The Charger’s Nightmare

One and Two and Three and Four, Deccan Chargers Give us more… As the voice of Sunny Khandelwal (I think it was him… not too sure though) rocked the Visakha Cricket Stadium (now called the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium thanks to the rulers of our nation), standing on the third floor of the Shivlal Yadav Pavilion, wearing a pink colored access card, I was wondering how much more to expect from this “Technically the Best Team in the IPL”? The loss at Kolkata was fresh in my mind. Though the newspaper run by the franchisee of Deccan Chargers screamed and shouted that it was the pitch and the lights and the umpires that did us in at Kolkata, I was sure that the KnightRiders batted on the same strip. A loss after all was a loss and had to be faced.

 

As the Deccan Chargers (I will call them DC now… The franchisee will be really happy with that), practiced in front of about 10,000 people in the stadium (the capacity is about 39000 and growing everyday… They are on an expansion spree), an hour before the game started everyone in the stadium including the guest singer Neeraj Sridhar of the Bombay Vikings, were confident that they will reduce the Delhi side to dust within three hours and everyone in Hyderabad will go home happy. And when Adam Gilchrist struck one that landed in the stands on the midwicket boundary off the modern McGrath, Mohammed Asif, people thought they were on the brink of realizing their dream of seeing a DC win. What followed was a continuation of the Kolkata failure. Gilly played on one from Asif soon after that marvelous shot and the one drop skipper Laxman had his timber thrown to winds by one that came back (!), from Asif. I was recollecting my childhood when we used to measure the distance the stump traveled after being hit. Laxman’s would have certainly gone about 8 stump lengths.

 

It then continued the same way with people like Symmo and Shahid out. Rohit Sharma took Farveez Maharoof for a ride of his life and the poor fellow never knew where to bowl to the Indian T20 specialist. 26 runs in one over meant DC would cross the 100 mark which looked out of sight at the 10 over juncture. They did though and did well to end up at 142. But that was not a great score even after getting rid of the dangerous Gautam “Gauti” Gambhir for next to nothing. The butcher from Nazafgarh, Virendra Sehwag and a very steady Shikhar Dhawan ensured no damage was done thereafter and saw their side home with more that 33% of the overs remaining. The notable innings came from Sehwag (naturally) who scored a near hundred and gave Symonds a good run for his money. 646464 is not a fancy phone number in rural India, but the runs scored of the six balls that he bowled. The crowd had already begun their journey back home even before people who came in late could settle down.

 

A loss for the home team and with 2 losses in as many matches they were just above the Punjab team of Ness Wadia (yes, I forgot her because she anyhow does not have any role to play) at number 7. That was not where the guyz wanted to be when they started. A day’s off and Shane Keith Warne was in town leading a very cheap and inexperienced Rajasthan Royals team. With one win and a loss they were in a far better position than the DC. I was in no mood to be at the stadium and therefore choose to buy myself the best seat to watch cricket for Free, at home, in front of the TV.

 

When the news of Venugopal Rao being dropped and DC batting first was broken, I wasn’t too excited to see young Kalyan Krishna, who I had seen bowling really well in the Deodhar Trophy about a month ago, in the team. I thought he was very inexperienced to rub shoulders with the bigwigs of world cricket. But them I am not the skipper of DC, VVS is, so his decision was more important. I got kind of a shock when Laxman himself walked in along with Adam Gilchrist. Why was Boom Boom Afridi in the team??? To play second fiddle to people like Symonds and Sharma? I couldn’t digest that as well.

 

Anyways, Laxman hit some pretty blows before he saw a Pathan (Not Irfan… His bro, Yousuf was this) from Baroda being given the ball by Shane Warne. Everyone in the stadium would have thought Warne’s gone mad. But it had its effects immediately. Pathan removed Gilchrist and Afridi in one over. Symmo was in again and his side was in trouble. Then Laxman had to fall… he did. Though Symmo and Rohit gave stability and runs to the DC innings, I was getting bored and wanted to sleep. Well I didn’t for the love of cricket though. And it was paid off well. Symonds came up with the fastest century in IPL and it was awesome to see him clear the fence with ease. 214 to win and DC were looking good to register their first points in the tourney.

 

But then the Blue Brigade of Marwaris (none of them is a marwari I guess) had other ideas. And again it was Pathan. While smith did some serious damage to the DC bowling as the opener, and also emerged the highest scorer of the innings, it was yousuf whose magic was there to be seen. And when both of them got out, it was Shane Warne, who did the real damage. No it was not with the ball this time around. With 17 off the last over needed and Afridi, Vaas and RP having finished their respective spells, Laxman chose Symonds over Ohja and Kalyan. A wise decision on paper. But Warne had other ideas. When he got strike from Pankaj Singh (remember the lanky fast bowler on Aussie Tour… Not Ishant Sharma man…) He smashed Symonds for a Four, Six and Six to finish DC. And yeah with three losses out of as many matches, it is now going to be a tough, or should I say a Very Tough road for DC. And for poor old Symmo, who is the second highest paid player in the IPL, figures of 6.5-0-101-0 in the tourney is not something he will feel good about when he goes back down under to join his team on the tour of Windies.

 

While the Symonds story ends here, the DC story doesn’t. They will have to play out of their skins to overcome the obstacles the three losses have created in their path to a triumph in the IPL. And for someone who compares things, I will certainly put together some interesting stats to see their record against my favorite team, the HYDERABAD Heroes. At last all I can say is one and two and three and four… Deccan Chargers don’t loose anymore.

ICL Vs IPL… What stands out??

Beloved son against the neglected (rebel!) one…this sounds like an apt description of the two newest babies of the grand old religion, which about half the world follows. Cricket has always been a game that has been very receptive to change though not immediately. The T20 version of cricket suddenly saw a burst of leagues in various parts of the world to counter arguably the most popular game that the world have ever seen… Soccer.

 

While the Alan Stanford backed Stanford T20 has grasped attention of the cricket crazy islands south of America, the ICL and IPL have born much to the amusement of the a billion people back home. The Stanford league has definitely helped the revival of cricket in the West Indies. The dying state of cricket stadiums with empty stands during test matches seems long gone. With black bats and white balls flying around the ground in front of huge screens, it is for sure that the T20 is here to stay.

 

Though the lucky facet of the windies is that the authorities that run the show have backed the league. The same though has not been the case in India. While Mr. Chandra has done a great job ensuring the much-ignored lot in India, the Ranji Players, gets what they deserve, it has not been taken well by the ever bullying, powerful BCCI. The birth of IPL to counter the ICL has been enough evidence of the same. But who will stand out eventually in the eyes of the common man? This is the question, which can be debated for hours together.

 

For once the ICL has more brand credibility than the IPL in my eyes. With two T20 tourneys, one 50 over tourney under their belt and the ICL World T20 awaiting its first ball as I write this, the ICL has proved that even when the strongest of them are against you, with will to succeed and honesty towards the game, you can achieve the impossible.

 

The last T20 tourney held in Panchkula and Hyderabad has drawn more than decent crowds and people have connected to the ever-popular never hyped cricketers from the domestic foray of cricket. If the scenes at the Lal Bahadur Shashtri Stadium when the Heroes won against the Badshahs are anything to go by, the ICL has arrived in India and no Modi-Pawar-Shah trio can uproot it.

 

Technically speaking, there has been a tremendous improvement in the standard of the game since ICL was launched. While the inexperience of the organizers was there to be seen in the first tournament the cricket was also of a mediocre quality. But come the second tournament everything just changed drastically. The grounds and the pitches looked far better. The quality of cricket being played also looked improved. So much so that the All Test Star Studded Lahore team was comprehensively beaten 2-0 in the finals by a pack of rebel youngsters from Hyderabad who would certainly have found it hard to stamp authority of any sorts on the Indian cricket scene had it not been for the ICL. Not even in his wildest dreams would Alfred ‘Freddie’ Absolom have imagined picking up 7 wickets in four overs to technically create a world record in the latest form of cricket. And for someone like Ibraheem Khaleel, it was just a dream to wear India colors. The dream has come true with him being selected in the ICL-India side. Though not backed the BCCI and the ICC, the Indian colors will still be a matter of great pride for the gloveman from Hyderabad.

 

Where does this leave the IPL though? Much has been talked, printed and telecasted about this favorite child of the BCCI even before it is born. Huge money has been spun over even before the first ball is bowled. The teams have franchisees with all their glaz-ma-traaz making me think that cricket can very well take a back seat. With decent number of stars in the IPL known for their off the field heroics, the tourney looks more like a great bollywood tamasha than a cricket tournament. No… I am not anti-IPL. But somehow apart from the great adverts nothing interests me. Will I cheer for Andrew “Troublemaker” Symonds when he plays for Hyderabad??? I’d better cheer Ibraheem Khaleel.

 

The end though looks very pleasing. I think this is pure imagination but I see the Indian selection committee choosing the Indian Test Team and they are fighting among each other to take players from the ICL as if they were players from the states they belong to. I think I am sleeping but then please…. I beg you… Please don’t wake me up…. God Bless Cricket

The PCB – and Does it impact???

Well as the header suggests, I am sure you are wondering what PCB stands for? Well let me clear the air… If you think PCB is Printed Circuit Board which is used in electronic equipments ranging from mobile phones to computers, this is not about them. The abbreviation PCB here means the “Palaniappan Chidambaram Budget”. While some may call it a Pro-Voter budget and some others call it a divine gift to the nation, some also term it as a huge financial failure. Put together Mr. PC has overall done well to please the people who matter the most to his existence, the poor of this country.

Mr. PC was very sure of what he was doing. He must have got very clear instructions from the High Command that his budget would write the script for next five years of congress’ future. And he did exactly what the doctor (I wonder when she passed out her MBBS) ordered. But, pause for a while and think… Does the highly politicised budget of this country actually affect you?? Well if you are able to read this… IT DOESN’T.

Yes he increased the threshold limit for the Taxpayer. So what?? Did we not increase our earnings over the last year?? By the time we pay tax according to the new limits, either him or another finance minister would have announced another high profile pro-poor, pro-voter budget. And after all where does the government earn all its revenues from?? From those who were let off a whopping INR 6,000,000,000,000… Difficult to count the number is it?? That is INR 600 Billions. That is Rs. 600 out of every Indian’s pocket. Oh yes, I know the farmers are committing suicide… My fault??

The cars became cheap. Where is the road to drive them? The women will pay less tax. Where is the opportunity to earn…? Let alone paying tax. I will pay less tax… No I will pay the same tax because my salary has been increased thanks to the Bull Run in the economy market. And what did the guys who made the dream of India INC. come true get?? 5% extra tax on their short term gains. Where does that go? To more farmers who are committing suicide.

And the best catch out of this will come some days later. The farmers in the congress run states will get the major share of that whopping figure (I have no patience to write that again). How much money will go to Gujarat and Rajasthan? Good question to find an answer to. Those are opposition ruled states. They don’t get much.

The businessmen of this country have given about the same contribution to India’s growth that a farmer has. But this is one creed that has never got it due credit. The best entrepreneur award does not boost the economy. Sops do. But they are reserved for the illiterates and farmers and beggars and poor and other people who are classified in the “aam aadmi” category. Businessmen are rich and they only deserve to pay tax and more tax and more tax, until they become “aam aadmi”. Then they too will get the sops.

Who is at the fault? Mr. PC? No, not at all. He is doing the best he can do in the best interest of his party. The real culprits are us. Yes, you, me and all others who are sitting in their AC cabins. We did not go out in the burning sun in the summer of 2004 to cast our vote (I did, but one can only make that much difference). The ones who did are reaping the benefits. The BJP and specially the TDP government here in AP did all it could to lift people like me and you to greater heights. They facilitated the growth of today’s India Inc. And what happened? The people that they worked for preferred to stay indoors in the cosy environments of their offices and alas! THEY LOST!! Had the BJP at centre and TDP at the state level made the same efforts for the poor people, they would have been in power till today. But I would have not been writing this article because I wouldn’t afford a computer.

Now what is the way out? It’s not very difficult. The tax paying community of the country should put its head together and elect a government that works for them. It may even be the congress. But they should also be made to understand that we can uproot you if you do not work for us. And to prove that we have to do just that… Once… And only then will the real India Shining come true.

IPL: Show of Brand India or Boon for Cricket??

The juggernaut has started rolling. Soon you would see the Hyderabadis cheering for Aussies, the Delhites Cheering for Indians and the Mumbaikars cheering for Sri Lankans. Well this is not a dream. Welcome to the latest money spinner in sports. The Indian Premier League seems to be here to stay.

When Subhash Chandra, the visionary behind ICL (Indian Cricket League) the breakthrough cricket, would have thought about incepting something that was anti BCCI (!) as thought about by the BCCI themselves, not even in his wildest dreams would he have seen a 19 year old Delhi lad who was learning to bowl quick against the GOOD batsmen of the world, contracted for a whopping $950000. As the telecom users thanked Reliance Infocomm in 2003 for lowering the overall market prices in spite of them not having great services themselves, the cricket fraternity of the country should felicitate Mr. Chandra for having pioneered a revolution in cricket where the money goes to its deserving creator, The Players. Though ICL itself was not an out and out success, it at least made sure that the poor Ranji Trophy player who used to earn 5000 to 10000 per match and had to struggle to keep the ends meeting after his playing days, had a scope to make enough money to support him for life.

Everyone would agree that there is money in cricket. And when there is an opportunity to earn and that too legally, why not take it. I mean, if someone does not take a money making opportunity we will label him a fool instantly!! So that is one way the whole ICL, IPL story sounds pleasant. The lower rung cricketers are getting opportunities to look up and choose which, 5 years down the like seemed impossible. “If you want to play cricket, don’t take any panga with the BCCI” was the mantra every coach used to teach his wards apart from the customary batting stance and the bowling action.

So if IPL is giving opportunity to people and paying for the same why is there a hue and cry about how it can harm the game? Well personally, as someone who is a devotee of the game, I think they are not entirely wrong.

When Kerry Packer rolled out his then infamous and now historically famous World Series, the first thing happened was the clash between the authorities of cricket and his company. While BCCI has taken due care to please the akas of the cricket world, the ICC, there will be scope for spats and clashes. The bitterness will start the day when an IPL tournament clashes with the schedule of an international tour for the contracted player. Though the player will give his country the priority, there may be instances when the whole scenario turns bad because of the non-cricketing franchisees. Yes, the boards may understand the game and so do the players, but none of the franchisees do. So after paying hefty sums to buy the teams and the players, if absenteeism hurts them in the pocket, they will for sure react to it at cricket’s loss.

Apart from that, there also rises the question of whether or not the people prefer to watch such a cricket. Again, that seems to be of less importance because even if the crowds don’t gather at the venues, they will for sure want to see a good 20-20 match from the comforts of their lounges without paying anything. And that sounds like music to an advertiser. TV revenues have already broken the roof and now are heading skywards. So more money in store…

What then happens to the poor old Ranji trophy??? Now that is where the real problem is. Why would an Ishant Sharma play for Delhi at a meagre 1 lakh when he is getting 100 times more for playing for IPL? Though both Ranji Trophy and IPL have a common parent, I am sure the treatment would be very different. And this is the long term problem. Today we may enjoy the attention of the world, become famous as cricketers and retire with large sums of money. What will happen to the next generation who have been playing the Ranji Trophy without any serious competition, because all the good domestic players have already gone to the IPL? If Lalit Modi has an answer to this, then I think IPL will stay. If not the future does not look too good for the INDIAN NATIONAL CRICKET TEAM, though it looks great for the current cricket teams.