Srinath - A team man to the core
When Srinath made his test debut in 1991 Kapil Dev was almost at the end of his career. Watching Srinath in that tour of Australia was a great experiance as he was by far the fastest Indian bowler at that time. The major problem with Srinath was his stamina in the initial part of his career. He could bowl really quick but always looked tired after a short spell. Srinath was also lucky to have started his career when Kapil was still leading India’s pace attack.
Srinath had a good tour of Australia and was in the team which went on a historic tour to South Africa later. Srinath when he made his debut was different from other Indian bowlers of that time. He was a bowler who hit the deck pretty hard and extracted plenty of bounce using his height and a strong action to his advantage. After the tour of SA, he dissapeared for over a year and returned after Kapil had hung up his boots in the 1994/95 season when WI toured India.
In the initial part of his career Srinath was a one dimensional bowler who mostly bowled in dippers to the right handers which made him very effective against the left handers. Brian Lara always had problems facing Srinath. I guess Srinath was one of the reasons why Brian Lara has a pretty modest record against the Indians. Later in his career Srinath developed a good slower delivery and a leg cutter which made him a more all round bowler at the international level.
Srinath was a perfect team man. His career was shortened due to injuries to his shoulder. Srinath’s career ran parallely with Glenn Mcgrath and Allan Donald. The major disadvantage for Javagal was that he never had the back up which both Mcgrath and Donald enjoyed in their respective teams. Most of the time Srinath was the only pace bowler in the dust bowls of India during the early 90’s when India prepared doctored pitches to suit their spinners.
Srinath lacked any support from the other end till Prasad made his debut in 1996. Srinath could have played more test matches and got more wickets if only India had good pace bowlers to support his initial bursts. He was particulary overbowled during the mid nineties under the captaincy of Sachin Tendulkar. He picked up his shoulder problem after the tour of SA in 1996/97 as he along with Prasad were the only bowlers who looked like taking any wickets on that tour. Srinath manfully toiled hard bowling long spells in mid and late nineties while the rest of the Indian bowlers except for Prasad turned up with mediocre perfromances abroad.
Srinath never got his due as a player as the Indian media is all about the batsmen in the team. Srinath retired after the 2003 WC without much fanfare. Srinath is only pacemen after Kapil Dev to have picked up 200 test wickets for India and the only Indian fast bowler to pick up 300 one day wickets. He was always a team man and stood up to be counted whenever his captain needed him. Srinath was always my favorite Indian bowler. India now can boast of a formidable pace attack with great bench strength which was not the case in the 90’s.
Srinath’s name may not figure in many “All time X1’s” but still he was one of the best India has ever had. I salute Srinath for his great contribution to Indian cricket and for being a wonderful team man that he was. I also wish him all the best in his new role as the ICC Match Refree. I am sure that he would perform this new role with the same passion and commitment as his did for team India as a player.
Federer not the focus this time
Posted on: September 4, 2008
Roger Federer not the overwhelming favorite for US Open
US Open is nearing its completion and for the first time in 5 years Federer is not the favorite to win this championship. Federer has lost to Nadal in two grand slam finals this year which included his shock defeat in Wimbledon. Federer who has won US Open 4 times before this and is the defending champion this year finds himself not in the headlines for the first time. Djokovic defeating him in the Australian and Nadal defeating him French and Wimbledon has given the others the confidence that they can also beat him.
This might actually work to Federer’s advantage as the focus this time is shifted to Nadal and he is the number one player this tournament. Federer this time has less pressure as people have realised that he can be beaten. Even though the champion himself would want to shrug off the bad performances this year in the Grand slam finals to win his 13th.
I am an ardent fan of Roger Federer and I am sure that he will make a grand comeback. The great champion that he is will surely want to end this year on a high note. This will be first year since he won the wimbledon in 2003 that he will end with out a major title if he doesnt win US open. I am sure that Federer will continue to win more slams and break Sampras’s record and once again become the number one player in the world.
Good luck to Federer as he will be playing his quarterfinals match against G.Muller later today.
- In: Olympics | tennis
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1 Gold, 1 Bronze and another medal on the way makes this the best ever olympics for India. Vijender won his quartefinals bout to assure himself of at least a bronze medal in the middleweight class. This makes it three for India in the 29th edition of the Olympics and is a wonderful feeling for every Indian like myself. India won a gold in Hockey in 1980 and had to wait for 28 years to win another one and this time it is even better as we managed to win two more medals on top of that.
When the Indian Hockey team failed to qualify for the olympics, it seemed like a medal hope was lost. Even though the hockey team never performed great in the previous 6 editions before this after 1980, we always thought that they are our best hope to win a olympic medal. What we have seen in the previous years is that there is someone who always stood up to be counted. Even though not many people thought that Leander would win a medal in tennis singles or Malleswari would win a medal in weightlifting, they did the same against the odds.
This olympics has been a great one for India and I hope that this inspires more athletes for the next edition in 2012. India has always found unlikely heroes in olympics to make the country proud and this time we have three. Kudos to Sushil, Abhinav and Vijender. These three have made all the Indians proud. I hope that Vijender goes on to win gold in Boxing to make this olympics even more special for India.
Sushil Wins Bronze
1 Gold, 1 Bronze and another medal on the way makes this the best ever olympics for India. Vijender won his quartefinals bout to assure himself of at least a bronze medal in the middleweight class. This makes it three for India in the 29th edition of the Olympics and is a wonderful feeling for every Indian like myself. India won a gold in Hockey in 1980 and had to wait for 28 years to win another one and this time it is even better as we managed to win two more medals on top of that.
When the Indian Hockey team failed to qualify for the olympics, it seemed like a medal hope was lost. Even though the hockey team never performed great in the previous 6 editions before this after 1980, we always thought that they are our best hope to win a olympic medal. What we have seen in the previous years is that there is someone who always stood up to be counted. Even though not many people thought that Leander would win a medal in tennis singles or Malleswari would win a medal in weightlifting, they did the same against the odds.
This olympics has been a great one for India and I hope that this inspires more athletes for the next edition in 2012. India has always found unlikely heroes in olympics to make the country proud and this time we have three. Kudos to Sushil, Abhinav and Vijender. These three have made all the Indians proud. I hope that Vijender goes on to win gold in Boxing to make this olympics even more special for India.
In Search of a medal
Posted on: August 18, 2008
- In: Olympics | tennis
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Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal last week in the Beijing olympics made every Indian proud. But if we consider that this was our first such medal in 28 years makes us kind of sad. The rest of the Indian contingent have not fared that great in the games this year and it seems like we will end up with just one medal this year too. When we see that China who have a population of almost similar proportions to India leading the medals tally makes us wonder where we are going wrong.
In Search of a medal
Posted on: August 18, 2008
Mahesh and Leander Crashed out of Olympics
Abhinav Bindra’s gold medal last week in the Beijing olympics made every Indian proud. But if we consider that this was our first such medal in 28 years makes us kind of sad. The rest of the Indian contingent have not fared that great in the games this year and it seems like we will end up with just one medal this year too. When we see that China who have a population of almost similar proportions to India leading the medals tally makes us wonder where we are going wrong.
I would have thought before the games began that India’s best chance for a Olympic medal this year would be the doubles combination of Leander and Mahesh. Them crashing out in the quarterfinals and Sania crashing out too have dashed India’s hope of a second medal. We had few others giving us some hope like Saina in badminton and Akhil in boxing but both of them crashed out before entering the medal rounds. The basic issue in Indian sports is lack of sponsership and encouragement for the athletes.
The fact that the Indian hockey team did not even qualify for the games points us to a much larger issue. It seems like the sports in India other than cricket is facing a slow death if the respective boards are not careful about it. Indian athletes have always struggled and the reason for the same is that they cannot take that as a profession as people from other countries can. They dont have proper sponsership and training facilities required for them to excel and compete at world level.
If the boards and various committees in India dont take action soon then India would become a one sport nation which it kind of already is. Getting a gold medal in Olympics is great but not knowing where the next medal would come from is not that encouraging for Indian sports. India needs heroes for the people to follow in other sports. The olympic games come and go but we dont stop wondering as to where the next medal is going to come from. The nation of 1 billion people and just one medal. Micheal Phelps of USA has taken 8 medals all by himself. As I write this article there are couple more chances for India in Boxing in the coming days to get the second medal for the country. As the nation searches for its second medal, I just hope that something is done to revive the other sports in India.
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Its a proud moment for every Indian as Abhinav Bindra got the first Gold medal for India in 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is the first Gold medal for India since the Hockey team got one in 1980. India have got Bronze and Silver in the last few editions of the Olympics but getting a Gold is a great achievement.
Abhinav Bindra
Its a proud moment for every Indian as Abhinav Bindra got the first Gold medal for India in 2008 Beijing Olympics. This is the first Gold medal for India since the Hockey team got one in 1980. India have got Bronze and Silver in the last few editions of the Olympics but getting a Gold is a great achievement.
Lets all celebrate this great occasion and hope that this inspires more medals for India in Beijing Olympics. Once again congrats to Abhinav Bindra for winning men’s 10 meters air rifle Gold. He sure has made our country proud.
Harbhajan Celebrates after a wicket
Sehwag’s double hundred and Harbhajan’s late 4 wicket burst kept India in the hunt in the second test at Galle. Srilanka finished on 215/5 still 114 runs behind India’s first innings total of 329. Earlier today Indian were bowled out for 329 after resuming on 214/4 on the second day. Sehwag scored a brilliant double hundred (His fifth) to guide India to a competetive total as the rest of the batting struggled. Only Laxman and Ghambir were able to give some sort of support to Sehwag’s lone hand for the visitors.
When Srilanka started their second innings, they lost Vandort early caught by Rahul Dravid of the bowling on Zaheer in the first over but Sangakkara and Warnapura batted with assurance to help their team to 137/1. The hosts seemed to be cruising with none of the Indian bowlers able to make any impact. After Harbhajan picked up Warnapura for 66 he was completely a different bowler and kind of ran through the middle order leaving them on 192/5 when Dilshan got out. Captain Jayawardane along with the other Jayawardane in the team formed a small unbroken partnership of 23 to lead Srilanka to 215/5 at the end of day2.
India would still be wary of the Srilankan captain as he can turn the game in the home team’s favour. Indians would also be worried with the bowling for of their captain as he was unable to make any impact in this series yet. Indians would be hoping to dismiss Srilanka within 300 and would hope to get a slight advantage in the first innings. The pitch will for sure get more difficult to bat on in the 3rd and fourth innings and both the team would want to have as much lead as possible.
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Sehwag’s double hundred and Harbhajan’s late 4 wicket burst kept India in the hunt in the second test at Galle. Srilanka finished on 215/5 still 114 runs behind India’s first innings total of 329. Earlier today Indian were bowled out for 329 after resuming on 214/4 on the second day. Sehwag scored a brilliant double hundred (His fifth) to guide India to a competetive total as the rest of the batting struggled. Only Laxman and Ghambir were able to give some sort of support to Sehwag’s lone hand for the visitors.
When Srilanka started their second innings, they lost Vandort early caught by Rahul Dravid of the bowling on Zaheer in the first over but Sangakkara and Warnapura batted with assurance to help their team to 137/1. The hosts seemed to be cruising with none of the Indian bowlers able to make any impact. After Harbhajan picked up Warnapura for 66 he was completely a different bowler and kind of ran through the middle order leaving them on 192/5 when Dilshan got out. Captain Jayawardane along with the other Jayawardane in the team formed a small unbroken partnership of 23 to lead Srilanka to 215/5 at the end of day2.
India would still be wary of the Srilankan captain as he can turn the game in the home team’s favour. Indians would also be worried with the bowling for of their captain as he was unable to make any impact in this series yet. Indians would be hoping to dismiss Srilanka within 300 and would hope to get a slight advantage in the first innings. The pitch will for sure get more difficult to bat on in the 3rd and fourth innings and both the team would want to have as much lead as possible.
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My Thoughts 