sehwag quickly handed over a slice of the hard earned advantage to Sri Lankan bowlers.
May be, India will win this Test.
Sehwag would be remembered for leading India to win in his very first Test as captain.
But Sehwag’s suicide will continue to haunt me, even if India wins.

Harbhajan conquers his own demons

By John Cheeran
Performers have nothing to fear but themselves.
Harbhajan Singh, a proven match-winner for India, does not enjoy coach’s confidence was one of the rumours that gained in currency as the off spinner went forward to defend the disgraced skipper Sourav Ganguly.
Well, the equation between two individuals and especially the equation between the coach and a player, must be left only to those two involved.
A difference of opinion is one thing; giving your best for team at all times is quite another.
Harbhajan Singh, the gutsy fighter and fierce competitor that he is, has come up with a superb effort to spin out Sri Lanka in the first innings for 206.
India’s leading off-spinner has turned the direction of the spotlight to his side by taking seven Sri Lankan wickets for 62 runs. Bhajji’s brilliant bowling has given India a big advantage; a huge first innings lead of 192 runs.
On Monday afternoon, Harbhajan struck repeatedly to paralyze the Sri Lankan innings.
Harbhajan opened out the game for India by sending back a well-set skipper Marvan Atapattu and Mahela Jayawardene.
On Tuesday, Harbhajan got more support from Anil Kumble.
Kumble, playing in his 100th Test, broke through the defence of Jehan Mubarak. That made the things quicker for India.
And Harbhajan kept spinning the ball effectively to spread doubts in the batsmen’s minds.
Though the Sri Lanka escaped the ignominy of a follow on, Indian spinners ensured that they did not flourish there.
All credit goes to, who else, Harbhajan Singh.
In the new era of Indian cricket it is not loyalty that counts. Wickets and runs determine and shape your career. And that as well determines your side’s fortunes. Harbhajan deserves his place in the side; and he has earned it through splendid efforts such as the one at Ahmedabad.
Now, it is up to Harbhajan to play his cricket fearlessly, as he has been doing in the past.
And I’m sure Greg Chappell and skipper Rahul Dravid will make things easier for the youngster by offering solace if and when things turn doosra.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Laxman crosses the century border

By John Cheeran
VVS Laxman did not disappoint India.
VVS consummated his overnight innings by scoring a well-deserved century on Monday morning, his ninth in Test cricket, at Ahmedabad.
Laxman’s century could not have come at a better time for India.
His 104, spread over 237 balls, held the Indian innings together after the hosts were reduced to 97 for five on the first day.
It is a ton worth its weight in gold.
Laxman’s discipline and determination ensured that India did not fritter away the opportunity of a sizeable score on Monday. He made his journey from 71 to 100 with ease against Sri Lanka’s action heroes Lasith Malinga and Muttaiah Muralitharan.
Many batsmen fail to convert their half-centuries to the coveted three-figure mark. Laxman himself has been a culprit in the past, having scored 23 of them in the process of acquiring 4000 plus runs in Tests.
At the end of it, Laxman must be a very, very happy man and a happy batsman. He has silenced his critics by scoring a timely hundred and has helped India to avoid a rout and post a score from where they could hope to force a win.
The disappointment of VVS missing out on a really big one should be compensated, however, by some aggressive bowling from Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.

Sunday, December 18, 2005

Laxman, play it big, really big

By John Cheeran
Great men choose the stage when they have to come good.
When rest of the world fails, VVS Laxman steps in to perform.
VVS’s unbeaten and unhurried innings of 71 on the first day of the Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka was no different.
Laxman is someone who has been genetically programmed to hit peak from when chips are down.
In the context of this Test, Laxman’s unfinished innings of 71 compiled off 194 balls, acquires more sheen than many other Test centuries that Indian batsmen have piled up in recent times.
Straightaway I can see this one is much better than Sourav Ganguly’s century in Bulawayo. And better than many similar survival acts.
A calming presence as Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif became part of a procession, Laxman ensured that he stayed away from the madness at the other end. From 97 for five, India has recovered to 247 for six mainly thanks to Laxman’s willingness and determination to stay at the wicket. A natural stroke player, Laxman today was forced to eschew the flamboyant shots from his innings.
Except for a bat and pad shout he survived, Laxman played a convincing innings.
He used his soft hands against spinners to good effect and now Team India needs a big, really big innings from Laxman.
Batting on this slow and low wicket would test the patience of any batsman and a little more positive approach from Laxman is likely to yield better results.
In the New Delhi Test, VVS was set for a big score in the first innings but Muttaiah Muralitharan’s doosra curtailed that effort.
There has never been any question marks about Laxman’s class as a batsman since his defining innings of 287 against Australians in Calcutta.
His biggest drawback in international cricket has been lack of consistency. May be Laxman is not getting enough kick to get going when he sees other batsmen get going.
But VVS should remember that a touch of consistency will not do any harm for his longevity in the Team India.
Go for it Laxman.

Ganguly, why are you not playing in Ranji Trophy?

By John Cheeran
Sourav Ganguly desperately wants to play for India.
National selectors say Team India has no place for him.
So what do you do? If it had been any other cricketer, who has been dropped from the Indian team and yet wants to make a comeback, the obvious choice would be to play at the next available opportunity to tell the selectors they have made an error in leaving out you.
How do you do that?
You go back to the Ranji Trophy contests.
Play for your state side and hammer the bowling and post a huge score, as huge as you can get it. And hope that some of the established batsmen in the Team India fail so that you can stake your claims for a slot in the side.
Well, that’s the way cricketers, just not in India but world over, win back their place.
That, however, involves hard work.
And hard work and Ganguly do not go hand in hand.
Ganguly, of course, wants to be with Team India but he is not keen to work hard for it. Otherwise, he should have been playing for Bengal in their crucial Ranji Trophy game against Karnataka which began on Saturday in Mysore.
Skipper Rahul Dravid’s backyard would have been the ideal stage for Ganguly to prove his detractors wrong.
Not for the Maharaj. Why should he do the Ranji Trophy grind when Jagmohan Dalmiya writes letters to BCCI President and Union Minister Sharad Pawar to ensure the Bengal quota in the Indian team.
Why should Ganguly sweat it out when Parliament wants to admonish selectors in leaving him out?
Has he not performed enough poojas, and his supporters burnt enough number of effigies of Greg Chappell and Kiran More?
Or as is the tradition in Indian cricket, has he booked the ticket to Pakistan through his agent Dalmiya?
I would be the last person to be surprised, if that, indeed, is the case.

Don’t pussyfoot, Team India

By John Cheeran
There is no place for half-heated measures either in life or in cricket.
If you are playing the ball, play it hard.
Hit it hard when you are playing wily foxes like Muttaiah Muralitharan. Don’t let them dominate you.
Purists may frown at such a tactic, but it works invariably.
Playing only in his third Test Mahendra Singh Dhoni proved it yesterday, after the Indian boat was rocked by Sri Lanka’s action heroes Lasith Masinga and Muraliharan.
India, without skipper Rahul Dravid, was 97 for five at one stage after Virender Sehwag won the toss at Ahmedabad.
Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif failed the morning test.
Tendulkar, Yuvraj and Kaif were victims of pussyfooting at the crease and they had no business to lose their wickets to spinners in the manner they did.
There is a problem in top order and Dravid and coach Greg Chappell cannot ignore it any longer.
The problem essentially remains lack of solid opening partnership. It is quite unfortunate that even the challenge of leading the side has not inspired Sehwag to play a long innings.
It was then left to VVS Laxman (unbeaten on 71), Dhoni and Irfan Pathan (unbeaten 39) to rescue the Indian innings and help the hosts end the first day at 247 for six.
Dhoni played a one-day innings.
But he had a positive approach to the task at hand, never letting go any opportunity to score runs. His confident and sure-footed ways gave the Indian innings the much needed impetus. In the process Dhoni also helped his individual cause by hitting off 49 runs.
Later, Irfan Pathan came up with a splendid innings. Pathan proved that the 93 he scored at Feroz Shah Kotla was no flash in the pan. He was supremely confident against the danger man Muralitharan.
With his father and rest of the family watching from the stands, the young Indian all rounder went on the offensive. Runs flowed and India flourished.
Team India needs such efforts from its able and willing performers. Throughout the domestic season, both in one-dayers and Tests, including today, Indian batting had its moment of doubts but on each occasion someone has stepped into stitch together a modest total.
This, I must say, is a new and welcome trait in Team India.

Voice of cricket or voice of loyalty?

By John Cheeran
How truthful are our cricketers?
Or better still our former cricketers, when faced with a question of cricket?
It is like everyone has an arse, and all former cricketers have an opinion.
So it was not surprising when lots of those Ex-es jumped in to comment on the Sourav Ganguly dismissal.
It was important to have a neutral voice to lend credibility to the cacophony of a campaign to reserve a place for West Bengal in the Indian team. That neutral voice apparently came from EAS Prasanna.
The news agencies were describing Prasanna as the spin legend. Prasanna, as everyone knows, played for Karnataka in Ranji Trophy and hails from Bangalore, home to Indian captain Rahul Dravid.
If you get a man from Bangalore to speak for Ganguly, wouldn’t that be the argument-clinching voice?
“I am shocked. I don't think he should have been treated like this. He performed quite well in the Delhi Test (against Sri Lanka). Dropping him from the third Test defies logic," Prasanna said.
"He has served Indian cricket for years. You can't treat such a cricketer so shabbily," an upset Prasanna added. "To sum up, I feel that history has repeated itself. This is the manner in which we have been treating our heroes. And this is one more such case," he said.
Noble sentiments, indeed.
But what the reports concealed was the fact Prasanna lives these days in Calcutta and he is the son-in-law to the City of Joy. Prasanna’s loyalties are more with Bengal than to Bangalore.
So it was natural that Prasanna, the so called neutral voice, was used as a megaphone for Ganguly.
And quite a few Mr Ex-es from Delhi too ventured to support Ganguly. Is that a surprise when Delhi and District Cricket Association voted for Dalmiya lobby in the board elections?
Chetan Chauhan, Maninder Singh and Surinder Khanna all sympathized with Ganguly. Kirti Azad, another one to lose out in the BCCI battle, said that it was one of the saddest days in the annals of Indian cricket.
“No one can raise a finger at his performance in Delhi. He was involved in good partnerships. I am shocked. I am running short of words to explaining how I feel,” he said.
Azad’s comments show how badly hurt he is by the BCCI bruise. Other worthies to offer sound bites in favour of Ganguly were East Zone stalwarts Arun Lal and Saba Karim. What else can they say?
I should mention that in Sharad Pawar’s backyard, Dilip Vengsarkar came in support of Ganguly. But then Vengsarkar is the rebel in Mumbai, who had lost his own fights within the Mumbai Cricket Association.
Former wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani too expressed his sympathies. But the Karnataka Cricket Association has been in love with Dalmiya and Kirmani was chairman of selectors when Dalmiya ruled the roost.
See, the kind of axes all these former cricketers carry around with them so that they can grind them whenever the opportunities arise.
In this cacophony of voices, one should do well to remember that those who have remained silent too have own thoughts.

Sri Lankan action heroes wreck India

By John Cheeran
Action heroes never go out of fashion.
Whether it is in movies or in cricket they often come to visit us to remind us of their potential to create mayhem.
Normally you have only one action hero at a given time. It is Sri Lanka’s fortune that they have taken two action heroes to Ahmedabad Test against India.
Lasith Malinga and Muttaih Muralithran did their job brilliantly after Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Attapattu lost the toss again.
It was Malinga who struck the initial blows. He had openers Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag for breakfast.
Then stepped in Muralithran.
Muralitharan was so hungry that he had Sachin Tendulkar and Yuvraj Singh in the same over.
On a slow, low wicket Malinga’s round arm action kept troubling the Indian batsmen.
Malinga’s action also reminded me of those days when we were taking aims at mangoes in our backyard. May be there are more mangoes in Sri Lanka to take aim at than in India.
Juicy thought indeed!

A learning curve for Ganguly

By John Cheeran
Sourav Ganguly, the man who broke down at the news of his ouster from the Indian Test team, has spoken finally.
Ganguly had interesting things to say.
Ganguly said in Calcutta that he respected the selectors' decision. “Whatever has happened, I respect the selectors' decision and I am sure with my performance, I'll again get opportunity to play in the future. It is for my respect that it is important to respect Indian cricket.”
Did Ganguly have any other choice other than respect selectors decision?
Was Ganguly expecting that heckling and effigy burning in the streets of Calcutta will force Kiran More to reverse his decision?
Or was he expecting that Jagmohan Dalmiya will use his clout to get him play in Ahmedabad?It took Ganguly five days, till the eve of the Ahemdabad Test, to say that he accepts the inevitable.
By then, all hope had evaporated in Calcutta.
If Ganguly had said he respected selectors’ decision, as any player has to, in the immediate aftermath, he could have kept his dignity intact.
Now this retreat has been a forced one, devoid of any meaning.
Ganguly also appealed to his fans to desist from activities that disrupt normal life.
Again, did Ganguly have a choice?
It is a costly business to organize protest and I admit Ganguly has money. Still professional protestors are a demanding lot and even such a noble cause as the reinstatement of the last Bengali to play cricket for India has its limitations.
"Life needs to get back to normal and any bandh will jeopardise public life which is not right," Ganguly is reported to have said.
I read the Press Trust of India agency report with wonder, because it says “after Ganguly was sacked from the Indian team for the third Test against Sri Lanka, there has been an uproar in the entire country with former cricket players, politicians and film and television actors denouncing the national selectors' decision."
Entire country!
When did Calcutta become the entire country for India’s leading news agency?
Later, the report went on to say, “Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal have witnessed large-scale disruption of public life, with people squatting on railway tracks and putting up road blocks.”
Ah, now you know of the quality of journalism in Dateline Kolkata!

Pawar hits Dalmiya for a six

By John Cheeran
Sharad Pawar has taken his time, but he has given a fitting reply to Jagmohan Dalmiya.
President of Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has told Dalmiya that it was "not proper" on his part to interfere in the selection committee's decision to drop Sourav Ganguly from the Indian cricket team for the Ahmedabad Test.
In his reply to Dalmiya's letter, which urged reinstatement of Ganguly, Pawar said "I understand the feelings of Sourav fans, but I am of firm opinion that we should not interfere with the selection process as the selectors are appointed by the General Body and we must repose faith in them.
“I am sure Ganguly will fight back into the Indian team by his performance,” Pawar said.
”I wish to draw your attention to the fact that when Ganguly was not selected for the one-day internationals against Sri Lanka and South Africa, there was a big debate," Pawar said.
”However, my predecessor Ranbir Singh Mahendra did not intervene in the matter of selection as he must have rightly felt that it would set a bad precedent.”
Now here are my questions to Dalmiya.
What prompted him to ask Pawar to use his casting vote in selection?
Is it because Dalmiya, in the past, used to act like in the same manner?
Is Dalmiya confessing that he was the Super Selector when he and his cronies were in power? Everyone in Indian cricket knows that Sourav Ganguly was forced upon the Indian Test team when selectors chose the side for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka in Chennai.
If you remember, the selection committee meeting was advanced so as to help Dalmiya proxy Mahendra to ‘guide’ selectors and ensure Ganguly’s selection in the Test side.
The writing on the wall was clearly big enough at that stage for Dalmiya and Mahendra to read.
Hence they made Chairman of selectors Kiran More make a volte-face and bring in Ganguly there. The new selection committee has set that mistake right.
This was not the first time, a player or for that matter a former captain, has been dropped from the team.
Why I haven’t seen or heard Dalmiya making noises when players like VVS Laxman dropped from the team for World Cup?
Is it because Dalmiya’s heart bleeds only for Bengalis? I can sense the desperation of Dalmiya, to be seen as the protector of Bengali Bhadralok. But Pawar’s timely rebuff has now completed the humiliation of the Ganguly Gang.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Why it was a wise move to throw out Ganguly

By John Cheeran
Now it is clear that who was carrying Sourav Ganguly in the team for the last five years.
Jagmohan Dalmiya, Indian cricket’s Mr Casting Voter and Super Selector is shocked by the “injustice done to Ganguly.”
Really? Injustice! The meaning is that if he were the board supremo, he would have called up his cronies in the selection committee and gave them the necessary tips.
Is it any wonder that Dalmiya’s and Ganguly’s splendid careers have come to an end at the same time?
I was also touched by former national selector Sambaran Banerjee’s grief.
To sound grand, Banerjee said he had no problems in Ganguly getting dropped. (See the difference between the sorrows)
His problem is that selectors have chosen an opener, Mumbai’s Wasim Jaffer, instead of a middle order batsman.
Banerjee has no option but to admit that Jaffer is in terrific form in Ranji Trophy this season. He says Jaffer is a good batsman.
But Banerjee wants an eye for an eye.
Former selector wants a middle order bat for a middle order bat.
When you will grow up, Banerjee?
Don’t you know that there is no room in the Indian middle order?
Yuvraj Singh has staked his claims for No. 6 slot with an impressive, unbeaten 77 in the second innings of New Delhi Test. Even if Yuvraj fails there, the next man selectors should consider is not Ganguly but the ebullient Mohammad Kaif.
With Yuvraj and Kaif to guard the middle order in the team only some silly asses from East Zone could have gone for another middle order batsman..
To remind Banerjee and other professional protestors in Calcutta, Virender Sehwag is still alive as an opener and Indian vice-captain.
If you care to remember, even in the New Delhi Test, skipper Rahul Dravid created room for Ganguly and Yuvraj by switching the openers in both innings.
But Team India will prefer to have settled openers if possible. Selectors have retained Gautam Gambhir in the side, despite his twin failures in Delhi, since they feel the youngster deserves more opportunities at the top.
May be, selectors should have considered Ganguly as an opener in place of the failed Gambhir.
But I remember last time Ganguly sneaked into the team posing as an all rounder.
Here is a word of advice for Ganguly’s apologists who cannot see beyond their nose.
Do not stretch the Ganguly myth too far…lest it become a joke!

Why Calcutta is crying over Ganguly....

By John Cheeran
The desperation with which Calcuttans are clinging onto the free falling stock of Sourav Ganguly fascinates me.
It is a pity that West Bengal, (Waste Bengal as one wag has put it) has no heroes but Ganguly to celebrate.
When Congress managed to cobble together a coalition government at center, Pranab Mukhrejee had delusions of becoming the first Bengali Prime Minister of India. Sonia Gandhi, for all her faults, put Mukherjee in his rightful place.
Even Biharis have succeeded to vote out their rulers but all-knowing Bengalis time after time have sucked up to the Left Front. Where are the rebels? Where is the rebellion?
The rebellion has been mutated to heckling Indian cricket coach outside Eden Gardens. The cause has been reduced to the emancipation of Ganguly and to end the imperialism of Greg Chappell.
Eden Gardens can accommodate over 90,000 cricket fans. But these fanatical following has not translated into decent cricketers leave alone heroes.
The only decent cricketer that Bengal has given India in the last 25 years is Sourav Ganguly. When Ganguly became Indian cricket team’s captain many Bengalis treated the post as more prestigious than the office of Indian Prime Minister.
In this context, I can understand the Bengali angst when Ganguly was stripped off Indian captaincy, the last vestige of honour West Bengal had in contemporary India.
Calcuttans till now could boast of Jagmohan Dalmiya’s ICC heroics.
But Dalmiya’s role and rule in Indian cricket has almost ended with Sharad Power taking charge of the BCCI reins. There cannot be a bitter blow than this after Ganguly was sacked as Indian captain.
During Dalmiya’s hour of glory, Calcuttans had conveniently forgotten that Dalmiya is not a Bengali. The Bhadralok merged into the background as the Marwari took center stage.
I would like to point out one response in this context. When Eden Gardens had to be emptied of spectators to complete the Asian Championship Test against Pakistan in 1999 owing to crowd trouble, I had asked a few of Calcutta’s Bengali journalists how such things can happen in the City of Joy.
They assured me that it is not that Bengalis who come to watch cricket these days but rich Marwaris and the trouble lies with them. Is not this interesting?
They are all okay with Dalmiya, a Marwari, lording over Cricket Association of Bengal, but when crowd trouble happens at Eden, the blame is heaped on Marwaris!
Come to think of it, in a city that has so much passion for cricket, it imports players from outside to fill the Bengal Ranji Trophy squad!
Why doesn’t Calcutta’s blood boil when CAB allows a non-Bengali tourist, Rohan Gavaskar, to play for them?
For is it that the Great Bengali Cricket Fan admits that Bengal don’t have eleven quality players to make up a Ranji squad? Rules allow it, I know. Ranji teams like Kerala make space for India rejects like S Ramesh since they don’t have enough good players; even then the move has caused considerable heartburn among local cricketers.
Calcutta’s cupboard is empty not just in cricket. Even today, the josh for football remains the highest in Calcutta. But tell me, in the last 25 years is there any Bengali footballer who has emerged as India’s best?
I put this question to two Bengali journalists from Calcutta and they could not point out anyone. Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan make many critics’ list as the best footballer in last 25 years…They have played for Calcutta clubs but they are not Bengal’s own.
Even the Calcutta-based, so called giants of Indian club football – Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammadan Sporting – have fallen on troubled days. The current National League champions are Mahindra United, a Mumbai club.
The last Bengali footballer to be in news is Subhash Bowmick. Not for scripting any success but for accepting 1.5 lakhs as a bribe, misusing his official position as a CISF inspector which he secured as a footballer. And he had the cheek to hit the police inspector who was trying to catch him.
So much for Bengali bravado.
For heroes to emerge, bribes, casting votes and rigging of votes (in selection committee meetings, BCCI elections and polling booths) will not do always.
A touch of humility, loads of hard work and a slice of luck might take you there.
Keep trying, Calcutta.

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

Ganguly sacked; will Bengal secede from India?

By John Cheeran
All good things come to an end. And this should be the end of the road for Sourav Ganguly.
Not many would have prepared for this doosra from national selectors and coach Greg Chappell. The kind of dummy Chappell sold a section of Indian media by saying that Maharaj is a mentor for the juniors in the side should make some of the cricket writers a bit wiser. Always think for yourself.
But those who are not infected by the Sourav Syndrome could see it coming.
Let me put it bluntly.
I don’t have any tears to shed for Ganguly.
Sourav Ganguly did not deserve a place even in the team for the first two Tests against Sri Lanka purely on the basis his playing form. He has been a decent player who is unfortunately now out of touch with realities. He was considered as a good one-day player once but never the best in Test cricket.
Now remember this.
Ganguly has been a given a fair trial in the middle in the last two Tests and he had three innings. He scored five in Chennai, 40 and 39 in the New Delhi Test, which India won in an emphatic fashion.
Ganguly was hardly impressive during his twin essays at Feroze Shah Kotla; his crawl at the wicket was at the cost of Team India’s overall plan of getting quick runs. A man who was deemed as a decent player of spinners was all at sea against Muttaiah Muralitharan and Malinga Bandara.
Those who are in Ganguly’s pay roll, should realize that he is not an indispensable player in the current circumstances.
Look the pool of batsmen Indian selectors can fish from – Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Venugopla Rao, Wasim Jaffer, Amol Mazumdar, Akash Chopra, Shikhar Dhawan and S Sriram. The list can go on.
In fact Ganguly has been denying youngsters like Yuvraj Singh and Mohammad Kaif a regular place in the side using his prerogative as captain.
In this context, I appreciate the courage shown by chairman of selectors Kiran More to dump Ganguly for the greater good of Indian cricket.
Now there are no more hiding places for Ganguly in Indian cricket except Calcutta. More than the patchy, doubt-ridden innings Ganguly came up with in the New Delhi Test, which India won convincingly, what clinched the argument was the plucky innings from Yuvraj Singh.
Team India need youngsters who can give their body and soul to the game; not those pretenders with grand delusions of their glory.
Selectors have done the right thing. They have brought in Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer as there is little room for manoeuvre in the middle order with Yuvraj Singh and Kaif ready to fulfill their roles.
Ganguly’s apologists in the media, most notably Headlines Today and Aaaj Tak, have begun their customary but ludicrous defence of Maharaj.
It beats me that on a day when Team India carved out a exhilarating win over Sri Lanka, they could see Ganguly’s posterior bigger than anything else.
They roped in former Indian coach Anshuman Gaekwad to argue the case for Ganguly. Gaekwad says Ganguly was brought in as an all rounder but was not given a chance to bowl. Gaekwad you should know selectors pick players but it is the prerogative of captain how to use his players.
You wanted Rahul Dravid to gift Sri Lankan batsmen a perfect opportunity to defy his declaration by bringing on Ganguly to bowl.
I can understand your tears for Ganguly but your argument is the silliest, Mr Gaekwad.
Everyone knows that coach Chappell wanted an all rounder when selectors picked the Test team in Chennai but Jagmohan Dalmiya’s stooges foisted Ganguly on the team.
Selection committee– with its composition radically altered -- have rectified their Chennai mistake; they have axed a specialist batsman -- Ganguly – and brought in another batsman – Wasim Jaffer.
That’s a move solely based on cricket; not on emotions or board loyalties.
Now I’m waiting for Calcutta’s response.
As writer-activist Seema Goswami wrote in Hindustan Times a few weeks ago, West Bengal might as well decide to secede from the Indian Union on the Ganguly issue.

India beat Sri Lanka by 188 runs

By John Cheeran
In the end, it all seemed so easy. Skipper Rahul Dravid led Team India to a convincing victory – by 188 runs -- over Sri Lanka on the final day of the New Delhi Test.
Dravid and coach Greg Chappell have enough to reasons to be happy. Everyone in Team India –except opener Gautam Gambhir --played an important role in scripting this win.
For a change, Feroze Shah Kotla was not the traditional dust bowl. It offered enough opportunities for batsmen as well as bowlers. And in the end, it came as no surprise that the side that maximized their chances won the Test.
I’m quite happy with the way Indian bowlers went about their task in the fourth innings. It was not at all an easy task to hustle out Sri Lanka though the target of 436 was daunting. But then the pitch had eased out and though the bounce was low, it did not make the track unplayable.
And it mattered a lot that Anil Kumble was not left alone in getting those ten wickets as he had done in 1999 against Pakistan at Kotla.
The initial strike came from Irfan Pathan.
Skipper Dravid’s master move to bring back a wayward Ajit Agarkar to break the flourishing partnership between Kumar Sangakkara and Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Attapattu succeeded.
Then Kumble took over the real job. Kumble’s low catch to dismiss Attapattu off his own bowling turned the Test decisively in India’s favour.
There was no room for Kumble to get his perfect ten since rest of the bowlers were on target and it spared India the last hour tease.
This Test will be remembered, of course, for India’s emphatic win. But Sachin Tendulkar’s 35th Test century makes it all the more memorable.
So will be some of the tactical moves Dravid and Chappell made over the course of these absorbing five days.
Skipper Dravid, who was battling a viral infection on the eve of the match, lived up to the challenge of opening the innings in the absence of Virender Sehwag.
Dravid, of course, had opened in the past in Tests, but as a skipper there was no pressure on him to venture forth.
Then again Dravid brings a refreshing approach to captaincy; he is not afraid to take on responsibilities to further the Indian agenda. The ploy to send Irfan Pathan as opener in the second innings proved to be a masterstroke and it shows skipper Dravid is open to new ideas.
This was a team effort; VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh grabbed their chances to be among runs with relish and Agarkar held on to the lifeline thrown by Dravid.
Opportunities are not unlimited.
And that thought should help those who are struggling in the middle.

Tuesday, December 13, 2005

The power of positive approach

By John Cheeran
Play positive.
Sri Lanka’s plan for the last phase of the New Delhi Test is simple and it has begun to yield some fruits. And unlike India they are not carrying any extra baggage like Sourav Ganguly in their side.
The flood of runs that Feroze Shah Kotla witnessed on the penultimate day of the Test has sprouted the belief that the pitch has eased up considerably.
If that indeed is the case, Sri Lanka has the perfect opportunity to tease and test Indians to the last ball of this Test.
By then, Ganguly’s crawl at the wicket, especially in the second innings, will have cast its shadow when India will take a look at the big picture at the end of the day.
Marvan Attapattu and Kumar Sangakkara have played the initial overs to perfection during their chase of 435 runs for a victory.
Most importantly, they have not wasted any chance to score runs; they have approached this fourth innings chase as if they are playing a one-dayer.
The flurry of shots against pacers Ajit Agarkar and Irfan Pathan has given them the impetus to go the full distance.
Sri Lankans are up against history. No side has chased successfully such a big total in the fourth innings at Kotla.
But that should not deter the Lankans in their attempt to script a thrilling win, their first Test win if they can defy Indian spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh.
A Test for skipper Rahul Dravid.

Thank you, Muralitharan

By John Cheeran
Here is a big thank you for Muttiah Muralitharan.
For he has achieved what Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid or National Selectors failed to do.
India, and Team India, will be grateful to the Sri Lankan spin master, for removing Sourav Ganguly from the middle of action at the Feroze Shah Kotla on Tuesday.
From the Indian point of view, the most important wicket went to Murali.
Sri Lankan captain Marvan Attapattu must be regretting that they dislodged the stay at the wicket but non-performing Ganguly.
India’s plans of finding quick runs had received a major setback when Ganguly plodded to revive his Test career. Ganguly, in both first and second innings, did not have any intentions of playing for the team cause. Not only did Ganguly waste opportunities to score, he let the rival bowlers dominate the action and enjoy the psychological upper hand.
And what a difference Ganguly’s departure made.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni executed skipper Dravid’s plan of a quick-fire innings to perfection. MSD’s bold ways in front of the wicket was a treat to the sore eyes that had to endure Ganguly at the middle.
MSD took his chances to live up to the occasion. His first Test half-century (51) came off 51 balls.
Dravid could not have asked for more.

Sachin Tendulkar Unplugged

By John Cheeran
Sachin Tendulkar is not the best of speakers. But when he prefers to speak, he speaks with a straight bat.
That was evident during his Seedhi Bath with India Today Group Editor Prabhu Chawla.
Also evident was Prabhu Chawla’s lack of understanding of cricket as a game.
Tendulkar has played 125 Test matches, has hit maximum number of Test centuries (35) though this interview was recorded before the New Delhi Test.
Knowing this, I did not expect PC to ask whether Tendulkar prefers one-dayers to Tests.
Few cricketers say they prefer one-dayers to Tests. Not even Sourav Ganguly, whose one-day aggregate is twice that of his Test runs tally.
The best part of the interview was the true or false type questions that was thrown at Tendulkar.
Sample this.
Q: Which is your best innings?
The Test hundred against Aussies in 1992 at Perth.
I would have liked PC to ask him why it has turned out special. After all, India did not win that Test!
So in what context that knock attained the special status in the record book of the maker of maximum Test centuries would have been interesting to know. At least to me.
That would have been a question Tendulkar also would have liked to answer in detail. The quality of Aussie fast bowling and stuff like that.
Instead PC spent himself asking how Tendulkar was balancing his life between ad films and cricket.
Tendulkar needs to be quoted on this. “Just because you are watching an advertisement for six months, doesn’t mean one is acting all the time. We immediately come back after the shooting.”
Thank you.
Some of the other Q&A.
Who has been your best captain?
Ravi Shastri..
(Shastri enjoys 100 per cent winning record as Indian captain. He led India only once; against West Indies at Madras when Narendra Hirwani made a dream debut.)
But …?
Sandeep Patil.
Not about domestic cricket….in international cricket..
Nasser Hussain. He always planned one step ahead of the game.
Well said.
What Tendulkar did not say was as much important.
That shows Tendulkar does not think very highly of Sourav Ganguly’s captaincy. He said captaincy is not the ultimate thing in cricket, but making an effective contribution to team’s cause is.
A word of solace for the deposed captains.
I consider the interview was remarkable for the things that Tendulkar did not talk about.

Monday, December 12, 2005

Skipper Dravid leads from the front

By John Cheeran
If any Indian regrets that suicidal single, it will be none other than Team India skipper Rahul Dravid.
How I wish that run out does not lead to an Indian defeat.
The way Dravid was batting on Monday, it seemed he was destined for a big innings.
He had completed 8000 runs in Test cricket when he reached the fifty mark, an important milestone if you consider the fact that only Indians who have attained that feat are Sunil Gavaskar and Sachin Tendulkar. Dravid has joined an illustrious company.
Records, however, are purely incidental.
The point is, Dravid was not just staying at the wicket, but scoring quickly, sensing that things can go wrong any moment on this kabhi haan, kabhi na track.
To his credit, Dravid played an invaluable innings of 53 from 89 balls to form a fruitful partnership with Irfan Pathan. The understanding that Pathan and Dravid displayed while running between the wickets was exemplary.
All that changed when Sourav Ganguly walked in.
There is no dispute that the run out stemmed from Dravid’s error of judgment.
But then, it is the norm whenever Ganguly is at the crease, a run out is always on the cards. In Chennai it was VVS Laxman, at Kotla it was Dravid.
Dravid and Pathan, however, have proved that there are no demons on this wicket.
Dravid might have lost out on his century, which would have boosted his Test batting averages as a captain. But certainly a confident skipper has put India on the road to victory.
It is high time Team India responded to the skipper’s call with a resounding yes.

Irfan Pathan solves the Muralitharan sudoku

By John Cheeran
Any innings has to be measured in the context in which that is played. Sometimes a daring 25 runs must be held well above a century that was crafted in meaningless circumstances.
Irfan Pathan’s brilliant 93, coming in as an opener, to lend some substance to Indian second innings in the New Delhi Test against Sri Lanka has to be seen in this context.
When Pathan walked in, India needed to consolidate on the platform of the sixty run first innings lead to try and force a win at Feroze Shah Kotla.
It was not at all an easy task considering the difficulty Indian batsmen experienced on the first two days against that crafty customer Muttaih Muralitharan.
It was a stroke of genius from Greg Chappell-Rahul Dravid team to push Pathan upfront as opener. Pundits were arguing that Mahendra Singh Dhoni would have made a better opener in the given circumstances rather than Pathan. Dhoni is a player with a positive approach, they said.
But Pathan, again, lived up to the occasion. An occasion which has been made more difficult by the early dismissal of the certified opener Gautam Gambhir and Sri Lankan skipper Marvan Attapattu’s move to bring Muralitharan to open the bowling.
Pathan accomplished the basic task of opening with aplomb. Early in the innings he showed the signs of his willingness to go for runs by clouting Murali for a sixer.
More than the flourish, I admire Pathan’s application to the task at hand which unfortunately the rest of the Indian batsmen possess little.
Pathan’s willingness to play within his limitations; to play sensibly as much as possible paid him rich dividends. He scored runs, stayed longer than others at the wicket to give India that slender hope of fight at this critical phase of the Test.
More than anything else, Pathan knew it is not enough to play an exquisite cover drive and then poke the next ball to wicketkeeper’s hands in the lingering sweet, aftermath and walk back.
VVS Laxman did just that.
Even Sachin Tendulkar, now free from the burden of the No.35 expectations, failed the testing moment in the second innings.
Pathan’s determined effort gains in stature greatly because what happened around him as much as what he did on his own.
And Pathan’s gritty ways eventually solved the Muralitharan sudoku much to the relief of the rest of India, which I consider as the biggest plus point of his innings.
Pathan might have fallen seven run short of his maiden Test century; but it is an innings that India will remember for a long time to come.

Kumble seizes the initiative for India

By John Cheeran
The New Delhi Test is turning out to be a contest between Muttiah Muralitharan and Anil Kumble.
Wolrd’s finest off spinner versus the only leg spinner who has taken Perfect 10 in a Test innings.
Both are proven masters of the spin. They have, single handedly, put their sides back into this game of fluctuating fortunes.
After Marwan Attapattu and Mahela Jayawardene gave Sri Lanka a rock solid start on this unfaithful pitch, skipper Rahul Dravid had to depend solely on Kumble to derail the rival innings.
And it helps that Kumble enjoys his skipper and Karnataka teammate’s unstinted trust.
Kumble grabbed six wickets on his favourite track where in 1999 he had taken all ten Pakistan wickets in the fourth innings of the Test to script a glorious win for India.
Here again, Kumble is in with a chance to repeat the Perfect 10, since he will have to bowl the fourth innings.
Kumble returned to Indian team just in time. Battling an injury, Karnataka leg-spinner proved his fitness in Ranji Trophy before selectors let him back into the side.
Kumble has missed out on the ultimate prize in Indian cricket; leading the side.
One of the senior pros in the side, Kumble deserved captaincy when Mohammad Azharuddin became the persona non grata in Indian cricket.
With the advent of Sourav Ganguly, that was not to be the case; Kumble missed the captaincy bus.
But Kumble knows really well to conceal his disappointments and carry on.
And Indian cricket has benefited immensely from that.

Sunday, December 11, 2005

Muralitharan puts India in a spin

By John Cheeran
Morning belonged to Doosra.
Muttaih Muralitharan proved today at Feroze Shah Kotla why he is regarded as the most fearsome spinner in world cricket. Muralitharan ripped apart any grand designs Indian skipper Rahul Dravid had of a big score quickly and decisively on Sunday.
Sourav Ganguly, who hung on for his dear life on Saturday, met his nemesis in Murali very early in the day. Murali trapped him lbw.
It was a relief to see Ganguly crawl back to pavilion to those whose hearts beat for Team India. Ganguly’s comeback, I must say, is a gift from Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara yesterday. Mother Therasa’s Calcutta must be adopting Sangakkara as their foster son for that stumping bungling.
Murali sent back Sachin Tendulkar too, trapped lbw.
So Tendulkar achieved his No. 35; Ganguly failed to justify his presence in the Test side with a meaningful contribution apart from extending his trial to another innings.
If anyone wonders about the motivation level of some of our players can we blame them?
Pace or spin, whenever Indian batsmen encounter quality attack, they are in trouble.
It was a situation tailor made for Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to counter attack against the old ball; the fact they failed to do so gives so much for skipper Dravid to chew on during the rest of this Test.

An emotional moment, says Tendulkar

By John Cheeran
Salams are pouring in for Sachin in the aftermath of No.35.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sonia Gandhi to man on the street, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, all of India is sharing the joy of this special moment.
“The first Test century was a memorable one because it helped India to save the Test match. But this (35th ) one is an emotional moment for me, more than anything else,” Sachin Tendulkar said, standing alone at the top of the cricketing world, after scoring his 35th Test century.
“As it is, all hundreds are important. All my hundreds are important. But the first and 35th are extra special.”
Tendulkar dedicated his 35th Test century to his late father, who had passed away during the 1999 World Cup.
Sunil Gavaskar, whose record Tendulkar broke on Saturday, is yet to speak to ST. “I haven’t spoken to him yet as we are allowed to receive calls only from close relatives.”
Tendulkar said during the end-of the-day press meet in New Delhi.
“Heroes will be always heroes. Gavaskar remains my hero,” Tendulkar put the record in perspective.
As the day gives way to night at New Delhi, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar summed up the Indian sentiment. “He was born to script legends.”

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Arrogance, where are you?

By John Cheeran
Team India was the clear loser as Sourav Ganguly licked his wounds at the Feroze Shah Kotla on Saturday. Ganguly has succeeded in his immediate agenda; an unbeaten but laborious innings of 39 from 114 balls on a benign pitch would now be bandied about as the proof of his glory.
Sourav Ganguly must be the luckiest batsman on a comeback trial.
First, skipper Rahul Dravid gave him another chance to resuscitate his career after the left-hander’s miserable innings of 5 in the first Test at Chennai.
Second, Dravid did not push him up the order to open the innings, where, I’m sure the Maharaj would have perished in no time.
Third, the sleepy nature of the wicket and lack of quality fast bowling among Sri Lankan bowlers. It helped Ganguly’s cause that Dravid won the crucial toss and decided to bat first.
If India were replying to Sri Lanka’s first innings on this track that should assist spinners – Muralitharan in this instance – progressively, Ganguly would not have enjoyed the time factor that let him crawl into safety.
Ganguly would have been under tremendous pressure to find runs, if not quickly, on a decent rate, which he has failed to do in the crucial phase of his innings.
The luxury of a first innings has allowed Ganguly to tell the world how uncomfortable he is even against an attack of modest fire power.
Ganguly is on a learning curve.
He has been de-fanged and put on trial to prove his credentials to be part of the Team India, much the same way the United States has put the Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussain on the road to justice.
Saddam does not really have a second chance out there. Sourav has been thrown a lifeline by Sri Lankan wicketkeeper Kumar Sangakkara in the first innings of the New Delhi Test. Sangakkara bungled in stumping when the batsman stepped out against Muttaih Muralitharan.
Ganguly did not have any clue then, neither did he have later, where the ball was pitching when Muralitharan came on to bowl.
Ganguly’s reputation that he is a good player of quality spin was also wilted in the twilight sun. Being a left-hander Ganguly, if he were in form, could have easily neutralized the advantage an off-spinner normally enjoys. Leave alone dominating Muralitharan, he barely survived against him.
It was just not Muralitharan who tormented him. Dilhara Fernando and Chaminda Vaas too enjoyed probing his weakness against fast bowling.
It only goes to show that how fortunate this fellow has been with the willow in recent times.
Is there anyone out there to tell that Ganguly deserves a place in this side, and in the process keeping proven youngsters like Mohammad Kaif out – on the basis of his display at Kotla on Saturday?
I don’t think anyone, except for those who are tied up by their regional boundaries.
Gone is the swagger, gone is the arrogance.
Yesterday I could see in Ganguly’s eyes the fear of a lamb facing the butcher’s knife.

'Tendulkar was born to script legends'

By John Cheeran
Salams are pouring in for Sachin in the aftermath of No.35.
From Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Sonia Gandhi to man on the street, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, all of India is sharing the joy of this special moment.
“The first Test century was a memorable one because it helped India to save the Test match. But this (35th ) one is an emotional moment for me, more than anything else,” Sachin Tendulkar said, standing alone at the top of the cricketing world, after scoring his 35th Test century.
“As it is, all hundreds are important. All my hundreds are important. But the first and 35th are extra special.”
Tendulkar dedicated his 35th Test century to his late father, who had passed away during the 1999 World Cup.
Sunil Gavaskar, whose record Tendulkar broke on Saturday, is yet to speak to ST. “I haven’t spoken to him yet as we are allowed to receive calls only from close relatives,” Tendulkar said during the end-of the-day press meet in New Delhi.
“Heroes will be always heroes. Gavaskar remains my hero,” Tendulkar put the record in perspective.
As the day gives way to night in New Delhi, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar summed up the Indian sentiment. “He was born to script legends.”

Sachin Tendulkar, 35 Not Out!

By John Cheeran
No. 35.
That’s a special number indeed.
There is none like Sachin Tendulkar in world cricket now.
A cherished record came the Indian master’s way on Saturday at Feroze Shah Kotla as Tendulkar tapped Sri Lankan fast bowler Chaminda Vaas to square leg to move from 99 to 100.
Tendulkar ran his single keeping an eye on the ball’s path, and midway, he raised his bat skywards, broke into an exultation that triggered the celebrations that ran through the stadium.
That was No.35.
It was a small step in the course of a Test match; but for Tendulkar it was a giant step.
Tendulkar has hit the maximum number of Test centuries playing his 125th Test match against Sri Lanka. It must be a sweet thought that, in the process, Tendulkar has over taken another Indian, and another Mumbaikar to reach No. 35.
The tradition lives on as Sunil Gavaskar makes way for Tendulkar.
Now that the burden of this landmark has been put aside one should see a more creative, a more free flowing Tendulkar at the crease. Tendulkar, the Original Version.
His 35th century has been one of enormous patience, an innings set in determination.
Tendulkar did struggle in the initial phase of this century but to his credit, he succeeded in surviving those shaky moments to step into a sphere where no man has walked before.
To be honest, there was never any doubt that Tendulkar will reach this momentous mark.
It was, only, a question of when.
Well, it has come and let the runs flow.
A nation thanks you.
Salam Sachin.

Dravid opens up a new era in Indian cricket

By John Cheeran
In the beginning was the word, and then there was Rahul Dravid.
By conventional yardsticks Rahul Dravid has failed in the first innings of the New Delhi Test against Sri Lanka which is on at Feroze Shah Kotla now.
Skipper made only 24 before he fell to Muttaih Muralitharan. Dravid played some delightful strokes and appeared destined for a big knock.
But today more than the number of runs he scored it mattered when he chose to find them. It was a sacrifice skipper made for Team India’s cause.
I hail Dravid for his courage and attitude as a leader which, let me repeat forcefully, is in stark contrast to that of that successful, born-to-rule, Maharaj Sourav Ganguly’s.
Dravid has opened a new era in Indian cricket by stepping out to open the Indian innings with Gautam Gambhir. Once again, Dravid has showed he is not the one to run away from his responsibilities.
Team India had to find an opener as Virender Sehwag was hit by viral infection. And remember, Dravid himself was just recovering from a fever. Skipper could have easily bided his time to come down the order
It was Dravid’s call to assign one of the specialist batsmen to do the opener’s job. Dravid could have asked Yuvraj Singh, the man in form, to open the innings. Yuvraj, after all, had begun his first class career as an opener.
But Dravid spared Yuvraj the agony since he was making a comeback into the Test side.
Dravid could have ordered that genius from Calcutta, who has 15,000 runs in international cricket, to open the Test. After all, as they say, Ganguly has a great cricketing brain, he is the best tactician and he has a reputation to scare away rivals.
Sri Lanka’s front line bowlers should be running for cover at the prospect of bowling to Ganguly.
But Dravid chose to let Ganguly off.
Or is it because skipper has no trust in Ganguly?
What’s the point of pushing a man out of sorts and out of touch with reality to open Team India’s innings? Dravid knew the answer pretty well.
He has to do it. Thus Dravid broke the Indian belief that skipper is the Brahmin among the chosen eleven.
Here I want to point out what Dravid told his teammates when he took charge as Indian captain. “I will not ask you to do anything that I myself will not do.”
On Saturday, December 10, 2005, Indian skipper has lived up to his words and led by example. In the beginning was the word, and then there was Rahul Dravid.
Also read http://johncheeran.blogspot.com/2005/11/distance-between-dravid-and-ganguly.html

Empower the Indian spectators, Mr Pawar

By John Cheeran
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has got new men to run the show.
Team Pawar is going to bring professionalism into Indian board, if not into Indian cricket.
Very laudable agenda, indeed.
It would be silly to ask whether Pawar has the ability to do what Jagmohan Dalmiya failed to do during his long tenure. Pawar, being a proven administrator, has the ability to put things in order. It's a question of whether he really wants to. It's question of priorities for him.
Media has earmarked an immediate agenda for the new team at the BCCI.
Finalise players' contracts, zero in on a CEO for board, reform the BCCI constitution, settle the satellite TV rights issue, bring transparency to board's functioning and stuff like that. All these are worthy causes.
In between former cricketers have taken positions in television studios to bargain for a slice of the power cake. Very good.
Cricketers are important in cricket but what about spectators? The BCCI owes its existence not just to cricketers. Our cricketers and former cricketers are acting as if only they should matter as the BCCI goes about finalizing its agenda.
What about the spectators who make a beeline to the stadium during the match days? What about them, you might ask?
A lot. Indian cricket fans are forking out money and they spend considerable energy and time in supporting their side during all the home matches. Are they -- the BCCI and therespective associations who stage these matches -- giving spectators their money's worth?
I must say they are not. There are hardly any facilities available for the fans at these stadiums. No good refreshment facilities, no basic amenities. Not even decent chairs to sit and watch the game.
They are saying India is the fountainhead of cricket. But then Indian supporters should get their fair share of the action. Pawar and his team must think and find ways to ensure that spectators can enjoy their favourite game at the match venues.
Till now Indian spectators can't buy a match programme, can't get a scorecard and can't pick any match memorabilia from the match venues.
Dalmiya did not have any time to care for paying public because they did not matter to him. In his calculations only TV broadcasters mattered. Dalmiya made Indian board richer by bringing money from ESPN, Star and other TV moghuls.
And how does it matter to Dalmiya and TV rights holders even if no one came to watch the match at the stadium. What matters is the cricket junkie sitting glued to his TV set at his home or wherever.
Dalmiya would have been happy to stage all matches in front of empty stadiums, as he did in 1999 on the last day of the Asian Test Championship at Eden Gardens.
Pawar will find that among all his tasks the toughest would be to improve the lot of the paying public.
If he does not take corrective steps now, the day will not be far away when empty stadiums shall greet the stars.

Friday, December 09, 2005

Calcutta thesis

By John Cheeran
The desperation with which Calcuttans are clinging onto the free falling stock of Sourav Ganguly fascinates me.
It is a pity that West Bengal, (Waste Bengal as one wag has put it) has no heroes but Ganguly to celebrate.
When Congress managed to cobble together a coalition government at center, Pranab Mukhrejee had delusions of becoming the first Bengali Prime Minister of India. Sonia Gandhi, for all her faults, put Mukherjee in his rightful place.
Even Biharis have succeeded to vote out their rulers but all-knowing Bengalis time after time have sucked up to the Left Front. Where are the rebels? Where is the rebellion?
The rebellion has been mutated to heckling Indian cricket coach outside Eden Gardens. The cause has been reduced to the emancipation of Ganguly and to end the imperialism of Greg Chappell.
Eden Gardens can accommodate over 90,000 cricket fans. But these fanatical following has not translated into decent cricketers leave alone heroes.
The only decent cricketer that Bengal has given India in the last 25 years is Sourav Ganguly. When Ganguly became Indian cricket team’s captain many Bengalis treated the post as more prestigious than the office of Indian Prime Minister.
In this context, I can understand the Bengali angst when Ganguly was stripped off Indian captaincy, the last vestige of honour West Bengal had in contemporary India.
Calcuttans till now could boast of Jagmohan Dalmiya’s ICC heroics.
But Dalmiya’s role and rule in Indian cricket has almost ended with Sharad Power taking charge of the BCCI reins. There cannot be a bitter blow than this after Ganguly was sacked as Indian captain.
During Dalmiya’s hour of glory, Calcuttans had conveniently forgotten that Dalmiya is not a Bengali. The Bhadralok merged into the background as the Marwari took center stage.
I would like to point out one response in this context. When Eden Gardens had to be emptied of spectators to complete the Asian Championship Test against Pakistan in 1999 owing to crowd trouble, I had asked a few of Calcutta’s Bengali journalists how such things can happen in the City of Joy.
They assured me that it is not that Bengalis who come to watch cricket these days but rich Marwaris and the trouble lies with them. Is not this interesting?
They are all okay with Dalmiya, a Marwari, lording over Cricket Association of Bengal, but when crowd trouble happens at Eden, the blame is heaped on Marwaris!
Come to think of it, in a city that has so much passion for cricket, it imports players from outside to fill the Bengal Ranji Trophy squad!
Why doesn’t Calcutta’s blood boil when CAB allows a non-Bengali tourist, Rohan Gavaskar, to play for them?
For is it that the Great Bengali Cricket Fan admits that Bengal don’t have eleven quality players to make up a Ranji squad? Rules allow it, I know. Ranji teams like Kerala make space for India rejects like S Ramesh since they don’t have enough good players; even then the move has caused considerable heartburn among local cricketers.
Calcutta’s cupboard is empty not just in cricket. Even today, the josh for football remains the highest in Calcutta. But tell me, in the last 25 years is there any Bengali footballer who has emerged as India’s best?
I put this question to two Bengali journalists from Calcutta and they could not point out anyone. Bhaichung Bhutia and IM Vijayan make many critics’ list as the best footballer in last 25 years…They have played for Calcutta clubs but they are not Bengal’s own.
Even the Calcutta-based, so called giants of Indian club football – Mohun Bagan, East Bengal and Mohammadan Sporting – have fallen on troubled days. The current National League champions are Mahindra United, a Mumbai club.
The last Bengali footballer to be in news is Subhash Bowmick. Not for scripting any success but for accepting 1.5 lakhs as a bribe, misusing his official position as a CISF inspector which he secured as a footballer. And he had the cheek to hit the police inspector who was trying to catch him.
So much for Bengali bravado.
For heroes to emerge, bribes, casting votes and rigging of votes (in selection committee meetings, BCCI elections and polling booths) will not do always.
A touch of humility, loads of hard work and a slice of luck might take you there.
Keep trying, Calcutta.

When conscience comes visiting

By John Cheeran
In India wherever you look, you can find a former cricketer. So if you don’t have a story, call up one of them, ask their opinion and there you have a story.
So you have the likes of Yashpal Sharma and Pronob Roy making sanctimonious noises about Greg Chappell and his ways.
Yashpal was the first one forced to act since he was in Delhi, and desperation in Delhi can take so many forms as I can vouch for it. He has made some serious allegations against Greg Chappell.
Yashapl has let us know what happened inside the national selection committee room. He has laid bare his allegiances. He has accused Chappell of using intemperate language against former East Zone selector Pronob Roy and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly.
Thank You Yashpal ji.
Since Chappell would not have made his references to Roy and Ganguly in Tamil or Marathi, why don’t you quote the coach as he said it instead of using such euphemisms? Then we could hang coach Chappell.
Did Chappell abuse them? Had he abused Roy, shouldn’t it Roy who should have asked for justice rather than Yashpal?
After Yashpal’s late cut, Pronob opened his mouth. He, however, has not made any comments on Chappell’s intemperate language. He has only one mission in his life – Sourav Ganguly. Pronob says Ganguly is in the team as a specialist batsman and not as an all rounder.
But I thought, Ganguly was a great all rounder. Bickering, manipulating and running one’s partners out as he did to VVS Laxman in Chennai, takes great all round talent indeed.
Out of the three National selectors who have been sacked two have spoken out. Now I am waiting for some cricket writer to bring the quotes from Gopal Sharma.
Virtues such as courage, conscience and pride visit people like Yashpal and Pronob when someone show the door to them. That’s a disease without cure.
I want to leave a suggestion to both Yashpal and Pronob. Get hold of a cricket writer of their choice to ghost a book “My Days as a National Selector.” Even if they could only come up with the minutes of selection committee meetings, the book will be a best seller.
I’m waiting for that.
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John Cheeran at Blogged