One Over

On October 29, 2014October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-2010Leave a comment

Bit outside the off stump, probably fifth stump; that was the first ball of the over. Good pace, lovely out swinger and also a bit late movement. The ball is only 7 overs old. The game has just begun; no wickets down yet. That is a bit of a surprise since the opponents are slightly mis-matched. The bowling side has representative players of high skill; the opening batsmen are not highly ranked but not bad; after all they are playing first grade district cricket. In grade cricket anywhere in Australia, that is no mean achievement. The line then changes slightly towards the off stump next ball. One after that and it keeps coming towards the off stump with same late outswinger and off the deck movement. I can see what the bowler is up to now. The opener has been stubborn, not very skilful but good enough to leave good balls and not good enough to touch the cockers!! Three overs that the bowler has bowled from my end, I am certain would have produced a wicket, if the batsmen were good enough to come close! Many have gone past apparently thin looking blades of both batsmen. That’s a phenomenon I know only too well, having been an opening batsman all my plying life. I can identify with the batsmen; having been in similar mode while playing against first class bowlers of my state team; remember making a lot of them pull their hairs out the same way with my edgy but long and sometimes even productive stays at the crease. David slaying a Goliath..am I going to see another one here or what? Some experience of playing this game helps me to see the bowler’s brain ticking even behind the agonized expression every time a wicket taking ball returns nothing. The value of experience in cricket or any game or indeed life, teaches you patience and perseverance. But skill added to experience teaches you to plan a dismissal. When you see the plan developing, that is when the intricacies of the game become engrossing, even when the opponents are mis-matched. I am lucky to be in the best position to watch, though can’t afford to focus away from a few triggers on every ball that I have defined for myself as an umpire. I can’t afford to make an error distracted by the brilliance of a bowler or a batsman. Also, like batsman if I get trapped into an expectation of what’s going to happen next, I can give unintended benefit to either batsman or a bowler. Watch it, watch the next ball, stay focussed, I tell myself, as I used to, every time I faced up to the next thunderbolt coming my way when batting.

Wait, what’s happening here? The bowler has decided to change the field for fifth ball of the over. He asks his mid-off, the only fielder in front of the wicket so far, to go into the slip cordon. Four slips and two gullies now. Everyone except the bowler is now behind the stumps anticipating an edge. The next ball comes back into the batsman!! Surprised batsman still manages to keep it out somehow. Great thinking by the bowler, perfect execution, but nothing to show! Agony again. A bit of grunt, a glare and even a couple of words in the direction of an impervious batsman…In the end, no choice but to turn around and come back for the last ball. Sixth and last ball of the over coming up; though the batsman is now probably unsure what the ball will do, in or out?? Last ball, perfect ball, middle and off line now, again beautiful late out swing and this time quite a healthy edge!! But wait, it has taken the shoulder of the blade and lobs EXACTLY over the replenished fourth slip fielder’s head. A fly slip would have caught it!!! “Hook, line and sinker” the bowler mutters under his breath; a resigned shrug of the shoulders, hands-on-hips-stand in the follow-through as the batsman crosses his path taking a single….Sure, absolutely, I agree silently with him, handing over his cap. But still no wicket…?? Apparently, the bowler came off second best through no brilliance of the batsman. Beauty of cricket. Luck and skill the two faces of a coin that this great game is. As I move to my position at square-leg, I see the agony on the face of the bowler, with a bit of sparkle in the eyes. It’s still a win for the bowler even though the scorebook says one run to the batsman. Somewhere within, I sense there has to be a sense of satisfaction, pride to plan and execute a dismissal that never was, so near and yet so far. That it did not eventuate brings everyone to an equal platform. Often great balls go unrewarded and full tosses pick up a wicket or two. As in cricket, so also in life….

Did he finally dismiss him? Don’t think he did. The bowler certainly ended up getting a fifer at the end of the innings; quite deservedly. Though he could never defeat that particular batsman on that day. That’s what I remember!! On a given day, even less skilled can beat the geniuses; one ray of hope that made me continue to play even as a less skilled player. And indeed gave me a few success stories to tell and dream about. No surprise why the game continues to still fascinate me. After all, its similarity with life are so uncanny, isn’t it? You do not know when will you see the beauty of the unpredictable even in the intensity of a battle. Often even when you do not get what you want, you can still afford a smile and go away in your corner to replenish and come back to persevere. Because patience and perseverance are virtues that can outlive skill. Attitude over ability. Imagine if both come together? A small moment in a game, can often make one forget even the physical pain, as I experienced on that day. Small moments can leave big impacts. Makes it all worth doing again, that’s why I look forward to tomorrow…….No prizes for guessing that I shall be back for more. 🙂

Playing Blind…India in England

On September 4, 2014October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20101 Comment

Five tests and Indians proved to be duds, even after winning a famous test at Lords after a long time; and that too more for the way in which they won rather than the result itself! Perhaps for the first time England were bounced out by Indians! They have been spun out many times but bounced out?? I never though I would live to see that..Strange thing though was that some bouncers were actually quite friendly!! Only a few were in the West Indian category of eighties. But Poms reciprocated the chivalry of Indian bowlers by being even better hosts, and hit them straight down the throats of very visibly placed deep midwicket, square leg fielders. Honestly it was as much an English loss as it was an Indian win. This is not to detract from one of the finest and worthy centuries in the history of Indian cricket; a superlative century in the first innings by Ajinkya Rehane on a spicy wicket and against a skilfully mean set of seam bowlers. Or a singularly unidirectional but lion-hearted spell of fast bowling from Ishant Sharma. Sevenfor in fourth innings to win a test match is meritorious for any pace bowler, any where. What followed the Lord’s test was bizarre, and that is putting it mildly. Indian fans can be forgiven for their bewilderment. They now know how one feels after smoking cocaine…an incredibly high high, followed by a massive thud followed by indescribable agony! Even for a seasoned Indian fan like me, having lived through decades of numerous ignominious defeats at the bats and balls of all comers, be at home or away, this was still a new feeling. Makes one realize, losses are after all, not that bad. The problem is a win! It raises your expectation!!! Dhoni has been responsible more than any other skipper in the history of Indian cricket, to do this to the unwitting Indian cricket fan. Perhaps, at the end of his career, this will be his best achievement??? May be I am being a bit too harsh. May be father and son duo, up there somewhere, would be watching and feeling the same for allowing their names on the Pataudi Trophy??

As if Dhoni reads my mind..surely come the ODI series and what do we see? India win three ODIs rather ‘uncharacteristically’, but at a canter and the series with it!! In fact, it’s a thrashing. Even though in One day format, India are ahead of England, on this tour they have shown a rubbery spine; termed so since to turn it around once was kind of ok, but a hat-trick of wins was certainly like being injected with “ice”. Its as if this is not the same India that whimpered along in tests.

Often in the past, a draw used to be a dream for an Indian cricket fan and when achieved on rare occasions, was celebrated with a massive fan fare and temple bells ringing for a few weeks……sometimes even the PM of the country sending congratulatory telegrams to the captain of the team and the elected legislators of the country for a change, thumping the Loksabha benches instead of each other. At the best of the times, Indians do not need much of an invitation to celebrate. When there was a cause to celebrate a draw, a “Haley’s comet” like event, the whole country came together, including a multitude who had neither any interest in cricket nor those who had any understanding of it nor cared for any sport in general! To the uninitiated this may not seem like much but believe you me, it is! We Indians have been veritably described as oranges, for once the peel is taken off, we emerge as distinct units. There was hardly anything to celebrate in the lives of Indian citizens then…..even in 1974, 1947 still remained a prime thing to celebrate! With that kind of mentality, an Indian fan is so much used to defeats that any unexpected win actually becomes more shocking than a loss…Dhoni has to understand this! If you ask me, that is the real generation gap!

Having said that, to win occasionally mostly from loosing, is nothing but an obvious progression. The problem though, is the roller-coaster ride that the fans have to endure; the tigers at home suddenly loose their teeth to become the lambs and whether the opponents expect it or not, gift the games away. I mean I can understand gift of a wine bottle or two for your hosts when you are invited; but to gift away the whole kit and caboodle is far from expected even by the hosts. While Dr Jekyll of Indian cricket is well known for killing the opponent with a surprise, the occasionally appearing Mr Hyde surprises the opponent (and the fans), with a clinical kill. Just when you sigh with a “here we go” after the customary defeats, suddenly the emergence of Mr Hyde shocks the fans more than the opponents. The strange case of Jekyll and Hyde becomes even more strange when Indianized. The evil is good and the good is evil! It can’t be more confusing…

Look at the way in which India has played and won the three ODIs so far. All three have been comprehensive wins and Poms have been totally outplayed. The tracks have suddenly assumed sub-continental hue from the green-green and even Ravindra Jadeja has started spinning the ball! In first two games English start was reasonable; something that flattered to deceive. Bit like an occasional rainbow accompanying the downpour. The first sight of the slow bowlers was the trigger for that rainbow to fade away. Slow bowlers is best how one can describe the group Dhoni uses as a spin bowling option. The famous Indian spin quartet of the past would refuse to call themselves bowlers, let alone spinners, if the current set of Indian bowlers were classified as genuine spinners…ah well, that may be my old bones creaking but really what we see today that Dhoni gets by, not only using as spinners but also to claim wickets, you would wonder why someone would really make any attempt to master the art of spin bowling. I mean for heaven’s sake, Alistair Cook got spun out by Ambati Rayudu!! But that is no fault of Dhoni. If English can not bully the moderate spin options that they are being served by the Indian captain, it’s their loss and points to a deeper malaise in the English system.

I think it is a “Cook” Effect. I think English are SO much hung-up on their captain getting some runs, right through the last Ashes and beyond, that if he scores anything, it’s a win. From that point, they are hardly different from Indians!! Match result doesn’t count. Honestly, the best Poms could do; let me correct myself; the ONLY thing Poms could do is to drop Cook from ODIs for his own good and that of the team. Honestly, he is an apology for an ODI opener…I think Sunny Gavaskar must be praying that Cook carries on in One day cricket for long long time. Two reasons: he is current BCCI boss but more importantly, that is the only way his 36 n.o. of 60 overs can finally be forgotten…I mean it’s bizarre.

English have only one reasonable spinner in Treadwell but they are dishing out slow tracks. Only way it can be explained is that they have decided to challenge their bowlers! I can imagine their cricket development management team’s brain ticking… damn, they are not going to get slow and mildly spinning conditions for a while; definitely not in the upcoming world cup in Australia. This is against the principles of skill development we have planned! That is unacceptable!! Yeah, that must be it. Quite a noble thought really, if you care to think deeply. Results after all are not as important as the processes!! If Dhoni says so, it must be right!! Hah……looks like the Captain Courageous has produced another rabbit form his hat!!

Basically I think both the teams are playing blind…..as you do in a game of Teen Patti; the Indian version of card game, Flush or Poker. When you have a hand containing 2,3,5 a la Raj of Shri 420 fame, the only way to win the pot is by bullying your opponent through blind play and hope he folds out of fear of his own inability! Indians did that in the Lord’s test and Poms obliged. English returned the favour in next and Indians surprised all, most their opponents, by obliging them in not one but next three tests! So now it was the turn of English to be good hosts. Honestly, the cricket I have seen on the tour so far ranks as one from the widest range of skills; extremely skilful to absolute fourth grade rubbish, in all departments of the game. If one catch of Alistair Cook spilled by Jadeja could be so important as to turn the series on its head, surely the level of skills on both sides have to be on very high oscillations between sublime to rubbish. It all depends upon the luck of the draw on a day; not even Nostradamus could have predicted who will turn up next day at the ground from either team. The pity I think is, all concerned know this. Teams know it, their skippers know it, the coaches and the plethora of support staff know it, the management teams know it, the boards know it and now the paying spectators and us the last-to-know loyal fans know it!! That’s why the teams play blind..let us just keep playing and hope we will get one hand better than the opposition. After all a win is just a relative thing! Well, even competition is just a relative thing. I remember one college game I witnessed yonks back on my home ground of MG Science in Ahmedabad, when one team scored 92 runs in their allotted 50 overs and the opponents almost won it……just fell short by a run at the end of 50 overs!! It was one of the slowestly nail biting games I have ever witnessed. The fact that I still remember it after 40 years, is the proof. I know you wonder why I was watching it in the first place; surely I couldn’t see the close finish at half time. Well, a simple answer to that is that I had bunked the class so ended up sitting at the ground watching to avoid reaching home early!! The point is, when we see a game as fans, loyal fans, everything is subjective and relatively compared. Honestly otherwise fans of these both teams have little to celebrate….

It’s about time, as Indian cricket fans we also learn to play blind! Let us hope Dhoni and his troupe keep bringing up one hand better than their opponents. A 2,3,6 against a 2,3,5 is good enough for me; I am a fan of modest ambitions! Let us not hope for all aces, or single suit or a flush every time these guys go out to play. It needs to be just one better than their opponent. And if they can win blind even with a hand of 2,3,5, so be it…….after all, more than likely, the hands dealt to Indian teams are likely to be lower denominations more than anything else. Seems to me that the Indian deck is bereft of all picture cards; a joker once in a while not withstanding!

Disclaimer: Its’ all in the fun. I would SO love to be wrong!! 🙂

Dhoni X-Factor in ICC Champions Trophy Finale..

On June 22, 2013October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-2010Leave a comment

Indian cricket team is once again living up to its tag of being unpredictable. The difference is till now in the tournament, it has shown the kind of consistently dominating performance that can only be termed as oxymoronic for Jekyl and Hyde nature that Indian fans are so used to. It is indeed a pleasant surprise. I thought they would be tested by the Sri Lankans, but probably the toss going in favour of Indian captain and then the support he got from his new ball bowlers in forst 15 overs, really put a nooze around the Lankan throats. Dhoni is too smart a captain to let that loose; to me the brilliance of his captainship was a decision to take the pads off and bowl a few overs when his main pace bowlers were coming close to exhausting their quota and clearly, one of the best batsman of spin bowling ever, Mahela Jayavardane was waiting for spinners to come on. Dhoni got the nod from Aleem Dar with a hooping in-swinger, only to be denied by the DRS. But that and Dhoni’s spell infact kept both Mahela and his skipper Mathews, both extremely attacking batsmen, quiet for a spell of 8 overs when they were looking to break the shakles imposed by Bhuvaneshwar Kumar and Ishant Sharma. Of course at the other end, it was another surprise package, Ravindra Jadeja dooing his bit, delightfully mixing a spinner with a slider with almost no discerning change in his bowling action. It is quite an achievement for Jadeja to get rave comments form spin maestro behind the microphone in the commentator’s box, Shane Warne….perhaps you may say, Warney has a bit of soft corner for this player who took his first baby steps in the world of international cricket under his tutelage eventhough in IPL team of Rajasthan Royals. Every time Warney opens his mouth to say something for Jadeja, it has been nothing but praise..even his “rock-star” comment drips with admiration for this youngster. That is no mean achievement, since Warney, the quaintessential Aussie, simply does not know how to soften his words, be it for his foe or his own countrymen and is very similar to another typical Aussie bloke, Ian Chappel. Jadeja’s turnaround has been shocking….pleasantly shocking for me. I never thought this guy had it within him to suceed at the international level, and he is still some distance away, but by God, what he has shown in last 12 months is nothing short of miracle. And absolute triumph of sheer hard work and attitude…..something very close to my heart. I am, for a change, glad to be wrong, and do tip my hat to Dhoni for keeping faith in this lad. One day, if I get an opportunity to sit with Dhoni, I would love to ask, how and what and where and when did he see ANY kind of potential in Jadeja…I don’t know if someone will call Dhoni a lucky captain as a lot more of his moves come off rather than otherwise, and sometimes without appearing to be looking logical as well. I strongly suspect, however, that there is a method to Dhoni’s madness. May be some day we will read the X-files on Dhoni’s this X-factor!! Till then, just enjoy his cptainship.

I rate it somewhere as high as Nawab of Pataudi and a little above Surav Ganguly. Nawab was the best Indian captain I have ever seen, and he was as cool on the field as Dhoni is; but then, he was born a prince and played without much personal pressure. No amount of criticism affected him as he had a princely background and cricket was mere opportunity to showcase his talents. This is not to say he played with a disdain akin to what an aristocrat shows towards currency, but the pressure of failure did not bother him as much as it did some other mere mortals, who depended upon the fame earned on the cricket field to get wealthy. India in those days was very different; one of the finest pace bowlers India has ever produced, “Tiny” Ramakant Desai died in a Mumbai chawl, in a small room under the staircase…

Dhoni, when started as a player, had no structured technique, as we coaches like to say. He had his own technique, but his sharp reflexes and eyesight, awesome self-confidence and quick hands allowed him to dominate bowling like a few have done so far. His technique behind the stumps was not exactly atrocious, but definately not worthy of being first class cricketer. But the x-factor of his batting outweighed everything. Dhoni, when started his career, was a simple boy, of simple means from a hither-to unknown cricket state of Bihar/Zarkhand. It was amazing how he was picked up even in the East Zone team to start with…..to me that shows how much Indian domestic selection policies have changed from my playing days. He hardly oozed wealth as the Nawab did, but by sheer dint of his X-factor rose to a level of popularity that rivalled even Tendulkar’s. Through all that journey though, I have not seen him change much outwardly…well, not true exactly.

He has certainly lost his locks of 2005 fame when he bashed an 183 n.o. against Sri Lankans in an ODI and regularly took Pakistanis head on. The latter, to me is a hallmark of the guts very very few Indians showed till then, especially after that famous six of the last ball by Javed Miandad; “attitude” against Pakistan has always been my criteria to define greatness for an Indian cricketer. But Dhoni, when he took over the captainship from Kumble, was a breath of fresh air; good mix of attack and defense. His man-management capabilities were right from day one, at par with Saurav Ganguly in that his team was ready to die for him. His triumph in the ODI tri series in Australia in 2009; first time ever India won after the successful 1985 World Championship, defined the greatness of his team at that time, and to a great extent his captainship. Soon he was to lift the mace of the Test Championship. The spike in the chart of his popularity went through the proverbial roof and amazingly has remained somewhere up there far longer than any other Indian captain I have seen. In spite of a lot of barbs thrown at him by some armchair critics, he continues to remain his own man, cool and mostly withdrawn from any controversy (some recent “conflict of interest” allegations notwithstanding!). I remember what once his IPL teammate Matthew Haydon said; MS remains so much detached from cricket off the field that it was impossible even for his team mates, during the IPL season, after a game, to contact and talk to him once he disappeared form the dressing room. He would not lift the phone, nor return a message. But he commanded a respect from his team mates, even when they were bigger than him in age, experience and achievements. And more often than not on the field, has had the last word.

Perhaps tomorrow he will have one more of such last word, against many of his detractors as his team has shown a great composure and hitherto-rarely seen-dominance in a world cup type tournament. English team, on the other hand also looks very settled and playing some great cricket. While India have gone through the tournament so far without a single loss, England was beaten by Sri Lanka in the group game, quite soundly. Though it was the result of a single masterclass from Sangakaara, I thiought England were a tad unlucky in not getting Sanga out a couple of times; if that had happened, English could have restricted Sri Lanka from reaching the target. English bowling has been the main stay for them in the tournament so far, probably similar to Indian team. A slight edge India has is in their batting department as all top order except, perhaps Raina, have fired and look in good nick. The conditions, even though it is early part of English summer, has been the non-English conditions that all teams have faced; and of course use of the Kookaburra balls. The latter, I think is also critical since it has not swung much and to that extent, English pacers have looked less dangerous. On the other hand, at all three venues, Indians have found the turf to yield to tweak giving them some advantage. However Sunday’s weather forcast for Burmingham is like a typical English weather, cool and rain in the air. Dhoni may be tempted to go for a seamer like Irfan; though the current balance of his team has been so much on the spot that he may not like to tinker with it..whatever it is, I feel Dhoni may produce a rabbit form the hat tomorrow..it’s his X-factor that will be critical for Indians tomorrow as well…

Look forward to a great game of cricket..

New Series, Old Rivalry, Lots of Smoke, No Fire, Held Together by Money…

On February 22, 2013October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20104 Comments

Border-Gavaskar trophy was the pinnacle of cricket rivalries of the first decade of this century. Ignited by one of the best series ever to have been played, 2000-01 series in India, where Indians came from behind and only second time in the history of test cricket, ended up winners after being made to follow on, set the tone for the explosive rivalry. The cricket between the two has always been electric, rivalry fierce and has often involved gamesmanship bordering on the breach of spirit of cricket, but all being taken as the spice that has made this rivalry a real Masala recipe; a typically Indian. To the credit of Aussies, whose visits to the sub-continent was once in a decade affair till 80s, changed their perception and made it a point to win this “Last frontier”, especially since their world beating team had won every where else. After incredible arm-wrestle, eventually Aussies broke through for the first ever series win in India after 35 years of drought at Nagpur on a wicket hardly recognizable as a subcontinent wicket and totally favouring the visitor….that was the only way Aussies could have won a series in India!! Incredibly enough, in the very next test in Mumbai, they found the typical Indian beauty, spinning and charmingly devious, had Aussies slipping to one of their most embarrassing looses, loosing by 13 runs chasing only 107. The Nagpur test win on 29th Oct, 2004 on a typically non sub-continent wicket still remains the last test match win Aussies have had in India, as in the next series in India in 2008-09 they ended up loosing both tests! This was after the explosive series of 2007-08 in Australia made infamous by the so-called “monkeygate on SCG” and unfortunately hiding one of the most competitively played series between the two countries. The aftermath of the Sydney test was, if Indians had withdrawn from the series, likely to split the world cricket vertically along the racial lines. However wiser counsel prevailed when Harbhajan Singh was found not to be guilty of the racial abuse charge; something that would still be hotly debated in Australian pubs and talk back radios. In a typically Aussie way, we love to hate opponents who are like us! Saurav Ganguly and Arjuna Ranatunga understood this trait so perfectly that they made it into a subcontinental form of sledging! Steve Waugh’s mantra of “mental disintegration of opponents” probably came back to bite the Aussies on their backside, when in the aftermath of Sydney test, one of the most read newspapers Sydney Morning Herald, published this on the first page, “Arrogant Ponting must be fired“. This too, in a country where Australian cricket captainship is considered only second to Prime Ministership!!! Fortunately or unfortunately, money has a lot of power. Like the best solvent in the world, TV rights money that fills the coffers of any country that plays India, home or away, eventually dissolved the differences between the boards. And whatever painful memories players may have carried, further dissolved in the IPL money!! That said, perhaps the controversy that looked so from a distance to us the fans, was perhaps no more than a storm in the tea cup to start with, but was perhaps unwisely pushed by some Australian players to the front as a means of gaining some “mental disintegration” of Indian team which looked very competitive on field. Indeed but for Steve Bucknor’s playing as an Australian team member, India would have registered a win in that Sydney test; something that stirred Peter Roebuck to write that Indian was dudded….Today, after half a decade, the event is more a conversation piece rather than a controversy. Either the claimed “facts” were not good enough to stand up to the test of times or not significant enough morally to uphold for long, or simply that, as I said before, economic perils of its adverse outcome, far too damaging for the stability of the international nature of the game; one will never know till a few people retire from international cricket and if they decide to spill the beans, once again for a handsome remuneration! It is quite a surprise that whenever I cast my eyes on the history of these two of my most favourite cricket nations ( I have been following Australian cricket as long as I can remember) the controversies come to the fore, more than the magical cricket it has produced. Perhaps the competitiveness that Indians have been able to show in their encounters since that 2000-01 series is the reason. Surely Australians still carry the scars of the defeats after dominating that series so much; the fact that VVS Laxman gained a Bradmanesque stature for many Australian fans is an evidence of that. That is why the last series in Australia that resulted in a total whitewash of Indians, not only came as a surprise but a distinct disappointment more for Australian cricket fans than Indians! However, the typical Australian bull that the sport fan is, is not so sure about his current team. The stalwarts have retired and now the team is being captained by a champion player but someone who is hardly seen as a representative of a typical, macho, beer-drinking aggro Aussie male. Michael Clarke is seen as quite a soft captain as compared to some if his predecessors like Ponting and indeed Steve Waugh; good captaincy results not withstanding. However, Captain Clarke is in such a sublime batting form that the detractors have been totally shut up!! Though, they are lurking somewhere in the back ground waiting to pounce upon him as soon as he fails. That is why Clarke has been so careful with his words in his interviews about Indian tour, calling it one of the toughest test of his captainship. He has also learned quite early in the piece that there is still a lot of baggage of that Sydney test being carried by an average Indian fan. Any overt aggression shown by Australian player can rekindle that emotion and fire Indian fans to an extent that they will start SUPPORTING THEIR TEAM!!!! I know this sounds funny; but today, I believe, Indian team has lot more problems than Australian team has. Their comprehensive defeats in England and Australia exacerbated by first loss to English at home in 26 years, has dropped Indian cricket team’s popularity to a a very low level and indeed Dhoni’s stature to a nadir! All the euphoria of world beaters that Indians were riding upon after the World Cup win in March 2011, has evaporated with a hiss like a beer thrown on a barbie; only the flavours of the over-cooked meat left! This must surely be one of the most unusual start to a compelling rivalry in test cricket….the softly softly approach of Australians and the missing tigers-at-home bravado of Indians are both new and shockingly unfashionable!! It is like neither the fans nor the players know what is expected..Since that Sydney test in 2008, Aussies have been pussyfootying around Indians, for whatever reasons. Indians on the other hand, have been scoring their self-goals. There is a lot of smoke of uncertainty replacing all the fire and brimstone we were so used to see, when these two met in the past. However there is one small chance this may still ignite. Many of Aussie players on this team will play test cricket for the first time In India. Even under quiet Captain Clarke, there are ignitable characters like Davy Warner and James Pattinson; both will play in the first test. These guys are typical Aussies; constitutionally aggressive not only in their game but also in their expression. perhaps both could be said to be suffering from that white lie that was perhaps specifically coined for Glen Mcgrath, as white line fever. And on the opposition side, there is still that perpetual Aussie baiter a lots of Australians love to hate, Bhajji Singh. It was quite a surprise that India team management while not announcing the playing eleven still decided to announce that Harbhajan will play his 100th test!!! Apparently, they are intent upon using Bhajji not just as a bowler! In any case, India V Australia is a compelling drama, ready to unfold, and I for one, am looking forward to that……isn’t it obvious since it is after over 13 months that I have got inspired to write this blog??? Let cricket flow…and a few controversies here and there don’t matter. Nothing will break this BCCI and CA partnership. They are in it for life time as they are bound by only one thread that is unbreakable in this world; the thread of love…………………for rupee!

Of late it has been very quiet on the Gavaskar Border..cheerio!

DRS through a Microscope. Eagle Eye or Hawk Eye, but not the Bull's Eye!!

On December 31, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-2010Leave a comment

Is DRS a Decision Review System or Dead Revived System? Looked like it was laid to rest after India’s tour to the Old Blighty, when ICC declared it no longer mandatory. However, no sooner did the Indian team arrive down under, the issue has been raised thanks mainly to the Eagle Eye technology owner or supporter, Channel Nine, who seem to be convinced that their word on everything in world cricket has to be final. Sky TV commentary team in England did the same and gleefully, trumpeted poetic justice, every time a decision went against Indians…till VVS Laxman was reprieved by the so-called infallible “Hot spot” technology (use of Infrared camera to detect contact between bat and ball). Michael Vaughn’s infamous tweet about Laxman’s cheating by applying Vaseline on the edges of the bat to “hide” the hot spot, proved at least one thing, irrevocably; EVERY ONE is still suspicious about the capability of ANY technology to be 100% correct. Something that Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been saying for ages. That shut up the Sky TV channel commentary team for sure. Poms and Aussies have this endearing quality of coming around to what is obvious only after they have suffered!!!

However, looks like the inventors of the technology and investors of big bucks in them, are not going to die so easily. Especially when you have the best possible medium of TV and assured contract to beam free-to-air live cricket to the masses, you want to use that to push a technology even if it is still in its infancy. That is, what DRS actually is. Not surprising then, why after the first day of the Boxing day test in Melbourne, Crime master Gogo was seen asking all and sundry, “Yeh DRS DRS Kya Hai, Yeh DRS DRS Kya Hai?”

I want to show you DRS through my microscope. Before we do that, however, understand this; DRS is not merely applying all available technology to arrive at correct decision most of the times, as it is touted to be. Let me clarify. DRS or Decision Review System is a “PROCESS” set up by ICC to give SOME opportunity to players to question on-field umpire’s decision. IT IS NOT AN ATTEMPT AT GETTING ALL DECISIONS 100% CORRECT!!! This is where a cricket fan is being taken for a ride.

The reason for my above argument? In every innings, both teams are given ONLY TWO opportunities to question umpire’s decision. Once you loose both opportunities, you have no right to question Umpire’s decision. In other words, after you have lost both of your appeals, an umpire is ALLOWED to make mistakes!!! Let us presume this system was used in the infamous Sydney test match of 2008, of monkey-gate fame. Even before Andrew Symonds was given not out to a blatant thick edge of Ishant Sharma, Ricky Ponting was reprieved by Mark Benson, off Saurav Ganguly; a possible faint edge. Let us say that Indians reviewed and had lost that appeal since hot spot is not necessarily a full-proof technology. Subsequent to that, on that first day itself, Andrew Symonds was reprieved twice on stumping appeals, once by the third umpire who had the benefit of the technology of a slow-mo replay, even when it was obvious to a blind that Symonds was out. Indeed, even the Channel Nine commentators had given the verdict as out. This means Indians would have lost both of their appeals on the first day itself, possibly even before tea!! What good would this so-called high tech DRS would have done for the good of cricket in this case? The results could still have been the same; jaundiced decision making from one-eyed and motivated umpires.

There is also another example of MS Dhoni given out in spite of the bowler having over-stepped in West Indies this year, simply because the technician brought up WRONG REPLAY, or better put, replay of legal delivery stride from another delivery!!! All that talk about technology being savior of the world cricket makes no sense when the control of decision making goes into the hands of a total outsider who may be motivated by commercial interest of the technology provider.

Last week I heard Channel Nine commentator Tony Greig lamenting about the lack of use of the Eagle Eye that they use to judge the umpiring performance. He went on and on like a broken record about how Indians through their power of money are in fact acting against the interest of the game!! He also quoted other sports people from USA who, according to him, were astonished that Cricket refuses to use technology and has still remained an18th century sport. Ah, the beauty and benefit of having the platform to dish out drivel!! The only choice poor audience has is to shut off the TV, isn’t it?? There were references made to another ball tracking system called Hawk Eye, which according to the geniuses at Channel Nine is a very inferior technology, merely due to the number of frames captured per second, and perhaps the reason why Indian cricketers hate DRS.

I brought out this issue in one of my previous blogs, and received a very interesting comment from one reader who claims to be the inventor of Eagle Eye tracking program; one that is touted as Bee’s knees by Channel Nine and the whole of Australian fourth estate. Paddy’s comments are presented below, verbatim:

–>“I wrote the Eagle Eye tracking system. It works like this… All the measured points over all frames triangulate to 3D ball positions of the flight. Given there is a factor of noise, pixel error, measurement error etc, these form a probability distribution. The system then attempts to solve a multivariate equation of flight that most closely matches this distribution. This involves deriving obvious things like initial position and velocity, flight characteristics such as lift and drag, and more importantly fluid dynamics tailored to the flight of cricket balls. There are a few tricks in here that compensate for numerous things that cannot be measured. The result is a large equation that can be used to regenerate the ‘actual’ trajectory of the ball and extend it past the point where observations cease (ie impact on the pad). Having more frames helps this process. As you pointed out, the physics after the bounce is completely separate from that leading up to the bounce. The more data that can be collected post-bounce, the better the chance of calculating the more obscure components of flight. Operating at 230fps means every frame captures about 10cm of travel. So most of the time, enough data is captured for an informed prediction. When there is not enough data, there is a roll-off built into the system whereby factors such as swing, lift, drag and even bounce deviation cannot be sufficiently derived. Attempting to do so generally leads to solutions that look wrong. The best answer in extreme cases is found by dropping the higher-order components of drag, ignoring lift, assuming the ball does not deviate after bounce, and presume no post-bounce swing is in effect. The system is not bullet-proof, and I disagree with the assumption that “Eagle Eye is twice as good as Hawk-Eye”. The two systems are totally different and each have their strengths and weaknesses. However, it is a fact that the more frames you capture, the better your chances of predicting in extreme situations. I think it’s important to remember that the UDRS was supposed to prevent gross misjudgments. There are limits, and they should be scientifically explored. The ICC ‘testing’ done on either system is a joke.”

There you go….I have no way to confirm that the writer is the originator of the Eagle Eye program or that he is not. However, the comments very well describe the logic behind defining algorithms for tracking the flight of the ball. It is obvious from the above comments that there are sufficient doubts about the validity of either tracking system; and most importantly, none of the system is “scientifically explored” sufficiently. Exactly the point I made in my blog. Also, interestingly, the originator accepts that the algorithms can not predict accurately, complex factors such as “swing, lift, drag and even bounce”. This means, prediction of the flight of the ball post impact (after it has been intercepted by the batsman) is very difficult. Perhaps that is why we saw the drama of DRS not applied during the World Cup, when the distance between the pad and stumps was more than 2.5 meters. Indeed, increased data in the form of more picture frames per second gives a better opportunity to predict the flight of the ball post impact, and to that effect Eagle Eye may be better than other technology. However, even high frames per second will not be able to predict changes in bounce, pace and turn off the wicket, that eventuate as the pitch changes its nature during the course of the test match. Forget about the difference in every ball that a bowler is able to employ, e.g. cocked wrist versus loose wrist while delivering a ball, that can generate different pace off the wicket. So when one can not be sure about the validity of this tracking system to predict the flight of the ball from day one to day five on the same wicket, how can one be confident that it can perform with acceptable accuracy, across all types of wickets; from a low slow subcontinent to a spongy English to a Perth or a Centurion bouncing one. One thing is certain: the originator of the Eagle Eye is saying that ICC has not done sufficient testing on either tracking system!!! Does it not then, sound a bit rich, Channel Nine’s constant tirade against Mahendra Sigh Dhoni, or his team or indeed BCCI in not accepting DRS? Why this uni-directional tirade using questionable evidence, called BCCI bashing? Ihas now become the favorite past time of some Cricket playing countries ……Tony Greig, take off that mask of being a savior of world cricket please. You are nothing but a mouth-piece of a commercial venture, looking to pass off its yet incompetent technology. Cash for comments, of course, what else??

Let us not forget that DRS does not consist of technological solution to get only LBWs correct.It also includes other technologies like “Hot Spot” to detect a nick; something that looked to be the only infallible component of the system, till that fateful Laxman-Vaughn episode. Now that technology looks as much dicey as the tracking system. Perhaps the only technology that is close to being 100% correct is the pitch map; to confirm if the ball has pitched within the statutory area as per the LBW law. I full heartedly agree that this technology must be used to provide on-field umpire the required support. As for other decisions like stumping and run outs, TV slow-mo replays have been accepted long back, even though they have produced wrong decisions, for a variety of reasons. Andrew Symonds’ stumping, is a cases in point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92zqspN3W2c&feature=related

So it is obvious that there is sufficient doubt about the capability of the tracker system to predict the path after impact. Let us leave that aside for a moment and accept that even if not 100% certain, the technology will give a prediction of the flight of the ball, somewhere close to an umpire’s eye and brain. I am ok, if the technology comes somewhere close to human capability, since it has one thing which is better than a human mind. Technology can not be “pressurized”, like an umpire can be, under extreme conditions. So one can accept the fallibility of the system to the level of a human mind; with a caveat…”as long as ICC officials manage the technology”. This is to prevent commercial interests from influencing the decision making. Or tomorrow’s headlines will read something like..”TV technicians being investigated for Match fixing”..

Apart from the uncertainty of technology, my grouse against the DRS system, is the process of giving right to the players to challenge umpire’s decision. That is eroding the very basic tenet of this game; a player shall accept umpire’s verdict. Yes, on-field umpires can do with the support from technology, no doubt about that. But instead of players being given TWO appeals to get their decision right (!!), I would like to see that process completely in the hands of on-field AND third umpires. Both should work in unison. The TV umpire should have a say in every contentious decision and he should have a right to communicate or indeed over-turn on-field umpire’s decision if he sees evidence to do so. In this system on-field umpire’s role does become more of a constant partnership with the third umpire. There is a potential for slowing down of the game, but by now it seems every one has accepted that extension of the game time is not important if right decision could be made. Don’t know though, how this will allow ICC to maintain minimum 90 overs a day requirement. Let the players be players rather than trying to be umpires also..

As the system has “evolved”, there is a slight change to the name. UDRS has become now DRS. Looks like ICC has decided to take the U (Umpire) out of the name. Yes, literally that is what the system is meant to do. While the supporters of this so-called bee’s knees technology claim that it is to support umpires, in actual effect, its practical purpose is to take an umpire out of the decision making…..slowly slowly, completely; well, if not today, tomorrow.

Veeru, Veeru, Veeru, Oi, Oi, Oi !!!

On December 9, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-2010Leave a comment

Brutal Veeru
Sublime Veeru
Viv like Veeru
But most importantly,
Focussed Veeru!!

Though this innings of Virender Sehwag came against a reasonable rather than testing bowling and a feather-bed of a wicket, the way in which he approached it, indicates that if this player puts his mind to it, he can break all possible records in the annals of this game.

To me, this puts Veeru right besides my most favourite batsman of all time, Viv Richards. There is lot more to Veeru than mere statistics, but they do tell something.

Look at the following charts and it will show how Veeru is the most non-discriminating batsmen ever. He does not discriminate against any type of bowling, conditions, match situations and most importantly, the state of his own innings. He treats all same…one-dimensionally. If a ball is bowled, it is meant to be hit!
And he rarely hits a shot in anger….he doesn’t need to.

He started off a little circumspectly, as his first 50 runs came off 41 balls or a run-rate of 122 runs off 100 balls; something that could be called as great run-rate for a majority of international batsmen. His scoring rate picked up in later half of each hundred, ending with a rate of ~143 runs per hundred balls. Incredible, considering he had scored a whopping 58% of the total when he was dismissed!! Domination? No, annhilation.

Look at individual fifties and hundreds in this innings. His first fifties in every hundred took slightly longer than the later one. But almost identical number of balls. This does indicate that he was perhaps playing to a plan…..may be for the first time?? The fact that he got a double ton in less than 50 overs, is astonishing in itself, what is even more startling is that he scored two fifties in a day at 28 balls each! Rarely players get one fifty at that rate!! Individually, that should count as one of the fastest fifty in the ODI history, and he got two in a day!! And scored two hundreds in a day at ~70 balls each! He must have been tired, since he took 2 balls more to reach the second hundred!

Jimmy Maxwell on ABC Grandstand commentary box said it all….When he got out, Veeru perhaps missed a chance to score a triple on the day!! Sehwag got out with still 21 balls available in the innings. He needed another 81 runs for a triple. Presuming he would have received a major percentage of balls, say 15 out of 21, it means Veeru would have required to score like so: 12 x 6 = 72. 3 x 4 = 12..total 84…Final score = 219+84 = 303…….easy!!!! Funny thing is, for any batsman other than Veeru, this exercise would sound like a joke and a mere mathametical possibility!!! To even consider, even in a light vein, that he could score a triple in a day is an acknowledgement of his genius. Mortals do not even get joked about such things..

This innings shows that here is one player who plays independent of the situation. He plays within his own zone EVERYTIME he steps on to the field. Cricket is a very mental game. For a batsman to be unfazed so much as he is, unaffected by what goes on around him and stay pure to his art of stroke-making, is to me, the most amazing thing. In that, he is the Don of Batting…above every one, including even Viv Richards. And if any doubts, just look at his record of long test innings..Almost every time, he plays them completely devoid of any influence of the environment.

Every time I see Veeru bat, it seems as if he is asking with every stroke of his, why is it so hard to understand that you have a bat in your hand to make runs??? Veeru’s art of batting is distilled to the purest form of making runs; something we know as children but forget as we grow up to be called matured batsmen. Much like a pure Ethanol distilled from many other mixed spirits. But this elixir comes with flavours that makes it easy on the pallet and a joy to be intoxicated with. As I write this, I can say, even the hang-over is enjoyable. Imagine a clone of Viv Richards and Sachin Tendulkar, and you get Virender Sehwag on song.

Malcolm, who are you Conning?

On August 7, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20104 Comments

Reading an interesting article by News Limited’s Senior Cricket Correspondent, Malcolm Conn in the Sydney Daily Telegraph of Sat, 6-Aug-11, just confirmed a few things I already know. Since this article is unavailable on-line, it is given below verbatim, in full, including two pictures.
_________________________________________________________________________
Why India doesn’t want to know about the technology that Australia can bring to Umpiring decisions: Malcolm Conn

These photos prove why India has been using third rate technology as an excuse to stop video umpires ruling on the leg before wicket decisions.

The photos (left) with the spars red dots highlights the cheap and inaccurate system the International Cricket Council used during the recent World cup, which raised India’s ire.

The tightly packed white dots in the photo (right) shows the space age technology Channel Nine began using last season and will use again for the New Zealand and India series this summer.

The system used by the ICC through normal television cameras tracked the ball 26 times on its journey from bowler to batsman. Channel Nine’s new technology, using six high speed cameras and fibre optic cable, tracks the ball 130 times on the same path, offering far greater accuracy. Nine now uses Eagle Eye, which is twice as good as the previous Hawk Eye and far superior to ICC’s third rate system.

Executive producer of Nine’s cricket coverage, Brad McNamara, fears confusion this summer because the full system will be used in two Tests against New Zealand but lbws will be excluded for the following series against India. “It will be interesting to see what happens,” McNamara said.

Ricky Ponting is baffled as the rest of the cricket world by India’s refusal to use technology that improves the accuracy of umpiring decisions.

END OF THE ARTICLE
_________________________________________________________________________

There you go…I am sure you will be surprised as much as I am to read some oxy-morons in above writing. By calling ICC’s current technology (or Hawk Eye) as third rate and THEN saying India is using it as an EXCUSE to prevent UDRS is a typical jaundiced-eye, chip-on-the-shoulder, holier-than-thou western writing born out of immensely undiluted acidic reflux, that simple people like me call “jealousy”. If the Hawk Eye is third rate (he has used that qualification twice in the article), then isn’t India’s stand on refusing to use it vindicated? D’uh?? Probably, Malcolm, that is what you also want to say, but something prevents you from saying? If the so-called high-profile writers are really keen to assess truth, won’t you expect them to ask that question to the businesses commercializing the technology or its inventors? Won’t it be logical to ask why Hawk Eye has NOW agreed to do more tests and generate data before ICC can accept it, only after BCCI and Indian team refused to accept it? I will tell you why. Because that would simply vindicate what Indian players and BCCI all along have been saying; that technology is still not fool-proof and they are correct in going with the on-field umpire’s decision!! Instead of calling that as the real spirit of cricket, Indians are being pole-axed, in writings and TV commentaries. If claims in Malcolm’s article are correct about Hawk Eye being third rate, it makes me wonder why all Pommy commentators on Sky commentary team in the current India-England series, are so keen to incessantly blame BCCI for not accepting that.

Let me be very clear; I am seriously impressed with all the “space-age” technical mambo-jumbo about high fps (frames per second) pictures delivered by fiber optic cable and ball tracking capability increasing by 130/26 = 5 times!! Wow! That’s awesome, isn’t it? So Malcolm, could you please tell me what fps is required now, to make the on-field umpire redundant??

I am yet to see hard core evidence that DRS of any kind, Hawk or Eagle, is fool-proof. And if not fool-proof, why not wait till more evidence is available? I will tell you why. Inventors need money to perform their experiments to generate data. By clever marketing gimmicks like these, all they are trying to do is get ICC and individual cricket boards to cough up the money to fine tune their “third rate” technology. What they do with that technology after it is developed sufficiently to be commercialized for other uses, is no concern of cricket boards or ICC. The commercial exploitation will line up the business’s pockets. Hey, here is a gravy train. Let us jump on it; poor old cricketers who are now writers or commentators of some reputation, and those who have missed the gravy train, just can’t resist this, now can they? And who would blame them? Of course for poor, all believing simpleton cricket fans like me (don’t know about you), it is all in the interest of improving the game….oh yeah??

Don’t get me wrong; I am no techno-phoebe. Quite the contrary; for a person who had not seen a computer, let alone use it, till the age of 37, I am pretty good at taking up technology. (if this blog is any evidence). I love the idea of incorporating new technologies to improve the game. However, being a scientist, I like to see experimental data under controlled conditions. Malcolm doesn’t give any proof to his claim in this article, that “Channel Nine’s Eagle Eye is TWICE as good as the Hawk Eye, and far superior to ICC’s third rate system”. I am sorry, mate, I can’t understand. If the ball tracking along the path is 5 times more (130 to 26) than ICC’s third rate Hawk Eye, isn’t it 5 times more efficient? Modest Malcolm, certainly sounds oxy-moronic! Perhaps Eagle Eye has some data somewhere, but they are not comfortable in releasing/publishing that as yet. Perhaps by utilizing the big guns of the fourth estate (and fifth, being TV) they are aiming to obtain sufficient funding for their project? Cash for Comments? Those of us who live in Australia and are avid fans of yak-back radio, would surely recognise the syndrome, won’t we??

If I was a Hawk or Eagle Eye inventor, first thing I would do is to publish that data to get confidence of players, officials and fans like me. I am yet to see that.

You know what, Malcolm, you have still missed the most important point in all this. Improving the ball tracking efficiency is great. What I fail to understand, is how does it improve PREDICTIVE PATH of the ball AFTER it has been intercepted by the batsman? What algorithms are used to extrapolate that path? Try and pitch the ball with the same energy (or pace) on same spot on day one and day five wicket, and I am sure it will travel differently; bounce and carry will vary significantly. Even when the ball hits either seam or the leather sides, it travels differently, from the same spot on the same wicket. That is one reason why top quality cricket is played on turf and not synthetic wicket. That is why we have been lamenting so much in recent times that cricket has become so much of a batsman’s game, as wickets are now covered. That is why labels like “Flat track bullies” are applied to recent high scoring, record breaking batsmen when compared to past greats like Bradman, Hobbs or Hadley. Also, if a bowler bowls with a loose or cocked wrist, the ball travels at different pace after hitting the wicket. Often the ball swings after pitching in certain conditions. How will the so-claimed space age Hawk or Eagle Eye totally dependent upon the software algorithms, be able to pick up all of that?

At the end of all these arguments, I believe a well trained/experienced umpire’s brain is the best available technology……still! Yes, they can be helped to some extent, by some technology to take the pressure off them. I like the ball pitch map, that tells an umpire without any doubts whether the ball pitched within the critical area or not. I am not convinced that an umpire’s decision about the predictive path of the ball after it has been intercepted by the batsman, will be any less accurate than a set of high tech, high fps camera feeding the optic fibre and a computer. If all the technology was better than a well trained human brain which can re-calibrate it self after every ball, using the available information (as compared to a static software that needs input from data interpreted by a human), then why do we need human umpires??? No balls, number of balls bowled in an over, bowler or a batsman transgressing on playing area; all that can be done better by a machine. So umpires will be required only to listen to the quality of sledging and enforce what is bandied around these days as the spirit of cricket? So human umpires will become Cricket Cops? You, all of those who seriously swear by DRS, can you imagine how robotic the game will be? OK, you may argue, as long as correct decisions are made. Fair enough. However, is there a guarantee that even with the best available technology, 100% correct decisions will be made? That is why I still prefer Rauf Eye or a Taufel Eye over a Hawk Eye or an Eagle Eye.

You know what, being humans, we will forgive a human error, some times, eventually; but not a machine. Believe you me, if we have machines controlling games, it will become far more acrimonious because there will be claims that machines are more easy to manipulate than humans. With the kind of high tech mambo-jumbo, not every one’s cup of tea to understand and control, the power of controlling the outcome of a game will shift into the hands of a handful of technicians, who instead of representing ICC and game, will be representing the commercial businesses owning/operating the technology. We saw how DRS was either manipulated or erroneously used in recently concluded India V West Indies series, when the technician could not (or did not) produce correct replay frame to confirm that Dhoni was out of a no-ball!! How did the so called space-age technology help there? If you ask me, machine-run system in totality, is far more susceptible to manipulations than a human umpire.

Dickie Bird, the best ever umpire who stood in international cricket, in my opinion, is not fond of the UDRS. There has been a war of words between Ravi Shastri and Nassar Hussain in recent India-England series about the use of DRS, that clearly indicates to me, that not every one is enamoured by this, as yet. However, many Indian journos and fans have opined that Shastri’s use of word “jealousy” was a “tantrum”; some going to the length of calling Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar, BCCI “chamchas” or “pitthus”. Fact of the matter is, a majority of fans (prominently Indian fans) are sold on the marketing gimmick by Hawk Eye or Eagle Eye, without realising that there is not enough data presented to us; if it has been done to players, umpires and cricket boards, I haven’t heard about that yet. Hot Spot (Infra-red camera), the so-called fool-proof technology has proved to be not necessarily so, if we are to believe numerous comments made by the English past players and commentators on various media including tweets, that VVS Laxman survived a clear caught behind as hot spot failed to show up. And what about a totally unnecessary controversy that Vaseline can be used on the bat to create a cool-spot to cheat the Hot-Spot camera? The inventors have, since, confirmed that this is not possible. Hopefully, their inference is not driven by economical factors. Interesting thing, though, is that the reason why the whole of the Pommy Land was convinced that there was a nick, was due to a noise caught on the Snickometer. Wow! The same snicko, which till then had been considered LESS believable than Hot Spot!! How does that work? Why not, even once, did any Pommy commentator mention that the noise could be a creaking bat handle rather than an actual edge, something that was bandied around at every possible inexplicable “woody” click on the Snickometer, before Hot spot was used ? (If it was and I did not hear, my apologies)

You know what, the answer is simple, that is, if you bloody care to ACCEPT it. Poms and Aussies will always talk about only that evidence that helps their team….PERIOD!! Michael Vaughn even went to the length of calling a gentleman cricketer like VVS, who in these days of gamesmanship is like a long extinct dodo’s tail, a cheat. Poms have been so riled for long, by cheat label that was stuck on John Lever in Vaseline affair, that they have been itching to return the serve. To me, that is the real Colonial mentality!!!!

Don’t get conned by these senior players, commentators or even so-called writers like Malcolm Conn. They are not one eyed…..they are plain damn blind to any thing that is not in the favour of their team….Don’t you remember that cry from our childhood days…”Aapni tukdi Zindabad” (આપણી ટુકડી ઝિંદાબાદ)?? Our team always wins!…….and to talk about the Spirit of Cricket, in the same breath….GIVE ME A BREAK!!

Another Epic! Vijayadashmi on Wankhede….

On April 2, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20106 Comments

25th of June 1983 is a day of national importance in India; a bit like 15 August or 26 January; at least for cricket fans. That is the day when Kapil’s Devils lifted the world cup against mighty West Indians at Lords. It was completely unexpected; no one including Indians themselves gave them a snowball’s chance in hell. Not only because India were the perennial strugglers of One day cricket. West Indians were undisputed champs and quite simply unbeatable….till that fateful catch that Kapil took over his shoulders, running backwards.That catch epitomizes the genius of the best all rounder India has produced and definitely one of the best ever. It was a low scoring game and bowling and fielding were highlights. Kapil lead from the front and Indian magic was rightfully credited to the big-hearted man. Today, India needs another similar performance in the field.

Indian world cup 2011 campaign has been epic. So much so that both epics of Hiindu संस्कृति (culture) will be replayed by the time tournament ends. Mahabharat was in semi finals. It is Ramayan times now. Neither Ramanand Sagar nor BR Chopra could have scripted this better. Will India burn the Ravana and celebrate Dusshera at Wankhede tonight? India has so far succeeded against two of its arch rivals in world cricket,Australia and Pakistan, in close but convincing manner. Sri Lanka on the other hand has been the most frequent rival for team India of late, but the emotions have never run high against them; that is the nature of Sri Lankans. Will India be able to stamp its authority on World cricket by winning this one?

India is up against a very efficient Sri Lankan team, make no mistake. Their top 3 batsmen have fired in the comp. Their opening pair is statistically best in the comp. They have scored heavily at a fair clip. They have an extremely good captain in Sangakkara; perhaps only other who could match him in contemporary cricket is his rival for this game, Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Their bowling though more spin dominated, has an incisive edge to it. And traditionally Sri Lankans always field very well. India, on the other hand have an equally dangerous opening combination. A slight edge over Sri Lankans is in the fact that Indian middle order looks far more assured. India have come through a few real tough games and to me, it looks as if they have peaked at the right time. They are increasingly looking more battle-hardy and their body language has changed from being tense to quiet confidence and efficient. Their fielding is looking more assured and bowling seems to have developed some teeth. Wins against Australia and Pakistan in knock-out stages must have raised their confidence, which was eroded after the group games. Logically both teams look identical; 50:50.

What you start with in a game can sometimes change dramatically in the heat of the battle. Often mind plays tricks with you and it is easy to forget the talents you possess and start feeling completely naked in the middle. This is where champions can stand up to be counted. Who wants it more? Who is able to maintain the balance and continues to harvest its talents; this will determine the ultimate winner. And that all important factor in cricket, Luck. Small things can change a game and luck can be a small thing.

Wicket at the Wankhede is likely to be a slow, low but even; typical Indian wicket. Batsmen can make hey while the ball shines; once it goes soft, it will be a test of skill in playing late and most importantly, picking up a right ball to hit. As there is no chance of a dew in Mumbai, I think bowlers will be in the game right through; pace and spin alike. This game will be a battle of minds rather than only physical skills; a trait that makes this game perhaps the greatest challenge to succeed in. It is perhaps the best thing that we have two subcontinental teams playing under these conditions. Any other continent team, would have odds very heavily weighing against them. I believe this finals will rival 1983 for the drama and closeness. Something that the last three world cup finals have missed..

Both the teams will come to the ground with a lot of emotional baggage. Muthia Murlidharan will play his last game for Sri Lanka ever. The greatest Sri Lankan cricketer will bid adieu tonight. The favorite son of India, Sachin Tendulkar may also call it a day for ODIs. If that happens, cricket world will be poorer. What impact this has on other individuals in both the teams is very difficult to predict. This is where the team seniors will become critical. India’s tough run in this comp should hold them in good stead; a very slight edge over their rivals, in my opinion.

Last game of India against Sri Lanka was more in the news on the sub-continent for possible match fixing claims than anything else. India was billed as favorite by bookies and still quite a lot of punters/press said they will loose. Since team India, did not oblige them, now it is claimed that what the bookies lost they will try to recoup by fixing Indian players to loose. If the unofficial numbers are to be believed (and in India such numbers hold more water than official), there is a huge amount of money put on India. Will Indian players take money to tank a campaign that they have been working hard towards? I don’t know. Your guess is as good as mine, but I haven’t seen any evidence as yet to believe Indians will do that. If I were playing, it would be all the more reason for me to go and win…hopefully, I am not out-dated as yet!!

Last time India won the cup, they did so on the strength of their all rounders: Kapil, Mohinder, Madan, Binny. I sense this time players like Yuvraj will be crucial. I predict Harbhajan to have a big game. He raised his game against Pakistanis. So far, Sri Lankans have played him very well. I suspect the sardar will once again raise his game. India to win a tight contest and break the 27 years old jinx…

The Real Mahabharat..

On March 30, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20102 Comments

India V Pakistan must be the biggest rivalry in sports history if the audience number or emotions or even hype are criteria. And when the contest is for the World cup and a knock-out likely result, it does not come any bigger than this. Often the match-up has lived up to its expectation in terms of quality of cricket. There are many articles clogging up the cyber space these days highlighting that and every one has their own favourite encounter. Being an Indian cricket fan, for me it is difficult to get away from the hype, thouh in recent times my emotions have been tested more by an India-Australia encounter. But still, India-Pakistan is India-Pakistan; the mother-of-all contests. I still remember that incredible Sharjah game, 125 plays 87 game, in 1985 that India won against all odds. And later in 1986 Pakistan returning the compliments at the same venue in another enthralling battle better known as Miandad’s game. I still remember the feelings of being shattered as Miandad sent the last ball from Chetan Sharma soaring over the mid-wicket fence for a six to seal the Austral-Asia cup.

Along with these mercurial games I also have some horrendous memories of the tension and genuine fear when India Pakistan games were in the offing. I still remember the news of communal riots in Baroda on the day of ODI in Sahiwal when India were visiting Pakistan after a long break in 1978. The first thing I said was, it must be due to the cricket game. Bishen Bedi conceded that game (!) due to poor umpiring; he believed that India were in great command to win the game (23 runs required in ~4 overs with 8 wickets in hand) but Pakistan bowlers bowled huge bouncers, out of reach of batsmen that were not called wides by the local umpires! Sure enough, Baroda was under curfew for a few days or weeks after that!!! And there are many more such memories of stone-throwing and the fights between intensely communal groups of followers, the usual suspects, in Baroda-Ahmedabad, targeting each others and anyone else unfortunate enough to be caught in-between, presumably in the name of taking out their frustration. I don’t know if there ever was a riot or even communal tension in Pakistan when India beat Pakistan! But then, India has always taken great pride in calling itself secular; even at the cost of local peace! I am sure people of my age who lived in Gujarat in those days would remember that, not very fondly. The worst thing was, it completely took the focus off the great cricket both the teams played.

It was one of the most riveting cricket I have ever seen. My memories are still fresh; Imran’s bowling; the most incredible swing bowling at extreme pace in the series of 1983 in Pakistan and Sunny Gavaskar’s awesome innings of 127 not out, when he carried his bat against rampaging Pakistani pacers, all in a lost cause; or Zaheer Abbas’s silky cover drives or Javed Miandad’s antiques and and of course, “Alla Kidhar Hai, Upar Hai” umpiring from “world famous” Pakistani umpires like Khizar Hayat and Shakoor Rana (of Mike Gatting fame). I remember Mohinder Amarnath reminscing that in Pakistan, their players do not appeal “Howz that”? They ask umpire “Allah Kidhar Hai” (where is God) and in answer the umpire raises the finger showing the dressing room to the batsmen!!! Jokes apart, and umpiring or no umpiring, Pakistan cricket had upper hand over Indians at that time. But Indians somehow, turned the tables on Pakistan in the world cup games. Who would forget that terrific assault by Tendulkar on Shoaib Akhtar at the Centurion in 2003 world cup? Or the famous Aamir Sohail-Venky Prasad’s exchanges and Ajay Jadeja’s plucky innings in 1997 world cup? There are many such memories of battles within battles. To me it is like Mahabharat; compelling and riveting and emotionally draining, whatever the result…..

Today’s Pakistan is perhaps not as domineering as it was in those days; nor is Indian team as meek as it used to be. I firmly believe that apart from Australia, only other team Indians used to loose the game mentally in the dressing room it self, was Pakistan. However, since Ganguly became a scourge of Pakistan in 1997 Sahara Friendship Cup in Toronto, the famous Inzmam-Aloo episode, Indians started showing a sign of a lot of spine. Presence of match winners like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Dravid, Kumble and Harbhajan provided not only skills but a lot of heart that changed the complexion of the encounters. Since Ganguly took over the reigns of Indian team, there was a perceptible change in the body language and results on the field. Australians will vouch for that! India and Pakistan have come to a level pegging and of late, Indians have dominated their arch rivals even in test and mutual ODI series, both at home and away. The contests, though are still on even keel every time. And so it will be tonight.

As I see, prima-facie it is a contest between Indian batting and Pakistani bowling. The wicket, it seems will be a “patta”, a road, or even a highway. I don’t think there would be much grass left on the pitch; and will be firm and not yield much to the spinners as well. I don’t need to see the wicket. It is obvious to me that it is the only home advantage India can get against this Pakistani team as they have a well balanced bowling attack, though in my opinion, not a world beating one. Afridi, the highest wicket taker in the World Cup so far and fairly successful against all comers, has scalped minnows more than top ranked batters. His economy rate though, is excellent. Umar Gul, on the other hand has been outstanding. As against that, Zaheer Khan has turned the games with his bowling. But Indian bowling starts and stops with him. Yuvraj has been a surprise package with Bhajji a little disappointing. So Pakistan has upper hand over India in the bowling department.

As for batting, there is no comparision. Not a single Pakistani has scored a ton as yet; highest individual total scorer is Umar Akmal with 211 runs. First five in Indian batting order have scored more than that with Kohli at 238 being the lowest. As for fielding, while Pakistan has been nothing less than diabolic, Indians have also not exactly set the grounds on fire. However, if Indians are able to match what they produced in the field in the crunch game against Aussies in the last game, they will easily outscore Pakistanis, a few slow movers in Indian side notwithstanding. I sense the fielding will be a game changer in this contest.

If I have to give score out of 5 for all three departments, I will score Pakistan as 5+3+ 2 (Bowl+bat+field) = 10/15 to India’s 3+4.5+3 = 10.5/15. That makes India slight favorites in my books, purely from logic. However, when it is India V Pakistan, logic goes out of window and heart rules. Especially with, as genetically inconsistent a team as Pakistan, one can not predict. Indian team, has also shown inconsistency of its own, having come through two inexplicable lower order batting collapses in the tournament. However, this current Indian team, to my mind, is not likely to give up easily and revert to its pre-2000 days of landslide losses. It is made up of sterner stuff. The fact that it has also come through some extremely tough games in the competition against England, South Africa, West Indies and Australia will stand them in good stead. Pakistan on the other hand have been tested by Sri Lanka, New Zealand and Australia; WI just did not turn up. To their credit they won two out of three handsomely but that one colossal loss against NZ will remain at the back of their mind; triggered by diabolical fielding performance. As I sense, once the pressure is applied and things start to come off the rail, Pakistanis are less likely to put things back on track as compared to current Indian team. There in lies the clue to the outcome of this encounter.

Let us put aside all the hype. Let us look at this as merely a game and applaud physical skill, temperament, mental attributes and ability of all players, to perform to their optimal, under severe testing environment and enjoy. May the best team win…

pU steS! Talking Confuciusly!

On March 26, 2011October 18, 2025 By deepozIn Archive 2014-20103 Comments

Three quarter finals have been done and dusted. Confusion reigns!! One major upset, one sort of and one a damp squib. Such a contrasting level of cricket skills seen in all three games……. confusion rains!!

West Indian effort against Pakistan was a total washout; a complete disgrace and unworthy of last 8 round of a premier competition. May be West Indian team decided to take their revenge on Bangla spectators for the stones they received at their hands!! Me thinks that may be West Indians took it upon them selves to confuse the (g)hosts of match-fixers that inevitably tag along Pakistan team, like a Betal on Vikram’s shoulder! May be this is a better way of taking the ghost of match-fixing out of equation?? Take that..we will shoot your odds to hell! And for free….

I mean, for cryinoutloud, how can batsman after batsman of international class miss simple straight ones? I thought I saw an expression of utter confusion on the face of Mohammad Hafiz. Poor fellow must be trying hard to spin the ball and here he is getting wickets even when failing to do so? Wow, how come no one told me that to be a “right-arm-sidha” could be so profitable? Sack the coach!!! When confusion rains, it could be cats and dogs and wickets!!

To me, more than minnows bashing this spineless batting performance is a reason enough to dredge up the discussion to revamp this premier competition. Reduce this to only 8 teams AND performance in last tournament should count towards your entry to the next!!! If you loose by over a certain margin (e.g. over 100 runs or more than 8 wickets), whatever you do in proceeding four years, you shall remain barred till next edition! Sorry, that is a bit harsh but there has to be some bloody accountability towards performance. If the players do not take pride in their performance, may be they do not deserve to get the center stage! Perhaps ICC should penalise the board for such a pathetic performance. May be their one year royalty or whatever that ICC distributes to the member boards should be withdrawn! May be if the board members find it hard to live an exalted status for a year or two, it may knock some sense in those fat cats? In case of Windies, that would certainly be helpful. If they had settled the players contract issue in time the team could have performed better….or would they? Confusion reigns…

Was it New Zealand beating South Africa or South Africa loosing to NZ or SAF beating it self? I am confused….I guess, so must be Daniel Vettori and his team. While the South Africans are perhaps chokfused!! How can you explain this phenomenon of choking? People have choked on fish bone; even on drinks. Choke Africans, oops South Africans do so regularly in cricket. Graeme Smith has been known to answer “choking” questions from scribes by dismissive and aggressive responses; sadly he and his team has refused to answer that in the best possible manner; on the turf! Strange how many times a team can repeat its follies? On the other hand, you can say that in case of South African cricket, the saying “practice makes you perfect” can’t be truer! It is unconfirmed news that ICC is going to open a “Hall of Choke” which will exclusively include South Africans. The inductees will be called “Choke-a-bloke”. I have this from an unquestionable source that Google will request Smith to write the new Chokopedia. Also it is grapevine on the international cricket circuit that South Africans are not sledged….just “c” word followed by a grin will do! I was surprised when I heard that South African team management had given strict instructions to caterers that their dressing room shall be chocolate-proof…..now I know why. For heaven’s sake, scribes are rummaging the statistics to dig out all “choking” stats of South Africans. The pity is they don’t need to search too hard!! I am told that some one from SAF team actually accused Indian Hindi reporters of sledging when they mentioned phrase “choka chhakka”! I mean, for chrissake, Kiwis won this fair and square. Isn’t it a “choking” shame that we talk only about South Africa?? That’s why I am confused with this up set!!

To be honest, the Kiwis were still celebrating Australian team’s loss to India more than their miraculous win. They now have the antipodean bragging rights for the next four years; for the first time in the history of World cups, Kiwis have gone a step beyond their elder neighbors. (if it is incorrect, then I blame it on confusion!). I heard a loud cheer last night from across the ditch. I was told it was New Zealand cheering their team’s win. Then there was even louder cheer. It seems some one mentioned Australia!! India’s beating Australia can be called a “sort-of upset”. In some ways India were expected to win in their home conditions. But India’s performance till date was confusing. Perhaps the players were confused that they were still playing overseas… However, it seems that the Aussie sledging reminded them of the “home-truth”. Australian media is now accusing Ricky Ponting of poor captainship. It was reported in one daily that “It was disapPonting to note that we did not let the sleeping dogs lie”.

Hopefully, it is expected that this state of confusion will not continue for long. Tonight, Sri Lankans will resolve any confusion Andrew Strauss has about the out come of last quarter finals. Seems like Strauss is confident of “adjusting”. I have a feeling that by the end of the game Poms willl know that adjusting is not enough in cricket; you have to win it!! But then again, Poms have been the most Jekyll and Hyde team of this World cup. So much so that Afridi is totally confused. So much so that the Pakistani team has registered a protest with ICC and threatened England for a compensation for “breaching of our paternal rights”. Now ICC is confused and trying to interpret cricket laws as per Sharia Laws!! Confusion reigns supreme….

Switch Hit

Category: Archive 2014-2010

One Over

Playing Blind…India in England

Dhoni X-Factor in ICC Champions Trophy Finale..

New Series, Old Rivalry, Lots of Smoke, No Fire, Held Together by Money…

DRS through a Microscope. Eagle Eye or Hawk Eye, but not the Bull's Eye!!

Veeru, Veeru, Veeru, Oi, Oi, Oi !!!

Malcolm, who are you Conning?

Another Epic! Vijayadashmi on Wankhede….

The Real Mahabharat..

pU steS! Talking Confuciusly!

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