Mohan's Musings on Music and Miscellania

Confront that surrealistically familiar stranger...

2011-11-12T22:40:00.001+10:30

In an article written a few weeks back, Mr Sumedh Mungee wrote a piece on why he left India (again). His article received a fair bit of attention on blogs and the Interwebs. The article had over 400 comments on the NY Times site. Each of these comments had several "Recommends" too. Many of the comments spoke, sadly, to a "Good riddance, please do not come back" theme.

The reaction to a frank and honest article was along expected lines.

But I was struck by Mr Mungee's conclusion:

"I know India will rule the future. It’s just that I’ve realized—I’ve resigned myself to the fact—that I won’t be a part of that future."

It is easy to dismiss that sentiment, like several of the respondents have, and say that it is Mr Mungee's loss and India's gain! That would be lazy. That would be egregious.

I would like to request, instead, that Mr Mungee considers a return to India in the near future.

After making several trips over the last 4 years or so, we decided to relocate to India last year. It wasn't an easy decision. There were many unknowns. However, we were clear about one thing. Just one thing. We were clear that we would come back with our eyes completely open and with clearly set/accepted/understood expectations. Expectations of others. Expectations of ourselves too.

At the time of writing this, we have now been in India for 18 months. It has been a crazy ride. It has been thoroughly confusing at times. It has been deflating and unrewarding at times. The paradoxes are too many to list although a healthy dose of humour helps (see this and this for examples).

But then "eyes open" and "clear expectations" are weasel words.

What exactly do these mean?

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Mr Mungee gives the impression in his introductory comments that he left USA to return to India not to "fix India's problems".

There is an implicitly hidden neat assumption in there that (a) there are indeed problems, (b) that these need "fixing", and (c) these are easily fixed by returning NRIs.

Yes. It is entirely likely that there are problems that may be fixed (only) by returning NRIs.

But let us ignore that for a minute. Mr Mungee says that he wanted to leave the USA to "go back to Shri Thomas Friedman's India: an India that offered global companies, continental food, international schools and domestic help; an India that offered freedom from outsourcing and George W. Bush."

So it is clear that Mr Mungee did not want to come to India, but to an India that Shri (how nice) Thomas Friedman sketched for him. He did not wish to return to Manmohan Singh's India or Abdul Kalam's India or to the India that he would discover for himself. He wanted to return to an imagery and expectation of an India that had been conveniently -- and perhaps even erroneously -- sketched for him by Shriman Friedman.

And how did the lovely Sarvadhikari Shriman Thomas Friedman arrive at his sketch of India? As Sarah Leonard (@srl2126) noted on Twitter with a tinge of sarcasm, "Tom Friedman visits a country of 1 billion people this week, immerses himself in the great sea of humanity, meeting CEO after CEO after CEO."

And therein, potentially, lies Mr Mungee's own first problem that he might wish to spend some time fixing before embarking on fixing India's myriad problems. Mr Mungee probably built for himself an image of an India that was drawn for him by Shri Thomas Friendman. He wanted to return to Shriman Friedman's India and not the real India. They are different.

Shriman Friendman's India is a bustling, thriving, lively crush of humanity that cannot crush India's confident march out of poverty, because there are cellphone towers, engineering schools and biotechnology schools at every street corner. It has billboards that advertise physics degrees, for heaven's sake!

It is a nice picture. It is a romantic picture. It is not a clear picture. Indeed, it may even be a wrong picture. But all of that is moot. The real issue here is that there is no Friedman's India. There isn't even a Kalam's India or a Chetan Bhagat's India or Nehru's India.

India is what you make it out to be. India is what you experience it to be. India is.

And that is what I would use as my argument in attempting to convince Mr Mungee to return to India. Do not come back to Friedman's India or an India that needs fixing.

We came back to India, instead, because we needed fixing.

And that is precisely where this "expectation setting" begins. This does not ignore the existence of India's many problems nor does it talk to the possibility (however remote) that we might contribute to alleviating these problems. That may well be the case. However, that is not the reason we returned. We returned because we needed fixing and India provided us with an opportunity to do so!

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Mr Mungee does state in the initial few paragraphs that he came prepared to experience an India that was "visually familiar but viscerally alien".

That is, once again, off the mark in my view. India can not be about either familiarity or instinct. It is about experience. And it talks to individual, personal experience.

Mr Mungee's expectations of his experience were wrong, in my view. He proceeded to set up home in upper middle-class, suburban Bengaluru. His daughter went to the best schools. Even his home was "American-friendly".

A friend of mine once went to Kenya for a holiday, stayed in an upmarket hotel and did not step outside the block that the Hotel was immersed in because it felt "so much like downtown Sydney"! Much like her, Mr Mungee may have missed the point too. I am not suggesting that Mr Mungee ought to have lived in the gullies and by-lanes of Suddhaguntapalya. But the fact that he aimed a re-creation of an American (or America-like) experience in India suggests to me that he did not work hard enough to create a personal experience for himself that was distinct, special and very possible -- India offers that to everyone that wants a personalized experience.

Much like my friend from Sydney who wanted to see and recreate downtown-Sydney in the very different and far-away Kenya, Mr Mungee gives me the impression that he wanted to carve out his own downtown-US-city experience. Which is fine. But such an expectation should come with a statutory warning: "Expect to be disappointed. Repeated and bullish insistence on this expectation is likely to lead to extreme depression and/or severe disappointment."

And this is precisely where this "expectation setting" continues. If I insist on recreating my little pocket of America or Australia inside the carefully constructed cocoon of my existence in India, I will have missed the opportunity of being confronted and assaulted by myself.

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Many people have tried to classify and categorize India. Neatly. They have mostly failed. Few people have succeeded.

One legend that understood India for what she is, and, more importantly, did not attempt to change it, was the late Yehudi Menuhin, the legendary violinist. He says in his autobiography, "Unfinished Journey" (an excerpt found here) that he recognized early on in his interactions with India and her music that Indians rely predominantly on the individual spirit and an entrepreneurial mindset. Indians prefer that to a systems-organisation-mindset. In his autobiography, Yehudi Menuhin also says that a symphony orchestra type organisation for Indian classical music would just not work because each musician would want to express themselves differently, the way they thought was right or necessary!

"Just because the Indian would unite himself with the infinite rather than with his neighbour, so his music assists the venture. Its purpose is to refine one's soul and discipline one's body, to make one sensitive to the infinite within one, to unite one's breath with the breath of space, one's vibrations with the vibrations of the cosmos. Outside the family, the Indian's concern does not easily fasten on the group. Europe's genius, on the other hand, has been to form individuals into communities, each accepting loss of freedom in the interests of the whole. Hence collective worship, hence armies and industries and parliamentary democracy, and hence chorales in which each voice has a certain independence but is nonetheless severely constrained by other voices."

One read of the above and you know why neat compartmentalization of India is impossible. So, attempts to classify India into neat compartments or buckets invariably fail. There aren't 1.2 billion buckets in the world, leave alone identifying labels for each of these 1.2 billion buckets!

Yet, Mr Mungee talks to three (yes, three) neat buckets to classify India: "airplane India", "scooter India" and "bullock-cart India".

Neat. But what about buckets like "scooter India but with iPhone in hand" or "bullock cart India but with the most modern LED TV in the thatched roof home" or "airplane company India" or "a few airplane companies and steel companies but still dependent on (and work with) bullock cart India", or the "airplane India but I will still not purchase the latest A. R. Rahman album, instead preferring to download the pirated copy" or the "autorikshaw driver India but will insist on either purchasing Dork 2 or not reading it at all".

Each of these India's are unique, distinct and different. And there are more. Many more.

India cannot be classified neatly. And most attempts to do so have fallen flat.

At best I might marvel at how "scooter India" can fix "my Bose speakers" while, simultaneously chiding "tricycle India" for running over the feet of people who walk to some unknown destination on non-existent pavements.

To even begin to understand India in the manner of bibliosoph or a cataloger is, in my view, exercise in utter futility. It is complex system that does not attract bibliognosts readily. It is a multi-dimensional, complex, nonlinear, dynamical system with utterly unpredictable behaviour. We expect completely deterministic results. What we get instead is confusion to the chronicler/observer. Welcome to an anarchic chaos trapped inside a complex and seemingly orderly democracy. We are dealing with a complex chaotic system.

To try and find neat/precise solutions in such chaotic dynamical systems is a somewhat specious and nugatory exercise. And that is what chroniclers like Mr Mungee have tried to do. They try and find closed form descriptions by defining it as a problem that is in need of a solution!

A more compelling and persuasive approach would be to ask if there is a steady state in such systems and how we might approach such a steady state which is even partially describable!

However, we did not come to classify (or even understand) India. We came, instead, because we needed to classify and understand ourselves.

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So Mr Mugee arrived with an expectation of seeing Shriman Friedman's India and immediately carried out a task of cataloging that a senior librarian would have been proud of.

Immediately after that, he saw himself become more and more Indian and he hated himself for it. And that is where his problems really commenced. And this is where we begin to address the "eyes open" weasel word.

Mr Mungee started to hate himself for designating separate dinnerware for his maid and for his family, because his children were down with amoebiasis! He was advised that it may have arisen from his maid's lack of hygiene. The maid who probably cooked his clean food and cleaned his house of unwanted bacterial elements was sadly responsible for introducing these unwanted elements into the body of his family. Ironic. But that is not the point. The point is that Mr Mungee designated separate plates and hated himself for it.

Like all his workmates and friends, Mr Mungee's cycle of distrust in his driver drove him to despair.

Mr Mungee was locked in a road-rage incident against a hawker who dared to block his car's path. How dare "bullock cart India" block the progress of "airplane India"?

Mr Mungee saw him being continually confronted by deception and with each such mendacious behaviour, he found himself sucked into a vortex of trust-deficit that afflicts much of Indian society. And he hated it.

These are very honest accounts of a journey that Mr Mungee did not like. His was a compelling battle against who he was becoming! For him what he was becoming was a constant affray on his senses. And he was losing. Constantly.

He took the only action he could, to rebel against the "surrealistically familiar stranger" inside him. He quit to escape from inertia and denial.

This is really the crux of the decision in my view. Factors like "appropriate expectation setting" and "cataloging librarians" are useful but not critical in any journey like the one Mr Mungee undertook. What is of greatest importance is the battle within.

And this is the battle that one faces in India. And provided one does not lapse into either inertia or denial, the resulting lesson is one that India is most capable of teaching.

We made the decision to move back to India because it presented us an opportunity to confront ourselves; it presented us a valuable opportunity to face our own worst enemies (ourselves). To accept defeat in such an exercise would be akin to the surrealistically familiar stranger in me mocking me for having won the battle against myself!

As I say in an earlier post, my life in Australia had become too regimented. Too planned. Incredibly structured. Too well-organised. There was an absence of anarchy in my life. There were few surprises to life. Moreover, my senses weren't attacked constantly. My principles weren't brought into question periodically.

Here, it is.

And when I see it alive, I know I am, myself, alive. I have made it define my existence. I constantly fight the "high-fidelity bigotry" where I can. I battle the "surround-sound-enabled stereotypes" when I see them. I also aim to battle the "chronic amoebiasis of the soul".

I am not going to provide examples here because these examples would serve to trivialize the exercise into one of bluster and self-aggrandizement.

It is sufficient to say that we now have the opportunity to look at the surrealistically familiar stranger within ourselves and strive for sharper congruence and alignment. Again, we came back because we had to understand ourselves better.

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So my message to Mr Mungee is simple:

Come back to India because you want to see Mr Mungee's India and not Shri Friedman's India. Come back to India not to solve her problems (and these exist, let us not deny them) but so that you may undertake a journey to solve your problems (and these exist too, let us not deny them). The process of you confronting and vanquishing that surrealistically familiar stranger may well lead to India's problems being solved too. If your process of discovery does not solve India's problems, you will have undertaken a journey and benefited from what India taught you.

And India affords that to any honest explorer.

To give up and head back would be to give up on oneself, and that just cannot be acceptable.

-- Mohan (@mohank)

How clean is your milk?

2011-10-21T18:55:00.002+10:30

In an earlier post, I wrote about how we struggled to settle into a new life in Mumbai after living overseas for several years. I continue on that same theme in this post too...

After living nearly 20 years overseas, my Tamil, Kannada and Hindi had gone quite rusty. On reading the above, please do not make the assumption that my Tamil/Kannada/Hindi was on solid footing at some point. To make that assumption would be a bit like Himesh Reshamaiyya saying he could not sing on the night because he had temporarily lost his voice!

One aspect of re-settling into a life in India that did scare me initially was language. I was worried I would continually make an ass of myself. Even though life had prepared me, through a series of valuable experiential learning opprtunities, to recover well from a series of seemingly hopeless and relentless "Oh!I made an ass of myself... Again!" situations, not being able to communicate in an articulate manner was something that bothered me a lot.

So, our initial few months were spent polishing and practicing our Hindi. We had to communicate with people effectively in Hindi and it had to be 'reasonably perfect Hindi' we thought. It was only later that we realized that anything goes in terms of Hindi in Mumbai.

But the initial few months were frustrating. We had to interact with numerous tradespeople, workers and suppliers. It seemed as though we just could not get things right in terms of communication.

I believe deficiencies in language are brought out maximally when one is frustrated and/or angry. In those initial months we would often sputter and flounder maximally when we were frustrated with tradespeople or furniture delivery people.

No one would arrive at the appointed time and those that did would often not bring the required tools or equipment with them. And this would inevitably mean more delays in an already delayed process. Getting the right words out was always a struggle in those desperate moments. We would often launch into English or Tamil in the middle of a high-pitched Hindi-based diatribe. We would then look at each other and break into a laugh.

Try yelling in a language that you are not totally comfortable with!

Sometimes we would translate from English to Hindi and get it messed up totally. For example, in response to a request from a friend for us to visit their place on a very busy day for us, I blurted out: "patha nahin yaar. kaan se khelna padega" ("I'm really not sure. We will have to play it by ear?").

A colleague of mine insisted on speaking with me only in Hindi. Indeed he took it on as a challenge that I would be proficient in written and spoken Hindi before I completed my contract in India and before I headed back to Australia!

In one particular meeting that both of us attended, I wanted to communicate to this colleague that the situation we faced was almost impossible. It was a bad "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.

The first phrase that came to my mind to describe our situation was "We are caught between the devil and the deep blue sea". The next thought was "We are the meat in the sandwich". And the third was "We are caught between a rock and a hard place".

So, here I was, saying to this colleague: "hum shaitaan aur neela samundar ke beech mein khade hain!" That comment sank faster than a Uday Chopra movie!

So, I used the next option and rattled off confidently, "hum bread ke beech mein ghost ban gaye". At that point, all blood drained from my colleagues face. He looked like a bit of a 'ghost' himself!

I gave up on attempting the third phrase. Had I tried, my colleague would have picked up a rock and flung it in my direction.

Translation from one language to another just does not work.

For example, on another occasion a friend of ours was visiting us. They struggle with their Hindi as much as we do. We were talking about a mutual friend of ours who had a large farm in Australia. Now this common friend specialized in growing fruits and vegetables on his farm. I asked how this friend was doing. In response, after a quick translation, pat came the reply, "Woh to ab ghay me ghus gaya" ("he has entered a cow")!

I immediately choked on the samosa that I was munching! The picture of a hapless Malcolm being stuck in a cow's underbelly was both funny and tragic! It was only when I did a literal re-translation did I realize that what was meant was, "He has gotten into cows now!"

There are several similar lovely examples of single-language (mainly English-to-Hindi) translations, particularly in those early days that provided us with much mirth and also significant learning opportunities! But it is when one has to do a double-translation to convey meaning that you lose the plot quicker than a Himesh Reshamaiyya melody!

An early classic was when Girija was trying to communicate to our maid that yogurt had to be cultured. Now "culturing yogurt" is a process and we hadn't got to that degree of refinement in our language construction. We were struggling with nouns and adjectives in those days. This was a difficult phase. When we got gender right, we'd often launch a week-long celebration! So, pronunciation or lyrical efficiency were not top on the priority list! We had not yet got to mastering the Hindi equivalent for the activity/process of "culturing yogurt".

However, the activity had to be communicated to the maid.

So, what does one do? Girija's mind quickly jumped to the nearest possible translation opportunity, which was to translate from Tamil to English and then, from English to Hindi! Now, in Tamil, this process of culturing yogurt is known as "tozhkaradu". Indeed that word in Tamil is common to the process of "culturing yogurt" and "washing clothes".

So, here we were, on a Monday morning, about to rush out to work. Girija communicated a series of instructions to the maid and remembered that yogurt had to be cultured for the first time at home since we moved to Mumbai.

So she said, "arre haan. aaaj doodh ko... doodh ko... matlab... [double-translation affected effortlessly from Tamil-to-English-to-Hindi]... haaaan! doodh ko dhona hai!" ("Oh yes, the milk needs to.. needs to... I mean... the milk needs to be washed!"

The maid looked at us as though we had just descended from another planet! She must have thought that we were funny people with weird tastes. She slowly re-attached her jaw to her face. She probably did not know what to say. She wanted to laugh, and she did. A bit. But she wanted to be polite too. She also had no idea what we meant and was scared she was taking on a task that would eventually land her in trouble.

So, she stared at us blankly and said somewhat innocently, "Madam, doodh ko kaise dhona hai? vaise bhi, doodh to safed hi hai" ("Madam, how do I wash milk? In any case, the milk is already white!")

We ran out of the house.

We purchased ready-set yogurt that evening!

-- Mohan (@mohank)

Ps: The right phrase for that process is "doodh to jamana hai"

Settling into life in Mumbai: A Licen...

2011-10-19T00:44:00.002+10:30

It is now 18 months since we moved back to Mumbai. Girija and I had lived in Australia for many years prior to that.

A few days back, we had organised a Twitter-inspired get-together -- a TweetUp -- at our appartment in Mumbai. The evening has been captured wonderfully in a blog-post by the lovely Naren Shenoy.

During the evening, I recounted -- badly, of course -- some of the initial struggles we had when settling into a "new normal" life in Mumbai.

"You are so incredibly bad at telling a story Mo," Girija said. She is good like that! She calls a spade a shovel and keeps me grounded. Always!

As I sulked and slithered into a corner that was happy to receive me, perhaps out of extreme sympathy, one of our guests (Twests, perhaps?) said, "Why don't you write these experiences down?"

I thought that that was a sensible idea since I do write better than I narrate -- now you know how terrible my narrations are!

And so, here I am... Using my hitherto suspended blog to write once again about things other than cricket.

The invitation and encouragement to blog about my experiences may have been driven by a momentary rush of face-saving empathy on the part of my friend. However, on reflection, I think it is a good idea to write because I believe I am caught in the middle of a truly fascinating process; a process of re-connecting and re-discovery.

I moved back to Mumbai in March 2010. I had been away from India for some 24 years. That is a long time to be away from a place. I needed to re-establish connect with the place and her people. Of course, in the time I had been away, I had made the pilgrimage to attend the Madras/Chennai "Music Season" almost every year since I had left. However, we soon realized that living in a place is quite different to making fleeting annual appearances during which one eats out almost everyday and when one attends classical music concerts in well-appointed air-conditioned halls.

"Living in a place like India is very different to visiting every now and then," I was warned by a friend!

"Unless you stand in a queue to purchase a train ticket, you have not really lived here," said a another.

I had lost all sense of what it was like to live and work in India.

It is now 18 months since we moved back, to live in India; a year and a half of immense paradoxes.

Initially, when we had just moved back to India in March 2010, I used my "Face Book" (FB) Status updates quite a bit to connect with the friends we had said goodbye to in Australia -- I wasn't much on Twitter then. I used my FB status updates to talk about life here. I would marvel at things that astounded us. I would also whinge and moan about things that weren't 'quite right'! Even when I whined, I was trying to laugh at the situation in a mock-tragic manner rather than ridicule the situation and the actors in it. That said, I did also post positive messages of some amazing things that we were seeing. I did marvel at the fact that we had our MTNL connection within 12 hours of applying for one -- that too on a Saturday! I did marvel at how 'easy' life had become in India. But "perception" is a funny thing! People remember the negative comments more than positive appreciation/affirmation.

One of my FB friends who lives in Chennai called me immediately after one such 'negative' FB status update and snorted angrily, "If you don't like it here, just pack your bags and go back."

I accepted and empathized with that sentiment even if I did not support it entirely. Mainly because that sentiment resonates strongly with a picture I have of Indians as people that love humor and love a laugh except when it is on us! And even when the laugh is on Indians, more often than not, only an Indian can be the originator or creator of such self-denigration.

In those initial days, I wasn't Indian enough; I had not earned my self-sledge rights. So the "go back" comment was par for the course.

Witness the Edison drama that played out when Joel Stein wrote an article in The Times. The 'race card' was used and waved quite easily. If the same article had been written by an Indian-Indian -- like say a Karan Thapar or Rajdeep Sardesai -- I submit that it would not have registered a blip on the race-card-scale!

I say "Indian-Indian" to indicate Indians who live in India. The Indian-Indian has self-sledge rights by virtue of his/her residency. Indians who live overseas are not considered "Indian" enough. The overseas-Indians who only visit here during their children's school holidays or for "Music Season" visits are commonly referred to as NRI's. Non-resident Indians is the official expansion of the acronym, although Not-Required Indians is a commonly accepted expansion too!

So one needs to earn self-mock stripes and you only earn it after spending (read: suffering) enough time here. It is like a prison sentence.

Indeed, a few months after I moved to Mumbai, a friend of mine said to me, "I totally agree" when I whined about needless traffic delays in Andheri West caused by a truck moving the wrong way on a one-way street!

I said to her, "But when I whined about exactly the same issue last year, while I was visiting, we had a three-hour argument! We argued about the impact of population and then moved quickly on to how discriminatory the ICC was against India, Ricky Ponting's misbehavior, Adam Gilchrist's ears, Arjuna Ranatunga throwing his weight around and the need for Sri Sri Ravishankar to have two titles in his name!"

She said, "Ah! But that was different. Now you have earned the right to complain!"

But I accept that some of what I wrote in those initial few months (on my FB updates) could be seen as "grating". In that sense, the "pack up your bags and go back" friend was right. But the intent of those FB Updates was less to "make fun of" or "laugh at" and more to share my somewhat unique experiences.

I was seeing India with a different lens.

And to be constructively balanced about it, I was having an incredibly rich experience! My life in Australia had become too regimented. Too planned. Incredibly structured. Too well-organised. There was an absence of anarchy in my life. There were few surprises to life. Here, in India, at least in those initial months, every hour threw new surprises! I learned to cope in a highly ambiguous environment, interacting with highly ambiguous personalities! I soon acquired inter-personal skills that were hitherto buried or latent. I had to hit the ground running. I had no choice. I sharpened these hitherto absent skills considerably in order to "cut through" on many issues. As a mentor of mine often says, "In India, there is no point in climbing stairs, you have to land on the terrace using a helicopter!"

But, simple/small things used to get to me initially.

For example, I would constantly get irritated by the fact that people pressed the "Up" and "Down" button on elevators. Simultaneously! "Surely, they don't want to go up and down at the same time," I'd think to myself.

One day, I plucked enough courage: "Why did you press both buttons, madam", I asked one of these Up-Down-lift-button-pushers politely.

"Mein neeche jaane ke liye lift ko upar bula raha hoon," was the assured response ("I am calling the lift up so that I can go down")

A novel explanation for why both buttons needed to be pressed. I had no come-back to that.

Initially, I marveled at how simple English errors would cause me to break into a smile or a laugh.

For example, the other day, I was at a hotel in Bangalore. I had asked for a cab to pick me up at the hotel at 8.30am. At exactly 8.30am, I got a call from the hotel concierge. He said, "Sir, your car has been reported!" It took me a while to realize that my car had reported to the front desk and that it had not "been reported"!

And there was that bandh last year where some political party was protesting against price increases. A party spokesman claimed victory and in a passion-filled speech he said, "Prices have begun to rise. We are revolting!" I had to agree with the second statement!

And then, there would be some deeper frustrations.

For example, I would often get worked up about the fact that not many people would respond to a meeting request 'appropriately'. Back in Australia, I'd get a, "Yep, you are on mate." or a "You got to be kidding. No way. Get stuffed." The best I would get initially in India would be "That time should be ok" or "That time would be ok". Now what exactly does that mean? It took me a while to figure out that the presence of would/should/could in response to a meeting request means that the person is buying an option on a potential future cancellation! This made life quite complex for a neurotically organised and frenetically structured person like me. But I guess that is my problem and not their problem! And therein lies a fundamental dysfunctionality in the landscape -- far too many people worry about their issues and problems.

But like much else over here, I got used to that too...

Until a few weeks back that is, when, in response to a meeting request, I had the person at the other end of the line saying, "I think that in all probability that date-time would be possibly ok!" Now, I can buy one option on a future cancellation. But I counted at least four in that particular form of extreme dithering!

Nothing, however, prepared me for my drivers' licence experience. The test was the biggest joke played out on me in the initial 5 months of my stay here. The way it works these days is that one has to go through a driving school in order to secure a drivers' licene.

So on the appointed day, my local driving school piled on 15 of its test-ready candidates into 4 cars. It is a surprise that these cars traveled 20 meters! However, somehow the 4 cars managed to reach the RTO office in a place called Wadala, located some 20 kilometers away! We were warned the previous day that we had to get there "on the dot" at 10.30am. "We cannot keep the inspector waiting," we were told.

So, we got there at 10.30am and waited... and waited... and waited... in the rain and out in the open and right next to an open drain! There were 5 other driving schools with their gaggle of test-ready candidates. In all, some 90 people, 20 cars and only 10 umbrellas waited patiently for the arrival of an inspector.

The inspector finally made an appearance at 2.30pm. By then I had already devoted 5 hours to this utterly useless exercise, and that was already 4 hours and 45 minutes too many. I was quite irritated -- especially considering the fact that I stood out in the rain and alongside an open/smelly ditch.

When the man arrived, there was a mad scramble by the entire collection of hungry, irritated test-ready candidates to get into the cars of their respective driving schools. The driving instructors from these schools meanwhile jockeyed for positions on the circuit. This was akin to a Formula-1 grid where cars and drivers often duck, weave and swerve in order to eke out a starting position on the grid for themselves: "Mark Weber would have no chance of surviving this mad scramble," I thought to myself.

Anyhow, the result of all of this frenetic activity was that 20 cars lined up one behind the other on a busy highway in Wadala. I was in car number 15.

And so, the procession set off with the candidate who was to be tested in the driver's seat and with the portly inspector in the front passenger seat. After each "test", which would last no more than 300 meters, the portly inspector would ask the candidate to stop and get out of the car. The test-driver would move to the back seat and the next candidate in the back seat would move to the driver's seat and take the "test". Once all test-candidates in one car had completed their "test", the portly inspector would get out of the "now completed" car, shoo that car and its contents away and move to the next car in the queue!

This uniquely ridiculous procession made several U-turns on this very busy highway. Several large trucks traveled on both directions on this highway. The fact that I did not witness an accident that day was a minor miracle. It was totally surreal and incredulous!

I had never seen anything quite like this before... ever! One part of my brain was exploding. The other laughed so hard, I had a head-ache. I sat there shaking my head at the ridiculousness of it all. This "procession test" went on for an hour before portly guy settled into the car I was in -- car number 15 in the mad-grid-scramble earlier on.

Portly guy asked me to sit behind the wheel and drive. I was quite irritated by then. Frankly, by then, I didn't care if I got my licence or not.

Portly guy announced: "Licen Test shuru!" ("Licen Test starts now!")

A point to note here is that the traffic inspectors call it a "licen" here and not "licence". I could never figure out why, but I would soon have the answer.

I settled down behind the wheel with the express intention of irritating portly guy. I asked him, "Should I wear a seat belt?" to which he said in Hindi, "No. Not required". I continued with tongue-pressed-firmly-in-cheek and asked if I had to adjust the rear-view mirror. I was met with a stony glare and a terse response, "I haven't got all day. Just drive now, will you?"

I drove fast. I changed three gears in 20 meters! I was angry.

Portly Guy: Stop! Looks like you have driven before.

Me: Yes

PG: Why did you not say this before?

Me: Why did you not ask me before?

PG: It is not written in this form.

Me: It was not asked on the form.

PG: Ok. Do not try to make too smart. Get down. (zyaada smart math ban-naa. uthar jaayiE)

As I got down from the test-car, I asked Portly Guy in my broken Hindi:

Me: "ab kya hoga?" ("What will happen now?")
PG: "ab aur kya hoga? Licen mil jayega do hafte mein". ("What else can happen now? You will get your LICEN in 2 weeks")

Pleased as punch, I pressed on, innocently:

Me: "Sir, isko aaap Licen kyon bolte hain?" ("Sir, why do you call it a LICEN")
PG (looks at form and then at me and says in a brusque and angry tone): "aaapko ek hi chahiye naaa?" ("You want only one no?")
Me: "haaaan, ek hi chahiye". ("Yes, only one")
PG "to theek hai. Licen hi hai. Ek Licen, do licens" ("So that is right. One Licen. Two Licens")

I had my licen in two weeks. But more importantly, I was finally able to figure out why the traffic cops call it a LICEN in these parts. One licen. Two licens!

Since then, that word has become part of our vocabulary at home. I need a licen from Girija to drink one glass of wine. If I feel like a second, I need a licens! A licen for one morning coffee. A licens for two!

Precious lessons, these.

-- Mohan

Cricket-related comments...

2007-02-20T05:39:00.000+10:30

Since February 2007, I have moved all my cricket-related ramblings to a multi-contributor blog named i3j3. Please visit http://i3j3cricket.wordpress.com for my cricket-related views.

Full calendar for Team India in 2007

2007-02-07T12:25:00.000+10:30

The cricket calendar for 2007 is going to be quite crowded team India.

After the current 4 ODIs against Sri Lanka, India prepare to go to the World Cup.

The World Cup will see out March and April 2007.

In May, India play Bangladesh in 2 Tests and 3 ODIs. Clearly, this is nothing but an opportunity for the India players to shore up their averages before the year becomes gruelling again!

June appears to be an “off” month.

India will tour England from July to September to play 3 Tests and 7 ODIs. Playing 7 ODIs in England in a World Cup year — and that too, after the World Cup — seems a bit bizzarre to me! Nevertheless, that’s the plan.

In October, Australia visits India to play 7 ODIs.

India then hosts Pakistan for 3 Tests and 5 ODIs.

As a result of the Pakistan tour of India in November, the Indian tour to Australia from December through to March 2008 has been postponed by 3 weeks or so. In fact, while most previous tours of Australia have traditionally commenced in late-November, India’s tour of Australia in 2007-08 will probably only commence in the second week of December!

As a result, the 1st Test of the series will be the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, with the 2nd Test starting immediately after the conclusion of the 1st Test (on 2 Jan 2008). Two other Tests follow in January. The ODI tournament — which also involves Sri Lanka — would commence only in February!

An article on this re-scheduling appears in the Sydney Morning Herald today.

A busy cricket calendar for Team India!

– Mohan

Indian Team for the first two Sri Lanka matches...

2007-02-04T11:31:00.000+10:30

The Indian team for the first two ODI matches against Sri Lanka has been announced. The team is along expected lines and reads:

Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni, R Uthappa, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Anil Kumble, Dinesh Karthik, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Virender Sehwag, S. Sreesanth.

Unless Virender Sehwag or Irfan Pathan or Munaf Patel blow it big time with either form or injury, it is very likely that this XV will be the team that goes to the World Cup in four weeks' time.

This team is not too different to the team that I had suggested in my blog entry a few weeks back. I had suggsted a World Cup XV of:

Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Robin Uthappa, Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, S. Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh, Suresh Raina, Joginder Sharma.

The differences are Anil Kumble, Dinesh Karthik and Munaf Patel (in the team that the selectors chose) instead of Suresh Raina, R. P. Singh and Joginder Sharma that I had suggested in my team.

The selectors have probably got it right with their choices of Kumble, Karthik and Patel. I am just not sure about the durability of Munaf Patel.

The next four games are going to be quite vital for India's preparations. Sri Lanka are a good opposition although they will sorely miss Chaminda Vaas and Muthiag Muralitharan. But as coach Tom Moody said in a recent interview, it is also perhaps an opportunity for others to step up to the plate.

Runs galore...

2007-02-02T11:31:00.000+10:30

With the cricket World Cup 'round the corner, I decided to take a peek at stats. If we take a look at the maximum number of career runs scored in ODIs the top-25 looks like this.

The columns read Matches, Innings, Not Outs, Runs, Highest Score, Avg, Strike Rate, Centuries, Fifties and Catches respectively [Source: Cricinfo].

01. SR Tendulkar        378  369  36 14728  186*  44.22  85.67  41 75  113
02. Inzamam-ul-Haq      370  342  52 11591  137*  39.96  74.48  10 83  108
03. ST Jayasuriya       375  364  16 11442  189   32.87  90.40  23 61  110
04. SC Ganguly          282  273  21 10302  183   40.88  73.92  22 62   96
05. BC Lara             290  281  31 10136  169   40.54  79.46  19 62  115
06. R Dravid            306  285  36  9973  153   40.05  70.71  12 76  182
07. RT Ponting          266  260  31  9670  164   42.22  79.32  21 57  117
08. M Azharuddin        334  308  54  9378  153*  36.92  73.99   7 58  156
09. PA de Silva         308  296  30  9284  145   34.90  81.13  11 64   95
10. Saeed Anwar         247  244  19  8823  194   39.21  80.66  20 43   42
11. DL Haynes           238  237  28  8648  152*  41.37  63.09  17 57   59
12. AC Gilchrist        253  246   9  8531  172   35.99  96.29  14 48  372
13. ME Waugh            244  236  20  8500  173   39.35  76.83  18 50  108
14. MS Atapattu         264  255  31  8448  132*  37.71  67.77  11 59   70
15. JH Kallis           242  231  40  8327  139   43.59  70.37  14 57   93
16. Mohammad Yousuf     228  215  31  7608  141*  41.34  74.07  11 51   50
17. SR Waugh            325  288  58  7569  120*  32.90  75.91   3 45  111
18. SP Fleming          265  254  19  7484  134*  31.84  70.74   6 45  128
19. A Ranatunga         269  255  47  7456  131*  35.84  77.91   4 49   63
20. Javed Miandad       233  218  41  7381  119*  41.70  66.99   8 50   71
21. Saleem Malik        283  256  38  7170  102   32.88  76.41   5 47   81
22. NJ Astle            223  217  14  7090  145*  34.92  72.64  16 41   83
23. MG Bevan            232  196  67  6912  108*  53.58  74.16   6 46   69
24. G Kirsten           185  185  19  6798  188*  40.95  72.04  13 45   61
25. A Flower            213  208  16  6786  145   35.34  74.60   4 55  141

If we now prune this to only include players playing currently, we get the following list:

01. SR Tendulkar        378  369  36 14728  186*  44.22  85.67  41 75  113
02. Inzamam-ul-Haq      370  342  52 11591  137*  39.96  74.48  10 83  108
03. ST Jayasuriya       375  364  16 11442  189   32.87  90.40  23 61  110
04. SC Ganguly          282  273  21 10302  183   40.88  73.92  22 62   96
05. BC Lara             290  281  31 10136  169   40.54  79.46  19 62  115
06. R Dravid            306  285  36  9973  153   40.05  70.71  12 76  182
07. RT Ponting          266  260  31  9670  164   42.22  79.32  21 57  117
12. AC Gilchrist        253  246   9  8531  172   35.99  96.29  14 48  372
14. MS Atapattu         264  255  31  8448  132*  37.71  67.77  11 59   70
15. JH Kallis           242  231  40  8327  139   43.59  70.37  14 57   93
16. Mohammad Yousuf     228  215  31  7608  141*  41.34  74.07  11 51   50
18. SP Fleming          265  254  19  7484  134*  31.84  70.74   6 45  128


In other words, only 12 of the top-25 ODI career-run-getters
are still playing. Of these, 3 are from India!

Indeed, if we assume that Tendulkar, Dravid and Ganguly will
score an additional 500 runs in the remaining 4 games before
the World Cup, in these three players, India would account for
a total of 36,000 runs -- that is a lot of experience!

Let us assume that Dravid gets another 27 runs in the remaining
4 ODIs prior to the World Cup. Seems reasonable to me! In that
event it is likely that only 6 batsmen will go into the World Cup
with 10,000+ runs to their credit. Of these, 3 will be from India!

Yes, India does play a lot of ODIs. So, just looking at aggregates
is probably unwise.

So, let us look at number of runs and averages together. Only 14 of
the top-50 ODI run getters of all time have an average of over 40.
Only 7 of these are still playing (8 if we include Inzamam, who
is so close ot an average of 40 that it is not funny!). Of these 8,
three are from India. This is, of course, assuming that Dravid's
average does not drop below 40 prior to the World Cup.

What is this saying? Nothing much really apart from the fact that
the Indian top order batting has a heck of a lot of experience and
capability. All they need is the right mental make up and the
application to pile on the runs.

On why Sachin and Sehwag should not be dropped...

2007-02-01T09:18:00.000+10:30

I have seen some interesting posts in the last few days/weeks relating to Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. Some of these have been laughable and some of these have been plain annoying (to me!).

Several experts and non-experts (including close friends) have suggested that Sachin should be dropped from the team.

I have always been amused by these suggestions and looked at the (non-)experts dangle perilously as the pendulum -- their pendulum -- swung wildly from one end ("wow he is a legend") to the other ("ohhhh! kick him out..." or "he should retire") without as much as pausing for breath at a stable, central, core (read: rational) resting point. And would these (non-)experts ever think of either humble pie or (God forbid!) egg-on-faces in the light of his majestic match-winning innings in the 4th ODI against West Indies in Vadodhra yesterday (31 January 2007)? I do not think so. The manner in which he played was incredible [Photo below from Times of India]. Sachin Tendulkar first steadied the innings with Rahul Dravid and then slowly accelerated to a fine (match winning) century.

The (non-)experts would quietly move on to pick on the next random player to be either "sacked" or "incarcerated" or "chopped at the limbs" or some other form of extreme punishment, until it is time to pick on Sachin Tendulkar again. If these experts thought about eggs on faces, there would be a dearth of eggs in the land!

Captain Rahul Dravid himself captured this mood quite adequately in a series of comments laced with sarcasm which was so subtle and delicate that it probably didn't quite measure on their egg-on-faces-laden-Richter-scale! Dravid said, for example, "We were not unduly worried about Sachin. Maybe everyone else can stop worrying now so we can have a bit of peace around. But what will we discuss then?"

A look at Sachin Tendulkar's comparative stats in ODIs indicate the sheer fallacy of these chest thumping opinions. An interesting article today compares the batting stats forSachin vis-a-vis other international cricketers. Other than Mike Hussey -- and that lad is clearly in the zone -- Sachin has fared as well as the others in recent times! And no, lest the typical Indian cricket fan jumps up and down in non-factual hand-waving, in this comparative period that the author has chosen, India has not played either Bangladesh or Kenya!

Sachin Tendulkar is a proven match winner. Yes, he probably let himself and his team down in the manner in which he played in the 3rd Test in South Africa. But, let us not forget that he is a proven match winner. And he still knows how to hold a bat. And he still knows how to score runs.

The mere presence of Sachin Tendulkar in the team makes the opposition bowl negatively. They do not know what he will do on any given day. Similarly Sehwag. These are players that can (and have) taken games away from oppositions. This is why it is absolutely important that Sehwag goes to the World Cup. This is a view shared by John Wright (quite emphatically) and Arun Lal, in a roundtable discussion with Sanjay Manjrekar.

This is one of the reasons I feel Sehwag should go. And I agree wholeheartedly with Prem Sanjay Vuthandam when he pleads, "Leave Sachin alone". The presence of these two is, I believe, worth 40 runs on the field. Opposition teams would often take risks to set of target of 280 when 240 may have sufficed, because they know that, with Sachin and Sehwag in the team, India can take the game away from them. They might bowl a negative/defensive line because they may not know what the realms of possibilities are when these two guys are on song.

We have a habit, in India, of putting people on terribly high pedestals. I feel we do that so that we retain the right to be able to drag them off it whenever we chose to do so. This is surely a sad state of affairs! This has been commented on recently in a lucid and frank interview by Greg Chappell. Sachin Tendulkar himself responded rather tersely (and I think, uncharacteristically) to this issue when asked about the pressures on him at the conclusion of the 4th ODI against the West Indies yesterday.

There must be stable ground somewhere between those two extremes.

One step closer :: India name 12 for the 4th ODI

2007-01-31T10:48:00.000+10:30

India named its 12-member team for the 4th ODI against the Windies to be played today (31 January 2007). There are few surprises. And as I suggested a few days back, the team management appears to be slowly honing in on a final combination. Dravid stated yesterday that the team management has more or less pencilled in 17-18 players from which the final 15 that will travel to the World Cup will be chosen. To me, the big surprise in this statement was that both Kumble and Harbhajan would go to the Windies and that Powar will need to fight it out with a pace bowler for a spot in the 15-member team!

It is clear that the team management have invested a lot of faith in Irfan Pathan. In that sense, Pathan seems to be a certainty to go to the Windies. One certainly hopes that Pathan can deliver. Dravid also confirmed that Ganguly and Uthappa will open.

So, the 12-member team for the 4th ODI (in possible batting order) is:

1. Saurav Ganguly, 2. Robin Uthappa, 3. Irfan Pathan, 4. Sachin Tendulkar, 5. Rahul Dravid, 6. Yuvraj Singh, 7. M. S. Dhoni, 8. Ajit Agarkar, 9. Harbhajan Singh, 10. Anil Kumble, 11. Zaheer Khan, [12th man] Dinesh Karthik

I suspect Dinesh Karthik will carry the drinks. He would also field after Kumble finishes his quota and runs of feigning a non-existent injury!

I would certainly advocate Pathan coming in at #3 in the batting order.

Again, the absence of Virender Sehwag is quite telling. If, as I had suggested the other day, Sehwag were to occupy the #6 position, just after Yuvraj Singh, the composition would look a lot more balanced and even... But then, perhaps the thinking in the team is that Sehwag would be in competition with Irfan Pathan for the #3 spot.

Either way, given Dravid's comments on Sreesanth it looks like the final XV would be the 12 chosen for this match plus Virender Sehwag, [either Romesh Powar or Sreesanth], Munaf Patel. Munaf Patel appears a sure look-in given the positive comments expressed by Dravid. The team seems to be pinning a heck of a lot of hopes on Munaf Patel (moreover, the other pace bowlers have been sent home). Given his propensity to break down at crucial times, this choice is a potentially risky proposition. But it looks as if the team management has painted itself into some sort of a corner here.

Possible team for the 4th ODI :: A few iterations short of the final chapter

2007-01-28T07:53:00.000+10:30

So, India lost the 3rd ODI match against the Windies. I think that that is perfectly fine. It'd have been poor, in my view, for India to have won all eight lead-up games given the teams that they have taken into each game. They are clearly experimenting around a few key spots. Winning all 8 games would perhaps give the team management a sense of "we are doing things right". They are not -- and I feel that Dravid-Chappell-Vengsarkar troika know that. As I said right from the first match of this series, they are a few iterations short of a balanced team. This loss actually got them closer to a winning combination, in my view. Yes, the cliche kings will be out with "but winning is a habit" and other assorted cliches. But I think the loss could not have come at a better time.

What did India learn?

Of Uthappa and Gambhir, the former, thanks to his whirlwind 70 off 41 balls, should win the World Cup berth.
Ajit Agarkar -- much as I dislike accepting it -- will be given the plane ticket to the West Indies.
Given the rate of his free-fall, Suresh Raina may not even get a plane ticket to Ghaziabad, which is where I believe he lives. He is perhaps hanging on mainly due to his fielding.
The jury is probably still out on Karthik.
Kumble may have to hang up his ODI shoes (at least, I hope he does).
Powar seems to have got his numbers (and game) right although he might himself endorse a petition to have the "all rounder" moniker wiped off his bio.
Sreesanth has possibly lost his grip on the team although he may yet earn a plane plane ticket to the Windies.

India should now start fine tuning its final team composition. A loss from here on in -- in the remaining match against the Windies and the 4 match series against Sri Lanka -- would not be great. India should try and win every game from now on.

The loss in the 3rd ODI couldn't have, as I said at the start of this post, come at a better time...

I'd suggest that the team for the 4th ODI should be (in batting order):

Saurav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, Irfan Pathan, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, M. S. Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan

This team would still be one "bit bowler" short. So, the only question mark would then be on whether Sehwag makes the cut instead of Dinesh Karthik in the final XI. My preference would be to have Sehwag in the XI, mainly because, Pathan, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Yuvraj and Sehwag can (together) bowl 20 overs.

On the point of bowl-outs of the last 10 overs (or the 5th bowlers' quota) by "bit bowlers", I believe that the thinking has shifted -- slowly but perceptibly. Previously, teams were only looking to bowl-out just the last 10 overs with one or two "bit bowlers". The current thinking is that teams need a good mix of a few players who are able to bowl-out 20 overs. That way, teams can take in 3 mainline bowlers and take a clutch of bowlers who can bowl-out the remaining 20 overs.

I think India should adopt this strategy that Australia and South Africa have successfully employed over the last 2-3 years or so. Australia only look to 3 bowlers bowling-out their 10-over quota. Typically, this would be Glenn McGrath, Brett Lee and Nathan Bracken. The remaining 20 overs would be bowled-out by a combination of Mitchell Johnson (of late), Michael Clarke, Andrew Symonds and Cameron White.

Similarly, for India.

I do not believe that the team should look to have Pathan bowl-out his 10 overs. He is not a 10 over bowler in ODIs. He should be treated as a "bit bowler" in the same mould as a Jacques Kallis or a Michael Clarke or an Andrew Symonds. That may help clarify his role in the team a bit better. Of course, there will be days when he bowls magnificently to have figures of 10-2-35-3. But then, these should be bonuses rather than the norm.

I believe India should look to bowl-out Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh, while a combination of Pathan, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Sehwag and Yuvraj should bowl-out the remaining 20 overs.

If Sehwag does play in the XI, my suggestion would be that he bats in the middle order, just ahead of Dhoni. He can then unleash his array of strokes in the final overs. With Dhoni, it would be an interesting mayhem to watch!

The irony of it all is quite amazing. Here is a cricketer, low on technique who is a Test opener but a one day middle order player! Hummpphhh! So much for logic and rationale... But then, that is the type of cricketer Sehwag is. He does defy logic and rationale in almost everything he does.

Sehwag is set to play 3 ODI games for Delhi-A against Delhi-B, as part of Delhi's preparation for the Ranji ODI Tournament (slated to commence Feb 10). Sehwag leads one of the teams while regular Delhi captain, Mithun Manhas leads the other. The timing of these practice games appears somewhat manufactured. Clearly DDCA is keen to get Sehwag back in Team India -- and why not! The practice games have been so hastily organised that even some of the Delhi team players appear to be unaware. The three games are on Monday 29 January, Tuesday 30 January and Thursday 1 February. Sehwag is clearly sweating and hungry at the moment. And that can only be good for Indian cricket. The team needs him there with a fiery hunger -- and not lackadaisical complacency -- in his belly.

Apart from the XI named above for the next game against the Windies, the remaining 4 players in the XV could be: Virender Sehwag, [Anil Kumble or Ramesh Powar], [Munaf Patel or S. Sreesanth], [Suresh Raina or Gautam Gambhir or Joginder Sharma].

If the 4 that are selected are Sehwag, Powar, Munaf and Raina (very likely), unfortunately, that means that India will go with 4 seamers and 2 spinners in the XV. But that's they way things have panned out, especially since R. P. Singh and Joginder Sharma have been sent home.

India Vs West Indies :: 3rd ODI :: 27 Jan 2006 :: Team Composition

2007-01-27T08:30:00.000+10:30

After winning two games of the 4-game series, India appear to be on a track that spells confidence. Captain, Rahul Dravid and Greg Chappell have insisted that it is more about process and less about outcomes. And that's exactly what I feel they have done. They have concentrated on getting the right personnel in the right spots. They seem to have got a few things right along the way. They have won a few games along the way too -- after a disastrous tour to South Africa and after a series of ills in the shortened form of the game. India's plan appears to be coming together.

The team management seems to be inextricably zeroing in on a workable team composition. One gets the feeling that, at least in the minds of captain, coach and selector, tickets have been booked for much of the 15-member team for the World Cup. They now seem to be iterating around the edges to fine-tune a few remaining spots.

So what have we learned from the selections so far?

Given that the team has rested Saurav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, M. S. Dhoni and Zaheer Khan for the 3rd ODI in Chennai today, I think that this quartet has already booked its place on the final XV to the World Cup. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar are also definitely in.

I'd find it hard to believe that a fit Yuvraj Singh won't make it. He is an important player in the overall scheme of things. The remaining 6 matches of India's preparations should sharpen him up. These matches are a chance for him to prove that he is match-fit. It would be nice for him to be allowed the opportunity to work himself to peak fitness with the body and the bat/ball. His presence in the field is as important for India as his ability to score in the death overs.

Given the importance that both the coach and captain place on an in-form Irfan Pathan, I'd find it hard to believe that Pathan is left out when the final-cut is decided on.

So, that makes it 8 definite spots taken (in my books at least).

The team for the Chennai match is (in possible batting order):
Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina, Ajit Agarkar, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Sreesanth.

This is a good team roll that has its composition targetted to the World Cup.

This is Uthappa's big chance. He may be in a fight with Gambhir for the openers' slot. I do hope Uthappa shines in this match. I rate him highly. I'd like to see him on the plane to the Windies.

This may also be a fight between Dinesh Karthik and Suresh Raina for a slot in the middle order.

Ajit Agarkar may have done enough to book a ticket to West Indies.

I think this is also a test for Sreesanth to see if he has it in him to bowl tight and straight for 10 overs.

And finally, it appears also that there is a fight between Powar and Kumble for an extra spinners' slot. I have a feeling that Powar may have done enough with some accurate bowling in the last match, but there may be a few questions on his batting. Is he as good with the bat as people around him (and his Ranji scores) seem to make out?

So, it would seem to me that the team for the World Cup is shaping up to be:
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, M. S. Dhoni, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, [Gautam Gambhir / Robin Uthappa], [Suresh Raina / Dinesh Karthik], Ajit Agarkar, [S. Sreesanth], [Ramesh Powar / Anil Kumble].

From what I have read, S. Sreesanth may be in a fight for a spot with Munaf Patel.

That would leave two spots.

One of them would have to be Virender Sehwag. He has, in my view, sweated enough and it is perhaps time to bring him into the equation for the games against Sri Lanka.

The final bits of polish can be applied to the team at that point. In my view, things are shaping up nicely from a selection point of view.

India Vs West Indies :: 2nd ODI :: 24 Jan 2006 :: Team Composition

2007-01-24T19:16:00.000+10:30

The team for the 2nd ODI against the Windies certainly looks a bit more balanced and better, in my view. The team management has realised that the balance wasn't quite right. I alluded to this balance issue in my post on this blog a few minutes before the commencement of the 1st ODI of the series.

India went into that game with 4 bowlers. And that is just not on.

The team for the 2nd ODI is also not right, in my view. They are a batsman short.

However, one can see that the team is working on a path that will get them from a starting point to an ideal finsihing point with just a few swaps-and-changes. They appear to have started this journey really well.

It also helps that the team is winning along the way!

So the team for the 2nd ODI (as announced) is:
Gambhir, Ganguly, Dravid, Tendulkar, Karthik, Dhoni, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer, Powar, Joginder.

My suspicion is that the batting order will be:
Ganbhir, Ganguly, Joginder, Tendulkar, Dravid, Karthik, Dhoni, Powar, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Zaheer

Sreesanth and Raina miss out from the last game. One suspects that both of them are probably going to miss the plane to the World Cup.

This team, though better, in terms of balance, than the team for the 1st ODI, still lacks in one or two departments. It has 5 mainline bowlers in Zaheer, Agarkar, Harbhajan, Powar and Joginder. In addition, it has 2 'other bowlers' in Ganguly and Tendulkar.

It lacks 3 all rounders, in my view.

They are, in my view, Sehwag (for Gambhir), Yuvraj for Karthik/Powar and Pathan for Agarkar.

But one can witness a progression towards that state.

I believe Pathan and Yuvraj should make it into the team for the last 2 ODIs when the 15-member team is announced tomorrow by the selectors. They should replace R. P. Singh and Raina. There were some clues to Rainas' dropping in Dravids' pre-match interview. Pathan's case is helped by his recent wicket taking -- in particular, in the Ranji semi-final against Mumbai (where Mumbai were 0 for 6 wickets at one stage, with Pathan claiming 3 of these)!

Good luck to Team India...

Revamping the Indian domestic competition...

2007-01-21T18:48:00.000+10:30

In recent times, I have heard many people suggesting that the Indian Domestic Competition needs an overhaul.

A good first-step was taken a few years ago, thanks to a movement led by Sunil Gavaskar. The traditional zonal-manner in which the Ranji Trophy tournament was organised up until then was scrapped. We saw the Ranji league divided into two leagues:

the Super League consisting of 15 teams in two divisions of 8 and 7 each, and
the Plate League consisting of 13 teams in two divisions of 7 and 6 each.

It is not clear why the Super League has two divisions of 8 and 7 each. It is also not clear why the Plate league has two imbalanced divisions of 7 and 6 each. Some things are best left without much questioning, I guess!

This was a good first step initiated by Sunil Gavaskar.

However, the future of Indian cricket can not rely on the Ranji Championship to throw up super cricketers. If you see the Australian scene there are a few teams that slug it out in a near-International-standard cricket competition. The main reason is that the Ranji leagues have too many teams. The better players emerge from a competition with only a few teams that slug it out. The best players need to play against each other. This is why the Australian league is one of the strongest.

So, here is a suggestion on a revamp of the system:

While I can understand the need for teams like Orissa, Assam and Bihar to participate in the national competition, we need to assemble a competition with fewer and better teams to slug it out. A smaller and stronger competition will unearth the best players.

After the Ranji competition is completed, why not create two Super-Six Divisions?

The First Super-Six Division will consist of the top-6 teams from the Super-League -- three from each Division. We could get them to play a home-away Ranji-Super-Six-Championship-League.

The Second Super-Six Division will decide who gets relegated to the Plate Division. The bottom 4 teams from the Super-League and the top 2 teams from the Plate Division can play in the Second Super-Six Division. We could get them to slug it out in a home-away league to decide who gets relegated (2 bottom teams) and who stays in the Super league (top 4).

A change is required to unravel the best players in Indian domestic cricket. This is but one suggestion...

India Vs West Indies :: 1st ODI :: 21 Jan 2006 :: Team Composition

2007-01-21T13:53:00.000+10:30

This is being written a few minutes before the start of the 1st ODI between India and West Indies at Nagpur. India has 8 games (4 against the Windies and 4 against Sri Lanka) to fine tune their preparations for the World Cup. And I must say I do not quite like the way they have started this journey... A few things are right, but not all of it, in my view.

The team composition just doesn't look right. The balance is just not there.

I do hope they lose, for this will make them go back to the drawing board.

India has gone in with:
Gautham Gambhir, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, K. K. D. Karthik, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, Sree Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan.

Joginder Sharpa, Robin Uthappa, Romesh Pawar and R.P. Singh have been left out.

What is wrong?

In my view, we should not open with Gambhir and Ganguly. In his pre-match interview, Dravid said that India has gone in with Ganguly and Gambhir (a left-left combination) to nullify the Windies opening bowlers. Why does that matter? They should have their eye on the World Cup and cannot afford Gambhir carrying out an opportunistic cementing of his place! [Note: Good luck to Gambhir if he does cement his place with a quick-fire 50 or so].

What India needs is a right-left explosive opening partnership. In the absence of Uthappa, they should have gone in with a Dhoni-Ganguly opening partnership. My crystal ball says Gambhir will make a quick 50 or so and they will be stuck with him till the World Cup.

I also do not think they should go with just 4 bowlers. It looks like Ganguly-Tendulkar-Raina will bowl out the 5th bowlers' quota of 10 overs. The balance is not right. The time was ripe to blood Joginder Sharma. In the absence of an out of form Irfan Pathan, they should have played in Joginder Sharma in the remaining games. They may have missed the boat on this. Again, my fear-stricken crystal ball says that the Ganguly-Tendulkar-Raina combination may bowl 10 overs for 20 and get 3 wickets. This may make the team stick with this combination for the remaining games.

I can see egg and faces from a mile!

However, the basics are there. It is, in my view, right for Tendulkar to drop further down the order. This is a bold move and a move that is to be applauded. I feel that he will stabilise the middle-overs. It is right for Ganguly to open. It is just not right for Dravid to come in at #3 (which is how the team sheet has been announced). Tendulkar or Dhoni or Karthik should come in at #3.

I am hoping for a Gambhir failure. I am hoping for a Karthik failure (get Joginder in please). And I am hoping for a Tendulkar-Ganguly-Raina (5th bowler) failure. And I am hoping India loses badly to make the management go back to the drawing board. However, I feel I will be proved wrong -- unfortunately. I may not get my wishes... But one lives in hope.

However, it was nice to see Dravid's attitude in a Cricinfo interview. Unlike past captains, he admitted that there were a few glitches. He indicated that the team was not quite the finished book. He indicated that Sachin Tendulkar would bat further down the order. He straight-talked on Sehwag. He said, "[Sehwag] when playing well, when he's in a good state of mind mentally and physically, is an asset. Sometimes, playing games helps but sometimes a bit of time off - switching off mentally - can be beneficial as well. The selectors have taken a decision and we need to respect that... sometimes being away from the game can do you a world of good. As far as I see it, the best players must go to the World Cup - in terms of form and fitness. It's not reputations that we need to go by." Straight-talking here. He's left a door open for Sehwag, perhaps? But one door is certainly shut.

He was clear on his own form too. He did not duck like an Azharuddin. He did not stutter like a Tendulkar. He did not play verbal-gymnastics or politics and sweet-talk like a Ganguly. He hit it straight down the middle. He said, "When I've got runs, it's made a difference to the side. I was happy with my form till I broke my finger in South Africa. But it was a strange tour for me. It's not easy to miss four weeks in the middle of the tour and then to come back. Things didn't go as well as I would have liked in the Tests as well. In a close series, one key innings can change the series. It's not about the number of runs or averages. It's about getting the critical innings when it matters. It didn't happen but we need to pull up our socks and move on."

Straight-talk.

He then made it clear -- in what can be seen by Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kumble and Pathan as a clear indication that time is ticking dangerously -- that there were only a few cogs in the World Cup selection-wheel that needed to be set right. He said, "We're very close to identifying key players for the World Cup squad. You must have a key group and we've identified them a while back. There have been a few form blips, a few fitness issues - obviously some spots available for selection - but we have a good idea of our plans."

More straight-talk... More power to him.

Bigot Brother...

2007-01-19T08:06:00.000+10:30

So Shilpa Shetty is in the midst of a major crisis. Rediff has a "Special" on it to match its "Specials" on issues such as the the Gujarat riots, the Tsunami, the Jessica Lal murder case, the brutal Noida killings or the Mumbai Blast case. Seriously!

The issue has been raised in The Commons by Labour MP Keith Vaz (an MP of Indian origin). The Prime Minister, Tony Blair responded to the question at question-time. Gordon Brown, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was forced to field questions on this issue while leading a high-level delegation of business people to India. Neither Brown nor Blair had seen the program. And why would they?

The Guardian has commented on it. The Times in London has written about it. Germaine Greer got in on the act with a column in The Guardian. The episode even made it to TV news bulletins and also on to the mainstream, respected AM package in Australia's own ABC!

I don't know Shilpa Shetty. But in an attempt to find out more about her, I tried to find her web-presence. I reached her website. However, in an attempt to field the surge in traffic to her website a few intro pages appear to have been added to her website by her managers. This includes contact details of her manager as well as a statement from her management.

Good on them for cashing in. Why won't they?

I don't know any of the movies Shilpa Shetty has acted in. I don't care either. The fact that she is not mentioned in the same breath as Shabana Azmi, Rekha, Meena Kumari, Madhubala, Nandita Das, Smitha Patil, Madhir Dixit, Juhi Chawla, Rani Mukherjee, et al suggests that she is probably not an A-Grade actress.

I heard a clip on radio in which she asks, "Why does everyone hate me? Why am I so hated?". I then understood why she wasn't being mentioned in the same missives as the afore-mentioned Indian actors. She is probably just an actor that's acting out there on the "Not-so-Celebrity BIGot Brother" that's going on in the UK!

Does anyone really believe that this Bigot Brother thing is for real? Isn't it all staged... badly? It seems to me that the only thing that is for real in this reality-TV caper is the TV!

The fact that Shilpa Shetty is now a 10/3 favourite to win the show just indicates how out of touch I am with popular culture!

Good luck to her and her tribe...

Gibbs again...

2007-01-17T18:56:00.000+10:30

Michael Gleeson in The Age today (Wednesday 17 January 2007) expresses views on the Herschelle Gibbs story that are not dissimilar to mine.

Did Herschelle Gibbs get off lightly?

2007-01-17T12:17:00.000+10:30

Herschelle Gibbs, the South African player was found guilty of a Level 3 offence when he uttered rascist comments in the 1st Cricket Test between South African and Pakistan. These comments were made between overs of the Test match and were picked up by the stump microphones.

No doubt there were some extraordinary mitigating circumstances. Gibbs and his team-mate, Paul Harris, were constantly nagged by a few of the Pakistan fans. Another team-mate, Makhaya Ntini, was knocked on the head. No doubt the said players were frustrated and provoked by the unruly spectators. However, the manner in which Gibbs chose to deal with the resulting frustration was unbecoming of an elite sportsperson. Period. What transpired was racially offensive. Gibbs admitted his guilt.

The reaction of Mikey Arthur, the South African coach was... shall we say... interesting. He blamed it on the stump microphones that picked up Gibbs's slur saying that the microphones were "too intrusuve"! Duh! I don't get it? Is Arthur saying that it is ok to pass on rascist slurs as long as they are not picked up by microphones?

While I found Gibbs's utterances terrible, I found Arthur's comments offensive. Gibbs had "heat of the moment" as a possible defence. Arthur must serve time too, for he was in the cold comfort of his team dressing room. Clearly, South Africa has someone rather dodgy at the helm!

Rascist slurs are bad. Period. They should not be tolerated. Period.

Cricket should have (and should be seen to have) "zero tolerance" for rascism.

The fact that this "intrusive microphones" chorus was also picked up by Herschelle Gibbs's father just goes to show that some people just haven't got it. The fact that the microphones picked up the slur does not absolve the player of guilt. It just proves it. The player is guilty. Period. And for that, he must do time.

Now, a Level 3 offence carries a punishment of either 4 Tests or 8 one-days. I wonder why Gibbs got away with a 2-Test ban? Is that because South Africa play only 2 Tests and no other games prior to the all-important World Cup in West Indies? This smacks of a convenience that sacrifices the games' integrity. I'm afraid Chris Broad, the match referee in this instance, has let the cricketing fraternity down. Again!

It is time that cricket stamped out rascism and the manner in which it handles bad behaviour. The starting point should be that it needs to get tougher on its Match Referees.

Dissecting the World Cup probables...

2007-01-13T02:01:00.000+10:30

Vengsarkar, the Chairman of selectors announced the 30 probables for India's cricket World Cup campaign (Feb-Mar 2007).

The probables are:
Rahul Dravid (capt), Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammad Kaif, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel, Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Suresh Raina, Ramesh Powar, Anil Kumble, Rudra Pratap Singh, Dinesh Mongia, VRV Singh, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Sourav Ganguly, Parthiv Patel, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma, S. Badrinath, Ishant Sharma, Rajesh Pawar, Joginder Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara.

This list is not a million miles away from one I had suggested early yesterday on this blog. The two outside choices that I'd alluded to -- Robin Uthappa and Joginder Sharma -- are both in. By the way, another reason for my penchant for Uthappa is that he keeps wickets. He was an India U-19 wicketkeeper not long ago and in that sense, is in the 'Dravid mould'. So, if Karthik does not make the final cut, Uthappa can don the gloves in case of an injury to Dhoni...

Joginder Sharma did not set the world on fire against Bangladesh in his debut series. It was a series in which India lost an ODI to Bangladesh! However, times have changed and he is a changed cricketer. I have a feeling he will come good. He occupies the all-rounder's spot if Irfan Pathan does not manage to get it all together.

The list of probables can be broken into three categories of 10 players in each: CERTAIN, NO-WAY and MAYBE

CERTAIN (10):
Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Zaheer Khan.

MAYBE (10):
Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Joginder Sharma, Ramesh Powar, Dinesh Karthik, Munaf Patel, VRV Singh, Gautam Gambhir.

NO-WAY (10):
Mohammad Kaif, Anil Kumble, Dinesh Mongia, Parthiv Patel, VVS Laxman, Rohit Sharma, S. Badrinath, Ishant Sharma, Rajesh Pawar, Cheteshwar Pujara.

Arguably, guys like Kumble, VVS, Kaif and Mongia could make it to the "MAYBE" list. However, I do not think that that would happen. At least, I do not wish that to happen! Mongia has fluffed many an opportunity. Kaif has rarely grabbed any of the many opportunities he has been given. He can cringe about the revolving-door-policy that he has endured (and he has whined about it lately). However, there were many opportunities for him to stand up and be counted. He has fluffed them all and to me, doesn't look like a cricketer who wants to put his hand up when there is a fight going on. Similarly VVS. He is just not suited to the one-day caper. He can take his dodgy knee with him, settle himself on a couch and watch the proceedings from there instead of watching it from 1st slip, which is really the only place he prefers to be on a cricket field these days!

Party Patel Rohit Sharma, Badrinath, Ishant, Rajesh Pawar and Pujara are, one feels, just making up the numbers at this stage. So, in that sense, my "CERTAIN" and "MAYBE" self-select themselves by a process of elimination!

The trick is to then select 5 from the MAYBE list so that the final list has balance and strength: Balance in terms of experience, age, batting-bowling and agility; Strength in terms of capability, match-winning-ability, cool-headedness, maturity etc.

The 10 in my "CERTAIN" list includes 5 bowlers, 4 bats and 1 'keeper.

Yuvraj Singh has to go if he is fit.

My view is that this is a wake-up call for Sehwag and Pathan. They just have to work hard on their game and come back into the frame. They have to get hungry for success once again. I like the mean-edge to the selection. I also like the fact that, through the re-selections of Ganguly and Zaheer Khan, the selection committee has signalled strongly that "dropped does not mean dropped forever". Time is not on the side of Sehwag and Pathan. Unfortunately for them, nor are there any first class matches for either of them. But they just have to put in the hard yards and use their dropping as a spur to come back hungrier than ever.

Suresh Raina and Dinesh Karthik will fight it out in the first few games of the trial games against West Indies. I have a feeling that Raina will edge Karthik out...

The last place should, I feel, go to Joginder Sharma.

So the likely final XV could be:
Rahul Dravid (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Robin Uthappa, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, Zaheer Khan, Yuvraj Singh, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, Suresh Raina, Joginder Sharma.

Not a bad effort, in my view...

The Indian World Cup Probables announced...

2007-01-12T18:54:00.000+10:30

The Indian selectors announced the probables for the World Cup and also named the 15 for the first two "scene-setting" ODIs against West Indies.

As expected (and as I had 'predicted' earlier today), Uthappa and Joginder Sharma got the selectors' nods for the West Indies games. Sehwag and Pathan have been left out. My feeling is that this is a scare the spur them onto getting their houses (and more importantly, their minds) in order. I can't somehow imagine an Indian ODI team without Sehwag and Pathan in it. This has to be a scare tactic...

The surprise packets for the games against the Windies include Ramesh Powar and Gautam Gambhir. I must say the selection of Powar baffles me somewhat...

Pathan and Sehwag are in the WC probables list of 30 though. I'd expect thatboth Pathan and Sehwag will come in to the final WC XV at the expense of Powar and Gambhir (from the current team of XV announced for the first 2 ODIs). My suspicion is that Powar and Gambhir are keeping the seat warm for Pathan and Sehwag respectively while the latter two sweat it out a bit in the nets! The slight worry is that Delhi have no Ranji games left in the competition...

Given the surprise inclusion of Powar, the team for the first 2 ODIs looks like a well balanced ODI team.

West Indies one-dayers (in probable batting order)
Sachin Tendulkar
Sourav Ganguly
Robin Uthappa / Dinesh Karthik / Gautham Gambhir
Rahul Dravid (capt)
Suresh Raina
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk)
Joginder Sharma / Ajit Agarkar
Harbhajan Singh / Ramesh Powar
Zaheer Khan
S. Sreesanth
Rudra Pratap Singh

The probables include a few surprises too. My sense is that VVS. Laxman, Mohammed Kaif, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dinesh Mongia and Rohit Sharma are just making up the numbers -- just as I had RS. Sodhi, et al in my list of 30 probables earlier in the day! The surprise packet in the 30 is Parthiv Patel. This must be a joke!

Oh well... Here's hoping that the Pathan-Sehwag scare works well...

World Cup probables
Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag, VVS Laxman, Mohammad Kaif, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Dinesh Karthik, Parthiv Patel, Anil Kumble, Gautham Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Ramesh Powar, Sreesanth, Harbhajan Singh, Joginder Sharma, Ajit Agarkar, Rudra Pratap Singh, VRV Singh, Munaf Patel, Irfan Pathan, Rohit Sharma, S Badrinath, Cheteshwar Pujara, Dinesh Mongia, Ishanth Sharma, Rajesh Powar

India Team for the World Cup

2007-01-12T09:17:00.000+10:30

The Times of India adopted an interesting approach to selecting probables for India's upcoming ODI matches against West Indies, Sri Lanka and then, the big one... The World Cup. It categorised players into "Certainties", "Up for a Fight", "Comeback", "Under Pressure", "Unlikely" and "Injured".

Apart from the fact that they omitted Yuvraj Singh from a place in any of their buckets, I am not sure that their categorisation, although useful, is spot on. I'd like to adopt this approach and instead, categorise players into:

CERTAINTIES (7):
Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, MS Dhoni (wk), Zaheer Khan, S. Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh

GOOD CASE EXISTS (6):
Dinesh Karthik (wk), Anil Kumble, Sourav Ganguly, Robin Uthappa, R. P. Singh, V. R. V. Singh

RISKY -- either due to injury or form or both (9):
Yuvraj Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Suresh Raina, Mohammed Kaif, Ramesh Powar, Munaf Patel, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan, VVS Laxman

OUTSIDE CHANCE (8):
Wasim Jaffer, S. Badrinath, Joginder Sharma, G. Gambhir, A. Nehra, J. P. Yadav, R. S. Sodhi, Venugopal Rao

I have gone for 30 probables here. I'd be rather surprised if the 30 probables chosen by Vengsarkar and his co-selectors will be too different to the above list.

I think the 7 "certainties" will go.

Of the 6 "good case exists", I don't think Karthik should go, despite his good showing in the 3rd Test of the recently concluded Test Series against South Africa. If Karthik does go, it will be as a batsman.

I don't think Kumble should go either, again, despite his good showing in the ODIs against South Africa. Harbhajan bowled well in the ODIs in West Indies last year (2005) and should do well there.

Ganguly has done enough to be on the plane, perhaps as opener, along with Tendulkar.

Uthappa is firing on all cylinders and must have a shoe in. He is the highest scorer in the Ranjis this season and he couldn't have timed his 109-ball 108 against Saurashtra any better! Greg Chappell, all the selectors and Dravid (his Karnataka team-mate) are all there in Rajkot to select the 30 World Cup probables.

Only one of R.P. Singh or V.R.V. Singh will go I feel. Taking both of them will be a bit of an over-kill in terms of 'cover'. I think R. P. Singh would have his nose in front slightly in the short form of the game.

A dark horse, however, is Joginder Sharma. He has had an impressive Ranji season and is the leading wicket taker in India this year. He is a nippy pace bowler. He is also an impressive bat and a good fielder. He could well make the cut instead of R. P. Singh. People are already talking him up as India's long-awaited answer to Kapil Dev (it also helps that Joginder Sharma plays for Haryana!).

A totally dark horse is Ishant Sharma, the young delhi tear-away. But it is perhaps early days for him -- he is in only his first season of first-class cricket!

So, that leaves 7 "certainties" and 3 "good case exists" (4 if we add Karthik).

That leaves the "risky" people... If Yuvraj Singh proves his fitness, he must get in. He is an important player that can hold the middle innings together. Irfan Pathan, similarly, is an important player who must go. The decision to send him back to India from South Africa may just have been a terrific one. He seems to have re-discovered his bowling mojo.

Dinesh Mongia and Mohammed Kaif have thrown many an opportunity, one feels. I think Ramesh Powar will be a liability in the West Indies.

Calls for VVS Laxman to make a comeback into the ODI team have been almost as strident as those for Ganguly's return. Since his showing in the Test matches in South Africa and considering his possible inclusion in the context of a string of poor shows from the young-brigade (the likes of Raina, Kaif, et al) the constant VVS-related cacophony in the Indian media is perhaps understandable. However, Laxman is a liability in the field and his running between wickets is just slightly better than a duck on a twaddle in the park! Already, the team will be trying to hide Ganguly (and possibly Munaf) in the field. Laxman should be left behind and told that his career as a ODI player for India is over.

That leaves Suresh Raina, Munaf Patel and Virender Sehwag.

If Munaf is fit, he should go. I say this despite his woeful fielding. He is an accurate bowler and could be a handy player in the West Indies. I know that this selection is a tad illogical in the context of the previous paragraph, wherein I suggested the axing of Laxman because of his fielding inadequacies. The difference here is that the bowling cupboard does not look all that well-stocked. It is my submission that there is an adequate stock of capable batsmen in India. If Munaf goes, one just needs to hide him (too) in the field. Sigh!

It would then be a battle between Sehwag and Raina! Sehwag should go, if nothing for the sheer number of games he has won for India. He needs to re-discover his scoring touch and could be a match winner for India once again. His experience will be valuable. So also his bowling.

So the 14 for the 8 lead-up games and the World Cup would be:

BATSMEN (2): Rahul Dravid, Robin Uthappa
BOWLERS (6): Zaheer Khan, S Sreesanth, Ajit Agarkar, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Munaf Patel
ALL-ROUND(6): Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, MS Dhoni (wk), Virendar Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan

This leaves one last spot (the 15th spot). This could go to either Dinesh Karthik, Anil Kumble or Suresh Raina. I’d go with Suresh Raina to bolster the fielding. Raina could also be the cover for Sehwag and Uthappa in the batting department.

EXTRA (1): Suresh Raina / Anil Kumble / Dinesh Karthik

The likely XI could be:
1. Sachin Tendulkar
2. Sourav Ganguly
3. Irfan Pathan
4. Virender Sehwag / R. Uthappa / S. Raina
5. Rahul Dravid
6. Yuvraj Singh
7. MS Dhoni (wk)
8. Harbhajan Singh
9. Ajit Agarkar / R. P. Singh / Munaf Patel
10. Zaheer Khan
11. S. Sreesanth

Dark Horse - 1: Joginder Sharma for R. P. Singh or Munaf Patel

Dark Horse - 2: Dinesh Karthik for S. Raina

Why did India lose to South Africa?

2007-01-10T08:14:00.000+10:30

India squandered a great opportunity to beat South Africa in South Africa in the recently concluded Test series. After the terrific win in the first test of the series, most fans would have harboured hopes of a rare away series victory for India. Although I had alluded to the possibility of a bounce-back by South Africa, it still is disappointing to see India go down the way she did.

The result was certainly not a bad one for India. The team can hold its head high amidst the clamour around them. Acheiving (even) a test match win outside India has always been hard for this team. They are now doing it reasonably regularly. What they do not yet have is that killer instinct that takes them from winning one match to winning a series. Every now and then, they take their foot off the pedal and allow the opponent back into the game. The team has to learn from this and move on.

In the 3rd test, there were a few reasons for India's loss. I will try and list them out here:

India did not put enough runs on the board in the first innings:

I know it is stating the obvious, but that was the start of India's problems. India was about 50 runs short in the 1st innings. These runs could have been made easily.
India was in a terrific position, thanks to the terrific start by openers, Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer. Dinesh Karthik was given out wrongly by the umpires who progressed from there to have a shocker of a test match. Even so, the rest of the batsmen should have capitalised on that wonder start. However, none of them, barring Ganguly and Sehwag really showed intent to get on top of the bowlers.
After starting off with a basket of crisply hit boundaries, Dravid lapsed into a sudden and almost inexplicable shell. It was almost as if he said to himself, "Why am I hitting all these boundaries when all we want to do is draw the match?"
Tendulkar scratched around for a well made 66, but always kept South Africa in the game as he did it. Similarly Laxman. The intent to dominate the bowling was just not there. Perhaps team India had decided right then that it did not want to win the match?
After playing himself into form with a clever 40 runs, Sehwag then threw it all away with a rash stroke against debutant Harris.
Ganguly, who was well-set at that point, then proceeded to not farm the strike. Perhaps he had way too much confidence in the tail that he had to bat with.
All of this leads me to think that one of the key issues for India going forward is to drive home the importance of being situation-aware.

Positive playing by South Africa

Right through the game, South Africa played positively. They played with intent. They wanted to win. They showed that hunger.
In the first innings, Smith and Amla played well and applied themselves to the task (winning) stoically. They had a plan and they went about it.
Even when they were 6 down for 281, Boucher and Pollock batted positively to ensure that India's lead was never too much.

Second Innings batting by India

Apart from the intent demonstrated by sending Sehwag to open, India did not really show any willingness to take the game to the opposition.
Sehwag was a disappointment as an opener. After hitting a crisp four, he lashed out weakly and needlessly at a wide ball. He let the team down and showed that his problems are all of his own making. It is in his mind and he needs to have a deep, hard look at himself.
Apart from Ganguly and Karthik none of the batsmen really showed self-belief. And that's where the team was let down. Every ball was made out to be a wicket-taking ball. When Ganguly and Karthik were playing, the same balls were made out to be run-scoring balls.
Self-belief was constantly replaced by self-doubt.

Basic cricketing hygiene:

What surprised me most was the lack of overall hygiene.
Given that we have two people at the top (Chappell and Dravid) who are somewhat consumed by process and not results, this lack of hygiene was most surprising.
For example, should Munaf Patel have been chosen at all? The coach and captain should have been on top of that, surely? He was clearly labouring even in the 1st innings and could barely bowl in the second dig.
The running between wickets was somewhat woeful. Witness the run outs of Laxman and Zaheer Khan. Laxman's run out would have cost India at least 30 runs. Zaheer had Karthik at the other end who was batting like a dream. Zaheer's run out cost India at least 30 runs.
The ground fielding was embarassing. This cost India at least 40 runs in the match.
One can blame the umpires for Munaf Patel's dismissal in the 7th ball of Steyn's over! However, that is outside the team's control. Basic cricketing hygiene is well within the team's control. The coach and captain take the rap for this, I'm afraid...

Put all of the above together and what we get is a rather sorry tale. India can do better in its international outings. But before any chest-thumping, India must pay attention to three basic things (a) winning mindset, (b) situation-awareness and (c) basic cricketing hygiene.

Without these there is little hope of India doing well anywhere -- even in India!

One Eyed?

2006-12-19T07:39:00.000+10:30

I've often been labelled as being a bit one-eyed in my support of (and faith in) Team India in cricket. A recent episode wherein I questioned my friends' lack of belief/faith in the team (in response to a comment around "I think they let South Africa get away in the first innings (of the 1st test in the ongoing 2006-07 series between South Africa and India). They should have bundled them out for less than 84"!!!!) got me into an argument mode and then led me to a deeper inquiry of why I have so much faith in this team than any other past teams.

Believe me, I have been a believer in Team India only after Mohammed Azharuddin departed as captain. That one event (and the concommitant dragging down of Manoj Prabhakar) turned me from being a non-believer into one that has faith in this team. It marked what was probably, in my view at least, the brightest spark in Indian cricket. The structuring of this current team (I am talking Test team here by the way) commenced at that point in time, in my view. It has then progressed through the captaincy of Sachin and Ganguly before it rests very comfortably in Dravid's shoulders.

Listen to Dravid's interview on Cricinfo and decide for yourself on the clarity of the thought process in this group. He clearly states, even amidst the euphoria surrounding the win, that there are areas where the team can improve. The team knows that the South Africans will be hungry and will come at them hard. They know they have areas to improve. They aren't getting carried away. They want to play a 2-day game prior to the second Test to iron out a few areas where it can improve.

It is such clarity of thought that convinces me that Team India is worth reposing faith in.

It is possible that India may still lose this series. It would be disappointing if that were to happen. But it could happen. The South africans will come back hard at India. But I believe there is a will to fight it out; a strength to guts it out; an ability to back it up with performances...

Ganguly (along with John Wright) taught this team pride and self-belief. Dravid (along with Greg Chappell) is providing them with collective steel and process-hygiene ("focus on the process and not the outcomes").

I have faith in them as a Test group. Yes, they will screw up every now and then. Yes, they won't score 95,965 runs every time they go out to bat. Yes, Saurav Ganguly will play a rash stroke and get out for 25. Yes, they will bowl out the opposition for "only" 84! Yes, they will never have either the fighting spirit or the energy of the Australian team. And every now and then, they will make a complete hash of things, as they did in Pakistan earlier this year in the Tests. But, more often than not, they will play their hearts out and play with pride. And that's enough for me!

Meanwhile, while I still remain a great fan of Ganguly (play with pride and play with spirit... a leader who has inspired his players to give off their best) Dravid is providing inspirational leadership in his own way:

Dravid was there in a larger-than-life form when we won in Leeds (who can forget that memorable first day when he battled it out with Bangar?).
He was there in Adelaide (if not for his double century, for his stupendous catch to get rid of Steve Waugh off Tendulkar).
He architected our first win on Pakistan soil (he captained when Ganguly was injured and won that first test when the Sultan of Multan scored 309 and when, as captain, he declared the innings close when the master blaster was on 194!).
He captained India's the first win in 35 years in West Indies (and played a great hand in it himself).
And now, he has captained India's first win in RSA.

To sledge or not to sledge

2006-12-17T13:23:00.000+10:30

Ian Chappell introduced it. Well no, Percy Sledge introduced it, thanks to his epic "When a man loves a woman". Today, almost everyone does it. The Indians too get in on the act.

Sledging is an artefact of cricket. It is here. I dislike it. But it is here. And it will stay. Steve Waugh called it "mental disintegration". It is when a player (typically from the fielding team -- and more often than not, the bowler or the wicketkeeper) insults the batsman to mentally disturb the latter's concentration. It is a form of gamesmanship that I detest.

However, when the Indians sledge it is often seen as incorrect. Yet, when sledged, if Nel hangs his cheek out, Nel is seen as being fiesty or cheeky! Duh! Where's the logic?

Let me state very clearly that I am not a fan of sledging in any shape or form. I hate it when Nel carries on. I dislike it when Sreesanth carries on. I detest it when McGrath carries on. It is just not a pretty sight and is a blight on cricket.

However, it does happen. One has a choice here. Either you are in it. Or you are not.

If you are in it, you just need to jump in head, feet and all. There are no half measures. And as they say, when you throw a stone in the gutter, expect a splash!

Samir Chopra, in his blog seems to indicate that Indians should not sledge. He asks the Indian team to take Jacques Rudolphs' comments seriously! Ahem! Why? If anything, I'd ask the Indians to get better at it. If Sreesanth wishes to sledge, good luck to him. He needs to ensure that that instrument works effectively for him!

Rudolph talked about Sreesanth's sledging as an act of "stupidity"! Hmmm! I wonder what he makes of Nel's antics?

I'd get the Indian team management to offer lessons in sledging. Those who are interested in adding this arrow to their quiver should take it up and refine this through diligent practice.

The resurrection of Ganguly

2006-12-17T10:45:00.000+10:30

At the time of writing this (end of the 2nd day's play), the first test between India and South Africa is excitingly poised. India has an overall lead of 311 with 3 days to play. Laxman and Dhoni are still batting for India. I'd be very surprised if India lose this one. For the first time, India will have won a test match in South Africa.

When/if it happens, this will be an impressive achievement for a team that has traditionally done poorly in South Africa; a team that travels poorly; a team that just suffered a 4-0 whitewash in the recently concluded ODI series against the same opposition (one game in the series was rained off).

Apart from some excellent bowling in the first innings by India, my view is that India is in this position mainly because of the efforts of three people: Saurav Ganguly, Zaheer Khan and V.V.S.Laxman --- the forgotten people in Indian cricket over the last year or so.

Agreed, Ganguly played a rash stroke in the second dig. However, the maturity, tenacity and will that he displayed in India's first dig was nothing short of sensational. He is a strange man with some strange inadequacies. However, he is also a pugnacious fighter. These were the qualities he showed as he shepherded and then commandeered India's first innings. These were the qualities that got India the first innings score that she could bowl at.

Sadly these were the qualities that were absent in the Indian middle order in the previous year or so. The middle order has looked far too brittle. The faith that the new management had placed on the new turks (Yuvraj, Kaif, Raina, et al) wasn't fully repaid. The young turks will come good one day. They will have their day. But for the moment, it appears to me that Ganguly and Laxman have seized the second opportunity that they have got.

Realistically speaking, Laxman was never really out of the Test game. However, his absence from the ODI scheme will now be seriously questioned. It is conceivable that, Ganguly will also make a bid to be in the ODI frame.

All of this is good, in my view.

I have always maintained that Ganguly was never accorded the farewell that a good and honest servant of Indian cricket deserved. This second coming will afford that courtsey to him. He can now chose the time and manner of his going.

My hope is that he choses it well and sagaciously this time.

Pitching double standards in cricket

2006-12-16T08:07:00.000+10:30

For as long as I can remember, there has been a strange double-standard in cricket. What is right for the Aussies, New Zealand, South Africans and England (ANSE) seems not quite right for India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan (ISP). The ANSE quartet has viewed every ISP move with suspicion and vice-versa. This needs to be curbed and cured for cricket to prosper, in my view.

Let us focus on pitches as an example where this malaise plays out particularly gallingly.

It is almost impossible for Indian and Sri Lankan curators to curate a WACA or Wanderers or Basin Reserve type pitch in Bangalore or Faisalabad or Kandy, in my view. The best that they can do is to prepare a drop in pitch flown in from Perth or wherever. But after a few seasons the pitch will return to its natural conditions. The local environment, the micro climate there and soil conditions determine the nature of the pitches to a largeextent. And so it should. One does not travel to the Carribean to expect to see Trafalgar Square in the rain over there. One goes there to experience the weather, the people the climate and the dust that prevails in the Carribean. My own view is that pitches are the way they are in places they are in because that is precisely what the local environmental conditions afford.

To expect a fast and pacy pitch in Kandy is as alien a concept as an expectation I'll have for a warm, sunny and sweaty day in Moscow in December! Most of the ANSE teams feign surprise and express disgust when faced with the type of pitches they see in Bangalore and Kandy. Well I think the respective Boards must ask their respective players to grow up and get used to it. I haven't seen Sri Lanka complain when they tour New Zealand. In 2002-03 India toured New Zealand. The pitches were under-prepared, fast and low. So much so that even the El Nino factor was cited as a lame excuse for the pitch conditions. No one complained. The team got on with it. Badly no doubt. But they got on with it.

Almost every ANSE team that tours ISP countries whinge, moan and complain about the nature of the pitches. Unfortunately, there is a terribly silly move by the ISP countries to go the other way and prepare artificially fast pitches in the face of these constant complaints from the ANSE teams. This is plain silly, in my view. These whinges should, in fact urge ISP curators to prepare more pitches that turn squarely on day one! After all, it requires technique to play spin, just as technique is necessary fro playing pace.

For example the pitch that was prepared in Nagpur when Australia visited India in 2004 was more of an Aussie pitch than most Aussie pitches! Why? Why prepare such pitches for ISP teams? ISP countries should prepare more pitches like the one they did in Mumbai for the final test of the series that had Ponting spewing. In that series, Buchanan, the Aussie coach complained and whined about the pitch in Bangalore and called it "terrible" from the moment he saw it. He found something else to whine about the moment he saw Australia score 474 in its first innings!

I am not saying ISP countries shouldn't play on fast pitches. I believe ISP countries should prepare a mix of bouncy pitches, fast pitches, green tops and dust bowls for their local competition. But just as one expects nothing by fast, bouncy green tops on a tour of New Zealand or South Africa, one should expect nothing but huge turners when teams visit India, Sri Lanka or Pakistan. And that is fair enough, in my view!

Now, take the example of "instructing" groundsmen on the preparation of wickets. I do not think it is fair enough for the local coach or the local Board to instruct its ground-staff on the nature of pitches that they will prepare. The theory is that local ground-staff should prepare pitches that the local soil conditions afford them. Almost all ANSE teams that visit the ISP countries whinge and complain and adopt the high moral ground. Yet there is no sense of outrage when we see, for example, Micky Arthur, the South African coach, instuct his ground-staff to prepare fast and bouncy pitches.

What makes that ok?

Why the hue and cry when Ganguly instructed his ground-staff to prepare spinning pitches in India?

Is is ok just because it is fast? Or is it ok just because it is ANSE?

Cricket needs a rethink.

A. R. Rahman's Guru: A review...

2006-11-27T11:11:00.000+10:30

Over the weekend, I listened to music from Mani Rathnam's movie "Guru". The movie is slated for release late in 2006. The music was released a few weeks ago.

I don't somehow think there will be too many 'hits' from 'Guru' as most hits these days seem to me to be of the dhol-type or the club-mix-type! This is more kick-back-and-relax-genre. Rahman tunes Gulzar's lyrics in Guru. Guru is a Ratnam-Rahman combination; a collaboration that worked really well in blockbuster movies like Roja, Bombay, Dil Se and Alaipayude (Saathiya).

Guru is Rahman's first (Bollywood) movie music release since Rang De Basanti, which was towards the end of 2005. It was therefore, quite an anticipated release. I have to say that it did not match my expectations completely. This does not mean that the songs are bad in Guru. Not at all! Indeed, some of the songs are actually quite good. However, after many super hits from movies like Earth, Roja, Taal, Dil Se, Pukar, Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities, Rangeela, Saathiya, Lagaan, Kisna, Yuva, Swades, Rang De Basanti, etc, one expected much more. Maybe that's more because of the standard of music we have come to expect from Rahman.

But after listening to Guru, one can't help but admire Rahman's versatility and courage. Gone are the days when he used to just belt out tunes that the Producer or the Director of the film felt the audience would like. He has, one feels, entered a phase where he makes music that defines himself as a musician. One feels that he is not content with just belting out tunes. He wants to leave a stamp; create an impact. In Guru, I feel that he is starting to break free of the Bollywood formula stranglehold. Guru is, one feels, a statement from Rahman although not an indulgence. Good luck to him.

As B Rangan says in his blog review of Guru: "There’s very little in his music that’s instantly catchy and fun anymore, because he’s no longer just making soundtracks; he’s painting soundscapes."

The movie has seven songs.

Two of these are, in my view, not that great ("baazi laga" and "ek lo ek muft"). Three songs are just awesome ("tere bina", "ay hairathe" and "jaage hain") and I feel that one other song ("mayya") will grow on me. And I am undecided on one of them ("barso re").

I did not get the point of a simple song like "baazi laga" (sung by Udit Narayan, Madhushree and Shweta Bargavee). I did not quite get this song and where it came from. It may be a situational song with a lot of prancing around aimlessly. But, w have come to expect such lofty ideals for Rahman's music that this song falls short.

Rahman's tunes are normally extremely melodious and are solidly based on classical or folk idioms. There is a sheer craftsmanship to his music. To him, composed music is a carefully sculpted piece of art. he takes it seriously. Therefore, one tends to find many layers to his music and the more you peel (for those who want to peel) the more you see. Rahman's music, therefore, caters to a wide audience. Those who want to hear a song in order to discover something new, will! And yet, his songs also cater to those that didn't want to tax themselves. The songs are fun enough for them too!

Bappi Lahiri sings "ek lo ek muft". Perhaps Rahman wanted to re-create the "mumbai se aaya mera dost" mood in a tapori-type bhang song? Especially since the movie also has Mithun Chakraborty, the original "mumbai se aya mera dost". All of this is random speculation, of course. However, what is certainly not speculation is that this song doesn't work for me... yet! And I have heard it only 5-6 times now. But then again, maybe this song will grow on me too?

Then we have "barso re", a song by Shreya Ghosal and Uday Mazumdar. While it is certainly not in the "baazi laga" category, it is not a sit-up-and-take-notice type of song, in my view. The beat is simple and effective and there are a few clever loops that run through the song. But the song just doesn't lift. It does have some fascinating layers in it though -- like the nice staccato beats. So perhaps the song will grow on me through these layers. Who knows? I felt a bit frustrated with this song though. The vocals by Shreya Ghosal are terrific and Naveen's flute is magic. The soundscape suggests a folk setting, but one can never be too sure with Rahman. There is always this tension between the imagined soundscape and the actual. But therein lies my frustration with this song. Just as the rustic drums worked in "chinnamma chilakkamma" (from Meenaxi) the strange drums (B. Rangan calls it "fire crackers in a tin can" -- how appropriate!) sometimes drown out the sweet vocals in this song. Maybe this is a layer-thing? I am hoping that a few more listens will move this one from the "undecided" category to "I can't get enough of this"!

The songs in the movie that are worth raving about are "tere bina", "ay hairathe" and "jaage hain". A mild warning though. You can easily get hooked on these songs! They are awfully catchy and they are incredibly melodious. Hariharan's voice in "ay hairathe" is awesome and so is Alka's. Chinmayee is a revelation. A. R. Rahman's singing is also awesome in "tere bina".

Of these three songs, "tere bina" is Rahman's tribute to Ustad Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. There is no doubt that Rahman, like a whole generation of sub-continental musicians (and music directors) has been hugely influenced by the great Nusrat. The "tere bina" tune is simple and the song is good in (or maybe because of) its simplicity. Chinmayee adds to the layers of the song. She sings quite mellifluosly and effortlessly. Rahman's rapid-fire solfeggio-singing as part of the first interlude is nice and quite Nusrat-esque. However, although it is quite good and while it is a nice tribute to Nusrat, it falls somewhat short of a total Nusrat impression for me. If you want to hear a take that is a bit truer to Nusrat style of rapid-free-solfeggio, listen to "ali ali" sung by a singer called Krishna in the movie Deewar! Of all the names for a person singing a Sufi Qawaali, the name Krishna seems almost as bizzarre as Imran Khan donning whites to turn up to play for India in a game of cricket! The song "ali ali" is from Deewar with music by Aadesh Shrivastava. I have been quite impressed with Aadesh Shrivastava lately. He has had a few clever songs like "ali ali", "rang deni" (the Kailash Kher offering), etc from movies like K3G, Dev, Deewar, Chalte Chalte, etc.

Anyway, back to "tere bina"... It is a lovely song with a catchy refrain. Chinmayee is quite good in this too. The segment that Chinmayee sings in the lower octaves towards the end of the song is quite haunting. She projects her clear and sweet voice right through the song. It is quite Alisha-Chinoy-ish in some parts too! Perhaps Chinmayee is in her more mature phase and one hopes that she lives up to the immense promise she showed when she burst onto the scene as a teenager! The "dum tara dum tara" refrain is sung by Murtuza Khan and Kadir Khan (who sang the terrific "noor-un-ala" Qawali from the movie Meenaxi). The acoustic guitar chords that play right through the song create a wonderful backdrop for the song. Overall, "tere bina" is quite good and I can see that this will become a favourite soon.

By the way, the "dum tara dum tara" refrain sounds very similar to the "ga ga re ga ga re ga re ga" solfeggio that Shankar Mahadevan and Sadhana Sargam sing in "goonji si hai" from Kyon! Ho Gaya Na. There's nothing patently wrong with that mind you. Just an observation. The refrain is also quite similar to "maangalyam" in Saathiya (Alaipayude)!

The song "ay hairathe" is a wonderful ghazal-type number sung by Hariharan and Alka Yagnik. The song starts of in a wonderfully quirky manner. An accordian plays softly accompanied by only the dayan beats of a tabla, also played in a muted manner. The entry of the bayan of the tabla is, therefore, quite dramatic and creates an immediate impact before the synth and electric guitar join in a melodious fusion. The "dum tara dum tara" refrain is heard in this song too, this time sung by Rahman in quite an impressive high pitch.

Anyway, "ay hairathe" is a good song that shows of the versatility of Hariharan and Alka. The movement from a ghazal arrangement (simplicity of arrangement with tabla, accordian, synth, electric guitar) to a Scottish highland tune in the first interlude shows Rahman's ability to switch genres seamlessly (as he did in Lagaan, Bombay Dreams and many more of his projects). Towards the end of the song, Alka Yagnik launches into singing "dum tara dum tara" and turns what is essentially a Qawali refrain right through the song to create a bhajan-type mood. Quite nice.

The last good song in the album is "jaage hain". Perhaps it is also the last song in the movie? It has a melancholic air to it and suggests a possible death-bed scene to it. I suggest that we be prepared for a few heart-string-tugs when we watch the picturisation of this song. Perhaps Dhirubhai Ambani on his death bed? [Guru is supposedly inspired by Ambani's life]. Chitra and Rahman have combined to make "jaage hain" a really nice song. It presents some really confident and strident vocals by Rahman. However, his entry into the song is a soft whisper. The horn and string arrangements in this are quite excellent. The string arrangement is presumably played by the Madras Qartret -- a group that Rahman uses in almost all of his movies (they travel on his live concerts too). The group includes V. R. Sekar on the Cello -- Kunnakudi Vaidhyanathan's son.

Lastly a song called "mayya" sung by Maryem Hassan Toller and Chinmayee. This is quite a nice song too. It is quite likely that Rahman got exposed to Maryem Toller's singing while he was based in Toronto (in preparation for his compositional magnum opus -- Lord of The Rings: The Musical). Maryem is an Arabic/Tukish singer based in Toronto, Canada. And "mayya" is an Arabic-inspired song supposedly picturised in Turkey with Mallika Sherawat dancing away. Rahman has always had a huge Arabic influence in his music (hear "satrangi re" from Dil Se). And "mayya" is a song that has a distinct "khalbali" (Rang De Basanti) hangover. It also has a "bhanno rani" flavour (the song from Earth:1947 that is said to have launched Sadhana Sargam), especially in its background loops, its rhythmic structure and its cleaver use of a heavy tambourine to accent the flowing rhythm. It is likely that the picturisation of the song, especially with the curvy Mallika Sherawat dancing away, will lift the song!

The lyrics and meanings of the songs are at: http://passionforcinema.com/gulzar-in-guru/

You can watch a clip of "tere bina" at: http://havetoremember.wordpress.com/2006/11/18/tere-bina-from-guru/

Finally Guru is not a funky KANK-type album. You won't be dancing to any of these songs in a tearing hurry! The songs will not play in pubs, bars and nightclubs. It may play in a few cafes. It will hopefully play in living rooms! I think that Guru is a good Rahman album. I wish he hadn't made "baazi laga" or "ek lo ek muft" or made something else in their place. I do want to wait and see what Mani Ratnam and Rajeev Menon do with the songs. If they don't pull it off, some of the songs will probably be forgotten.

But I have a feeling that the three-four good songs in this album will play repeatedly on my iPod...

Why is the Australian team disliked in World Cricket?

2006-11-10T13:41:00.000+10:30

The recently concluded Champions Trophy saw Australia claim the Cup after a terrific team performance. Their key players fired at the right times. They had a good balance to their team.

However, their journey was once again marred by the Michael Clarke incident with Chris Gayle. Admittedly Gayle was the one who was fined in that incident, but one could not help noticing that, yet again, the Aussies are not great at receiving the slegdges as they are, giving it. We have seen time and time again, the preciousness of McGrath (with Sarawan, which even the Aussie PM weighed into), Hayden (with Simon Jones and Collingwood) and Ponting (with almost everyone).

The Aussie team's Champions Cup journey was spectacularly marred by the team behaving in a disrespectully unruly manner as they appeared to bundle the Chief Guest off the stage so that they could have their photos taken. Rapproachment was again needed. Given the amount of money Aussie cricketers make in India, cynics would easily understand the urgency of the apology! But this is an embarassing cycle of rudeness-apology-rudeness-apology that begs a deeper and more sincere look at what drives and motivates such behaviour.

I remember Langer once pontificated that he was immensely upset when a young rookie leg-spinner (W. D. Balaji Rao) sledged Steve Waugh in a tour game in India in 2001 (India 'A' Vs Australia). I remember Langer saying he could not stomach the fact that the rookie Rao was sledging Steve Waugh, by then a legend of the game. The same pontificator was standing close in and applauding when Bracken had some choice words to say to Sachin Tendulkar -- and in World cricket, they don't come bigger in the legend-stages than Sachin. Three words come to mind -- pot, kettle, black!

Langer once professed, after he had signed the Australian players' self-motivated "Spirit of Cricket" treaty that he would strive to play the game in the spirit in which it should be played. At the time of the historic signing, I did wonder if it was genuine or whether it was all nothing but gloss, sheen and spin to cope with the dreadful image Australian cricket had in the International arena. At the time, Langer said he would accept umpiring decisions in a sporting manner. Yet, he still continued to shake his head annoyingly almost after each LBW decision that was given against him! Such was the vigorousness of his head-shakes that I was afraid his neck would detach itself from his body one day -- in protest, if not out of repetitive stress weakness!

Indeed, barely a week after Langer had made his pledge, we saw a curious set of incidents in the Brisbane Test. Langer, had received a huge repreive when on almost nothing. Subsequently, after having scored more than a hundred, he was given out LBW. He shook his head all the way in a slow walk to the pavillion that would have made both an Indian Manipuri slow-dance dancer as well as Phil Simmons think about re-training their trades! The ball that got Langer would have hit middle and leg! Even if we ignore the huge repreive Langer had received when he had scored not much, the head-shake-slow-walk made a total nonsense of Langer's "spirit of cricket" proclamations!

Meanwhile, when the Indians were batting, Sachin Tendulkar received yet another shocker from Steve Bucknor. Gillespie bowled and Sachin had left the ball alone as it climbed and thudded into the top of his thigh pad! Gillespie suppressed an appeal. Bucknor thought about it and nodded slowly. Sachin looked up, and had a surprised look on his face. He then turned around quickly and walked fast and straight to the pavillion, head bowed.

The difference was palpable. The difference was that Sachin had not done any pre-match talking (read: spin) about sportsmanship. He didn't need to. He was (and remains) a true sportsman. His actions mean that words are not required. He did the walking. Langer had done the pre-match chest-beat and was looking like a pillock... again!

But I digress!

I do admire the Australian cricket team for their ability to play good, strong, hard, committed cricket. They are the best cricket team in the world today. Of that there is no doubt in my mind. I have played club cricket in Australia to know that they receive solid grounding at the grass-roots level. They are polished and grounded in every aspect of the game right from a young age -- the committment to training, the seriousness with which they take their sport, the winning habit, as well as the sledging!

Lest you think otherwise, let me state that I am not a puritan. I believe that if players want to sledge, they should. However, they should also learn that if they give it, they should be prepared to take it too. It has been reported that Parthiv Patel whispered to Steve Waugh, "Go on mate. Give us one last slog-sweep." in that famous last Test in Sydney that Australia hung on to dear life to save. Steve Waugh is reported to have said, "Give us some respect young lad. You were in your nappies when I started playing cricket"!

Duh! So, there are rules for "appropriate and proper sledging"?

Mind you, I do have a lot of respect for Steve Waugh. He did not suffer fools. He played hard and overcame all sorts of obstacles to become a true legend of the game. But could he really take it as well as he dished out his "mental disintegration"? He was tested by Saurav Ganguly and in my view, he "disintegrated" himself. Saurav Ganguly's toss-tactics and return-sledges during the famous Laxman-281 series made Steve Waugh boil. Perhaps the great Waugh had been beaten at his own game?

My view is that those who throw stones in the gutter should expect a splash or two to soil their own clothes. There are no anti-splash rules once you throw that stone in.

McGrath just can not claim "but there's a line in the sand and comments about my wife are not on", when he himself is reported to have sledged Sarawan with the choice words -- "So what does Lara's **** taste like?"

I don't get it. Where does McGrath get his halo from?

But where was I?

The Aussies... yes! They are a good cricket team. They are hard-nosed and bloody-nosed. I umpired for 4-5 seasons principally to learn more about the Aussies and the way they tick. They play hard and work hard. But they are also willing to (and they do) play the "mental disintegration" card at all levels. They are taught to play hard and train hard. And they are good at it. They are taught to sledge and they are terrific at it.

So it is not surprising that Warne, Martyn, Watson, Hayden, McGrath, Healy, Chappell, Border, Ponting, et al turn out the way they do!

I do admire them as people of immense calibre. I do not admire them as sportsmen.

To be "a sport" is to be fair, even-handed, respectful and level-headed in things that you do in the sporting field -- and these days, out of it too. Impact comes not merely from the number of cups that one has in ones trophy cabinet. History differentiates great sporting teams from good ones on the basis of how the team played and not merely on how many cups the team won. Long lasting success comes only if the 'means' and the 'ends' are balanced. The end rarely justifies the means.

A true champion (and almost everyones' sporting hero), will be a Roger Federer or a Tiger Woods or a Sachin Tendulkar. They enjoy their sport. They play fair. They play hard. They play strong. They dig deep when their backs are to the wall. They query bad calls. But they get on with it. They have fun. They leave an impression. They are modest. They are level-headed. They are geniuses. They are also as good on the field as they are out of it. They are icons. They are role-models.

We like them not just because they win. That is a fact. They just do! We like them because of the way they win.

I will applaud when Federer or Tiger Woods or Tendulkar win (for they are true champions). I will also empathise with them when they lose.

However, I will continue to rejoice (along with the whole world, perhaps?) when Australia loses. The difference is that they are champions of the game (temporary). They are not champions of the sport (permanent).

So it does depend on ones outlook. Do we want temporary success or permanent glory?

May be it is time for the Aussies to ponder why almost the whole cricketing world dislikes them. If they believe the world hates them because they keep winning, they need to look at Federer and Tiger Woods (habitual winners who are loved) of the world and learn a bit.

England in India, 2006: A Preview

2006-02-27T14:34:00.000+10:30

The India-England series is going to be an extremely interesting one for world cricket. At the start of the series, England is second in the ICC Test rankings and India is third. Only 2 points separate the two teams. A series win by England will consolidate its hold on the second spot while a series win by India will propel it to the second spot. On paper, the teams appear to be evenly matched, but then Test matches are seldom played on paper!

England have not won a test match in India for 21 years and with the personnel it has and given its rather disastrous start to the Tour, it is unlikely to win one this year! After having won its Tour opener against a weak CCI Team, England slumped to an embarassing defeat against a young Board Presidents' XI team. At the time of writing this, Treskotick is already back in England and that is a body blow for the team as he is England’s best player of spin. Vaughn’s dodgy knee has become dodgier. Pietersen is down with a sore back and is uncertain to play in Nagpur. Paul Collingwood is down with a sore back too. Besides these setbacks, a few players, including Simon Jones, have had a stomach bug.

A few things have gone right for India though. By confirming that they will play two openers and have Dravid come in at #3, they have junked the plan that led them astray in Pakistan. Despite Gambhir’s good showing in the tour game, the choice of Jaffer is a good one. Jaffer is in the form of his life and, provided he plays with a free and unburdened mind, he should do well. It appears as though he is hungry to regain his spot and, after nearly 4 years in the sidelines, a Hayden-like resurrection may well be in the offing.

In Pakistan, the Dravid-as-opener folly was adopted as a strategy aimed at accommodating Ganguly. Now, with Ganguly’s ouster, such bravado is unnecessary and the worlds’ best #3 (or second best, if one has Ponting as the best) can play at #3, where he should! With Ganguly gone, the captain and coach will have the dressing room to themselves. They can put their strategies and plans in place and build to the future. Team India looks fresh and revitalized. The accent is on youth blending with experience. The accent is on energy, commitment, flexibility, strategy and process. “Focus on the basics. Outcomes will follow”, seems to me to be the mantra.

After a long time, India’s pace attack looks solid and good. Even though India has Ajit Agarkar, Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra and J. Balaji cooling their heels, the current India team has top talent in Irfan Pathan, S. Sreesanth, V. R. V. Singh and R. P. Singh. I believe the selectors missed a trick in not selecting Munaf Patel ahead of V.R.V.Singh, who had a listless outing for the Presidents’ XI against England. Munaf Patel, on the other hand, had the English batsmen ducking and weaving. But I think this is a moot point anyway, for it may well be Irfan Pathan and Sreesanth (and/or R. P. Singh) that play in the final XI. Pathan and Sreesanth are the form bowlers right now. Although Pathan has dropped his pace somewhat, he has made up for it by using the seam, the crease and the variations in his pace rather cleverly. After a lively presence in the one-dayers against Pakistan Sreesanth may be slightly ahead of R. P. Singh to grab the second pacers’ spot.

Even though the recently prolific Yuvraj is absent through injury, given Pathan’s and Dhoni’s recent exploits with the bat, India’s batting looks solid, with Sehwag, Jaffer, Dravid, Tendulkar, Laxman, Dhoni and Pathan forming the batting nexus. Instead of playing a Kaif or Raina at #6, ahead of Dhoni in the batting order, India should, I believe, bite the bullet, believe in the strengths of Jaffer, Pathan and Dhoni (as bats) and blood young Piyush Chawla. At 17 years and 67 days old, Piyush could well be the second youngest player to make his debut for India (behind Sachin Tendulkar)! And get this! If he plays in the first Test, he will be less than half Anil Kumble’s age! Talk of the master and the apprentice!

Without Treskothick, England are vulnerable against spin. Time and time again, they fell to the wiles of Kaneria on their tour of Pakistan. Together, Chawla and Kumble can make them dance. And for a bit of rest from that, they can be fed a dose of the wily Turbanator!

Piyush Chawla’s repertoire, line-length, his ability to bowl the googly on target from round the wicket (Tendulkar got out in exactly the same manner in the 2005 Challenger Series) as well as his current form (after an excellent showing in the recently concluded Under 19 World Cup) makes this the time for his initiation into the mens’ game!

England will fight and fight hard. The recent Ashes series has given the team resolve and a strong belief in themselves. Despite the bad outing in Pakistan, I think that that tour will have prepared them better for travels in the sub-continent. England probably have the best fast bowling attack in world cricket today. Overall, this team looks better balanced and better prepared to tackle India.

However, given the start that England has had, I’d find it hard to believe that the door which has now been left open, cannot be seized on by a hungry, young and revitalized India.

If India can maintain the pressure, wait for the right opportunity and seize their chances, this could be a 1-0 or a 2-0 outcome in favour of India.

The Ganguly Dilemma

2006-01-13T15:36:00.000+10:30

As I write this, Ganguly has been selected to play as opener for
the first Test (at the expense of Jaffer and Gambhir)!

Frankly, if Ganguly had to play, opening was the ONLY place he
could have played, especially given Gambhir's indifferent form.
Jaffer could have been a risk. So, if Ganguly had to play, this
was the best position, especially if it is a seaming wicket.
Ganguly could also bowl a few overs as 1st change. Who knows?
He may even pick up a wicket or two. A worse scenario would
have been if he was chosen ahead of Yuvraj!!

The current compromise is one which could backfire though! For
example, how many overs before he runs out a rampaging Sehwag?

So this is possibly the best scenario. He could open and see
some shine off the ball with a few streaky edges -- one of
which will end up in a slippers' hand! If he flops as opener,
he can quietly announce his retirement and fade away with
dignity.

The nightmare scenario for India is if he scores a lucky 100!

A question of Venues: India Vs England in India, 2007

2005-11-21T16:04:00.000+10:30

So, the pre-tour jostling has commenced in earnest. It seems to me that, prior to almost every tour of either Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh or India, the ECB has some problem or the other that is brought up! Some of the issues that the ECB throws up (like those relating to the 'legitamacy of' or the 'need for' a Zimbabwe tour itself) are often legitimate. And some of them are a mixture of needless pedantry or insulting positioning.

Earlier, the ECB used to whine about almost every tour. Some things have improved. However, the English method still remains the same! Clueless...

The latest spat involves the same actors -- Lord McLaurin and Dalmiya. And this time, the issue is about the venues for the England cricket tour of India 2006. The negotiation method chosen by the ECB was to play out their whining through the media. Nothing gets Dalmiya's goat more than this! If McLaurin wanted to wave a red rag to a raging bull, he could not have chosen a better method!

Not only was the ECB's request for changing the ODI/Test venues turned down, the BCCI decided to allocate the warm-up matches to obscure little towns! It was a deliberate ploy on the part of Dalmiya to thumb his nose and deliver an unpleasant upper-cut to the upper-lipped!

The ECB had sent its officials (Carr and Bevan) to meet with the BCCI to sort out the venue negotiations for the Tests and ODIs. The choice of venues was, apparently, non-negotiable. But along the way, something must have irked the businessman from Kolkata. It is said that Dalmiya personally attended the planning meetings and is said to have exerted his influence on the outcome! This was, perhaps one slap in the face too many for the ECB to tolerate.

However, the ECB must blame their own method for the impasse. Much of this drama was played out in the media through well-placed feeds and leaks.

Scyld Berry, in his article in The Telegraph talks of the BCCI being the cricket world's "most eccentric organisation". It is actually quite a funny read and exposes a deep sense of subcontinental distrust and Anglo superiority that the English have! It is little wonder that they lose most of their Test matches in the subcontinent even before the itinerary is mapped out! While the choice of venues for the Tests is attributed to India's need for the spin-friendly pitches of Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Nagpur, the choice of the poor ODI venues is attributed to the fact that India does not want English fans at these grounds! Scyld should know that Bangalore and Chennai are probably more spin friendly than Ahmedabad and Nagpur! The regional politics of "rotation" seem to be lost on the English.

Things took a turn for the worse when Carr and Bevan were sent to India by the ECB to sort out the mess. The damage was done, however, it seemed. The previous weeks' rumblings in the press seem to have had a bad effect on Dalmiya & Co! Not only did Carr and Bevan lose the negotiations, they suffered the ignominy of seeing the practice games allocated to Jameshedpur and Agartala!

The chess game enters a new phase with the ECB having made informal requests to Pakistan to see if the warm-up games could be held in that country! This was seen by Scyld Berry as a diplomatic snub to the BCCI! If this were true and if I were Dalmiya, I'd be rubbing my hands in glee! The snub is bound to backfire. It just provides Dalmiya with another opportunity to rub it in! Although Scyld Berry quotes Pakistan media manager Naushad Ali as having accepted the request to play the warm-up games there, The Guardian report says that the approach to Pakistan has only been informal. Wonder what happened to the ECB theory that Pakistan is an "unsafe place"? :-)

On November 20, Rediff reported that Colonel Naushad Ali, Pakistan Cricket Board's Media Co-ordinator, confirmed England had made an approach to stage the warm-up games in that country. He is reported to have said, "I'm sure we can arrange something between Islamabad and Lahore,".

This has all got out of hand really!

If all of the above is true, Dalmiya would calmly say to Pakistan that Team India will play its warm up games (prior to its tour of Pakistan early next year) in Bangladesh or in Afghanistan! Faced with that insult, I am pretty sure that the PCB's invitation to ECB to play warm up games in Pakistan will be hastily withdrawn. Naushad Ali will receive a gentle whip on his backside from Shahryar Khan. With the PCB invitation withdrawn, the ECB will have no choice but to come back to the negotiation table with its tail between its legs!! At that point, a face-saving move would be arranged of changing Agartala to Bikaner or Udipi or Tirichi or someplace else :-)

Such are the methods of the Dalmiya world!

In reality, the ECB does have a valid case, in my view. Olympics committees do take into account infrastructure facilities and plans prior to allocating a city the "right" to host the Olympics. And when they do that, they do not merely look after the needs of the athletes. It is, in fact, a very minor factor in their consideration. The major factor is lodging facilities, infrastructure facilities (hotels, restaurants, business meeting places, theatrettes, seminar rooms, night clubs, pubs, etc) and logistics/transport facilities. This is because it is the responsibility of the host nation to ensure that it has sufficient facilties to ensure player comfort as well as fan-follower-comfort. And given the amount of business that gets transacted at (or around) these major events, the consideration is not just about the ground, the stadia, player comfort and the rooms that athletes stay in. That would be way too myopic.

The ECB is right, in my view, to enquire about facilities for their fans and supporters at the various venues. Their method is, however, quite shocking!

At least the ECB is looking after the comfort of their fans and families. In India, we tend to take the comfort of every one else (apart from the BCCI invitees and the players) for granted. In that regard, I applaud the ECB.

The organising host (be it of the Olympics or a wedding or a cricket match) has a Duty of Care towards his/her guests/fans.

Although the presence of restaurants, pubs and theatres may be inconsequential for cricket (although I'd disagree if one looks at the bigger picture, which I will come to in a minute), good accommodation and good fan-comfort falls smack-bang in the middle of the venue-selection remit.

The bigger picture... Sports tourism is a fast growing industry. The World Cup Soccer is going to be big news where millions of sports tourists are going to thrash through Germany next year. It is not just about soccer fans. It is more than that. Even cricket-based-tourism is a growing industry. India does not tap into it in a big way. If India did want to tap into it, it would/should junk the rotation policy and schedule England and Australian matches in major venues where fan-comfort is much better than at Agartala! Moreover, at these other places, there are often many other tourism-products to on-sell and cross-sell.

Why Australia and England? Well, their fans are perpetual travellers. The FANATICS (an Aussie fan club) has many many fans that will travel with the team to most places. The West Indies has benefited from this in a major way.

This whole sage has been sordid. Anand Vasu has provided a nice summary on CricInfo.

I think the ECB was right in making their request. I think the BCCI has been needlessly pugnacious and inflexible in their defence of their stance. The ECB method has been shocking and smacks of their Imperial past.

Unfortunately, as a result, they will play in Agartala and, if they carry-on like they have been, they may end up playing a Test match in Outer Udipi or Jhumritalaiya!

On the use of SuperSubs

2005-11-17T13:07:00.000+10:30

I get the feeling that, while India have come to grips with the optimal use of their powerplays, there is still work to be done in thinking through her use of SuperSubs. This is a new concept in world (limited-overs) cricket and it will take time for it to be worked out by teams around the world.

Sri Lanka came up with a brilliant strategy for optimal use of the fielding restrictions in the first 15-overs of a limited overs game of cricket. And, in Jayasuriya and Kaluwitharana, they had the personnel to execute that strategy to a 'T'. Similarly, some team will come up with the best SuperSub execution strategy.

At the moment, however, I feel that India is groping in the dark on this one. I'd love to be proven wrong, but a look at the last few games suggests that SuperSub-thinking is constrained either by (lack of) available personnel or by other pressing issues (like fitness, goals, "processes", etc), which may have pushed this to a lower priority!

In the recently concluded matches against Sri Lanka the SuperSubs used were:

Match-1:
Toss - India, Decision - Bat First
SSub - Murali Kartik, employed, Subbed Venugopal Rao

Match-2:
Toss - India, Decision - Bowl First
SSub - Sree Santh, not employed, --

Match-3:
Toss - SL, Decision - Bat First
SSub - S. K. Raina (DNB), Subbed Murali Kartik

Match-4:
Toss - India, Decision - Bowl First
SSub - S. K. Raina, Subbed Sree Santh

Match-5:
Toss - SL, Decision - Bowl First
SSub - J. P. Yadav, Subbed Darvid (injured)

Match-6:
Toss - India, Decision - Bowl First
SSub - S. K. Raina (DNB), Subbed Murali Kartik

Match-7
Toss - SL, Decision - Bat First
SSub - S. K. Raina (DNB), Subbed R. P. Singh

And in the first match of the series against South Africa (RSA) lasy night (17 November):

Toss - RSA, Decision - Bowl First
SSub - G. Gambhir, Subbed Murali Kartik

The choices seem a bit ill-conceived to me. It is not as if the selections lack logic. It is evident in most cases bar one! It seems to me that the choice of the SuperSub has almost influenced what Dravid will do at the toss! It is almost as if Dravid and Chappell are saying "If the SuperSub that is chosen is a bowler, then I will bat first" or "If the SuperSub that is chosen is a batsman, then I will bowl first".

As it stands, the SuperSub rule is loaded against the team that loses the toss. Team sheets have to be exchanged prior to the toss. If a team includes a batsman as a SuperSub on the team sheet, there is little reason why that team would bat first if it wins the toss! Likewise, if a team includes a bowler as a SueprSub, it would bat first.

And this is perhaps one reason why Darren Lehmann dislikes (and Gilchrist backs Lehmann in his hatred of) this 'innovation' in limited-overs cricket. If the advantage is properly exploited the team that wins the toss is better placed to exploit the advantage of the 12th man!

So, in a sense, I agree with both Gilchrist and Lehmann -- who says that the SuperSub innovation is a "shit rule"! Ahem! So much for diret verbal feedback!

In Match-1 of the India-SL series, Sree Santh was the SuperSub. India won the toss and bowled last! In Match-3, Sri Lanka's toss-decision aided India's SuperSub choice (Raina). In Match-4, Raina was the SuperSub. India won the toss and batted last! In Match-5, Sri Lanka's toss-decision aided India's choice of Yadav (essentially a bowling allrounder). In Match-6, Raina was the SuperSub. India won the toss and batted last! In Match-7 Sri Lanka's toss-decision aided India's choice of Raina.

One example that somehow does not fit this bill is the choice in Match 2 of Sree Santh as SuperSub. That choice was as bizarre as Dravid's choice of bowling first, thereby effectively negating the SuperSub trump card that he had at his disposal (Sree Santh).

In the recently concluded match against RSA, it seemed that Dravid went in with a "I have to bowl first because Gambhir is the SuperSub" mentality. When he lost the toss and Smith elected to bowl first, Dravid's SuperSub trump card was effectively negated.

Agreed Smith (and in the previous examples, Attapattu) will do what is best for his (their) team on winning the toss. However, Dravid's choice of SuperSub -- at the time team sheets were exchanged at the toss -- would give Smith enough clues as to what Dravid would do if he won the toss!

I think this is one area India does need to do its work.

In my view, the best SuperSub choice would be an all rounder. In the recently concluded match against South Africa, J. P. Yadav would have been a better SuperSub. In the event of a batting collapse (and there indeed was one), he could have come in (as a SuperSub for Murali Kartik), hung around as a bat and then been India's 5th bowler too. Unfortunately, India does not have too many utility allrounders like Yadav.

Depending on how you read it, Dravid himself hinted in an interview yesterday that he would prefer having a few good allrounders to choose from. Perhaps his confidence in Yadav's abilities is not that great after all? Well, in that case, does the team need a journeyman? Would India not be better in grooming an allrounder who would be a super SuperSub by 2007? Where are Robin Singh and Ajay Jadeja when you need them!

And why not end this piece with a bit of a controversial opinion?

In my view, Saurav Ganguly is probably the best SuperSub in India today. He can bowl a bit. And he has been turning his arm over -- quite successfully too, I might add -- in the recently concluded Duleep Trophy games. It is almost as if he wishes to remind one and all that he can bowl too -- now why he won't do that often enough when he was captain of India still remains a mystery! If needed (like India did in yesterday's 1st game against RSA) he can come in and bat decently too. After all, he is a player with over 10,000 runs in one-dayers!

Well worth a look into, in my view...

Letter to SMH

2005-11-15T10:51:00.000+10:30

Mike Duffy wrote an opinion-piece in the Sydney Morning Herald on The Changing Face of Our Professional Elite in Australia. It bothered me enough to write the following "Letter" to the editor of SMH. Don't know if it will be published but, here it is anyway!

Dear Editor

I was suitably alarmed by the tone of innuendo in Michael Duffy’s
article in the SMH (12 November 2005). Hence this letter. I am
almost sure that Michael Duffy would be the first one to jump up
and down and claim an Australian victory if an “Australian” of
Indian origin or Chinese origin won the 100m freestyle at the
next Olympics. Indeed, have we not celebrated Kostya Tszyu’s
victories in boxing as “Australian”? Why, we even claim Russell
Crowe’s Oscar as an “Australian” Oscar! Pray why the double
standards when it comes to excellence in education and in the
professional workplace?

Instead of learning from and applauding the Asian value systems,
which place extraordinary emphasis on a strong work ethic, erudition,
scholarship, exemplar social behaviour, professional/moral integrity
and a strong will to succeed in their adopted homeland, Duffy seems
to have, perhaps, gone down the route of paranoia.

Sentences like “a nation's elite has invited another group to come
in and replace it” demonstrate a mix of shallowness and a degree of
patronization that is potentially damaging. Immigration policy is
not a zero-sum-game, which it would be if “replacement” was a
mantra. It is about how we grow the pie to a substantially different
size than it would otherwise be. Kostya Tszyu did not “replace” an
Australian boxer. He added to the existing medal chest.

Just as the European migrants contributed strongly to Australian
society in their own unique ways, the current wave of Asian
immigrants will shape Australia as she moves into a brave new
world. Let us embrace it like America has and move forward with
purpose and vision.

I point Duffy to an article in Business Week by Abigail Ann Fraeman
(March 21 2005). In it, she talks about how new migrants offer an
opportunity to celebrate their personal successes even as they make
a “significant difference in their new country”. That is the
opportunity that is offered by Duffy’s Asians that “aspire urgently
to enter the middle class”.

A healthy public debate and discussion on this topic would be
necessary and great. But let us carry it out in an environment
of the opportunity that is afforded rather than one of paranoia.

Mohan Krishnamoorthy

Is this warranted?

2005-11-13T14:28:00.000+10:30

For some time now, the www.cricketnext.com website has had me somewhat bemused! I am an itinerant visitor to that site. My opinion of the wesbite (not that it matters to anyone, really) is that it veers towards sensationalism at the best of times and always has something to say against the Aussies!

The intensity of the chest-beating in the editorials shifted a few gears ever since the infamous Ganguly-Chappell spat in Zimbabwe.

Things were taken to a new level today with this article on Greg Chappell... The graphic is utterly disgusting...

http://www.cricketnext.com/ind_sl/chappellscorecardodi7.html

While everyone should have a right to say what they want to, I think the Greg Chappell graphic is really an unwarranted low-blow and is in poor taste.

The Aussification of Indian Cricket

2005-11-13T12:59:00.000+10:30

Since the arrival of "I will take both your eyes if you are after one of mine" Ganguly, Indian cricket has travelled a few notches higher. Ganguly instilled in the hitherto meek Indian cricketers a sense of pride and a will to fight.

There was the immediate heady successs of an enthralling series win against Australia in India, best remembered by the epic Laxman-Dravid partnership in Kolkata. Getting to the World Cup finals in 2003 was a big boost to a cricket-starved nation. India drew with Australia in Australia and came close to beating them at home in what was to be Steve Waugh's farewell Test Series. Then came the series win in Pakistan.

It was after that that the rot set in and something had to give. Ganguly did.

Since the arrival of Greg Chappell as coach of Team India, the "Aussification" of Indian cricket has taken on a newer meaning. There are many things that are not great about Aussie cricket, but there is no doubt in my mind that they are a champion team. In recent years, I have seen some wonderful batsmen play cricket. Batsmen like Richards, Gavaskar, Greenidge, Haynes, Miandad, Tendulkar, Lara, Dravid, Kirsten, Chappell & Chappell, Waugh & Waugh, Kallis, Inzamam, Anwar, Gower, Border, et al were greats. Bowlers like Marshall, Roberts, Garner, Holding, Walsh, Ambrose, Lillie, Thompson, Imran, Sarfraz, Hadlee, Akram, Younis, Akthar, Kapil, Botham, Prasanna, Chandrashekar, Bedi, et al, were some of the best bowlers we will perhaps ever see.

However, there has been only one team that has stood out since the early 90s. The Australians are a champion team. In my view, Simpson moulded them. Border endured them. Taylor built them. Waugh strengthened them and now, Ponting will take them to newer heights. Australia will continue to innovate in every aspect of its game. Unlike the West Indian decline, there is significant bench strength in Australia. The game has never been more popular than it is right now. Indeed, after Australia's loss in the recently concluded Ashes series, sales of cricket gear (bats, helmets, gloves, etc) were bigger than ever before!

The Aussie method starts in the paddocks and backyards where their cricket is played initially. Even at the junior levels, the moulding, the hardening and the strengthening is evident. Junior cricketers are hardened in these lush green fields. Sloppiness is not tolerated. Discipline is rewarded. Youngsters throw themselves on wet and well-watered grass to stop sure fours. Even a 12-year old can effect a slide-stop to cut off a sure four. The Team is always bigger than the individual. Players stand up for their mates. It is tough out there on the field. No quarter is asked. None will be given. However, at the end of the days' play, everyone has a beer and a laugh.

The Aussie method builds on this strong representative-level foundation. The domestic competition is tough in the Pura Cup. Overall the method is simple and yet effective. It is the process that matters. It is clinical and efficient, demanding and ruthless.

In a recent article, Simpson talks about the Aussie way of doing things. It is clear that every single aspect is ironed out and discussed. The demystification process involves the dismantling of a complex solution landscape into a collection of easy variables that one can attack and address.

Today, the coaches of India (G. Chappell), Sri Lanka (Moody), Bangladesh (Whatmore) and West Indies (Bennett) are all Aussies. Not long ago, the coach of New Zealand was an Aussie too! Geoff Marsh had a stint in Zimbabwe recently. They are all over the place, putting in "processes" to lift the level of the game around the world.

Indian cricket needed Greg Chappell. He has brought into the game in India fresh thinking and a clear focus on goals and process. There are, now, individual goals within team roles. The focus is on fitness and performance. It doesn't matter if one wins or loses as long as one plays to the best of one's potential. This mantra has sunk in and the team is finding fresh legs everywhere.

Story has it that when Sreesanth, the new Indian fast bowler won his cap, Chappell asked Tendulkar to say a few words and present the pup with his cap. Apparently, Tendulkar made a stirring speech in which he is reported to have said that the cap is not just a piece of cloth that sits atop a cricketer's head, but that it was what every cricketer in India would easily die for. He asked Sreesanth to wear it with pride and ensure that he gave off 120% every time he stepped onto the field with it. He is reported to have added that that would be a moment Sreesanth would never ever forget whether he played 150 games or a mere 10! It is said that Sreesanth had tears in his eyes. Nearby, Dhoni was heard mumbling that he'd have loved to have had a ceremony like this when he won his India cap. Instead, he just turned up for his first game and found his cap in amongst his kit!

Yet another sign of the Aussification of Indian cricket. Each Aussie cricketer's cap is presented by a legend of the game. This is a ceremony that is said to bring a lump to even the most hardened throat. For the recipient, it is said to be an unforgettable experience.

Only time will tell if Chappell is successful in raising the bar, but for now, the portents are good. India is increasingly embracing processes, thoughts and strategies that made Australian cricket what it is today. And with a hardened Aussie in charge and with Dravid, a constant learner, as his 2IC, Indian cricket is certainly in safe hands.

Is Greg Chappell good for Indian Cricket?

2005-11-11T13:05:00.000+10:30

I write this at a time when Team India is winning and winning well against the Sri Lankans in cricket. The 7-match ODI series is in the bag for the Indians and, with one match to go in the series, the scoreline reads 5-1 in favour of Team India. Everyone in India is smiling. Sahara has re-engaged with Team India as its official sponsor. BCCI elections fiascos are suddennly forgotten and fogrgiven! No one cares anymore who is running BCCI today! And it appears that all roads are already pointing to an Indian victory in the 2007 World Cup! Mandira Bedi has already selected her pasta strap dresses from her wardrobe (perhaps noodle straps are passe now?) in readiness for the 2007 World Cup! Soon, someone will write a song-and-dance sequence for the team that will bring back the cup! Another movie like "Lagaan" will, no doubt, hit the production desk soon!

Just prior to the Sri Lankans arriving in India, the team had gloom and doom written all over it. Ganguly, the then captain, and Greg Chappell, the coach, had had their public spat. Rediff called it the Maha Yudh (or, the "Big War") of Indian Cricket. Indeed, there were many writers (and their ghosts!) including Ranatunga and Charlie Austin who had written Team India off. Charlie Austin compared the contrasting fortunes of the two Aussie coaches (Chappell and Moody) in their "honeymoon periods" with their respective teams. Writing on Cricinfo, he said:

Chappell, meanwhile, was plunged into controversy. During his first tour, the Indian Oil Cup, the first murmurs of dissatisfaction leaked out as some players privately indicated unease with his love of theory. Then a damaging rift opened up with Sourav Ganguly during the Zimbabwe tour that followed. The Ganguly Issue, a spat played out in the full glare of the Indian and world media, openly divided the team and uncertainly now lingers over both Ganguly's and Chappell's futures. Ganguly's timely tennis elbow created a convenient opportunity for the selectors to appoint Rahul Dravid as captain, easing the tension, but the road ahead still looks rocky.

Ranatunga weighed into the captaincy debate. At the start of the India-SL series, he talked about the "huge chasm between the two teams". He also bemoaned the lack of planning in Indian cricket and talked about the excellent work of the Sri Lankan Cricket Committee, of which he is the chair. After the finals of the Indian Oil cup (which India lost to Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka) he also talked about India's fielding. Writing on Cricinfo, he wrote:

India could be the worst fielding side in the world at present. They allowed extra runs in the field and lost a few while running between the wickets during the final of the Indian Oil Cup against Sri Lanka. Add them all up and you have the difference between winning and losing.

Meanwhile, in Kolkata, Kiran More, the chair of the selection panel had other fires to put out as his effigy was burnt by irate fans!

And despite scoring a century against a good, young, agile and solid North Zone team, Ganguly was not considered worthy of being India captain or indeed, a player. Suddenly, like a mushroom that shot out the ground overnight, a website was launched "to mourn, condemn and discuss the pathetic state of Indian cricket embodied by Sourav 'no-fastbowling-please' Ganguly".

Things were dire for Indian cricket!

Flash back to 2001, when the betting scandal hit Indian cricket, India had just been trounced in Australia and Sachin Tendulkar resigned as captain. A courageous leader was born then! Ganguly stepped forward then with pride and passion and took the proverbial by the horns.

He infused in the team, a sense of pride. He stared his opponents in the eye. He abandoned Gandhism in the land of Gandhi and took more than an eye for an eye. When an opponent slapped him on one cheek, he demanded both cheeks of the perpetrator. He never shirked a fight. When reason demanded it, he even took his team shirt off and swirled it with pride that would have brought a smile to a lion's face. It hurt him when India whimpered to defeat without a fight. He taught the team how to fight back; how to win. He soon became India's winningest captain! He backed youth. He backed his players and built a trusted band of followers around him. He was a great captain and a terrific leader of men. Make no doubt of that.

But then more was needed. He could not dig deep and find it. The troubled man perhaps could not find more amidst his own batting woes. And just as even the best wine turns to vinegar with a sense of sorrowful inevitability, the team trudged more and more into the cancer of self-preservation. The captain was the worst perpetrator in this regard. He had to go...

The change of coach hastened the highlighting of the malaise that all of India knew.

The Holy War was waged and Chappell emerged successful. The deposed captain retreated with a bruised elbow and a shattered ego.

Enter Rahul Dravid, stage right -- or is it "the right stage"?

The new coach and the new captain set about the repair job? How can a team that is so badly in the dumps stage a recovery? And stage a recovery they indeed did.

Together, captain and coach are mouthing management speak that would make Jack Welch wince with embarassment! Dravid talked about individual goals and processes. Greg Chappell talks about attitude, individual goals, aims, vision and process. Ranatunga is suddenly a convert! Not only does he think that Team India is raising the bar in every game, albeit in a cocky manner, he thinks India is the only team that can beat the Aussies! In his article on November 10, he writes:

Greg Chappell has practically built alternative for every spot. Instead of 11, India now have 22 players to choose from. As I hear names of VRV Singh and Piyush Chawla, it seems there is no let-up in experiments yet.

Interestingly, Australians are not doing the same. The nucleus of their side is still the same old faces. These men have been irrepressible gladiators but are already in their 30s. If in two years time they lose their edge, Australia could have a problem on hand. The new faces we see in their side from time to time have not looked exceptional.

What an amazing turnaround from the wily old master ex-SriLankan captain in the space of three months (to the date)!

So, is Greg Chappell good for Indian cricket? Yes, without a doubt. He has brought a new steely edge to Team India. If Ganguly believed in youth, Greg Chappell takes it to a different level. He has brought in youth. He has assigned them seniors as their mentors. In a manner similar to throwing meat into a lion's den, he has chucked these strapping young men into the thick of things with the mantra "Perform or Persish". Not original maybe. But it is working!

There are two things that worry me though! It is not the first time that I have heard Greg Chappell say that "cricket is a game of failures"! Duh! Serve me right for wanting India to win! I was backing the wrong horse! Chanderpaul may lay claim to being the best captain in the world if failure was the yardstick!!

The other aspect of his leadership that worries me a bit is his over emphasis on process and under emphasis on outcomes. Yes, there is no doubt that good processes will yield good outcomes. As I continually say to my own team, good outcomes are a result of a good plan (strategic and operational plan). However, an over-focus on process may just lead to a stifling of creativity. It may mean that the means are more important than the end. To me, they are both important. One can't lose sight of end outcome as well as the important smaller outcomes (signals) along the way.

However, there is no doubt in my mind that, the time was right for lifting the bar in Indian cricket. Greg Chappell is the right man at the right time. The team did need to be lifted from the cancer that had set in. Time to move onwards and forwards...

New Zealand Trip: A Travelogue

2005-11-11T09:12:00.000+10:30

New Zealand Travelogue

South Island (Te Waka O Aoraki)

We travelled to South Island of New Zealand for 11 days. It was a short but wonderful holiday for us. We had a great time and saw some spectacular sights.

Given that this was our first holiday in these parts, we booked all of our accommodation in advance, hired a car and drove around. But you really do not need to do that. There are plenty of motels and hotels and car hiring is accomplished easily.The next time we visit (and we will most certainly do that!) we will land up and take it 2-3 days at a time. The partial map of South Island will give you some idea of where we travelled and this travelogue may assist in your future plans. Here is our itinerary in brief:

Day-1: We commenced our journey at Christchurch. We spent our first day getting organised in Christchurch. We hired a car there.
Day-2: Drove south to Twizel and Mount Cook.
Day-3: We continued southward via Lindis Pass to Cromwell and then on to Te Anau.
Day-4: Drove to Milford Sound and did an overnight cruise on the Sound.
Day-5: Drove back via Te Anau to Queenstown, the thrill-seekers capital of South Island.
Day-6: Drove to Wanaka, just a short drive from Queenstown.
Day-7: Headed west and had a long drive to the Franz Josef Glacier town via Haast and Fox Glacier.
Day-8: Undertook the all-day glacier-walk on the Franz Josef glacier.
Day-9: Drove via Hokitika and Greymouth to Punakaiki.
Day-10: Drove back to Greymouth, dropped off our rental car and caught the TranzAlpine train back to Christchurh.
Day-11: Headed back to Melbourne.

The intention of this travelogue is to share some of our views on New Zealand and our holiday with all of you.

At the outset we agree with the commonly held belief that God made New Zealand on His day of rest. It is a blessed country. It has excellent and spectacular landscapes. Its inhabitants care for the natural beauty and the wilderness that is found there aplenty. We lost count of the number of mountains and lakes we passed by. Rugged mountainous terrains and virtual cliffs alongside most roads create spectacular instant waterfalls, which look even prettier when it rains.

Aristotle once said, “Nature does nothing uselessly.” It seemed most apt after we saw New Zealand. Everything seems to have a place. Everything seems designed and fits perfectly. Yet there is that randomness that one associates with Natural beauty.

In general, we found the Kiwis to be extremely friendly genial and hospitable. They are extremely helpful people. They are also totally geared for tourism. Although there is ample evidence of tourism it is seldom “in your face”. Although the country is modern in every sense of the word, there is no rat race here. The Kiwis love their land and respect it. They appreciate that visitors respect it too.

The following is a travelogue. Please let us know what you thought of it…

Christchurch - Twizel

We landed in Christchurch at 2pm on 3 March. After securing our hire car, we spent the afternoon getting ready for the journey ahead. We spent the night in Christchurch.

The start of the highway from Christchurch to Twizel was somewhat boring and presented nothing unusual by way of scenery. This hardly prepared us for the views that were on offer later on that morning. We drove past Geraldine and Fairlie. We could see some ranges off to our right as we drove through what was essentially farming country. We stopped at a few places for pit stops and to get some coffee. Somewhere near Fairlie, as we drove onwards and upwards from grass plains towards more hilly country, the landscape started to change dramatically.

The landscape was more rocky strewn scrubland. From then we were in the pleasant and dramatic company of the 420 Km natural barrier that forms the Southern Alps (which are shown in the picture to the right). We were now in dramatically different territory – MacKenzie country. New Zealand lies directly on the intersection of the Pacific and Indo-Australian plates. As these active plates move towards each other and over one another, the land in New Zealand, which sits atop these plates gets pushed up more and more; hence the Southern Alps. As we drove we could see snow-capped peaks that pierced into the sky for as far as the eye could see.

Lake Tekapo

Now we were in the heart of Alpine country. We passed this small and pretty village of Tekapo. There are some small restaurants and accommodation units along the roadside before the road heads South to Twizel. Most small towns in the South Island of New Zealand consist of accommodation houses (motels, cabins, houses and B&Bs), a restaurant or two a and coffee house or two on the main highway and close to a spectacularly beautiful spot.

So also here at Tekapo which is close to Lake Tekapo (in the picture above). This is where the natural rich blue and the pristine pure green of the various lakes, streams and rivers first hit us. So much so that by the end of the trip we suffered from acute SFS (scenery fatigue syndrome)!

Tekapo is just past Burke's Pass. The Lake itself is spectacular and has an astronomical observatory on its banks (called Mt. John Observatory).

Pukaki - Mount Cook

Deep in the Mackenzie Country is a town where the tussock plains reach the horizon, the rivers run slowly, and the mountains touch the sky. From Tekapo the road twisted south to our first night’s stay at a town called Twizel. Twizel is in dam country. Twizel nestles among peaceful lakes, where the broad plain meets the foothills of the Southern Alps. It is also mountain climbing area. Twizel is also an alpine village and is styled similar to European villages. The chalets here are quite nice to stay in. Twizel is situated near Mt Cook and Lake Pukaki.

We checked in to our motel in Twizel and departed almost immediately to Mt Cook (Aoraki). The drive from Twizel to Mt Cook is spectacular – why do I have a feeling that this word is going to be the most often-used word in this travelogue?

Mt. Cook is truly impressive even at 15 miles distance rising to 3,744 metres (12,168 ft.). Behind it lies the lesser peak Mt. Tasman, named after the explorer who discovered Tasmania off Australia. As you drive up the scenic road, all along the road on the right is the massive Lake Pukaki. We definitely thought it was a massive lake (27.2 Kms long and 3.2 Kms wide) until we saw a few other equally large (if not larger) lakes further south (Manapouri, Te Anau, Wanaka, etc). The lake is a spectacular blue as opposed to the gemstone green of Lake Tekapo.

The lake is renowned for its water purity, and for its distinctive glaciated landforms, such as ice-melt depressions and lateral terraces. The backdrop of snow-capped mountains inspires awe.

Lindis Pass, Cromwell

We drove along the southers shores of the long Lake Pukaki before heading off towards Omarama and into Lindis Pass.

Lindis Pass is another spectacular sight that lies between the St Bathan and the Ben Ohau ranges. Landscapes chanted yet again. Quite dramatically and quite soon. Gone were the craggy, rough and angry peaks of Mt Cook. What we saw was more orange-brown scrub-grassland type setting. The change was perceptible.

Trees are rare here and the wind constantly buffets your car as it funnels down between the ranges. The 100km stretch from Omarama to Tarras over the Lindis pass is just incredible. You will not see too many houses in this section and it almost looks bereft of humans too! You may see a stray tourist car wandering along the road at a sluggish pace towards some unknown destination. Or you may see an odd couple on a bicycle peddling away through these peaceful surrounds. And peaceful, it certainly is. We stopped our car several times on this 100km stretch to just step out and see the dramatically different landscape and to smell the fresh air.

Lindis Pass, at 3,180 ft. is the area's highest road and after that it is fast and downhill into Tarras. We stopped just North of Cromwell at the southern shores of Lake Dunstan; another one of these beautiful, sparkling-water lakes.

Lake Dunstan is another one of those wonderfully blue lakes that one gets to see in New Zealand (and there are many of these vast lakes about the country). The colours are always striking. The waters are always clear and clean. And there are several (like the photo alongside) for picture-postcard photo opportunities.

Cromwell is surrounded by broad tussock hills. Entering the town you know immediately what its speciality is, as a giant fibreglass sculpture of delicious ripe fruit towers above the highway. Cromwell is fruit-growing country! We did not stop here, but did catch some of the sights – including the lovely Lake Dunstan, the Clyde Dam near Cromwell and the township itself.

Cromwell is actually close to Queenstown which is a town made for adrenalin addicts; with mountain biking on tortuous trails, water-skiing on Lake Dunstan, jet-boat skiing, white-water rafting, (tandem) skydiving, speed-boat canyoning, river surfing, mountain climbing or bungy jumping off the Kawarau Bridge or the colossal Nevis High Wire. Bungy jumping was invented in Queenstown by the A.J.Hackett & Co. However, we did not head directly to Queenstown from Cromwell. We dug further south before heading west towards Te Anau.

Te Anau & Manapouri

No other region in New Zealand can match the breathtaking mountain scenery of Fiordland National Park. You can’t access the Fiordland National Park without touching Te Anau. The Te Anau village is situated on (yes you guessed right) Lake Te Anau. This is the touch-off point for tours, cruises, treks and flights through the New Zealand’s most remote and rugged landscape. The entire region has 14 fiords, the two deepest lakes in the country, Te Anau and Hauroko, and stupendous valleys - all gouged out by grinding glaciers. Lake Te Anau (picture alongside) is the country’s second largest lake (53 kms in length and 8-9 kms wide).

The largest lake is Lake Taupo in North Island, which fills a crater that had been formed by the world's largest known volcanic eruption.

The quiet township of Te Ana-au is situated on the tranquil lakeshore. More often than not, the surface of the lake looks like a glass. The peace, the quiet and silence in near-wilderness is so awe inspiring that one will simply want to sit and stare into the many different scenery options! Apart from all of this, a major attraction is the Te Anau Caves, a honeycomb of waterfalls and luminous caverns lit by millions of glow-worms. The name Te Anau is derived from these glow-worm caves, for, in Maori Te Anau means 'cave of the rushing water'. We absorbed the sights and sounds of Te Anau before heading off on a cruise on the lake to see the glow-worm caves.

A cruise from the waterfront takes you to these caves and back. We went on this cruise and would highly recommend it to anyone. A thought that struck us at this point was the way the whole economy and people are totally geared towards eco-tourism. However, having said that, the people and the tour-operators seem to have this enormous amount of respect for the ecology that they allow tourists to discover and see.

Te Anau is also a walkers paradise. Several great (2-4 day) walks either start here or start close to here. The Kepler Track begins here. The Routeburn, Caples, Greenstone and Hollyford Tracks are accessed from the Milford Road. Of course, the famous Milford Track commences from Te Anau Downs, which is a half-hour drive away from Te Anau.

Manapouri is a Maori word which means “lake of the sorrowing heart” – Maori legend has it that Manapouri’s waters are the tears of dying sisters. Lake Manapouri is the deepest lake in the country and this depth gives it its character. The colours are different even to Te Anau which is a mere 10 km away! Lake Manapouri is another one of those wonderfully serene lakes. Spectacular natural beauty, tranquil (mirror-like) waters and huge mountains that tower out of the water are the norm. Like so many of the lakes in the South island, it is also a lake that was formed by glacial activity within an existing valley. The lake empties into the Waiau River at the quaint little town of Manapouri. The Manapouri Lake Control Dam, which was completed in 1975 amidst tremendous protests from the locals (the “Save Manapouri” campaign stretched from 1959 to 1972 and is still regarded as New Zealand’s greatest environmental battle), regulates the lake's water levels for hydroelectric power. A generating plant that was built some 200m below ground and uses the lake's water discharged into the Tasman Sea via a tunnel.

Lake Manapouri, which is just a half hour drive from Te Anau, is the jump-off point to crusies on Doubtful Sound. We chose to go on the Milford Sound cruise instead, although I am told that the Doubtful Sound cruises are terrific too.

Milford Sound

After seeing Lake Manapouri early on our 3^rd morning in New Zealand (5^th March), we set off to Milford Sound (Sound is the New Zealand word for fiord). We were on an overnight cruise on the Milford Sound. The drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound through the Homer Tunnel is a spectacular one. The Homer Tunnel is at the top of a canyon at 1207 metres (3900 ft.). The drive from Te Anau to Homer Tunnel and then to Milford Sound is… yes, that word again… spectacular!

The route to Milford Sound is littered with many wonderful lakes and spots to stop and have a look. Be prepared for a longer drive than that which is advertised in most papers. Invariably, one stops a million times in the Eglinton Valley before getting to the Sound! Snow-capped mountains tower several hundred metres above the road. The road itself is patterned with many natural waterfalls. There are some clear blue lakes and at least one Mirror Lake as well. Remember to emerge from the Homer tunnel very slowly. The view of the canyon and the winding road that descends into Milford Sound is truly breathtaking. There were many times in the New Zealand holiday when I wished I was the passenger and not the driver of our car! This road was certainly one of them! I’d heard that the water that you find in New Zealand lakes and creeks is so pure that you can drink straight off it. Well it is true. We filled several bottles of water at Cascade Creek enroute Milford Sound. It tasted better than several bottled water drinks I have had in my lifetime!

There is no better way to experience Milford Sound than a boat cruise. In fact, I am not aware of too many other ways to explore the Sound. It is such a calm and serene place. The waters are still and clear. One almost fears touching the still waters, lest it breaks! The rock faces are steep and virtual. There are few compromises! It is as if the cliffs rise out of the water with anger! Some of cliffs are 1700 metres high and plummet into the black depths of the fiord. Apparently Rudyard Kipling has described Milford Sound as the eight wonder of the world. It truly is magnificent.

Milford Sound records a huge amount of rainfall – nearly 7m of rain per year! This is a phenomenal amount of water that buckets into the fiord system. After Tahiti, this area records the maximum amount of rainfall per year. The driving rain adds to the mystique of the place.
As one cruises across the fiord, one can see a thousand natural waterfalls that are automatically created by the sheer cliffs.

Our cruise took us past Bowen Falls, Mitre Peak, Stirling Falls, Stewart Falls and Postman’s Island and into Anita Bay. Apparently Cook passed Anita Bay several times before realising that it was the start of a wonderful system of fiords. The sheer mountains adequately hide the treasure that lies in wait. Anita Bay is a wonderful spot for the cruise to drop anchor. Most cruises allow for passengers to travel out for a bit in Kayaks and the like. If you are lucky, you may get to see dolphins, fur seals and crested penguins there.

We would love to go back and do the 55 km Milford Track, which is reputed to be one of the finest walks in the world. The Milford Track (need to book in advance for this) takes 3 days and links up Lake Te Anau with Milford Sound.

I have talked to many of my friends who have been on the three major fiord systems in New Zealand (Milford Sound, Doubtful Sound and Marlborough Sound). Most have them have placed the Doubtful Sound higher than Milford Sound. I personally liked Milford a lot and would definitely recommend it.

Queenstown

After spending the night on the cruise, we were dropped back at Milford Sound. We set off for from there to Queenstown, which appears to be the capital of commercial tourism in New Zealand.
Queenstown is busy and hectic in winter months because of the excellent access it provides to ski slopes. Summer months are busy with a plethora of fun things that New Zealand invariably throws up. Shotover Speed Boating takes you at breakneck speeds through the canyon that is created by the Shotover river! I’d thoroughly recommend this, but it ain’t for the weak-hearted! Another not-for-the-weak-hearted activity is bungy jumping (which, incidentally, was born in New Zealand) on the Kuwarau River.

Queenstown is not my kind of city. It is horribly touristy and there are plenty of things that you can blow your cash on. However, I must say that even in this terribly touristy environment, my view is that New Zealand manages to retain its charm and uniqueness. Although a lot of the offers are very much in-your-face, operators aren’t quite falling over themselves to get your custom

Shotover Speed Boating is certainly a must for “Thrill Therapy” seekers. The Shotover Jet Company is the world’s largest jet boating operation and is the only company permitted to operate in the spectacular Shotover River canyons in Queenstown. A shuttle bus takes you from the Queenstown town centre to Arthurs Point, where the adventure ride commences and ends. The speed boats (which seat about 10-12 people) then take over and send one’s adrenaline soaring. The boats zoom through the Shotover River (picture alongside) and into the Shotover River canyons, the walls of which tower over. The drivers are skilful and extremely experienced. So it is all quite safe. They whip the boat past the rocky outcrops and, at times, it almost feels as if you can kiss the boulders when they whip up close and personal as the driver slams the brakes and performs a 360 degree turn! The best part of the thrill drill is the water spray that hits you. The water is fresh and crisp and the spray is intense.

If that wasn’t enough, there are helicopter rides, white water rafting, black water rafting, bungy jumping. Name it. Queenstown offers it. For rafting enthusiasts, the Shotover River is excellent. The ride takes you through several rapids and then an unforgettable rafting trip through the darkness of the 170 metre Oxenbridge Tunnel. You then do the Cascade Rapid to complete the trip.

Another attraction is the Skyline complex that towers high above town. It can only be accessed by a chair-car (gondola) or by a helicopter ride. The Skyline Gondola, Restaurant and the Luge are things that we managed to do as well. The Luge is quite nice. One can, of course, indulge in paragliding, skydiving and several other activities too including Bungy jumping into the Kuwaru River (photo alongside).

Wanaka

We drove to Wanaka. One of the main attractions for me was that it had this Math Puzzle world place (more of that later). Apart from that and the fact that it was a convenient break from driving non-stop from Queenstown to Fanz Josef, there is really nothing much at Wanaka. Wanaka is a town that sits aside a… you got it… a lake! Lake Wanaka is one of the more prominent of the Southern Lakes. It is in New Zealand's alpine country, in the southwest of the South Island. Like most of the other lakes, Lake Wanaka was carved by a glacier. It is pretty and quaint, but by then we had perhaps developed a YAPL (yet another pretty lake) syndrome! Wanaka is a gateway to the Mt Aspiring National Park.

There are many things that one can do in Wanaka that are somewhat similar to what one may do in a place like (say) Queenstown. However, one can indulge in these sorts of things without the kind of commercialism that one faces in Queenstown. So there are possibilities canyoning, climbing, sky-diving and river surfing activities that one can engage in while here. Skiing is a big pastime in winter. Lake Hawea is very close too.

We spent much of our time at Stuart Landsborough’s unique “Puzzling World”. It is interesting. It is unique and it is eccentric too. One of the attractions is the Great Maze. It is a 3D maze in the sense that it is two storeys high and has more than a kilometre of confusing passages constructed from wooden barriers.

The place has several “Illusion Rooms”. At the “Hologram Hall” we saw some absolutely amazing holograms. The “Hall of Following Faces” is an illusion room where 168 giant models of famous faces seem to turn to follow you around the room, wherever you go! The illusion room I liked most was the “Ames Forced Perspective Room". The shape of the room is distorted (although it appears ‘normal’ when viewed from a window from the outside). This makes people in the room look either very tall or very short. Other illusions are water travelling upwards (up a pipe) and a chair defying gravity by appearing to travel up a slope! Besides these there are some fun puzzles in a large play area. All in all, it is a fun place to spend an afternoon, if you have one!

Haast to Franz Josef Glacier

The next morning, we set off on what was supposed to be a longish drive from Wanaka to Franz Josef. The drive was made slower by the fact that rain bucketed down on us. So much so that, when we reached Franz Josef, we heard that a section of the road we had just travelled on had collapsed (sunk) during the day and had to be closed off. However, this wet weather led to what was undoubtedly the best drive of the trip! All along we saw numerous natural waterfalls that cascaded either onto the road or across the road. On several stretches the mountains alongside the road were white from the milk of the instant waterfalls that were created. There were at least five points when it looked like we drove through a waterfall that arched across the road!

Haast Pass (at 1,842 ft) is a low pass in the divide of the Southern Alps in New Zealand. It is actually not far at all from Mt. Cook! The low lying Haast valley was possibly carved up by glacial activity. The Pass itself is quite spectacular. If possible, try and organise to get there on a wet day! It looks even more stunning.

The Haast area is also host to extensive wetlands. So, there are plenty of birds here and it is supposed to be a bird watchers’ paradise. Lake Moeraki is just 25 minutes drive north of Haast. It is well worth the drive.

Enroute to Haast, I pulled to the roadside to enjoy the beautiful waterfalls that were being created on the opposite side of the road. The ground, however, was so wet and soft that I lost traction on the road. The car was slowly, but surely, dragged sidewards onto a creek by the side of the road. I managed to jump off the road and hailed a 4-wheel-drive headed the opposite way. The driver and a passenger, both Kiwis, seemed to know exactly what had happened. Although it was raining hard, they u-turned, got their ropes out and winched us out of the soft creek with much aplomb and no fanfare.

I narrate this incident to talk about the Kiwi spirit. We found them to be (mostly) very helpful. They seem to want to help and seem to also love tourists as much as they love their own country. They seem to have a lot of pride in their own country and the beauty that abounds in it (and why not?). At the same time, they are very welcoming of tourists and are generally, very helpful.

We drove past Fox Glacier and into Franz Josef. Fox and FJ are two temperate climate glaciers in the West. We had to decide which of the two we’d go to and after much reading and talking to others, we decided we’d do FJ. This turned out to be an excellent and an inspired choice.

Franz Josef Glacier walk

The next day was to be one of the best days I have spent in recent memory. We set off to the Glacier Walk office nice and early, fully kitted out in our walking gear. This was all somewhat wasted because we were supplied with almost everything we needed for the day-long walk on the glacier: a jacket, beanie, heavy-duty socks, walking shoes, gloves, a walking axe, talonz (to get a better grip on the ice) and more. An extra layer of clothing (or two) is recommended although the pace and the walking activity will mean that one layer will disappear soon! Don’t forget your sun cream and sunglasses. You’ll need it if the sun is out. The reflection off the ice can be quite powerful…

The Fox Glacier and the Franz Josef Glacier are two of three temperate climate glaciers in the world (with the other one being in Argentina). They cut through breathtaking glacial valleys to flow into a temperate rainforest. Apparently, many glaciers in the world have been retreating. However, these two lil’ beauties in New Zealand are still going strong, reaching almost to sea level! The glaciers here are created because of a unique combination of the tall and virtual mountains of the Southern Alps of New Zealand and the hot winds that blow into it from the Tasman. The Southern Alps lies in the path of the 'roaring forties' (the name given to the band of wind that blows into it). The hot wind is forced to immediately and abruptly rise over the Southern Alps. This process rapidly cools the weather and the result is that condensation drops as rain and snow. Approximately 30 metres of snow falls onto the resultant glacier every year! This gets immediately compacted and forms blue glacier ice that is channelled into the Franz Josef and Fox Glacial valleys. More and more snow falls on top of the structures and what you get to see is wonderful layers of blue and aqua-green. The continual snow falls also push the ice down these valleys continually. This also causes ice breaks and icefalls and the result is a set of unstructured and stunning mazes of deep crevasses, ice tunnels of breathtaking beauty and steep pinnacles of ice!

Maori called Franz Josef (named by Haast, its ‘discoverer’ after the Austrian King) Ka Roimata o Hinehukatere or “The Tears of the Avalanche Girl Hinehukatere”. It is said that Hinehukatere loved climbing the mountains and persuaded her lover, Tawe, to climb the mountain along with her. It is said that Tawe got caught up in a mighty gust of wind and fell to his death. Hinehukatere was devastated and her tears froze to form the glacier!

Franz Josef is a truly wonderful experience. If you are even averagely fit, take the day-long walk and not the half day walk. You’ll have an unforgettable experience. If you are not so fit this is not something that I’d recommend for you. Groups of 10 are guided by a professional who will cut her way through the ice to explore tunnels, ice pyramids, crevasses, ice caves and more. Remember to take an extra roll of film (or an extra bit of storage device if you have a digital camera) with you. You will need it! The colours are splendiferous.

We set off by bus to the foot of the glacier from where we walked. It took us nearly an hour to get to the mouth of the glacier. We strapped on our talonz (for additional/required gripping), got our safety and use training and set off on a 7-hour adventure that was truly memorable. I’d certainly go again, and again, and again! Our coach (Kate) was extremely helpful and supportive. She made sure that the entire pack travelled together and guided us really well. She stopped to provide both information as well as quirky anecdotes. And this made the trip all the more enjoyable. Given that there are no signs or marks anywhere (it is ice and more ice and more ice everywhere you see), she did get lost once or twice. However, she never lost her composure or her wits. Indeed, this made our walk all that more interesting!

I managed to fall more times that I could remember (and most people in the group fell at least once)! But who was complaining.
The bruises and the scars made the walk all the more satisfying! One fall was memorable. I sat on my haunches, ready to negotiate a tricky 10m long ice tunnel that inclined downwards. I perhaps hadn’t gripped the ice properly enough and my ice-axe wasn’t supporting me against the side wall. My legs went from under me! The next thing I knew was that I was sliding down the ice tunnel at the rate of knots! Luckily, there was no one else in the tunnel. Moreover, everyone at the other end of the tunnel was perched atop a slight incline. Or else, I may have taken them with me!! My backside was sore for at least a day after that but boy, was that fun or what!!

Punakaiki

After a thoroughly satisfying but tiring day on the glacier, what we wanted most was a quiet day to recover and to also soak in what we’d experienced. We found just the right recipe in Punakaiki. We drove North from Franz Josef and onto Punakaiki via Hokitika and Greymouth. There is nothing much to write home about Hokitika, in my view (except if you want to shop for Maori paintings and art or if you happen to be there around the famous food festival). Greymouth is not my kind of place either. Punakaiki is something else, however.

It is the place with the famous “pancake rocks” and blowholes. Until I’d seen the “pancake rocks”, the limestone structures along the Great Ocean Road in Victoria, Australia (the 12 Apostles) would have to count as some of the most spectacular natural rock formations I’d seen. The Pancake Rocks of Punakaiki gives the Twelve Apostles a good run for its money! They are wonderful and are made even more spectacular by the blowholes.

It is also the place where a platform collapse killed quite a few people! In April 1995, a viewing platform at Cave Creek collapsed and the occupants (mostly students from a nearby college) fell 30 metres into the waters and rocks below. Fourteen people lost their lives and 4 others were injured badly.

Since then, it seemed to me at least, that the place has been developed with greater care and attention to safety. It is really quite a spectacular place with ample spots for viewing many of the wonderful natural delights that the place has to offer.

Punakaiki is the gateway to the dramatic limestone country of the Paparoa National Park. One can indulge in some terrific treks and canoe adventures while here. There is a nice caving tour that we did not undertake. This is also horse trekking country, if you are into that sort of thing!

But the main attraction are the “Pancake Rocks” and the blowholes. These are limestone formations that began forming 30 million years ago. Lime rich deposits and dead marine creatures were continually deposited on the rich seabed and overlaid with more and more weaker layers of soft mud and clay. Repeated deposits have created thin plates that seem like layers of pancakes; very spectacular.

While you are here, indulge yourself in sumptuous breakfast at one of the cafes. What’s the specialty, you ask? Pancakes! But, of course!

Greymouth to Christchurh

We drove back South to Greymouth the following day to take the TranzAlpine train from Greymouth back to Christchurch. Given another chance, we’d have driven on further North, perhaps to Marlborough and descended into Christchurch. Greymouth is a grey kinda place! Nothing much there for us to enjoy. It is perhaps more a function of the type of people we are than what Greymouth has to offer! The only place of much interest to us was a place called “Shantytown”, a historical attraction. This is a mini-town, much like Ballarat in Victoria, Australia. It is a snapshot from the gold-rush period and features a few period buildings, a sawmill, and a functional steam train that trains you around the place. It is located 11 km south of Greymouth and if you are not interested in this sort of thing, it is best you arrive in time for the train that takes you back to Christchurch!

We dropped off our car at Greymouth and took the TranzAlpine scenic train from Greymouth back to Christchurch. The journey takes you up the Southern Alps, past lush beech rain forest landscapes and then through some spectacular river gorges. All along the colourful Waimakariri River and the varied colours of the river basin follows alongside the train. The train also has an open air viewing carriage! One highlight is the 16 tunnels and the 5 viaducts (including one called the ‘Staircase’, which stands at 73 metres!) that pepper the journey. If you are a train freak, this may be one for you!

Back to Melbourne

And so we were back in Melbourne after a terribly satisfying holiday. If we were to do it again (and we are tempted to go again, soon!), we would learn a lot from what we did. We’d do things differently. New Zealand is indeed a wonderful place to visit and its people are extremely friendly.

Eddie Cantor once said, “Slow down and enjoy life. It's not only the scenery you miss by going too fast - you also miss the sense of where you are going and why.” This seems to fit the New Zealand way of life to a T. They seem to enjoy their life set at their pace in their land which they love intensely. It seems to me that they seem to want to share that sense of happiness and contentment with anyone who cares to want it too. So be prepared for a lovely and hassle-free experience. You will enjoy it tremendously.

Has Ganguly received a fair deal?

2005-11-04T18:09:00.000+10:30

Has Ganguly received a fair deal?

For some time now, even in the face of some radical and acute ridicule from friends of mine, I have been a staunch, steadfast and devoted supporter of Ganguly. All of this fascination for Ganguly’s contributions to Indian cricket started off with an argument that I had with friends of mine in Melbourne subsequent to India’s disastrous tour of New Zealand in December 2002 (a few months prior to the 2003 World Cup). It was a total and utter catastrophe from and Indian perspective; hardly the sort of preparation that a team should have to undergo prior to a World Cup. The pitches in New Zealand were under-prepared and horrible. So much so that New Zealand Turf Culture Institute guru Keith McAuliffe had to publicly discount the El Nino theory for the state of pitches in New Zealand in the summer of 2002!

A few friends of mine said, “the whole team should be sacked, especially Ganguly”. Now, for some time now, I have felt that the only solution to all known problems that Indians seem to know or care about is what I call the “Danda Raj” (to rule by the stick). The magic potion and the silver bullet to all known and unknown Indian ills is, apparently, to whip out the “danda” (use the stick and sack everyone).

My excessive and, at times, befuddling defense of Ganguly started then.

I yelled out, “A collection of sacks will only give us a godown (warehouse) and not much else!”, before setting off on a path of research and discovery.

But before that, let me chronicle some of Ganguly’s contributions. In my own view, he has achieved a lot for Indian cricket. He brought into the team

a sense of self-belief.
a fighting spirit.
a sense of unity (team above individual).
a personnel policy that blended youth and experience.
a policy of far-sightedness that meant that players were backed and carried for a whole series instead of the prevailing revolving door policy that meant that players had one match to prove their worth!

Ganguly, perhaps on the basis of his own awful selection experiences, was the first India captain to state his selection principles openly within days of being chosen. He wanted to give players ample opportunities to perform. He resurrected and created many of the personnel who are a part of today’s Team India (Harbhajan, Sehwag and Yuvraj, to name a few). He was the one that insisted that Dravid keep wickets in ODIs. He was the one that insisted that Sehwag open in Tests when even Sehwag himself opposed the idea! And what do we have today? We have Sehwag opening for the ICC World XI against Australia!

It was my view at the time (and remains today) that a revolving-door selection policy will only give you dizzy players and even more dizzy selectors. Ganguly was the first Indian captain who made this a policy in terms of personnel management: a collection of sacks will only give you a nasty godown.

As a leader, he took on the Board and won several important battles for the team. The fact that he was close to the Board and was able to play its politics was, no doubt, in his favour too. But a good leader has to do that. A leader has to make compelling cases and win resource management battles. A good leader has to manage upwards effectively. Ganguly fought and got a physio, a foreign coach, a support unit around the team that included a media manager and the services of a sports psychologist on tap. Note that in the years that Tendulkar was at the helm, he struggled to get even a full-time physio for the team. That doesn’t make Tendulkar a bad leader or incompetent or a bad player. It is just an example, in my view, of Ganguly’s effectiveness as a leader. Ganguly can legitimately these and many more as outcomes that he has been personally responsible for.

There is no doubt in my mind that he is the first “true leader of men” in Indian cricket.

In my view, the rest were either

totally incompetent, or
corrupt, or
completely incapable of motivating men to give off their very best, or
played regional politics, or
divided the team to safe-guard their own passage, or
all of the above.

Ganguly was, in my view, a competent leader who motivated his players to "do battle for him". He supported players and backed them totally. He did not play regional politics and, instead of embroiling the team in administration politics, he himself took all of these with the Board. We have had examples of all of the above.

So, in my view, my support for Ganguly emanated from that belief that he is the first true leader of men India cricket has had.

In terms of on-field results, it is evident that he led India successfully. He is probably one of the captains that Steve Waugh – perhaps the best cricket captain that I will ever see in my lifetime – had a lot of regard for. Yes, Ganguly and Waugh had many a run-in, but to the end, Waugh did maintain a healthy dose of respect for Ganguly, as a leader!

Throughout his reign, the Indian cricket press (I call them the “braying mediocrity of Indian cricket”) continually talked about Ganguly's "form". What specific aspect of his form did these people have a problem with? His win record for India? His batting average? The runs he has made in the West Indies? The runs he has made in England?

Often, the press would quote his “form” in the "last 10 games". Well, if we were to look at changing the team every 10 games, we'd want to have more players in India than we do knickers!! :-)

Ganguly always advocated the selection of players on a combination of potential and form. A player like Ganguly will fire on a few days. He will fail on a few days.

OK. Now onto some facts on Ganguly's value to the team as a player. Here's an attempt to tease out some myths...

Ganguly’s overall ODI record is:

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

279 10123 183   40.65  22  60  93  5/16   37.31

His average in matches that India has WON is:

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

130  6036 183   55.37  18  33  59  5/16   29.40

In other words, he has scored heavily in matches that India has WON! Indeed, 18 of his 22 centuries have come in games that India has WON!

His career stats for India in matches as captain:

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

147  5104 144   38.66  11  30  46  5/34   37.63

Not bad at all, I’d say.

As captain, he won 76 matches. In other words, he won more
than 50% of his games as captain. In these matches his career
stats read:

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

76   3359 144   51.67   9  19  32  5/34   32.06

Note that his average is higher in matches that India have won,
whether he was captain or not. It would be fair to say that he has
helped India to a lot of these victories.

Let us compare these with the stats for Tendulkar for (a) all
matches, (b) matches that India won, (c) matches for which he
was captain, (d) matches that India won when he was captain.

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

352 13815 186*  44.56  38  71 139  5/32   43.35

176  8448 186*  58.26  28  42  86  5/32   32.62

73   2454 186*  37.75   6  12  11  2/61   73.63

23   1360 186*  75.55   5   7   2  1/18   93.50

It is fair to say that Tendulkar’s average is impressive. But let us remember to also consign Ganguly to the history books as a ODI great for India.

If we look at games outside India, the stats fro Ganguly, Dravid and Tendulkar read:

Mat  Runs  HS   BatAv 100  50   W    BB  BowlAv

92   3146 135*  36.16   6  19  20  3/22   53.10

86   3047 123*  44.15   1  30   0   -       -

109  3467 141   34.32   7  16  28  4/54   54.32

Gnaguly’s stacks up well against these three contemporary greats of Indian cricket.

Ganguly believed in his leadership qualities. Unfortunately, that may have also been his downfall. He may have constantly concentrated on empire building. So much so that that may have become (in his own mind at least) his reason for existence – the very reason for his existence! Towards the last year of his reign, he began to resemble a landlord who looked after his subjects and therefore, expected to be looked after by them! Moreover, my feeling was that he perhaps grew a bit too complacent and thought that his achievements would glide him past his disappointing digs at the crease – of which there were aplenty recently. He did get sloppy and began to work less and deal-make more. All of these may have worked if India had a far more lenient coach. Cricket does not work that way.

Greg Chappell dismantled the landlord myth in a systematic manner and worked out that the team needed. He wanted to cleanse the cancer that had started to set in. Where Ganguly had tremendous pride in playing for India and in seeing India succeed, Greg Chappell may have seen that that had translated into a “kiss kursi ka” mentality in the captain.

The straw that may have broken the camel’s back was his “outing” of the dressing-room conversation between coach and captain; and that too after scoring a century against a below-strength Zimbabwe team. It spoke of a man who was desperate to cling on to a position that he was fast losing grip over. Alas! Ganguly’s renowned and artful political skills and his strategic thinking perhaps let him down at that stage.

And today, although Ganguly had proved his fitness and confirmed his return to form with a century on a green turf at Rajkot against an attack comprising of an impressive North Zone squad, I do believe it is curtains for the best captain India has had in its cricket history. If Ganguly makes a comeback from here, it will be to his ultimate credit. I somehow, do not think he will make the cut anymore. And that is a sad way to farewell

Ironically, it was Ganguly that chose Chappell to succeed John Wright as India Coach. The inside story is that Steve Waugh recommended Tom Moody to Ganguly. However, Saurav plumped for Chappell.

And that is sad really. This is not the way India should farewell its most colourful and successful cricket captain in her cricket history. He is one of four players in ODI history to have scored over 10,000 runs in international cricket.

He has had a great career. Let us remember him for the good things that he did for Indian cricket and let us not confine him to the dark pages of Indian cricket history as a clown who came to a sad end. Ganguly deserves a better place in our archives.

On why I like Sanjay Subrahmanyan's music so much...

2005-11-03T10:02:00.000+10:30

Sanjay Subrahmanyan is my  favourite Carnatic (South Indian classical) musician,
by a long way. I have quite a few of his recordings in my possession. I also have
quite a few of his live concert  recordings. His music fills more than 30% of
my 40Gb iPod!

It is not as if I listen to only Sanjay Subrahmanyan.Some of my fellow
concert-going-friends have often accused me of having an unnecessarily
"Catholic" (and perhaps even an undifferentiated) taste in music. I
listen to anyone and everyone without fear or prejudice. But there are
few that challenge and stretch me.

I don't really need to justify my liking for his music to anyone really!
But recently, I asked myself "Why so?"

Primarily, to me Carnatic music has to engage the heart as well as the mind
(simultaneously). Although many musicians do reach and simultaneously engage
the mind and the heart, Sanjay's music is certainly engaging and challenging
and certainly makes me want to continually enquire and search for a far
deeper meaning... Beyond that somewhat simplistic explanation, I have
nothing more to profer by way of justification or explanation for why I
like Sanjay's music.

More generally, when it comes to performing artistes (or sports people) in
the end, for me, it is all about a combination of (some of) the following
characteristics:

to excel in ones field and to continually want to excel,
having a huge dollop of self-belief and yet, retaining humility,
demonstrating utmost integrity in public and private life,
showing leadership in all aspects of life (performance life and private life),
continually demonstrating passion for what one does,
a steely resolve to succeed despite the odds -- not for the sake of success itself, but in order to make a contribution,
a desire to make lasting impacts (to society and/or to ones profession) and
a constant and demonstrable need to continually learn, grow and innovate.

It is for the above reasons that I admire:

A. R. Rahman
Sachin Tendulkar
Rahul Dravid
Shabana Azmi
Steve Waugh

It is for the above reasons that I used to admire Ganguly (who was, in my opinion
the best 'leader of men' in Indian cricket and perhaps even the 'first true leader
of men' in Indian cricket).

Sanjay Subrahmanyan has an utter and total dedication to the classical Carnatic
idiom. He has an absolute and utter belief in his own abilities and his own chosen
path to 'success'. He has the self-confidence to pursue those goals. He has belief
in the path that he has chosen -- which includes the constant desire (that I feel)
to creatively innovate within the norms of a strongly codified genre. Rather than
look at those norms as a burden, a shackle and a constraint (which, unfortunately,
many of today's musicians do), Sanjay has not only believed in it, but also used
it to stunning effect.

There is, I believe, a foundational structure in his performance career.

"To innovate contiunually and to search for more meaning within the norms of
a strictly codified genre".

This position that he has occupied today, I feel, stems from an absolute inner
confidence. An inner confidence in his own abilities, his own drivers and his
motivations. An inner confidence that shuns wanton adulteration and denigration
through mediums such as (con)fusion music, jugalbandhi music, kalyana (marriage)
katcheris, etc.

There is foundational principle at play here; a principle that was seemingly
established at a very formative stage in his career as opposed to one that
was arrived at after a timeless journey of introspection; a principle that
was deliberate as opposed to wanton; a principle that was designed and
crafted as opposed to one that was randomly chosen.

Therefore, there is a sense that I derive from listening to him that one can
stick to basics, within the bands of pragmatism in the modern-day milieu of
instant gratification and a fast pace of life.

Examples of these are

a strict belief in classical traditions,
singing with a tambura and not an electronic sruthi box,
to not resort to needless speeches while on stage -- especially those that unnecessarily magnify ones own contributions/genius in a garish and outlandish manner -- and therefore, focussing on the greatness inherent in the music itself (unlike some of his contemporaries that adopt a patronizing stance towards their audience),
not referring to notes on stage,
a constantly neat appearance on stage that shuns extravagance (the focus, therefore, is on the music and nothing else),
providing percussion accompanists with a taniavartanam (solo percussion segment of a Carnatic classical music concert) in the first half of the concert itself,
wearing crisp-white on stage,
not succumbing to the need to splash a dash of ash on the forehead and not being frightened of the consequences of him being seen, perhaps, as a non-believer, etc.

While these traits could have been seen as a throwback to the 50s in the era where
cricket, Bollywood, internt-chat and download-gratification dominates, these traits
have become stunningly popular and a near-cult-following has ensued.

The refrain in his case is "simplicity and yet depth; basic and yet profound".

Film songs that I am listening to

2005-09-26T10:37:00.000+09:30

When it comes to film scores, A. R. Rahman is a personal favourite of mine. More recently, I have become partial to the scores of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy too. Two of the songs I am listening to currently (and I mean over and over and over again!) have been scored by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. I must say that between the two of them A. R. Rahman and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy account for nearly 95% of the film songs that I like to listen to.

I must be developing some sort of an aversion to too much bass and monotonously thumping rhythms. Most of my recent favourites seem to be slow numbers with a strong accent on good vocals and strong chords. Moreover, most of the songs that I am listening to also seem to derive strength from a sound classical base.

The film songs that I am listening to these days are:

- yeh rishta (Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities)
- kitni batein (Laskhya)
- aao na (Kyon Ho Gaya Na)
- yeh jo des hai tera (Swades)
- dheemi dheemi (1947 Earth)
- noor-un-ala (Meenaxi: A Tale of Three Cities)

Reena Bharadwaj's debut offering is in the form of yeh rishta. This is a fresh and captivating song from Meenaxi and is scored by A. R. Rahman. I particularly like the picturisation of yeh rishta. The colours in it are wonderfully crisp and well accented. Reena Bhardwaj has since sung in main vari vari, Rahman's composition in Mangal Pandey: The Rising. She was, however, introduced in yeh rishta and what a wonderful introduction this is. It is said that Rahman called her over for an audition to his studio apartment in London and recorded the scratch version of this song on his kitchen benchtop! This is not the first time Rahman has used a scratch version as the real thing! It is said that the bhajan, pal pal hai bhaari (Swades), with Ashutosh Gowariker reciting Ravana’s lines, was recorded inside a hotel room in Panchgani. Apparently everyone who was present in the small hotel room (the cast included Gowariker, Shah Rukh Khan, Javed Akhtar, Rahman and playback singers Vijay Prakash and Madhushree) believed that a scratch was being recorded. The scratch was so good and natural that it became the real thing!

Back to yeh rishta, however. The song has great vocals, wonderful music, wonderful picturisation, breathtaking colours, and excellent cinematography to suit the pace of the song! The best part of the song is the splending blend of guitar, violin and tabla. One aspect of this song that makes me want to go back to it over and over again is the brilliant use of the tabla. Just as one anticipates the commencement of even the simple but supremely effective na-dhin-dhin-dha theka in the song yeh jo des hai (Swades), a similar sense of anticipation and build-up accompanies the commencement of the tabla in yeh rishta. Rahman has an uncanny sense of rhythm and music, but more and more, I think it is his sense of timing (the right time to deploy simplicity and the right time to increase the complexity of rhythms and of music landscapes) is what sets him apart from the rest.

While I found the film Meenaxi to be highly taxing, and perhaps even an over-indulgence by M.F.Hussain, I thought the songs were quite stunning. The Sufi-style noor-un-ala-noor by Murtuza Khan and Qadir Khan is a splendid compositional effort by A. R. Rahman, the genius of modern film music. The complex chords, the bass and the use of the harmonium in patches only, accent the song brilliantly. And of course, chinnama chilakkama is a masterpiece in the chaiyya chaiyya mould.

In recent times, A. R. Rahman has included chinnama chilakkamma in all his live concerts. The flute interludes by Naveen are sensational. On closer observation (I did see Rahman and his troupe live in their recent Melbourne and Sydney concerts) it appears that he uses a very small (tiny, in fact) folk flute to belt out the powerful tunes.

For some time now I have been fascinated by Hariharan's vocals. His voice is extremely pliable and he manages to retain the voice projection consistency in the higher octaves, just as he does in the lows. Unlike Shankar Mahadevan, who only demonstrates his strong classical background sparingly, Hariharan tends to produce enough modulations in his voice to continually remind listeners of his strong classical background, leanings and abilities.

The films Lakshya and Kyun Ho Gaya Na throw up some interesting songs. Of the lot, I must say kitni baatein (Lakshya) and aao na (KHGN) are just pleasing. Sadhana Sargam and Hariharan have developed, in my view, a special chemistry. Their duets are often magic and this is abundantly evident in kitni baatein. Although he is such a versatile artiste, I believe kitni baatein is a song which is, I think, just made for Hariharan.

Apart from the above songs, I am also partial to all songs in Swades -- this movie does have some brilliant songs in it.

The fact that ARR is able to blend in Western elements and Hidustani/Carnatic influences in almost all of his songs is amazing. He doesn't call it "fusion" and is not as pretentious as some of the other musicians who are running around, claiming to do "fusion" music! Frankly, a lot of the "fusion" music today is plain "confusion"! However, ARR, without claiming fusion as his way of life or his USP (and frankly, it isn't!), manages to blend various influences (Arabic, Chinese, Indian, Folk, Western, etc) in a seamless and wonderful manner. His is the true "crossover" genre of music today -- at least in the 'mainstream'.

In Swades, I thought Rahman brilliantly brought out the folk setting of the movie through his songs. The songs (especially saawariya and pal pal hai bhari) are so tightly based and built on folk heritage themes of North India (where the film is set). Hence, there is a sense that the music, the lyrics and the film's setting are tightly interwoven; clearly an important feature of the ARR-JavedAkhtar-Gowrikar combination which accomplished a sense of coupling in Lagaan too. Clearly, ARR pays distinct attention to these finer aspects of arranging music in a manner that Bollywood has not seen much of before!

Of course, the classical base of several of the songs make the songs from Swades all that more appealing to me!

I thought yeh tara woh tara was a curious mix of the Carnatic raga-s, kapi and khamboji (the m-g-p-d-s keeps appearing several times in the tune) -- close to the hindustani khamaj perhaps? I'd need to to listen to it some more to be certain. There is a flute segment in this song again, which is just sensational.

The alap for yun hi chala (provided by Khailash Kher and Hariharan) is sensational too.

The song pal pal hai bhaari has very strong traces of abheri (or karnataka devagandhari) or bhimplasi, its equivalent in the Hindustani system of classical music. It is really quite a well arranged piece.

The song yeh tara woh tara once again stems from a strong classical base. It has strong hues of the Hindustani kalavati (the Carnatic malayamarutam) which is close enough to the Carnatic valaji!

The best song of the album is, in my view, yeh jo des hai tera. The chords in this song are so very complex, although that is a distinct Rahman feature in that he makes it very hard on himself as well as on other instrumentalists who want to learn and play his songs. This is mainly because in most of his songs, the chords cross-run and play differently each time a melody repeats. The shehnai feature in yeh jo des hai is so simple and yet, its effect is so stunning. Although it is a live sample that plays as a digitised loop all through the song (as is the "hai hai" that peels right through the song) and although I am not a great fan of digitised loops, I think it forms a stunning landscape for the whole song to be sculpted on as a wonderful edifice! At first I coldn't believe that it was ARR that sung this song. However, it bacame clearer in the first charanam (apologies to you die-hard Bollywood buffs for me using a Carnatic term here again!).

Overall, Swades is a current favourite of mine. It is a very well crafted album with many gems in it.

I have been threatening to write a blog on ragas employed in film music for quite some time now. I might just get started on that one of these days!