THE IPL-GATE – from the eyes of a Commoner

For any cricket lover, the last 10 days have been full of mixed emotions to say the least. I still remember a panicking Swathi (my wife) calling me at noon to inform me that the RR Trio had been caught spot fixing. And since then it has been a parade of arrests including the mighty ‘Guru’. There has been media frenzy with 24/7 channels airing the same news over and over, and as Milind Rege rightly put it on one of the TV shows I participated in as a caller, “the common man will now tend to see all cricket with jaundiced eyes”. On the other hand unnoticeably England and New Zealand have been indulging in some good old test cricket which has been long forgotten in this country called India and Rahul Dravid has been carrying the torch of Integrity and Class, albeit all alone.

We have had experts from all fields, talking about IPL saga from legal, criminal, economical, moral, ethical, sporting and governance points of view. So what does a common man (or woman) think of all these. Because end of it all it is us, the cricket fan, who pays for the entire circus directly and indirectly.

Though I do not represent the entire creed of common people, I think the cricket fan is at the least saddened. However this does not mean they may be driven off the game. Yes, there is outrage on the streets, there is anger in social media but the stadiums are still full. And if the TV reports are to be believed the TRPs of IPL have gone skywards since the scandal broke out. The reason behind this is the eternal hope of “everything will be alright soon” which even I exude. The common man though angry wants his heroes to come out of this clean. Though MSD skipped the pre-final conference to avoid tough questions and though there have already been murmurs about how he is in a precarious position, the real MSD fan (and cricket fan as well) hopes that he has nothing to do with the scandal and he comes out of it as the hero he always has been. Only time will tell.

Beyond the angst however, I want to also ask several questions. These are issues that not many media houses or experts are highlighting. However, these are pertinent questions in my humble opinion. The first issue that seems to have missed the limelight is the IPL after parties. It has been a well established fact by now that the bookies have been contacting these players in these parties. And if one observes the nature of these events it is clear that there is an unprecedented access to cricketers.

Not just in the olden days but even as late as 2007 and in cases of Test and One Day cricket even today, the cricketers have always been a lot which people had less than limited access to. When on 2-3 month tours the team used to stay in a hotel and partied together in almost zero outside access environment. The IPL after parties have completely changed the scenario. I am sure the bookies and the fixers were thankful to the person who came up with this idea. I strongly believe that the most efficient step towards curbing corruption in cricket will be to monitor who has access to players. If this means keeping the businessmen who own the teams out of the hotel, dressing rooms and dugouts, so be it.

The second question has been raised across platforms but only occasionally and that too without too much fervor. The large question of conflict of interest. I could not help laughing out loud when I read in one of the news feed that BCCI is going to question the CSK ownership on the Guru issue. Imagine it for a moment. Mr. N Srinivasan in his capacity as the President of BCCI and part of its disciplinary committee will write to Mr. N Srinivasan the owner of India Cements and thus the owner of Chennai Super Kings seeking explanation. And then may be go on and give a clean chit to himself as well. How kool is that?

Dig deeper and you will notice that this is not only limited to Mr. Srinivasan. Krish Srikkanth was the chairman of selectors and mentor of CSK. MSD is the captain of CSK and India (in that order I believe) and therefore a part of the selection committee and also the Vice President of India Cements. In fact even the great Rahul Dravid is a Vice President at India Cements and captains their corporate team. In fact a glance at India Cements team in the BCCI corporate trophy will introduce you to about half of the Chennai Super Kings side. Then the greats like Sunny Gavaskar and Ravi Shastri who was/is on the IPL Governing Council are paid commentators of BCCI for IPL. No wonder you do not hear factual commentary. This list is certainly longer than then entire length of this article. While I am not at all suggesting that all these people have been indulging in malafide practices, one cannot but overlook the scope that such an overlap brings.

To sum it up I think the common man also has a tendency to forget or forgive and sometimes both. Therefore there certainly no threat to the gate collections and to those consumer brands associated with cricket. All will be merry too soon for comfort. And finally, I am certain of one thing. Cricket has to come out this as a winner and I am pretty sure it will. Whether it does so by cleaning up or by shoving everything under the carpet remains to be seen. I am hopeful at best.

 

What are the disadvantages of Democracy in India?

This is a post that I have written as part of my application to become a facebook beta tester.

While it may sound absurd to discuss disadvantages of Democracy in the World’s largest democracy, it seems there if some weight in the arguments that democracy has not been entirely good for this nation. In a nation where about 40% (400 Millions) of the population is illiterate and about 25% of the population (250 Millions) live below poverty line which is less than a dollar a day, one can only imagine the kind of governments thrown up when this 40% votes.

In the last General elections held in India, in 2009, only 59% of the eligible population voted which given the demographics of the country is about 30% of the total population. Of these 30% voters 30% voted for the UPA which therefore won and came to power. The UPA actually received about 153 million votes which are actually only 10% of the population. So in a country where 10% votes can win you power and you have 40% people who are illiterates and below the poverty line it may be assumed and without too much of risk that vote bank politics and corruption would rule the agendas and not development and international relations.

This is one big disadvantage which mothers a lot of other vices in the system. According to a lot of estimated the educated middle class votes the least in terms of percentages and therefore the leaders are chosen by the parties based on caste, creed and other such factors that appeal to the poor population. The government thus formed may more often than not work for its own welfare and not nation building, therefore giving a freehand to corrupt practices in politics and bureaucracy. And this has happened in India for the last 60 years and is still happening. People are asking votes on the name of caste, religion, and other such sentimental issues rather than development and other rational issues.

With various parties having stronghold in various regions, and the lack of a strong single national party, Indian government has become a slave of coalition politics which has been a deterrent to a lot of progressive steps.

While there are other such arguments, the fact remains that India is the largest democracy and will remain so for a long time to come. If the political system focuses on getting votes by delivering in development, the numbers are in India’s favor and can therefore pave the way for her to become the superpower that she yearns to become.

 

What are the things to keep in mind while making a good PowerPoint presentation?

This is a post that I have written as part of my application to become a facebook beta tester.

A great PowerPoint presentation can go a long way in the making of a successful deal. Business or recreation or learning, PPTs today, rule our world. And if you are good at it you do get noticed. But if you are bad at it you surely get noticed. The other way that is…

Here are therefore six points that one may keep in mind while making a presentation and be sure of not being noticed the other way.

Length of PPT in terms of slides is one of the most important factors in a business presentation. The thumb rule is minimum of 6 and maximum of 20 slides keeping in mind the average “interested” human attention span. Anything beyond 20 and it will bore your audience except if you are Megan Fox or Brad Pitt.

If the limit of slides is 20, it never means that you cram all that you have got in 20 slides and feel happy about it. A slide with too much information whether text or images is still a bore. The 666 rule should be followed when creating a slide. 6 bullets per slide, 6 words per bullet and maximum 6 slides of text in a row before a graphic shows up. Apart from text in slides, one may use graphics and ClipArt. The point to remember however is that you should use new age, 3D and still subtle graphics and not in your face type strong visual graphics. One may also use GIF animations as long as they are subtle.

The background of a PPT slide sometimes becomes one’s canvass and therefore bears the brunt of artistic explosion. However a background that is in contrast with the text color and is constant across all your slides is the best and safest bet. As far the fonts go, the most stylish ones are the toughest to read for your audience and the size of 44 as heading and 28 as body text is the best readable with a decent looking font.

Another thing is animation and effects. All business PPTs should have minimal effects unless your business card either says graphic designer or Steve Jobs. One may experiment with effects little bit if one is making an informal sort of presentation.

Last but not the least is sound. Sound of applause while you present figures of growth may be music only to your ears. Generally the only sound that a business PPT should be presented with is that of you talking.

Finally, don’t trust the technology too much and keep a backup of your presentation.

 

Life goes two full circles in two years!

 

Cricket they say is a game of great uncertainties. No one would believe this more than people of two nations united by one tournament called the IPL. When it all began on 18^th of April, something told me that Royal Challengers will reach the final with Rajasthan Royals. While I had to get a lot of flack for not supporting according to me ‘hyped team’ of Deccan Chargers, I was sure they did not have the potential even to win this tourney.

 

Alas! The first sentence of this post proved right! But why did I not have the faith in Chargers? Well strictly personal opinion, but I still don’t see them as “MY HYDERBAD” team. All that aside, from number 8 to number one has been a story that I can put only in one single phrase… DREAM RUN.

 

From Hyderabad heroes being the champs of ICL 1 to Deccan being the last team of IPL 1, life for a Hyderabad cricket fan went one more full circle. As Gilly and boys prepare come back “home”, there is a buzz around the city. Go Chargers, Go Chargers, Go….go go go… is the new mantra.

 

To describe what I went through while the final match was on is the term “Khichdi of emotions”. Well mixed is the meaning of khichdi in the context. At one stage when chargers posted 143, it looked game over for them and for me who was sitting in between 500 odd chargers supporters gunning for RCB time to smile. As the rains lashed the city of Hyderabad, chargers in bullring were picking one after other Bangalore batsmen. And when the fourth ball of the 20^th over was bowled there was eruption. A massive one.

 

Following morning when I look back, I think both the teams did immensely well from being the bottom 2 to the top 2. And credit must be given to those “retired”, “old”, “unfit”, fellows who stamped their authority over the so called young man’s game. In fact if you look at the IPL 2 as a whole you will observe, ‘Young guys can give that energy to the team, but if you want to win you need a matured head’. So true when you see the list of performers this year. Big Matt Hayden, Little (!) Sachin Tendulkar, Jayasuriya, The Wall Dravid, Jumbo Kumble, all of these well past their 35s did fantastic job for their sides.

 

So what shall I say!! At the end all I can say is the chargers did hear the plea I made in one of my blog and did give us more. Victories that is.. So this time for the chargers…. ONE AND TWO AND THREE AND FOUR. DECCAN CHARGERS GAVE US MORE.

 

The Eighth Wonder of the World: Democracy in India

 

Kutta ko le gayi bilayi, simh charave gaayee re!

Saat ajubo se badhkar yeh prajatantra hai bhai re!

 – Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

(The cat has taken the dog away and the lion is grazing the cows! Really the Democracy is above the Seven Wonders of the World)

What is the need for someone like me to call Democracy in India a wonder? If you ponder over this heading for a minute or two before reading further, you might get 10 reasons of your own to believe so. I have made an observation which goes a little further than the so called “common man” might want to think sometimes. Imagine the following scenario:

Disclaimer: The following paragraphs feature an imaginary story and therefore bear no resemblance with any situation in real life.

This is a story of Mohammed D’Souza who belongs to a minority community in Warangal town of Andhra. Read in his words.

I am a first time voter and am very enthusiastic about being able to make a contribution to government formation this time around. I have always been a fan of the MIM which operates in Hyderabad, but cant vote for them as they do not have any base in Warangal. So I choose to vote for the TDP (Telugu Desam Party) for their development record, and also for the fact that TDP is not going with BJP (Bharatiya Janta Party) which is a communal party according to me which also has promised the separate state which I am against. My family has always been voting for congress but I choose the TDP. The common fact though is that both me and my family wants to avoid BJP, and it’s easy as well because BJP has practically no base in AP.

As the voting day nears I am in for a shock. TDP has tied up with TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samiti) who wants a separate state, not something that I wanted, and the Left which is believed to be anti development in more than one sense! I gave a lot of thought to the situation and still decided to stay with the TDP because of Mr. Naidu and his development plans.

As the list of candidates is out for Warangal, I am shell-shocked! The TDP is not contesting the Warangal seat at all!! As part of their alliance deal, the seat is left for a candidate of TRS, whom I never liked. Oh and what? Mr. Naidu is in town campaigning for that person. I listened to Mr. Naidu and thought; “Well, by voting for this TRS person I am anyhow going to benefit Mr. Naidu, so let me take his word and do it”.

Come the polling day and I voted for TRS!! Not my original plan though. I satisfied myself thinking that I voted for the Great Chandrababu Naidu! Five more phases to go in India and I was already thinking of Naidu as the CM. But there seems to be no end to surprises. TRS breaks away from the “Grand Alliance” and joins the NDA (National Democratic Front, led by the BJP) at the centre. Oh God! My vote suddenly has been transferred from Mr. Naidu to Mr. Advani. Surprise Surprise!! Mr. KCR convinces Mr. Naidu to support the NDA at the centre! So even the ideology has changed and I am now a supporter of “Communal Forces” that I never wanted to be!!! And yeah, with congress sweeping the polls both at the state and the centre, I have no moral right to expect them to work for me. Lord, the Great Indian Democracy!!!

End of Disclaimer.

I know this is imaginary, but it could happen one day in India. This was just an attempt to bring to your attention the impact of the alliance politics on a common man. The post below has the solution to this grave problem. Yeah you guessed it right, the solution is according to me and I may be wrong. Your comments are always welcome on it.

 

Two Party Federal Government: The Hope for India!

Impossible!

That was the first word I heard when I presented the idea of a two party presidential form of Democracy to a friend. But when I sit down and think of what is happening in the country with more that 100 parties with those many agendas and 4 coalitions at the centre and countless at the state level, chaos is the only word that comes to mind.

Horse Trading, Conditional Supports, Stalling of development, multiple ideologies working in different directions, money laundering and what not. A coalition government has been and seemed to have been involved in all this and much more. If a government gets elected on its manifesto and forms a coalition, there is no guarantee it will abide the same. Common Minimum Programs are more of vote bank politics and less of development agenda. Everyone should be happy! A good mantra if applied to a common man but a bad shastra if applied to political parties.

Prajatantra me neta janta ka sevak kahelata hai, janata ka man janata ko raja kahkar bahelata hai,

Par chunav ke baad yahan sab kuch ulta ho jata hai, sevak raja ka sab dhan lekar champat ho jata hai,

Sevak ke hai aish desh me raja bhookha soye re!

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

Compare this, when a company is formed, the promoters first appoint a CEO and then give him the responsibility to choose his team and give the results they want with accountability on his own shoulders. And this where the promoters choose a team of 100 managers and then ask them to choose their own CEO!! Do you think the managers discharge fair duties when they know that the CEO they chose is their own man? Will the promoter have the same faith in the CEO? Will the CEO be as accountable as in the first case? To my mind such a CEO will more be a union leader and less a Profit Maker.

The promoters are the People of our country, The CEO is the Prime Minister and the team is his cabinet. The system we follow is the second one. And what follows that is seen by this country for over 6 decades now. The prime ministers have been more accountable to their parties, allies, cabinets, corporates etc, and the least accountable to the people of India!

And the fun part is that the so called all powerful voter never gets to choose the CEO (Prime Minister). He merely chooses a manager of his area. Oh forget the idea of declaring the prime ministerial candidates well before the elections!! They change faster than a chameleon.

Now that I have a strong preface in place, let me count the advantages of the other side. The first big thing in a Presidential form of government is that I CHOOSE WHO LEADS THE COUNTRY DIRECTLY. The centre and the state all should go to the elections simultaneously and the party at the centre should also rule ALL THE STATES. This can happen only in a two party system.  Accountability will be the highest in this case with no centre leader blaming the opposing party in the state and vice versa. With only two options in place there will be no hung houses for ever! So goodbye Horse Trading and False promises and Common Minimum Programs. The voter should be allowed to choose from top to bottom that is the PM, the CM, MLA and MP in one single ballot.

Impossible!

Did you just say that? I know it is difficult, but there is nothing which is not possible. And the politicians of our country will not bring about this change because the ATM function is all but lost in this form of government. So the people have to do something about it. I am still trying to find a good way to do the same. Do you have any suggestion to make?

Let’s hope the following lines are never re-written by another poet who is hurt!

Kursi maayi jisne paayi seva ka dekar nara, jhute, chappal, gehun, topeyn, shakkar khayi aur chaara,

Nazar jamao vahin nazar me aajate ghotale hain, ghotalon ki jaanch me usse bhi bhari ghotalen hain,

– Baba Satya Narayan Mourya

 

A New season of “Bravehearts”. Taking stock at the beginning of it.

There may have been more than thousand experiments that would have made a common man go “WOW” and then were dead within no time. But there are some real good ones that see the light of the day and then go on to make a difference in the life of thousands. Indian Cricket League, which started as an experiment, or as an alternative to the mainstream cricket in India, has now made it long enough to see the light of a second season. For once this is a proof enough for the popularity of this so called rebel league.

 

Since the last time a ball was bowled in the ICL, there have been a lot of changes in the cricket fraternity in general and people’s attitude towards ICL in particular. T20 cricket has taken over from other forms of cricket so much so that the poor ODI format has suffered like anything. A lot of national teams have practically let their players represent T20 leagues than appear for national duty. This says a lot about what the global fraternity thinks of the game’s latest format. ICL which until a quarter back was deemed only for players who do not want to play anything apart from ICL (because they won’t be allowed to by the ICC), is now in quite a better stage.

 

The Arjuna Ranatunga led BCCSL has now changed its stance towards the ICL players and will allow them to play in their domestic league. Though this applies only to a handful of Sri Lankan’s playing in the ICL, it actually is as important as Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon. And that this decision of BCCSL may not have pleased their counterparts in the BCCI, it certainly comes as a huge boost for the team led by the Haryana Hurricane, our own Kapil paaji.

 

With IPL having paved the path for marketing trends in T20 cricket, I am sure ICL will not be far behind. With more prize money this year and three cricket grounds with them, the league is sure to go places, or rather more places than it went last time around.

 

And yes, as I write this awaiting the first ball of season two, one thing is for sure. Ambati Rayudu and Ibrahim Khaleel are now known to ten times the number people that knew them before the first ball of the last season was bowled. Indeed a great achievement for someone who dared to go against the BCCI. As the fresh season begins, I sincerely hope good things happen to the ICL and my favourite team Hyderabad Heroes repeats history to lend a smile to the faces of the locals who have been dejected by the much hyped “Deccan Chargers”.

 

The final stats from ICL and IPL

Monday, 2nd June 2008 (it was supposed to be 1^st June but the whole thing ended close to morning), saw the end of an amazingly well fought match between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Superkings marking the end of Indian Premier League. The whole of India must have been glued to their TV sets to watch the epic end. Since then I have read hoards of articles and heard unending talk shows as to what IPL meant to India and its role in blossoming India’s future in cricket. Most of them forget one thing. There would not have been any IPL if the ICL was not born. I personally think IPL owes a lot, and more to Mr. Chandra.

 

There have been comparisons between the two leagues and the IPL has won hands down in all. Be it the TRP’s, or revenues for the teams, crowd support, star appeal or just the way the tournament has been conducted. The IPL has overtaken the ICL in all those departments. But if you are someone who likes to know how cricket is benefited overall, read on.

 

Thanks to the maximum 4 rule of IPL, the Indian players got a chance to play in the tourney. Unknown faces from across the country showcased their skills on a very large platform. There were in all 86 Indian players who were given an opportunity to be a part of the teams. These players had never represented the country. I am not counting the ones who had. Of these 86 players a huge bunch of which I don’t have a count of only warmed the benches. But, there were 12 players who got the opportunity and also made it count. The players who changed their destinies with IPL were: Ravindra Jadeja, Manpreet Gony, Swapnil Asnodkar, Yusuf Pathan, Abhishek Nayar, Amit Mishra, Siddharth Trivedi, Shikhar Dhawan, Yo Mahesh, Ashok Dinda, Dhaval Kulkarni and Pragyan Ojha.

 

Of these only Pragyan Ohja was the lone player who got selected in the Indian team. Yes, Yousuf did get selected, but that was on the cards even before the IPL, and also that he had represented the country in T20 World Cup. So for me the numbers that are important are 86, 12 and 1, Number of players who were in, the ones who performed and the one who made it to the national side in that order.

 

The ICL on the other hand was a neglected baby compared to the IPL. But then they were not far behind in the numbers that matter. Yes, they had less Ad revenues, leave alone ads they had less revenues overall. But the ICL offered a platform to 79 young cricketers of this country who would have not seen a crowd more than 500 in their life had it not been for the ICL. They all performed out of their skins to ensure they were noticed. The ultimate reward was a blue uniform for 16 of them. Though the uniform did not carry the BCCI logo, it would certainly have been a matter of great pride for the following 16: Rajagopal Satish, Abbas Ali, Abhishek Jhunjhunwala, Abu Nacheem, Ali Murtaza, Ambati Rayudu, Ganapathi Vignesh, Ibrahim Khaleel, Love Ablish, Ravi Raj Patil, Rohan Gavaskar, Stuart Binny, Syed Mohammed, T. Sudhindra, TP. Singh and V. Sarvanan. The only player in the team who had previously known how it feels like in the blue uniform was Thiru Kumaran.

 

Whatever happens next. Whether IPL becomes the only form of cricket, killing Test and Onedayers, or whether everyone in the world has their own league. The facts are in front of you. I am someone who watches and admires Test cricket and I will continue to do so. But if these formats can produce 5 players every year who can bat for 4 hours without getting out, and 5 players who can bowl 20 overs in a day with steadiness, rest assured I will be the happiest cricket fan on the planet.

 

Why the Chargers lost?

Thank goodness… it is finally over. Well, that’s what each and every Hyderabadi present at the Visaka Cricket Ground felt at about 11:30pm on 27th may. The very troubled run of IPL’s Hyderabad representation called Deccan Chargers got over with playing cricket this season. Yes, as usual they lost one more, and there I had a new slogan courtesy two friends of mine. It goes like… One and Two and Three and Four… Deccan Chargers are No more… While the first half is patented to my pen pal (keyboard pal would be apt for this age), Sunny Khandelwal, another friend of mine Robin Cornelius, who works for the Indian Multinational, added the latter half describing the true emotion a cricket fan in Hyderabad went through that night. While we shrugged it off saying a bad season, 12 losses out of 14 attempts was not as easy as a Hyderabadi light lelo yarron, for people who were a part of it. The fact that Adam ‘Churchie’ Glichrist actually apologized to the cheering crowd talks about how the guys in the dressing room must have felt.

 

I am not an analyst to tell you the real reasons behind the loss. But for what I understand about the game and also for what I have seen from other teams in the IPL, I can say just one thing. It’s not about how much you spend (Mumbai for example), it’s not about how much you strategize (Kolkata with Buchanan), it’s also not about how many stars you have in your side (Deccan), it’s only about how passionate you are about the game, it’s about how much you can give to the game on the field and it’s about how desperately you want to win. Rajasthan Royals is the biggest example. They did not have the money of Mumbai, Strategy of Kolkata and Stardom of Deccan, they are on the top of the table just because of sheer passion and commitment and the will to win.

 

I am not saying the Chargers did not have these qualities, they sure did. The reason they did not win is that they couldn’t display them or action them when needed… on the field that is. If you were on the ground for the last match, and were present till the last ball, you will vouch for the commitment the team showed in the last 10 overs. They made life so difficult for the Chennai Super Kings that they had to go till the last over to chase down a very modest 147. If that level of commitment was shown throughout the tourney, we would have seen the Chargers in the semi finals.

 

Ironically, it was the big four of the Indian cricket that was out of the IPL with the new brigade going ahead and battling for the honors. With Sachin, Saurav, Rahul and Laxman out, it’s a battle between Dhoni, Yuvraj, Sehwag and the tough nut Aussie Shane Warne. Is that a signal?? Is that a sign of things to come?? I have no answer today.

 

As a Hyderabadi who loves cricket and hates business in cricket, I still have my loyalties with Hyderabad Heroes. I also hope the next season gets more local flavor to the tourney and let us witness our own Hyderabadi stars battling out under the Deccan Chargers banner. So long for DC I wish I hear this again… One and Two and three and four, Deccan Chargers give us more….. Victories that is.

 

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.