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The slow demise of ICL
Posted on: July 13, 2009
- In: Cricket | Cricket and Sports | ICL | IPL | Languages and Politics | ODI | Twenty20
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Captains of the ICL teams posing with the Trophy
BCCI have achieved what they set out to do couple of years back when the ICL was launched. ICL was launched in 2007 by Zee Enterprises as their bid to telecast couple of International tournaments was denied by the BCCI. When the ICL was launched lots of International players were excited and expressed interest in the same. Big names such as Shane Bond, Abdul Razzak and few other retired players joined the league.
BCCI obviously was not thrilled and called it a “Rebel” league. The BCCI also said that any player joining the league will not be allowed to play for India. BCCI’s power in International cricket is now a known fact and this caused all the other nations to follow suit and ban their players joining the so called “Rebel” league. BCCI did not stop there, they came up with their own T20 league and launched the IPL in 2007 and signed up all the big stars in the International arena.
Once the BCCI did that everyone knew that ICL would stand no chance against the financial powerhouse of the World cricket. The IPL season 1 was a big hit and the combination of International superstars and Bollywood superstars made the league a super duper hit in 2008. Even though ICL has been fighting for their rights against the BCCI and the ICC for recognition over the past two years, there was no doubt in everyone’s mind that this league will not survive for long.
There were lots of talks between the two parties but were unable to reach an amicable solution. In 2009 the recession had caught up with the ICL and they were unable to have their league which put lots of doubts on their players and slowly they started to part their ways with the league. Players like Shane Bond, Abdul Razzak and Mohd. Yousuf are already in their National sides and the BCCI have also given a second chance to the Indian youngsters to sever their contracts with the ICL.
It seems like the end is nearing for the ICL. Even though Kapil Dev (Chairman) had repeatedly told the media that both leagues can survive together, the possibility of that happening looks bleak right now. Even though I am not a avid supporter of the BCCI’s methods, I am happy for the International players who can now play test cricket and advance their careers. Shane Bond especially is a brilliant bowler and would be a great boost for a struggling New Zealand team. Mohd Yousuf coming back to Pakistan test team also will give them a huge boost.
BCCI have been arrogant and they said that the Indian players parting with the ICL cannot be considered for India for a year at least. The players though will be happy that they will at least get an opportunity to represent India in the future. Most of them are pretty young and 1 year would not be a big deal. The ICL might still go on as there are some retired stars still in the league but will lose its charm. BCCI have achieved what they wanted and ICL might eventually die down.
Even though it’s unfortunate for the ICL, I am just happy that some great players will again get a chance to play for their countries. The youngsters who were caught in the cross fire would be happy that in the future they can play for their country. ICL was good but was started for a wrong reason. Even though BCCI is no saint, I am just happy that this fight which was dividing world cricket is nearing its end. International teams have got back their stars and India has got back their youngsters.
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The Victorious Indian team with the trophy
India won their 5th straight series and their 3rd straight overseas. Looking at such a record it would seem that India has no issues but that’s not the case with the Indian team right now. Both Gary Kirsten and Mahendra Singh Dhoni will know that they have lots to think about in the coming two months. The record of Dhoni has been brilliant since he has taken over the captaincy. Except for the bad performance in the T20 WC, the Indian team has had a great year and a half.
They have won away ODI series in Australia, New Zealand and Srilanka (Twice) and won a test series in NZ. They also beat Australia and England at home and drew a series against the South Africans. They are sitting pretty at the number 3 spot in both forms of the game which is fantastic and the current scrappy series win adds to that brilliant record of Dhoni as a captain.
Even though Dhoni has an envious record as a captain he will know that things are only going to get tough. After the World T20 the picture has become little bit hazy for the Indian team. The team which had brilliant youngsters just few months ago is now questioning their talent at the big stage. The recall of Rahul Dravid in the probable’s for the Champions trophy reflects the state of mind of the selectors at the moment.
The English and the West Indian bowlers peppered the Indian youngsters with the short pitched stuff and they had no answers to counter the same. The same continued in the short series in the WI. If not for some individual brilliance India might have lost this series. Yuvraj in the first game and Dhoni in the third game saved the day for the Indians. Rohit Sharma has been struggling and for me needs a break from International cricket for some time. He needs to play more cricket at the domestic level and work on his inadequacies. The same goes for the other Indian youngsters.
If Rahul Dravid does get selected for the Champions trophy it will be a huge step backward for the Indian team. Even though it is a huge step back,the selection in itself cannot be questioned after the performance of the Indian youngsters in the World T20 and WI series. Jadeja needs to go and I am not sure if he will ever make it back to the Indian team. Karthik’s performance in the WI will also put a lot of pressure on the selectors when Sachin and Sehwag come back. Badri needs to get a chance in the middle order and so does Murali Vijay. Both of them are technically sound would be adding the much needed solidity for the Indian batting.
How long are we going to rely on Sachin at the top of the order? He probably has couple of years of cricket left in him and the youngsters need to show that they can take over the mantle. Raina and other youngsters can make use of this time off to work on their game. They need to figure out a way to effectively handle the short pitched stuff. The word travels pretty fast in the cricketing circles and I am sure that when India play in the champions trophy the youngsters will be tested again.
The bowling also needs some work but the return of Nehra to form will be good for the Indians. Ishant has to work on his variations, Harbajan has to control his faster ones and RP Singh needs to get back his zing. India would also be happy with Piyush Chawla’s fantastic all round performance for Sussex in the county cricket. He might find his way back to the team.
But all the issues aside this has been another good series win for the Indians and another overseas one. The team will be enjoying the welcome break from cricket but they will know that they have a tough season ahead.
Federer creates history
Posted on: July 7, 2009
Federer exults after his record breaking 15th title win
Roger Federer overtook Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slam titles with an epic win against Andy Roddick yesterday. It was a brilliant game with lots of twists and turns and eventually Federer sealed the deal in the fifth set with a 16-14 victory. This was a great match and for the second straight year Wimbledon has seen a wonderful game in the finals. This was Roddick’s third loss to Federer in Wimbledon Finals and I really felt sorry for the guy. He is a great induvidual and surely deserves to win the championship.
It was a brilliant performance by Roddick and he will be reflecting upon the missed opportunities during the course of the match yesterday. In the second set he had 4 set points in the tie break and also was having a double break on Federer’s serve in the fifth set. Both the times Federer was able to claw his way back. I feel sorry for Roddick though as against any other player he would have won comfortably with the way he played yesterday. Let’s just say that Federer was just marginally better than the American yesterday.
For Federer though it has been a brilliant year so far. He won the elusive French Open crown just a month ago followed by the Wimbledon to claim the world record. Federer won the title yesterday in front of former greats Sampras, Borg, and Rod Laver sitting in the member’s stand. It was a great day for a wonderful champion and hope he wins many more titles.
The women’s title once again went to one of the Williams sisters and this time it was Serena. It was a good performance from her as she fought of a brave Dementiava in the Semi-Finals. All in all it was a brilliant tournament and Congrats again to Federer for his 15th Grand Slam title.
After 2 games both teams are tied with a win each and WI has looked better than the jaded Indian team. The Indian batting except for Dhoni and Yuvraj has struggled since the World T20. The pathetic show by the Indian top order on the World T20 seems to be continuing in the series against the WI too. If not for the brilliance of Yuvraj in the first game the Indians would have been 2-0 by now.
As Dhoni rightly pointed out after the loss in the second ODI, the Indian youngsters need to play with more responsibility. They cannot walk in to bat with the mindset of swinging their willows around. It does not work that way all the time. The Indian youngsters have also been badly scarred by what happened in T20 with the bouncer barrage by the WI and the English team. It seems like they have completely lost their plot.
I guess along with the coach they have to sit and work out a plan to counter the WI tactics of bouncing the Indian youngsters. As far as the team selection goes for the final two ODI’s, Jadeja has to definitely go and make way for either Badrinath or Vijay in the X1. Jadeja has struggled and cannot score a run if his life depended on it at the moment. I guess bringing in Vijay or Badri will give more solidity to the top order. Dhoni should be worried about the bowling as well. I know that 188 was not a great target to defend on that pitch but the bowling was not that great. Ishant has looked bad for a while now and Zaheer is still recovering from injury and was not that effective in the T20 WC.
I guess the argument that the players were tired doesn’t apply to RP Singh and Nehra who haven’t played much international cricket over the last one year. Yes they both played in the IPL but still that was just a month of cricket. Indian bowling has been toothless against the WI and the fielding shoddy. Lots of mistakes committed on the field and lots of extras by the pacers and the spinners alike. I don’t understand why Bajji and Pathan bowl so many wides and most of the times its 5 wides.
There were lots of theories as to why we lost so badly in the World T20 but mine is that the bowling wasn’t that disciplined as they should have been. If you see in the crucial game against England Bajji bowled 2 wides which went for fours in the last 2 overs which were probably the only big scoring deliveries in the last few overs. The English batsmen were struggling to score runs of Bajji but for those two wides. India eventually lost by 3 runs and those were 10 runs proved costly.
Anyways with just two games to go and the series on the line, Dhoni has some harsh decisions to take and choose the right combination from the available 16. Hopefully India manage to win the series and come back at least with their pride intact.
Airtel Super Singer Junior begins
Posted on: June 30, 2009
Airtel super singer junior’s season two began yesterday and the schedule in the USA seems to be in sync with India this time. This week it’s just a fun round with the last year’s junior contestants going against the best from 2008 Airtel super singer seniors.
It’s a great thing for the super singer fans that the junior version begins just 2-3 weeks after the 2008 competition ended. So this gives us nice filler and also a chance to see the kid talent of Tamil Nadu before the Airtel Super Singer 2009 begins again later this year.
From the next week onwards we are going to see the auditions starting first with Coimbatore. I will be watching it for sure as yesterday I got a glimpse of how the last year’s juniors were. The two kids who sang were brilliant and were really confident on stage. Mahati and Anitha were the judges and we had Ajeesh and Raghini competing yesterday with the two kids. The hosts were Malini and Yugendran as usual.
I am waiting for the main competition to begin as its going to be a fun few months with the best kid talent on view. Vijay TV talent shows are the best and it has become a trendsetter for the other channels to follow.
I will be working on my yard today
Posted on: June 19, 2009
Well it’s a typical Friday morning at work, lot of empty seats, lots of free parking spaces and yes lots of OOO (Out Of Office) messages. I have been working here in the US for the past four years and this is my second client location and some things remain the same. The current client I work for is a giant corporation and is spread across the US.
I work for a typical “Desi” company where billing is everything. I have been amazed by the type of OOO emails we get at the client location. This morning my lead sent an email stating that since it was too nice outside and he wants to work on his yard. This was funny as working in an Indian company you would never even think of giving such a reason.
I work in a company where my manager told me that I shouldn’t take a day off when I was really sick. He said that having cold and fever is not a good enough reason to take a day off. Even though I was angry at that point when I think back it was really funny. That’s the difference between an Indian firm and an American firm.
I have seen so many different vacation emails with reasons such as “I am playing golf tomorrow”, “I am working on my Yard tomorrow”, “I have to collect Fedex package” and many others which will seem ridiculous to us coming from India. In India the only valid reasons for vacation or a day’s leave can be health or functions.
For us consultants at a client place it’s just a dream to be able to give such reasons for taking a leave. It will not be received that well from the managers of my parent company. Well even though I may never be able to work on my yard on a sunny day during a working day, the reasons for leave here in the US never ceases to amaze me.
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Dhoni will be aware that the series against the WI is one of the most important in his captaincy career
Now that T20 WC is done and dusted, it’s time for India to fly down to the Caribbean for a 4 match ODI series. The team announced is sans Sachin, Sehwag, Zaheer and Pathan and is quite an inexperienced one. Ashish Nehra gets a call back to the Indian team due to his fine performances in the IPL and Abhishek Nayyar is the only new face in the squad.
The Indian team will directly fly over to the WI from London on the 21st. It will be a different experience for Dhoni who has hardly put a foot wrong during his tenure as a captain of the national side. The failure in the T20 WC is going to hurt for sure but calls to drop him is little premature I think. Dhoni is an excellent leader and India is still the third best team in 50 over and Test formats.
Even though the team is less on confidence we should beat the WI even with this depleted team. The bowling will be spearheaded by Ishant and Harbajan and the batting by Dhoni and Yuvi. Ghambir I guess will do fine in the 50 over format as he was in reasonable form in the T20 WC. Rohit Sharma also will be a key player in the team.
Dropping Irfan Pathan was a bad decision I feel as he is the only other player to have toured WI before. Nehra has been there too and so has Harbajan, so the Indian bowling will do fine but it’s the batting which will be a major worry for the Indians. Irfan could have solved that issue coming in at no 7 as he is a very good bat and a decent bowler at the start. In the absence of Zaheer, he would have been a good bowler to have in the squad.
I hope that the experiment with Rohit opening the bat will end after the T20 WC and someone like Vijay can join Ghambir at the top. Rohit can come at number 4 and Raina can bat at number 3. The Indian captain though would want to come back to his aggressive best. It will be a test of character for the Indian captain as this will show how well he can handle the pressure.
Winning this series will be of utmost importance for the team as this will also propel us closer to the top spot in the ODI rankings. In a way it’s a good thing that India isn’t flying back home after the T20 debacle but on the flip side, watching the other teams battling for the title cannot be good either. Anyways this series will be an important one for the Indians and I hope that we win.
The team has been great over the past one year or so and I hope that we bounce back the same way we did after the 2007 WC.
India crashed out of the World T20 this Sunday after they lost to England by 3 runs at Lords. Needing 154 to win, the Indian batsmen made 150/5 to lose the game to England. The Indian top order was found out by the WI pace bowlers in the previous game when they bowled short pitched stuff to Rohit, Ghambir and Raina who looked unsettled against the same.
England used the same tactics and was successful again. I know that there was only a day between the two matches but why didn’t Indian coach and captain find a way to counter it. It was a given that the English bowlers would try the short pitched stuff again. The overall captaincy of Dhoni in the World T20 was strange and sometimes hard to understand. He made too many tactical errors which cost India at crucial times.
First of all Yuvraj being the senior member in the team, should have always batted at number 4. I don’t understand why you need to hide a batsman who is the best in the side and could have made the English bowlers nervous. Sending Jadeja ahead of Yuvraj was baffling to me.
The other striking error was not bowling RP Singh at the death. RP Singh replaced Irfan Pathan for this crucial game and bowled a brilliant first spell just giving away 13 runs in his first 3 overs for the wicket of Luke Wright but still Dhoni decided to bowl Ishant and Zaheer who were more expensive. It’s a known fact that Ishant is not a good bowler at the death but RP Singh is. Ishant and Zaheer went for too many runs in the end giving England an easy passage to 150 when they had no chances of getting there at one stage.
England scored 53 runs in the last 5 overs and they did not have to take any risks. Harbajan bowled 2 wides which went for 4 and that too in the crucial last over when the first 5 balls had only yielded 2 runs and a wicket. The only thing Bajji had to do it to bowl straight and India would have won the game. The extra 5 runs given pushed the score beyond 150.
Overall the batting and the bowling in the campaign for India was too inconsistent to say the least. Well all in all it was a pathetic performance and India for sure will be hurt by this. The next series will commence pretty soon against the WI where we play 4 ODI’s and hopefully we can do well. The Indian youngsters need to work hard against the short pitched bowling as WI has a good pace attack.
It seems like Sachin might not go to WI which will be a huge blow to the Indian chances. Sehwag might come back to the side which will boost the top order and I hope that we get back Sreesanth in the team along with Munaf. WI pitches are slow and low and we need bowlers with pace in the team. Zaheer might also not play in the series due to injury.
India plays SA later today in their final game of the ICC WorldT20 and they have nothing at stake but the pride. I am sure that Dhoni and his men would want to end the tournament with a win which will give them some confidence ahead of the WI tour.
Leander and Mahesh a partnership which captured the imagination of Indian tennis lovers
For more than a decade, Leander and Mahesh have carried the Indian hopes on their shoulder and have delivered time and again. How long can they go on? When will we see the next generation kick in? We have seen that the Indian young players have never been up to the challenge yet. Players like Bopanna, Prakash Amritraj, Harsh Mankad and quite a lot of young tennis players came on the scene and have disappeared.
Yeah they do play in the doubles scene in the Grand Slams once in a while but have never done anything of note. Sania Mirza too, India’s major hope for a top 10 player has been so inconsistent and injury prone. The dream of her reaching the top 10 seems far and distant. Tennis is a very expensive game and it’s not easy in India to take it up as a career.
It was about 8 years back when I saw an interview of Leander in Harsha Online in the ESPN where he spoke about the hardships he and Mahesh had to go through to come to this level. Eight years after they are the ones still carrying Indian dreams in the Grand slams. Recently the Indian tennis scene received an incredible boost with Yuki Bhambri who won the Australian open juniors and Somdev Devvarman who reached the business end of the Chennai open.
We will have to wait and see if these two take over the mantle from these two legends but the chances are bright. I had huge hopes for Prakash Amritraj as he was coached in the US and his father was the last Indian player to consistently challenge the top players during his time, but he has been disappointing.
India needs a top tennis player, need an idol to follow after Leander and Mahesh decide to call it a day. I just hope that these youngsters step up to the plate and deliver. Indian tennis scene has never looked so promising and I hope that these youngsters convert their good starts into something meaningful.
Till that happens the hope of an Indian tennis lover will continue to rest on Leander and Mahesh. It’s been an amazing 12-13 years since Mahesh became the first Indian to win a grand slam. They have more than 20 Grand Slam titles in doubles between them and it would have been fantastic if they had continued to play together. I salute the two legends of Indian tennis and their contribution towards the sport in India has been magnificent. Hope we find another Leander and Mahesh soon to carry on the mantle once they hang up their boots.
girisopinion
My Thoughts 
Too much hype for the Ashes
Posted by: girisopinion on: July 15, 2009
The Ashes Urn
The Ashes 2009 is currently going on and the first test at Cardiff just ended last weekend. The series is just 1 test old and the hype surrounding this one is unbelievable. I can’t believe that this is a follow up to the 2006/07 series where England lost 5-0. I guess the English have selective amnesia as they have completely bypassed that series in between almost making everyone feel that this series is right after the 2005 one. I have been following this series for the last 15 years or so, not because I have a favorite team but just for the love of the sport. Since the time I started seeing the Ashes it’s always been a one sided contest. Yes there was one great series in 2005 but that’s about it. I did not watch the 1986-87 series and the one before that when England had won the Ashes back to back. But since then it has been just a one-way traffic.
While the British media blows this series up out of proportion, one can’t stop thinking, is it really this big? Yes probably for the English and the Australians but to call this as a series for which the entire world is waiting for is bit of a stretch. To be frank for the last 2 decades England have been a mediocre team except for the one which played in the 2005 Ashes. The English media is generating all this hype for the current series from England’s 2005 ashes win, meanwhile completely ignoring the 5-0 bashing which they received in 2006/07.
I recently saw few of the SKY commentators calling the Ashes as the definition of test cricket, yes I agree but for only England and Australian supporters and not for the entire cricketing world. For the others, it’s just another cricketing series between two teams. As far as I am concerned the Ashes has been too one-sided over the years to be called a great competition. Australians have been too strong for the English teams of the past with the likes of McGrath’s and Warne’s in their team.
The current Ashes series though can be called as a series between two even sides. The contest becomes even only because England are playing at home. The over hype for the series is sometimes hard to take. Yeah I agree that this is one of the oldest series in the history of the game but that doesn’t automatically make it a great series, does it? Since 1989 until 2005 both these teams have played 43 times and England has just won 7 and the Australians 28 with 8 drawn games.
The 2005 series was great and England played brilliantly to win a close series to claim the ashes almost after 2 decades. In spite of that it still remains 34-9 to the Aussies since 1989. The series was great prior to 1989 as the teams were close, the games were even, the head to head more close 87-86 to the Aussies but since then it has been one-sided. Even though this will remain as one of the oldest and historic series in the cricketing circles, it is hardly a great contest anymore. The English probably would like to believe that the entire world is waiting with bated breath for this contest but that’s not true.
Yes I agree that we do watch it and enjoy the series but same as any other contest. I think that the English always want to hold on to their history and would want to believe some things are more important to others than it actually is but that’s not the case with the ashes. The Ashes is equally important to the Australians but you will see that once the series is over they will start concentrating on their next assignment and you will not see any Aussie talking about the Ashes until they meet again for the trophy. The English though live for the series, so it seems. Once the series is over they keep thinking about the next one, meanwhile ignoring the series in between.
English media by talking all the time about the 2005 series is trying to make this current series bigger than it actually is. This series will be good but will never attain the greatness of the 2005 series as the Aussies are a young team and no matter what people say England an ordinary team. I will be following this series for sure but I don’t think that this particular series deserves the hype it has got.