The fifth and final ODI between India and Sri Lanka was called off earlier today as the under-prepared pitch was too dangerous to bat on. While there will be the normal post mortem and scapegoats would be found, those who run the show will do no more than pontificate and sound seriously intelligent on TV channels, pouting, doubting and shouting the others down. Sure, there will also be the normal shedding of tears over nation’s prestige being compromised et al.

Cricket, like other sports in India, is managed by those who can’t tell ‘round the wicket’ from ‘over the wicket’. It just so happens that there is so much money being poured into the game and spectator interest is so high that administrators normally try and do a better job, relatively speaking that is.

I heard some remarks soon after the match was called off that they always thought such things could only happen in smaller centers alone where there is lack of resources. Clearly, such people have no idea that Delhi is a microcosm of India. Just as the nation hurtles towards mediocrity, Delhi is no different. If anything, the national capital is the leader of the pack.

But let me stick to cricket alone for the time being. Cricket administration in Delhi is headed by a highly articulate, intelligent and bright lawyer cum politician who, it is well known, was till recently completely focused on somehow getting the leadership of his faction ridden political party, the BJP. I am sure we will see a lot of him on TV in the near future, offering credible sounding explanations why it happened and that he would pull up those responsible for the fiasco. Not for a moment would you hear him say that it was his own ineptitude that has led millions of fans down, who waited for months to enjoy a good game of cricket.

As is often said these days, this is nothing but symptomatic of the rot that is engulfing this nation rapidly. Lack of accountability in almost any sphere of governance, administration, even in the private sector, can be seen day in and day out. Given that, I am actually surprised that the shameful episode that played out in Delhi is still an exception and not a rule.

And this brings me, and I am sure every sports lover of the country, to the question of our ability to organize the Commonwealth games less than ten months away. I have written extensively on the subject and how we are courting disaster. After today’s episode, my worries Read more...

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With Sachin Tendulkar completing 20 years in international cricket on November 15, Gulu Ezekiel looks back at 20 of the master’s greatest knocks.

1. It was in the Harris Shield semifinals for Shardashram Vidyamandir (English) against St. Xavier’s (Fort) at the Azad Maidan in February 1988 that Tendulkar’s name first entered the record books. The score was 84 for 2 when the 14-year-old Sachin joined Vinod Kambli at the crease. They were not separated till the lunch break on the second day when the declaration finally came at 748 for 2—Sachin not out on 326 and Vinod on 349. Their unbroken partnership of 664 runs in 120 overs was a world record for any wicket in any game of organized cricket. The Sachin saga had begun.

2. Having made his mark with a century on first-class debut in the Ranji Trophy against Gujarat in 1988, Tendulkar then went one better on his Irani Trophy debut. Playing for the Rest of India against Delhi in November, 1989 he celebrated his selection for the Indian team to tour Pakistan with a brilliant unbeaten 103 against a powerful Delhi bowling attack.

3. The teenage Sachin made an immediate impact on his maiden tour. The opening One-day International at Peshawar on 16 December, 1989 was reduced to a 20-over exhibition match due to rain. Now it rained sixes as Sachin took on master leg spinner Abdul Qadir. He smashed him for 27 runs in one over and raced to 53 not out from just 17 balls.

4. This was the moment the boy turned into a man. Still only 17, Tendulkar saved India’s bacon at Old Trafford in 1990. His unbeaten 119 against a rampaging England attack made him the youngest Test centurion on English soil. It would be the first of many, many more.

5. The wicked WACA track posed no problems for the teen titan in 1992 even as all other Indian batsmen crumbled around him. His superb 114 made him the youngest batsman to score a Test century in Australia. Yet India lost the match by 300 runs!

6. The innings that changed the face of Indian cricket. Pressed to open at Auckland in 1994 in the absence of the injured Navjot Singh Sidhu, Tendulkar tore the Kiwi attack to shreds, smashing 82 from 49 balls. The opening slot was now his for keeps. Read more…

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I have a simple explanation for our ODI series loss. We lost because we did not win one game that we were supposed to win (Mohali) and because we could not hold our nerve in the key moments of the tighter contests (Vadodara and Hyderabad).
 
Come to think of it. MSD and company had everything in their favour. A fully fit batting unit, home conditions and an opposition racked by injuries. No Michael Clark, no Nathan Bracken, no Brad Haddin and mid-series exits of Brett Lee, James Hopes, Peter Siddle, Tim Paine and others -- for all purposes, this was Australia's B team.
 
Yet Ponting's men played like true champions. What a shame MSD's million-dollar boys couldn't even take the series to the wire. Faced with circumstances similar to Australia's, the Men in Blue would have probably lost the series 7-0 or 6-1.
 
Let's analyse the larger reasons for our defeat:
 
1. We lacked batting consistency at the top: Barring MSD, no other batsman played with any degree of consistency. Sehwag offered two blistering cameos but failed to score even a single half century in six knocks. He is a genius but he needs to be shaken out of his comfort zone. Similarly, barring his magical 175, Sachin was a disappointment. True, he got a rough decision at Mohali but what about the other knocks? Gambhir started brightly with 68 and 76 but ended up with 6, 8 and 0. Yuvraj played one fabulous match-winning knock in Delhi but had little else to offer. With the new Fab 4 failing regularly, India were bound to struggle.
 
Now compare their performance with the three key Australian players at the top: Watson, Ponting and Hussey. Watson scored 5, 19, 41, 49, 93 and 49, apart from claiming a bagful of wickets. Ponting notched up 74, 12, 59, 52, 45 and 25, while Hussey made 73, 53, 81, 40, 31 not out and 35 not out. These three seldom allowed Indian bowlers to have an early view of Read more...

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When Mahendra Singh Dhoni first came in the Indian team, he was known for his big hitting and a penchant for hitting sixes almost at will. The manner in which he attacked the quick bowlers was thrilling to say the least.

Shoaib Akhtar, who tried to intimidate him with short deliveries, glares, stares and a few choice Punjabi words, soon found that the ball was coming back at him at a speed quicker than what he was hurling at him. And the irony was that, if the delivery action was wonky, so also was the use of the bat!

In Nagpur and in Delhi, some Australian bowlers would have felt the same. The only difference was that, instead of the ball coming back just about every time at Akhtar, this time around it was not so frequent.

Yes, Dhoni has changed his approach and it is one that the Indian team needs even though the crowds may not agree with it.

After the retirement of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid’s omission from the team, the Indian batting needs a bulwark who can accelerate the scoring when needed and Dhoni is doing that to perfection.

He did that in Nagpur and again in Delhi. The need of the hour was building a partnership and steadying the innings. Both times, his efforts and his partnerships won the matches for India, and if wins are what the country wants and expects then they should be prepared to accept the Dhoni who is not a swashbuckler but a cold, calculated assassin of the opposition — one who will not kill in one go but inflict little cuts here and there and weaken the opponent before delivering the coup de grace.

If Gautam Gambhir and Suresh Raina were his partners in Nagpur, at the Kotla, it was Yuvraj who helped him take the game away from the Australians who had posted a respectable score on the board. It was a score that India would have defended for sure with the options now Read more…

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If there’s anything like a perfect day, the Men in Blue enjoyed it at Nagpur on Wednesday.  A 99 run win is pretty comprehensive, though, like most Indians, I would have preferred the margin to be 100 or above. With the series tied at 1-1, one can expect a lip-smacking feast in the remaining five games. I have a feeling the series will be decided only in the last game.
 
Ricky Ponting erred badly in electing to field after winning the toss. The defensive ploy came unstuck on a batting paradise. The Indian bowlers looked good in defending 354. But let us not start singing praises till they defend a smaller total or restrict the Aussies to less than 270 when bowling first.
 
My observations on Team India after watching the first two games of the series:
 
1. Earlier this month, the BCCI sacked Robin Singh, India’s fielding coach. On Wednesday, Dhoni’s men showed why we badly needed a new one. The team has too many laggards in the field. The ground fielding is abysmal. Whatever the distance, the throws seldom hit the stumps. And if you are Ishant Sharma, you can even miss from a yard. There are several other below-par fielders in the side. On a good day, Nehra will get 3 out of 10. On one occasion today, Praveen Kumar first missed the ball, then kicked it away. On another occasion he stupidly stepped onto the rope as he caught the ball. Barring Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja and Virat Kohli, we don’t have any quality fielders in the squad. If we want to mount a serious challenge for the 2011 ODI World Cup, we must improve in this aspect.
 
2. Harbhajan Singh needs to be told that his batting cannot cover up for his ineffective, defensive bowling. He needs to get more wickets. The offie bowls like a fifth bowler who thinks that 10-0-50-1 or so is great work. Even Nathan Hauritz and Ravindra Jadeja flight the ball more. Solution: Drop him for a couple of games. Pressure works. See how all the “drop talk” has improved Ishant’s game. Give Pragyan Ojha or Amit Mishra a chance. See if they perform any better. Read more...

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The Champions League Twenty20 began with defeats for each of the IPL sides in their respective opening fixtures. Champagne corks have been unaffected, but we have to admit that we’re pretty pleased.

It’s not that we’ve got a problem with Delhi, Bangalore or Hyderabad. It’s more that we’ve got a problem with GMR Group, United Breweries Group and Deccan Chargers Sporting Ventures. Yes, cricket clubs are businesses – non-profitable ones if they’re English counties – but the IPL sides are businesses first and sports clubs second.

So many elements of the IPL teams leave us cold because we can’t see them without being aware of the thinking behind them. The kits are fine (it’s Twenty20 cricket – wear a Cher-style fishnet body stocking if you want), but when we see them we can’t help but see some demographic-citing tool asking: “What colour best represents our brand?”

We can’t even look at the individual players without wondering whether they were the subject of lengthy discussions about how their presence in the side would ‘position the franchise for consumers’.

“How does Andrew Symonds represent the Deccan Chargers ideals and values?” they’d have asked. “Do his qualities fit with our image? What’s our official stance on the shoulder-charging of streakers? Do we have one? Why don’t we have one? Let’s say that we’re pro shoulder-charging streakers so that we can sign Roy.”

But to apply a hackneyed cricketing phrase, the marketing men can only control the controllables. They can and will do everything in their power to ensure that their ‘product’ has the best chance of success, but they can’t directly control what happens on the field. Yet you’d hope Read more…

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It’s a far cry from Taunton as county side seek solid start in India’s cash-crazy tournament against Chargers today.

The Champions League will turn the world of cricket upside down, so they say, but for Somerset things are already changing.

The West Country side become the first English team to play in this latest Twenty20 competition when they face Deccan Chargers in Hyderabad today and the atmosphere – if predictions of a 40,000 crowd are to be believed – should be somewhat different from that normally experienced at Taunton.

But while big crowds are thrilling (Somerset’s home support has never amounted to more than an fifth of that number, even if they are far from the meekest cricket-watchers on the circuit), the financial rewards on offer in India are rather more arresting. A combined pot of £3.7m means no side will go home unrewarded, but Somerset will have their eyes on the £1.6m winners’ purse. That may be relative peanuts in the world of Premier League football but, given the County Champions receive just £500,000, it is serious cash for the summer game.

Marcus Trescothick, who has travelled to India despite the stress-related illness that curtailed his last overseas tour with England, for the Ashes in 2006-07, will have much to do if Somerset are to succeed. Trescothick’s value to his side was amply illustrated during the Twenty20 Cup Finals day in August, when his 56 from 32 balls blew away Kent in the semi-finals. He showed then what uncommon timing and power he still possesses, but he couldn’t repeat it in the final and Somerset were overwhelmed by Sussex.

Trescothick won the Professional Cricketers’ Association Player of the Year award on Thursday night in his absence, having arrived in India in the early hours of the morning Read more…

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Rest of India batsman Manoj Tiwary left the Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium here on Monday cursing his luck.

The fifth and final day of the Irani Cup was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to wet outfield, following heavy overnight rains.

The title was awarded to Rest of India for their 30-run first innings lead over Mumbai.

Tiwary missed out on what would have been his 10th first-class century.

The Bengal left-hander was batting on 80 in Rest’s second innings total of 352 for four on Sunday night.

“Am obviously disappointed at not being able to get those 20 extra runs for the hundred,” Tiwary told Hindustan Times. “A century at the start of the season increases the confidence level for the rest of the season. But that’s okay.”

Tiwary was very well aware of his impressive conversion rate whenever he reached a fifty. In 32 first-class matches before this, the 23-year-old had only three fifties but nine centuries. He might have had his 10th hundred had he played his natural game, which was to play his strokes rather than get into a shell.

“I was thinking about the good conversion rate I have. I wanted to get my 10th century rather than end up with a fourth half-century. Never mind. There is nothing you can do about the weather. I have a lot of Ranji Trophy matches coming and build up my long innings there.”

Tiwary had to play according to the situation when he joined S. Badrinath in the middle on the fourth day on Sunday. “The pitch was very slow. The outfield was slow. We had lost Read more…

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A peculiar problem will present itself to the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association executive committee, even if they make an (unlikely) attempt to tighten their selection committee, following possible demands by Virender Sehwag and Delhi’s senior players later this week.

The only logical way to try and ensure fair selections, on the face of it, is to get top-level players from the state to be selectors, assuming they will pick the best possible squad. Unfortunately, Delhi’s former India players have not exactly covered themselves in glory when handed the reins of power for the Ranji squad, forget the less scrutinised junior selections. See graphics

So other than those who we’ve looked at in the graphic alongside, who’s really left of the band of former India players currently living in Delhi? Yashpal Sharma, who was under the scanner some years ago over the contentious selection of Abhinav Bali (both their families come from the same Himachal village), but he was also selector when Bali was dropped — in any case, he is a current national selector, a paid job in which he cannot hold another post.

Then there’s Bishan Singh Bedi, who has had vicious fights with the DDCA establishment over players’ rights and the DDCA will be scared to touch. Tiger Pataudi, who never gets involved, Manoj Prabhakar, who was banned for five years post the mach-fixing scandal, returned as bowling coach and is now coach of Rajasthan. Ajay Sharma, banned for life, Ajay Jadeja, busy with media and golf commitments and Maninder Singh, who has been battling various Read more…

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The reaction from the honourable officials of the Delhi & Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) to Virender Sehwag’s threat to abandon Ferozshah Kotla has been revealing in itself.

He’s got land for a cricket academy, he’s been bought over!

His parking spot got taken up by the second cousin of the SHO Daryaganj, so this is his revenge!

Okay, the last two were made up, but you get the drift. Or rather you get how the DDCA mind works.

What Sehwag is saying is well-known. It has been endured by its cricketers and well- documented by generations of long-suffering cricket reporters. Amongst the frontline cricket associations in the country, Delhi is the undisputed and undefeated champion of maladministration, nepotism and corruption. Their benchmark is exemplary: earthworms would struggle to go lower.

A few years ago, goons were sent to rough up the coaches of the Ranji one-day team because a playing XI spot promised ‘higher up’ did now follow through.

Last season, the son of a DDCA sports committee supremo had been picked in the Ranji squad because Daddy had the selectors do so. He was then kept out of every playing XI Read more…

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