DLF Cup: Quick Learning from it

For every Indian cricket fan, the India show at the DLF cup in KL was a big disappointment. India could not reach into the finals despite the third team being WI, a less rated team. Despite reaching into the finals of the tournament thanks to a few cameos from the likes of Lara, Gayle and Chanderpaul, it would not be an understatement that WI was vulnerable throughout the series. India were unlucky too in the sense they had to lose a game even after scoring 300 plus runs thanks to the mysterious DL rule. When India finally ended its run for the final, somehow people blamed it to the match lost to WI because of the DL rule. It might seem true but no body knows if India would still have reached finals and WI would not have raised their game.

For me, DLF cup was a good learning lesson for team India before the start of actual season comprising of Champions Trophy, a tour to SA and then the mega event, world cup 2007. It exposed some of the major weaknesses in the team and also proved how a dose of over experimentation could prove to be extremely fatal. Last year’s success of team India was mostly attributed to the “surprise factor” in the batting order in the name of experimentation and flexible line up. But it seems, Dravid and Chappel have decided to take it far more than this and as the overdose of anything backfires, the result was the same here. Good that it did in a triangular series like DLF cup wherein the losses did not mean pelting of someone’s home back India.

Now Dravid, Chappel and Co. have got to think on their plan. They have proved that they do lots of thinking behind everything and they can turnaround everything by having a proper plan. They can still do it and they are well on course of a good stint at the world cup. Loss was important in a way so that the law of averages doesn’t catch India at the wrong time and It perhaps would also have given room for Dravid to get matured about his decisions, plans and processes which have been the buzzword in every training camp for quite sometime. The talk of Dravid being a failure as captain and “Remove Chappel and Bring back Ganguly” were a forgone conclusion at the end of such defeats because this is how Indian cricket fan behaves. Not to be read too much into it.

I am sure the team management would look at rectifying the learning’s sooner than later. For me, the DLF cup has exposed some serious problems, which needs to be rectified. First, Dravid has been the backbone of the team in both version of the game in the middle order for years now. It is hard to fathom the fact they he was tried to open the innings. It was a BIG mistake and prone to fail and it did. A batsman like Dravid has to provide the cushion to faltering innings after early loss of a few wickets. If Dravid himself gets out at the start, it would be too much to expect the role of a protector from the inexperienced and most of the time out of form lot of Yuvraj, Kaif and Raina. That way it was a grave mistake. I am happy that this experimentation was done this time.

Second, Pathan’s regular cameo at number 3 has come at the cost of his swingers. Did we ever want that? Never. As a bowler, he never looked in rhythm and it felt like he is losing his pace, whatever it was, with every ball. He looked really low at confidence level. It’s a welcome fact that Pathan can BAT whenever needed, but what is the need of promoting him to number 3? Don’t we need such cameos as shown by Pathan at number 3 at say number 6 or 7? According to me, Pathan would be more successful lower down the order. And as far as realizing his dream of being another Kapil Dev for India is concerned, he can do that by improving on his bowling and batting well at number 6 or 7. After all, Kapil seldom batted at number 3? One’s primary focus should always be at one’s main skill set. Let us hope we learn this simple fact sooner.

Third, Dhoni, the hard hitter, dashing wicketkeeper batsman, the youth icon, the so called Number 1 batsman, for a small time in the history has slipped a few places in the ICC ranking again. Does this mean, he is out of form? Does this mean his batting was failure? For me the answer to these questions would be NO. Just go deep into this and ask yourself, what kind of chances this guy is getting now days? He either comes at a crunch situation where India is already 6-7 down or he comes at a time when he has got to play 6-7 overs and throw his bat on any bowl that he faces. What kind of batting practice he is getting out of this? What kind of match temperament he is getting into? Have we taken him for granted that he will hit those BIG sixes at his will? Well, this guy has already proved his likings for big innings. Did we forget that the big match winning knocks played by him came when he played at number 3 (148 and 183*)? How can the team miss this? He has proved that he can play big given a chance to settle down early. He can be lethal to the bowlers at the start of the innings and can really demoralize them. Then why are we unnecessarily demoralizing him? Are we killing his gigantic confidence on which he rides most of the time?

It’s high time that they stop experimenting with the batting order too much in the name of implementing processes etc. It sucks. Dravid is NOT SUITED at all as a one-day opener. Let Pathan concentrate on his bowling and get back his rhythm.
And it’s high time that talent of Dhoni not be wasted any more. He must be given a lot more chances.

Also I felt the middle order was really out of experience. Kaif looks vulnerable and I always find him trying to save his place somehow. How long will he be given chances on the name of being a fielding genius? He needs to bat too. Raina looks talented and aggressive, but when would he start converting those little cameos into big ones? I guess one of Raina or Kaif should now give way to someone like Laxman who will really solidify the fragile and inexperienced middle order.

I am sure analysis of Dravid and Chappel would be far solid and accurate than mine and I really trust them.

Calling Dean Joans a Racist

Recently during the second test match between South Africa and Sri Lanka which was being played in Sri Lanka, one of the most vibrant and energetic cricket commentators of recent time was found making derogatory remarks against a South African player, Hashim Amla. Hashim Amla is a Muslim of Indian origin whose parents migrated from Gujarat to get settled in South Africa. Well, knowing about Hashim Amla and his heroics and rise in the local South African cricket might be of enormous interest but that is not what I am interested in. So I would leave that out here.

During a brief live action on the television, which was supposed to be a commercial break, Joans was found terming Amla as a terrorist because of Amla’s strict and purely Muslim appearance as he maintains a big and long beard for religious reasons. This was supposedly an ad break and supposedly no direct feed was to be provided to any sports channel covering the game but unfortunately for Joans, Cricket South Africa and SuperSport, that takes a feed of the broadcast to South African audiences, were not enjoying the ad break, and the whole incident was broadcasted live on those channels thereby making the remarks very much public.

What happened after that could be anybody's guess. Dubai based Ten Sports immediately sacked Joans from his services and he had to lose his job. The networks of South Africa’s above channels were jammed because of numerous calls from so many media persons and very angry Muslim people. A strong reaction was displayed against this remark terming it to be highly communal in nature by the media, by the fellow commentators and the public.

Ideally speaking, the remark made was not desired and is not acceptable for a commentator who has to do his prime job honestly, which is primarily about commentating on the happenings inside the cricket ground and entertaining people with his superb style of expressing the live actions to all the audiences. After the incident, Ten-sports had no other options but to sake Joans, given that it mainly caters to the large Muslim community prevalent in Asia. A strong reaction by everyone else is also understandable because it was not an incident to make fun of when it leaked out openly. Nobody would accept something like this from anyone. Whenever a person crosses his limits, it is bound to give birth to different kind of reactions from different sections of people albeit in a different form and manner. But there comes a few questions in my mind, which needs some answer.

Some particular group of people termed Joan as being "Racist". Now, how far is that true? Once he realized the happenings, he was very modest in gracefully accepting his mistake before the public and in fact he couldn't have done it in a better way. He also apologized to Amla immediately after the day’s session was over. Later on he along with his fellow commentators confirmed that it was supposed to be an off air joke for the sake of fun. They could hardly realize that it was being aired. Well being apologetic after committing a crime does in no way entitle you for being relieved of the crime. But was this a criminal act?

Sometimes, just for the sake of fun we people pull some XYZ,s legs by calling something which might be derogatory in some sense, but we don't mean it by our heart. For example: we often make fun of those heavyweight Americans who would easily weigh beyond 300 lbs. We term them sick and useless in some senses. But that is just for fun. Does that make us a Racist? Is this in anyway an example of racism? No it is not. It’s only a natural human tendency to seek fun in anything that comes on its way. I wonder if these kinds of remarks qualify someone to be racist, then how many of us would be excluded from the never-ending list of all those racists? Some people also bluntly said that this comment is not a surprise for Joans being an Australian and it is very much in their blood to be racist. Now I do not think this is a very human opinion about the Australian community as a whole if not a racist one?

This matter would now be taken to the ICC, which would finally give a final verdict on Joans career. This might even lead for us not being able to hear Joans again on the TV? Well, this would be really harsh for him if it happens. He has already lost his well-settled job. To add to this, ICC could fine him as it does whenever a player is found playing with the code of conduct. ICC could even ban him for 3-6 months endorsing any other channel as a commentator. All these would be acceptable and a hard lesson for anyone in the future so that the incident is taken seriously enough to be repeated. I hope ICC takes the final decision on Joans and his career considering all these facts and is not influenced by how a particular section of the media or a particular community has reacted to it. Because in doing so, ICC would only be trying to sound like being a racist. The final decision has to be sensible enough by going deep into the possible causes and concerns. As they say, the circumstances under which the crime was committed and the form of the crime must play an important role here. A judgment cannot be taken just on the basis of people's emotions.

Personally speaking, I have enjoyed Dean John's commentary ever since he started his career as a Cricket commentator, very much. His style has been pretty much unbiased towards any particular country or player and he always believes in speaking for the performance and the one who deserves it on the field. These are the attributes on which a Cricket commentator must score high and I think John scores really high on these. His energetic comments whenever a Dhoni or a Kemp hits the ball over the fences would make anyone jump off his seat. Remember his typical enthusiastic way of expressing the moment a ball would be dispatched over the ropes- "goin, goin, goin..gone?". It would really be interesting to see if these core qualities of a commentator would be valued much above a remark that was meant for some kind of fun and will not come on the way of his career. "One mistake and he is gone" will be really too harsh for him. Let us think it some other way. Can Dean Joans or for that matter anyone from any profession is so stupid to make a racism comment on AIR even if he is one? No body would dare it given the well-predicted outcomes of it. Who doesn’t know about the Jehad, the Jehadi’s and the fatwas? Who would like to play with the fire knowing the only outcome is going to be to get burnt?

Why it is not called Racism when Brian Lara plays a role above the on field umpires and actually dictates the decision and NO action is taken. It was also live on TV? Why does ICC modify the rule then? It has also been a common trend to observe a player from subcontinent being fined or suspended for disciplinary actions more often than their non-subcontinent counterparts for the similar sort of on field mistakes under similar conditions. By now we have a long list of such occurrences, which testifies a familiar pattern. Does this show no Racism? Why don't the media provides the same coverage for these issues under the name of racism with the same vengeance? Why don't the people from the subcontinent show the similar strong reaction in these cases? Is it because the issue is not related to a minority given that cricket is most popular in the subcontinent region? Is this the reason this issue doesn’t occupy the same place in the media and doesn’t extract the same attention? So finally what is it? A Minority issue and a few bucks?

Another fan of Sachin Tendulkar becomes desperate?

Sachin Tendulkar has been out of any forms of competitive cricket for the last 5 months. Any die-hard Indian cricket fan would easily recollect that this kind of absence has been rare for the master ever since he started as a 16 year old kid belting a veteran spinner like Abdul Quadir for 4 successive sixes in an over. In these 5 months he missed one-day series against England and recently the tour of West Indies. India failed to impress on a feeble West Indian attack losing the one-day series 1-4. They quickly came back and won the test series convincingly by 1-0 leaving West Indies a little happy thanks to the inclement and unpredictable weather conditions prevalent in the Caribbean.

Off late Sachin Tendulkar has been in news more for his loss of forms and injuries than for his classy straight drives and those hundreds, which used to come quite regularly sometime back. Whatever be the case, it’s a proven fact now that whether he will play in the top form or loss of form or not play at all thanks to injuries cumulating over the past 17 years of rough and tough cricket, its hard to detach Indian cricket from him. He has ruled the Indian cricket and its followers until recently just like a king. For some people it’s hard to imagine cricket without him. Some are afraid of an ageing Sachin. Some of them desperately want him to play the games even if he is not 100% fit because it is desperately believed that even a half fit Tendulkar is capable of giving nightmares to the bowlers all round the world. Some find extreme level of happiness when he bats on the 22 yard pitch and drives the ball for even a single to the mid-on. For some people cricket means Sachin Tendulkar. He is out means match is over. As Sir Viv Richards once said-“I would pay to watch him bat.” People follow this sentence religiously.

Obviously for such people the last 5 months of Sachin’s absence has been a tough time. Every time India would lose a game or be in a tough situation, the discussion would start on the need of Sachin. Those people who criticized him for his lack of forms just a couple of months back become highly bright about the idea of him being back in the squad and play a role of protector every time India needed some protection.

I perceive the recent tirade of Sanjay Manjrekar against Sachin Tendulkar on the above terms. Just after the conclusion of world cup 2003, when the batsman of the series was being decided, a question was asked to Manjrekar about his choice for the same. This is what he had to say-“Well, this is a wrong question to ask for someone like me who has followed Sachin Tendulkar every moment for the last 20 years. My opinion may be biased. My choice would always be Sachin”. Well, I haven’t seen someone so blindly expressing his support for his hero before a public forum like the one I mentioned. Given this, I would like to see his vocal attacks on Sachin Tendulkar as nothing but another desperate attempt by another fan of Sachin to give an exit to his desperation for not being able to see Sachin in live action for not less than 5 months! Being a Sachin fan, anyone would like to watch his hero play for India and win matches for us. If you take 5 months out of someone’s two to three years of international cricket life, this would kill him. In this case, the ones who are being killed are the desperate Sachin fans because as he is ageing, they would see less of him and get more and more desperate. His absence due to injuries only adds to the desperation.

To be fair to Manjrekar, he expressed his opinion, which in a democracy, has to be appreciated. But what was highly surprising was the angry reaction of Tendulkar when Manjrekar questioned his commitment to the game. I would see it like this, Manjrekar has an opinion and Tendulkar disagrees. Well, Tendulkar has right to disagree as anyone of us has. But the way Sachin reacted doesn’t sound good for a man like him. I would have expected him to ignore this as he has done in the past for all the bogus comments and comparisons involving him and always let his cricket bat talk. Tendulkar has acted here in a way very unlike him, our beloved and hero, Sachin. This might be painful for the Sachin’s followers.

The other aspect about this is, now that Sachin is well set to return and play as we all want, what was the need of this? Was it intended to provoke him to play much better as it has been seen in the past that even though Sachin has always been reluctant to be vocal, he has been very vocal with his bat every time a comment like this has been passed. Just remember a couple of cases, Henry Olongo, Andrew Caddick and Australia tour of Indian in 2003-2004 to name a few. Wouldn’t it have been prudent of someone like Sanjay Manjrekar who reportedly has been a good and close friend of Sachin ever since they started playing cricket for Mumbai way back in late 80s, to voice his opinions and comments personally to Sachin rather than opening the mouth publicly?
Has this become a trend in Indian cricket and BCCI politics to make public statements and make a mountain out of nothing? It all started with Chappel’s leaked email followed by Saurav-Chappel affair and recently Saurav-Dalmiya spice. What’s going on? On a lighter note and not to offend Manjrekar, has Manjrekar taken a crash course on “How to get instant publicity”? :)