Tag: England

Asia Cup Conundrum: Sports, Politics and Limits of Tolerance!

On By deepozIn cricket1 Comment

You have a neighbour who has waged war against you for over 75 years—militarily as well as through terrorism. Throughout this time, you have tolerated, responded only when provoked, and shown restraint rooted in cultural tolerance. But when your civilians are massacred in cold blood, while on holiday with their families, tolerance begins to border on cowardice—unless there is an adequate response. At that point, it is no longer a dispute; it is war.

We often hear the wise say that sports and politics should not mix. Yet this advice seems much easier to give than to follow. When your nation is reeling from continuous bloodshed, shaking hands with the enemy—even on a sports field—feels like an empty gesture. In such an atmosphere, sports inevitably becomes secondary.

So, what is the solution? At first glance, it seems simple: do not play against the enemy. Do not send teams there, do not host theirs, and halt all cultural and sporting exchanges until the situation stabilizes. Straightforward enough in bilateral contests. However, at global or multi-nation tournaments, the question becomes more complicated. Opting out of participation does send a firm and symbolic message, but it also carries significant implications. It denies athletes critical opportunities, undermines the competitiveness of tournaments, and deprives fans of the very essence of sport—the contest.

Sport today is not a pastime but a global industry. Millions depend on it for their livelihood. Unlike engineers, doctors, or bankers, whose professional careers can last decades, athletes have a brief window to perform and earn. Every contest counts—it is the culmination of years of preparation. Too often, when we call for boycotts, we overlook this reality.

This brings us to India’s recent situation. The seemingly easy answer was: India should not have participated in the Asia Cup. Indeed, political opponents and public voices called for a boycott, supported by hashtags and even street hooliganism, such as breaking televisions showing the games. Yet, they ignored the larger impact. If India withdraws from multilateral competitions, the International Cricket Council (ICC) suffers financially. With the majority of sponsorships dependent on India, ICC events would struggle to survive without Indian participation. Experts from England and Australia often remind India that, as the “big brother” of world cricket, its presence is essential, even at the cost of its own sentiments.

Pakistan, on the other hand, benefits from this structure—its cricketing system survives on revenues generated by Indian audiences and sponsors, even while its administration fuels terrorism across the border. This paradox places the BCCI in a Hobson’s choice. And yet, India’s government, understanding global responsibilities and long-term implications, allowed participation in the Asia Cup.

But what of the players, caught in this crossfire? They are professionals contracted to the BCCI, with little personal choice in the matter. Their only avenue to express solidarity with victims and dissatisfaction with the situation was symbolic gestures—most notably, refusing to engage in handshakes. Predictably, critics labelled this “unsportsmanlike,” ignoring the hypocrisy: those who insist politics should stay out of sport are often the first to inject it selectively when it suits them.

The controversy intensified during the presentation ceremony. Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Mohsin Naqvi, who also heads the Asian Cricket Council (ACC), insisted on personally presenting the trophy despite India’s objections. An administrator’s role is to serve the spirit of the contest, not personal ego. The winners receiving their prize is more significant than who hands it over. Naqvi could have easily avoided the controversy by delegating the task—but instead chose political theatre over sportsmanship.

India, ultimately, lost nothing of substance. The team secured a record eighth Asia Cup title. The trophy presentation, or lack thereof, is symbolic—the real loss was to the credibility of the ACC and its leadership, who failed to uphold the dignity of sport.

So, what lies ahead? Possibly, the end—at least temporarily—of ACC championships. Even in Pakistan, voices may rise against matches with India, as public humiliation must have intensified with off-field drama. For decades, India alone bore the burden of choice—whether to play or not. That equation may finally change, with Pakistan’s administration beginning to feel the pressure of its own public sentiment.

Shubhman Gill – Bliss v Biff

On By deepozIn cricket3 Comments

After a long time, saw a good classical test type innings last night from Shubhman Gill at Edgebaston. Innings where the solidity of defence formed the basis of run making. The first thought in facing every ball was to deny a wicket and still think of making a run. Coaxing the ball through the gaps without any undue risk. Either punching it hard to the fence or playing it softly away from the fielder and taking a single, every shot told the opposition that you can’t get me out, try whatever you want to do. Good old classical way of playing cricket.

In the era when the white ball short format cricket takes a centre stage, boundaries are specifically shortened to let unintended batting errors become sixes, bats have blades as thick as a tree trunk and edges give bowlers heart aches instead of wickets, such batting had become an exotic species on the verge of extinction! Cross batted biffs or what I fondly call as “bhathabaji”, where run making is more an accident than design, the numbers on the scorecard often leaves an old timer like me, a self – proclaimed connoisseur of cricket; dissatisfied and in some ways, cheated! Sure, run making is the name of the game. But when it accompanies a quality of batsmanship that pleases the eye, the enjoyment doubles. The short format game has cultivated the era where the run making has become the focus; how you get them, is not! It’s a bit like moving away from meaningful lyrics of a song fitting a melody to the adrenalin pumping rhythm taking the precedence in music making! You enjoy both, but a caress to the fence gives more pleasure to the cricketing soul than a cross batted biff over the fence. In terms of contest also, the former is more valuable as it breaks the bowlers’ confidence while the latter gives the bowler some hope!

Test cricket is a slow burn. A great first innings often doesn’t translate into a great last innings and a win! So, the key is not to just win a contest or small battles. Every battle won must translate into winning a war. And when your opponent is as good or better than you under the conditions, you need to dominate him mentally. Winning a few sessions isn’t enough. This is where showing complete command over your batsmanship gives your opponent despair. And equally importantly, your team a belief that you can win the war. When it comes from the leader, it acts as a tonic for the team.

Years back, in Indian cricket, Sunny Gavaskar’s batting used to give Indian team a hope that they can draw a test match, which was equal to a win in those days! Then a series of batters came along who took Indian batsmanship to new heights and instilled belief that we can win. There was solidity coupled with aesthetic beauty in run making. And occasionally that transcended into ethereal experience of watching a batter use his bat as a wizard’s wand and create magic. Watching Very Very Special Laxman gave me that feeling. Last night, Shubhman Gill reminded me of that bygone era of ethereal beauty, where he and batters like Mark Waugh used to not just rule the cricket field but also our hearts. Those beautiful memories had somehow got buried under the bazzballing avalanche. Thanks Shubhman, for reviving those great memories. May this continue through the series and beyond and make this ungainly contest between bliss and biff in test cricket, irrelevant! 

Southampton Calling

On By deepozIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Pataudi series is at a very interesting stage. After comprehensive defeat in Lords
test, fans of the Indian tram were not only disappointed but angry as well.
They were not expecting number 1 test team in the world to capitulate so easily.
Even though India lost the first test there was no anger amongst the fans since
India did not lose so badly. Disappointment, definitely. However, the way in
which they surrendered in the Lords test even after significant time loss due
to rain, simply raised the fears again that Indian team is a tiger only at
home. The team of Virat Kohli had no space to go back; not one step. And they responded
splendidly. After losing the toss, when England send them into bat in very
helpful conditions, their batting responded like a true champion. First innings
total of 329 was par score on that wicket and conditions. To add to that, their
bowlers performed tremendously. In conditions far better than their opponent,
England capitulated for a meagre 161 which was less than half of Indian
total. Once in the driving seat, Kohl’s batsmen showed their worth by batting
England out of the contest. After that India win was a mere formality
especially as the weather Gods were not going to oblige English team again,
like at Lords. This was a very meritorious win for the Indian team especially
due to severe mauling they had received in the Lords’ test. With this win they are
back roaring in the series with a clear message that we will not surrender that easily. England which must have been pleasantly surprised at the easy with which they got the lead in the series, must be contemplating now how to stop the momentum that
is with the Indian team. Cricket is a mental game and so much dependent
upon self-confidence. All Indian batsmen who looked clueless in
the first two test barring Kohli, started showing some form that has taken the team to the
top of the ladder.
More than anyone else,
it must be the Indian bowlers who would have heaved a big sigh of relief! It
is Indian bowlers who have kept the team afloat. And all they need is
for their batsmen to give them a reasonable score to defend. Really Indian bowlers have been stupendous! It
is a very balanced attack, with speed, swing and spin. This is not the first
time that India has a good and balanced attack. But perhaps for the first time
they are showing a consistency in line, length to suit the conditions. So far in the
series, Indian bowlers have been the fastest across both the teams. Even Hardik
Pandya is bowling faster than any English bowler! And along with that they are
able to use the Dukes ball to a great effect. There is more than one reason for
the bowlers to have upper hand in test matches in England. Grass on the wicket and
heavy atmosphere definitely facilitate the swing and movement off the pitch.
However, another critical point is the Dukes ball. Compared to Kukaburra and SG
balls, Dukes has more pronounced seam which helps it to swing. Additionally,
the ball retains the shine for a longer period and in fact starts swinging more
after 10 to 15 overs as one side becomes rough. Under these conditions, a
bowler has more than one weapon to aim at the batsman. That is the reason why
the batsmanship needs more focus and planning. This is so much evident in the
way in which Kohli has batted so far. 

For a batsmen who had a dismal tour of
England last time he played there, this series was considered a massive
challenge. And his duel with Jimmy Anderson was billed as the most important
factor to decide the outcome of the series. If one looks at the scores, Kohli
can be said to be winning that duel. Kohli has already scored 440 runs at an average of 73 so far with almost three centuries. And Jimmy Anderson has not dismissed Kohli even once so far! However, if one looks closely, one
would realise how much respect Kohli has given to Anderson. Anderson has definitely not been supported by his slip cordon. He has gone past Kohli’s edge
many times in the series so far and should have had Kohli out twice. Kohli also
knows that the battle is not yet won. He has remained extremely focussed. The
way in which he has paid respect to Anderson’s bowling putting aside his ego,
is a sign of a champion batsman. This reminds me of one more contest
between a batsman and a bowler. Sachin Tendulkar versus Shane Warne. That
contest was billed exactly the same. And we all know the result! 

If this contest
also goes the same way in remaining two tests, we may see a miracle. And I am
calling it a miracle since no team has won a series after being 0-2 behind in
England since 1937! So Indian team is not battling only English weather and the team. It is also the history! Is this Indian team capable of defeating
history? Only time will tell, but my gut feeling is, we will still be asking
this question at the end of the fourth test match that begins tomorrow.
Let us Talk about the fourth test to be played at
the Ageas bowl in Southampton. In current season, Ageas bowl has seen highest
average runs per wicket of all test playing grounds in England. Seam bowlers
have taken more than 80% of the wickets. 
While England must be worried about the threat from the Indian pace bowlers,
they must feel that the best opportunity for them to upset the Indian batting
revival is using movement in the air and off
the wickets. They have to believe that in spite of their dominance in the last
test match, Indian batters can be pressurised by swing and seam. They will also
be hoping for the help from the weather gods like they did at Lords. And they
will hope that their top order batsmen will be able to stand up to the indian
pace bowlers. Additionally, they have a couple of problems to solve. Jamie
Bairstow’s finger injury has threatened to take out their best batsman of the
series who is second after Virat Kohli so far in the series. Even if Bairstow
plays, he will not be 100% and Indian bowlers will target his injured hand.
England’s major problem though, is poor opening partnership in the series so
far and Joe Root’s inability to emulate Virat Kohli in supporting the innings.
Joe Root is a class act and he can not be expected to keep failing. However,
they have another problem at numbers 4 & 5. Ollie Pope who is a young new
recruit, is very promising batsman but because of batting failure around him he
gets exposed. I am sure they will draw a lot of confidence from Josh Butler and
Ben Stokes’s partnership. So it will be interesting to see if they will
continue with Pope at lower number rather than bringing in James Vince. As for
bowling, Since first test, I believe that they missed a trick by not including
Moeen Ali. In my opinion he would be more helpful than Rashid. Chris Woakes is
doubtful due to some fitness issue. If he can’t play England will have to play
without the only other century maker of the series. However, that may be a
blessings in disguise for England. It will allow them to play Sam Curran whose
contribution was the difference between win and loss for the English team at Edgbaston. In
my opinion England team should be Cook, Vince, Root, Bairstow, Stokes, Pope,
Butler, Moeen, Curran, Broad and Anderson. They need to have more right handers
in top order.

For India, I would prefer Virat Kohli plays
with the same team as the one at Trent Bridge. Ashwin is expected to play. The
batting unit has shown a bit of form and looking to build from there. There is
no need to tinker with the bowling unit; all are performing optimally. So the prediction? As they say, the game is
never finished till the last ball is bowled. I have an inkling that we will go
to the last test match at Oval, with series still to be won or lost….

Playing Blind…India in England

On 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!! 🙂

Malcolm, who are you Conning?

On 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!!

pU steS! Talking Confuciusly!

On 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….

Not Happy John!

On By deepozIn Archive 2014-2010Leave a comment

So John Howard, ex-PM of Australia has failed another “election”. In some ways you can say that he lost a winnable one this time unlike the one he lost to Kevin Rudd in Nov 2007. I honestly thought he would have got used to loosing by now! Apparently, you can neither take out the politics from the politician nor a politician from politics!! Most Pollies in all countries have a very sharp sense of smell; they will smell-out power even from a chook-raffle! Top level sports administration, obviously represents a pot of honey to a bear; especially to those who are missing their power-fix. And when a sport interests lots of people and spins a few bobs, it is certainly like a full syringe to a junkie.

But you can fool some people sometimes. Little Johhny is now facing the barbs from the thorns he nurtured during his tenure. While he did some excellent work to turn Australian economy around, his ultra-conservative beliefs could not adept to the fast changing canvas of this small but increasingly multi-cultural society. For whatever reason, even at the peak of his powers, he was viewed by many (and not necessarily coloured population only) as a torch-bearer of long defunct white-Australia policy. His utter refusal to apologise to the aborigines for whatever reason, did not help his cause. For all I know, he may be merely simplistic; convinced that anything different from his belief does not merit any attention from him. Fair enough, for an individual. Unfortunately that is not a trait of a leader. Great leaders never divide; they have a gift to unite the most diverse. Looking at the diverse nature of ICC, where 10 full member countries represent a myriad of colours and cultures, I was surprised that Cricket Australia manipulated Howard above what would have been a very welcome candidate like the kiwi Sir John Anderson, especially when Australia already had their turn in Malcolm Grey. All those detractors crying foul and complaining today about subcontinent’s so-called power “abuse”, very conveniently forget that CA did exactly the same by bullying New Zealand cricket. CA did that simply because they could. Those who live in glass houses don’t throw stones at others.

While Australia and New Zealand had an option to choose their representative to head ICC, their representative was eventually going to represent all member countries. With an incredibly complex cultural mix of ICC, what you need is a candidate acceptable to all. If CA had applied that criteria, Howard would have failed in CA’s board room itself. I am sure CA board members are not naive. So the obvious inference is that they wanted to bring in Howard as their Axe-man; someone who would not hesitate to seek and chuck out the “rotten eggs”. After all, those backward third world and corrupt countries can only produce corrupt leaders who are now corrupting the beautiful English game. Why is that so hard to understand? What all the “chest-beaters” in Australia (I can actually hear a giggle from across the Tasman sea!) conveniently forget is that CA (probably with support from England) tried a political stunt which back fired. It happens; get on with it.

In politics, there is a critical process called face-saving formula. What now, is the face-saving formula for CA? Re-nominating Howard would be provocative and more importantly, likely to get  snubbed again! I am not sure if CA is actually that masochistic! Sir John Anderson is hardly going to accept the used-towel nomination, especially when his claim to the nomination merited first-choice. In fact I can see NZ completely washing their hands off this affair. CA can dig in their heels and refuse to nominate any one. That will certainly look churlish. Like it or not, political and economic reality is that CA has to participate in this process as a part of ICC board and nominate someone who can take the attention away from this affair and still become a respected board member and a fantastic representative of all cricket playing countries. Some one like Gideon Haigh (who seems to have a one-point agenda of BCCI bashing) claims there was no better nominee for CA than John Howard. Get real Haighy; Mark Taylor will be well respected and will contribute towards bringing closer, all cricket boards. And that is lot more worthy cause than mending the ruffled ego of little Johny…