We owe Him one...

  It has been quite an emotional time this, for all of us. It's tough to digest, you know, that Rahul Dravid won't be taking the field anymore. It was one of those goodbyes which you wanted to avoid as long as you could. He had always been there for the team, for the nation and for the fan. He held that one end strong, gave his 100% every single time in his typical classy, determined and gritty way which, I believe, only he was/is capable of. It was just the way he played his Cricket.

  There was always so much to learn from him for me as Cricket fan. You wouldn't associate flamboyance when you thought of Dravid. You would think of him as a common man who played hard and gave everything he had every single time for the team. He wasn't blessed with extraordinary talent. He didn't debut for India when he was a teenager. He was just like the most of us. All of us aren't blessed with great talent, so we try and make an effort to give the best at whatever we love to do, in order to keep it doing. And, on top of that it wasn't just how hard he played his Cricket which makes him the great man that he is. It is the dignity with which he played it, which puts him in a different league altogether.

  The internet is filled with statistics and the numbers for what Dravid stands for. It's not Dravid's stats that I will remember for the rest of my life. What I will remember about Dravid for the rest of my life is the dignity with which he played. In Dravid's Cricket, the contest was confined just between the bat and ball and nothing else. The bowler gave everything he had into the ball he was about to bowl and Dravid made sure he gave everything he had, to deal with it. And, that's where the story ended. Dravid's Cricket ended on the field itself and it only dealt with the events that should go on in the ideal Cricket match scenario. There was no room for sledging, or for any uncalled-for gestures or for any other such thing which has nothing to do with the way Cricket is played. This is how the game is played in its unadulterated form, and basically it is this aspect of the sport with which true Cricket lovers fell in love with.

  Apart from playing with dignity, Dravid also did everything which the team and the selectors asked him to do. They asked him to keep wickets, he did. They asked him to open the batting on cold English mornings by giving up his regular position, he did. They ruthlessly told him that he wasn't good enough to play limited overs Cricket and that he should concentrate on Tests more, he did. Then when they were in trouble in the ODIs in England, they asked him to come back and play, even then he did. Even in the very last match he played, he came in to bat at No.8 because of the situation his team was in. You'd expect him to enjoy his last match and at least see him bat at his normal position like any other star player playing his last match would. But, he didn't, just because the team had decided on such a strategy (however irrational it was). Not only this, but Dravid was also always ready to play second fiddle whenever it was required. Be it Laxman's 281 in Kolkata, Sehwag's 319 at Chennai or even Tendulkar's 186 in an ODI at Hyderabad. Dravid was involved in making huge partnerships in all of these. He was always there to hold that one end strong and complement the batsman in form.

  The one disappointing thing Dravid has had to live through throughout his career is that brutal comparison between him and Sachin Tendulkar by the fans. I've always believed that the comparison is useless and it is like comparing apples and oranges. It takes great mental strength to ignore all that is written about you, said about you, and concentrate on your Cricket. And, it is something Dravid did as good as anyone can. You don't compare Dravid with Sachin. In fact, you don't compare Dravid with anyone. Dravid has a league of his own. He is class apart. No one was and no one can ever be as good as him. So, as a Cricket lover and a huge Dravid fan I appeal to everyone to please spare the great man with such ridiculous comparisons and also with questions like 'Who will be the next Dravid?',etc. Those who say Tendulkar is my God and Dravid isn't or the other way around are immature Cricket fans. It's time we attained maturity. I feel that we at least owe him this.

It's the minority, where people like me exist.

   It was just the other day, when I had that "I seriously need to start studying" feeling all day and then after wasting about more than two-thirds of it, I finally pulled out some random text book out of the closet. Dusted it, pulled some random page which said "Solutions to differential equations at regular singular points" which is the only thing I feel like I read in about an hour. Suddenly, out of nowhere, I heard some chants from the common room. I closed the text book, and went down to find out. I heard Dhoni was on fire. He'd smashed 63 off 19 balls. I was like, "What?", I didn't even know CSK were playing. Those in the common room looked at me like I'd come from Mars. What was worse, was that I didn't seem to care.

  It was a Cricket match, for God's sake, and there were people around me watching, cheering for various turn of events in it, and there I was pretending to read Maths 3. When I think of it, the Cricket lover inside me begins to ask this question whether I still have that appetite to watch Cricket anymore. I'd never imagined such a time would come. IPL Cricket, Champions League Cricket have stopped exciting me for quite some time now. It doesn't pluck that nerve which usually other Cricket matches do for me. And, the worse part is that on top of all this I claim to be a Cricket geek in the society. I have criticized IPL Cricket a lot of times in my life. I won't do it anymore.

  It's just that, I feel like I have found what I love the most in Cricket. I believe, that appetite is still there somewhere. It's not the Karbonn Kamaal Catches or the Citi Bank moments of success that excite me. These days I tend love those typical Test match scenarios, like the 'crucial first hour', or when the ball starts to reverse out of nowhere, or those aggressive field placings for the new batsman, or those gritty innings after a few quick wickets, etc. Things like these hardly play a role in T20 Cricket, because it involves a pretty different style of game play which is equally tough.

  In my little journey of life, I've met a lot of people having similar Cricketing mind-sets like that of mine. We've had various memorable and intense discussions about various aspects of the game. Such discussions usually end on a unanimous feeling that IPL-like Cricket should be put to an end. But, I'm afraid that is impossible to happen. The truth is, these people like me actually form the minority of all those who watch Cricket. We seem to be in the majority because we tend to be more vocal, but we're not. The world has embraced this IPL-like Cricket. When you think of it, such Cricket actually unites families; it's much better that the daily soaps or the reality shows that exist in some parts of the world (especially in India); and on top of that it's just 3 hours of exciting nail-biters with Bollywood Masala somewhere in the backdrop. It's actually a win-win for those who watch Cricket for entertainment. And rather sadly, the truth is that it is people like these who form the majority of Cricket viewers. I mean that, majority of the Cricket viewers today don't like to get geeky or put attention to detail to various aspects of the sport, like the significance of field-placings and the various restrictions on them, or what a new ball does, or even how certain pitches behave for that matter. The modern Cricket viewer, I believe, is far more interested in those '20 balls and 40 to get' or those '15 runs in an over' or probably those '5 dot balls in an over' scenarios.

For example, gone are the days, when as a viewer you would expect the captain to elect to bowl first on a gloomy day on a green pitch after winning the toss. I don't think the modern Cricket viewer cares too much about what might or might not be a wise thing to do on winning the toss.

  This transition of the Cricket viewer is something, people like me will have to accept. The changing mind-set of the viewer results in the changed mind set of the next generation Cricketer. Rahul Dravid said the other day, "We are maybe one generation away from reaching the point where our entire youth structure could cater only to T20 without any emphasis on the longer form of the game. By not giving young players a chance to explore their versatility, endurance or even improvisational skills we will be selling ourselves and our sport well short."

  Imagining a whole generation of Cricket players trained with that T20 mind-set throughout their lives is something that scares people like me. It's probably because, we would never get to see someone like a Dravid or a Kallis in the upcoming generations. Or rather because, say after about 10-20 years or so from now, our kids won't be interested in our little Tendulkar stories. They'll have their own Laras, Warnes and McGraths and their own different opinions about the game which will make it tough to connect with them on a lazy Sunday afternoon. People like me know that when you meet someone who shares a similar Cricketing opinion as yours, he/she becomes your friend for life. This might just not happen with the future generation because of this transition of the mind set of the Cricket viewer.

  Having said that, I certainly feel that because of this mind-set, the next crop of Cricketers will be far more versatile than the current ones as far as making adjustments to the different forms of the game is concerned, but probably at the expense of mastery in the longer forms of the game. We've got to accept them, as we form the minority. The one thing we all Cricket lovers will definitely have in common is the fact that, it was that epic contest between bat and ball which we all actually fell in love with in the beginning. Cricketing opinions, attention to detail, is all secondary. And I hope, these next generation Cricketers with their different mind-sets would create some other 'to be explored dimensions' in various aspects of the game. Geeks like me would love that.

The hero Cricket deserves...

  Right then, England have retained the 2013 Ashes after the draw in the 3rd test. It's been a great series for England as they've looked clinical more often than not. Probably not as clinical as what was expected before the series, but they've stuck together and have emerged on top. The contests have been good in Trent Bridge and Old Trafford. At least there was a time in those tests when Australia looked as though they could win the match, which wasn't the case at all at Lord's.

  Ashes always produces its heroes from both sides. Individuals for whom a particular Ashes series is remembered for. Individuals like Ian Bell who have "Kids, that's the way it's done" written all over their shots. Or individuals like Ashton Agar, Joe Root, etc who prove that talent isn't the only valuable asset they posses. Apart from producing new heroes, this Ashes however, has somehow managed to turn one hero into a big filthy villain in the eyes of majority of Cricket fans. I'm talking about the Decision Review System (DRS).

  If you watch Cricket, you probably would have your own opinion about the DRS by now. You are entitled to one. However, I think that whatever controversial decisions that took place in the 3 tests were purely based on human errors. Be it the Broad incident or the Khawaja incident. Not just that, but I simply don't understand the reason for the amount of hype these decisions have caused. There have been poorer and more 'game turning' decisions before in Cricket. Is it because this time Australia were on the receiving end? Aren't they allowed to, for a change?

  Regardless of that, coming back to my point about the controversial decisions based on human errors... Let's start with the Usman Khawaja incident. Khawaja comes into bat after a 76-run opening partnership between Watson and Rogers. The ball is 16.5 overs old. Khawaja has played 25 balls for his 1 run, and eventually seems to be adjusting to the pitch and the conditions. There comes a Graeme Swann delivery which beats him and goes through to Prior. England hear a sound (I don't know from where. Maybe because the Royal Baby was crying at that time or because of something even more erratic than that) and appeal. Khawaja's given out. He knows he hasn't hit it, he reviews it straight away. There is absolutely NOTHING on hot spot. No sound as ball passes the bat, either. Nothing on Snicko too. Now, if you are a third umpire in your senses, you would over rule that decision and give it not out. Kumar Dharmasena has other ideas, he gives it out. Now, that is a huge human error right there. Actually, error is a more sophisticated word for that. It's like saying 2+2= 921.

  Talking about the Broad incident... Now, this one probably had nothing to do with the DRS. I don't know why it was hyped to the extent which it was. Ironically, there were people from even from Australia (yeah, that's right Australia) talking about Broad not showing the 'sportsman spirit'! Broad, batting on 37, nicks a ball from Ashton Agar which clips Haddin's gloves and pops up to Clarke at first slip. He takes the catch. It's a clear dismissal. Australia start to celebrate. Broad stands his ground. Aleem Dar doesn't give it out. Australia are out of their reviews. They are shattered. Broad goes on to make 65 runs, which in the end turn out to be vital.

  Now let's be honest to ourselves... No one, absolutely no one is a walker. And, there have been many instances in the past when batsmen haven't walked because the umpire didn't them give out, even if they were. I don't see a problem in it. I agree Cricket is a gentleman's game and all. But, one of the first rules of the game is that the umpire has the last say. Now, you can walk and create your impression as the 'good guy' for the audiences or else you can seize the opportunity and score some runs for your team. At the end of the day, the prime objective of a sport is to win, not to 'look good'.

  Actually, that is exactly why the DRS was invented. To get rid off the howler or to eliminate the on-field umpire's human error. Had Australia used their reviews wisely earlier, they would have had the chance to challenge the umpire's decision on Broad. Whatever happened was unfortunate. But, the DRS isn't the one to be blamed. Just because it is new and adding another dimension to the game, doesn't mean that whatever wrong happens on the field, happens because of it. The ICC should seriously consider scoring or grading umpires' performances too. If a player plays badly, he is dropped eventually. Same should apply to the umpires. DRS actually brings the on-field umpire's performance under scrutiny a lot more. And, that's how it should be. We might find DRS in the middle of a lot controversies lately. But, it's probably because it has been revealing the truth and highlighting basic human errors. With all these controversies surrounding Cricket these days, <Dark Knight dialogue alert> DRS might not seem to be the hero Cricket needs, but the one it deserves.

Can Australia rise up for the Ashes?

  Yeah, the Wimbledon's over. And as the Great Britain gears up to the big event to follow, the Ashes, it's time I got back to watching Cricket after what has been a good break! (Note: However great a Cricket fan I claim to be, it is to be noted that a meaningless tri-series in the Caribbean featuring India, Sri Lanka and West Indies isn't to be followed! :P)
  Well, the Aussies have warmed up a bit. Played a couple of tour matches, looked clinical. But, whatever! You don't need to be a Richie Benaud to understand that this is the weakest Australian team to play the Ashes since a long long time. A lot has been happening in Australian Cricket recently... Darren Lehmann has come in as the coach replacing Mickey Arthur 3 weeks before the Ashes (which means no more homework, phew!); they have Cricketers drinking alcohol and misbehaving at 2:30 in the morning; and what not. Those being the off-field issues, I won't read too much into them.
  The reason for why one would say that this is one of the weakest Australian teams ever is because of their unbalanced batting order. They have got 5 (that's right FIVE!) full fledged openers in their squad in Watson, Rogers, Hughes, Cowan and Warner! Matthew Wade can open too. That is just too many! And what's even more worrying is that each one of them has a potential chance to be a part of the final XI. With Michael Clarke set to bat at No.5 and probably Usman Khawaja at No.4, Australia is in a spot of bother of whom to play in the top 3. Darren Lehmann announced the other day that Watson and Rogers will open in the 1st test. Now we have Hughes, Cowan and Warner fighting for the crucial No.3 spot. To be frank, in the present situation I don't think anyone among the three is good enough to bat at that number. Hughes is susceptible to short pitched bowling and isn't a good player of spin by any stretch of imagination; Warner has had some issues off the field, is short on match practice and on current Test form, he doesn't deserve a place in the side; Cowan is inexperienced, is nowhere close to the typical aggressive Australian batsman and is struggling on current form too. It'll be really interesting to see how the Aussies solve this problem. Or maybe they can consider to bring Khawaja and Clarke up the order and then keep Hughes or Warner at No.5 or No.6 to attack just the second the new ball (if their bating lasts long enough to take one :P).
  The other problem they'll face is whether to play Haddin or Smith or Faulkner lower in the order at No.6 or No.7. Considering how fragile the rest of the batting looks, I'd be tempted to play Haddin. But, Smith and Faulkner give that extra bowling option also, and a damn effective one. But, if I was the captain I would play Haddin, at least for the 1st test. The rest of the XI should be Wade, Starc, Pattinson, Siddle and Lyon. The fast bowling looks decent but spin bowling worries do continue for Australia. Nathan Lyon, of course is no Shane Warne, but is surely above average. If the fast bowlers do their job, I don't see a reason for Lyon not doing well.
  England, on the other hand, look pretty much settled in all departments. They had one selection dilemma at the top of the order which was whether to play Nick Compton or Joe Root, but with Joe Root's timely return to top notch form I don't think the place is up for grabs anymore. I haven't really seen a lot of Joe Root but I heard Mark Nicholas saying in his conversation with Harsha Bhogle the other day, that Joe Root is, technically, probably the finest Cricketer to come from England which he has ever seen. Now, that's a huge statement from the great man. The rest of England's batting is pretty strong too. Alaistair Cook and Johnathan Trott have been in the form of their life. Kevin Pietersen, after returning from his injury, has had some good knocks in domestic Cricket. There isn't much of a problem as far as form is concerned with Jonny Bairstow and Ian Bell either. All in all, they make a good batting unit, particularly in their home conditions.
  Their bowling has been well settled as well, for a long time now. We all know how lethal James Anderson can be. Broad can be more than effective. Swann is a damn good off spinner. I would prefer Finn ahead of Bresnan and Onions, as the third seamer. Particularly because, what he brings to the table is very different. He's tall and will be able to extract that awkward bounce on a Day 4-Day 5 surface.
  It's no secret that England start as overwhelming favorites. But, you never know with an Australian side. If Watson gets a few at the top of the order and then the rest of the batting revolves around Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin and Matthew Wade; a score of around 450-500 will be pretty much gettable. Having said that, if they score anything less than 300 or so, I don't see Australia rising up from the Ashes.

Team Dhoni has finally arrived!

  Well, it was epic! Just epic! This Indian team has just kept on going from strength to strength in the ICC Champions trophy 2013 in England. When the tournament started I don't think India were downright favorites to win it. But, the character, discipline, determination, <insert cool sounding nouns>, etc which they have shown has been truly remarkable.
  It wasn't that long ago, when India lost those 8 test matches in England and Australia and also lost the test series to England back home. It was a serious throbbing and it didn't take long for such memes to get popularity..
 

But now it's like...

  This victory has certainly proved everyone wrong. The Kohlis, the Dhawans, the Ashwins, etc all made their debuts under Dhoni. It was under him, when their careers blossomed. It was under his roof when they sought shelter when things got bad. It was his confidence in those individual players which made them realize their roles in the team. Gone are the days of the Sehwags, the Yuvrajs and the Harbhajans.
   Dada left a legacy. And that's what great captains do. They not only win matches but also form a settled unit. A unit which will win matches even if they replace the captain. A unit which makes sure that the new captain doesn't have to start from scratch. The team which Dada along with John Wright(whose contribution is often underrated) put together truly changed Indian cricket. We suddenly started becoming more aggressive. We started winning abroad. The Kaifs and the Yuvrajs made sure that it was high time that we started doing this thing called 'fielding'.
  I believe this is exactly what Dhoni's men will do. This team will leave a legacy for the future. This is the true MSD unit. It is young, agile, determined, <insert cool sounding adjectives>, etc. The batting looks settled in all sorts of conditions, the bowling is as good as it can get and the Indian fielding has gone to a completely new level. There are very few areas of concern, but as Dhoni himself puts it "There is always scope for improvement and we take one game at a time and don't look too much into the future".
  I respect the talent in this country but it takes a captain(a really good one) to put a team together. It takes that extra oomph in confidence of young players to perform at the big stage. This comes from the captain. Decisions like giving Ishant Sharma a vital over when he had gone for plenty in the final or promoting Rohit Sharma at the top of the order when his place in the team was in a spot of bother; or a simple "Isko 'ultaa' vaala daal, Jaddu*" chant from behind the stumps often provides that oomph.
  Having said all this, a lot more criticism would shut down forever if India becomes this invincible in Test Cricket too. A very important tour of South Africa is coming up later this year and if India wins it, I believe people will start forgetting the 0-8 throbbing in England and Australia. Nevertheless, this team is here to stay and all the best to them in the future. Go India.

*Translation: "Bowl him the 'tricky one', Jaddu(Jadeja)"

Moving on from the fixing saga...

  Well, I pick up today's TOI, the first article I see is about it. I switch on to a news channel, there are more revelations to it. It's getting bigger. So big, that it's getting rather redundant and difficult to keep a track of things. As a Cricket fan, I have always believed that Cricket is clean(99.99% of the times) and the fishy stuff that happens are downright coincidences. So, when such things surfaced, I obviously was taken aback.
   But, eventually everyone moves on and so does Cricket. So, there I was, tuning into Star Cricket at 13:30 IST to watch the pre-match show of the opener of the ICC Champions Trophy between India and South Africa. I tend to do that when a particular match is broadcasted by the ESS (Obviously because they are the real pros in Cricket broadcasting). Eventually, the toss happened and then the "low-key-and-not-IPL-like" opening ceremony. And then, one of my favourite parts of ICC events, the national anthems! South Africa's happened first, I don't know why, but whatever. And, then India's. They showed the various faces, MSD's, Kohli's, the support staff's, Duncan Fletcher's(who was trying his best to respect the anthem), etc.
  There I was, standing in front of the TV set in the saavdhaan position watching those faces and I could literally feel the adrenaline of the players rushing like hell. And that's when it hit me.. This true passion of the players is what actually makes me love this game so much. When I started watching Cricket, I fell in love with it because winning a particular match made a country proud. When Team India wins, the whole nation probably gets the energy of going to work on a Monday. Everyone has bad days at work, school, etc but such victories bring smiles to these faces. This is what Cricket can do(Actually, this is what any Sport does, but being amongst the majority Indians, Sport = = Indian Cricket :p).
  This is when it also hit me (I am exaggerating, it'd hit me eons ago, but just for the sake of it :p) that this was why I never particularly loved the IPL. Having watched and followed Cricket pretty seriously for about 7-8 years now, I can go on record and say that I can identify passion on the Cricket field when I see it. And when I see the IPL, I don't see passion. I don't see a reason why a player would give his 100% every single time he plays for his franchise. Of course(not really, but let's consider this as a safe assumption), when a player goes on to play at the international level he is pretty much trained and mentally prepared to give his 100% every single time for whichever team he is playing for. But, so far, 99% of the matches 99% of the players have played, are for his club, his province, his state and/or his country. So, there is that emotional bonding or a feeling of patriotism for a player to the team since it represents a region where he comes from. This probably drives passion. But, I don't see such a driving force for say someone like a Luke Wright when he plays for Pune Warriors India.
  Such absence of a driving force of passion(Yeah! I'm sounding too philosophical) probably turns out to be a perfect opportunity for the very very interesting people called the Bookies to come into a player's life. I can feel for the players too. It's tough to be rational, unless you have a substantial driving force of passion, when escort girls come into your life(Studying Engineering in India, I can relate to the fellow Cricketers because both of us have, literally, a very very male dominated society around ourselves :p). Once the Bookies come into your life, you're pretty much done.
  I can go on and on criticizing the IPL. But, I know that it's not worth it. For all the bad things IPL stands for, there are also quite a few good things for which the world seems to enjoy it. I simply don't care. I am glad that this fixing saga happened in the IPL and not in international Cricket. Sure, I was disappointed with it at the beginning. But, now when I see stories like 'Raj Kundra confesses to betting', I sincerely don't give a shit and move on (to the sports pages of course :p).